As Rachel's sister and Maid of Honor, planning Rachel's Bachelorette Trip was the MOH duty that I was most looking forward to. Rachel knew exactly what she wanted to do for her Bachelorette - a 3-Night Cruise and a day at Disney with her girls.
On our Christmas Cruise on Jewel of the Seas, Rachel and I decided to go to Walt Disney World a few days earlier to have some fun sister time on the front end of her Bachelorette.
Since I live in California, my preferred flight to Orlando is a red-eye so that I arrive early in the morning and don't miss out on any fun (otherwise, the soonest I'd get in would be around 4 PM on a flight that leaves at 7 AM). I have Idiopathic Hypersomnia, so I can fall asleep anywhere, but to get better quality sleep, I travel with a travel pillow, eye mask, noise canceling headphones, and a foot hammock (because my legs are so short!).
My flight arrived at MCO at 7 AM, right about when Rachel's flight was leaving! In the past, I've changed clothes and gotten ready in the bathrooms at baggage claim (they aren't crowded at 7 AM, so it's pretty chill). However, Aaron and I both recently signed up for the Capital One Venture X credit card which includes Priority Pass membership, so I decided to go to The Club at MCO and use their shower room to get ready.
To access The Club at MCO, I just needed to show my Priority Pass membership and boarding pass. I had checked the website for information on access, and while they limit access to 3 hours prior to departure, there is no language limiting access upon arrival. I asked if I could use the shower, and there was no wait.
There are two shower rooms, and while there was no wait in the morning, I guess there may be a waitlist later in the day.
The shower room is accessible with a roll-in shower and transfer bench, as well as required clearances (I'm an architect, so I notice these things). Clean towels are provided.
Shampoo, conditioner, and body wash is provided.
This is one of those situations where the hanging toiletry bag is pretty handy. I've been using the BagSmart hanging toiletry bag for the past few years, but lately I've been downsizing my toiletry kit and am looking at downsizing my toiletry bag (there will certainly be a post for that later).
Voila! All ready for a day in the parks!
After getting ready, I grabbed a quick bite to eat from the lounge, then headed to baggage claim. I was a little worried because I had checked a bag this trip (since I was bringing a bunch of gifts for the girls), but went to shower instead of collecting it after my flight. I had an Apple Airtag on it, so I knew that my bag had made it to MCO and was at baggage claim waiting for me, but I didn't know what I'd have to do to collect it.
It turns out, not very much. As soon as I went down the escalator to baggage claim, I saw that my suitcase had been collected from the carousel and was sitting in front of Delta baggage office. I went to the desk and told the agent that I saw my suitcase, expecting to have to show some form of identification. She told me to check the bag tag and make sure it was really mine, then I was good to go.
Rachel arrived, and we took an Uber to our hotel for the night, The Contemporary Resort! Our room wasn't ready yet, so Rachel got ready in the hotel lobby, then we left our bags with Bell Services and headed to Animal Kingdom.
While we were waiting, we checked the WDW App (I don't think it's called My Disney Experience anymore?) and noticed that the lines at Animal Kingdom were all very long! So we decided to look for a Dinoland Lounge that Rachel had seen on Instagram.
I ordered the Tequilasaurus, and Rachel got the Primordial Booze.
We then headed to Nomad Lounge to add our names to the waitlist because we were hungry. There was about a 10 to 15 minute wait, so the host suggested that we could go shopping at Island Mercantile while we waited. Rachel spotted a cute belt bag with several pockets and we ended up each buying one. Perfect timing, too - our table was now ready. We ate lunch at Nomad and watched the Flotillas go by (I am so sad they got rid of the flotillas!), then decided we might as well two-fist beers and wait in the 75 minute line for Kilimanjaro Safaris.
Welp. It was only a 40 minute line - had to chug! We've had good luck with the safari activity recently. Hippos out of the water, and we saw some lion action.
Rachel was able to snag a dinner reservation for Steakhouse 71, so we decided to leave Animal Kingdom and head back to the Contemporary.
Our room was ready! We had a theme park view room on the 6th floor. Ever since I was a little kid, I've wanted to stay at the Contemporary - I can't believe I've gone this long before staying here!
The room was very big and sleek!
The Incredibles theming was added to the rooms at the Contemporary in 2021. Since I've never stayed here before, I cannot comment on whether or not it is an improvement. I like the Incredibles theming - I think it's fun and adds a Dash of character (see what I did there?).
Plenty of closet and luggage space.
But let's talk about the most impressive part - THAT VIEW! When they told us we were on the 6th floor, I was a little disappointed... how much theme park were we really going to be able to see from our room? Actually, the 6th floor has a great view. After seeing with my own eyes, I realized that the 6th floor is plenty high enough to see the Cinderella's Castle and Space Mountain, and it's actually closer than the higher floors.
Wow - we were definitely coming back to the room to watch the fireworks!
Great start to Rachel's Bachelorette!
We were able to watch the sun set from our balcony before heading to dinner.
By the way, I haven't pulled out my DSLR yet. I did bring it on the trip, but decided not to carry it with me that day. This was shot with my iPhone 13 Pro -
The bathroom is very nice with a huge glass shower. One thing to note, though, is that this may not be the best bathroom setup for everyone. Other Disney Deluxe Resorts have the vanity and sinks outside of the shower room so that someone can get ready at the sink while someone else is showering. With this bathroom setup, there isn't the same separation/privacy.... I mean the shower is full transparent glass. Just something to keep in mind when considering this resort for your travel party.
One last sunset photo, then we headed downstairs for dinner!
Steakhouse 71 opened in 2021 to kick off the 50th anniversary at Walt Disney World Resort as WDW's take on the (no longer open) Disneyland Steakhouse 55. Rachel had eaten at Steakhouse 71 before when she was here on a work trip. This was my first time at Steakhouse 71 - I hadn't dined at this location since it was The Wave.
Our server noticed our buttons and brought us celebration drinks with light-up glow cubes! Rachel and I both ordered the filet mignon (Rachel loves steak) which came with two sides. We were very impressed with the quality and quantity of our entrees at Steakhouse 71 - it was a great value, and on top of that I had a 40% cast dining discount (the cast dining discounts rotate seasonally at WDW).
Fireworks were at 9PM, and we wanted to watch them from our balcony. There is a channel on your hotel TV with the music for the Magic Kingdom fireworks. It took me a minute to find it, but it really makes the viewing experience so much better! We cranked up the volume and had so much fun watching the fireworks from our balcony. What an incredible view!
After fireworks, we thought we'd check out the lounge at California Grill. Since we were on the 6th floor, we just got on the elevator and went up. When we got to the host stand, we realized that we were actually supposed to check in downstairs. We thanked the host and said we could go back downstairs, but he said that he had some space at the bar and that he could seat us (I think the celebration buttons were really working some magic for us).
With the bar at California Grill, your back is actually facing the view. On the top floor of the Contemporary, we realized that we actually really liked our room view because it was closer in elevation to Cinderella's Castle (instead of looking down at the castle).
We were having a good time, so we made an impromptu decision to take the monorail. That's the fun of staying at a monorail resort!
We got off at the Grand Floridian and stopped at Enchanted Rose.
Then back to the Contemporary because Rachel convinced me that we should rope drop Magic Kingdom in the morning.
Such a fun way to kick off Rachel's Bachelorette!
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