Bay Lake Tower & Contemporary Resort
The Contemporary hotel was opened in 1971 with the opening of Walt Disney World. This hotel is unique in it having a monorail station inside the lobby. The hotel rooms are themed to the ‘Incredibles’ and can cost upwards of $700 per night. It is a 5 min walk from the hotel to the main gate of Magic Kingdom which makes it a fantastic hotel to pop back to during a long park day. The lobby is where you will find the giant Mary Blair mural with the famous 5 legged goat.
The hotel is also home to some of the best restaurants on property, ‘Steakhouse 71’ & ‘California Grill’. We have had the most incredible breakfasts at Steakhouse 71 but haven’t yet been for a steak dinner! We celebrated the Walt Disney World 50th anniversary with a wonderful meal at California Grill with its view from the top of the Contemporary hotel overlooking Magic Kingdom. We were able to time our meal so that we could watch the fireworks from the private balcony before enjoying our deserts. You can also dine at ‘Chef Mickeys’ where you can meet Mickey and the gang in their adorable chef outfits.
The Contemporary resort has expanded over the years with the addition of Bay Lake Tower, a DVC property. Bay Lake Tower has studio, 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom grand villas. The rooms are either theme park view or lake view. This hotel is extremely popular all year round but especially for 4th July and new years eve as you can watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from either your balcony or the guest only access roof terrace.
The resort is accessible by monorail, boat and bus making it one of the best hotels for transportation.
The Contemporary Resort sits on Bay Lake and is home to a convention centre and has multiple ball rooms. This is a popular hotel for weddings.
The Contemporary hotel and Bay Lake Tower are joined via an elevated covered walkway. There is a separate check in for each building but they share a bus stop. You can use all the resort facilities if you are staying at Bay Lake Tower, however Contemporary hotel guests can not access the DVC specific areas such as the ‘Top of the World’ lounge.
The deluxe studio has 1 double bed and 1 sofa bed. The mini kitchen is separate to the bedroom and has a full size fridge, coffee maker and microwave oven. The bathroom has a shallow bath with shower over the top.
Our standard lake view room had a good sized balcony with a small table and 2 chairs.
Staying at Bay Lake Tower was incredible. It did cost us a lot of points! (137 to be precise). However this stay as a cash equivalent would have been over $5000 which is something we would never be able to afford had we not purchased DVC. The ease of staying so close to the parks meant we didn't feel the need to rush around, and with our park hopper we could pop into Magic Kingdom in the evening just to enjoy some quieter wait times while everyone else watched the fireworks. I would stay here again if my points will allow.