In this post, we review the Atrium Club, the Club Level offering at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. If this is the first post of ours you’re reading, there might be two others you’re interested in. First, we have separately reviewed the Contemporary Resort. If you’re looking for information about the hotel generally, including pictures of our Theme Park View room, you’ll need to read that post.
Second—and maybe more importantly—we have an entirely separate post covering the ins and outs of Club Level at Walt Disney World. If you’re wondering about the details of whats included, whether it’s worth it, and just how we evaluate it broadly, you’ll want to check out that post. This post focuses specifically on the Atrium Club Lounge at Contemporary.
Booking Club Level at Contemporary
Club Level is a special room designation at all the the deluxe resorts (and one moderate resort) at Walt Disney World that includes a variety of perks. If you’re interested in reading about Club Level at the other deluxe resorts, we have reviews here (links open in new tabs):
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kilimanjaro Club Level Review
Disney’s Contemporary Resort - Atrium Club Level Review (you are here)
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort - Royal Palm Club (Main Building) Level Review
Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort - King Kamehameha Club Level Review
Disney’s Coronado Springs (Moderate Resort) - Chronos Club Level Review
We booked our Main Tower Club Level Theme Park View room through our choice go-to travel agent, Lauren Quirk of Travel With Character LLC. Our favorite way to book stays like this is with an Annual Passholder, but unfortunately we had to pay the full rack rate for this stay.
For 2024, Theme Park View Atrium Club Level rooms at Contemporary range from $1100 to $1897 per night. By contrast, Main Tower Theme Park View rooms (not Club Level) range from $900 to $1423 per night and the Contemporary’s lowest priced room in 2024 is a Garden wing room that ranges from $572 to $1043.
Contemporary’s Complicated Club Levels
There are actually two clubs at Contemporary—Atrium and Tower. In any reasonable world, this wouldn’t be too complicated, but this is Disney World, so it is. When you visit the Disney World website to book Contemporary, in the Club Level section of room categories you’ll see one of three clauses in the descriptions:
Plus, enjoy access to the Atrium Club.
Plus, enjoy access to the designated Club Level Lounge.
Plus, enjoy access to the Tower Club.
The Disney World website has one main room category that specifically grants access to the Atrium Club, “Theme Park View — Atrium Club Level.” These are rooms in the Main Tower, on the side of Magic Kingdom, with access to Atrium Club. There are some Garden Wing suites that also are assigned to Atrium Club.
The remainder of the suites, and only those suites, are assigned to Tower Club. Then there are three categories, “Resort View - Club Level”, “Resort View - King - Club Level”, and “Standard Room - Club Level” that just are assigned to “the designated Club Level Lounge”, which presumably means they allocate them to either Atrium or Tower for their stay based on crowd levels in those lounges.
Further complicating this is that these last two categories—“Resort View - King - Club Level” and “Standard Room - Club Level”—also have this not-totally-incredible theming that consists of a few touches of Edna Mode or Frozone:
I’ve never stayed in the Tower Club, though I hope to one day (just for the sake of completeness). But I wouldn’t book any of these weirdo room categories that have incomplete theming and no pre-designated lounge. For me, I’m booking either “Theme Park View — Atrium Club Level” which is totally unambiguous, or (if I’m so lucky as to find a good reason), one of the suites specifying Tower Club access.
Contemporary Club Level Check-In
While we always use Disney World’s online check in before our stays, you also want to make sure you talk to the reception at the club in order to get aquainted with the lounge.
I stopped by the front desk (of the hotel, not the club staff) to see if a room could be made ready. Unfortunately it couldn’t, and the Cast Member asked if I wanted to “wait down here, or you could go to a park.”
This is the second time this odd interaction has happened to me as a Club Level guest. It’s definitely not impolite, but the standard protocol should just be to hand me off to the lounge staff. At the very least, I should be told “as a club level guest you’re welcome to go upstairs and enjoy the lounge while you wait.” Since I’m a returning guest I knew that option, but not all guests will.
This isn’t so much a complaint, more a practical tip that you’ll sometimes have to be proactive about getting up to the lounge, and, more importantly, a reminder that you get lounge access on check-in and check-out day regardless of whether you can occupy your room.
Anyways, I headed upstairs to check in with lounge staff. This is something you’ll always want to do. You’ll get acquainted with the lounge and its offerings, along with getting the welcome letter.
Contemporary Club Level Perks
Again, our post on Club Level at Walt Disney World more generally is a better place to get a sense of the value of Club Level. Briefly though, by staying Atrium Club Level at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, you’ll get:
access to a lounge (The Atrium Club Lounge) with small food and beverage servings throughout the day
access to a dedicated concierge staff, including by phone and text
The first of these is really the most important, and it’s what we focus most on in this review. As for the second…no Cast Member is a magician these days. Is it theoretically possible for lounge staff to get you “impossible” Lightning Lanes? Sure. Will you get these just by asking or complaining about an issue? Unlikely.
The “concierge” function of the lounge staff is primarily for people who don’t read this blog (or similar sites) and will need guidance on the basics of visiting the park. Secondarily, in some cases they might be able to resolve minor issues. But club guests aren’t entitled to extra Lightning Lanes or anything of the sort.
As a guest of a deluxe resort at Disney World, you’ll also get all the perks of a Disney stay, like Early Theme Park Entry and transportation to the parks, plus the deluxe-exclusive Extended Evening Hours.
The Atrium Club Lounge
The Atrium Club Lounge is one big room with a dividing wall and three balconies overlooking Seven Seas Lagoon and Magic Kingdom. Entering the lounge you’ll be in the open serving area:
There’s a row of tables just off the serving area:
And a large seating area in back:
The lounge has seating for around 40 people. Six of those seats are on the three balconies. This is about average for a Disney club lounge.
The lounge was recently remodeled. It’s significantly less cluttered and more streamlined, which is an upgrade. That said, we were quite happy with the design before, so it struck us a bit to see that this is where Disney would invest their money.
The View from the Atrium Club Lounge
From the lounge, you can see into Magic Kingdom (albeit from a short distance). This is different from the King Kamehameha lounge at Polynesian where you’re looking directly at Magic Kingdom, but from a much greater distance.
This overhead view makes quite a difference (pics don’t do it justice, honestly), as anyone walking around Seven Seas Lagoon or riding the monorail gets a good view at Magic Kingdom. The Contemporary parking lot is unfortunately a part of the view, but we’ve always felt that’s a fine trade for this unique perspective into the park.
How much credit does one give this view? It’s a tough question. A Theme Park View room not Club Level is actually cheaper than a Club Level room by about $200 nightly.
So if the view is what you want, there are cheaper ways to get it. Plus you won’t have to fight for balcony space (and deal with all the noisy people) when it comes time to watch fireworks.
That said, the 12th and 14th floor rooms (for Club Level guests) and the lounge will have the best views. And this is a review of the lounge itself. Whether it’s “worth it” is worth putting aside for a moment. The plain fact is that when you sit in this lounge, you’re in a constant sense of awe because of the views.
Note: Yes, those are the same “view” pictures from my room review. We were two rooms from the lounge, so I’m not being picky about which was which.
We have a post Comparing Theme Park Views of Magic Kingdom at the Monorail Resorts if you’re set on a special view.
Crowds at the Atrium Club Lounge
We don’t always dedicate a separate section to crowds at the lounge, but there are a few points of note here. First, this was the most family-filled lounge at the resort.
This makes sense as it’s the best resort for visiting Magic Kingdom. Grand Floridian is also a popular choice for Magic Kingdom fans, but it’s safe to say the Club Level crowd there trends a little older.
This didn’t bother us at all, but if you don’t like kids you might have a problem. There was climbing on furniture, crying, running around, and all that (okay, most of that was our kid, so maybe that’s why we didn’t mind it).
This is obviously a “risk” at any Disney lounge, and frankly we think it would be silly to hold a slightly higher concentration of kids against the Atrium Club.
The other big issue was during fireworks. On one stay, we were visiting over a cool few days, and one night people didn’t love going outside and instead obstructed access to the balconies with chairs and tables. On another stay, families staked claims to the balconies over 30 minutes before the show started.
We found this a bit ridiculous, but it highlights the popularity of the lounge’s firework view (they also do play the music in the lounge during the fireworks).
This is of course a problem if you’re paying for the lounge for the view. But as we have already and will again discuss, if it’s the view you need, there are cheaper ways to get it.
As it usually is, breakfast was the most popular meal and the one where the lounge operated around capacity. Few people are lounging around too long, though, so if you arrive and it’s full you can probably just wait a few minutes for a table to open.
Service at Contemporary’s Atrium Club
Pre-closure, I made a big deal of service at Disney’s club lounges. This is partly because, well, at that price you have to make a big deal of something and food is not anywhere in my wheelhouse.
Post-reopening, things are trickier. It’s simply not the norm, and probably won’t be for a while, for Cast Members to constantly be walking up to you, greeting you, and chatting with you. These are things I previously held in high regard because part of club level service is making you feel at home. Now, it’s probably not reasonable to be overly critical.
That said, I had only positive interactions with the Cast Members. I chatted with one about the refurbishment the lounge recently received, and I was always able to promptly get beverages when I asked. I had a lingering (wonky, so I won’t go into detail) question about a room category at Contemporary, and the available CMs chatted with me and attempted to figure it out for a few minutes.
Is it the same as being approached with a “Welcome back Mr. X, how was the park today, can I get you a —?” on cue? No. But years of being told we need to stay six feet apart is probably going to render that level of service an unreasonable demand for a bit.
As I’ll mention again, Club Level is one of the areas Disney has made small cuts this last year. I’m seeing this pretty frequently in premium offerings (like Magic Kingdom dessert parties)—cuts small enough that the average guest, and maybe even the average professional, won’t notice, but where those of us who have been documenting these things for years will roll our eyes a bit.
In this case I want to note we previously received a beautiful box of welcome chocolates on arrival, and those have apparently been cut. Is a new guest arriving and thinking “boy I wish I got a welcome gift?” No, but it was a really nice surprise back in the day.
Contemporary Club Level Servings, Food, and Beverage
The Atrium Club has four servings according to the following schedule:
6:30AM to 10:00PM - Coffee
7:00AM to 10:30AM - Continental Breakfast
11:30AM to 4:00PM - Afternoon Snacks
5:00PM to 7:00PM - Hors D’Oeuvres
8:00PM to 10:00PM - Cordials and Desserts
On the subject of cuts, the previous nice stationary (maybe even card stock) welcome letter has been replaced by something that looks like it came out of a new budget office printer.
The lounge itself is open 24 hours (due to its open position in the building) though it’s only serviced from 7:00AM to 10:00PM. During those hours, you can request simple alcoholic beverages (beer, wine, and champagne). Included alcohol is what makes club level a serviceable hotel option for adults visiting Disney World.
Throughout the day, coffee, tea, cold beverages, and refrigerated beverages are also available.
Servings were typically cut off on schedule, and the Cast Members alerted guests that they’d be breaking down the serving in case you wanted to grab anything last-minute.
Continental Breakfast at the Atrium Club (7AM to 10:30AM)
Continental Breakfast was standard, but in that standardness one of the food highlights of the lounge.
Afternoon Snacks at the Atrium Club (11:00AM to 4:00PM)
The Afternoon Snacks are a huge disappointment if you have any expectations at all. This is just simple, prepackaged snacks. Honestly they should just cut this from the schedule and treat it like coffee, noting it’s available all day (I didn’t try by I find it hard to believe a Cast Member wouldn’t give me a bag of chips at 5PM if I asked).
Hors D’Oeuvres at the Atrium Club (5PM to 7PM)
Hors D’Oeuvres was the highlight of the servings. With beef, salmon, and chicken available during our stay you could pretty easily put together a small dinner and supplement it by overindulging in desserts. The vegetarian option was just tater tots, though, so we couldn’t make a full meal of that.
Cordials and Desserts at the Atrium Club (8PM to 10PM)
Desserts were another disappointing serving in terms of quantity. The quality was good, though, and two servings of each item is more than enough for an adult who also enjoyed Hors D’Oeuvres.
Breaking Down Atrium Club’s Price
Before we get to the conclusions, I want to talk about how much you’re really paying for Atrium Club access. Let’s compare some prices at Contemporary. I’m going to use the prices from an early 2024 date with the lowest price for a Theme Park View – Atrium Club Level room.
Note this might not be the date with the lowest price for all the other room types, but it will be close.
Theme Park View (Main Tower) - Atrium Club - $1100
Main Tower - Theme Park View - $903
Main Tower - Water View - $804
Garden Wing – Resort View - $572
So, for $572 you get a night at Contemporary, a great hotel with amazing access to Magic Kingdom. For $232 more, you can put yourself into the Main Tower at Contemporary. For $99 more you can get a view of Magic Kingdom (a great upgrade, in my opinion). And then for $197 more you can get access to Atrium Club.
As noted above, there might be other Club Level room categories worth considering, but because of so much ambiguity on the Disney site, I’d stay away from them. For me, the above math is how I look at—which of these marginal upgrades makes sense for you, and which doesn’t.
All in all this is a situation where you need to think carefully about what it is you’re hoping to get out of your entire Contemporary experience. We rank Contemporary as the best deluxe resort at Walt Disney World because of its good rooms and incredibly easy access to Magic Kingdom. So there are plenty of reasons to consider the cheapest rooms and ignore the Main Tower. But the Main Tower Theme Park View is definitely a worthy “bucket list” item at Walt Disney World.
Disney’s Contemporary - Atrium Club - Conclusions
While Atrium Club used to be one of our favorite clubs, our experiences since reopening suggest the lounges have sort of converged to a more basic level of service. I discussed this above, but whatever small differences in personal service existed before the closure are basically moot in the new normal.
What’s most appealing about Atrium Club—very ironically—is its price. Yes, it’s wildly expensive. But most of that is paying for (1) the Contemporary’s quality and walking access to Magic Kingdom and (2) the views. When you look at prices on the margin—i.e. assuming you’re already paying for a premium Contemporary room—the Club isn’t too much more. A Theme Park View Club Level room is about $200 more than a Theme Park View without Club Level—not nothing, but not awful when you’re already in these stratospheric prices.
We like to compare a couple of adults visiting Disney World to a family of four. Generally, the family will have an easier time covering the club level premium because they’ll eat more food.
While that’s still true, even two adults won’t have too much trouble justifying a $200 premium. Keep in mind you’re a short trip from Magic Kingdom—which has limited alcohol—and you’ll have the beautiful view of fireworks…depending on crowds. On balance, we love Atrium Club for all guests.
If you’re looking for an alternative perspective, I recommend Disney Tourist Blog. Tom makes some good points and concludes, basically, that Atrium is never worth the price. I disagree, but you should read his review to see how it sways you.
As for me…despite having positive experiences at other Club Levels, I never thought I’d say one was actually worthy of serious consideration for most travelers who can afford it. But if you can, you should give serious consideration to the Atrium Club Level at Disney’s Contemporary Resort!
The Atrium Club Lounge at Contemporary is a Rarity—a Worthy Disney Club Level That Deserves a Spot on Your Bucket List
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