Taryn's Mad Hatter Adventures

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

    • Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Deluxe Studio

      Posted at 1:02 pm by taryngirl, on December 17, 2020

      11/14/2020

      We are DVC owners at Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. When we were first deciding whether or not we wanted to buy in, this is where we toured. We love the location the most, which offers a quick walk to Magic Kingdom, and the monorail to Epcot. The views of Magic Kingdom and the lake are great!

      View from the bridge connecting the Contemporary Resort to Bay Lake Tower

      Since there were only two of us, I booked a Deluxe Studio, Standard View. The Deluxe Studio offers spacious accommodations including a kitchenette with small fridge, microwave, toaster, sink and a balcony. It features one queen bed and a double size sleeper sofa.

      The queen bed and pullout sofa
      Seating area and dresser/tv
      The kitchenette area, right side
      The kitchenette area, left side
      All paper products are now individually wrapped
      Back to single serve toiletries
      Sanitized and wrapped remote control
      Storage on the dresser
      Closet with safe and extra bedding for the pull out sofa
      Supplies in the kitchen
      View into the kitchenette area with the pantry pulled out
      Enhanced cleaning protocols

      For two people this Villa is perfect. It would also be fine for a family of 3 or 4. There are some other Villas that offer a split bath or 2 bathrooms which is better for a family of 4. Our room was clean, and everything was fine! I’d definitely stay here again.

      View from our balcony
      Another view from our balcony

      We also checked out some of the shops on the Contemporary side. Everything was decorated for Christmas!

      Wall in the huge atrium right outside of the quick service location, Contempo Cafe
      Entrance to the monorail

      We absolutely love it here and would definitely stay again!

      Posted in Bay Lake Tower, Disney, Uncategorized, Walt Disney World Resort | 0 Comments | Tagged Bay Lake Tower, Contemporary Resort, Room Tour
    • 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:

      fullsizeoutput_207efullsizeoutput_207ffullsizeoutput_2080fullsizeoutput_2081fullsizeoutput_2082fullsizeoutput_2083

       

      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.)

      2018-08-25 10.54.26

      CONTEMPO CAFE DINNER MENU:

      2018-08-25 10.53.57

      2018-08-25 10.53.30

      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.

      2018-08-25 10.52.45

      2018-08-25 10.52.16

      2018-08-23 08.02.22

      2018-08-23 07.58.56

      My daughter chose the cookie sandwich:

      2018-08-23 07.58.15

      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:

      2018-08-23 07.57.44

      2018-08-23 07.57.18

      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.

      2018-08-23 07.54.03

      2018-08-23 07.53.36

      2018-08-23 07.52.37

      2018-08-23 07.52.08

      2018-08-23 07.51.00

      2018-08-23 07.49.54

      2018-08-23 07.48.42

      2018-08-23 07.48.13

      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
    • March Disney World AEP Trip {Day 2}!

      Posted at 7:21 pm by taryngirl, on May 22, 2018

      Our training was to begin on Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the Contemporary Resort.  I left a little early to go grab a quick service breakfast from our resort (Mickey waffles of course!) at Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory then met up with my roommates.  We Ubered to the Contemporary.  The cost was about $8.  We were so happy we made this decision!  Those who took the bus from French Quarter to Magic Kingdom had to go through security in order to walk over to the Contemporary and the lines were long at this time.  {Side note on Ubering…We did it a lot on this trip!  And it was painless and cheap.  There are so many Uber and Lyft drivers around Disney, that we never waited more than a few minutes.  Everything is done right on the app so there’s no exchanging money with the driver.}  My friends grabbed a quick service breakfast at the Contempo Cafe at the Contemporary Resort.  This is absolutely one of my favorite quick service places in all of the World.  For any meal!  Their desserts are also fantastic.

      We wandered around a bit and eventually made our way over to the Convention Center area.  I had never been over in this area before!  I’ve stayed here on a previous trip, but never took the time to explore.  There are several different reception rooms.

      IMG_2048

      Here was our schedule for the day:

      • Class Training
      • Tour Disney’s Contemporary Resort
      • Enjoy a hosted lunch at Disney’s Pop Century Resort
      • Tour Pop Century
      • Tour Art of Animation
      • Tour Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside
      • Tour Disney’s Polynesian Village

      I’m going to be just highlighting my day and then will be writing up separate blog posts for each of the resorts that we visited!

      IMG_2523

      I neglected to mention that TODAY was the day that the Disney Cruise Line summer itineraries were released for Silver Castaway Club Members.  I had 4 cruises to book!  I had to step out briefly to book these cruises, but that’s a story for another day! 

      We had a really great morning session learning how to add value to client vacations, learning more about Disney Cruise Line and some great new sailings they are offering, including the NYC port, and all of the new things coming to the four main parks.

      • DISNEY CRUISE LINE–New sailings from NYC to Bermuda, NYC to Canada, and NYC to the Bahamas and Port Canaveral.
      • ANIMAL KINGDOM–Is now a day to night time park!  With Pandora, the World of Avatar opening, and the new Rivers of Light nightly celebration, there’s plenty to fill your day and evening.
      • DISNEY’S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS–Toy Story Land is coming June 30th!  And Star Wars Land is not far behind, coming sometime in 2019.
      • EPCOT–Soarin’ has been reimagined.  Frozen Ever After is in full swing as well as the new meet and greet location for Anna and Elsa.  You can meet  Baymax and Joy and Sadness from Inside Out!
      • MAGIC KINGDOM–Wishes has been replaced with the Happily Ever After Fireworks show.  It uses more lasers, lights, and projections than ever before!  Princess Elena of Avalor is available for meet and greets now.
      • DISNEY SPRINGS–There are now more than 150 dining and shopping experiences here!

      It was time to start the resort tours.  Watch for individual blog posts highlighting each resort!

      The tours ended around 5 p.m.  My small group had Advanced Dining Reservations (ADR) at Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom around 7 p.m.  So we freshened up some back at the resort and then headed to the Magic Kingdom!  Sorry for the blurry picture, but this was the only picture I snapped while making our way down Main Street!

      img_2120.jpg

      Liberty Tree Tavern!  I can honestly say that this restaurant is in my top 3 table service in all of the World.  I really try to eat here on every trip.  The restaurant itself is found in Liberty Square.  It has colonial style inn theming.  You can have lunch here, and order a la carte, or you can have dinner, and that is served family style.  I have never eaten dinner here prior to this trip!  Only lunch.

      Here is a pic of the dinner menu (March 2018):

      img_2121.jpg

      For dinner, you get everything listed food wise, and then choose a drink.  You can upgrade your drink and pay extra by choosing one of these:

      img_2122.jpg

      The servings shown here were for four people.  You can request more of any item you wish.  Which we did…for the rolls and the mashed potatoes!

      IMG_0679

      The salad was so good!  The dressing was super flavorful and light.  The rolls were warm, right out of the oven.

      IMG_0678

      My favorites shown here were the mashed potatoes, the pot roast (which is what I typically order off of the lunch menu), the turkey and the green beans.

      IMG_0677.JPG

      And my most favorite dessert ANYWHERE…the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake!  I keep saying they need to open up a window and just sell these.  They would sell tons!

      This meal did not disappoint, and I will surely be back again.

      IMG_2126

      We passed through here on our way out from dinner.  I love this little area!  Tangled is one of my favorite Disney movies!

      Up next {Day 3}!

       

       

       

      Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged AEP, Contemporary Resort, Disney, Liberty Tree Tavern, Magic Kingdom
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