Disney's Contemporary Resort

FOURTH LOCATION

Disney’s Contemporary Resort

What is this fancy place?

Get ready to experience fanciness from the future! The Contemporary Resort is Tomorrowland’s counterpart, and has all the sleek lines, wavy lights, indoor monorail tracks, and futuristic beauty one could ask for. It opened in 1971 (so one of the first on-site hotels), and is located on the man-made Seven Seas Lagoon. It provides monorail, boat and bus transportation.

First Impression of the Fanciness

The Contemporary is the resort from my childhood. Every time I step off the monorail nostalgia jump-kicks me in the gut. The monorail goes right through the heart of the resort, so when I disembark I’m immediately welcomed by the sights and sounds of the modernistic (oh, sorry, futuristic) hotel. Okay, so I’m always comparing it to the Contemporary of my past, so I don’t think all the shops are fancy (there used to be live music there instead), they clog up the open floor plan and...anyway, enough whining.

The Contemporary Resort is known for its iconic A-frame and its beautiful mosaics by Mary Blair (Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Cinderellla, ‘it’s a small world’).

Mary Blair's mosaic
Fancy center piece of the Contemporary

It also has a muted, professional color palette. There is a conference center that dominates the second floor, so everything is beige, cream and black except for the occasional odd splash of color (see the floor!). It feels fancy like all the other hotels, but in a more professional-fancy way. Still, I love its understated colors and sharp architecture. But in all this professional space and sparse nooks, is there a place to settle in and write?

Fancy Writing Spaces?

I first try the third floor. That’s where all the shops are, where the monorail station is, where the quick-service café is, and where Chef Mickey’s is. So it’s a pretty busy floor. I find a relatively new addition, the Outer Rim Lounge, and like a niffler searching for gold, I find an outlet! 

However, there’s no real table for me to sit at, and there’s no outlets in the quick-service so I can’t move there. But I curl up in the arm chair, laptop in my lap (earning its name haha!), and put on my headphones to block out the noise of all the families waiting for their dinner. It’s cramped, and dark, and the chair is comfortable…soon I find myself dozing off and not writing at all. Oops.

Outer Rim Lounge

My set-up

But I refuse to give up! I pack up my things and head to the other floors. The first floor (lobby floor) has some promising outlets, but it feels too weird for me to write there.

Fancy-pants Lobby

It’s too open, there’s too many people, and I’m way too picky so…I head to the second floor, the conference room floor. I’ve relaxed in some of the cushy armchairs before, but it still seems like I’m just sitting in a walkway, so I meander around and then…viola! 

My set-up

My view

I turn a corner and there are some seats I’ve never seen before! And an outlet is in the ground, lucky me! I sit on the couch and claim my space. 

For the rest of the night, I am completely alone! I can hear people on the other side of the corner, but they don’t come and investigate near the conference room. It’s plenty bright so I don’t fall asleep (you’ve noticed I tend to do that…), plenty spacious so I can throw my stuff everywhere and stretch, and yet completely empty so I’m not disturbed or distracted. 

  

I get lots of writing done there and stamp my mission a success! This fancy, futuristic hotel does have writing spaces for a writer willing to do a little exploring! And writing by conference rooms is always fancy J

Special Fancy Extras

Like the Polynesian, the Contemporary plays movies outdoors as well. But instead of sitting on a beach…you’re sitting in a quaint outdoor theater! Also, you can still see Magic Kingdom’s fireworks, and you can have the best view of the water show out on the beach. 

For the holiday season, you can see massive ginger bread pieces built by the hotel's own bakers. Many Disney hotels do this each year, and it's all designed, baked and pieced together by Disney cast members. They even have some yummy free samples :). 

Fancy ginger bread creations!