A Trip Report Forty Years in the Making: a Return to the Contemporary!

[The Foolish Mortal]

Welcome to my first Disney trip report for Dis Boards! I thought about updating it live from the parks during the trip, but decided I wanted to stay more in the moment and not be distracted by my phone. So this report is a recap of my family trip to the motherland last week. Hopefully, I remember most of the details (or at least the interesting ones). And there is no way I will drag this report out. I am lucky to recall everything a week after the trip ended, lol. There is no way I would remember months later. So if you like ride recaps, pics of WDW, and food reviews, read on ....

THE BACKGROUND

We go to Disney pretty frequently. Then, we became AP holders this past April and decided to increase our visits from frequent to at least monthly, lol. Clearly, I lead a fortunate life, lol. So for this trip, the travelling party was myself, my partner, and our three year old son. We also planned to meet up with a longtime friend that moved to Florida more than a year ago and also visits WDW fairly often. The plan was to leave on a Thursday morning, staying three nights at The Contemporary, hitting the parks a little the first two days, and then ending the trip with a full park day on Saturday. We made ADRs for Tonys, California Grill, and the Jungle Skipper. So, as Peter Pan says in Wendy’s bedroom, away we goooooooo!

DAY ONE

This was arrival day. We woke up pre-dawn to catch our early flight at the airport. As soon as we woke up our son, the first words out of his mouth were “We are going to Disney World?” Clearly, I am the model parent.

We flew Southwest and it was uneventful. Landed about twenty minutes early at MCO, did not wait long for our bags, and summoned a rideshare to take us to the resort. Little problem there. Our driver’s vehicle was a different color than the pic in the app. And she pulled up to the wrong door at MCO. So took us a few extra minutes to find her. Eventually, we squeezed into her car and she proceeded to drive to WDW ... the wrong way. Sigh. Don’t even get me started. In fact, I don’t want to relive that part of this trip so enough said. She was a nice lady and we eventually got to the Contemporary.

Once there, checkin was easy. In fact, as I would soon learn, it may have been too easy. The front desk attendant asked the fewest question and conveyed the least amount of info I have ever seen from a front desk worker at a Disney resort. That seemed ok because we are old pros at Disney and it got us on our way to our room faster. One problem, though, is that I have not stayed in the Contemporary in over forty years and let’s just say the garden wing (and the interminable walk to it) leaves a lot to be desired. I already posted a mini review of my thoughts on the garden wing in the gargantuan Contemporary thread in the Resorts forum, so I won’t repeat all that hear. Sufficed to say, I was not pleased with the garden win considering how much we were paying and can’t imagine ever staying there again (unless its a LOT cheaper). But hey, focus on the positive! Our room was ready and after a Bataan death march, we dropped our stuff and headed back to the bus stop for a ride to Disney Springs.

At least, that was the plan. Once we got to the bus stop, I assume we had just missed the Springs bus because the next one wasn’t arriving for 27 minutes. We were hungry, had no reservations at DS (just planned to grab some food and shop a little), so we modified our plan and walked back inside the Contemporary Contempo Cafe.

I was excited ot try the new Minnie Mouse cinnamon roll that had just debuted that week, so I jsut got a little cup of tomato basil soup and a water. Unfortunately, the roll was nowhere to be found! So my partner and I settled o the new monorail-looking smore cake thingy instead.

We go to pay and I pay with my magic band while the family finds a table. For some reason, my band continuously won’t go through! The cashier tried three times before calling over a manager. I have no idea what the problem is. Finally, the manager says she will call down to the front desk to find out the problem and will come update me. Sounds good and I get to our table just as the food arrives.

My soup was decent and the right size. The dessert we split was mediocre at best. I liked the little ****e chocolate monorail part. My partner liked the marshmellow part. Neither of us really cared for the brownie/cupcake part underneath. So I wouldn’t recommend it.

After a few minutes of eating, the manager comes over and explains that when we checked in, the front desk neglected to open our account for room charges (even though I had given them my credit card). Thanks silent chekcin lady! But at least it was resolved and the manager told me would have no problems charging to our bands going forward (and we did not). While the manager was there, I asked her if they had sold out of the new Minnie rolls. She sighed and explained that the rolls were coming out overcooked and were not the quality they had expected. So no more rolls today and hopefully they would have it fixed that evening or by the following day. I hoped so and still wanted to try it.

After eating, we decided to go to Epcot. Our son recently discovered the Three Caballeros cartoon on Disney Plus and had been watching it on a non-stop loop for the past month. So even thought he has ridden Its a Small Mexico (our name for it, lol) multiple times in the past, we thought he would really appreciate it this time.

We walked over to the mono elevator, said hi to that freak goat on the wall, and walked through security. My partner got wanded for some reason and my son immediately wanted to be wanded also! So the security guard played along, scanned him, and then let my son wave the wand on the guard, lol. He was a great sport about it. We rode the elevator up, monoed to the TTC, and then we were one mono Coral ride away from Epcot




Riding into Epcot, my son saw the outside of Guardians and started excitedly saying “rocket ship!” So once inside the park, he immediately wanted Spaceship Earth.






He shouted “astronaut!” and we hopped in line. The wait was about ten minutes and we were on board. I sat solo and got to go on adventure with my cartoon friend at the end of the ride




After Spaceship Earth, we did finally make our way to the Mexico pavilion.




The little guy was excited to see the Caballeros signs on the walls and he tried to sing the theme song when we got in our boat, lol. He enjoyed the ride. Glad Donald has transformed back into duck form from potted plant form, lol.

Off the ride, we bought the little guy some popcorn (and our first ever bucket; never did those in the past but glad we did this trip), I walked through the Creations Shop (didn’t see anything I couldn’t live without), and then it was time for a fancy soda tasting at Club Cool before we monoed Yellow back to the resort.




After hiking to the garden wing again, we unpacked and rested a bit before our dinner reservation at Tony’s in MK. For years, we avoided even trying Tony’s because of the mediocre reviews it gets online. But last year, my partner wanted to try it and we do not understand all the hate. We liked it just fine, so we booked it again for this trip.

We arrived a few minutes early and sat in the reception area. Our son ran over to the TV and watched Lady and the Tramp with other children. He has never seen it, so watching his reactions was hilarious. When Lady kept creeping out of her room to explore the house, my son would laugh and say “sneaky puppy.” And when the owners locked Lady in a room and she howled, my won got very worried and said “oh no!”. All the other children (a little older than him) were amused by his reactions. After a few minutes, our name was called and we were seated on the covered patio area.

Dinner was solid. We split the garlic bread, Caesar salad, and the spaghetti with Impossible meatballs. The salad was extremely basic, but the bread was very good (garlic was fresh), and the meatballs were solid. Overall, we enjoyed it.

After dinner, we wanted to kill time til the fireworks. I took some pics along Main Street

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

More from Main Street



Then we headed over to Buzz Lightyear. The wait was short and our son has been into Toy Story lately. We actually rode it twice and had a great time









It was dark when we exited the second time and we decided to walk through Fantasyland to Liberty Square

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

More from the night stroll












We grabbed a couple seats in the Liberty Square Market (it was empty) and waited a few minutes for the fireworks. Earlier this year, as used the night show as an excuse to ride Pirates with literally no other people on the ride. But we noticed then that our son had finally started taking an interest in the fireworks. So this trip, we wanted him to see them, but also avoid the crowds in front of the castle. We watched about the first ten minutes of the show when our son said he was ready for a ride! Yessssss! And of course, we were right next to my favorite ride without any line (read my screen name, lol). So we jumped on the Haunted Mansion! The stretching room scares my won, so I held him. But he likes the ride once he gets to sit down and look at everything. HM is the best! Really don’t need to say anything more.

After the ride, the night show was ending and people were rushing toward us to try and hop in short lines. So we decided to leave rather than ride anything else. That was a mistake, lol. We got caught outside the Crystal Palace in the stampede of people trying to leave. Actually, once we got to Main Street, it wasn’t too bad. It was busy, but you could move.

We stopped in the confectionary on our way out. My family each got a treat and I got myself the 100 Anniverssary rice Krispy treat (the purple one, lol). It is so good!!! I am headed back to Disney next week and I am already thinking about it again, lol.

Getting out of the park was difficult, but once we cleared the crowds at the gate, it was an easy walk to Contemporary. Let’s face it, the resort’s proximity to MK is easily the best reason to stay there. We made it back to our room, watched some Bluey while we ate our treats, and went to bed with a plan to try and get up early and hit MK at rode drop friday morning ....

Will post the day two recap once I type it up!

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

DAY TWO

Still reading? Well, get ready for a day of wild weather and really good food!

So Friday was a Halloween party day at MK. So our plan was to go to the park early if we felt like it, come back to the hotel in the early afternoon to enjoy the pools and meet up with our Florida friend, and then try our first meal at California Grill. I enjoy planning our trips. But I also don’t mind i when plans go awry. Which is what happened this day.

The park opened to resort guests at 7:30 this morning, so I set an alarm for 6:15 and my tired body instantly regretted that decision when the alarm went off. I sat up, noticed my partner and son weren’t stirring, and seriously considered goin back to sleep. Then, I don’t know why, I pulled myself out of bed, grabbed a red bull form the fridge, and started getting ready for a park day. Within a few minutes, I was energized and glad I got up. The rest of the family kept sleeping.

So I walked over to the MK entrance by myself and was third in line at the turnstile. Stood around for about twenty minutes before they started letting people in and contemplated what to do first. I settled on 7DMT. I don;t usually ride it because I don’t like the usual wait, don’t want to pay for the $ILL, and its usually not a rope drop priority for my family (especially since the little guy cannot ride it yet). Still, I was solo and decided to mix it up this trip. So as soon as I scanned in, I walked to the fantasyland rope drop. There was maybe ten people there before me. It was a nice feeling to be right at the rope.

By the time the rope dropped right at 7:30, there were a couple hundred people behind me. I am accustomed to seeing more people at RD, so that smaller than usual crowd boded well for the rest of the morning. When the rope came down, I limped toward the mine train. I am disabled and it slows me down a bit. So part of me thought very bad thoughts about the people that were behind me at the rope now pushing past me. But the other side of my brain understands and knew I would still be near the front. About thirty people actually got in the line ahead of me.

Fun little family ride. Its been a few years since I last rode it. I realized I had not missed much by skipping it the past few years, but still glad I did it. Plus, I was off the ride by 7:35, lol. So still plenty of bonus time.

Next, I walked over the Peter Pan. The wait timer said half an hour. It was actually less than half that. Got a few pics form the cute line








I always love the scene of flying over London!

After Peter Pan, it was still about ten minutes til the park opened to the general public. I debated what to do next and settled on .... a second rope drop! I walked over to the rope nearest Liberty Square and the Mansion. There were another dozen people waiting there with me. When the opening fireworks shot off, the rope dropped and I was first in line for the Haunted Mansion! Actually, a family from Minnesota and I reached the entrance door to the ride at the same time. Still, we each took pics for one another showing us in front of the Mansion. Its been my favorite ride for forty+ years and I realized I have never been the first on.

Once inside, I helped the Minnesota family find the spot in the stretching room closest to the door. When it opened, their young daughter desperately wanted to be the first on the ride. I kind of did too since I had never done that in all my years. But then I came to my senses and remembered that I am an adult, lol. Its not actually important to me the way it is important to a kid, so I let them go ahead of me in the line to the doom buggies.

The Mansion is the best! I know it. You know it. People that have never ridden it know it

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

As I got off the ride, the cast members handed caretaker cards to the family ahead of me for being the first riders of the day. The mom turned around and handed me one of the cards, which was very cool of her. I don’t believe in karma, but I do like it when I feel rewarded for being nice to someone else.

After the ride, I saw a text form my partner. She and our son were wrapping up some morning Bluey and headed ot the park soon. I told them I would meet them in Tomorrowland. I decided to take the long route and pop in Under the Sea on my way. It always has a short line. But then I realized I was hungry. I didn’t want to sit down and eat and the only quick to go stuff around me and open was pure sugar. Still, I couldn’t keep going on an empty stomach. So I popped in Gaston’s, unfortunately picked the slowest line humanly possible, and bought a grey stuff cupcake. I had eaten the miniature version at be Our Guest in the past, but this was the first time I had eaten a full sized one. It was really good. I understand why people like it so much.

After scarfing down the half pound of sugar, I got in line for the mermaid when I saw another text form my partner. They were already at park security! So I got out of line and booked it to Tomorrowland. I waited for them near the rocks








Then, it was time for Buzz again. And again! Thank you short lines!




After Buzz, we hopped in a short line for the Speedway. Our kid loves it. I guess all little children love rides where they feel like they are driving. It was fun as always

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

By the time we got off that ride, our Tron VQ had been called. I have ridden it a few times previously and liked more and more each time. So I was excited. We hurried over there, did a parent swap, and I got in line while the rest of the family headed over to Goofy and Dumbo. The ride was glitchy that morning and experiencing downtime, including as soon as I reached the point just outside the lockers!! Noooooooo! Some people started to leave. No way. I was too close. Glad I stayed. That delay was only about ten minutes.

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

I rode my light cycle next to a dad form Australia. His wife and daughter were ahead of us and it was the first time they had been on the ride. They were very excited and I teased them about what to expect. We all had a blast (take that Team Orange!). Afterward, I went to fantastyland to watch the little guy and ride Dumbo while my partner took her turn in the grid.

After my partner de-digitized, we walked over the Winnie the Pooh. Actual wait was less than ten minutes. Our son loves all the distractions in that line. It was hard to even keep him with us. I think he could live there. We enjoyed the ride and the fam then wanted so food. We mobile ordered form Cosmic Ray’s and the food was ready the moment we walked inside. Still being full of gray stuff sugar, I just made a snack of some fries while the rest of the family ate. I greatly prefer Columbia Harbor House, but my partner doesn’t really like it. So Ray’s and Sonny Eclipse it was. Glad to see he wasn’t a malfunctioning puff of smoke this day, lol.

After the meal, we walked back to new fantasyland for another round of Dumbo and Goofy. After that, I happened to check the afternoon weather. It was still sunny out, but my phone warned that very bad weather was coming. We debated heading across the park for another visit to the Mansion, but decided why push it if bad weather was coming? So we rode the train to Main Street with a plan to shop a little before heading back to the resort. During the train ride, the voice on the speakers warned about forthcoming lightening. It was still sunny, but uh oh.

We walked through the entire gift shop side of Main Street. Didn’t find anything I wanted, but we let the little guy get one souvenier on each trip. And he had had his eye (and grubby little hands) on a Zurg toy every time we went through the Buzz Lightyear gift shop. So bought him the Zurg and he was thrilled. My partner then wanted to walk over to the Starbucks to get a tea and buy a pink tumbler she had her eye on. When we got there, we received a text form our friend that she had arrived at her hotel (one of the All Stars) and was coming to meet us. Also, right then, my grey stuff infused stomach turned on me. We agreed that I should go ahead and depart for the resort while my partner waited on her tea and our friend to arrive at the MK gates. So I walked outside and noticed it was no longer sunny.

I hurried back to the Contemporary and got about three minutes away when the sky opened up. It was a serious deluge! Rain blowing sideways and my holding my hat on my head. Not that it mattered, everything was soaked!

I found the lobby restroom, felt better, and decided I would seek out the Minnie cinnamon roll from Contempo Cafe before heading to the room to meet family and friend. Upset stomach be damned! And it was in stock today! And that thing was huge! I am not sure what I expected, but that roll could easily feed multiple people. So I lugged my giant roll back to the garden wing and arrived just after the family and friend. Everyone was changing clothes and drying off while I tore into my new treat. Overall, I was a little disappointed. I ate almost half (saved the rest for tomorrow, but didn’t finish it then either). I don’t believe they solved the over-baking issue. It was extremely dry and didn’t have much cinnamon flavor. It was a big disappointment.

Over the next hour, ew all hung out in our room and caught up, waiting for the rain to end. When the rain ended, I decided to take a shower to clean up and we all decided some drinks before dinner would be fun. So, we jumped on mono teal and rode it to the Poly




We sat in the seats just outside Tambu Tambu and enjoyed a couple rounds of drinks. Our son loved the back scratcher that came with one of them. He called it his “sword” lol. After the drinks, we rode the mono loop back to Contemporary, went downstairs so the little guy could watch a little tv in the kids area of the lobby, and then headed upstairs for our California Grill dinner reservation.

If you have seen my other posts on here the past couple years, you know I am critical of Disney food. I do not understand the people that go gah gah over it. A lot of it is pretty generic theme park food. But the past couple years, I have admitted that the food in the sit down restaurants has really improved. California Grill was no exception!

Its a pre fixe menu. I selected the cheese ravioli, sea bass, and the cheese plate for desert (grey stuff and cinnamon roll was more than enough sugar for one day!). It was all excellent. Everyone loved their food. And of course the view form atop the Contemporary cannot be beat. We had a seat by window overlooking the MK. And since it was a Halloween party night, we saw a lot of lights and projections we normally would not see. It was a blast. I don’t have very good pics once it got dark (too much reflection from the restaurant lights), but here are a few good ones from before sundown












After dinner, our friend went back to her hotel and we crashed. For Saturday, we all planned to rope drop with genie+ and make a full day out of MK. So I really wanted as much sleep as I could get ....

 

[Jerzetta]

Love reading your trip report

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

Love reading your trip report

Thanks! I am hoping to get a summary of the final day typed up today

 

[footballmouse]

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

AY THREE

Time to see what I can recall form our final day at the parks!

We started early. I woke up shortly before 7 to purchase the genie+ for all of us and prepare for the Tron VQ scrum! And .... I won! Or at least I got us all passes for the VQ. Our number was over 100, so I knew it was going to be afternoon before we rode. I also grabbed us Peter Pan for our first LL.

With that planning behind me, I woke up the rest of the family and we got ready for the day at MK. We communicated with our friend at the All Star and we all agreed Buzz would be a good start at RD during our bonus time. So we all met up there, near the actual rope. Snapped a few pics while we waited








The rope went down and we hurried over to Buzz. We were one of the first groups on board and were able to ride it three times with virtually no wait. After Buzz, we stopped for some tea at Joffreys and then headed over to Peter Pan for our 9:10 LL. We got there just after the park opened to all guests and hopped on for a LL ride. I never noticed that you can put four people in one boat if the fourth is a lap rider. So we did that, all soared together over London, and my son shouted “mermaid, mermaid!” when we flew over that scene. A good time had by all. I also grabbed us a LL for the Mansion, so we walked there next.

So close to opening, the line wasn’t bad yet. So we rode standby with a less than five minute wait and then a second time with our LL passes. Got a couple good pics form inside the doom buggy

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

Since were were still near fantasyland, we decided to take the little guy on the carosuel and then get over to Ariel’s grotto for a meet and greet before the line got long. It was a good plan, except the horses took even longer to load and unload than usual. As a result, we missed the 10am opening of the grotto and the line was already 45 minutes by the time we got over there at 10:10. None of us wanted to wait that long, so decided to keep things flexible. Just ride whatever LL was quickly available that we wanted before our lunch reservation at the Jungle Skipper.

So I snagged us a LL for Pirates and we headed to Adventureland! We got the front row fo the boat and my son shouted “woooow!” as we sent down the hill, lol. It was a fun time, even if we got a little splashed by the cannonballs.

After that, we for LL for the magic carpets and even rode it a second time with a short wait. There weren’t any good LL close by or immediately available, so I snagged Thunder Mountain for after lunch and we showed up at the Jungle Skipper about 15 minutes early. They still seated us promptly. I love the decor here

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

The food is good too. Normally, my partner and I split a few times. But I knew I wanted more than a third of the family falaffel, so I ordered a separate one of those as my entree, lol. We all filled up, enjoyed the AC for a bit, and then headed out to Thunder Mountain.






Our timing was good. The little guy fell asleep in his stroller, so my partner and our friend rode it first and the my partner and I rode it together. After that, I estimated that we were still a couple hours away form our Tron callback, so my partner decided she wanted to head back to the contemporary for a break. Our friend wanted to stay in the park, so I stayed with her and we soldiered on. Plus, I snagged her a LL to meet Ariel in about 45 minutes, so she was thrilled.

To kill time until that LL, we stopped in the little gift shop by Gaston’s so my friend could get her hair pixie dusted. Then we rode Under the Sea. It was probably a 15 minute wait, so not bad. Which was appropriate since our LL time had arrived when we got off. I took a ton of pics of my friend with the fish lady. I declined taking any pics. Not trying to be critical of other guys who want to sit by her and do those pics, but I think its kind of creepy for an old, sweaty dude to cozy up next to a woman has his age in a mermaid bikini to take a picture! That’s just not me. But I enjoyed how happy it made my friend, so that was cool. And I’m sure Ariel appreciated not having my sweat near her, lol.

Next, I snagged us a LL for the Jungle Cruise. My partner hates that ride, so I knew she would not miss it. Again, we had a little time to kill, so our friend convinced me to give Monster Inc Laugh Factory a chance. I had never done it before. My expectations were pretty low, but it was cute and I was pleasantly surprised. I would guess that my son would like that in another year or so. So I am sure I will experience it again one day.

By the time we finished that, we went through some shops on Mian Street, a snack at columbia Harbor House, and headed toward the cruise. We had a good skipper. Plus, i realized I had not done a daytime Jungle Cruise since they added the new scenes. I believe the darkness of night makes most of the scenes (especially the older ones) more fun because its a little harder to see just how extremely fake it all is. But I did enjoy seeing all the new monkey and chimp scenes during the day. Plus, I think this monkey liked me




By the time we got off, my partner texted that they were awake and heading back to the park. So I got a LL for Buzz and we all met there. Our friend got her highest score ever (about 25k form maxing out!) and everyone ha da good time. Then, we got called for Tron.

The friend and I rode first. As I mentioned previously, its a short ride, but a really fun one. Plus, it was the first time I rode next to someone I know. So that was a blast. Afterward, my partner and the rode together as part of a parent swap. I waited for them in the Space Mountain gift shop and snagged a Space Mountain LL. The little guy dozed off, and I sat there exhausted. In fact, I was so worn out by the time they got off Tron that I passed on Space Mountain. So I gave them our bands and told them to ride it LL twice. As soon as they left, the little woke up and wanted a treat. So I took him to Aunite Gravity.

I got my son a smoothie (his favorite) and I decided to splurge and try and caramel apple fritter shake. It looked good. It smelled good. It tasted ... kind of bland, actually. It didn’t have much caramel flavor at all. But the apple whip cream was overwhelming. And then it hit my stomach like a brick! I started feeling very sick. Thankfully, my partner and friend finished Space Mountain before I puked, found me, and I ran off to the bathroom for a short bit.

Feeling slightly better after that, the little guy wanted more kiddie rides before the firework show that night. So I got him and my partner LL for Dumbo, Goofy, and Tea Cups (not all at once, but I assume you know that). Meanwhile the friend and I went back to Haunted Mansion for one more ride! Got a few more pics

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

After that, we all met up at Pinocchio for some food. By the time we finished eating, the fireworks were just starting. Our son didn’t care about them as much this night, so I grabbed us a LL for Small World and suggested we walk on Peter Pan first. Everyone agreed that was a good idea. So we rode Peter Pan (about a fifteen minute wait) and then got on Small World as the fireworks ended.

By the time we were off, it was 15 minutes to close. Our friend wanted one more Haunted Mansion ride, but were were pooped. So we said our goodbyes and started the trek back to Contemporary. Snapped a few night pics on the way out







And that was our trip. We departed early the next morning, got home safely, and started thinking about our next Disney trip (this Labor Day weekend for me solo at BWI and the whole family again in a few weeks at AKL). Hope you enjoyed reading my little summary!

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

Sounds like a great tip, minus the of course. Hope you have a great solo trip.

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

Sounds like a great tip, minus the of course. Hope you have a great solo trip.

lol, thanks. Yeah, avoid that shake! I forgot to mention that we also tried the new Halloween themed whoopie pie at Liberty Square Market. Better than the shake. But not as advertised. It was more of an inverted cupcake than a whoopie pie. But my son did love the sugar spider on top, lol.

Leaving tomorrow for the solo weekend! Very excited. Thanks for reading

 

[erinch]

Have a great time! Post stuff!