- Average night
- $663
- Standard room sleeps
- 5
- Quickest park
- Magic Kingdom, by monorail
- Pools
- 7 / 10
The short answer
The Contemporary is the shortest trip to Magic Kingdom on property: about 12 minutes on foot, with a monorail running right through the building. But it ranks 28th of 32 for kids under four, close to the bottom. So the resort with the best access to the most toddler-friendly park in the world is one of the weakest resorts for toddlers. Pools score 7 against an average of 7.1 out of 10, and splash pads 6 against 7.6 out of 10. Book it for the walk, and only if you're the kind of family who'll actually use it.
Both are on the monorail and both score 10 for Magic Kingdom. About $200 a night apart, and two very different trips. Scored line by line.
See the comparison →Contemporary Resort sold out for your dates? Set a room alert and we will email you when a room opens.
Your ages, budget and parks re-rank all 32. Free, about a minute.Which room to ask for
Rooms open onto internal corridors with elevators throughout, so which floor you get matters less here than at the Values and Moderates. A request costs nothing and is never guaranteed: make it at booking, and again a day or two before you arrive.
Every measure, against the other 30
Disney does not set a height minimum on its resort waterslides, unlike the water parks. Riders go down one at a time and land in water deep enough to swim in, so the question is whether your child swims on their own, not how tall they are.
| Scored category | This resort | Average of all 32 | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pools | 7 / 10 | 7.1 | 14th of 32 |
| Splash pads and slides | 6 / 10 | 7.6 | 23rd of 32 |
| Everything close together | 9 / 10 | 6.0 | 3rd of 32 |
| Things to do on site | 7.5 / 10 | 7.2 | 10th of 32 |
| Suits under 4s | 6 / 10 | 7.8 | 28th of 32 |
| Suits ages 4 to 6 | 7 / 10 | 7.8 | 20th of 32 |
| Suits ages 7 to 13 | 7 / 10 | 6.2 | 8th of 32 |
| Suits adults | 5 / 10 | 5.5 | 21st of 32 |
| Getting to Magic Kingdom · monorail | 10 / 10 | 5.5 | – |
| Getting to EPCOT · monorail | 5 / 10 | 5.5 | – |
| Getting to Hollywood Studios · bus | 3 / 10 | 4.5 | – |
| Getting to Animal Kingdom · bus | 3 / 10 | 4.0 | – |
Rank is out of all 32 Disney resorts on that one measure. The park rows show the fastest route Disney actually runs, so a bus and a monorail are not scored the same even when the map says they are the same distance.
Where it wins
Where it loses
What it costs
About $663 a night on average, roughly $120 above the property average and the cheapest of the three monorail resorts. Bay Lake Tower next door averages about $870 for the same walk and the same restaurants, so the Contemporary is the cheaper way onto the path.
Across 53 check-in weeks, a night here ranged from $604 to $1011, a swing of 67%. The cheapest week checked in on August 16, 2027 and the priciest on December 28, 2026.
Room only, before tax, for a four night midweek stay for two adults, read from Disney on September 27, 2026.
What the walk is really like
The path leaves from the north end of the building, runs around the edge of Bay Lake, and comes out at the bag check. It's 12 minutes at an adult pace, closer to 15 with a four-year-old who stops for the boats, and it's flat and lit the whole way.
After the fireworks, it beats the monorail easily. The monorail line when Magic Kingdom closes is the worst line of the day, and the path has no line at all, so the walk wins big right when you most want to be back.
The monorail runs through the fourth floor of the building, which is a real thrill the first time and old news by day three. What lasts is that it's indoors, so the rain never touches you.
Garden wing rooms are cheaper and aren't in the tower. They're also further from the path, the monorail and the restaurants, which takes away most of the reason to stay here.
Your family will rank this differently
Ages, budget, room size and which parks you are doing all change the answer. Resortings scores all 32 resorts against what your family actually needs, and tells you when not to spend the money.
Contemporary Resort sold out for your dates? Set a room alert and we will email you when a room opens.
Common questions
Can you walk to Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary?
Yes! And it's the only resort where walking is actually the fastest way in. It's about 12 minutes on a flat, paved path that doesn't depend on the monorail, so it works when the monorail is down and after the park closes when the monorail line is longest.
Is the Contemporary good for toddlers?
No, and it's the one thing people get wrong about it. It's near the bottom of all 32 for under-fours, because the splash area is small, there's no zero-entry pool, and there's nothing about the building that interests a two-year-old. The Polynesian is on the same monorail loop and scores 8.
Contemporary or Bay Lake Tower?
The Contemporary is cheaper, at about $663 against $870, and shares the path, the monorail and the restaurants. Bay Lake Tower rooms are bigger and newer. If the walk is why you're booking, the Contemporary gets you the same walk for about $200 a night less.
Is the Contemporary worth the price?
Only if you'll use the walk. Take away the location and it's a Deluxe with an ordinary pool and one of the weakest toddler scores on property. The table below has both numbers. Two or more Magic Kingdom days make it worth it, and one doesn't.
Which rooms at the Contemporary can see the castle?
Tower rooms on the Magic Kingdom side. The garden wing can't see it at all, and it's a separate building further from the path and the monorail, which is why it costs less.