Disney's Contemporary Resort Review - Theme Park View [Incredibles Room]

Disney’s Contemporary Resort is a deluxe resort at Walt Disney World located just steps away from Magic Kingdom. Everyone knows the building from its unique design and from the fact that it sits literally on top of the monorail line, but does it measure up to Disney’s other deluxe resorts? Read on to find out!

The Basics and Booking Disney’s Contemporary Resort

Contemporary Resort is a deluxe level Walt Disney World Resort hotel along the Magic Kingdom monorail, and connected to Magic Kingdom by a walking path.

 

Deluxe resorts are Disney’s best hotels. If you’re considering Contemporary, you may want to read some of our other posts. We have a ranking of the Disney World deluxe resorts. We also have a guide to all the hotels of Walt Disney World.

 

And here are our reviews of all the deluxe resorts (links open in new tabs):

And if you’d like to see where this resort falls overall, check out our complete Disney World hotel rankings.

 

Rack rates for standard rooms at Contemporary in 2025 start at $609 per night. This compares to $816 at Grand Floridian and $734 at Polynesian. (Also worth noting—due to the variety of room types, you need to be extra diligent to make sure the Disney World website shows you the lowest prices here.)

For our most recent stay, we paid $592 per night for a Main Tower Theme Park View room. We booked through our choice travel agent, Lauren Quirk of Travel With Character LLC. This was an annual Passholder offer rate, a discount from the $900 rack rate.

On a previous visit, we booked a Main Tower Club Level Theme Park View room. We paid $1204 per night for that stay because no offers were available. Here’s a look at some sample rates for a September stay:

A look at some pre-tax rates for an September 2024 stay

Between standard offers and maybe discounted prices at Expedia or Priceline, there may be times when rates get down to around $500. Alternatively, you can rent Disney Vacation Club points to stay at neighboring Bay Lake Tower.

Guests at Disney hotels—including Contemporary—get a wide range of perks, including Early Theme Park Entry, Extended Evening Hours (Deluxe Hotels only), and early access to Lightning Lane booking. While it’s a good hotel (as you’ll see) the real reason to stay at Contemporary in our mind is the location. You can get fantastic theme park views and are within walking distance to Magic Kingdom.

Arrival and Check-In at Contemporary Resort

We arrived via Uber from our nearby apartment. If you’re flying in, you’ll need to have a plan for getting between MCO and your hotel.

There was no line to check in, but our room wasn’t ready. As we were Club Level guests, we headed up to hang out in the Atrium Club - the Club Level lounge at Contemporary Resort.

If you check in online, or you arrive early, and your room isn’t ready, you can leave your bags with bell services and easily walk to Magic Kingdom. Our room was ready at about 12:45PM, well in advance of the 3PM technical check-in time.

Contemporary Resort Grounds and Theming

There are four buildings on the Contemporary campus. The Main Tower is the building you’re probably most familiar with. It houses the restaurants, stores, some hotel rooms, and is the building the monorail goes through.

The South Garden Wing is a three floor structure next to the Main Tower that houses the lower-priced rooms (same quality rooms, worse location).

Also on the south end is a Convention Center, which we won’t be discussing any further.

Finally, Bay Lake Tower is a 16-story Disney Vacation Club property located just north of the Contemporary’s Main Tower.

Technically Bay Lake Tower is “Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort,” but we’re not going to discuss it at all in this review, as most of its amenities are restricted to its own guests.

If you’re unfamiliar with the above view, it’s the view of Contemporary Resort from the Seven Seas Lagoon, which is the body of water the monorail goes around and which houses Magic Kingdom, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian.

Behind Contemporary is Bay Lake, pictured below. Bay Lake is beautiful, but besides being able to spot the Fort Wilderness boat dock or the top of Wilderness Lodge in the distance, you won’t find many notable views.

There are two pools at Contemporary, both behind the hotel overlooking Bay Lake. The simply named Contemporary Feature Pool is the feature pool, and has a water slide and play area.

The Bay Pool is smaller but sits closer to Bay Lake.

Contemporary does not have a “grand” open lobby like Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom Lodge, or Polynesian. The lobby, located on the first floor, is large and has ample seating, but it isn’t a space that begs for your time.

Most of the action on the Main Tower occurs on the fourth floor. This is where you’ll find restaurants, shopping, the monorail entrance, and the Observation Deck.

The Observation Deck is a nice little “secret” spot to grab a view of Magic Kingdom (and the Magic Kingdom Fireworks). The space itself is not attractive, but it does have a decent view.

I don’t want to dedicate too much time to the theme of the Contemporary. The name of the hotel speaks for itself—the hotel has always tried to maintain a Modern, functional aesthetic.

There is scattered artwork, lots of geometric patterning, and the fourth floor is the gigantic, open space with the remainder of the floors around it.

The look is definitely not for everyone, and maybe especially for kids it may fall a little short (while kids will have a wild time at, say, Art of Animation). That said, we like Contemporary for its functionality, particularly its location. The theme is fine and, to most, inoffensive, so let it be.

Our Contemporary Main Tower Theme Park View Room

Contemporary’s rooms have been refurbished to Incredibles theming. Some rooms, primarily suites, have minimal to no Incredibles theming. There are also some room types that have theming specific to Frozone or Edna Mode. You can see these distinctions in the photos on the booking page.

As some of Disney’s newest rooms, its unsurprising they’re among the best at Walt Disney World. While overall we love the new rooms across Walt Disney World, we definitely prefer some updates to others. The Contemporary rooms were pretty good pre-refurbishment, in our opinion, but with this update we’d put them with Polynesian as the best at the resort.

Click through the galleries in this section for more pictures!

If you’re not big into the Incredibles, the theming might strike you as odd. This is in contrast to, say, the Moana rooms at Polynesian which still retain “Polynesian” vibes regardless of whether you know Moana. The themed pillows are great, for example, but with insufficient Incredibles knowledge you might be forgiven for thinking the theming is “I dunno, space people?”

This flip side is that even being casually acquainted with the Incredibles is enough to help you appreciate the details, like the Jack-Jack wall art, the uniforms at the back of the closet, or the curtains with the characters flying around the monorail (the monorail plays are great role in the theming of the room, too).

My only complaint about the room is the odd placement of the desk. Rather than a traditional couch-chair combo, the couch (which turns into a bad) has an extension. This means that you can’t sit anywhere (except the bed) and watch TV. It’s a small complaint.

I don’t have much to say about the bathrooms, besides one important thing—the absolutely awful sinks are finally gone! If you don’t know about the bad awful sinks of the past, consider yourself lucky. One of the best design touches in the room is the etched monorail on the mirror.

I did have one fairly large complaint on my last stay—the shower pressure was awful. I was on a daily running schedule, and this was an August trip, so I was on multiple showers in a day. This was a pretty big shortfall for a relatively new room.

Of course, the theme park view helps make things feel a bit better. We have a post Comparing Theme Park Views of Magic Kingdom at the Monorail Resorts if you’re set on a special view.

People are mixed on the Contemporary view. It includes lots of parking lot and it doesn’t face the park squarely. We have little problem looking past that. The parking lot is one thing, but the angled view from above is actually pretty cool. You get to see the park from a totally new vantage point. The firework placement is a little awkward, sure, because those are meant to be viewed head on.

Location & Transportation at Contemporary Resort

We’ll first cover transportation to the parks and Disney Springs before covering the resorts that are easily accessible from Contemporary.

 

Getting from Contemporary to the Parks and Disney Springs

From Contemporary, you’re a ten-minute walk from the Magic Kingdom. During peak times, the walkway can get crowded and a line at the single security point will develop, but these are minor issues you can plan around. (If you’ve mastered Magic Kingdom rope drop strategy, you’ll arrive early enough to avoid any long security line.)

Before we go on, I want to emphasize how much I value this walking path. Magic Kingdom is generally a transportation nightmare. It’s the only park you cannot Uber or drive directly to, which means Disney transportation owns the day.

From all resorts outside the Magic Kingdom area, you’ll be relying on bus transportation to get to Magic Kingdom. This can go—and often does go—smoothly. But we’ve also had multiple trips between Magic Kingdom and other hotels that took over an hour.

 

Nowadays you can walk between Magic Kingdom and Grand Floridian (20ish minutes) and Polynesian (25-30ish minutes). Personally we don’t mind the longer walk, so we consider those walking paths pretty valuable, but if the 10-20 minute difference matters to you, Contemporary’s shorter path will be your preference.

The monorail and boats can be a bit better, but they’re far from perfect. Disney’s monorail system has many issues. In one example, guests at the Contemporary (ironic, I know) were just not allowed onto passing monorails with no explanation:

And with boats you’re always counting on frequency and capacity. The only way to guarantee convenient access to the most popular theme park in the world is to stay at Contemporary Resort (or, again, with a longer walk, Polynesian and Grand Floridian). By the way—you also can take the monorail from Contemporary to Magic Kingdom, but it’s a longer trip of about 15 minutes.

Coming back to Contemporary, you’re the first stop.

For every stellar perk, there’s a big drawback. Getting to Epcot from the Magic Kingdom resorts is unnecessarily complicated.

From Contemporary, you’ll need to plan for around 30 minutes because you need to take a monorail one stop to Transportation and Ticket Center and then transfer to the Epcot monorail.

There’s a persistent myth that taking the monorail from the monorail hotels to Epcot is a “perk.” In isolation, it’s easy to see why it looks that way. With multiple stays at every Disney hotel (except DVC properties) under my belt, I’m here to tell you this isn’t really a perk.

I might be in the minority, but I don’t really find it acceptable for a deluxe resort to not at least have bus transportation to Epcot.

Now that the buses post wait times, I’d much rather plan to take a 10-minute bus ride to Epcot than have to play the monorail wait + transfer + wait game.

Disney feels the monorail is sufficient. If the monorails always or nearly always ran smoothly and consistently, with no backups at security or inexplicable multi-minute delays, I’d agree. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Line to get through security and on the monorail at Contemporary

We always recommend you also consider using Uber at Walt Disney World. There is also the official Disney rideshare option, Minnie Vans.

To Hollywood Studios (15 min), Animal Kingdom (15 min), Disney Springs, Typhoon Lagoon, and Blizzard Beach you’ll rely on bus if you’re sticking to free Disney transportation.

Contemporary sometimes shares buses with Wilderness Lodge, particularly during the middle of the day.

Guests who bring a car to Disney World will have free parking at Contemporary and the theme parks. You won’t need to drive to Magic Kingdom, but you’ll be 10-15 minutes from the other parks.

Contemporary stays are greatly improved by a car. You’ll have the best access to Magic Kingdom (walking, so you don’t have to park at Ticket and Transportation Center), and quick access to the other three parks by driving.

Visiting Other Resorts from Contemporary

Via the monorail, you can easily access Polynesian Village and Grand Floridian. Both of these resorts have excellent dining and drinking options, as well as enjoyable decor, so we recommend finding time to visit them if you can.

Via boat (from the docks behind Contemporary) you can access Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness. We’re big fans of both of these properties and their restaurants, but boat transportation is slower and less frequent than the monorail. Consider making a dining reservation as one of these, but don’t feel too obligated to ride the boat around just to see them.

For adults visiting Disney World, both of these groups of hotels can be combined into a bar crawl. Even if you’re not drinking, a resort crawl to check out some of the other hotels is always a fun activity.

Food and Drink at Contemporary Resort

Contemporary has a pretty standard lineup of restaurants for a deluxe resort—one casual table service, one buffet, one signature table service, one quick service, one pool bar, and one regular bar. Additionally, it has its own coffee shop in the lobby. We’ll go through these briefly.

Keep in mind that you’re also just a monorail ride away from dining at Magic Kingdom, Grand Floridian, and Polynesian. You’re also a boat ride away from Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness, the latter home to the famed Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue.

Quick Service Food at Contemporary

I’ll begrudgingly concede that there are some decent deluxe resort quick service options around, and Contemporary has one. Contempo Cafe, located on the fourth floor next to Chef Mickey’s and Outer Rim Lounge, serves standard quick service options (breakfast of eggs, waffles etc.; later meals of burgers, pizza, etc.) from something like 7AM to 11PM, which are pretty good hours.

Additionally, The Sand Bar pool bar has a limited quick service menu during midday.

Table Service Restaurants at Contemporary Resort

Contemporary Resort has three table service restaurants. While we have some meals at some of these years ago, for all intents and purposes we might as well assume we’ve never eaten at any of them. We’ll briefly describe the restaurants. For reviews we recommend you check out Disney Tourist Blog and Disney Food Blog.

Chef Mickey’s, located on the fourth floor next to Outer Rim Lounge and Contempo Cafe, is the famed character meal spot at Contemporary. Frankly, we’ve eaten there multiple times and know several reviewers agree with us that you’re basically just paying for the “Big Five” characters (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, and Goofy) here.

A lot of people complain that the experience is overpriced, and some people even go so far as to mock people who pay for breakfast here (uncool, bro). Personally, we’re a little more neutral. It’s an efficient way to get some breakfast and get your character greetings out of the way so the little ones don’t have to wait an hour at a park to meet Mickey. At our last visit, I also felt like the character greetings were really rushed. The bulk happened in quick succession, which sort of left Zoe wanting a bit more.

All that said, there are better character dining options at Disney World.

Chef Mickey’s serves breakfast, brunch, and dinner. Reservations highly recommended.

Steakhouse 71 is the casual table service option at Contemporary, located on the first floor next to the lobby and serving a pretty standard steakhouse menu.

California Grill is the “big deal” restaurant at Contemporary. Sitting atop the Main Tower, this signature option requires two table service credits for guests on a Disney Dining Plan (returning 2024). While the food, service, and ambiance are deservedly heralded, the real highlight of the experience is the view of Magic Kingdom. Check-in is located on the second floor.

Bars at Contemporary Resort

Besides the Sand Bar pool bar, there is one dedicated lounge at Contemporary Resort plus two restaurant lounges.

Outer Rim Lounge is a bar overlooking Bay Lake right next to Chef Mickey’s and Contempo Cafe on the fourth floor of the Contemporary. This is actually one of our least favorite hotel bars on property. The view is okay, but the open environment means you’re constantly dealing with the noise from the nearby restaurants. There’s just no intimacy.

Steakhouse 71 Lounge is the bar associated with the Steakhouse 71 restaurant. While it gets busy during peak dinner time, we prefer it to Outer Rim for its stylish vibe and—in the later hours—quiet environment. Mostly, we like Steakhouse 71 for a quick stop after Magic Kingdom closes and before we grab an Uber home.

The California Grill Lounge is a great way to get up to the 15th floor to see the view and what it’s all about…if you can get space. With the check-in area on the second floor, it’s common for the California Grill staff to deny access to anyone without a reservation.

Contemporary Grounds Coffee Shop

On the first floor just off the lobby is the Contemporary Grounds coffee shop. There’s nothing particularly special about this spot, and it presumably is there mainly to serve people exiting on the way to the park or heading over to the conference center.

Recreation at Contemporary Resort

Contemporary Resort has a relatively robust menu of activities. The schedule is pretty typical of the resorts—campfires, movies, pool games.

Around the pool area behind Contemporary, you’ll find a pool table, foosball table, giant checkers board, bags boards, volleyball net, and complimentary sand toys, along with some seats overlooking Bay Lake.

From the Boat Nook Marina, you can pay to rent boats for a variety of excursions, including fishing and fireworks cruises.

Shopping at Contemporary Resort

Contemporary has three stores—Fantasia, Fantasia Market, and BVG (Bay View Gifts). All three are located on the fourth floor, opposite the restaurants. Fantasia is the spot to find toys, pins, novelty t-shirts, and other trinkets

BVG sells nicer clothes and some housewares, in addition to having a random pastry case.

Fantasia Market, which we don’t have a picture of, is hidden on the corner of the fourth floor behind Fantasia and sells snacks, medicine, newspapers, and DVC gear.

Disney’s Contemporary Resort — Conclusions

Overall Rating — 4.5/5

We rank Contemporary as the second best monorail resort, after Polynesian. The lowest priced rooms at Contemporary are a great value (though keep as eye on prices as the Incredibles remodeling finishes), but they book quickly. Contemporary used to have an advantage over the other monorail resorts because of its walking path, but now you can walk to Magic Kingdom from all three monorail resorts.

The Boardwalk area hotels (Yacht Club, Beach Club, BoardWalk Inn) offer walking access to two parks, and those hotels may be better for adults visiting Disney World or for families with older kids. If you’re going to spend a lot of time at Magic Kingdom, the monorail resorts are worthy of a night or two.

Generally, we favor doing a monorail resort as part of a split stay, preferably with a Skyliner resort (though if you can afford a Boardwalk area resort, go for it). This cuts down on the transportation issues, as you can easily visit Epcot and Hollywood Studios via Skyliner for that portion of your stay.

But our bottom line for Contemporary is simple—it isn’t Poly. Polynesian Village has rooms at least as good if not better, better theming, a better pool, and betters bars / restaurants.

Contemporary is good, and its walk to Magic Kingdom is much shorter (10 minutes vs. 20-30 minutes). With the new Incredibles rooms, these hotels are definitely “in the same league.” If the price or availability for your stay makes sense, then Contemporary is a good pick.

All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered

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Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.

When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!

Don't forget to master your Disney World Lightning Lane Guide and Strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, Epcot Lightning Lane Strategy, Animal Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, and Hollywood Studios Lightning Lane Strategy.

Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.

Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.