Finally De-Lurking to ask ? about North Wing @ CR.....

[YesI'mObsessed]

Ok,I've read countless posts and threads about the Contemporary, but specifically need to know this...

1. Can you see the castle well from the Wing rooms? If so, is the best view a standard or garden wing?

2. How long of a walk is it to the monorail? Is it really worth it to stay in the tower for the convienece of the monorail/food?

As you can tell, we are contemplating staying in the tower, but for $500.00 more. I can't figure out if it's worth it or not. I have 3 kids all 9 and under who would get a huge kick out of seeing the castle from their room window every night. And I kind of figure if you are staying that close, and you can get a much better view from the tower,maybe it's worth it. I also will be lugging a stroller, so will it be better to stay close to the monorail? Or is it a quicker walk straight to the MK from the North Wing side? Lots of questions...I hope you all have lots of answers for me. Thanks. This board is so great, I'm glad I"m finally posting!

 

[tiggergirlinMI]

We go every year and choose the wing room over the tower.It is about a 100 dollar a night difference, and to me that will pay for our food for the day almost.Yes you get a better view of the magic kingdom from the tower room IF you get a park view.The other view option in the tower is bay view,which is also nice but no view of the park.I always request the North wing and you can't really see alot of the castle from the room itself, if you wanted a chance to, you would need a parking lot view.Garden or lake views mostly face the lake. Staying in the tower is nice but to me it is noisy,you hear the monorail, the restaurants below, and yes this is exciting sometimes to get in the mood, and when my sons were young we stayed in the tower.Now that they are teens and eat alot, I would rather put the 100 more a night into food. The wing rooms are the same size, same everything as the tower rooms, but to me, they are much quieter.It is less than 5 minutes from our room to the main monorail concourse.If you stay in the north wing, you just walk into the main building and the food center is right there,along with an awesome arcade for kids.The bus stop is also on the north wing side, so less than 3 minutes we are out at the bus stop.When we head to the magic kingdom, we always walk and it's less than 12 minutes on average, from our wing room. The only negative thing about wing rooms is that the wing building seems to need some fresh paint and carpet, but once I am in my room, I have never had a problem. IF you do have ANY problems or are dissatisfied in any way, merely go personally to the front desk, I don't call, I would go in person and ask to speak to a manager.I have had 2 small problems in the past, and both were taking care of and I was given room upgrades to make up for it.CMs are great here and if you do encounter one that isnt't helpful, just keep asking til you get one that solves your problem.You will love the Contemporary Wing Rooms.The tower rooms are great also because you are right there, however for the 100 more a night, to me I don't mind the walk at all. Hope this helped you!

 

[Suflay1]

I think TiggergirlinMI pretty well summed it up. We've stayed in the North Garden Wing a couple times, facing the lake, and we could hear but not see the fireworks. Definitely ask for a parking lot view and a higher floor if you want to see the fireworks.
When we were there recently, the monorail got stuck in the Contemporary station, and after 15 minutes we gave up and took the walkway to the Magic Kingdom. About halfway there, we saw the monorail glide overhead, so it is definitely faster to take the monorail, unless it is really crowded.

 

[goofy4tink]

We loved the North Wing! We had a room facing Bay Lake tho, not towards the Castle. I don't think that there are all that many rooms in the North Wing that have a good view of the Castle. But, it sure doesn't hurt to ask!! It is a quick walk to the food center. A little longer to get to the monorail area. As far as the walkway to MK...it took us about 8 minutes to walk it. The monorail is much slower. It has to leave the CR, go to TTC, then the Polynesian, then GF, and then it finally gets to the MK!!! It's about 20 minutes. If you see a monorail coming out of the CR and going right to MK..it's the express monorail from TTC. It makes no stops between TTC and MK.

 

[swilphil]

We chose the North Wing (hopefully we will get it) over the tower because it is a closer walk to the MK (10 minutes!). We also wanted to save a little money. I don't know if anyone else mentioned this, but I think if you get to see a view of castle from the North Wing you see a parking lot in front of it.

 

[sotoalf]

Only the parking lot views (standard view) face the MK. The more expensive "water views" face either the pool or Bay Lake, which I prefer anyway. The walk to the Tower is not a factor: a couple of minutes?

 

[Ellester]

We had 3 second floor north wing rooms last year. The two parking lot/MK views had great views of the AstroOrbiters, not so great of the castle. We had the lake view room which was wonderful, very quiet and relaxing in the mornings. I don't know what the deal is with the sliding glass doors with no balcony that we had though. Did there used to be balconies? Anyway, for us it seemed to be faster to walk to the MK rather than ride the monorail. By the time we walked from the North Wing to the tower, waited for the elevators (we had a stroller too), got on the train, stopped at the TTC, Poly, and GF and then walked down the ramp from the monorail station, we could have easily walked to the MK directly. Plus, we generally got to the front of the MK between monorail and/or ferry landings and usually breezed right through security and the turnstiles with no wait. We walked back each night and avoided the mad rush to the monorails. We figured out towards the end of our stay that we could get in the side door to the north wing and use the elevator right there and it saved us even more time (we were toward the MK side of the wing). I personally would do the north wing again over the tower, although the tower would be cool too! I have 3 under 7 and the Contemporary was so convenient! Hoped this helps!

 

[4mykids]

We have stayed in both the North Wing and the Tower. In the north wing we were facing the lake; beautiful view! Also, were able to see the electrical water parade each night from our window. Very nice.

When we stayed in the tower 4 years ago, we got TREMENDOUS overflow rates from SoG. Are you holding onto something? $149/night! The rate for the wing was $129. That was a no-brainer! We had an incredible view of the castle, but we were only in our rooms one night to see the fireworks. The view was awesome, but as the week wore on, we were looking out the window less and less.

So, I would save my $ and use it for food, etc., if I were you. Maybe you can get an upgrade once you get there. It's worth asking.

Good luck and pixie dust!

 

[dpic]

I've been thinking about a Wing room, too (we have WL standard ressies now, but have alway wanted a monorail resort). Is it worth it to get refillable mugs there? Is it too far away to run out for a refill? In the Wing rooms, which floor is more preferable?

Thanks.

 

[swilphil]

There is only a 3 minute walk outside to go from the North Wing to the Tower, and the food court is just inside the door. You can also get frozen coke, and maybe some other flavor of icee, in your refillable mug.

If you stay on the bottom floor of the garden wing, you have a patio. The two upper floors have sliding glass doors, but no balcony.

 

[FLORIDAFUNFAMILY]

staying CR 7/1 and 7/2 $144 night on a pen code said it was a wing room with a lake view, any idea what kind of room /where this is located ? Would a tower room be much better? What else should we know since we've never stayed there. Following with 7/3 to 7/8 at BWV studio . How does disney handle changing resorts? Thanks

 

[YesI'mObsessed]

Thanks for all the advice. I've still got lots to think about!

 

[kehouse]

we stayed in one of the wings a couple of years ago, we really loved having the monorail. it helped alot with my mom(72), and 3 young children. we could not see the castle from our room, but i would go to the observation deck most nights to watch the fireworks, very cool. they pipe the music in over the speakers so you can hear everything. welcome to the boards!

 

[Northern Lights]

We stayed in the Tower last May and never heard noise from the monorail or the restaurant in our room (we were on about the 10th floor so that may have helped). We loved it and would definitely stay there again.

The laundry facility is in the south wing and I remember the walk being very short. Between the 2 wings, I would choose the north which is closer to MK. Nevertheless, the resort is relatively compact IMO, especially when compared to some of the moderates.

We always walked to MK in the morning b/c as another poster said it was faster. We did like jumping on the monorail back though b/c you are the first stop and it was nice to hop off, jump in the elevator and be back in your room. We loved the MK views and probably watched the fireworks from our balcony about 3 times.

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm not sure you can get up to the observation area anymore but I may be thinking of something else.

As far as Disney moving your stuff from resort to resort...they do a great job. We've done it a few times and it has always worked out fine. One piece of advice tho....be sure to take a bag with you with stuff you might need before the late afternoon. We put our bathing suits, clean underwear, stuff like that in a tote and then just put it in a locker in the parks. That way, if our stuff hadn't gotten to the new resort yet, we could still swim or change in our room. But only once has our stuff not gotten to the resort before we went back to get our room. Normally we leave resort 1, head over to the new resort and check-in and then off to a park. Then late afternoon back to resort 2 to go to our room and unpack.

 

[scanne]

Thanks for this post! I am now even MORE excited about my decision to stay at the CR in a (North) wing room. We have a garden/lake view booked and I hope we get a room on the first floor overlooking Bay Lake. It seems like it would be such a serene view early in the mornings while the sun comes up. Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.........only 5 months to go.