Tell me about Coronado Springs

carrielovesdisney

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
We are looking into staying at Coronado Springs in October with 4 kids ages 8-3. I have heard it isn't kid friendly. It looks beautiful. But I am so unsure...
 
My family stayed at CSR in December 2010. It was me, my husband, and two kids, ages 8 and 10. We loved it! The resort is fairly large, but unless you have mobility issues, it is not unreasonable. The landscaping is beautiful and the amenities are great. The pool is huge and has a great waterslide. Additionally each section (Ranchos, Casitas, and Cabanas) has its own quiet pool right next to the buildings. We picked CSR because it is the most upscale of the moderates, and the only moderate to have a dedicated bus line. Because it is a convention hotel, it doesn't share buses with any other resort. This made the transportation so much easier at the end of a long day.
I would highly recommend CSR. We are going back to WDW in September of this year, and after much agonizing about maybe trying something diferent, we finally decided to go back to CSR. But then when free dining came out, we we able to save enough money to upgrade to Wilderness Lodge instead. So no CSR this year, but it will always be our first choice of moderates.
 
My family stayed at CSR in December 2010. It was me, my husband, and two kids, ages 8 and 10. We loved it! The resort is fairly large, but unless you have mobility issues, it is not unreasonable. The landscaping is beautiful and the amenities are great. The pool is huge and has a great waterslide. Additionally each section (Ranchos, Casitas, and Cabanas) has its own quiet pool right next to the buildings. We picked CSR because it is the most upscale of the moderates, and the only moderate to have a dedicated bus line. Because it is a convention hotel, it doesn't share buses with any other resort. This made the transportation so much easier at the end of a long day.
I would highly recommend CSR. We are going back to WDW in September of this year, and after much agonizing about maybe trying something diferent, we finally decided to go back to CSR. But then when free dining came out, we we able to save enough money to upgrade to Wilderness Lodge instead. So no CSR this year, but it will always be our first choice of moderates.

I wasn't aware Caribbean Beach shared a bus with another resort. :confused3

But that being said, realize with every moderate resort, there are multiple bus stops within that resort. Coronado Springs has four. So, depending on your room location, you could be first or last or in the middle to be picked and dropped off.
 
CSR is our fave resort! we'll be back there in a few months and this will be our 3rd stay. I have 2 kids, DS is a teen and DD will be turning 6 on this trip, they both have loved our previous trips there. We've taken DD there as a baby (18mo) and last time she was 4, DS was 12 the first time and 15 last time, both times were great. The kids love the pool and the pool slide, they also have activities at the pool for kids like hula hoop contests, music, games and sandcastle building contests. They also do a fire with toasting marshmallows and movies near the pool in the evening. They will give a schedule of some of these things when you check in.

It is a spread out resort but I honestly don't think it's too bad, the grounds are gorgeous so we love walking around and checking everything out.
 


We stayed at CSR on our last trip in November of 2012. I cannot say enough good things about this resort. We go to Disney every year and our Nov trip was our 14 trip. We have stayed at every moderate and several deluxe. I can assure you beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no better bus service at any resort. It was unbelievable. Yes, it stops a few times within the resort, but all the buses do. I can tell you that we NEVER EVER EVER waited for a bus leaving any park. Often times, there were two waiting in line to take people back to CSR, so if one filled up we didn't ever have to wait for another one. If there wasn't one right behind it, then it came within three or four minutes. We have never had such easy bus service. We ended up early at so many of our dinner reservations because we allotted more time than we needed, based on previous experience. I promise you, you will be very pleased with the transportation at this resort. The resort itself is very very beautiful. Very beautiful. We would get back from 12 hours at a park and the kids would still want to take a nightly walk around the resort before going into the room and getting ready for bed. This was after walking all day at parks. The central area is great, the store is nice, the bar outside the main lobby is awesome, the pool is super excellent. We spent an entire day a the pool, which we NEVER do because we are commando park ppl, but the kids wanted to skip a park one day and stay at the pool. This is very unusual for us. I truly cannot say enough about this place. The only thing we missed was the boat to DDT from the Port Orleans resorts, which are our second fav moderate. The room was nice. It was quiet. It was relaxing. I also was afraid it wouldn't be very "Disney" but it was no less Disney than any other of the moderate or deluxe resort. IMHO the only resorts that are super Disney themed are the values, except for the Royal Rooms at POR, which aren't worth the huge jump in price to me. CSR costs $600 more than the values for a week stay and I cannot tell you how worth it it is to pay it. So Ive typed forever...sorry...but if you are considering this place, I say go for it. I promise it is awesome!! Good luck.
 
We just returned a week ago from CSR. We really liked it. We felt that it was very kid friendly. We had previously stayed at POR and CBR and thought CSR was the best. It does not have as many bus stops as CBR so we got to and from the parks faster. The room was comfortable and we had queen beds. We did enjoy the food court at POR more, but not enough to keep us from staying at CSR again.
 
Just got back yesterday from three nights at CSR (following 5 nights at Kidani Village). It was our first time at CSR and I was not blown away.
I requested a top floor room ANYWHERE and got ground floor in Casitas next to the pool. VERY noisy all night long.
There were crumbs on the floor our whole stay, never vacuumed up. One day housekeeping left NO coffee. I just felt that I should not have to keep calling Housekeeping for routine stuff! The resort was full, and we never waited less than 20 minutes for a bus, which is the longest wait time I have had in 9 WDW visits.
Pretty resort, but not even as good as POP!
 


Thank you! I am a little nervous because there is a convention while we are there. Will this effect the food court? How was your experiences?
 
We just returned from a 5 day stay. The resort is beautiful, but just way to spread out for us.

Food court had really good food for both breakfast and dinner. Wait staff was so friendly!!!

Usually hopped over to bus stop #1 because it was so close to the food court, but that is not something I would recommend......like to never get on a bus!!! they were all so packed by that time (bus stop 1 is the last stop)

We were in Casitas and it was a very long walk to the main pool, but there is a quiet pool you can use. Of course we are used to going downstairs from our room, to the lobby and out the door to the pool. Also didn't like that the main pool and the food court area were on complete opposite sides of the resort.

room was very comfortable, beds were great!! Room did not get cleaned once while we were there, because by the time they were ready to clean it we were already back in it trying to shower up for the evening. So we would hand them the dirty towels and get fresh ones from them. This was usually around 3:30 - 4:00.

If you don't mind the size of the resort, I say give it a try.
 
We tried it once, based on picture looks and price.... That all ended when we arrived... Huge resort.... Too spread out for us . Depending on where you're located, refill mug can be useless, unless you like a long trek!!

Again, being spread out, the main pool can be another hike.... Plus guests that know, request certain areas and everyone can't have those rooms so you suffer..

Food court not to our liking, we hardly all ate together , always took longer for some meals than others, and then the stupid tipping for non service ... Nope !

With so many other resorts on property, others far surpass what we didn't care for at CSR .... Moderates have the PORTS of Orleans....and POFQ being one that's compact, boat ride to DTD (like an attraction all it's own) queen beds... Or POR ( it's spreads put too ) but its a sister resort with POFQ so you have walking access to both along the river....

We just didn't get the Disney vibe at CSR... Been there done that attitude.... Won't be going back !
 
We have stayed @ POR in 2008, CBR in 2010, and to try a new mod, we decided to try CSR in 2011 and absolutely fell in love with the resort. Yes, it is large and spread out, so that is a concern to many folks. For us, we actually don't mind a larger resort, as it felt a little more secluded and quiet (again, just our experience). We requested a room in Ranchos 7B, which really is one of the furthest buildings from El Centro. We just don't tend to use the main buildings/food courts, etc. during our stays. We were in a beautiful corner room by the quiet pool and laundry room, which was perfect for us.

We didn't see any difference in "kid friendliness" between the 3 resorts. The main pool at CSR is really great! The resort is beautiful, but I think most of them are. It doesn't have as much in your face Disney theming as some other resorts, but to us, the rooms felt a little more upscale. The queen beds are a must for us (which I think that of all the mods, only CBR doesn't have queen sized beds now). The rooms have 2 doors that slide together to separate the sleeping area from the sink area... this is nice because it gave me some privacy in the morning to get dressed and ready for the day, and let my family sleep in a while longer.

You should check out the Coronado Springs thread in the Resorts section of the DISBoards... lots of pictures and good information.

I say if it appeals to you, give it a chance! You won't know unless you give it a try if you enjoy a stay there or not.

Good luck to you!
 
we are going nov11-17 this year and i was wondering what crowds were like
we also have chosen csr can't wait
thanks
 
Thank you! I am a little nervous because there is a convention while we are there. Will this effect the food court? How was your experiences?

The main thing about the conventions is that there are people walking around a lot with the name tags on , that type of thing. My husband thought it took away a little from the magic. However, I thought the resort was beautiful and the kids loved the pool and we all loved the Arcade as DH and I could sit at a table outside of it and the kids were in the arcade ( they were 8 and 10 at the time). The main pool was always packed when we went (during a busy time) but the quiet pool we often had to ourselves, which the kids loved. It does have a busy feel to this resort everywhere, but we never had any problems with getting food. The food court is a little different there than some places and the quick place stop didn't really meet our needs other than refilling our mugs, which was easy. Although I thought this was an excellent resort, now that I've found POR, I would probably not go back, as POR's food court is outstanding and has so many excellent attributes, to me that exceed here. However, we enjoyed our trip here.
 
The main thing about the conventions is that there are people walking around a lot with the name tags on , that type of thing. My husband thought it took away a little from the magic. However, I thought the resort was beautiful and the kids loved the pool and we all loved the Arcade as DH and I could sit at a table outside of it and the kids were in the arcade ( they were 8 and 10 at the time). The main pool was always packed when we went (during a busy time) but the quiet pool we often had to ourselves, which the kids loved. It does have a busy feel to this resort everywhere, but we never had any problems with getting food. The food court is a little different there than some places and the quick place stop didn't really meet our needs other than refilling our mugs, which was easy. Although I thought this was an excellent resort, now that I've found POR, I would probably not go back, as POR's food court is outstanding and has so many excellent attributes, to me that exceed here. However, we enjoyed our trip here.

I just laugh at those people (and you'll see them around the Epcot resorts too, especially at night). I've been to conventions and had those silly name tags and as soon as I left the convention meeting room, that tag came off.
 
I just laugh at those people (and you'll see them around the Epcot resorts too, especially at night). I've been to conventions and had those silly name tags and as soon as I left the convention meeting room, that tag came off.
and they are not taking up space on the buses or at the pool.
 
I've stayed at CSR three times and I love it. It is just as kid-friendly as any other resort (aside from the values, with their giant plastic icons)! We've been there during big conventions, too, and never found that to be a problem. If anything, it means empty buses during the day and less traffic at the pool. We had great bus service every time we were there, too, and didn't find that it was too far from anyplace else. The pool is amazing, too!

I agree that the the resort is large, but you just need to manage expectations in that department. Two of the three trips we were super close to bus stops, it was really convenient. We enjoyed staying in Cabanas 8b, because were next to a bus stop and the main pool. Personally, I don't find the mugs all that useful except at the Beach Club, where we've had rooms next to the main elevators, so we were three seconds away from the refill station.

Also, I love the room interiors; very mod with white linens (no icky comforters).
 
We ended up in Casitas 5 and loved it. We are going again and going to request the preferred location which is Casitas 1, 2, or 3.

We loved the queen beds. We got our son a rollaway.

We really enjoyed the breakfast, although it was a buffet style last time. This upcoming trip is back to non-buffet. I never minded giving a tip for them getting our refills. But you could always get your breakfast to go and take it out to the outdoor tables. There's no tipping on the to go orders.

I would say if there was anything I did not care for it was the grab and go. We tried to eat there one morning, mostly cereal and muffins, but we were starving long before lunch that day. So now we just get a real breakfast at the Pepper Market. Plus the grab & go does not have much seating.

I have a CSR trip report below that is just 2 pages or so of pictures. It's not a long story. I think there's some photos from CSR on both pages. Our son was 6 for that trip and loved it.

We didn't have any bus troubles either. We used the bus stop #2 by Casitas mostly, and sometimes #1 which is just outside the Pepper Market building.

Oh, there was a couple days where it seemed busy at the Pepper Market. Maybe because we went later those days. I think it opens at 7:00 am. Our plan this time is to get to Pepper Market close to 7am every day.

Saw a few people in suits, or business casual, but never really on the buses, just walking to get to their conferences or back to their rooms. It didn't affect us at all.

Well, enjoy planning your trip!!
 
I am curious because we have thought about staying at CSR when just my Dh and I come back until I read that the air conditioners have motion sensors on them and at night when nobody is moving around the room the a/c cuts off.

Have any of you who have posted here that say you love CSR not have an issue with your a/c cutting off at night?

I can't sleep in a hotel room without any air blowing. I would wake up hot all night.

Now someone said you can call maintenance every 2 days and have them come and do some kind of bypass to your a/c unit that will allow it to stay on but who wants to do that every 2 days and wait hours in your room waiting for someone to come fix your air.

Is it not an issue for those of you who stay at CSR?
 
I am curious because we have thought about staying at CSR when just my Dh and I come back until I read that the air conditioners have motion sensors on them and at night when nobody is moving around the room the a/c cuts off.

Have any of you who have posted here that say you love CSR not have an issue with your a/c cutting off at night?

I can't sleep in a hotel room without any air blowing. I would wake up hot all night.

Now someone said you can call maintenance every 2 days and have them come and do some kind of bypass to your a/c unit that will allow it to stay on but who wants to do that every 2 days and wait hours in your room waiting for someone to come fix your air.

Is it not an issue for those of you who stay at CSR?

There used to be info on doing the bypass yourself. I remember trying to do it myself last time, but I am not sure I did it correctly. However, I don't recall the air ever going off. We kept nice and cool.
 

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