All Stars, CB, Pop, or Coronado? Who has best transportation to parks?

[Piglet99645]

Trying to decide among available resorts for our stay. We are more in the camp of using the room as a place to sleep...... so Deluxe (though tempting) are not in the running this year.

We are most concerned with proximity to the transportation to the parks. We will do all 4 parks, but most likely MK and Epcot more than once.

Coronado made the short list because of the Queen beds. We are a family of 4, kids ages 11 and 7, but husband and I sleep best in a Queen. WE can make two doubles work, though.

Mainly I don't want to spend any mroe time walking to busses and riding on busses than is necessary. Coronado seems like it is HUGE and if the resort is not the point of the trip, it may be overkill.

If we do a value we will upgrade to the Dining Plan (from Quick Service). So CB and Pop and the All STars are all about the same price.

So what say you re: Transportation?

 

[jcieutat]

It has been so many years since we stayed at POP but I remember the buses being OK. It is centrally located with Epcot, AK, and HS.

CS is absolutely huge. We stayed there one year and the resort was beautiful but it seemed as if we walked a few miles every morning before we even hit the park. It you stay there, do yourself a favor and pay to be close to the front. There are bus stops around the resort but that is just a hassle and the bus may be full before it even gets to your stop.

Never stayed at CB but it is old. I am not sure if it has been refurbished or not.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I can only speak for the CBR since we've stayed there numerous times. We have never had any issues with the bus transportation. Because the resort is centrally located, it doesn't take long to get to any of the theme parks. There are covered bus stops in each of the resort villages and the buses will make the resort loop before leaving. Having said that, I timed our rides and, from the time we sat down on the bus in Jamaica, made the other stops and then pulled into the parks, the times were as follows:

Epcot: 10 & 11 minutes (we went twice)
HS: 11 minutes
AK: I lost my notes but it was about 15 minutes
MK: 13 to 16 minutes (went multiple times)

Of course, if there are guests boarding with wheelchairs or scooters, it will take a bit longer but that's the case at any resort.

I've been told by castmembers (as have others) that the CBR is giong to switch from double beds to queen beds in the near future but no one has given an exact time frame. We sleep in a queen at home but don't have any issues with the doubles.

If you have any specific CBR questions, let me know and I'll try and answer them. Our upcoming trip will be our 9th stay at the CBR.

 

[Piglet99645]

Thanks for your kind responses.

If you have any specific CBR questions, let me know and I'll try and answer them. Our upcoming trip will be our 9th stay at the CBR.

I am curious what makes this resort a moderate.... what is special about it, if you will? You have stayed 9 times so it must have qualities worth paying extra for, over a value. Is there an actual beach of some sort?

I can search threads for these answers, but since you offered.


It sounds like the Coronado is out for us this time. Too big.

 

[dansdad]

I am curious what makes this resort a moderate.... what is special about it, if you will?

What you will get at CBR over a value

Bigger rooms
Double sinks
Multiple covered bus stops
Pool slides
Hot tubs
Sit down restaurant
Beautiful lush landscaping
Laid back atmosphere
Bike rentals (for a fee)
Boat rentals (for a fee)
Fishing excursions (for a fee)

I'm just stating the differences. We have stayed at the values and have always enjoyed our stays. We just really love CBR, it's our favorite moderate.

Is there an actual beach of some sort?

Yes. Each village has it's own beach. However, there is no swimming in the lakes at ANY of the WDW resorts. Check out the map below for beach locations.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/cbrmap.htm

 

[Dixiemom]

I have stayed at both Pop and CS. Really liked both. Wish I could comment more about the transportation but we drove to the parks when we stayed at CS and this past June at Pop we did the same with the exception of the water parks and the EMH one day at Magic Kingdom. I liked that Pop has it's own buses that don't share with the other values. CS is large for sure but if you can book at a good building in proximity to pool and food it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Piglet99645]

Thanks for all the help! Reviewing the official CB thread now.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Thanks for your kind responses.



I am curious what makes this resort a moderate.... what is special about it, if you will? You have stayed 9 times so it must have qualities worth paying extra for, over a value. Is there an actual beach of some sort?

I can search threads for these answers, but since you offered.


It sounds like the Coronado is out for us this time. Too big.

Dansdad did a great job listing the CBRs qualities over a value resort

The resort is divided into different "villages" and each have their own quiet pool, laundry facility, beach and bus stop. We absolutely love spending some quiet time on the beach in the evenings. Lying in a hammock or sitting in a beach chair is a great way to unwind after a busy day in the parks.

I have a bunch of pictures of the CBR in my ongoing trip report and will be posting even more in my next installment. Just click on the link in my signature. I have handy dandy chapter links so you don't have to read all the chit chat if you don't want to.

 

[jking6]

CSR is one of my favorite resorts in all of Disney. I even like it better than a few of the deluxe resorts. The atmosphere is amazing. I enjoy Pop it is my favorite value resort and if money is a concern then I usually go there. Acturally I will be there on Oct 10 - 14. There was 5 of us and it was the cheapest. I hope to maybe do CSR again either in November or for the Christmas holidays when I only need 1 room.

 

[KELLY]

If you are going to upgrade the dining plan I would go with a moderate. The cost isn't that much more. I know we prefer the QSDP so we have been staying at pop the last few years. We really like it there. We may upgrade our plan foe next year and if we do we will just switch to a moderate for 14 nights the cost is only 400.00 more for a moderate. I just don't know if we can do adr's for 14 days we like to be free to do what we want on any given day.

 

[spiceycat]

POP has the best transportation - AOA also has it own transportation.

Pop bus goes immediately to the parks.

CSR, PO, CBR all have multiple stops at their resort before going to the parks.

even worst are the deluxes who also share a bus.

OKW, SSR and AKL/Kidani - have multiple stops

the epcot resort share a bus to MK, AK and DD
the MK resort share a bus to Studios, AK and DD

 

[MMS1125]

We had the best bus service ever at CSR last December. It was over Christmas the parks were crowded but seriously the buses were amazing. Don't worry about how big the resort is. You can catch a bus to El Centro. I think the DTD bus stops at El Centro last so you could always hop that one. There's a sign at the bus stops that tells you which you can take

I'd love for CBR to get queen beds. That's the only thing that keeps us from staying there. It's hard to go from a king bed to a double

 

[mickeynut1]

Out of your choices, we have only stayed at CBR, so I can only comment on that resort. With that said, I agree 100% with mickeystoontown. We loved everything about CBR as it's a beautiful resort, with the transportation being the best out of all of the resorts we've stayed at . We loved that CBR is centrally located that it only took about 10 minutes to get to any theme park, water park, or DTD (even though there are multiple stops within the resort). Good luck deciding and have a great trip .