Contemporary - Garden Wing

Hi Everyone -

I have a reservation at the Contemporary in the Tower with a Lake View. However, for ~$250/night/room cheaper I can get a room in the Garden Wing (Standard View). Is it worth going for the cheaper option? Curious to hear from anyone who has stayed in the Garden Wing.

Obvious benefits to the Tower:

  • Closer to the walkway to MK
  • Closer to Monorail
  • Closer to gift shops and restaurants
  • Better views, particularly theme park (but I will have Lake View in Tower, standard in GW)

Curious to hear more:

  • TP site mentions lots of bugs around the Garden Wing at night. Is this still true?
  • Garden Wing seems closer to the pool
  • Is there a difference in renovations / feel?
  • Given pros / cons, is it worth the savings?

Thanks in advance!

Don’t do it stick with what you got

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Thank you once again to the Enabler! :joy:

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Reports are that the elevators are a nightmare at busy times. Obviously they are limiting how many people / parties can enter at the same time.

Garden Wing would mean you could use the escalators instead to get up to the 4th floor - for Contempo Cafe, monorail, shops etc.

Handy for the pool, pool bar (Sandy Cove) is open.

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Meaning in the Tower, correct?

So there is an indoor route from Garden Wing directly to the monorail level?

It’s what I do. If you’re going to go big go big. If you’re going to stay in the garden wing Then just stay at a moderate

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We have stayed in both, and we were quite happy in the Garden Wing. Our primary purpose in staying at the CR is being able to walk to MK, which you can do from either Tower or Garden Wing. We did not experience an issue with bugs. When the kids were little and we wanted to watch the fireworks from the room, we preferred the Tower; when they were older such that we planned to be in the parks for the evening, we felt the Garden Wing was the better value.

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I’ve not stayed there, but one thing I’ve always seen people point out is that the Garden Wing rooms involve walking outdoors, so if it’s inclement weather you’re either waiting to go in/out or you’re getting wet. Whereas the Tower you’re inside the whole time.

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Sorry, wasn’t very clear.

The elevators are in the Tower, yes. And those are the ones that are a problem at busy times.

The Garden Wing has a covered walkway to the main building, although it is still outdoors. The wing itself only has two/three floors.

If you enter the lobby at ground level, you can use the escalators to get up to the 4th floor rather than use the elevators.

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I did not realize all of them were. I thought from some airial shots it looked like there were some uncovered.

Covered walkways are useless with many of the storms in Orlando where the rain blows sideways though. They would need to be enclosed to protect against that.

It could be no big deal at all, or it could be a dealbreaker for some.

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Didn’t realise all of what were what? :joy:

There’s a walkway to the Garden wing, which is covered - I think all the way to the wing itself.

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All of the walkways in the Garden area. From air shots I have seen it looks like more than one walkway in there.

And again, covering does not help sideways rain.

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I just found this video, the sound is useless but it shows you what I mean.

The garden wing is really like three sides of a square. There are doors at various places but the covered walkway goes from the main building straight to a door at the end of the nearest wing. From you can access all the rooms from the internal halls.

Maybe it’ll help a bit. Not great but in the middle of the video you’ll see the centre “lobby”. They then walk round and go out to the pool side.

Edited to try and clarify.

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I have stayed in both and for 250 a night - I would go with the garden wing. The rooms are exactly the same and I enjoyed my patio in the garden. I had a standard view - if you turned one way it was a parking lot -if you turned the other the view was the waterway and monorail. So cool. The tower was really cool too but the elevators are slow.

My main reason for staying is the access to MK - the garden wing probably adds a couple minutes but nothing extreme. It is closer to the pool.

Either choice is fabulous.

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It sounds like you’re pointing out quite a few benefits to sticking with your first option. Every upgrade makes your vacation a little better. If you can afford it, keep the enhancements.

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I disliked the Garden Wing. Hated the extra walk after a long day and if I wanted to pop into to the atrium stores, it was (and felt) way further.

Additionally, the electric water massacre which I loathe went right past our room.

But overall, it just felt a bit more washed out than the main building and lacked the ambience you get there.

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Overall I’m leaning toward the Tower for this reason. Going into the atrium and feeling the hustle and bustle of a futuristic city with a monorail coming right through is very cool. Also, when I’m paying this much for my vacation, what’s another $250? (x2 lol)

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That’a a slippery slope many of us have slid down more than once!

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Yeah, I definitely slid down that one (at a bit more than $250) for Marathon Weekend with changing to a Kidani Savanna View Studio…

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