We are ready to book for September 2017. I’m trying to decide between The Contemporary Resort, garden wing, garden view . Or The Polynesian in a standard room. There will be 5 of us 2 adults, 3 teens!!! We have stayed at AOA and SSR as well as off property. I am very excited for this vacation and either of these resorts. I was just hoping to maybe get some opinions from all of you great people here. I have been leading towards Poly, the price difference is not much but would allow us a special event or extra character meal, which is never a bad thing!!! So I’m open to any and all opinions from those who have stayed or been to these resorts!! Thank you so much.
Unless all of your teens are the same gender and are willing to bunk together, you may be needing to look at a multi-bedroom situation. I know as a teenager I wouldn’t have wanted to sleep with a brother. Just my 2 cents!
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Well, mathematically, if there are three teens, then at least two of them will be the same gender. Don’t the standard rooms have two queens and a daybed?
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It’s the end of the school day. Math is beyond my grasp at this point.
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I plan to have my girls sleep in the second queen bed. They will be 16 and 13 when we go. My son will get the day bed, he will be 17.
I hear you there. I did confirm that there are two queens and a day bed in a standard and the Poly, though, just to make sure. So you’re good with 2 boys and a girl, two girls and boy, three boys, three girls, etc.
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Oops got distracted and finished too late!
Yes, I’ve checked al of that, we are good! I just cant decide and was wondering if any of you had a preference?
We went Contemporary Theme Park view, mostly because the fireworks were most important to me.
My other consideration was being able to walk to MK, not have to wait for the monorail.
That said, the pool at the Poly is much nicer, for sure and you could watch the fireworks from the beach if you wanted.
Have you looked at Beach Club or Yacht club? If a pool is your thing, then either of those would be a good choice, too.
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I’m going for the first time in November (to be staying at a monorail resort), and we’ll be at the Contemporary. So I’ll let you know what I think if that’s not too late.
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Thank you. I did look at Yacht Club also, but the pool isn’t so important. I mean its a nice amenity of course but we spend so much time in the resort that the convenience of the monorail overrides the other things. Even the price and availability of the Suites at AOA which were very nice and convenient with kids!!
We aren’t going until 2017, I can always make changes. LOL So any info you have is always welcome. Thank you
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In prior trips, we have stayed at both the Contemporary in the main tower with theme park view and at the Poly in the Tokelau building, which I think is now been converted to timeshare villas. The decision to me lies with what is important to you and what parks you plan on visiting the most.
If MK is your preferred park, I would go with the Contemporary because you can’t beat being able to walk there in about 10 minutes from the Contemporary. We loved this aspect of the resort because we could skip the wait at the monorail going in the AM or more importantly coming back home at night when everything is crowded.
If your family will spend more time at the other parks, especially Epcot, the Poly location is better because you can walk to the TTC and get the direct monorail to Epcot, skipping the resort monorail loop. I think the theming of the grounds is better at the Poly, but both are great resorts. Whatever you decide you will have a good time.
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Both resort are great but I vote Poly!
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I too will say Poly.
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I find the contemporary to be a VERY bland resort. It’s mostly white walls and grey furniture. The idea of having the monorail go through it is neat but not worth the extra cost IMO. Given only these two options I’d pick Poly. Though AKL is and always will be my favorite deluxe. It’s just so relaxing and calming. It’s a lot quieter than most other deluxe since fewer guests go just to walk around and ogle it lol. Waking up and watching the sun come up over the Savannah is just something that can’t be replicated.
I will say that at 17 I would have been WAY too tall for the daybed and would have felt very cramped and uncomfortable.
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Agreed. The styling of the contemporary is a riddle to me. Growing up, it was considered THE Disney Hotel. It was closest to the flagship park (MK), the one in all the advertisments, and whenever someone won a contest - that was the prize-hotel. So I don’t understand why the rooms are so bland. I thought (prior to my stay there earlier this month) that the rooms had been updated to be a bit more “disney-fied” (yellow mickey pillows and paintings were supposed to be in every room). But alas, that was not the case. Someone, I think, forgot “contemporary” doesn’t need to mean “souless”.
Staying there, I would say it feels like one of the most anti-Disney hotels.
If you can’t spring for a theme park view and/or have no plans or interest to walk to MK, I would not stay at the Contemporary. Those are the ONLY real positives the resort has going for it above any other resort. The monorail going through the hotel is a novelty that wore off in about 10 minutes for me.
I absolutely loved my stay there, but only because of the two factors I mentioned. A theme park view is amazing, and I took FULL advantage of being able to walk to the magic kingdom at all hours. But if I was just judging on the room itself, it was certainly clean, but boring and not much of a step beyond a Best Western or Motel 6. I didn’t even get towel sculptures.
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I had a similiar choice and I went Poly. If you rent DVC points you could get a theme park view studio for same price as a standard room with Disney, you might also be able to afford the jump to 2 bedrooms.
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