Tag Archives: Grand Floridian

Resorts, Walt Disney World, Walt Disney World Deluxe Resorts

Why Isn’t Contempo Cafe Open 24 Hours?

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I posed this question on twitter last week and got very little response so I decided, today, to write a short blog post on the topic.  If you have been following the blog from the beginning, you will know that I love the Contempo Cafe.  I love its location, the ability to watch the monorail go by, and the menu.  It’s a great place to sit back and relax after a morning and/or afternoon in the parks.

Contempo Cafe #2

Unlike it’s monorail loop brethren, the Gasparilla Grill and Captain Cook’s; the Contempo Cafe is NOT open 24 hours.  The hours of the Contempo Cafe are from 6:00 am until midnight.  This puts the Contempo Cafe’s hours more on par with moderate and value resorts than the other dining options along the monorail loop.

Are the people staying at the Contemporary just not hungry at night?  Does Disney charge less for rooms at the Contemporary than at the Grand Floridian and Polynesian Village to compensate guests for not having a 24-hour quick service option?

Late night resort hopping is difficult to do in the off-peak months when the parks close earlier and as a result the monorail shuts down earlier as well.  There is no boat from the Contemporary to the Grand Floridian or Polynesian Village without stopping at the Magic Kingdom and when the Magic Kingdom closes for the night, those boats stop running as well.  There is a boat to Wilderness Lodge but that quick service restaurant is only open to midnight as well.

The Contempo Cafe has a wonderful breakfast especially its Bounty Platter with eggs, bacon, sausage, breakfast potatoes, and french toast.  Disney could replace the bacon and sausage with some steak and charge a dollar or two more and have a fantastic late night steak and eggs menu item.  It could have a late-night midnight to 6:00 am menu featuring a cross-section of its dinner and breakfast menu with quick easy-to-make selections from both menus.

Maybe Disney has crunched the numbers and the numbers say that Disney would lose money by keeping the Contempo Cafe open 24 hours a day.  However, I think that Disney is missing out on an opportunity to have a unique late-night dining opportunity at one of it’s best quick service restaurants.

Thanks for reading!

Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, Magic Kingdom, Resorts, Walt Disney World, Walt Disney World Deluxe Resorts

Walt Disney World Deluxe Accommodations

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The next two days, I’m going to cover the Disney Deluxe and Deluxe Villa resorts.  All of these resorts are on the smaller side compared to the Moderate and Value resorts, however, the standard rooms are larger and all the resorts have Villa accommodations as well, or in the process of building them, except for Yacht Club.  These Villa accommodations come in four different sizes: studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom grand villas.  But those are for tomorrow, today, we’ll just focus on the standard rooms at these resorts.

Animal Kingdom Lodge

Animal Kingdom Lodge Exterior
Animal Kingdom Lodge Exterior

Yes, there are rooms where guests can see the safari animals from the balcony of their room.  These safaris/savannas are separate from the Kilmanjaro Safari experience in the Animal Kingdom Park.

Animal Kingdom Lodge is the largest, in terms of rooms, of the deluxe resorts with 1,307 rooms.  All of the Animal Kingdom Lodge rooms are located in the Jambo House.

Animal Kingdom Map
Animal Kingdom Map

The front desk and check-in is located in the central main hall with four trails splitting off from this hall.  There are four trails where the rooms are located: Ostrich Trail, Giraffe Trail, Kudu Trail, and Zebra Trail.  Each of these trails, except for Giraffe Trail, has a view of, at least, one savanna.  The Giraffe Trail has a view of the pool.

What if my room doesn’t have a view of a savanna?

There are only 135 rooms (10.3%) which do not have a view of a savanna or pool.  For these guests, there are still plenty of opportunities to see the animals.

  • Sunset Savanna and Sunset Savanna Viewing Room/Balcony: this area is designed for sunset viewing of the animals
  • Each savanna has a variety of viewing location and Cast Members will leave around the savanna so the animals move around.
  • Sunrise Breakfast Adventure: available on Sundays and Thursdays.  The adventure departs at 7:30 am and involves a 45-minute ride through the Kilimanjaro Safari Experience where the guides will stop and guests are allowed to stand and take picture.  This ride is about three times as long as the standard experience on the Safari.  After the tour, guests go to Pizzafari for a breakfast buffet.

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