|
 Description:
Disney's
Contemporary Resort is a modern A-frame high rise building,
complemented by two garden wing annexes, a marina, three pools,
recreational facilities, a health club, tennis courts, retail shops,
and a variety of dining experiences and convention facilities to
accommodate meetings and banquets.
Points of Interest:
Grand Canyon
Concourse Mural:
A floor-to-ceiling ceramic mural, towering 90 feet high, unlike any
other in the world, is located in the center of the concourse mall in
the Contemporary Resort. The design of the mall and mural were
inspired by the concourse's theme, the Grand Canyon, appropriately
named because of the vastness and similarity to a great open canyon.
*Based upon the
culture of the Grand Canyon and actual research of the Native
Americans of the SouthWest, the mural's motifs were designed by Walt
Disney Imagineer artist Mary Blair who also worked on
It's A Small World,
The
Fantasyland attraction
located in the Magic Kingdom Park at the Walt Disney World Resort.
*Mary Blair's
inspiration for the mural came from a broad spectrum of resources,
including prehistoric petroglyphs, Pueblo murals, and Navajo
ceremonial art, such as sand paintings.
*Indian motifs
were also used in the textures on the background cliffs which related
to the many terraced designs of their baskets and weaving.
*The mural and
concourse colors are keyed to the earth and sky tones of the Grand
Canyon, as well as to Indian art.
*The mural's four
sides consist of more than 18,000 individually hand painted and
fire-glazed ceramic tiles, like the finest china, shipped from
California aboard special air-suspension trucks.
*The glazes used
on the ceramics are both mineral and chemically based-the color pink
is made from gold.
*It took more than
a year and a half to design, produce, and install the final mural on
the six ninety-foot walls.
Monorail Station:
The monorail system runs through the full length of the hotel
structure on two tracks with a platform.
*The only
connection between the monorail system and the building is a strut at
each support connecting the platform to the A - frame. This way, the
hotel is free from the vibrations of the trains that are passing
through the building.
*At the two ends
of the building, the monorail passes through an air curtain
separating the exterior from the interior temperature.
Rooms:
1,041 guest rooms
|
