Resorts Gal Tips: Walking Between Disney’s Contemporary and Magic Kingdom
Whether it’s for dinner or you’re spending an entire week at Disney’s Contemporary, 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 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 and one 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.
We’ve stayed at Disney’s Contemporary many times. It’s not for everyone, and we get that. If you would like to know more about the resort, all of our articles are listed in our resort guide for Disney’s Contemporary. But I wanted to mention that we stay here intentionally. For example, we’ve planned stays when we were 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. 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.
We hope you found this information helpful! We have several transportation tips posts that get into the specifics of traveling around Walt Disney World. Here are a few others:
- How Long Is the Monorail Ride from Grand Floridian to Epcot?
- Taking the Boat from Wilderness Lodge to Magic Kingdom
- How to Get Between Jambo House and Kidani Village
- Walking from Saratoga Springs to Disney Springs (Both Ways)
You might also like our Contemporary Resort Transportation Options Guide. It goes into detail about how to get to and from the resort to other popular destinations. If you would like access to our transportation times for the Contemporary, we have them available in the Resorts Gal Community along with our budgeting spreadsheets. You’ll get access to our transportation times guide for every resort at Walt Disney World, and our spreadsheets will help you plan an almost exact budget for your vacation!
Want to save time and energy on your vacation? Get a copy of our 5 best transportation tips for Walt Disney World.
In the Comments
Did you find this tip for walking from the Contemporary to the Magic Kingdom helpful? Were you aware it was such a short distance? Leave us a comment with your thoughts or experiences.