Contemporary VS POR VS POFQ

[Madeleinebelle]

Hello!

I am hoping I'm not asking a dumb question. Sorry to be a pain! I recently stated at POR and loved it! My best friend always speaks highly of POFQ and from sharing some of the same buses it seemed nice. Now that 2020 prices are out and rooms are available the contemporary has rooms that are $538 a night versus $280 for Port Orleans. Staying at the contemporary is a bucket list after our recent trip and being close to the monorail and MK sounds like heaven. Anyone has any experiences or believes it's worth the extra money? Also if room deals come out in the spring again would I be able to get a discount on a pre-booked room. We are planning to go early to mid May again. I booked my last trip during the "sun and fun promotion" and while POR was only 10% off it was nice to save anything. We also thought about get APs but undecided. We are taking a trip in the fall and staying at AOA.

 

[hoffj070]

We have stayed at POFQ and Contemporary. I personally prefer Cont as I prefer to stay close to MK. However we have a toddler and take mid day breaks. Worth is different to everyone but to me it’s “worth” it to be close to MK. I loved our stay there. If you’re in the parks all day and don’t spend time at the resort besides sleeping, I probably wouldn’t spend the money.

Also be sure you know and are okay with which type of room you’re booking at Cont if you decide to stay there. At that price I am guessing it’s in the garden wing and not the tower? We loved the garden wing since it’s quiet but some people don’t care for it and only want to stay there if they’re in the tower.

 

[DJFan88]

You'll be able to apply a discount if there's a discount availability for what you have (resort and room category). You can also change your reservation and use a discount if there is a better deal for you - different resort or sometimes just changing a room category where you're at. It's easy to do.

 

[simplymama]

Really depends on what you do on your vacations. We usually stay at the GF, not the Contemporary as it's just not our preferred decor style, but one of our reasons for choosing a monorail resort is because our favorite park for the magical atmosphere is MK. We take advantage of this usually by having park hoppers. This year we went for APs. Being on the monorail means that we can visit a different park during the day and easily head back to MK at night if we feel like it. We like that we are just a monorail ride away from the Contemporary (we like the quick service and arcade there) and the Polynesian for our Ohana reservation. We could even get to Whispering Canyon at the Wilderness Lodge with a monorail ride to MK and then take the boat if we want, although honestly we usually drive to that one in case the boats go down from a pop up thunder storm. We also really enjoy having a view each night of the fireworks and the Electrical Water Pageant around Seven Seas Lagoon from our resort. Each trip we evaluate if the reasons and $$$ are still worth it and decide accordingly. GF won out again this year. Since we need two rooms if there were no discounts offered we likely would not stay rack rate since we've already experienced it so many times. If you can afford it financially I think giving a deluxe a try once for the experience is definitely an upgrade worth making.

 

[KenHutch]

French Quarter is by far my favorite resort but I made the mistake of taking the girls to AKL last trip. Now they swear they are deluxe only girls and I am looking at The Poly next trip. I am reducing our stay at WDW from 12 days to 10 to control costs a bit. But is it worth it? With 5 of our 10 days at Epcot or Magic Kingdom that monorail is looking very nice. If I stay there I am also going to change where we eat at based on the monorail.

 

[westie55]

I have stayed at GF, WL, YC/BC, SSR, AKL, POR, POFQ, CBR, and AoA. I have enjoyed every one of them for different reasons. One of the things I love about Disney is that no trip has to be the same, and changing up resorts is a great way to add variety to my trips. Having said this, I found that now I am a parent of two and am using a double stroller, it is worth it to me to pay more for the convenience of not having to deal with a double stroller, a toddler, and a baby on the bus as much as possible. Last time we stayed at the GF, it was such a relief not to have to breakdown, unload, and fold the stroller to get on the bus. Our upcoming trip is to the Contemporary for this very reason. We have purchased park hoppers and intend to use them. On other trips, by the time we trekked out of the park and back to the room, sometimes the thought of going back to a park in the evening was daunting particularly because of the time and effort involved in bus travel with small children. This time, we will be able to walk from the Contemporary to the MK, which sounds like heaven to me as our group now includes a preschooler, a toddler, and a baby (all in strollers). I also love being on the monorail because it gets you easy access to dining at the other monorail resorts. Some of my favorite restaurants are in these resorts. Plus, you can see the electrical water pageant and the fireworks from these resorts. Overall, I do understand why people are willing to pay more, particularly with small kids. My favorite atmosphere is probably AKL, and I would love to return there, but I think I will wait until my kids are a bit older. I am really interested in trying the new Riviera resort, but honestly I wonder if I will regret leaving the monorail. If you book early you can apply the discount later, yes. Without strollers to deal with, I never cared nearly as much about being on the monorail and the convenience of avoiding buses. "Worth it" is very subjective. It depends on the makeup and preferences of your group. To me, it is worth it!

 

[krybandt]

I have not stayed at POR or POFQ but have stayed at the Contemporary and love the location. It's great if you'll be spending a lot of time in MK because it's a 10-15 minute walk. Or you can take the monorail to MK and also to the Polynesian and Grand Floridian, or a boat to Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness. Technically you can take the monorail to the TTC and transfer to another monorail to get to EPCOT, but it's a lot of steps and the bus is probably faster.

 

[TOBS2010]

Staying at a monorail resort has always been on my bucket list too---especially with two still smaller children. The convenience of being so close to the MK where we spend most of our time is just ideal. However, price wise I can never constitute paying the deluxe prices. The last two times we have gone we have stayed at POR and really enjoyed it. Where are you planning on spend most of your time park-wise? POR is a really great location and we love the pools and grounds there. The boat to DS is another plus. One thing I will throw out about discounts is that POFQ has often been excluded from discounts in the past, so if you book it hoping to get a discount added on later, you might be less likely to do that over some of the other hotels.

 

[FSU Girl]

I love the Contemporary, it's one of my favorite hotels on property. Before I stayed there I had never stayed deluxe and since then haven't stayed in anything but deluxe. It is so nice to hop on the monorail or walk to Magic Kingdom. I don't know what room type you're looking at, but the theme park view is awesome. I love watching the fireworks from the balcony.

 

[Christine]

I think you'll love the Contemporary and it's worth it to try if you can swing it.

I stayed in the Tower and a child and just last year stayed in the Garden Wing. So if you're room is Garden Wing, don't let that stop you. We LOVED it. I didn't mind being out of the Tower and it was kind of a relief not to have to deal with the Tower elevators that I hear can get very busy.