We just returned from a weeklong stay at the newly refurbished Garden Wing rooms. Our family had 5 standard view rooms (originally booked over a year ago). Most of the standard view rooms are in the wing closest to tower, which is still closed. We thought we might get upgraded to garden view, but weren't. Turned out to not be a big deal; we loved the rooms we had. Only two of us had ground floor rooms, as requested, and the other 3 were on upper floors.
The rooms themselves were nice and we would highly recommend them. We all liked the theming. The room was large, easy to move around and lots of storage. The heavy table was never knocked over by a child
The extra bed was easily convertible and comfortable for a child. We were surprised by the carpeting, but it definitely helped with the noise level. We never heard talking/crying/screaming from other rooms nor seldom heard people walking above us. We loved being so close to a pool and being able to walk to MK. We were also glad we didn't have to wait for the elevators in the towers (it was bad enough waiting to take the stroller up the elevators to catch the monorail).
The bathroom is big, bright and well laid out. The rooms all had showers--no tubs. The showers are big with a bench and worked well except for the drain. The shower doesn't drain right and the one room was so bad that it overflowed into the bathroom. We found that we would just lift up the rectangular cover and prop it up a bit (versus laying flat as it's designed) that the water drained fine.
Some minor things were failing: the strip lighting in closet kept falling down in our room and several rooms had the door stop come out (they weren't attached properly). The air-conditioning was surprisingly loud when it turned on/off during night.
As far as when the refurbishing will be done: Yesterday they took down the fencing around the parking lot. There wasn't much parking while there. So maybe they're close to opening more rooms. The wings closest to the lake were all done as well as the rooms on the main hall. The two wings closest to the tower and parking lot had furniture in them but the beds did not yet have sheets.
There was a large thunderstorm the second day we were there and with the wing closest to tower is closed, so we could not get to our room without walking in the rain to an open entrance. Some of our group had reservations at Steakhouse 71, so they had to wait til the rain slowed down to get back to the tower. I hope they open the wing closest to the tower so guests can stay dry during the rainy season.
If you can afford the Contemporary Resort, I'd highly recommend it. Although the Garden Wing is less expensive than the tower, we were actually glad we were in the Garden Wing. So close for the kids and us to get to pool on a hot afternoon.
The rooms themselves were nice and we would highly recommend them. We all liked the theming. The room was large, easy to move around and lots of storage. The heavy table was never knocked over by a child
The extra bed was easily convertible and comfortable for a child. We were surprised by the carpeting, but it definitely helped with the noise level. We never heard talking/crying/screaming from other rooms nor seldom heard people walking above us. We loved being so close to a pool and being able to walk to MK. We were also glad we didn't have to wait for the elevators in the towers (it was bad enough waiting to take the stroller up the elevators to catch the monorail).The bathroom is big, bright and well laid out. The rooms all had showers--no tubs. The showers are big with a bench and worked well except for the drain. The shower doesn't drain right and the one room was so bad that it overflowed into the bathroom. We found that we would just lift up the rectangular cover and prop it up a bit (versus laying flat as it's designed) that the water drained fine.
Some minor things were failing: the strip lighting in closet kept falling down in our room and several rooms had the door stop come out (they weren't attached properly). The air-conditioning was surprisingly loud when it turned on/off during night.
As far as when the refurbishing will be done: Yesterday they took down the fencing around the parking lot. There wasn't much parking while there. So maybe they're close to opening more rooms. The wings closest to the lake were all done as well as the rooms on the main hall. The two wings closest to the tower and parking lot had furniture in them but the beds did not yet have sheets.
There was a large thunderstorm the second day we were there and with the wing closest to tower is closed, so we could not get to our room without walking in the rain to an open entrance. Some of our group had reservations at Steakhouse 71, so they had to wait til the rain slowed down to get back to the tower. I hope they open the wing closest to the tower so guests can stay dry during the rainy season.
If you can afford the Contemporary Resort, I'd highly recommend it. Although the Garden Wing is less expensive than the tower, we were actually glad we were in the Garden Wing. So close for the kids and us to get to pool on a hot afternoon.
