Walk to the Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary

“Staying at the Contemporary? Skip the lines for the monorail and burn off breakfast at Chef Mickey’s by walking to the Magic Kingdom!”

The Contemporary, like the Polynesian, is one of the original resorts build at Disney World.  As such it is right smack on the monorail and unlike the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian you do not have to go outside to ride it!  It goes right through the building, something which continues to delight children to this day. The photo above was actually snapped through the doors of the monorail! There are three extremely awesome things about staying at the Contemporary (something I admittedly haven’t done since I was 5): 1. Chef Mickey’s, one of THE (if not THE) original character breakfasts is located here! Imagine waking up, going downstairs, and BAM, characters! I do advise making reservations or else waking up really early though.  This one is super popular.  2. The California Grill is located at the top of the contemporary and accessed by a special elevator for those with reservations.  It’s a swanky place to eat right in your hotel and a great place to watch the fireworks.

Reason 3 is the one that makes the Contemporary an awesome place to stay: You can WALK to the Magic Kingdom! It only takes a few minutes and you’re right at the gates to the most magical place on Earth! We like to make reservations to eat at the Contemporary for dinner on a Magic Kingdom Day, and schedule them early enough so that we can walk back over to catch the fireworks.  It works out really well: we get a little bit of exercise and we don’t have to wait in line for the monorail–which can get really long depending on the time of day.  Why wait when you can just walk! And don’t believe anyone that tells you taking the boat is magical. Taking the boat is FULL OF SPIDERS.  Walking is way, way better.