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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)