12 days at CR (SOG)

[Minnie23]

Wow, my very first post after 9 months of lurking! First, I want to thank everyone on these boards for all the great info. My trip was from Sept 2-13, 2002 and we stayed at the CR through SOG in the North Garden Wings. Overall, the hotel is okay. I am not sure I would pay higher than what we did. The hotel is very convenient and the food is reasonable. The CM's were all very nice. Housekeeping was okay. I went with the intent to tip with the mousekeeping envelopes but in the end I didn't use them. I think the staff did their jobs but they did nothing over and above, in my opinion. We did this trip commando style, so we didn't spend too much time at the hotel. Any questions please ask. I now feel qualified to answer

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Welcome home, and WELCOME TO THE DIS!!! So glad to have you here!

 

[onceuponadream]

Hi Minnie23!

We are considering "splurging" for a deluxe on our trip this year and staying at the CR. Can you tell me why you wouldn't spend more for it than the SOG discount (as we would be spending considerably more--like $300/nt . My kids love the monorail and Chef Mickey's. Our other option is the Poly. Did you happen to visit there? What was your opinion of that resort? Do you get a good view of the monorail from the wing rooms at the CR? We are looking for a large (there are 6 of us--1 under 3) room that is clean with easy access to the parks and in the middle of the magic. I would love your honest/candid reply as to why the CR didn't impress you much and what you may have thought of the Poly. We want to make the right decision for all that money. Thanks!!

PS Where is the food court located?
What floor is the monorail station on?
What floor is the lobby on?

 

[Goofyposter]

PS Where is the food court located?
What floor is the monorail station on?
What floor is the lobby on?


_________________

The food & fun center is just off the lobby. The lobby is on the 1st floor, the monorail platform is on the 4th floor....there are escalators & elevators to get you up to it.

Also...jmho...we love the CR...to me...it's 'classic disney' actually designed by Roy Disney...we've never stayed in a wing room....always in the tower and I think that would have a great impact on anyones' experience while stayin there

 

[suevee]

onceuponadream

I too stayed at the CR on Sog rates. I probably wouldn't pay full price to stay there again either. But that is because 1- the rooms are comparable to what I get at SoG for a reduced price; 2- as much as we love Chef Mickey's, we prefer the restaurants at Sog for price and the ones at the Poly for coffee and selection; and crazy as this sounds, 3- I have already stayed at CR for Sog prices and now would feel any other price would be to much. Does that make sense to you?

Now that being said, I did not stay in the Tower and I am told that is a completely different experience than the Garden Rooms. Also it was awesome and so convenient to walk to MK and to be able to catch the monorail right in the Tower.

But if we were going to pay full price to stay at a monorail deluxe we would probably choose the Poly. We do spend a lot of time there when we are at Sog or at CR. Just a personel preference. I am sure what ever you choose will be great!!!!

 

[Minnie23]

Hi Onceuponadream,

With a party of 5 people the CR would be good for you since the rooms are fairly large. We were in the North Garden Wings overlooking the lake and the playground. We were happy with this because we only booked a Standard view room. We also could see the electric light parade in the evening. It comes by at 10:05pm. We like the convenience of the monorail and you are the first stop when returning to the resort by bus. My kids think the arcade was the best part! As far as it being a deluxe hotel and paying $300 a night for it...well, I am not sure I would do that. I would try for the GF for that kind of money. The things that I noticed that weren't very deluxe to me were: some/most of the towels were noticeably worn, a hole in the tub mat, the blankets were a bit worn, mousekeeping kept the rooms reasonable clean but it was surface clean only. I have long hair and I could tell that they didn't vacumn/mop daily since my hair showed up on the carpet/floor very well. They also only changed our sheets once during our 11 nights. Perhaps this is the norm? I just had hoped they would change them more often since the kids were coming home hot and sweaty covered with sun lotion and bug spray and they didn't always shower in the evening. Granted I could have asked them to change them but I didn't have time to deal with stuff like that. We did 10 full park days commando style, up at 7am and home at 10pm. So we overlooked a lot of this.

Now with all this said, we didn't let this bother us at all. Just kind of chuckled about it and had the best vacation yet! If these types of little things bother you (and they might have bothered me if I was paying $300.00 a night) then you might be disappointed.

We did visit all the deluxe resorts but without seeing the rooms I can't really comment on the quality of the hotel.

 

[Kteacher]

We stayed in the North Garden wing in April and loved the CR. We aren't eligible for SOG rates, but we loved CR so much I booked it again for 7 nights next July. Being able to walk to MK was incredible, my kids loved riding the monorail, and we were the first stop on the bus route, so there was never a problem with an over-crowded bus. we will be spending the extra money for a tower room for our up-coming trip ( hey, it's my birthday

 

[Minnie23]

You know we never walked to MK once while we were there. The place was fairly empty so we always rode the Monorail. My kids always wanted to see if they could ride up front.

 

[onceuponadream]

Minnie23

I really DON'T want to spend $300/nt..let's hope for some codes/discounts . I have never thought a hotel room was worth that much and don't think any of the Disney hotels are "so deluxe" as to be worth that much. However, we are willing to pay for location this trip as we're alone with the 4 kiddos. The CR is the "most reasonable" deluxe with a good location. GF, Poly and all the Epcot resorts are around $380-450/nt during peak season. Of course this is our Spring Break time. We are considering going in May so we can get some discounts with out the unbearable heat and crowds. I have another post to see what crowds are like mid May. Anybody know? It does kill me to pay $300/nt for CR but on the other hand if we stay at AsMo it would be $200/nt because we need 2 rooms (these prices are all with the DC discount). Here's hoping for discounts/codes...you guys have been so helpful..thanks you thank you thank you

 

[freediverdude]

OnceUponADream,
It may be worth it to you, depending on how many nights you're staying, to purchase an annual pass for one of the members of your party. If you have an annual pass, the passholder rates are much lower at the resorts than the DC or AAA rates, and the savings would probably pay for your pass. Last month the passholder rates for the standard view garden wing rooms at the CR were in the 150 dollar range, and I was quoted 235 for a tower room, or even 248 for a tower club room! (which, looking back, I should have snapped up the tower club room at that price, but oh well...). The Poly garden view is often in the 200-235 range for passholders as well. There's no way I would pay the full rack rate for these rooms, or even the 10-15 percent off price rate of the DC or AAA. You may purchase an annual pass voucher over the phone, and then as long as you have that voucher or the annual pass at check-in they should honor the annual pass rate.

I have a question myself though, all you resort experts... I was planning a trip in January, and I keep hearing that the tower rooms are a different experience than the wing rooms. Should I start a vote count on whether it's worth it to pay more and get a tower room for that trip? I've never stayed in a tower room, and while I know the view out the balcony is probably much better, I'd be interested to hear people's opinions on whether that makes it worth the extra money.

 

[Minnie23]

I think it really depends on what you like to do. Are you the type to sit and drink coffee in the morning while reading the paper and sit on your balcony enjoying the view? Or do you get up and get the family going and head to the parks? We were given an upgrade, I suppose to a water view and while it was nice we hardly looked out the window! We were always on the go.

 

[onceuponadream]

freediverdude

Thanks for the suggestion...we have gone the March 1999 and 2001 and there have never been AP rates available because it's peak season. I did get lucky last year and get an Am Ex discount on CBR--$119/nt (rather than $184 rack rate). That was the only other discount offered besides DC and AAA that time of year so if we choose to go over Spring Break we are pretty much stuck paying close to rack rate (which stinks). I'm really trying to convince my DH to travel in May but he is weary of the heat/crowds as we kind of know what to expect in March. However, checking Mousesavers I see that there is usually an AP rate available in May. $200-248 would be a great savings..I'm leaning toward May (we also have to take 3 of the kids out of school a hole other ball of wax ..Thanks again for your suggestion!

As far as tower vs wing we just decided to go all out since we will probably not be splurging for a deluxe (at least over spring break) again!

 

[freediverdude]

Minnie,
Well that's true, I don't usually spend half the morning sitting out on the balcony or looking out the window, and I don't usually come back to the room to watch the fireworks either (although I might be more inclined to do so with a tower room). I did enjoy sitting on the patio on the ground floor wing room, although only for about 30 minutes or so, then I get bored and head off for the parks. I guess I kind of wondered if there was a whole lot of other differences between a tower room and wing room, besides having the balcony with the view. I would think the rooms are probably the same as far as size and what they look like, but I thought maybe it was a much cooler experience to walk out of your room and look down on the shops and monorail or something, or maybe on the other hand it was just noisier LOL. The wing rooms didn't seem like too much of a walk to the restaurants or monorail or shops though, not near the hike of staying, say, at the Caribbean Beach or Coronado Springs LOL. And I found out that if you were staying in the extreme northern part of the north wing, you were probably in the closest rooms to the MK of all the resorts! I couldn't believe how close that Space Mountain building was to my room, it must have only been a couple hundred yards away....