Age Old Question

[monte]

Which resort would you stay at: Coronado, or Caribbean and why? Thank you.

 

[cruise cruise cruise]

Caribbean because the buffet set up at Coronado does not work for my family

 

[shell8558]

I have stayed at Carribean and the layout was much too spread out for us. If you have to take an internal bus to get around the resort, there is a problem. Have you considered Port Orleans Riverside? Hands down , my favorite! Beautiful, quiet, good food court, great pools, boat to DTD, carriage rides.

 

[jujube]

Coronado Springs because it has queen beds instead of double beds. The pool is fantastic as are the CMs. We love the room decor and the sliding wooden door that separates the dressing area from the bedroom. The Pepper market has a wonderful variety of delicious food. The grounds are lushly landscaped. If you want to get your hair done, it has a beauty salon onsite as well as a gym.

 

[mamamary]

I would lean more towards CSR as they have queen beds. We also loved the pepper market. We did love CBR too but I would prob pick CSR over it due to the beds.

 

[MuchLovedMama]

CSR. I've not stayed there but I've stayed at CBR and DID NOT like it at all. Seemed too run down and way to spread out. Don't like having to take a bus to the food court. I would like to try CSR someday.

 

[robinb]

CSR for the pool area and the larger beds. Also, for the Pepper Market if you're getting the Dining Plan.

 

[POOHsie]

I don't like either. For me, it's POR or POFQ.

Quoted from PP, "Beautiful, quiet, good food court, great pools, boat to DTD, [horse and] carriage rides." May I add that POR and POFQ are beautifully shaded. You can use both food courts, which have different offerings. You can use both resort main pools, and POR's 5 quiet pools. Ole' Man Island has the Fishin' Hole, a playground, and a great outdoor bar area. POR resort is in a big circle, with bridges across the middle, so nothing is too far from the main building. Both resorts have live entertainment Weds-Sat. POR has Sea-Raycer rentals, boat rentals, surrey bike rentals. You can walk/run from one resort to the other on a shaded trail which follows the river. I can't emphasize how valuable the boat to DTD is. It's very pleasant to be on the water, takes 20 minutes, shaves lots of time off a bus trip to DTD, so you would feel more open to consider DTD's dining and shopping choices.

CSR looks like typical Florida condos to me. CBR is loaded with lots of kids doing their thing - running, screaming, expending energy. It's not soothing to listen to all that. CSR and CBR don't offer half of what POR and POFQ do. And now POFQ has queen beds. Some of POR has them, more coming.

Here's a great website about Port Orleans. Very thorough. http://www.portorleans.org/

 

[gert]

I don't like either. For me, it's POR or POFQ.

Quoted from PP, "Beautiful, quiet, good food court, great pools, boat to DTD, [horse and] carriage rides." May I add that POR and POFQ are beautifully shaded. You can use both food courts, which have different offerings. You can use both resort main pools, and POR's 5 quiet pools. Ole' Man Island has the Fishin' Hole, a playground, and a great outdoor bar area. POR resort is in a big circle, with bridges across the middle, so nothing is too far from the main building. Both resorts have live entertainment Weds-Sat. POR has Sea-Raycer rentals, boat rentals, surrey bike rentals. You can walk/run from one resort to the other on a shaded trail which follows the river. I can't emphasize how valuable the boat to DTD is. It's very pleasant to be on the water, takes 20 minutes, shaves lots of time off a bus trip to DTD, so you would feel more open to consider DTD's dining and shopping choices.

CSR looks like typical Florida condos to me. CBR is loaded with lots of kids doing their thing - running, screaming, expending energy. It's not soothing to listen to all that. CSR and CBR don't offer half of what POR and POFQ do. And now POFQ has queen beds. Some of POR has them, more coming.

Here's a great website about Port Orleans. Very thorough. http://www.portorleans.org/

I stayed at CBR in 2006, both POR & POFQ in 2009 (two trips that year!), and CSR in 2011.

CBR was ok, just HUGE-MONGUS and sort of a pain to get from point A to point B. I'd probably like it more if I had a room in a more centrally located building.

I hated CSR. I wasn't impressed with the cast members (and the cast members are usually my favorite part about a resort). The Pepper Market had good food but rude service. The whole place just seemed dirty and unfriendly to us.

I loved, loved, loved both Port Orleans resorts, though. Especially French Quarter because of the size, but I'd happily take a preferred room at POR any day.

 

[CamoMama]

CSR is the only mod that I have no real desire to stay at. I would love to have the gym, but other than that it just doesn't feel as much Disney as the others do, probably due to the convention hosting. I've stayed at CBR and loved it, but as PPs have said, it has double beds throughout. The pool is wonderful and the landscaping is gorgeous. You really have to base your decision on what is most important to you.

 

[Abby Wednesday]

I'd pick Coronado for the queen beds. I would be interested in the pool at CBR because my 4 year old would like it, but the Coronado pool looks pretty cool, too.

 

[mommy2twinprincesses]

We love CSR.

We chose to stay there again over CBR (I have heard the pirate beds are very uncomfortable) and we have girls so they don't really appeal to us anyway.

Highlights of CSR for us:
Queen beds
Quiet resort since it is a convention center
Amazing pool, a big hit among Disers...3rd in WDW only to BC/YC and Poly...our kids LOVED the slide and the dig site
Pool bar/snack bar...literally right there and can use the DDP CS credits there. We love to visit a park in the morning, come back for a swim and late lunch by the pool, head out to our dinner ADR, back to a park.

We almost chose POR for the Royal Guest room but changed our mind bc we found out that you can not use the dining plan there WHAT?

 

[aubriee]

I've stayed at all four moderates within the last couple of years. I go to WDW several times a year and pretty much always stay in a moderate, so am very familiar with all four. I'd rank them:

#1. CSR-consistently has the best bus service on property (including all the values and deluxes), friendly, helpful CMs (although the ones at the Pepper Market do sometimes look like they'd rather be somewhere else), only moderate with a healthclub/beauty salan/spa, very comfortable queen size beds, longer pool slide, pool not usually at crowded, biggest hot tub on property, lovely fountains in the Casitas section and pretty white sand beaches and hammocks in the Cabanas. We love walking around the beautiful lake at night, so peaceful and relaxing. Just feels a little nicer (more upscale than the other moderates).

#2. POFQ- smallest resort on property so no room is very far from anything and love the boat to DTD, shares buses with PORS, but is the first bus stop, so you usually get a seat

#3. PORS- best food court on property, beautiful, peaceful relaxing resort, love the boat to DTD

#4. CBR- and that's a very distant #4-- have never had good luck with housekeeping or bus service there. It's so big that it has seven bus stops and even has an internal bus just for moving people around the resort. Not a fan of their food court or TS restaurant. Once the rehab is finished at PORS, it will be the only moderate that doesn't have queen size beds--we are not a fan of the doubles. Main pool and hot tub always packed when we were there, but quiet pools were OK. It's a very pretty resort though.

 

[jennabcassell]

I have stayed at both. I liked CSR because they had queen beds which were sooooo comfortable but I probably won't stay there again because...it didn't really feel that 'Disney' to me. It is a conference center as well and there were a ton of business people around. The place is decorated southwest style but just doesn't have that "Disney" feel, it could have been a hotel anywhere.

Because I have a child, we liked CBR better. The CB pirate pool is awesome. I agree with people that the resort is very spread out, thats why I would recommend getting a preferred room if possible. CBR just feels more "Disney" and thats what I want when I go!

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

CSR for us - me, DH, two DDs 12 and 9. We like the queen beds, the awesome pool and slide, the excellent bus service, the theming, the sliding doors between the vanity area and the room, the food choices for picky DD9 and adventurous DD12, the landscaping, the quietness of the resort, the hammocks on the beach.

Reasons we don't choose CBR - primarily the double beds, the pool area seems much more designed for preschoolers, and we find the theming generic (authentic enough, I guess, but there are tons of hotels like it in Florida or the Caribbean).

If we couldn't book CSR, we would book deluxe or maybe try POR.

 

[monte]

Man, this is a hard decision. I may split my stay because I'm doing the W&D half, so I may just go with CSR and a value resort that is a "host" hotel for the race. I would LOVE to stay a the YC, but really can't afford a deluxe at this time. Thanks for all of your input, it really helped me narrow it down!

 

[cindy17]

Just throwing in my two cents for CSR. I have stayed at both (CSR twice) and really prefer CSR. I think CBR way too big and spread out. Long walks to anything. CSR more logically laid out and just beautiful. The whole convention aspect did not bother us in the least. Good luck with your decision!