Just back from Coronado Springs & Art of Animation

[rlthomas7]

Just back from a five night stay at CSR and one night at AoA with my husband and four-year old son. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have!

[dawnmichele]

We are doing the exact same split stay in December .
My questions are what time of day did you do the transfer? And how did you get from one resort to the other?

Thanks for sharing your info!

[rlthomas7]

We checked out of CSR around 10:30 (we wanted some morning time with the waterside) and took a cab to AoA. It was just easier to handle transportation ourselves. We did confuse Magical Express though - we had a note at CSR saying that they didnt have our flight info, but AoA was able to take care of it. Enjoy your trip! the resorts are very different, but both were great.

[JJsmama]

which resort did you like better and why? Both those resorts are on my list of possibilities, but I haven't stayed at either.

[Dixiemom]

Jennifer, I have stayed at CSR and loved it. It is quite large but I liked that about it as we enjoyed walking around the lake, etc....We were at Pop in June and decided to try AoA's food court, LOVED the tandoori options and the resort was so bright and colorful.

[yolie912]

Great choices! Which one did you prefer better?

[lisam427]

how was the transportation at csr?

[*Fantasia*]

What did you like and don't like about AoA? Would you stay there again? Thank you.

[AndreaDM]

Was the CSR hot tub open? I just read a review on TA that it was closed, but didn't know if it was just for that day or if it's closed for a refurb? Thanks!

[Dixiemom]

We didn't use the transportation at CSR since we had our car and liked having that option but I heard people saying they liked it. When we were at Pop we did take it to MK and it was great! I enjoyed staying at both resorts and wouldn't hesitate to go back to either.

[pinkerbell]

we will be at AoA LM in 3 days! I am glad to see we have exterior corridors and direct acces to the pool from our room, but it does llok like their is a gate all around the LM pool. Do you know if this is correct and why? Is it that way at the other poole also. I like walking zigzag through the pool area at the all start and pop
thanks

[rlthomas7]

I've now tried to answer these questions two times, with lenghy replies, but I keep getting called away from my computer and it times out. Ugh! But here's my final try.

First, yes, the hot tub was working, which was wonderful at the end of a park day to relax those sore muscles!

I think it's easiest for me to do pros and cons for each resort.

CSR Pros:
*We loved the deep pool, the waterslide and the hot tub!
*We also enjoyed that the room had a ceiling fan, queen beds and the sliding doors to separate the sleeping room from the bathroom area - this was a great way to read/work/exercise during our son's naps. It was also convenient for a late pizza dinner while he was asleep for the night!
*CSR was very peaceful and quiet. Even though there was a conference going on, we never waited in a line, felt crowded at the pool or had to squish in on a bus leaving CSR.
*We apprecited the different dining options. We ate our first lunch at Siestas Pool Bar, we had dinner at Pepper Market and late-night pizza take-out from Cafe Rix.
*On-site salon. This was great for me for a quick nail polish change when I realized I forgot my nail polish and remover. Try finding that stuff on Disney's property!

CSR Cons - tiny issues, but you all asked!
*I didn't love the Mexican theme, but that's a total taste issue.
*I thought it was a little big. It oculd be a long haul walking to the pool after a long park day, and we were actually pretty close to the pool!
*The pool bar/restaurant opens at lunch and closes right after dinner. That means that to refill your mug, you have to go all the way to El Centro if you want a morning or late evening soda. A self-serve location at the pool would be nice.
*I think they have some kinks to work out with the dinner stations at Pepper Market. Because you walk around and order your food to be cooked, you can hit three stations, order, and then you have to monitor each station. Since there is no real line, you just mill around waiting for them to call your food. I'm pretty sure the convention people grabbed the chicken fajitas I was waiting for two times, since I had to order three separate times. I was trying to get food for all three members of our family and kept missing when my food was called. As a result, my son was done and ready to hit the pool when I finally got to sit down. Doing a number system or something would help with this.

Overall, we really liked CSR and enjoyed its location, our room and the peacefullness of the hotel. We'd probably stay here again.

AoA pros and cons coming next.

[rlthomas7]

Art of Animation Pros
*The theming was amazing! We chose a Nemo suite and every last detail was themed, inside the room and outside of it. The chairs looked like coral; the overhead lights looked like bubbles. The towel hooks in the bathroom looked like waves. The characters were all over the place - painted onto the furniture, sharks on the shower curtain, etc. Our four-year old son LOVED it, especially his nemo bed.
*The attention to detail was cool - the plants in Nemo and Mermaid looked like sea plants, the sidewalk in Cars was dark and had a line down the center, like a road, etc.
*The resort was small and easy to get around. Everything was close, especially after CSR!
*The Nemo pool was fun and the Cars pool was a quiet escape. The Cars pool had cones to provide seating in the shade. And the Cars section was super cool!
*The food court had some nice/different options and the food was very good.
*The Cars bathroom had great shower facilities, which was nice to shower after using the pools before heading to the airport.
*Transportation worked fine for us - the busses were prompt and not crowded for us.
*Having a separate bedroom was nice! And the suite was stocked with paper plates, plastic utensils, etc.

Art of Animation Cons
*It was BUSY. And because the resort is small, you really notice all of the people. It was hard to take photos of the cars/characters without fifteen other people walking through your shot.
*The theme appeals to young children, so there are lots of them. I have a young child, of course, but I don't usually voluntarily hang out with hundreds of them. The noise in the food court was pretty bad, and the Nemo pool was closed two times in two days for poop in the pool incidents (one of which we had the delight of discovering).
*While the food court had some nice options, we missed having multiple restaurants do spread out the crowds and offer something new. It was also very pricey - not a big deal on the dining plan (my crab cake lunch alone was $18 that went on the dining plan) but we really noticed the prices when we paid out of pocket on check-out day.
*We noticed the differences between moderate and value - we missed the ceiling fan and the queen bed. The linens were even of a lesser quality at AoA. I'm sure we wouldn't have noticed if we hadn't just come from CSR.
*There are no towels at the pool, so you have to bring them from your room or go to the front desk. There seemed to be a very long line at the front desk at all times.
*We missed the waterslide and hot tub.

Overall feeling - we loved Art of Animation because it made our son so happy. He was on cloud 9 seeing all of the characters and being able to touch all of the cars. However, if we go back in 4-5 years, we probably wouldn't stay here again because he'd have outgrown the characters and would be more into the amenities of a place like CSR.

Hope that helps, and I'm glad to answer any follow-up questions!

[tinkerbellmagic]

Great reports on the resorts! You hit all the key points.

[pinkerbell]

thanks! :