Help for Parents Needed

[katyjeka]

Hi. My father has decided to take my mom down for an adult only trip in early November. They are considering a garden wing room. My DH and I have never stayed here, so I really can't help them with their questions. Was hoping to find the answers here. Can you walk to MK from the garden wing rooms, and how long of a walk is it? Can fireworks only be seen from the tower rooms, or can they walk to the beach area to view them? What are your opinions of the rooms, and is it really inconvenient to stay in the wings versus the tower? One last question, can they park the rental car close to their room?Thanks for the help. We don't leave until Dec., so I'm jealous, they get to go before us!!!

 

[LilGMom]

Hi. My father has decided to take my mom down for an adult only trip in early November. They are considering a garden wing room. My DH and I have never stayed here, so I really can't help them with their questions. Was hoping to find the answers here. Can you walk to MK from the garden wing rooms, and how long of a walk is it? Can fireworks only be seen from the tower rooms, or can they walk to the beach area to view them? What are your opinions of the rooms, and is it really inconvenient to stay in the wings versus the tower? One last question, can they park the rental car close to their room?Thanks for the help. We don't leave until Dec., so I'm jealous, they get to go before us!!!

Yes you can walk from the garden wing room. Since the north garden wing has been demolished the walk will be about two minutes longer for the south wing. You can also walk into the tower, since you'll pass it on the way to the MK, and use the monorail. I would imagine that you'd be able to see some of the fireworks from the beach but not many because of the trees along that side of the MK. And parking used to be pretty convenient, but that might not be the case with the construction going on.

Is your dad set on staying at the Contemporary? The WL is a beautiful resort and if get gets a room on the north side of the building at least three floors up he and your mom can have a beautiful view from their balcony of the nightly fireworks. While you can't walk to the MK from the WL it is a nice enjoyable and short boat ride from the WL to the MK.

Can you tell that I'm partial to the WL? We had a less than nice stay at a north garden wing room at CR and have had nothing but wondeful stays at WL. Add the fact that the WL is less expensive than CR and I'm sold.

 

[fla4fun]

I used to always go out near the flagpoles in front of the tower to watch fireworks, when I was in a wing room. You get a fairly unobstructed view, and depending on which way the wind is blowing, you can hear the music as well. There are benches out there along the walkway to rest while you're waiting.

As far as parking, you actually get to park closer to the wing than you do to the tower. You drive around the perimeter of the parking lot, past the convention center, and there's a parking lot right in front of the wing.

I found the wings to be as convenient as the tower. There is a covered walkway between the two, in case of inclement weather. I preferred being able to walk into the tower and take the escalators to the 4th floor than trying to catch an elevator down from the tower. It seemed like every time we got into an elevator, it stopped on every floor. The wings always seemed more relaxing than the tower. The main thing you miss in the wings is not having a balcony. The tower rooms have balconies, the wing rooms do not.

 

[katyjeka]

Hi. He has always wanted to stay at the Cont. and has always went elsewhere. The first thing he said for this trip was, "we are staying at the Cont.". I don't believe he is aware of the construction. I would hate for it to be to distracting. When you walk to the MK, do you have to catch the boat or monorail or are you at the gate.(Stupid question, I know)Thanks again. Janice

 

[TheLorax2000]

When you walk to the MK from the Cont. you are at the gate. You actually walk along the parking lot where the buses come in (on a path). It's a nice walk.

 

[fla4fun]

The sidewalk actually follows along beside the monorail track (and goes under it once or twice). You then walk along between the monorail track and the bus stop area at MK, and then you meet up with all the people who have ridden the buses and ferry boat to go through the bag check and into the park. From your room in the wing, I would figure a 15-20 minute leisurely walk. By the time you wait for a monorail back to the resort, you'll be there. Going to the MK, the monorail has to stop at TTC, Poly, and GF before going to MK, so it's definitely faster to walk going to the park.

 

[ElizabethB]

We stayed in a north garden wing room and loved it. The rooms are very large, the bathroom is actually a separate room with the sinks in the bathroom, which we prefer. We had a first floor standard view and ended up with a nice patio looking over a lake and trees with spanish moss. Very pretty. We couldn't use the patio in the evening as there were too many bugs biting us, but we enjoyed it at other times. The walk from the north wing to MK was pleasant -- it would be a little longer from the south wing. Parking was very convenient to the north wing (not sure about parking near the south wing). The pools are nice, especially the quiet pool near the lake. The lake is a nice amenity -- fun to rent a boat and explore it. California Grill is wonderful for fine dining. The monorail is convenient for visiting the other monorail resorts.

The newer deluxes like Wilderness Lodge have much smaller rooms (DH and I won't stay there again because the room was so small we felt like we were tripping over each other).

We'd stay in a garden wing room at CR again in a minute.

 

[tripplanner]

We love the garden wing rooms at the CR. The rooms are large and beautifully decorated. I actually prefer the wing rooms to the tower ones. We find them quite peaceful. We try to get a room facing the lake, so we've never seen the fireworks from our garden wing rooms. We have stayed in the tower facing the MK and did enjoy the fireworks from the balcony. We just didn't find it great enough to justify the price difference. The parking is pretty convenient. We have done the walk to MK, but only did it once. We typically take the monorail to MK.