Walking Between Disney’s Contemporary Resort and Magic Kingdom

Whether it’s for dinner or you’re spending an entire week at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, you might want to walk to and from the resort to the Magic Kingdom. When it’s 10:00 p.m. and you’re leaving the park in a mass of crowds, I can assure you that you’ll soon be smiling when you hit that quiet walkway and find yourself back at the room within less than 15 minutes. Had you stayed at that other resort, you’d probably still be waiting at the bus stop. If I could sum up the resort in one word, it would be convenient. There’s nothing like it.

Now you might be thinking, why would you want to walk when you can take the monorail? After all, the monorail is one of the biggest perks of staying at Disney’s Contemporary. Two of them run through it all day! But did you know that you have to make three additional stops between the Contemporary and Magic Kingdom? It’s much quicker to walk to the park than to take the monorail. However, the Contemporary is the first stop after leaving Magic Kingdom. But remember those long lines? If you run into a line, you are likely much better off walking.

When you leave the Contemporary (or Bay Lake Tower), the walking path begins just beyond the bus stop. So you’ll walk out the resort’s front door, take an immediate right, and see the bus stop. Keep walking beyond the bus stop, and you’ll see a sign that reads “Walkway to Magic Kingdom.” It’s that simple. Here are a few photos from our walk.

Along the walking path, you’ll cross a dedicated crosswalk in the parking lot. You’ll also cross a busy road intersection between the resort and Magic Kingdom. You will want to wait for the “walk” signal at the light. It is a fairly busy road with buses coming and going. After the intersection, you’ll continue through a small security clearance area. You will not have to go through security again when you reach Magic Kingdom.

Here is where you end up when you reach Magic Kingdom. Since you’ve already been through security, you can use your ticket to enter the turnstiles!

I used my transportation tracker to map the exact walk on this visit. It was 0.42 miles and took me 11 minutes at an average pace. An 11-minute walk to Magic Kingdom? I don’t know about you, but I’ll take that any day.

Also, I wanted to mention that we stay here intentionally. For example, we’ve planned stays while visiting Magic Kingdom for the 4th of July so we could quickly walk back to the resort after the fireworks. One year, we even watched the fireworks from the resort, which was pretty special. We also stayed at the Contemporary while attending Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. We went to two parties in one week, and I remember feeling relieved to return to the room so quickly. It tops our list of the best hotels when you’re attending Mickey’s Halloween Party.

So, staying here is worth your consideration if you’re looking to spend a reasonable amount of time at Magic Kingdom or plan to attend a special event at the park. You might also like our Contemporary Resort Transportation Options Guide. It details how to get to and from the resort to other popular destinations. Walt Disney World destinations. For more on walking, we have a separate guide that discusses the various walking paths at Disney.

In the Comments

Have you ever walked between the Contemporary and the Magic Kingdom? Did you find this guide helpful? Let us know in the comments below.