We’re weird. Then again, a bit of weirdness is practically required for card-carrying Walt Disney World fans–not to mention bloggers, the oddest of the bunch! One of the ways this manifests itself is in having arguably warped perceptions of value for money and what’s “worth it” and what isn’t. Nowhere is this more obvious than with hotels.
If you browse our Rankings of ALL Walt Disney World Hotels from Worst to Best, you might be surprised at how “eclectic” that list is, for lack of a better term. There are Value Resorts that rank higher than Deluxe Resorts, and some of our favorite hotels are actually motels. The list eschews some of the top-tier properties in favor of the bargain basement options.
We’d like to think there’s a method to our madness. That we are frugal as opposed to cheap–and there is a very big difference! We are willing to pay premium prices when the value given matches the cost. That’s how you end up with “weird” results, like our constant rants about Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Animal Kingdom being a waste of money (despite costing the least of any park), while we’re willing to splurge on pricier resort stays. This is an example of the latter. We contain multitudes, as the kids (and poet Walt Whitman) would say.
One recent post covered My Favorite Hotel for Cheap Walt Disney World Weekend Getaways, which sang the praises of All Star Sports for offering superlative bang for buck if all you need is a place to crash. Strong emphasis there on the very first word of the title–All Star Sports is my favorite hotel, when I do solo research trips.
Oddly enough, this is a “companion” piece of that, covering our favorite hotel for quick trips with Baby Bricker (Megatron). For these stays, the Garden Wing at Disney’s Contemporary Resort has emerged as our clear favorite. For Walt Disney World fans, the biggest difference probably jumps out immediately: this is a Deluxe Resort that is not “cheap” by any objective metric. But when we’re traveling as a family, it should also be a given that our preferences, priorities, and needs are different.
With that in mind, here’s a rundown of why we love the Garden Wing at Disney’s Contemporary Resort for doing quick getaways to Walt Disney World where efficiency, comfort and, yes, even cost, are key…
Cost – It may not be coincidental that my two favorite Deluxe Resorts–Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge–are usually the two cheapest at Walt Disney World. The only real exception to that is if there are deep discounts at the Deluxe Villas, and there happens to be studio inventory at Old Key West or Saratoga Springs. But that’s different–and inconsistent.
Given that, perhaps it also shouldn’t be a surprise that we’ve really come to appreciate the Garden Wing at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. During a recent off-season stay, the Garden Wing was literally the cheapest Deluxe Resort available, with a cost of around $350 per night after an Annual Passholder discount. Even with “only” the general public offer, it would’ve cost around $400 per night.
Contrast this with rates at the Grand Floridian or Polynesian Village Resorts, both of which were just over $500. While we prefer both of those hotels on balance, not enough to justify the extra $150+ per night. And honestly, I’m not sure I’d always take those over the Contemporary even if cost were no issue.
Amusingly, the “featured room” that Walt Disney World recommended for our stay was the ‘Theme Park View – Atrium Club Level’ at the Contemporary, which was discounted down to $875 per night. That’s actually not terrible by theme park view or Club Level rooms, but at nearly triple the cost of the Garden View, it was not contest. The $500+ nightly difference could buy far more corn dog nuggets than we could ever eat.
While there are other considerations and reasons we’ve become fans of the Garden Wing, this is really the core of the apple. Simply put, this is the cheapest option for being within walking distance of any theme park. And it really helps that these rooms are among the closest to Magic Kingdom, the park where we spend the most time.
This is also where the “quick stays” part comes into play–for longer trips, we’re staying elsewhere due to total cost and having more time to take in Walt Disney World. For shorter stays, not only is the Garden Wing doable, but we feel like an advantageous location is almost necessary in order to get more done. A better location can mean a shorter stay, which ends up making this Deluxe Resort slightly more budget-friendly. Speaking of location…
Location – This is where the Garden Wing has a real and underrated advantage. It’s easier to walk between the Garden Wing and Magic Kingdom than it is to take the monorail, because it’s a straight shot–you walk out of your room (assuming you’re staying on the ground floor, which is our strong preference) and then walk to the park.
Similarly, it’s faster to walk from Garden Wing than it is from the A-frame once you account for having to hassle with the elevator and everything else. Being inside the main building does make using the monorail much easier, whether you’re going to Magic Kingdom or EPCOT. In fact, if you’re going to be heading to EPCOT with regularity, the A-frame is better. The Polynesian is better still.
We’ve found this is really crucial for nap-time or midday meltdowns. Having to hassle with the monorail, boats, or worse yet, buses, just adds unnecessary layers of friction that complicates and prolongs the whole process. This might seem like an insignificant little thing–and I thought it was before we became parents–but it can be huge. Especially if you’re in the eye of the storm, so to speak, and are just looking to get back to the room while encountering as few people as possible.
From this perspective, the only resort that beats the Garden Wing is Bay Lake Tower. Honestly, depending upon the outcome of the current room reimagining, we might buy more DVC points there. Alternatively, the Polynesian Villas/Island Tower are similarly compelling for being within walking distance of the TTC and Magic Kingdom.
Dining – This isn’t really unique to the Garden Wing, but Contemporary Resort has a strong culinary lineup with California Grill, Steakhouse 71, Chef Mickey’s, and Contempo Cafe. The main stand-out for some (no longer us) is California Grill, which features a 3-course prix fixe dinner menu. But with a baby and on short trips, we realistically aren’t eating there.
We also are huge fans of Steakhouse 71, which is the resort’s mid-tier lobby restaurant that serves great options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s solid and fairly priced. This is one of the restaurants at which we dine most–I especially love the lounge for solo meals, and it’s very easy to leave Magic Kingdom (a food desert) and do a quick meal here.
Then there’s Chef Mickey’s and Contempo Cafe. Both are historically hit & miss, but we’ve had some great meals lately at counter service Contempo Cafe, which is seeing a bit of a renaissance. A concise verdict on Chef Mickey’s is impossible. It’s a complicated character meal; suffice to say, there’s a reason Chef Mickey’s is a rite-of-passage meal for generations of Walt Disney World fans. All of this completes a very well-rounded culinary lineup at Disney’s Contemporary Resort.
Room Size – During our first visit to Walt Disney World with Megatron, we did a split stay in the Royal Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside and the Garden Wing. Our thinking was that the Royal Rooms are a lot of fun–but more importantly, it was the weekend and the Contemporary was pricey.
Regardless of reason, going directly from one to the other threw the size disparity into stark relief. Standard rooms at Moderate Resorts are approximately 314 square feet in size, whereas standard rooms at the Contemporary are 420 to 437 square feet. (See Hotel Room Sizes at Walt Disney World for more.) Room sizes can be inconsistent and vary based on floor, accessibility, etc–especially in the older hotels, but the point stands. It was a spread of at least 100 square feet–and we felt it!
Thankfully, we went from the smaller room to the larger one, rather than the other direction. So what we “felt” was a sense of spaciousness and luxuriousness as we had more breathing room. Pre-baby, this didn’t really matter to us. Just like anyone else, we preferred larger rooms, but were perfectly fine with Values or Moderates and didn’t “need” a larger room, more luggage/storage space, etc.
Having a baby is a gamechanger in this regard. As it turns out, adding one baby that’s less than 10% of the size of an adult human does not increase what you need to pack by 10%. Standard logic would dictate that, since baby clothes are quite small, that would roughly be the case. It is very much not the case. Megatron is not a light packer, and this one baby doesn’t just need as much stuff as one adult, but in fact, more than both of us combined.
In the past, we’ve also been pretty well organized (typically not even needing Mousekeeping!). Not this time. As oft-overwhelmed new parents, it looked like a hurricane made landfall in our room roughly 7 minutes after our arrival, and it never really got any better. The above photo is not representative of how our room actually looked during the trip. It is a carefully-crafted illusion.
Suffice to say, I now completely understand why storage space and square footage are such big deals for families. Contemporary offered us breathing room and a bit of a buffer, and that was very much welcome (and necessary).
Room Quality – Longtime fans have had no shortage of criticism for many of Walt Disney World’s recent room redesigns. For the most part, we have not. Our perspective has been that the new rooms have balanced the tastes of modern guests with thematic and functional considerations and that, while sometimes skewing too sterile, the results are generally good. Better than what they replaced and certainly superior to the bland and generic redos done during the last cycle.
The Incredibles rooms at the Contemporary are the big exception to that. We’re not bothered by the character integration in theory, but the execution is sloppy and doesn’t really excel at either of the things it’s presumably trying to do. As a character-themed room, it feels weak and uninspired. As an upscale hotel room, it’s over the top and unsophisticated. These rooms are neither luxurious nor immersive, and are barely better than recent rooms at Value or Moderate Resorts. Not exactly high praise!
With that said, the Garden Wing has the best versions of the Incredibles-injection rooms. It was the last section of the resort to be redone, occurring after the main A-frame building. That room reimagining was a race against the clock to get finished, and as a result, some of the tower rooms are shoddily done. The Garden Wing version makes little iterative improvements and the rooms are nicer, even if they’re still a mixed bag.
Atmosphere – There’s something special about the A-frame of the Contemporary. It comports with childhood fantasies of staying in the fancy hotel the monorail whizzes through, fulfilling a lifelong dream and was high on novelty value and cool factor. That is, the first time you stay there.
With each subsequent stay in the Contemporary’s Main Tower, we’ve been less impressed–the luster has worn off. This makes sense, as the more you do something, the less special it can become. That’s not entirely it, though. In equally large part, Disney’s Contemporary Resort is starting to feel anything but. Its Grand Canyon Concourse looks tired, dated, and visually chaotic.
The atrium has been a hodgepodge for the last decade, but its style has continued to age and clutter has continually been added. If you compare photos of the Contemporary’s atrium today versus the 1970s or 1980s, it’s a night and day difference. So much less stuff and stylistically superior. More than any other Deluxe Resort, the Contemporary needs an aesthetic overhaul. We’ve been banging this drum for years now, and are incredibly disappointed that the Grand Canyon Concourse hasn’t been redone in the same superlative style as the lobby.
BONUS: Walking Space – This one has not been relevant to us yet, but only because Megatron went from being a cautious walker to a fiercely independent one, refusing of parent hand-holding in literally the last week. While the Grand Canyon Concourse does have carpet, and there are long hallways of oft-unused convention space that are likely good for stretching those baby legs, I’ll still take the grass and outdoors.
Suffice to say, we prefer the Garden Wing atmosphere over that of the atrium. It’s nice being on the ground level, able to leave directly from our room or simply enjoy the fresh air of the patio. The Garden Wing also provides convenient access to the pools, beach, and running path at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. It’s consistently less busy, whereas the Grand Canyon Concourse can be chaotic and not conducive to walking.
Until the Grand Canyon Concourse is redone, we’ll take the natural serenity and peacefulness of the Garden Wing over the Main Tower. I also love the morning or late night walks along the shore of Bay Lake–perfect for dealing with a jetlagged Megatron (or me).
Ultimately, we’ve enjoyed our recent stays at the Garden Wing and have a newfound appreciation for this forgotten side of Disney’s Contemporary Resort. The Garden Wing has exceeded our expectations, especially as compared to recent stays in the A-frame. With that said, a very big part of this is driven by cost and convenience–and also the low bar set by the Contemporary, as a whole.
On the other hand, it’s disappointing that the Main Tower has fallen out of our favor. The key takeaway to anyone planning a trip is that the Garden Wing will make things easier without breaking the bank, with very little downside for the “compromise” (aside from maybe the view or novelty).
The Garden Wing at Disney’s Contemporary Resort certainly would not be our top pick if we were doing rite of passage trips, first visits, or even longer stays. We’d love if these rooms were more like the redone ones at pretty much any other Deluxe or DVC resort, and would be more inclined to book the A-frame if the reimagining were actually carried through to the Grand Canyon Concourse (or if it cost less). But for our current needs with a toddler and budget on quicker trips, the Garden Wing is a great compromise option. It’s far from perfect, but it’s great for us!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you stayed in the Garden Wing at Disney’s Contemporary Resort with babies, toddlers or kids? What about since the Incredibles room reimagining? Would you recommend the Garden Wing or Main Tower? Experiences with the location, cost, pools, transportation, or dining? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Other thoughts or concerns? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
