[LadyJena]

My family and I are going the to Disney World Aug. 2-18 (16 days) we are going to be staying at the Contemporary Resort. Can anyone tell me if they have washers / dryers so laundry can be done??? I don't want to have to send out our clothes to be laundered by hotel.

I read somewhere that is the All Star hotels they have washer and dryers and am hoping that the Contemporary has the same thing close by. I doubt it but hope so.. :p

I am also wondering about transportation. We are not going to rent a car when we get there. We are planning on renting one only the day we go to Universal Studio's. Is this going to be a problem? Are we going to have a hard time with getting to other areas of the WORLD??? Can we take a boat to Downtown Disney or Pleasure Island in the evening or do we have to take the bus?

Since none of my family or my self have been to Florida before can anyone tell me if pack all shorts and t-shirts and a couple of pairs of pants will we be cold at night and be wishing we had brought more warm clothing? (dreams of having to run and buy long pants running though my head) I hope not because we are going to be gone so long it is much easier to fit shorts then pants into the suitcase!!

I CAN'T WAIT TO GO!!!!!! :D The trip is still 4 months away!! We are Disney freaks, :) We love Disney Land and spent as much time as we could there last year! Now this is our families last big vacation before our daughter graduates from high school next year.

Take care!

LadyJena

[shawnp0001]

16 days...I am so envious! I hope I can help out at least a little on some of your questions. Yes, the Contemporary has several washers and dryers so that won't be a problem. You can a car for a little time, and I believe they actually have a place on the grounds where you can rent (from National). You might want to rent a couple days though if you plan on seeing both Universal parks (They the Islands of Adventure and the Studios). I believe you will need to take the bus to Downtown Disney/Pleasure Island....I don't believe any boats there in the evenings (I'm not even sure you can take a boat there at all). The buses run very late though, so that shouldn't be a problem. Of course, you can use the monorail and boat transportations to the parks that have these access points. I rent a car when I go, but only because we do alot of hopping and a car is quicker...with 16 days, you have more time so you shouldn't be on as much of a time-crunch as I usually am (My trips are usually 5-8 days in duration). The chances of it being cold in August is slim to none, although Florida can have some heavy thunderstorms so you might want to make sure you have some rain-parkas (or you can buy them at the park but they'll be more expensive then). It is usually very humid, so shorts and very light clothing should be all you need...even in the evening.

[mickey]

LadyJena, welcome to DisneyCentral, we hope you enjoy your stay. Hopefully, I can answer some of your questions, and I am sure others will chime in.

Can anyone tell me if they have washers / dryers so laundry can be done???

While they don't have laundry in each room, there are guest laundry facilities in the north and south garden wings. I can imagine being there sixteen days, you would need to do some sort of laundry!

I am also wondering about transportation. We are not going to rent a car when we get there. We are planning on renting one only the day we go to Universal Studio's. Is this going to be a problem? Are we going to have a hard time with getting to other areas of the WORLD??? Can we take a boat to Downtown Disney or Pleasure Island in the evening or do we have to take the bus?

The Contemporary is located on the monorail line, so you can take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT directly. The monorail also stops at the Ticket and Transportation Center, as well as the other monorail resorts (Polynesian and the Grand Floridian). To get to Disney-MGM or Animal Kingdom, you will need to take a bus directly from the Contemporary to those parks, and back again. Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island are served by bus directly from the Contemporary after 4 PM. Prior to 4 PM, you will have to go to the Ticket and Transportation Center and catch a bus. You can get to any other resort that isn't on the monorail by going to the TTC. The only boat service from the Contemporary to Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge. There may be service to the Magic Kingdom, but that is seasonal. You shouldn't have a problem getting around. The bus service from the deluxe resorts is quite good, and you get dropped of right by the gate, compared to having to walk and wait when parking in one of the lots.

Since none of my family or my self have been to Florida before can anyone tell me if pack all shorts and t-shirts and a couple of pairs of pants will we be cold at night and be wishing we had brought more warm clothing?

Although I haven't been in August, I can't imagine that you wouldn't need more than one pair of long pants each, and that would only be for going out to dinner somewhere nice. We have been in early September, and it never got colder than 75 at night. I don't think I even took my sweatshirt out of our room the entire trip. I would just watch the weather prior to leaving, but you should be ok. Make sure you take some sort of rain jacket though, that is the start of rainy season.

I am sure that you will love the Contemporary, it is a fantastic resort. One of the best things there is their boat dock. You can rent a good sized boat for about $60 for two hours. You can motor around and see some of the resort up close from the water side. They are beautiful. That was one of my kid's favorite things last trip. They also have a great pool with a new water slide, a giant arcade and a couple great restaurants. A great place for a fist visit!

Let us know if you have any more questions. Hopefully, we will be able to answer them.

[LadyJena]

shawnp0001 Thanks!

I know 16 days! YAHOO!! :) I said we were Disney Freaks!!

We plan to go to Universal Island of Adventure, we just went to Universal Studios twice last year. There doesn't seem to be much different between the to. We are going to save that admission we think we may go to Sea World but that is up in the air as well.

I am glad to hear that they have washers & dryers only problem is I don't want to do laundry when I'm on vacation.. darn! :D

I am sure we will be able to see everything in the time that we have. I don't want to have to rush, I hate rushing. To bad about the transpertation I read riding the bus can take a long time to get to where you want to go.

Thanks again!

LadyJena :angel

[wdwjeff]

Hi, Jena, and welcome to the boards. As far as car rental goes, if you only need one day's transportation, I'd recommend Mears Shuttle instead of renting a car. It'll be around the same price, and you won't have to take the time to go through all the paperwork. If it's for more than one day, though, I'd go with National. Also, if you've never been to IOA before, you're in for a treat-it blows the original US park away, and is much more "Disney-like." Sixteen days, huh? I don't think I've even had 16 days in a row off since I started working! Boy, am I jealous! One more thing-in August, the temps average in the 90's, so you should be fine with shorts. You may want to take a pair of long pants if you plan on a nice evening in Downtown Disney, even if it's just for the restaurant. Hope this helps.:) :)

[tinkerbell]

Hi LadyJena :) welcome to the best WDW forum ! .. and how lucky 16 days ..we havent been able to stay very long since the girls started school ..

ok I have to say something about disney transportation :) ..its wonderful .. we drive to WDW but we park our van at the resort and only use the disney buses, boats and monorails to get around.. and Mears is great too :) we used them when we use to fly

[LadyJena]

Thanks to all of you!

After this vacation I know I am going to need another vacation to recoup! We are lucky because both of our kids don't go back to school till the end of Aug. otherwise we wouldn't be able to stay that long. We are taking a big hit to the bank account but what the heck we only live once. Plus we have been saying we were going to do this for years. I'm also a little spoiled but still a perfect :angel . hahaha

I am soooooo excited about going! :D This trip will be the longest time that we will be emersed in Disney. We went to Disney Land year before last for 9 days and I think people (family members) thought we were nuts, we had a wonderful time. The one thing that I never do while on vacation ANY vacation is pay attention to the news. We don't watch TV, or read newspapers we don't have a care in the world when we go. Going back to work is going to be hard after this vacation.

I will look into the shuttle but I think my husband would rather drive. We took a shuttle once to Universal Studio's here in CA. and we worried about missing the shuttle back in the evening. We couldn't shop at City Walk after the park or eat dinner after the park closes.

We are going to be taking a Limo from the Airport to the hotel and back. :D I've never been inside of one before and this is really the first time that I have ever flown that far. The longest flight I have taken was and 2 hour flight to Washington state. I'm a little nervous but still looking forward to it.

Thanks again!!!!
LadyJena

[tinkerbell]

Originally posted by LadyJena


The one thing that I never do while on vacation ANY vacation is pay attention to the news. We don't watch TV, or read newspapers we don't have a care in the world when we go. Going back to work is going to be hard after this vacation.

LadyJena

Oh wow .. I thought we were the only ones that didnt think about the outside world once we got to WDW!! the only TV we watch is resort TV!!!!! whats resort tv you may ask :D well the tv in your room has at least 3 channels that tell you all about the resorts, the parks and what is going on in the parks!!