Hi all. We are hoping to book another trip and trying to decide between the Poly and Contemporary. Travelling with DH, DD8, DD12 and DD14 at time of travel. We stayed at the Poly on our trip last year and loved it (although didn’t have a lot of time to explore the resort and only went to the pool twice on a 10 night stay). Should we go back to the Poly or try the Contemporary? We like to be close to the MK. The price is very similar (standard poly room or bay lake room CR late nov/early dec). Any opinions, pros/cons would be very much appreciated please. Thanks.
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The Poly is better themed but walking to and from Magic Kingdom is priceless so I’d give CR a try especially since the pool isn’t a big deal.
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Thank you very much disneybill for your thoughts on this, we will give the CR A try.
You’re welcome. Have a great time.
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I would choose Poly over CR any day but I’m in the minority I’m sure. I love Poly and the warm, relaxing, resort feel you get from staying there. But… if you haven’t tried CR it might be worth trying for the views alone!!!
No matter where you stay it’s Disney World!!!
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I’m with you @BeachmomNoMoreSparklePants. For me I’ll always choose Poly, especially with how the resort has transformed over the last year. Something about being in Disney during the day and being able to go back to the Poly at night that just makes for a magical trip for me.
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I like and dislike them both for different reasons. But, I would say give the Contemporary a try for sure. Walking to MK is a huge bonus. Stayed at the Poly several times/Contemporary once and we are going back to the Contemporary this summer.
If you don’t mind sharing, what are your likes/dislikes ddennis at each resort? What made you pick the Contemporary
for you forthcoming trip? x
Generally, we like rotating our stays at resorts around MK. We were initially booked at WL; however, because of the major construction I decided to switch. Because I was on a Bounceback offer they said the Contmporary was available. I happily took it as I thought I may want to stay there anyway and Disney made the choice for me. Having said that here are my Pros and Cons.
Poly
Pros
Theming
Monorail/Boat
Good restaurants except for Captain Cooks(my least favorite resort QS)
Love the LILO Stitch breakfast
Near TTC which makes transportation easy
Cons
Spread out/Restaurants in a separate building
Restaurants make the Poly very popular so the lobby is always congested
Pool can get crowded with pool hoppers(new gates do not help)
Beach can get crowded with non resort guests
Contemporary
Pros
Can walk to MK
Monorail in the building
Restaurants in the building( I don’t mind Contempo Cafe)
Pool doens’t get crowded with pool hoppers
Beds really confortable
Cons
Theme, very sterile, concrete feeling, rooms are not bad though
Dislike Chef Mickey’s
Rooms can be loud on the CM side(request high floor away from CM
Elevators are slow and can be crowed
Bottom line for me is it’s kind of a wash; but, it depends on what you want out of your trip. This is the first time we are going in the busy summer months, so transportation is more important than ever so CRs option of walking to MK is key. If you want ambiance and that tropical feel, then for sure the Poly.
Thanks for sharing, this info is very helpful 
. My reasons for picking CR was that it is slightly closer to MK than the Poly and I was thinking that buses to other parks might be a bit quicker (but prob won’t be!). Plus, hoping to get a room with a nice view (although we had a nice view at the Poly). Thanks again.
We had a theme park room on the 11th floor at CR. It was very cool watching fireworks from our bed or the balcony. It does overlook the parking lot; but, that didn’t seem to matter much. I was also thinking the view of Bay Lake would be nice.
I had to make a similar choice recently. I had initialy wanted 4 nights at AKL and then 4 at the Contemporary, but to get the two nights free offer I needed 7 nights in one place, so I’ve gone for 7 nights at the Poly and 1 at the AKL. I have wondered whether I shouldn’t have bothered with the night at the AKL, but at least this way I’ll get a small taste of what it’s like. Our holiday will be low to average crowds for the first half and large and very large for the rest. If our whole holiday had been CL8+ I would have gone with the Contemporary because I have young kids and you can’t get any closer to the MK. I chose the Poly because of the ambiance, being able to watch Wishes from the beach, and the easier access to TTC than the other monorail resorts.
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@Tate, I can see why you would want to try AKL- we are hoping to dine at Sanaa so that we can experience a little bit of the resort. thanks for your input on the Poly and CR. In the end I booked CR, then decided to change it to the Poly! Just liked the idea of going back there in the end as its such a lovely resort!
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So are they not strict with pool hoppers @ Poly? Is quiet pool nuts, as well? I was concerned about that when I saw how close to TTC, would it get too insane @ pool.