Taryn's Mad Hatter Adventures

Tales from my (mostly Disney) travels!
Taryn's Mad Hatter Adventures
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  • Category: Contemporary Resort

    • Steakhouse 71 Lunch Review

      Posted at 11:22 am by taryngirl, on November 11, 2021

      10/1/21

      Somehow I was able to score a lunch reservation at the BRAND NEW restaurant, Steakhouse 71, located at the Contemporary Resort where The Wave used to be. This was the grand opening day and we were very excited!

      We left Magic Kingdom and took the monorail to The Contemporary Resort. We checked in at 11:40 a.m. and they told us they were running a little bit behind from breakfast. At 12:15 p.m. we were paged.

      Compared to The Wave (the restaurant this used to be), I thought the decor was much brighter, which made the dining area look much bigger.

      Like I said before, this was opening day, so I knew there may be some hiccups. We sat, and waited and waited for our server to come. She did not, but a manager did. He took our drink order and then our food order as well. Our drinks came and we had ordered appetizers, and those eventually came as well. (We still didn’t see our server!)

      I ordered the Fork & Knife Caesar Salad $10. This was delicious and possibly one of the best salads I’ve had!

      My friend ordered the Baby Iceberg Wedge Salad (house-made bleu cheese dressing, toy box tomatoes, pickled red onions, bacon, hard cooked egg) $11.

      At some point during appetizers, our waitress appeared. She explained her last table (during breakfast service) was super complicated and had a bunch of different payments. We also noticed that they had random people bringing out food and managers were busing tables. Nothing seemed organized and it seemed like they were struggling!

      At one point, someone else brought us two more salads, and we told them we were already served.

      For entrees, my friend ordered the Crab Cake Sliders (lump crab cakes, old bay remoulade, tomato, pickled slaw on a brioche bun, served with parmesan fries). You could also choose a petite wedge salad or pasta salad as your side. $19. She really liked these. She smashed them down so she could fit them in her mouth.

      I ordered the Steakhouse 71 Stack Burger (signature blend of beef, American cheese, lemon aioli, red onion, house-made pickles, on a brioche bun served with parmesan fries) $20. This was amazing! I asked for the lemon aioli on the side because I wasn’t sure I would like it, but it was really good.

      Overall, the service was not that great. We didn’t get out of here until 2:00 p.m. But the food more than made up for it. The staff was very apologetic and friendly, they were just overwhelmed. I will 100% be back here again. I think this is a great alternative to a table service in Magic Kingdom, especially at lunch time.

      Posted in Contemporary Resort, Dining Review, Steakhouse 71, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged Dining Review, Foodie, Steakhouse 71, Table Service, The Contemporary Resort, Walt Disney World
    • Disney’s Contemporary Resort – Theme Park View Atrium Club Level

      Posted at 11:45 am by taryngirl, on September 28, 2020

      1/30/2020

      Picking up where we last left off…

      We had been staying at All Star Movies, but were making a move to another resort. We woke up this morning pretty early, packed up and took a Lyft to Disney’s Contemporary Resort. We had breakfast reservations at a new-to-me restaurant, the Grand Floridian Cafe at 9:00 a.m. We wanted to get to the resort, check in if possible, drop our luggage, and head to breakfast.

      I had stayed in this resort previously in the Main Tower–Theme Park View. I personally love this resort! I love that the monorail goes through it, I love that you can walk to the Magic Kingdom, and I love the quick service Contempo Cafe! This time, because I’m a travel agent, I was able to secure a Theme Park View– Atrium Club Level room for an amazing deal. I have NEVER stayed Club Level at Disney, so was super excited to experience it!

      Walking into the lobby. You can see a little quick coffee counter there.
      A view of the check in area

      I had done some research and googling about what to expect when checking in, and kept reading to just go directly up to the Club Level check in desk. However, we were arriving here super early, and wanted them to hold our luggage while we went to breakfast, so I wanted to be sure. We checked in at the regular check in desk to make sure our MagicBands were working correctly and then she sent us on our way upstairs.

      To get to Club Level, we had to tap our MagicBands on the Mickey. Notice there is no floor 13!

      There are small check in desks as soon as you exit the elevator, so we stopped in there. They gave us some information and then told us to enjoy! Of course we had to check out the lounge before going to breakfast.

      The Lounge schedule was as follows:

      • Coffee 6:30-7:00 a.m.
      • Continental Breakfast 7:00-10:30 a.m.
      • Afternoon Refreshments 12:00-4:00 p.m.
      • Contemporary Flavors 5:00-7:00 p.m.
      • Desserts and Cordials 8:00-10:00 p.m.

      The view from this lounge is amazing, as you can see Magic Kingdom!

      The view from the Club Level floor

      I thought the selection for a continental breakfast was very good!

      We didn’t have a lot of time before we had to get on the monorail to head to the Grand Floridian for our breakfast reservation. That’s up next!

      Posted in Club Level, Contemporary Resort, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged Club Level, Contemporary Resort, Theme Park View
    • Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort

      Posted at 2:11 pm by taryngirl, on January 27, 2019

      August 15, 2018

      We arrived without incident about 4 p.m. using Lyft.  I had gotten the text around 11:30 a.m. that our room was ready!  So we headed immediately up the elevator to our room.  Scan my Magic Band…anddddd, the room was not clean.  The sofa bed was unmade, there were dirty towels on the floor in the bathroom, etc.  So we headed back down to the front desk.  I let them know the situation, and it was almost as if the girl didn’t believe me!  She offered us a FastPass.  Sure, why not!  It had to be for the next day though, which was our Magic Kingdom day.  She asked my daughter what she would like to ride, and Kinsey couldn’t decide between Splash Mountain or Space Mountain, so she gave us both!  We were so tired and hot and I just wanted to lay down.  But we had to sit.  And wait.  And wait.  For them to go clean it.  We sat outside for awhile in the back courtyard area:fullsizeoutput_207c

      We were so hot, so we went back into the lobby to wait.  My phone rang and it was the front desk.  I told them I was sitting right there and could see them!  She came over again and apologized for the room not being ready and that they were crediting my account $125 for the trouble.  About 15 minutes later, she came back again and said, “It’s ready!”  She personally went up with us to our room.  Guess what…THEY WERE STILL CLEANING.  She was mortified!  I told her it was fine and we were just going to sit in the hall until it was ready.  It was after 5 p.m. now!

      The two housekeepers finally exited.  We FINALLY got into the room around 5:30 p.m.  At least we knew it was really clean!

      We were staying in a Deluxe Studio, Standard View.  Here’s our room tour:

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      You can’t beat the location of this resort!  It’s a quick walk to the entrance of Magic Kingdom.  The security/bag check is on the walkway from here to the Magic Kingdom.  So you can avoid the longer lines at the monorail if you choose to walk.  It’s also faster than taking the monorail!  Contempt Cafe is one of my favorite resort quick service locations.  And the view of the fireworks from this resort is amazing.

      Now…we were laying down resting before the DVC Moonlight Magic Event at Epcot, and the phone rings.  I answer it and someone asked if we would be in the room because Private Dining had a delivery for us.  I told them I didn’t order anything, and they said they knew that.  5 seconds later there was a knock on the door.  He brought a tray in with 6 gigantic Mickey shaped chocolate chip cookies and a 12 inch tall (at least) white chocolate Tinker Bell along with a note.  I completely forgot to get a picture because I was stunned!  They went above and beyond any expectation I had as far as making things right.  I NEVER got nasty or complained and begged for things.  The Disney magic was just offered!

      This is our home DVC resort and I absolutely would book here again!

       

      Posted in Bay Lake Tower, Contemporary Resort, Deluxe Studio, Disney, Room Review, Uncategorized, Vacation, Walt Disney World Resort | 0 Comments | Tagged Bay Lake Tower, Contemporary Resort, Disney, Resort, Room Review, Walt Disney World
    • Disney’s Contemporary Resort – Contempo Cafe and BVG Shopping

      Posted at 8:02 pm by taryngirl, on September 3, 2018

      Continuing on with our first day…our plan was to hit Disney’s Hollywood Studios this evening.  We had a Fastpass+ for Toy Story Midway Mania.  However, right about 5:30 p.m. or so, it started thunderstorming.  (Usual occurrence pretty much all summer through Octoberish!)  We were prepared and had ponchos.  Butttttt, neither of us were really feeling it.  We were tired from getting up so early to debark the cruise and the long travel day.  But it was too early for us to go to bed.  So we decided to hop on the monorail and head over to one of my Top 3 Quick Service locations!

      From the Polynesian, we hopped on the monorail and got off at the third stop, which is the Contemporary Resort.  Check out these clouds!  (Incidentally, this is the bridge to Bay Lake Tower, which is where we own our Disney Vacation Club, and where we stay later on in the trip.)

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      CONTEMPO CAFE DINNER MENU:

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      So ordering here works the same as Captain Cook’s.  When you walk in, you will first see the menu boards pictured above.  Keep going into the order area and you will see the AMAZING DESSERT CASE!  These hands down are the best resort quick service desserts that I’ve ever experienced!  I seriously drool just deciding what I want.

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      My daughter chose the cookie sandwich:

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      She enjoyed this and couldn’t eat the whole thing.  It was so rich!  We took half back to the room for later.

      And I chose the Peanut Butter Pie:

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      This was DIVINE!  First of all, it’s huge.  So it can definitely be shared!  I couldn’t eat the whole thing, so I took half back to the room.  You can see it has some vanilla pudding on the bottom.  (This was so good, I came back for another on our last day!)

      As you continue in the register area, you will see the cold cases.  I didn’t get pics of these because my arms were full!  Drinks, salads, sandwiches, etc. were located there.

      Once you get to the registers, that is where you order your food.  They will give you a number to put on your table, and once ready someone will bring you your food.

      We weren’t super hungry, so opted for the kid’s chicken nugget meal.  We chose apples and fries for our sides, and a bottle of water for our drink.

      2018-08-23 07.56.38

      Disney chicken nuggets are some of our favorites!  This was good and hit the spot followed by our dessert.

      From here we headed to the two shops located on this same floor.

      B.V.G is one of my favorites anywhere!  They always have a great selection, as well as a variety of goodies to choose from.

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      Up Next…Day 2!

       

       

       

      Posted in Contempo Cafe, Contemporary Resort, Dining Review, Disney, Quick Service, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged Contempo Cafe, Contemporary Resort, Dessert, Disney, Foodie, Menu Picture, Merchandise, Shop, Snacks
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