We had a ground floor room in North Wing in August so we had a patio. We stayed at the Polynesian in Tokelau longhouse so that we would be assured of getting a balcony. I have to say that having sliders that just open, with no balcony, would not have been so bad. We didn't use our patio at CR and I think we used the balcony at Polynesian mostly for hanging our bathing suits over the arms of the chairs. So, for us, no big deal if we can't have a balcony and just sliders that open. We really just wanted to be able to have fresh air.