Hello all!!
I have a reservation at the Contemporary for a Garden View Standard room 8/8-8/12. We booked this room thru Disney via a package. The point is, I’ve never stayed at the Contemporary, and it would be my absolute dream to stay in the Main Tower. Has anybody here ever been upgraded to the Main Tower, and if so, how?
I hope you get your wish.
And welcome to the forum
Welcome!
The short answer is that it isn’t something you can likely make happen. When it does happen, it can be for a variety of reasons. For example, since most people will tend to want the cheapest price they might overbook standard rooms, knowing they will “upgrade” you into the not as filled preferred rooms (due to them costing more). This allows Disney to still get people to pay for rooms rather than not booking at all. It doesn’t actually cost them more if you stay in the tower or not…so moving you there, if it frees a standard room that someone WILL pay for, is to their benefit. Seems like “pixie dust” to you, but in reality it helps them drive up revenues. (This is why, back in August 2020, my son and DIL was offered a “free” upgrade to the Grand Floridian from a value hotel…they would fill a room at GF they couldn’t sell, while freeing a value room they could!)
In these kind of cases, though, the “pixie dust” happens seemingly randomly.
As of late, with Disney being able to fill most of their rooms, I suspect this is less likely to happen…but you just never know!
I agree with others, it would be fantastic if you were upgraded and I hope you are! But I would not count on it. If it’s your dream, I would save up for it, or consider booking a tower room for your final night as an extra treat.
Make it known when you go by the front desk you are interested in staying in the Tower. Maybe ask if there is availability and inquire about the upcharge. That way they’ll know you don’t have your heart set on GW.
I would definitely lead with “Is there anything available in the tower and how much would it be to upgrade?” That opens the door for them - if they have been told they can move people - to pixie dust you IF they choose or to tell you what the cost to upgrade would be. In general those who just ask for an upgrade without asking about the up charge will almost never be pixie dusted.
Honestly pixie dust upgrades that large are few and far between - much more rare than online forums would have you believe. It could happen, but the general rule of thumb is (or should be) to book the lowest category you’ll be happy with.
I will say that now that they have finished the Garden Wing room refurb the odds have decreased since they don’t have to relocate people who had booked Garden Wing before the refurb started.
(And I am saying this as someone who has Garden Wing reserved for 8/20-26 for a first visit and would love to be surprised - but I know I booked Garden Wing and that is all I expect.)
Ditto everything above. Once I got upgraded at the contemporary to a theme park view. But I already had a tower room and it was two hours past official check in time and I was traveling with two toddlers by myself. And it was pretty close to right after they opened after the shut down. So this was like an “everything aligns once every 86 years” kind of moment.
Hi! When did they do the garden wing refurb?
Just recently. The rooms got the Incredibles retheme - minus the spider trap extra section around the window like in the tower.
Oh wow, I didn’t know that! We were there last December and they weren’t done and we are going to be staying there again this November so that is definitely something to look forward to~
Yep. It hasn’t been that long that they finished them. So that’s one advantage to the Garden Wing over the Tower - the rooms are slightly newer! 
Actually I think they may have been finished slightly ahead of schedule and that’s why they popped up with an under $400/night rate with the Disney+ deal suddenly.
Are the Incredibles rooms nice? Is it still 2 queen beds? Thank you!
I haven’t stayed there yet - 22 days to check-in. But yes - beds are either 2 queens or 1 king.
There aren’t really any videos I’ve found of the Garden Wing, but here’s one of the Tower and basically the only difference I’m aware of is the Garden Wing doesn’t have the boxy thing around the window.
I can’t wait to see your pictures. I’d love to stay in a garden wing if it was Incredibled up 
It happened to me in January!
Good luck!
Well I do have some great news. I was checking for availability and found a Tower Room available and decided it was worth the extra $400. Thank you for everyone’s help!!