OK now I'm freaking out...

[erinz]

I just called Central Reservations to reserve a standard room at CR in the north wing for Dec 2005. The CM said that they don't separate the wings into north or south when it came to making reservations, and did not show any standard rooms available at all for Dec 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th 2005.........What?!!

 

[freediverdude]

I would call back and talk to another person. It's true that they won't guarantee you the north or south wing, but you can request one or the other on the reservation. And I highly suspect that if you're willing to pay the rack rate without a discount, a year in advance, that there really is a standard room available. I've had some of those reservation people basically tell me nothing was available, no matter what I asked for, I think just to not be bothered with making the reservation. You could as an alternative try booking it on the website, although a longer cancellation policy might apply.

 

[Hippychickali]

Is a standard room a garden wing room? On the website, I just checked for you and there are rooms available on that date with a garden wing room. There is no "standard" option. The rate is $312.20 per night. As far as north or south wing I think that that is just a request and cannot be reserved. May I suggest calling back and speaking with someone else or booking it through the Walt Disney World website?

Ali

PS - CR = Contemporary Resort, right?

 

[erinz]

Actually the CM did say that only the garden wing was available.....but I thought the garden wing was the south wing. The price for a garden room is more than we can afford.

I want a parking lot view! Garbage dumpster and all!

 

[Hippychickali]

Ummm...I think that might be their standard room by the looks of the website. They have no "standard view". Go have a look. Maybe someone who's actually stayed there could help us figure it out but I don't think you'd pay much less than that for a rack rate at CR.

Ali

 

[erinz]

I bet you are right. It makes sense. I'll try calling back to reserve a garden wing room and request the north wing. Hopefully that will do it. Thanks!

 

[tiggersmom2]

I stayed in a *gasp* STANDARD view room!!! It was in the North wing and it faced the parking lot.......it was awesome. We had a patio on the first floor and we watched the fireworks every night.

 

[Hippychickali]

Tiggersmom, how did you get that view? It doesn't seem to exist online.

Ali

 

[n2mm]

We stayed in a standard wing room last year. We looked out on the parking lot and watched the monorail zip by. It was OK for us. We just walked out the door, down the stairs and we were at the breezeway to the main building or pools. We were in the South wing. Go to their website to get information on the resorts and see what the going rate is for a standard wing. I know they still have them because I have 2 standard wing rooms reserved for a week in September.

 

[CheshireVal]

I've heard that they're going to be closing down one of those wings to make room for DVC property. Just a rumor, I think, but perhaps that's why there's nothing available a year from now?

 

[plutospup]

We stayed in a "standard" CR room (north wing)...complete with first floor patio, view of hedges & parking lot, and a family of ducks that we named Daisy, Donald, & Fred (the unknown Disney Duck!). The ducks came by every morning. At checkin we were offered a "garden view" room, however, it was on the 2nd floor, and we wanted a 1st floor room. The garden view was overlooking the playground, and grassy area adjacent to Bay Lake.

 

[erinz]

Well, I called back and made a reservation for a garden wing (yeah, I guess north wing is just a request) garden view room. Can you believe that there are NO standard rooms left for the week of Dec 4th 2005?

I think I'll start a new thread and whine about this.

Oh and there is something else I want to whine about. Maybe I'll start two new threads.....

 

[freediverdude]

Well that still sounds awfully strange that no standard rooms would be available this far in advance. It's not a holiday or anything- the only thing I can think of is maybe the DIS meets or Disney fan site type meets take place around then. $312 would be the rate for a garden view (wing rooms that don't face the parking lot). Standard view would be 30-40 bucks less than that. The only thing I can think of is maybe they've booked a convention using all standards, or they've decided to refurbish the standards during that time or something, like they've already decided to have those rooms closed for a while. I would definitely keep calling like once a month or so, and things may open up. Also, in about a month you could start checking on the travel websites like Expedia and Travelocity. Typically they'll only do about 11 months in advance, but in another month they'll quote a price for the different rooms available, and it will be interesting to see if standard is listed.

 

[MagicKingdom05]

erinz,

I just checked online Dec 1-11 and they do have standard wing rooms:

Disney's Contemporary Resort
Arriving on 12/01/05 for 10 nights
1 Adult
Room Type: Standard Wing Room

Resort Stay only
$272.06† per night, including tax

I also check Dec 4-10 and it comes up with the same infomation.

 

[ppony]

Didn't I read somethiing about Pop Warner (whoever that is) cheerleaders being there at that time next year? Maybe that is who is booking up the cheapest rooms at the deluxes? Then again, what do I know.

 

[MagicKingdom05]

ppony,

There are standard rooms available which I checked on WDW website. From what I have read about Pop Warner since I am going around this time myself is that they usually always stay in the value resorts because of the price. The value resorts are usually no more than $80-$90 a night compared to the Contemporary at $272 a night.

I think that OP must have gotten a new reservation person who didn't know exactly how to look it up, because if I can go online and find the rates, they have the same information.

 

[erinz]

Thanks guys! It looks like I won't have the deposit money until Feb anyway....Christmas is sucking the life out of my bank account Hopefully there will still be standard rooms then!

 

[tiggersmom2]

Tiggersmom, how did you get that view? It doesn't seem to exist online.

Ali

I just requested a non-smoking room (all of the north wing is NS) and a room with a MK view. I had heard on these boards that the standard view (parking lot view) faced the MK. They were right - we watched the fireworks every night......it was wonderful.

 

[wasabi girl]

Isn't the first week of December supposed to be a slow time? If there are no standard rooms available at the CR, maybe it isn't so slow!
My TA (yes I'm too lazy to do everything myself!) that the CR tends to fill up early so maybe that's it.

 

[mrsv98]

I've heard that they're going to be closing down one of those wings to make room for DVC property. Just a rumor, I think, but perhaps that's why there's nothing available a year from now?

We were at Chef Mickey's for dinner on 11/30 and the woman at the valet desk said they were indeed taking a wing of the CR and making it a DVC property. She said they had to gut the existing structure and create it from the inside out because they were not allowed to tear it down and rebulid due to some zoning issue. So I would think that maybe the plans are in the works for this to happen soon and that is effecting availability. HTH.