We have a new favorite - CS!!

[MNT568]

We just returned from a great week at CS! It is our new favorite resort! Our last 2 stays were at the BWI and I have to say that I liked CS much better. The cast members and guests were very nice and helpful.

I had always wanted to stay here but was a little nervous since it is a convention hotel. After reading Buzz and Steve H's CS sites we decided to go for it and take our changes (Great info pages, guys). We had no problems with the conventioners, we hardly ever noticed them and there were 3 or 4 conventions going on (saw the signs with company names).

We had booked 2 standard rooms and were upgraded to 2 Junior Suites! Our rooms were in Casitas 1, 4th floor overlooking the lake. They were wonderful! The buses were great, the longest wait was 10 minutes. The night of the fireworks at MK, we came out got on the bus, got a seat and off we went, there were major lines for the other resorts!

Weather was too cold to swim but the pool looked great. My DS loved the arcades and playground!

The only negative was that the Pepper Market didn't have Mac & Cheese, my DS's favorite.

I would definitely recommend this resort to anyone. If anyone has any questions, just ask.

[A1A1]

I, too, loved this resort, and am looking forward to being able to stay there again in the future. This was the first moderate I have stayed at, and it was super!

[Buzz2001]

Glad you had a great time! No Mac & Cheese, I'm surprised. Did you like the food at the PM in general? Did you try the Maya Grill? CSR buses are great!

[MNT568]

Yes, we ate at the Pepper Market and I thought the food was pretty good for adults. My DS is kind of a picky eater and he didn't really like the chicken fingers or pizza either. We asked about Mac & Cheese and they told us that they don't serve it. So we had him eat in the parks and we eat at the Pepper Market or brought it up to our room while he slept. We had the breakfast buffet at the Maya Grill and it was great. We didn't have dinner there but the menu looked good. I'd like to try it on a future trip.

Yes, the buses were wonderful, this was our first trip without renting a car and everything went so smoothly.

[Mickey76]

:)

That's great that you liked the CSR! Piglet203 and I will be staying there for the first time in May. We love to hear all of the great feedback about the resort, especially from SteveH and ********. Both of them have helped out a lot in our planning, as have a lot of the other DIS'ers. Glad you had a great time. We'll be sure to let everyone know what we thought of it once we return from our vacation.

74 days to go!!!!!

Mickey76

[Piglet203]

That is so great to hear that you loved CS!!!!! Your positive comments make it even harder to wait until May 25th to be there!!! Mickey76 and I have done a lot of research about the resort and thank Buzz and Steve for there help. It sounds like a truly romantic, beautiful resort and I can't wait to be there with my honey in a couple months.....Thanks again for sharing your experience!!! :)

By the way....what area did you stay and what did you think of it?

[kmc]

MNT568, im happy to hear the good report....you say it was too cold to swim??is the pool there not heated..also did you find the rooms to be clean because i have read on other boards about them being dingy..thanks i cant wait to go i will be there for a week in beginning of may..

[cboudre1]

CS is my favorite Disney Resort. We are booked into the Dolphin for 4/13 because there were no discounts for the CS. (With the teacher discount the Dolphin is cheaper.) I kept hoping they would release a code for the CS for the general public but they didn't. The Pepper Market is my favorite food court. We are planning on taking a trip over to eat dinner one night.

[kimmar067]

...have stayed at CSR and loved the Pepper Market. I'm not crazy about paying the 10% service fee but I do like the selection of food they offer. The pool is fantastic (my DSs LOVED the Jaguar Slide!!!) I would recommend CSR to anyone thinking of staying here...:)

[krina19]

Thanks for sharing your experience. It sounded like you had a wonderful time. I'm curious to know how you managed to get such a great upgrade. Did you ask for one, or were you just pleasantly surprised? thanks!

[epcotfan]

MNT568 how was the breakfast at the Buffet? Is there a good selection? Was it really busy? Did you have to make priority seatings? I read it was $12.00 for adults...is that correct? (sorry for the questions...just hoping to eat at the breakfast buffet when I'm there in August)
I'm glad you had a good time. :D

[jimmiej]

Ditto on that!! DW & I fell in love with CS last trip. We had Cabanas 8B with a corner room/water view. It was wonderful. Glad to know there's another member of the CS fan club.

[olena]

Chris and I also enjoyed CSR. That's where we're staying next trip in May. I'm glad to hear that you liked it so much.....:)

[cottontail]

Hi: You mentioned that you were upgraded to a junior suite. Can you tell me what is in a junior suite, how many beds, micro?

Also did you have a request in for an upgrade?

Thanks

Deb.

[kozmo]

I am trying to decide if i want to cancel gf(money) and try to get to cs,the casitas sound so nice!

[A1A1]

The CS is such a great resort. The fact that it is classified as a moderate does not diminish the fact that it is beautiful, and there is a lot to do right there. I really enjoyed walking the grounds, renting the boat and bikes, eating at the PM.

GF is a more luxurious room. Marble sink, robes, balcony, interior entry to your room, in-room safe, bigger bathroom, lighter pastel decor. It being on the monorail also makes it very interesting. The GF is something that I recommend people try, if they can afford to, at least once. It will not spoil you for other resorts, though. If your game, as I am, to try many of the options at WDW, you can make an adventure out of all of them.

If finances are a prohibiting factor for your trip, the CS is definitely a good option. There are also other options in the deluxe category with which you would be happy. A favorite of many people is the WL. I have never stayed there, but lots of people like it. The woodsy feel is nice, but I personally don't think I would like my whole trip there. I loved the AKL, another deluxe, but with a smaller price tag, and usually some good deals.

The AKL and CS have bus service to the parks. I found the transportation to be very efficient at each of these. They are more "out of the way", and at the time, I liked that idea, and it is one thing that made my trip to both of these so relaxing.

When are you planning to travel? There might be some upcoming discounts.

[MNT568]

Some answers to your questions:

Piglet203: We stayed in the Casitas. We loved them, my DS loved exploring and finding all the different fountains. We were in building 1 so we were really close to El Centro, we had a great view of the lake and a pretty courtyard. They were very quiet.

kmc: On our first full day there were record low temps for Florida, a low of 39 degrees! We were glad we had our winter coats and hats. People were wrapping their kids in beach towels to keep warm and all the shops were selling hats and mittens! It had warmed up by the end of the week and on the day we left people were heading to the pool. I believe the pool is heated but 45 degrees is still too cold for me to swim! I thought that the room were clean and I am picky about that. Housekeeping did a good job. They even made towel animals for my DS and did some fun things with his Pooh and Tigger.

krina19: Regarding the upgrade, we were pleasantly surprised! We had requested Cabanas close to the buses. We checked in about 5:30pm, the line was a little long, when I handed the confirm to the cast member, he did some typing and said you have been upgraded to a suite, I then said we have 2 rooms reserved, handed him the second confirm and he said this one is also upgraded. I asked if the rooms were close to each other and he told us they were next to each other in building 1. When I heard suite, I didn't question where they were. In addition, I had ordered a gift basket for my DM and when it wasn't delivered, I went to question about it and found out that it was delivered to the original room we had been assigned in the Cabanas, I made a note of the room number and went to check it out and it was a water view room, we had reserved a standard. So either way we were going to get some type of upgrade.

epcotfan: The breakfast at the Maya Grill was very nice. It was your standard breakfast buffet, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, hash browns, oatmeal, grits, fresh fruit, fruit cups, waffles, big selection of breads and pastries, and there were a couple of other things I can't remember. We past the Maya Grill every morning on our way out the resort and their was always people in there but it was never packed and I never saw anyone waiting for a table. We didn't have PSs, I don't think you would need them unless it is a really busy time like Christmas. Regarding the price, I am not sure what it was, on the 2 days we ate there, my sister took care of the bill. I think $12 sounds about right, I remember her saying something about $45 for the 4 of us, 3 adults and 1 child.

Cottontail: The junior suite is basically 2 connecting rooms. The first room you enter is set-up as a sitting room, with 2 chairs and 2 end-tables, a TV cabinet, a table with 2 chairs (& a fax machine) and their is a Hollywood bed to be pulled down and a standard bathroom. The second room was set up as a standard King size bed room with TV cabinet and table and chairs and bathroom. For the room my DS and I used, we shared the king size bed and left the hollywood bed up (it is in a green cabinet) giving my DS plenty of room to play. The Room my mom and sis had, they left the hollywood bed down (it was a queen size, I think), that way they each had their own room and bathroom. We were just given the upgrade when we checked in, we didn't ask for it.

I hope you all have a great time on your trips. We really enjoyed ourselves.

[soccerchick]

We will be at CSR in 10 days!! Thanks for sharing your trip experience. I have one additional question... Do they provide some hangers in the room?

Thanks!

[MNT568]

Yes, there were hangers in the room, I think about 10. Have a great trip!

[DadofChristaSonofRay]

Good Report! We have decided to give the CS a try in July.
We were going to Florida for the NASCAR race at Daytona
and decided to add two days at Disney. (Didn't want
to splurge this trip and decided the CS sounds like a good
compromise.)

[Disney-Kim]

Your report was great....we will be there in 52 days.......:smooth:

and I am glad to hear you liked the Casitas.....thats where we were thinking of requesting

[4forDis]

MNT568,
Thanks for the great report. I am about to make my reservations and was thinking about CBR, but you might have changed my mind. I'm going to take another look at CSR. It sounds really great from your descriptions.

[SandraC]

Last year I had my heart set on CBR, so we booked it and we loved it. Days before we left, I read lots of great stuff about CSR and thought if I got a code for this April, we'd go to CSR and WE DID! So in 38 days we are off to CSR, we are thrilled about it! If it weren't for Buzz and Steve H, I think I would have chickened out and gone back to CBR because we were comfy there.

38 days! YIPPY! S

[preshi]

I like Coronado too. although I went at a BAD time. The resort all in all was beautiful. And I loved the Pepper Market. :D

[epcotfan]

Thank You for your helpful answers! They are much appreciated :D :bounce: :jester:

[Schmeck]

I'm trying to talk my extended family into trying out CSR for our next trip in October. They are shying away because it's been labeled a convention center resort. When there are 3-4 conventions going on, does the place seem more crowded at certain times/locations, or do the conventions actually keep the place pretty empty (as everyone is in the convention area)

Even if we can't get them to join us there, we're thinking of splitting our stay between CBR (where they want to stay) and CSR. Which one should we stay at first?

[MNT568]

Schmeck, there were 3 or 4 conventions going on while we were there and one of them was IBM. The only time we noticed the convention people was in the morning when they were heading into their meetings and in the evenings when the meetings ususally broke up for the day. I think that they even had their meals in the convention center because the Pepper Market was never crowded. In the evenings you would see some of the convention people in the lounge. I think that the conventions actually mage the resort seem empty.

[jennymouse]

We'll be at CSR in October. The only thing I'm a little concerned about is if there'll be some kids at the pool for my DGD to play with. She'll a social butterfly!:rolleyes: Last April, we stayed at ASMu and she met lots of friends....some who didn't even speak english, but they were fast friends anyway! All of the pitures I've seen of the CSR pool, it always looks deserted. Are there plenty of families with children there?

[Buzz2001]

My DD is the same way. There will be plenty of kids. And she will love the playground and pool slide. Sometimes I wonder if my DD loves WDW or the pool better.

[Schmeck]

Thanks for the info, MNT568! I think we'll do CBR first, then spend our last few days at CSR.

[wdwfam]

I have to agree with all the positive posts about CSR. After staying at CBR for many trips, we decided last year to try CSR in March. We were really impressed. I know trying something different than you are already used to is sometimes hard. We loved CSR. We had another trip to Disney in July and stayed there again because of a great rate. Thanks to posts here and on MOUSESAVERS, we are going again next week. I must mention that we rarely saw business people. It seemed much more a family resort area to us. We only ate breakfast a few times at the Pepper Market, so that may be the reason. Most days, we stayed around the Dig Site and quiet pool areas. Many posters have complained about the 10% gratuity. It really isn't that big a deal. What is nice about Pepper Market, is the fact that I could get hashbrowns and bacon at one place, fruit at another, and maybe a danish at the bakery. There was a wide variety of individual items available everywhere. Plus, you only have one time to pay - at check out. That part is really nice. The kids would have their ticket stamped at whatever they wanted, and then we would pay at the end of the meal. There is certainly plenty to do there for the younger children and older ones, too. You won't be sorry about trying CSR.