Contemporary Resort - Worth the Extra for the Tower?

[B. Shoe]

I recently battled with this decision for the past couple of weeks. Had a TPV reservation for 4 days, 3 nights. Change it to a Garden Room and expanded our reservation to 5 days, 4 nights at essentially the same cost. Would I like to stay in the tower? Of course! But we’re still close to MK, and all of the amenities that CR provides. And hey, maybe we’ll get one of those upgrades back to the tower!

 

[Shanti]

Don't ask me why, but of all the Deluxe resorts it has always been a dream of mine to stay at the Contemporary. As you can see with my signature, we have been more Value/Moderate people, but this year we are tagging along on a conference with my DH and while it's not on Disney, we are looking at a couple of nights on site. Since it's a short stay, I thought this would be a good opportunity to make my dreams come true The most affordable option is a Garden Wing Standard View. For $159 a night more, we can do a Bay Lake view in the Tower. Ideally this is truly what I want, but the practical side of me thinks of how the difference could pay for our meals and so forth. Just wanted a perspective from anyone who has stayed here - would you spring the extra for the main Tower?

We stayed in the garden wing and really liked it. It was so much quieter than the tower, and our room was beautiful.

 

[fla4fun]

Disney1975 wanna race? ha

No way it takes 2 minutes to walk from a far down Garden Room to the main lobby. From the entrance of the Garden Wing to the Lobby yes, but there are only a handful GW rooms that close.

I would say less than five. I've been in the farthest room in the garden wing, gone out the end door near the round pool, and walked to the main building and it was less than five minutes, and I'm not a fast walker.

The main difference between the garden wing and the tower is whether or not you need a balcony. Otherwise, the rooms are identical - same size, same layout (corner rooms in the wing are a little different). I have stayed in both, and like both, and base my decision on how much I think I will use that balcony during the trip.

 

[OneinThree]

Purely subjective but for me, CR with a theme park tower view is its own experience versus every other option at CR. That said, it is difficult to justify the intrinsic cost but I'd definitely do it if it's in the budget for a one-time splurge. Tower with Bay Lake view is probably not something I would pay a premium for, personally.

 

[Minnesota!]

CR Tower is a dream of mine, too. Now that we are going for shorter, more resort-centric vacations, I will probably just do it one of these times!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

How long did it take you to walk to the main building?

Less than 5 minutes. I've had rooms at other deluxes (AKL and BC to be exact) that felt far further to the main resort areas than the garden wing at CR.

 

[mmbrad02]

Thanks everyone for your replies! In an odd twist of events, we booked at...

Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Yeah, that wasn't even really in the mix. BUT, originally while on site we were going to do two MK days. Then we got to thinking about how we haven't seen Pandora yet, and DH loves Pandora. So we decided to do one day at AK and one day at MK. And AKL was considerably cheaper than CR... like we got both nights for the price of one night at CL. So we are finally getting to try a Deluxe, albeit not my dream one. I'm still pretty excited though! We will just Uber on the day we go to MK.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Thanks everyone for your replies! In an odd twist of events, we booked at...

Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Yeah, that wasn't even really in the mix. BUT, originally while on site we were going to do two MK days. Then we got to thinking about how we haven't seen Pandora yet, and DH loves Pandora. So we decided to do one day at AK and one day at MK. And AKL was considerably cheaper than CR... like we got both nights for the price of one night at CL. So we are finally getting to try a Deluxe, albeit not my dream one. I'm still pretty excited though! We will just Uber on the day we go to MK.

Lol, nice choice! FWIW, I just got back from AKL (first time there) and we really enjoyed it. We are heavy MK / monorail resort people so I was expecting to not really like it all that much... but I was wrong. It's not a resort that would suit us every trip, but for this one - two thumbs up from us. Having hard withdrawal right now.

Also, you may know this but if you do Uber to MK, set the destination for CR and walk from there (otherwise they drop you off at the TTC).

Have fun!

 

[mmbrad02]

Also, you may know this but if you do Uber to MK, set the destination for CR and walk from there (otherwise they drop you off at the TTC).

I really wanted to do this, but I also read somewhere that they can only go to the Contemporary if you are a guest or have a dining reservation. Is this true? Or can we simply ask to go there and walk on over to MK? I would much prefer this as to deal with TTC.