Disney's Contemporary Resort

Sit down to breakfast on the fourth floor and a monorail slides through the building over your head every few minutes, which never quite stops being strange. That space is the Grand Canyon Concourse, with Mary Blair's ninety foot tile mural climbing the lift core in the centre of it and everything else in the hotel arranged around it. The A-frame tower opened on the same day as Magic Kingdom in 1971 and has been part of that skyline ever since.

Two very different buildings share the name. The tower holds most of the rooms, the concourse, the shops and both signature restaurants, and its upper floors look either across Bay Lake or straight at Cinderella Castle. Garden Wing is the low, three storey block alongside, quieter and usually cheaper, with ground floor rooms that open onto lawn rather than a lift lobby. Bay Lake Tower is the curved Disney Vacation Club building next door, joined by a sky bridge, and it is booked and priced separately.

Position is what you are actually paying for. A paved path runs from the north side of the building to the Magic Kingdom bag check, and it takes about 10 minutes at an adult walking pace, longer with a buggy and a tired five year old. No bus, no boat, no queue. Being able to leave the park after the fireworks and be in your room in a quarter of an hour changes how a fortnight feels.

Deluxe guests get both of Disney's morning and evening perks. Early Theme Park Entry gives every on-site guest 30 minutes in a park before the published opening time, every day, and that applies at value resorts too. Extended Evening Hours are the separate one, running late at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT on selected nights for Deluxe and Deluxe Villa guests only, and staying here qualifies you.

Honesty about the trade-offs matters at this price. Contemporary is concrete, glass and clean lines rather than theming in the storybook sense, and families expecting carved wood and waterfalls sometimes find it cold on arrival. Lift queues in the tower build up between eight and nine in the morning. Set against that, no other Walt Disney World hotel puts you this close to the castle.

Where you sleep here decides how far you carry a sleeping four year old at nine at night. Categories split first by building and then by view, and the difference in cost between them is significant. Tower rooms sit on floors seven upwards and are reached from the concourse, which means you are a lift ride from Chef Mickey's, the monorail platform and the walkway to Magic Kingdom. Garden Wing rooms sit at ground level in a separate low block, a two to four minute walk from the main building depending on which end you land in.

Views are where the money goes. A Theme Park View tower room looks across Seven Seas Lagoon to Cinderella Castle, and yes, you can watch the fireworks from your balcony with the audio playing on your phone. Bay Lake View faces the opposite way over the water and the boat dock, which is calmer and costs less. Garden and standard views look over the lawns, the car park or the Garden Wing roofline.

Higher floors are worth asking about at check-in. Sound carries in the tower atrium, and the closer you are to the concourse the more you hear of it in the evening. Club level rooms occupy the twelfth floor with a private lounge serving food through the day, and for a couple who want breakfast without a queue it removes a genuine daily irritation.

Do not assume a bed layout. Configurations vary by category and by dates, and the booking page shows exactly what is in the room you are pricing, so check there rather than relying on a floor plan you found elsewhere. Standard tower and Garden Wing rooms are generally sold for up to five guests, and Disney publishes the maximum occupancy alongside each category.

Practical bits that matter on a fortnight. Every room has a small fridge, a coffee maker, a safe, a hairdryer and USB points by the bed. Housekeeping runs daily. Balconies on the tower are proper standing balconies on most floors rather than the shallow step-out type, and Garden Wing ground floor rooms have patios, which is useful if you are travelling with a baby who naps.

Two in the afternoon, everyone flagging, and the Feature Pool is what turns the day around. It sits out on the lake side by the marina and the white sand beach, with a curving 17 foot waterslide that children will ride until their shoulders burn, and zero entry at one end that makes it workable with toddlers. Loungers around it go early on hot afternoons, and poolside cabanas can be hired by the hour or the day if you want shade and a fridge without the scramble.

Bay Lake Pool is the calmer alternative on the Garden Wing side, an all ages leisure pool where splashing and shouting are quietly discouraged. It rarely fills. Parents who want a swim rather than a water fight tend to migrate there by the second day, and it is a shorter walk from most Garden Wing rooms.

Beyond the water, there is more to do here than at most Disney hotels. Marina hire on Bay Lake covers small powered boats and pontoons, there is a sand volleyball court and tennis, jogging paths loop the grounds and the lake shore, and the Community Hall style activity programme runs games and crafts through the day. Fishing excursions leave from the marina and need booking in advance.

Evenings are the strong point. Electrical Water Pageant, the floating light parade, passes the Contemporary beach at a set time each night, and the Magic Kingdom fireworks are visible from the beach, the fourth floor observation deck and most north facing balconies. Bring a picnic down to the sand around nine and you have an entertainment plan that costs nothing.

Practical notes. Lifeguards are on duty during posted hours, towels are provided at both pools, and there is a fitness centre and a small arcade in the tower. Pool hours and the daily activity list appear in My Disney Experience each morning, which is more reliable than the printed card in your room.

Magic Kingdom is the immediate neighbour and dominates everything. Being able to go back for an afternoon rest and then return for the evening parade is the single biggest practical advantage of staying on the monorail loop, and it is what turns a Disney fortnight from a route march into a holiday.

Bay Lake Tower stands a few steps away across the sky bridge, and its Disney Vacation Club villas are worth reading about if you need a kitchen and a washing machine for two weeks. Guests at either building can use the pools and facilities at both, which is a useful thing to know when Feature Pool is heaving.

Around the lagoon sit the other Magic Kingdom area hotels. Polynesian Village and Grand Floridian are one and two monorail stops away, Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness are a boat ride across Bay Lake, and all four are worth an evening for the food and the theming even if you are not staying in them. Trader Sam's Grog Grotto at the Polynesian is the most popular of those trips with adults.

Disney Springs is about 6 miles south east and around 20 minutes by bus, with no admission charge, dozens of restaurants and the two storey World of Disney shop. Go on your arrival evening when nobody has the energy for a park. Nearer to hand, the shops on the fourth floor concourse cover most of what you forget to pack.

Off property, Highway 192 in Kissimmee is roughly 10 miles south with the supermarkets and pharmacies that British families use to keep food costs sensible. Universal Orlando is about 13 miles north east on Interstate 4, a 25 minute drive outside the rush, and Clearwater Beach on the Gulf coast is around 95 miles west if you fancy a day out of the bubble.

Families with young children get the most out of this hotel, and the reason is the walk. Being able to go back to the room at one in the afternoon, put a toddler down for a proper sleep and be back at the castle by five is a luxury no amount of theming replaces. Add the monorail into the building and you have removed almost every transport headache a Disney holiday throws at you.

Couples and adults travelling without children are the other natural fit, though for different reasons. California Grill on a fireworks night, a lake view balcony and a monorail that delivers you to three other hotels for dinner make a strong case. Grand Floridian is prettier and Polynesian Village is more relaxed, so it comes down to when you want atmosphere, and the walkway when you want speed.

Multi-generational groups do well here. Grandparents who tire on long bus journeys benefit enormously from the walking path and the monorail, and the Garden Wing gives a quieter base while the rest of the party stay in the tower. Bay Lake Tower next door adds full kitchens and in-villa laundry if the group is large enough to need them.

Anyone building a trip around EPCOT and Hollywood Studios should think twice. Contemporary is superb for Magic Kingdom and merely fine for the other three parks, where buses do the work and the journeys are no shorter than they would be from a moderate resort. If your park days lean south, an EPCOT area hotel serves you better for less.

Budget-conscious first timers should be realistic. Deluxe pricing here is at the top of the Walt Disney World range, and the room you get is comfortable rather than remarkable. What you are buying is the location and the time it gives back, and for a short trip of five or six nights that maths often works. For three weeks, it rarely does.