Coronado Springs Resort - New Unofficial FAQ Thread - November 2012

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Just popping on here to say hi! I'll be checking to CSR in under two weeks for my first stay since February 2011. I love CSR! We had originally booked Pop, as its a pretty short trip and just my son and I, but I had to make the move. The price difference isn't that huge, at least in my opinion, but I know how comfy the beds at CSR are! That's worth it alone! Plus, gotta love the Dig Site and maybe we'll be able to use it while we're there. :cool1:
 
We returned on Saturday from a fantastic 5 night stay at CSR. Thought I would give a quick review.

Check-in: We arrived on Monday around 10:15am and the lobby was overflowing with people trying to check in. Apparently, their computers had been down most the morning and it really slowed things down. It took us nearly 45 minutes to check-in. I didn't do on-line check-in, and I really don't think it would have made much of a difference for us. Fortunately, our room was ready. We requested 2 connecting rooms in casitas 4, but were placed in the farthest corner of casitas 5. It added a few minutes onto our walk to bus stop 2 and the main building. But it really wasn't a big deal.

Room: the rooms are starting to show some age, especially in the bathrooms. Our rooms had a musty smell to them and our one son had a very difficult time with his asthma in part because of this. (Mostly I think his asthma was from the change in temp/ humidity. We came from very cold, dry air, to very hot, humid weather. But every night, when we came back to our room, he would have another attack). The override for the AC worked great. Our one fridge was very, very, cold. The other one didn't work well at all. The beds are still comfy, IMHO. The room was quiet. Even though we were on the first floor off of the parking lot, we rarely heard other guests.

Mousekeeping: Excellent. Our Mousekeeper was wonderful. We had a new towel animal every day. And each one was different... A bunny, a dog, a turtle, a lobster, and an elephant. The kids thought it was great. We always had plenty of soap, shampoo, and coffee, and extra towels.

Food: We had lunch that first day at Pepper Market. It was an all you can eat buffet and everything was fresh and tasty. Because we are a party of 6 now, gratuity was added to our bill. We had breakfast here on our last day. Again, it was a buffet. The made to order egg station was very good, as was the breakfast ham. We ate twice at Maya Grill. Everything was delicious and both of our servers were very friendly. The steak tacos were excellent!

Buses: We never waited for a bus at bus stop 2. In fact, it seemed that every day as we were walking to the bus stop, the bus we wanted was just pulling up so we were making mad dashes to the bus. The driver was always friendly and didn't mind us running to catch the bus. There were few people at that stop. As we went to the next few stops the bus would always fill to standing room only. This was usually around 8:30am. The buses home, usually at park closing time, were also standing room only. We never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus.

We didn't swim or use any of the other services.

This was our second stay at CSR. We would certainly stay here again. For us, it's a good fit. We are able to get connecting rooms, the door to the bathroom sink area provides additional privacy, the bus service is good, and we like what the restaurants have to offer. We don't swim, we don't spend much time at the resorts, we drink coffee and eat breakfast in the room. We do enjoy taking an occasional walk around the resort at night, it is beautiful.

So much for a short review. :lmao:

Merry Christmas,
Jen
 


We got back on Monday from 7 nights at CSR and I wanted to share a few thoughts.

Check-in: We arrived on Monday a little before 8 and while the lobby was fairly dead, the previously mentioned, computer issues caused check in to be painfully slow as there had to be several calls made to find out which rooms were cleaned and ready.

We did online check in and requested to be close to transportation and were offered a room in 9B so that worked out great as we were close to the Dig Site and close to the main buildings.

Room: Our room was perfectly fine. Everything was in working order although it is kind of funny that the thermostats can be set to go down to 65 yet the temperature in the room never went below 73 even with the AC running.

Housekeeping: Housekeeping was well....average.

They had towel animals in our window for check in but after that zero the rest of the week. We also called for extra bath towels our first night around 9:30pm and well, I'm still waiting for those towels.


Food: Never ate at the Maya Grill as the menu did nothing for us.

We ate at Pepper Market for dinner twice and both times the food was very good and thankfully the place was a ghost town because both times there were major issues at the register with the cast member somehow keying in something incorrectly that required a managerial override each time and for more than one person.

With that kind of track record I can't imagine the back up at breakfast!

Also worth noting is that if Disney is attempting to keep accurate records of the food actually being sold at their outlets it might help if their cast members actually rang in what was being eaten and not just anything.

A kids pizza is not chicken nuggets and a turkey burger is not a chicken fajita.

Buses: We mostly used stop four and overall bus reliability seem to depend on where you were going. Buses to DD, AK, and HS were plentiful but if you wanted to go to EP or in particular to MK you were pretty much screwed as either not many came or the bus would be full before it got to stop four.

Also buses back to CSR were not that great either as we waited well over 30 minutes once from HS in the late-afternoon one day and over 75 minutes one night at MK.

It seems that you get what you pay for and the more $$$ resorts get more buses and first dibs at the pool of standby buses if things get backed up where as the B-List and lesser resorts get zero.

We went to the pool on two nights to watch the movie and do the marshmellow toasting and that was a lot of fun. It's too bad that the resort does a poor job promoting it with signage in the lobby and I would guess that is why both offerings were lightly attended at best.

The pool area was very clean and well maintained and I would guess part of that would be because of how few people were using it overall. Plenty of chairs, plenty of towels and plenty of lifeguards.

The one funny thing about the "pool rules" is the lifeguards were quick to blow their whistles if a parent with a cup of soda got near the pool for any reason yet people in the hot tub had beer bottles and mixed drinks from Siesta's in the hot tub which was a clear violation of the rules yet no one said a word.

Also worth noting is that one day I had to change a DDR on the fly and when I attempted to go to one of the concierge staff to rebook a DDR for lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern in talking with the cast member she remarked that she had no idea that Liberty Tree had an a la carte lunch menu after I told her about the excellent pot roast they offer and she had been at CSR for eight years as a concierge.

It was our first stay at CSR and in the past we had been at WDL and quite honestly CSR is a major step down from WDL in the transportation area and that alone will probably keep us away from here in the future unless we rent a car.
 
We leave today. I have this strange feeling of being ill prepared as this trip has kind of snuck up on me. I just haven't really had it on my mind as much as usual. The anticipation by this point is usually unreal. So here I am, hours before departure and I haven't even packed!!! This will also be our first time at WDW during Christmas. I'm looking forward to the decor and music, just haven't gotten into that Christmas spirit yet. I'm rambling, anyhow I'll be sure to give a detailed trip report upon my return. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!
 
We leave today. I have this strange feeling of being ill prepared as this trip has kind of snuck up on me. I just haven't really had it on my mind as much as usual. The anticipation by this point is usually unreal. So here I am, hours before departure and I haven't even packed!!! This will also be our first time at WDW during Christmas. I'm looking forward to the decor and music, just haven't gotten into that Christmas spirit yet. I'm rambling, anyhow I'll be sure to give a detailed trip report upon my return. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Disney at this time of year.... You should have no trouble getting into the Christmas spirit. :)

Have a great trip!
 


I guess I never really did a "full" review of CSR in our first stay there in three years (but our 10th stay overall).

Front Desk -- Outstanding service

Buses -- Best experience we've had with buses in over 20 visits to the World. We never waited more than 5 or 10 minutes for a bus going to the park or coming home from a park

CM's -- front of resort -- very helpful in getting us a cab the couple of times we had to take them

Mousekeeping -- only used them two of our six nights there...no need to; we don't change the sheets at home every day or our towels, not going to start doing it on vacation. We had two towel animals when we arrived; nothing on the two days the room was cleaned but we know this is not a guarantee and we really didn't care one way or the other

Cleanliness of resort -- very good; there was some trash in the lake (bottles, cigarette packs) and I am pretty sure I know where they came from and I'm sure that they were eventually cleaned up

Food -- we ate at Pepper Market for breakfast and dinner and enjoyed both. We thought breakfast was a great deal for the price and all of our food was warm and tasty; dinner, while a little expensive if not on the dining plan, was excellent.

Overall, we love the Coronado. Will we be back? Definitely NOT if the Pop Warner people are there. The horror stories I'd heard about and read about were right on. Ignorant parents, oblivious to what their children were doing at all hours of the day and night, dumping trash wherever they wanted, 60+ people in the hot tub -- no thanks.

We might go back if we got a great deal again, but we have been pretty spoiled by renting DVC points and staying at Old Key West these last two years. But the Coronado will always have a special place in our hearts as we've celebrated both of our 50th birthdays there, Mark's 60th birthday, our 25th wedding anniversary and my successful cancer surgery.

I will continue to recommend the CSR most highly.
 
I think I've narrowed our next Disney trip to CSR for Nov 2013. I also have decided to stay in the Casitas preferred. This is because it's very hard to step onto a full bus with a child and stand there through traffice when young men stay seated in their seats, yes, saw this a lot last year :(
 
I guess I never really did a "full" review of CSR in our first stay there in three years (but our 10th stay overall).

Front Desk -- Outstanding service

Buses -- Best experience we've had with buses in over 20 visits to the World. We never waited more than 5 or 10 minutes for a bus going to the park or coming home from a park

CM's -- front of resort -- very helpful in getting us a cab the couple of times we had to take them

Mousekeeping -- only used them two of our six nights there...no need to; we don't change the sheets at home every day or our towels, not going to start doing it on vacation. We had two towel animals when we arrived; nothing on the two days the room was cleaned but we know this is not a guarantee and we really didn't care one way or the other

Cleanliness of resort -- very good; there was some trash in the lake (bottles, cigarette packs) and I am pretty sure I know where they came from and I'm sure that they were eventually cleaned up

Food -- we ate at Pepper Market for breakfast and dinner and enjoyed both. We thought breakfast was a great deal for the price and all of our food was warm and tasty; dinner, while a little expensive if not on the dining plan, was excellent.

Overall, we love the Coronado. Will we be back? Definitely NOT if the Pop Warner people are there. The horror stories I'd heard about and read about were right on. Ignorant parents, oblivious to what their children were doing at all hours of the day and night, dumping trash wherever they wanted, 60+ people in the hot tub -- no thanks.

We might go back if we got a great deal again, but we have been pretty spoiled by renting DVC points and staying at Old Key West these last two years. But the Coronado will always have a special place in our hearts as we've celebrated both of our 50th birthdays there, Mark's 60th birthday, our 25th wedding anniversary and my successful cancer surgery.

I will continue to recommend the CSR most highly.

Kathy, I think you are intentially posting this report on CSR to sway my decision to stay there for my upcoming trip. :rotfl:

(I sent you a PM about your renting DVC points).
 
Kathy, I think you are intentially posting this report on CSR to sway my decision to stay there for my upcoming trip. :rotfl:

(I sent you a PM about your renting DVC points).


You caught me! :lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao: Seriously, I would recommend CSR to anyone (as long as Pop Warner is not there). I answered your PM. :)
 
We got back last Saturday after 8 nights at CSR.

Checked in later in the evening of 12/7. When I made the reservations (preferred room), I requested Casitas 3. Called back several times to confirm my request was included in my reservation. Checked in and was told we were assigned to Casitas 2. Asked to be moved and after about 10 minutes on the phone she was able to move us to a really nice water view room in Casitas 3.

We ate breakfast and lunch at Pepper Market a couple times each. One of the best deals on food in all of WDW.

Bus service - great. No complaints at all. The ECV's really slow them down but that isn't their fault.

What we did notice was that although WDW itself was consistent in the level of service, cleanliness, attentiveness and value as we've found it to be in the past, we can't say the same for the guests.

There has definitely been an increase in the inconsideration level of guests themselves. Smoking anywhere they want, dumping trash anywhere they want, cutting in front of you, loud profanity....you get the idea.
 
Hope it is okay to post this question.:)

I'm trying to decide if CSR is the right resort for our next vacation. It is me, DH, DS16, and DD7. We have never stayed at CSR and I really enjoy staying at different places.

We stayed at the other 3 mods and loved PoR and PoFQ but hated CBR. I guess my concern is that my biggest complaint at CBR, that it was just not laid out well and too vast, might be an issue at CSR for us as well.

We won't have a car so we like to be close to a bus stop. I would also like to be about a 5 minute walk to the CS place. We would book a preferred room if necessary. Would love some advice on which section and building to request.

Thanks!
 
Smiling Cheshire Cat said:
Hope it is okay to post this question.:)

I'm trying to decide if CSR is the right resort for our next vacation. It is me, DH, DS16, and DD7. We have never stayed at CSR and I really enjoy staying at different places.

We stayed at the other 3 mods and loved PoR and PoFQ but hated CBR. I guess my concern is that my biggest complaint at CBR, that it was just not laid out well and too vast, might be an issue at CSR for us as well.

We won't have a car so we like to be close to a bus stop. I would also like to be about a 5 minute walk to the CS place. We would book a preferred room if necessary. Would love some advice on which section and building to request.

Thanks!

We just left there yesterday. There were 7 of us in out party and we had 2 rooms. The resort was beautiful. Actually nicer than we thought. I will tell you the resort is HUGE! We have stayed at POR many times and love it there. This resort, I found that we used our car to get around. I will say that we did have a very close bus stop. There were bus stops all over.

The service we had here was the best we have had by far. I really felt that the staff webt out of their way to help you. Don't get me wrong, we have never had bad service at the other hotels, it's just that the service here the past 8 days was above and beyond.

One last thing, if your family enjoys the feeling like you are surrounded by Disney stuff, this isn't the place to be. We knew that coming in. It was beautiful and I don't have regrets. POR is still my favorite mod but I wouldn't hesitate staying here again.
 
So far its been a nice stay. The room is clean an in good shape. Mousekeeping has been fine. We ate dinner at Pepper Market the night we arrived. It wasn't great. Slow, bad service, food was mediocre. So far weve been to Mk, Epcot ad today we'll be at AK.
 
BTW, for those interested, i tested the wifi speed at CSR. Not great, 2.84 down and .94 up
 
I think I read somewhere on here that business class includes beer and wine. Is that true? I booked it for a conference in march. Would be a nice addition.

Brian
 
nathanyell said:
I think I read somewhere on here that business class includes beer and wine. Is that true? I booked it for a conference in march. Would be a nice addition.

Brian

That's what I was told. In the evenings though- I don't think it's all day. Someone else said sangria is available too.
 
I love CSR, but avoid Pepper Market like the plague. I will only eat Cafe Rix on property. If they would only change their restaurants, it would be perfect!
 
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