Should I stay at the Contemporary Garden Wing?

[adamcav]

How is the Contemporary Garden Wing?

Hi everybody. We're looking to travel early-mid August 2010 and are considering the Contemporary Garden Wing Room. For budget concerns we'd be in a "Standard View" room, but the room view is really of no concern to us.

Can anyone provide some info or pictures of the Garden Wing rooms? What are the pros and cons? Have the rooms been upgraded recently and do they look exactly like the tower rooms inside?

If we decide against the CR we'll end up at the AKL. We've stayed there several times before and want to try something different. Does anyone have an opinion on how the isolated distance of the Garden Wing compares to the distance of the AKL in general. I figured that even with walking and elevators that having a path to MK and monorail access to Epcot would be quicker than riding the busses all the way from AKL. Is this true?
Thanks!
:wave:

 

[muteki]

We reserved a "standard view" room for last years trip, and were on the lake side. Don't know if we were upgraded or not, but it was an ok location. Quite the hike to the main building for the occasional drink/snack, but we were out as far as could be, other rooms closer to the main building aren't far at all.

I personally have never stayed in a tower room but the wife has, and she says the garden rooms are the same. Ours was quite nice. The convenience to the monorail and MK and Epcot is crazy nice. to get to Epcot you still have to transfer at the TTA, so all combined I don't know if it would be quicker than a direct bus from AKL (if they have direct busses), but my preferred mode of arrival at Epcot is monorail anyway, so time is less of a concern to me.

 

[adamcav]

That sounds pretty good. With 2 kids in strollers I thought that the 5-10 minute walk to MK or the monorail to Epcot might be easier than unloading the kids, folding up strollers and hiking everything up onto a bus.

Another plus I'm thinking about is the ability to use the monorail to get to GF and Poly for meals if need be.

I'm becoming more and more convinced as I hear things that the Garden Wing will be best for us, but I like to get opinions from people for things I might not have thought of.

 

[zurgandfriend]

We have stayed in the south garden wing twice. Each time I requested, and we received, a room at the end of the "T" facing the lake. The view was great, there was a little noise form the boats but not as bad as if we were facing the channel that goes from bay lake into 7 seas lagoon. DS loved it as we could we the water/light show each night from our room. DW thought there was a bit of a walk to the main building but I did not think it was any worse than other resorts we stayed at. The new room at the Contemporary are great so I go for it.

 

[adamcav]

The new room at the Contemporary are great so I go for it.

You may have answered one of my biggest questions here. I know of course that the rooms in the tower building were "recently" redone, did the garden wing rooms get done too and are exactly alike? The only difference being their location?

As far as the distance, how long of a walk do you think it was to the pool or tower building?

 

[zurgandfriend]

The room in the garden wing were also refurb'ed when the tower was done. They are exactly the same.

The walk from the end or "T" I mentioned to the lobby of the main building was about 10 minutes, and that was walking slowly with a child. DW says it just seemed longer at the end of a long day.

 

[adamcav]

LOL

I imagine walking back after a long day I'll hear some grumblings about the distance too.

I wonder if I can request a room near the Tower Building and what the benefits/drawbacks are in that respect. I checked out google earth and I was wondering ... The standard view says it is a parkling lot view. It looks like from all those rooms you would be able to see the monorail too, which may be cool enough to sort of make up for the parking lot. Anybody have experiences there?

 

[smk]

We stayed quite a few years back, in the garden wing, had a view of the monorail. IF I recall right, we had a sliding door onto a small area of grass and then into the parking lot. I recall using it as a "shotcut" to the main building and food court. I loved the room size, we had five of us there, including older, thus bigger teens. IMHO the pure convience of the Contemporary outweighs any other considerations. Have a fun trip!

 

[Mr.EPCOT]

I think staying in the Garden Wing is way more pleasant than staying in the towers, especially the main one. There, it's just gotten noisier and noisier over the years, first with the silly move to put Chef Mickey's there, and now you've also got the counter-service restaurant, arcade, and a shop just sitting out in the open. Really all kind of ruined the ambience in there. All much worse than the occasional boat passing by.

A great point was made about the distance. I think the Contemporary is the least spread out, most compact Resort on property. I seriously believe that the farthest rooms in the Garden Wing are closer to the main tower than the closest rooms to the main building at some of the other Resorts.

They are indeed exactly the same as the ones inside the Tower, with the exception of a couple of suite variations. They're very lovely and the standard rooms at the Contemporary are also the largest on property, along with the Polynesian Village.


*Quick EDIT to add this excellent Contemporary fan site for you to peruse: http://www.contemporaryresort.net/

 

[adamcav]

This is awesome information and I'm feeling good about the decision. Can anyone tell me if the South Garden wing is attached to Tower building at all? I'm wondering what my path to and from my room would be on a normal park day.

 

[zurgandfriend]

The south garden wing is not really connected to the tower building. if you walk all the way to the end of the wing closest to the tower you will exit the wing via sliding glass doors. You can then walk under a covered walkway to the enterance and you enter the tower by the Wave restaurant and the lobby. There are of course other doors along the way where you can exit the wing and sidewalks that will take youto the Tower or beach and pool areas.

 

[adamcav]

Connected but not enclosed. I like it. Sounds like I'm ready to pull the trigger.
We'll be traveling with DD (3yrs), DS (1yr) and 3 adults. All this information has been extremely helpful and has pumped the group full of excitement.

Now we'll begin looking for the "must-sees" at the CR. Things such as Hidden Mickey's and other not-so-obvious treasures to discover!
:sohappy:

 

[muteki]

We have stayed in the south garden wing twice. Each time I requested, and we received, a room at the end of the "T" facing the lake. The view was great, there was a little noise form the boats but not as bad as if we were facing the channel that goes from bay lake into 7 seas lagoon.

It sounds like you stayed in the same area we did. I think there was one more room to the right of us before you reached the end of the building (the "T"). The views of the lake are incredible in the morning, and yes while the boats do pass by there I don't recall them making any audible noise.

It was quite the huff to the main building, and had I just walked out to the monorail and back once a day I probably wouldn't have noticed it, but we found ourselves wanting snacks later in the evening or drinks, and that is quite a walk for a cup refill or a flatbread pizza. (But it was worth it I think, Contempo-Cafe was very awesome.)

Now we'll begin looking for the "must-sees" at the CR. Things such as Hidden Mickey's and other not-so-obvious treasures to discover! :sohappy:

While not so much a Contemporary thing, I love the Electrical Water Pageant which is easily visible from the docks there, or possibly your room if you end up beside the lake.

 

[adamcav]

I was just reading some reviews and a high percentage of people who book Garden Wing seem to get free upgrades to Tower rooms. I wonder what that is all about. We're planning travel in mid August, so I'm just gonna guess it would be less likely during the summer.

 

[kbmum]

Another advantage to staying in the garden wing, especially with little kids, is that the laundry room is in the building. You won't have to go far if you need to do a load or two during your trip.

As for room upgrades, I've stayed in the wings many times and never received an upgrade to the tower.

 

[4piratemom]

This is such great information. We go to Disney almost every year, and was wondering if any of you thought that you could fit a regular pack-n-play in the bathroom at the Contemporary? Our 1 year old won't sleep if any of us are in the room, and the villas are too expensive.:wave:

 

[Scooter]

This may sound petty, but it made a differance for my wife and I:

Another great thing about a wing room is you don't have to deal with the elevator traffic. If you are staying in a tower room, around 8 in the morning and about 6 in the evening there are hoardes of people lingering around the elevators trying to get up to their rooms or down to the lower floors. Those elevators get pretty crowded at times. If you stay in a wing room you don't have to deal with it because you can get everywhere you need to go via a short walk, or the 2 escalators.