Lord Fantasius
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2005
- Messages
- 387
After jumping at a chance to attend a work conference this past week in Orlando (not at WDW), I added three nights to the beginning of the trip to make my first visit to the Land of Magic in over 16 years. Being the adventurious sort, I decided to spend each night at a different moderate resort to see for myself what all these "new" resorts were about since the last time I was there WDW had only 4 official resorts (FW, Poly, CR, and the new one, GF).
Some caveats up front - 1) I received a AAA discount of $107 for a garden view room at each of these resorts so the rooms would be comparable; 2) I was able to borrow a car from a local friend after the first night so my internal bus transportation experience is limited to the first day from CSR; 3) I travel quite frequently and have stayed in hotels ranging from 5-star to 2-star barely liveable "motels;" and 4) I am a great fan of the "Disney Vision" though am not enamoured of Disney Corp over the past decade.
With all that being said...NIGHT 1
I arrived at the CSR around 7:00am Sunday, 2/06, via a taxi from the airport. The bellhops immediately helped me store my luggage until I could check in and get my room. As imagined there is no line, and so I encountered my first CM-in-training. After being informed that the resort had been 100% occupied the night before and was scheduled to be 98% occupied Sunday night with a 40% - 60% turnover of rooms that day, I was told to check back around 3:00pm for my room. A little unnerved since I usually never have a problem checking into a hotel early after an overnight flight, but if they truly were 100%-occupied, then there's really nothing else I can do. Fortunately, I needed to get over to Shades of Green to pick up my tickets (my wife is military) and knew this might take awhile.
Indeed it does...while bus transportation between the resorts and the parks appears fairly decent, getting between resorts can task the patience; especially if the resort is not an "official" DW resort. However, I'll save that experience for my trip review in the other forum.
After a few times checking on the status of my room, at the 1:30pm mark the CM finally changes my room to one that is ready (why they can't do that when rooms start becoming available I don't quite understand for us early arrivers, but it seemed a big deal to the CM). So I end up back at the front desk to get my key reswiped and was off to my room...Cabana 8b.
I get a room on the first floor (not my favorite level) facing the lake...What I don't understand is why there is such a big deal to whether a room faces the water or the parking lot since who leaves their curtains open for people to view in when you're in an outside-entry room? Even though I was traveling alone, my wife & I both really dislike motel rooms for this reason, especially on the first floor. But hey, the room was available and had a bed I could take a nap in.
The room itself is nice, probably enough for 4 people if you put your luggage under the bed (the reason they are raised so high off the floor). However, I doubt whether 4 people could fit around the table at the same time if you wanted to use the door to get in and out of the room.
Some quick comments about the room - Except for the bathroom lights over the sink, ever other light in the room must be 40 watts or less since you have to turn them all on to see anything in the room, particularly the light over the table...so much for having friends over to play some cards. The sink area outside the bathroom has a counter with one sink; not really what you expect for 4 people sharing a room. However, the room comes with both glasses (yes, real glass) and plastic/ceramic mugs for coffee, etc. There is a small coffee-maker on the counter as well as a hair-dryer and the usual assortment of soaps, shampoo, etc. All about the same as you would find at a better 3-star motel.
One word of warning - close the lid on the toilet before flushing or you'll unexpectedly realize it can double as a bidet. The force at which the toilet flushes is rather extreme, disturbing, and at times annoying.
Also to comment on - the room has a ceiling fan, which is nice, and the blades were clean to so no flying dust when I turned it on. Additionally, for some of you who have asked, the TV in this room has no front jacks to plug a camcorder or digital camera into so you might have to reach around back to do that sort of thing if you want.
Lastly, save for a little mold around the bathtub (which kind of surprised me), the room is IMMACULATE so don't have any problems in that regard.
The resort itself is impressive! Open and set back around the lake. While it as has been mentioned before, the pool is great, as are all the quiet pools, and the large (22-person) hot-tub is extraordinary!!!! Some comment on how large the resort is, but it is manegeable. Mostly, the size perception is more illusionary than actual (something Disney is good at) in my opinion.
As has been noted, this is Disney's convention resort. And even though many of the other resorts have business meeting rooms, this one caters to conventions and it is noticeable. Honestly, when I go to Disney, I really don't need to see businessmen/women in name tags talking business on cell phones, etc. Disney's vision was that his "World" would be a place for people to get away from reality for awhile to dream and be treated special. For a family whose parent has a convention at CSR, staying there would be a treat as it would entitle them to be on WDW property, but for me there appears very little "magic" in being at a convention center, even if it is on Disney property. To each is own I guess....
Accordingly though, it is the only moderate to have a gym because it is designed for business travelers. The gym is very nice, and the quiet pool outside the gym actually has lap-swimming lane lines (definitely not 25 yds or 25 m, but it is enough), a big plus for swimmers since few of the other quiet pools are rectanguler enough to accomodate lap swimming.
Truthfully, Disney does try to keep the business travelers separated from the rest of the guests by lodging them in the multi-level Casitas and by putting the convention center on that side of the complex, but it is hard to segregate in the public areas (Pepper Mill, the front desk, etc.).
Notably, the food, while expensive by some standards, is quite good and enough for two meals (or two people if you're into sharing). The chicken quesadillas were delicious and perfect after a long first day. The only negative about food pricing I would say is for being located in Florida, fruit prices tended to be obscenely priced, so stock up on fruit before entering WDW!
O.k., except for my upstairs neighbors flushing their toilet, I never heard anything else coming from other rooms. I slept great on a firm, but not hard bed.
Lastly, I signed up for express check-out. O.k., not a novel idea, but thought at least here I wouldn't have to worry about having any problems. Unfortunately, there was a small one, the "system" double charged me for a local call which ended up costing me more time in line having to correct than it saved me in having express checkout. The CM-in-training apologized only slightly and said the "system" unfortunately sometimes does that. Not a great response, but I guess for only a 75 cent error I wasn't expecting an apology by a manager.
Overall, this is a great resort. Maybe not for the "Disney experience," but if I had a convention/conference here, I definitely wouldn't turn it down. I ranked this one second out of the three resorts I stayed at this trip.
-R
Some caveats up front - 1) I received a AAA discount of $107 for a garden view room at each of these resorts so the rooms would be comparable; 2) I was able to borrow a car from a local friend after the first night so my internal bus transportation experience is limited to the first day from CSR; 3) I travel quite frequently and have stayed in hotels ranging from 5-star to 2-star barely liveable "motels;" and 4) I am a great fan of the "Disney Vision" though am not enamoured of Disney Corp over the past decade.
With all that being said...NIGHT 1
I arrived at the CSR around 7:00am Sunday, 2/06, via a taxi from the airport. The bellhops immediately helped me store my luggage until I could check in and get my room. As imagined there is no line, and so I encountered my first CM-in-training. After being informed that the resort had been 100% occupied the night before and was scheduled to be 98% occupied Sunday night with a 40% - 60% turnover of rooms that day, I was told to check back around 3:00pm for my room. A little unnerved since I usually never have a problem checking into a hotel early after an overnight flight, but if they truly were 100%-occupied, then there's really nothing else I can do. Fortunately, I needed to get over to Shades of Green to pick up my tickets (my wife is military) and knew this might take awhile.
Indeed it does...while bus transportation between the resorts and the parks appears fairly decent, getting between resorts can task the patience; especially if the resort is not an "official" DW resort. However, I'll save that experience for my trip review in the other forum.
After a few times checking on the status of my room, at the 1:30pm mark the CM finally changes my room to one that is ready (why they can't do that when rooms start becoming available I don't quite understand for us early arrivers, but it seemed a big deal to the CM). So I end up back at the front desk to get my key reswiped and was off to my room...Cabana 8b.
I get a room on the first floor (not my favorite level) facing the lake...What I don't understand is why there is such a big deal to whether a room faces the water or the parking lot since who leaves their curtains open for people to view in when you're in an outside-entry room? Even though I was traveling alone, my wife & I both really dislike motel rooms for this reason, especially on the first floor. But hey, the room was available and had a bed I could take a nap in.
The room itself is nice, probably enough for 4 people if you put your luggage under the bed (the reason they are raised so high off the floor). However, I doubt whether 4 people could fit around the table at the same time if you wanted to use the door to get in and out of the room.
Some quick comments about the room - Except for the bathroom lights over the sink, ever other light in the room must be 40 watts or less since you have to turn them all on to see anything in the room, particularly the light over the table...so much for having friends over to play some cards. The sink area outside the bathroom has a counter with one sink; not really what you expect for 4 people sharing a room. However, the room comes with both glasses (yes, real glass) and plastic/ceramic mugs for coffee, etc. There is a small coffee-maker on the counter as well as a hair-dryer and the usual assortment of soaps, shampoo, etc. All about the same as you would find at a better 3-star motel.
One word of warning - close the lid on the toilet before flushing or you'll unexpectedly realize it can double as a bidet. The force at which the toilet flushes is rather extreme, disturbing, and at times annoying.
Also to comment on - the room has a ceiling fan, which is nice, and the blades were clean to so no flying dust when I turned it on. Additionally, for some of you who have asked, the TV in this room has no front jacks to plug a camcorder or digital camera into so you might have to reach around back to do that sort of thing if you want.
Lastly, save for a little mold around the bathtub (which kind of surprised me), the room is IMMACULATE so don't have any problems in that regard.
The resort itself is impressive! Open and set back around the lake. While it as has been mentioned before, the pool is great, as are all the quiet pools, and the large (22-person) hot-tub is extraordinary!!!! Some comment on how large the resort is, but it is manegeable. Mostly, the size perception is more illusionary than actual (something Disney is good at) in my opinion.
As has been noted, this is Disney's convention resort. And even though many of the other resorts have business meeting rooms, this one caters to conventions and it is noticeable. Honestly, when I go to Disney, I really don't need to see businessmen/women in name tags talking business on cell phones, etc. Disney's vision was that his "World" would be a place for people to get away from reality for awhile to dream and be treated special. For a family whose parent has a convention at CSR, staying there would be a treat as it would entitle them to be on WDW property, but for me there appears very little "magic" in being at a convention center, even if it is on Disney property. To each is own I guess....
Accordingly though, it is the only moderate to have a gym because it is designed for business travelers. The gym is very nice, and the quiet pool outside the gym actually has lap-swimming lane lines (definitely not 25 yds or 25 m, but it is enough), a big plus for swimmers since few of the other quiet pools are rectanguler enough to accomodate lap swimming.
Truthfully, Disney does try to keep the business travelers separated from the rest of the guests by lodging them in the multi-level Casitas and by putting the convention center on that side of the complex, but it is hard to segregate in the public areas (Pepper Mill, the front desk, etc.).
Notably, the food, while expensive by some standards, is quite good and enough for two meals (or two people if you're into sharing). The chicken quesadillas were delicious and perfect after a long first day. The only negative about food pricing I would say is for being located in Florida, fruit prices tended to be obscenely priced, so stock up on fruit before entering WDW!
O.k., except for my upstairs neighbors flushing their toilet, I never heard anything else coming from other rooms. I slept great on a firm, but not hard bed.
Lastly, I signed up for express check-out. O.k., not a novel idea, but thought at least here I wouldn't have to worry about having any problems. Unfortunately, there was a small one, the "system" double charged me for a local call which ended up costing me more time in line having to correct than it saved me in having express checkout. The CM-in-training apologized only slightly and said the "system" unfortunately sometimes does that. Not a great response, but I guess for only a 75 cent error I wasn't expecting an apology by a manager.
Overall, this is a great resort. Maybe not for the "Disney experience," but if I had a convention/conference here, I definitely wouldn't turn it down. I ranked this one second out of the three resorts I stayed at this trip.
-R
