Worried that I have made a terrible resort decision!

[Skippyboo]

We have discussed it. He was adamant at first about a balcony, but is willing to move to the MK for a few nights at the end of the trip for ease of walking to the MK. I wish that you could book the ground floor room, but that's not an option. I did check WL - it was my second choice to the CR - but its completely booked as well.

Thanks for your response. I am happy that it sounds like you enjoyed the garden wing OK, at least.

WL is super popular for Christmas decorations during that time of year. Could you do Yacht Club for the 3 extra days . Balcony plus walking distance to HS and Epcot?

 

[Babsy]

The rooms in the garden wing are identical to the rooms in the tower. The only thing missing is the balcony. So you aren’t getting a lesser room by staying in the wing. The wing is no farther away than some of the GF or Poly rooms, which also require you to go outdoors to access. I have actually stayed in the farthest garden wing room from the tower, by request. We have had noise issues in the tower that we have never had in the garden wing.

I have stayed in both and I really dislike the tower elevator situation. We have had to wait multiple times for a second or even third elevator because they were full. We have gone from the fourth floor to the first floor by escalator specifically for the purpose of being able to get into an elevator to go up to our room. In the wing, there are only three floors, so it is easy to take the stairs if an elevator is busy.

Thank you for the encouragement. A quiet room will be good for sleeping!

If you find anything you like book it, then call and adjust the days

Oh, good idea. I didn't think that you could do that. Thanks!

I would call and request a ground floor room due to the ECV and nothing else. They might try harder to assign you one than if you just request a ground floor with no explanation. The elevator will hold an ECV but you would have to pull in and back out. The tower elevators aren’t much better, as they are deeper, but not wider.

You can still keep looking for something else in the meantime.

Good ideas! It does sound like it is difficult to maneuver in those elevators.

The garden wing was renovated after the main tower. It is by no means in poor condition. Some may not like the design, but that doesn’t make it poor condition. You can request a 1st floor room due to the mobility scooter & might have a better chance because of that.

We like the quiet of the garden wing & the easy access to the main area without needing an elevator. We can take the escalator to the monorail or dining & shops & not need an elevator. I think you’ll find the elevator situation with a scooter in the main building difficult at times. The elevators are not big there either & often crowded.

As for room availability, are you looking at discounts or rack rate? Sometimes the website defaults to a discount that shows no availability. But changing to rack rate will give different options.

Right. I have noticed that it defaults to a discounted rate. Glad to hear that the condition of the rooms is good! That is always a concern.

I would definitely note on your reservation that you would like to request ground floor due to your ECV.

I actually prefer the garden wing over the tower - I find the tower to be a bit loud and the elevator banks can get very congested. I didn't think the garden wing was in poor condition at all. I find accessing the CR lobby, buses and walkway to MK much more convenient from the garden wing.

Sounds good!

How about looking at DVC rental site for possible confirmed reservations at Bay Lake Tower? Not sure if anything will match your dates, but it's worth a look!

Good idea!

Thank you everyone for the very helpful responses. I have to say that I now have some good ideas to try and I feel much better about my choice to stay in the garden wing.

 

[Genie+]

Oh, good idea. I didn't think that you could do that. Thanks!

Yeah say you’re just looking for 3 days. Try 4 days (adding a day to the front or back). If something pops up you like, take it to replace your current. Then call and have the day you don’t need dropped.

But it sounds like Garden Wing will be great and much less headache and finagling to just keep it.

Have a lovely trip!

 

[brockash]

Hello all!

So I booked AKL for a week and then added on three days at the CR garden wing, water view. BUT DH is never happy unless he has a balcony to relax on with his early morning coffee. But the wing rooms do not have balconies and odds are against getting the ground floor 2:1. I decided to change to the CR tower but no rooms are available for our dates. WE can stay at the AKL for the entire 10 days, but I really wanted to. stay in the MK area, for a while at least. All other MK resorts sold out too. And now I have read some really poor reviews of the garden wing. I have stayed in the garden wing, but it was in the northern wing before the DVC tower was put there instead. And I was on the ground floor at the time. I am so uncertain. I can request ground floor, but that is not guaranteed.

What would you do?

We would much rather stay in garden wing as opposed to any AKL room. We are not fans of AKL. If you can get a ground floor at garden wing they have. patios

 

[crazyfordisney2000]

We LOVED the garden wing! We thought the rooms were huge and spacious. The only thing we didn’t like much was the pool area, I found it too sterile and boring.

 

[GradysDogDad]

Had a room in the Contemporary Tower earlier this year and elevators did require several minute waits regularly. Also had to wait for 2-3 in the lobby when there was a line/crowds that filled them up.

I did laundry in the Garden Wing so I did the walk there/back several times and even took a stroll around the hallways while waiting - the walk to the Tower is covered and not far at all. I booked a room in the Garden Wing for our next trip, also requested ground floor due to stroller. It was nice being in the tower and feeling the energy of the concourse below as soon as you opened your door, but we got a good deal on the garden wing room and it will be nice to be walking/escalators without the elevator waits.

 

[NicoleLarson]

Have you tried flipping around your dates? Start at CR and end at AKL since it seems like that's the one you are more excited about, you can end your vacation on a high note vs feeling like you've downgraded at the end.

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

Ok so here’s my ultimate Disney availability secret: they have more availability if you call than they do on the interwebs. That doesn’t mean they’ll definitely have your nights available for the main building (or any of the other good suggestions here), but there is definitely a chance they will.

 

[gottalovepluto]

We have discussed it. He was adamant at first about a balcony, but is willing to move to the MK for a few nights at the end of the trip for ease of walking to the MK. I wish that you could book the ground floor room, but that's not an option. I did check WL - it was my second choice to the CR - but its completely booked as well.

Oh dear. I would stay AKL. You won’t enjoy CR if he is grumpy about not having the balcony. The end of the trip is not the time to be losing a room feature like a balcony as that is when one needs the mental break space the most. WDW vacations are too expensive not to have your number 1 most important room feature.

Stay at AKL, keep an eye out for MK balcony rooms. If your goal is ease of walking, take a different approach and look for a couple nights at YC or BWI instead (not BC, not all rooms have balconies) to ease your EP walking instead. The walk MK/CR Garden isn’t exactly short.

There are also accessible MVs that drop you off as close to MK as literally possible. Hard to get after something like fireworks but outside of that $40ish one way door to door service. Keep the balcony and save steps without changing your schedule around.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Ok so here’s my ultimate Disney availability secret: they have more availability if you call than they do on the interwebs. That doesn’t mean they’ll definitely have your nights available for the main building (or any of the other good suggestions here), but there is definitely a chance they will.

They don’t. If their IT is being buggy and doing that availability glitch it would appear to you they do but it’s a cookie glitch or something. Like, for sure call, but go in knowing there isn’t some secret inventory stash, it’s just their crap IT affecting you.

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

They don’t. If their IT is being buggy and doing that availability glitch it would appear to you they do but it’s a cookie glitch or something. Like, for sure call, but go in knowing there isn’t some secret inventory stash, it’s just their crap IT affecting you.

That is simply not correct. Their availability varies by first party internet, third party internet, TA, and phone. That’s really common in the industry.

 

[gottalovepluto]

That is simply not correct. Their availability varies by first party internet, third party internet, TA, and phone. That’s really common in the industry.

Nope. We are simply in complete disagreement then and that is ok. (TAs have the same availability you have and Disney has for you unless they have reserved a block of rooms for group booking- some used to do that for deals but not so much lately. OTAs have different availability due to contracts, Disney can’t just dip into their inventory.)