If you click on the links in this post, we may earn money from the companies mentioned in this post, at no extra cost to you. You can read the full disclaimer here.
Disney’s Contemporary Resort is a wonderful hotel at the Walt Disney World Resort any time of the year. But during the holiday season, there are even more reasons to stay at this iconic WDW hotel.
I have stayed at this hotel many times throughout my life, but this year was the first I stayed there during the holiday season. I absolutely loved staying here this time of the year.
So let’s go over why the Contemporary is such a good choice for a Disney World hotel during Christmastime. It starts with the great Christmas decorations.
Contemporary Christmas Tree
Right in front of the hotel, you can see a beautiful Christmas tree.
If you’re not staying at Disney World and you take a bus into Disney World, you’ll see the Christmas tree in front of the Contemporary.
It has the distinction of being the largest Christmas tree at Disney World! Here are some fun facts about the Christmas tree:
- 70 feet tall
- Over 33,000 pounds
- 1,200 individual branches
It is decorated with:
- 16,000 holiday lights
- 200 custom light-up ornaments
Contemporary Gingerbread Display
We’ve talked before about gingerbread displays at other Disney World hotels such as the Grand Floridian, the Boardwalk Resort, and the Beach and Yacht Club.
But the Contemporary Resort has a great gingerbread display, too! This is the fourteenth year there has been a gingerbread display at the Contemporary Resort.
It was inspired by the Cinderella Castle Dream Lights.
You can find this gingerbread display on the fourth floor of the Contemporary Resort (that’s where you’ll find the Grand Canyon Concourse and the Contempo Cafe).
Here are some fun facts about this gingerbread display:
- More than 17 feet tall
- More than 25 feet wide
- Made with:
- 1013 pounds of flour
- 613 pounds of sugar
- 25 pounds of chocolate
- 70 pounds of modeling chocolate
- 113 pounds of gingerbread spice
- 60 pounds of fondant
- 43 pounds of royal icing
- 513 eggs
- 440 jars of honey
- 13 gallons of milk
- Over 1200 castle gingerbread bricks made and decorated by 40 Cast Members
- 14 sprinklings of magical pixie dust
- Has 14 Hidden Mickeys
- 1 hidden 5-legged goat!
It really is a neat display you will enjoy seeing up close.
But that’s not the only reason to go visit the display. There are also sweet treats you can pick up there!
You can buy sweet treats like:
- Pistachio and Cherry Cake: $7.79
- Santa Mickey Eclair: $7.29
- Hazelnut Buche de Noel: $7.79
You can also get holiday souvenirs here.
Other Contemporary Christmas Decorations
The decorations don’t even stop here!
There are smaller Christmas trees throughout the resort.
There are Christmas wreaths and other Christmas decorations.
Even the gift shops are decorated for the holiday season.
Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary Resort also has great decorations.
Proximity to Magic Kingdom
Aside from the great Christmas decor, there is other bonus to staying at the Contemporary Resort during the holiday season. And that is your proximity to Magic Kingdom. You can easily walk to Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary Resort. Or you can take a monorail.
Magic Kingdom is absolutely gorgeous during the holiday season.
So it’s great you can get there easily!
Oh, and walking here is really nice if you are attending Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party – waiting for a bus after the party is a huge pain and it can take a long time to get back to your hotel. I can’t tell you how much I loved being able to walk back to Bay Lake Tower from Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party this past year.
Saving Money at the Contemporary Resort
If you would like to stay at the Contemporary Resort, then I am sure you would like to save money on your stay.
One way to do that is to stay at Bay Lake Tower. Bay Lake Tower is part of the Contemporary Resort, but is a separate building right beside it. You won’t have the monorail running through your hotel, but my family really loves staying there. It’s actually a shorter walk to Magic Kingdom.
The thing about Bay Lake Tower is that it is a Disney Vacation Club hotel, and some people may not realize you can still stay there even if you are not a DVC member. You can just rent points. We go over how to rent DVC points as a non-DVC member here.
You actually save a lot of money by doing that versus booking a stay at the main building at Contemporary. That is how we were able to stay there this holiday season. The rate was cheaper than moderate hotels on Disney’s websites!
But if you do want to stay in the main building, we suggest booking your stay here. We have saved a lot of money booking through this website versus through Disney’s – and that is even taking into account our annual pass discount.
