When Walt Disney World opened nearly 50 years ago, it did so with one theme park and two hotels. Now, as the resort, which has grown by leaps and bounds in the last five decades, gets ready to celebrate its birthday, one of those first two hotels will be going through some big changes. Disney's Contemporary Resort is about to get a serious makeover, with all the guest rooms and corridors getting an incredible upgrade, quite literally. In addition to the rooms being themed after the classic Disney World Monorail, which runs through the middle of the building, the rooms will also include a collection of design touches based on Pixar's The Incredibles.
Disney unveiled a first look at what a finished guest room in the brand new Disney's Contemporary Resort will look like, and it includes Incredibles-themed art work on the walls, Edna Mode pillows on the bed, and more. If you're a fan of Pixar's superhero family, it's going to be just the sort of place you'll want to stay. Even if you're not, the sleek Monorail inspired industrial design might be enough to make you want to book a stay here for Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary.
As with anything new at a Disney Park, there are a variety of opinions on the Contemporary's new look, but I think it looks great. You may not spend a great deal of time in your hotel room at Disney World, and most of the time you do spend there you're asleep, but this is a room I wouldn't mind spending some time in, assuming I had the time to spare and wasn't missing out on the parks to do it.
I'm not sure the Incredibles addition is even necessary. It looks like a nice room without it. And the old sink design, that was incredibly shallow to the point of being nearly unusable, has been replaced, so that's a huge win on its own. But when even the closets are themed, how could you not want to hang up your own supersuit along with the rest of the Parr family?
While there are almost more Walt Disney World hotels than one can choose from now, back in 1971 there were two. The Polynesian was given a South Pacific motif to blend with Magic Kingdom's Adventureland, while the Contemporary was the hotel of Tomorrowland. The Monorail runs right through the center of the structure and is still one of the coolest things about the hotel. The building was also designed with a modular construction, with each room built off site, and then craned into its home in the frame of the hotel.
One of the issues with the Contemporary, much like Tomorrowland itself, is that without constant updating the hotel didn't always feel like its name was accurate. However, this new look has the potential to feel almost timeless, and thus it could serve the Contemporary very well for years to come. A host of other exciting changes at the Contemporary are promised in the lead up to Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary including a new dining experience taking over from The Wave...of American Flavors.
