The Contemporary Resort

From my earliest memories of Disney World, I can remember being drawn to the Contemporary Resort. I can remember staring up into the interior during a monorail transfer thinking that it was like nothing I’d ever seen before, as the two sides rose above, eventually coming together some fifteen stories high. In the late ‘80s, it was a trip into the imagined future for my young mind. It felt distinctly different from the rest of Disney’s properties, all carefully designed to evoke the warm environments of their movies, while the Contemporary felt cold, sharp, and mechanical.

35 years later, looking at the Contemporary through a lens of 1970s retrofuturism, I’m struck by the beauty and sheer awesomeness of placing what looks like a set piece from Ridley Scott’s 1982 masterpiece, Blade Runner, into the middle of a Florida swamp. The exterior design was penned by architect Welton Beckett, a master of the much maligned Brutalist style of the latter half of the 20th century.

The building sits on the edge of Bay Lake (surprisingly, a natural one), its concrete and steel exterior a stark contrast to the ever encroaching Florida ecosystem. The trees are covered in Spanish moss, and brown anoles constantly dart across the walking paths, much to the amusement of my 4 year old son.

The structure was designed as a steel A-frame, creating the triangular inner atrium. The rooms were modular, constructed off-site, and placed into position by crane. Their design was done by California architect Donald Wexler, whose mid-century modern style can still be seen all over Palm Springs, CA. Mary Blair’s original mural still stands as the main artistic attraction, providing some warmth to their otherwise stark atmosphere. Since 2021, the interior design of the building has been massaged to mimic the aesthetics of Pixar’s The Incredibles.

The re-design aesthetic, respectfully, feels a little too 60s-era Atomic Age retrofuturistic rather than the more accurate 70s-era cassette futurism, but they didn’t ask me for my opinion. And also, the whole point is to entertain children. We’ll let it slide.

For Father’s Day this year, my wife Aimee set up a three night stay in the Contemporary, and was more than patient as I walked around the resort, capturing as much detail as I could with my trusted Nikon. Even at 40, I’m still in awe of this building. Aesthetically, I’m drawn to the industrial styles of the 70s and 80s, and I’m overwhelmed with the nostalgia of a Florida childhood by seeing the simplest, liminal spaces where St. Augustine grass meets concrete, or where a palm tree casts its shadow against a blank cement wall.

The Contemporary Resort, is after all, a modern Disney resort, and is far too busy for any of this misplaced nostalgia of an aging millennial. Hundreds of guests transfer on and off the monorail without any thought of cassette futurism and tired, over-stimulated parents check-in to their rooms, barely noticing the mid-century furniture. “We can walk to the Magic Kingdom from here” is all it took for them to pick this resort over any of the others.

And that’s great. But for me, a few days at the Contemporary felt special in a way I’m just not skilled enough to truly communicate. There’s something about that place that reaches deep into my childhood memories and intersects with my current tastes in design in a way that no other place really does. I can only imagine the jeers that Walt Disney received at his plans of placing a Brutalist monolith in undeveloped central Florida. It shouldn’t have worked, but for my sake, I’m thankful it did.

All photos were taken on a Nikon ZF and Thypoch Simera 28 1.4