Coronado Springs or Port Orleans Riverside?

[sunnydays28]

We are currently booked in a POR Royal Room Standard View (view means nothing to us, I am kinda hoping we are closer to the parking lot since we will have a car and lots of luggage).

But in my totally compulsive nature, I am wondering if i want to switch this, and today CSR came back on my radar. Details are 1 almost 5 year old going to celebrate her birthday, mom and dad, our 1st 4 nights are AoA LM room (and not considering/interested in switching this part), last 4 nights at POR, then 3 nights at the beach. I have been several times to WDW, dad and daughter have only been to MK for 1 day, we will not likely return for 2-3 years. Unless dad totally loves it, which is my hope, then we may buy into DVC in 2-3 years. He is not anti-WDW but not as gung-ho about it as me, yet excited to spoil his girls and slowly getting into the excitement of the trip.


We choose POR #1 for the price-value ratio, #2 boat to DTD, #3, hot tub, #4 shared pool with POFQ, #5 Princess Royal room theme (which we can do without but since it was available, took it), and #6 relaxing adult like resort after kid-friendly over-the-top AoA. I am especially interested in how the size and layout of CSR compares to POR. I hear POR is large with some long walks which we don't mind but don't want to switch to CSR and have even longer walks.

Opinions? Convincing reasons to switch over to CSR? Or leave as is and just visit one afternoon to see if maybe we will stay there next time?

 

[DizDaD7]

We are currently booked in a POR Royal Room Standard View (view means nothing to us, I am kinda hoping we are closer to the parking lot since we will have a car and lots of luggage).

But in my totally compulsive nature, I am wondering if i want to switch this, and today CSR came back on my radar. Details are 1 almost 5 year old going to celebrate her birthday, mom and dad, our 1st 4 nights are AoA LM room (and not considering/interested in switching this part), last 4 nights at POR, then 3 nights at the beach. I have been several times to WDW, dad and daughter have only been to MK for 1 day, we will not likely return for 2-3 years. Unless dad totally loves it, which is my hope, then we may buy into DVC in 2-3 years. He is not anti-WDW but not as gung-ho about it as me, yet excited to spoil his girls and slowly getting into the excitement of the trip.

Opinions? Convincing reasons to switch over to CSR? Or leave as is and just visit one afternoon?

Been to both. Both are the best of the mods. For us though CSR is all around better though IMHO. Heres why.

Best bus system on property. Never late, never filled up. Med time distances to all parks.
Grounds. Both are very nice here.
Main pool. Edge to CSR. This feature pool is better than most deluxe resorts too.
Food. Pepper market better than any food court.

Now by you starting out at AoA you will have a lot of in your face Disney. On the contrary with the other 2. Small subtleties here n there. But this may work in your favor though. He may not feel the hustle n bustle and that might change his opinion.

Although POR has a nice relaxing boat ride to DTD. Not sure if you'll be heading there or not.

Either route you take you'll have a great time. Both are very different and large but very good.

I always say if we didnt purchase DVC 2 yrs ago we'd be back at CSR year after yr.

 

[MissyMouse80]

CSR is much larger that Riverside. I have stayed at both and if I would have to choose between the 2 I would go with Riverside. I think you will love the Royal Guest room as well and the boat to DTD is the biggest plus. IMHO stay where you are. And I am alot like you I change my mind on resorts all the time. I think one time I changed resorts 4 times before I got there! Hope this helps and if you have any specific questions let me know.

 

[mommyrosa2]

We are currently booked in a POR Royal Room Standard View (view means nothing to us, I am kinda hoping we are closer to the parking lot since we will have a car and lots of luggage).

But in my totally compulsive nature, I am wondering if i want to switch this, and today CSR came back on my radar. Details are 1 almost 5 year old going to celebrate her birthday, mom and dad, our 1st 4 nights are AoA LM room (and not considering/interested in switching this part), last 4 nights at POR, then 3 nights at the beach. I have been several times to WDW, dad and daughter have only been to MK for 1 day, we will not likely return for 2-3 years. Unless dad totally loves it, which is my hope, then we may buy into DVC in 2-3 years. He is not anti-WDW but not as gung-ho about it as me, yet excited to spoil his girls and slowly getting into the excitement of the trip.


We choose POR #1 for the price-value ratio, #2 boat to DTD, #3, hot tub, #4 shared pool with POFQ, #5 Princess Royal room theme (which we can do without but since it was available, took it), and #6 relaxing adult like resort after kid-friendly over-the-top AoA. I am especially interested in how the size and layout of CSR compares to POR. I hear POR is large with some long walks which we don't mind but don't want to switch to CSR and have even longer walks.

Opinions? Convincing reasons to switch over to CSR? Or leave as is and just visit one afternoon to see if maybe we will stay there next time?

I was in a similar position as you. I had originally booked POR RGR but almost immediately after I did, I started having second thoughts so I switched to CSR. While I have never stayed at POR, we have visited the resort on several occasions (they have a great food court) but other than that, the overall look of the resort isn't appealing to us...my teenage girls just weren't impressed. We have stayed at CSR before and really enjoyed our time there. Here's our reasons for choosing CSR again:
*Rooms (very comfy beds - better than some of the deluxes we've stayed at)
*Pool (the main pool is beautiful and next to SAB, 2nd best pool on Disney property...IMHO)
*Pepper Market (while some folks may not like it, we think it's one of the best deals on Disney property and we actually enjoy the food there)
*Overall appeal (we feel CSR is a beautiful resort as a whole, relaxing and not too over-the-top Disney)
*Business Class (this sealed the deal for us this year - it will be nice to be able to grab a light breakfast and snacks/drinks in the evening without having to use any of our dining credits or spend any extra money plus booking this class guarantees the Cabanas section which is in a great location)

To us, CSR, has more of a deluxe feel out of all the moderates...just my opinion.

 

[nkereina]

CSR is large and round while POR is large and long, if that makes any sense. The large lake in the middle of CSR means you have to walk all the way around it to get to points. The main pool is not near the main buildings, so no matter what section of the resort you're in, you'll always have a hike to something - be it the food court or the main pool.

POR is also large with a lot of the AB buildings being pretty remote, but there are more convenient pathways and bridges across the river that cut down on the commute. Plus, the main building is adjacent to the main pool. If you're in a royal room, you'd be a quick walk across the bridge to the main building and a 5 minute walk up the path and across a different bridge to the main pool. Not bad.

 

[DizDaD7]

I was in a similar position as you. I had originally booked POR RGR but almost immediately after I did, I started having second thoughts so I switched to CSR. While I have never stayed at POR, we have visited the resort on several occasions (they have a great food court) but other than that, the overall look of the resort isn't appealing to us...my teenage girls just weren't impressed. We have stayed at CSR before and really enjoyed our time there. Here's our reasons for choosing CSR again:
*Rooms (very comfy beds - better than some of the deluxes we've stayed at)
*Pool (the main pool is beautiful and next to SAB, 2nd best pool on Disney property...IMHO)
*Pepper Market (while some folks may not like it, we think it's one of the best deals on Disney property and we actually enjoy the food there)
*Overall appeal (we feel CSR is a beautiful resort as a whole, relaxing and not too over-the-top Disney)
*Business Class (this sealed the deal for us this year - it will be nice to be able to grab a light breakfast and snacks/drinks in the evening without having to use any of our dining credits or spend any extra money plus booking this class guarantees the Cabanas section which is in a great location)

To us, CSR, has more of a deluxe feel out of all the moderates...just my opinion.

What she said We also like to call it a deluxe-lite....

 

[cmhguy]

It's a tough decision for us - we like things about both resorts. One thing I didn't see on your list but was our big deciding factor this year between these 2 resorts, POR was more recently renovated (as in last year for POR). That tipped the scale to POR for us.

 

[ArmyVet80]

Stayed at CSR in Sept 2012. It was awesome. We were in Casitas #5 building. It was close (2-3 minute walk) to the 1st bus stop on the route. There is a quiet pool by Casitas #1-#2 buildings. It was about a 2-3 minute walk to the "Dig Site" which is the main pool. The hot tub sat about 10-15 adults. You can watch movies while in the pool at the Dig Site every evening which was awesome. There was a convention going on at CSR which was a little interesting but didn't hinder doing anything we wanted to do while there. There are hammocks around the lake which my wife and I laid in for a few hours one evening with a bottle of wine from Germany in Epcot. We just looked up at the stars and it was relatively quiet even with the people from the convention around. Bus rides to and from the parks weren't bad. Maybe 10-12 minutes to the MK which was the longest ride. The rooms were great and beds were very comfortable.

The only negative about our stay there would have been where you refill your refillable mug. Kinda small with only 2 soda machines. Would be a little busy between 7:30 am to 8:30 am and 5 pm to 6:30 pm. Other than that it was a great stay.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Well I would stay ANYPLACE but CSR (it's my last choice. I have tried three times. (They have the WORST front desk of any hotel EVER and I have some bottom feeders to compare to LOL! And the food court is a joke! You want me to tip for "service" that you failed to provide. )

I would vote for POR (but my favorite is CBR!)

 

[grimley1968]

I'd have to go with POR. It isn't quite as large as CSR, and it also seems to have more convenient "shortcuts" to get to more places within the resort than CSR.

The feature pool at CSR is awesome, but frankly that's about the only thing about CSR, for my family, that compares favorably with other resorts. It was just a huge walk for us to get from the room to Pepper Market or the feature pool, nice as it was. Walking around the parks is tiring enough and we want to limit the walking when we get to the resort.

CSR is also a convention resort. This became painfully evident to us when we tried to get in to Pepper Market one morning for a late breakfast. There was a 20-minute wait just to get into there, the line was so long with conventioneers waiting ahead of us. No thank you. After waiting 10 minutes and moving not one inch we gave that up and went on to a park and had our breakfast there. I have no problems with CSR being a convention resort, but rather than tying up the food court with conventioneers, it would be good to cater to them separately in the convention building.

Maybe the placement of our building in CSR was the culprit, but we found the bus service to be maddening. The waits weren't so bad, but it seemed like we had to make EVERY stop in the resort before heading on to the parks. It was so frustrating after about 2 days of this that we decided to drive everywhere from then on.

My actual preference would be POFQ, because it is so compact and shares a lot of amenities with POR, but that's not one of the choices. That boat to DtD, while not speedy by any stretch of the imagination, is a very nice ride. Both POR and POFQ are quieter than CSR. I prefer the feature pool at POFQ, but the one at CSR looked fine to us, though we have never used it.

 

[DizDaD7]

Well I would stay ANYPLACE but CSR (it's my last choice. I have tried three times. (They have the WORST front desk of any hotel EVER and I have some bottom feeders to compare to LOL! And the food court is a joke! You want me to tip for "service" that you failed to provide. )

I would vote for POR (but my favorite is CBR!)

WoW...Tell us how you really feel..LoL

Worst front desk? Hows so? ugly color...? cheaply made? I'm confused.

And the Pepper Market , yes isn't for everybody, but thi tip that you are talking about....This isn't a traditional 15 - 20% tip that maybe your accustomed to...At least I hope that's not what you paid...If so I'm sure your server was doing backflips in the kitchen area.

Theyre basically seating you & getting your drinks, cleaning up after you..
A mere $5-6 for a fam. of 4 is not going to break that bank. Is it? With all the money being spent on a Disney trip, this small amount of $$ for what you get is probably the best money spent.

For 1 As soon as you get to the restaurant, you are directly brought to your seat, & then they grab your drink order, & you're welcome to go up & get your food.

No waiting in a MAZE line ( similar to an attraction queue )then ordering your food, thenpacing frantically with your food to find the next open table, hoping that your food doesn't get cold in the meantime....Here you simply go up, order food, grab your food, & go back down & eat ( WHILE IT'S HOT).

Now if they were rude or unattentive or such, & the same w/the front desk, then thats a different story..Either way I realize that every resort isn't for everybody.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

We stayed at CSR last March and had an excellent experience...it is a lovely resort with great decor, landscaping and wonderfully comfortable beds. This was an adults trip. But for our upcoming extended family trip with little kids we chose POFQ...we wanted something smaller and more compact.

 

[sunnydays28]

Thanks everyone!

We have decided to stay with POR and try to visit CSR one afternoon. I do not like the idea of a resort even larger than POR and having limited food choices, no matter how good they are. I would love to see the pool, but my daughter, while a strong swimmer for her age and loves the water, she is not very adventurous with water slides/rides, so that would be a total waste for her.

 

[dminnie]

We have decided to stay with POR and try to visit CSR one afternoon. I do not like the idea of a resort even larger than POR and having limited food choices, no matter how good they are. I would love to see the pool, but my daughter, while a strong swimmer for her age and loves the water, she is not very adventurous with water slides/rides, so that would be a total waste for her.

Just in case the mood strikes her to give a water slide a try, you might want to visit the POFQ pool while you are there. They will allow POR and POFQ guests to use both resorts pools. The slide there is just about right for someone her age...very tame slide.