Any Canadians stay at CSR?

[SaskDisNut]

We are considering planning a trip to WDW this December during Pop Warner week, which is when we can use the 20% off PIN I received last week. We were watching last year's DVD Friday night and the kids want to stay at Pop again. However, a moderate during value season with 20% off is quite attractive as well. So we are thinking about doing a split stay and try a moderate that isn't invaded by the Pop Warner crowd. From what I have read, CSR is one resort which Pop Warner usually doesn't use.

So if you have stayed at CSR, what did you like/not like about the resort, how is the bus transportation to the parks, which building would you suggest requesting, what is the food court like and would you stay there again. There is a great thread about CSR on the resorts board but I thought I like to get the Canadian perspective as well.

Thanks!

 

[CanadianGuy]

I stayed here for five nights last summer.

I liked the resort. I liked the different food choices.. when I didn't feel like bothering with Pepper Market I just at the poolside counter service location (Siestas).

I had a room very close to the main pool area and not far at all from one of the 'bus stops'. I found the bus service from the resort to and from the parks excellent.. never crowded.. Not ONCE.

That isn't to say that it doesn't get crowded, but at the end of the day at the parks, I'd watch people cramming into the other resort buses and then I'd turn and walk on to a CSR bus and get a seat every time.

I stayed in Cabanas 8A or 8B - I can't remember exactly. But again - close to the pool and close to the bus stop. It was about a 7 minute walk to the main building.. but I very rarely went there.

I really enjoyed coming back from the parks/Pleasure Island and wandering over to the hot tub by the main pool for a bit. And it was never busy at that time of night. (for me)

My only negative was that I think my room hadn't been stayed in for a while.. so it was a bit dusty.. but that hardly was a bother and it was dusted the very next day so everything was **** and span.

I usually stay at Pop and found CSR a nice change. I'm going back this June and am currently booked into Pop but was thinking "Hmm.. maybe CSR again.." .. we'll see. I might upgrade myself.



Knox

 

[abirdd]

Coronado Springs is by far the favorite resort for my family. Let me give you some background first...

DH did *not* like the AKL, found the rooms too dark and the bus ride too long when you've got a little one impatient and desperate for the MK. While the bus ride to AK was close, we don't spend as much time there are MK or EPCOT, so it always felt like we were spending tons of time of buses.

We recently stayed at the Contemporary on a club level. While it was nice and felt like going home every night (we walked back and forth between the hotel and MK) - do we think spending the money each night was warranted? No.

So, this brings me to CSR. We have stayed at CSR on two occasions since 2006 - and loved both trips. They have superior bus service, thanks to the convention crowds. Basically, a CM explained that if a convention is in progress, you will see CSR has extra buses since the conventioneers may only get small windows to visit the parks. Want to keep them business people happy!

Another perks on CSR and bus angle - they have bus stops at all the parks that are VERY close to the exits. Now, I don't know about you... but at the end of a long day, not having to walk miles to a bus stop is a BIG bonus.

In terms of the rooms - nothing great for me on the themeing. Just a standard play on southwest art/colouring/and typical Disney bedding. However, I will say the room layout for my family worked nicely. Not as small as we'd seen in the values, and while not as large at the CR - still a decent sized room. One or two beds, a table/chairs, refrigerator, armoire, bathroom with two vanities, and standard small bathroom with bath/shower and toilet.

Laundry facilities are close to the quiet pools, which we found nicely spread out. The main pool is nicely themed and easy on the eyes, compared to some we've seen. Not to mention the main pool is nice and large, enough to accommodate plenty of kids and their families. Any pics you've seen do decent justice

In terms of the food court - I know the CSR tends to get the bum-rap about the gratuities surcharge even though you don't get "service" per say. But in reality, we've had some great lunch and dinner meals at the Pepper Market, and service charge or not, it certainly cost LESS than a table service meal.

In terms of buildings, we had a fabulous corner room in the 8 Cabanas. We liked this location a lot, thanks to close access to a bus stop, close access to the main pool, and a decent walking distance to the el Centro.

Hope this helps

 

[yxe dad]

Let me start by saying my first few trips I only stayed in the AllStars and during those vists I thought it would be a waste of money to stay in a mod and thought I'd never stay in a deluxe for that much money!

Now, a couple of years later and a few more trips under my belt I feel totally different about the resorts. Here's why,

The boys are now 8 & 10 and love the pools, waterslides and hot tubs.

Because they are older, they tend to want different food choice's, choice's the food courts at the values can't deliver for vacation of 5 days or longer.

We love the parks, but we also love family time. The mods and deluxes have more things to do when your not at the parks.

I found the disboards and mousesavers so I'm saving tonnes of money compared to the first couple of trips.


Ok so what I'm getting at is yes, stay at CSR it's a good resort but be prepared to not want to go back to the values.

We stayed at CSR and the boys loved the main pool with the waterslide, and the pool bar was great for refilling the mugs.

The Peppper Market was great for choice's but a little expensive. The portions are big and we learned to share because we always had too much food. The TS restaurant(sorry I can't remember the name) was also great and gave us a chance to catch up with my uncle and aunt who don't like food courts.

The buses I find are always good at WDW but I have been renting cars the last few trips so I can buy water and snacks at a super market and so we have transportation to US/IOA or Seaworld.

I also stayed in Cabanas 8 and found it very easy to get to the pool and the bus stop. The rooms are very similar to those in the values.

Sorry for the long ramble,

Shayne

 

[SandraC]

We have stayed at CBR 3x, POFQ once and CSR once.

I didn't like CSR.

I found it looked unkept....like post-hurricane.

Our building we Cabanas 8A, corner room by the pool.

We loved the pool.

Didn't like the room.

Didn't like the food court.

Sandra

 

[SaskDisNut]

I usually stay at Pop and found CSR a nice change. I'm going back this June and am currently booked into Pop but was thinking "Hmm.. maybe CSR again.." ..

Thanks for the info, Knox. That is kind of our feeling too. We want to be down at WDW during the Christmas season and moving up to CSR would be an extra present!

Kelly

 

[SaskDisNut]

They have superior bus service, thanks to the convention crowds. Basically, a CM explained that if a convention is in progress, you will see CSR has extra buses since the conventioneers may only get small windows to visit the parks. Want to keep them business people happy!

Another perks on CSR and bus angle - they have bus stops at all the parks that are VERY close to the exits. Now, I don't know about you... but at the end of a long day, not having to walk miles to a bus stop is a BIG bonus.

Hope this helps

Hi abirdd, that is what I was thinking about the buses as well. It is good to know about the park bus stops. The Pop stops seemed to be the last ones and yes, after doing the parks all day walking to them was a bit of a chore. Our experience with the Pop transportation was always positive so seeing that it is good at CSR as well is great.

And the rest of your info was certainly helpful. Thanks,

 

[tmli]

This is one of my least favorite resorts next to AKL. I have stayed at many of the resorts, not all -- YET!

I may be the only person on the dis who doesn't like Pepper Market. Service was terrible, food quality was awful, and prices were high compared to other food courts. I forget what building we were in but we were on the fourth floor and it was a maze to get to the room. I also found when we were around convention goers the conversations could be quite "adult" oriented, yes this can happen anywhere but seemed a bit more often here.

We found the buses to be a pain by the time we went to all of the stops.

POFQ gets my vote as a mod!

 

[CanadianGuy]

Our building we Cabanas 8A, corner room by the pool.

I think everyone has stayed in that Corner Room - I did too!

 

[laura001]

We have stayed at CSR, POFQ, and POR. We loved CSR!

The choices at The Pepper Market were great, didn't try the Maya Grill though, and of course the Marguerita's poolside are fantastic! The pool area is really nice and we never found that the pool was overloaded. There are also quiet pools spread out all over the resort. Transportation was no problem at all, always quick and effecient. We stayed in the Casita's, had requested Cabana's but also wanted a King size bed, so it didn't work out. The Casita's were beautiful, especially at night!

As for POFQ, very nice resort too. Much smaller, the food court is OK (no comparison to Pepper Market though). The gift shop is much smaller and there are no quiet pools. The pool area is cute, they do make marguerita's (DH's only request when we book rooms..lol), but can be very busy, because it is not that big. (I have loads of pool pics if you want to see them) The theming for the kids is great! Bus service is ok, although busses are packed to the nines at night, one great plus is that POFQ is first on and first off! We are staying here again next month, DH's choice to try it again.

POR is great for a family of 5 (which is us if we travel with the kids). It is large, like CSR, and is a beautiful resort. Boatwright's is a great restaurant, and the gift shop is great too! There are quiet pools and the main pool is OK, seemed overloaded with kids most of the time. Our kids preferred to stay at the quiet pool, not really sure why, I can only assume it was because of it being so full (that was at the end of April). The rooms were great, and we didn't really find a problem with the busses, except that there were overly packed at night. If we had little little ones it would have been tougher, but they were always on time etc.

Whichever you choose, you could not really make a bad choice! They are all great in their own way! Hope you have a great time, whichever you choose. Oh, and of course going Pop Warner week.....hmmmm....I would stay at a Moderate.

 

[PrincessNED]

Hey Saskdisnut!!

We were just down at CSR Dec 8-16.

Had a great time - Busses not crowded at all and very timely - most we waited for a bus was 5 min. Even at end of night there seemed to be substantially less people on the CSR busses that the other mods or value resorts.

Your kids will love the feature pool - great waterslide - and each area has a quiet pool as well.

From a Canadian perspective - IT WAS NOT -30c

We were in Cabana's area - 9B - with room right outside the quiet pool - about a 3 minute walk to the main pool site and about the same to the main building with the food court. Definately try for the Cabana area for less walking - also Cabana area did not seem to have that many conventioners around.

Nice beach with plenty of hammocks available to relax in by the lake.

good food court once you figure out the system - huge portions !!

 

[SaskDisNut]

Let me start by saying my first few trips I only stayed in the AllStars and during those vists I thought it would be a waste of money to stay in a mod and thought I'd never stay in a deluxe for that much money!

Now, a couple of years later and a few more trips under my belt I feel totally different about the resorts. Here's why,

The boys are now 8 & 10 and love the pools, waterslides and hot tubs.

Because they are older, they tend to want different food choice's, choice's the food courts at the values can't deliver for vacation of 5 days or longer.

We love the parks, but we also love family time. The mods and deluxes have more things to do when your not at the parks.

I found the disboards and mousesavers so I'm saving tonnes of money compared to the first couple of trips.


Ok so what I'm getting at is yes, stay at CSR it's a good resort but be prepared to not want to go back to the values.

We stayed at CSR and the boys loved the main pool with the waterslide, and the pool bar was great for refilling the mugs.

The Peppper Market was great for choice's but a little expensive. The portions are big and we learned to share because we always had too much food. The TS restaurant(sorry I can't remember the name) was also great and gave us a chance to catch up with my uncle and aunt who don't like food courts.

The buses I find are always good at WDW but I have been renting cars the last few trips so I can buy water and snacks at a super market and so we have transportation to US/IOA or Seaworld.

I also stayed in Cabanas 8 and found it very easy to get to the pool and the bus stop. The rooms are very similar to those in the values.

Sorry for the long ramble,

Shayne

Shayne, thanks for the ramble . I prefer more info than less! Our DS and DD will be 11 if we go in Dec. and I can relate to a lot to what you said. And as far as not wanting to go back to a value - that's what I'm afraid of.

Kelly

 

[incoo50]

All info on CSR can be found at Buzzs coronado site,the link will be in the resort forums.I stayed there last May and was very impressed pool,bus service and the whole resort layout .It was great

 

[Northern_Julie]

This is Buzz' site. He is there now and updating on the resort board of all his recent findings...

http://coronado_springs.tripod.com/

 

[so_are_you]

We just booked the CBR for Dec 7th to 15 and I then had read about the pop warner thing going on I posted in another thread about beging worried about going that time,
a few people told me my best bet for the pop warner thing would be to stay at the CSR so I just changed our res this afternoon
I ordered the video online and said we were thinking of May then got an email saying we had 20% off but when I phoned to book they said it was 40% off
this is what one person wrote

Our last PW week trip was 2004 and the CBR was packed with them. The packed food court, gift shop and overall crowded, hectic feeling bothered us. I love the relaxed, not crowded feeling of CBR and I will not stay there again with PW crowd. It changed the whole feeling of the resort

 

[surfer_ed]

I stayed here for five nights last summer.

...My only negative was that I think my room hadn't been stayed in for a while.. so it was a bit dusty.. but that hardly was a bother and it was dusted the very next day so everything was **** and span.

We stayed there for our honeymoon in 2003. Loved the food choices and the main pool...dig site.

Had an issue with the room, it was a bit of a "roach" hotel. On the surface it was clean , but a closer look revealed stains on the floor, mold on the tiles and dead bugs on the floor under the bed. It was very un-Disney like.

I am sure it is an isolated incident, Disney didn't handle it well either since it took three calls to get the room clean. Of course this is just our experience...prob would not stay there again. For my money, All-Stars or DVC. Go big or go small.

 

[michelle1]

We stayed at CSR last summer and LOVED it! The pool area was better than any other resort we have stayed at with so much to do for my kids. Besides the pool slide (which is one of the biggest ) there is a huge hot tub, beach volleyball, a playground, arcade and pingpong table all in the pool area. Our room was in the Cabana and we were on the ground floor with a water view (free upgrade) which was a great location because it was close to the pool, bus stop and food court. The buses were fantastic and were never busy, in fact, we had a whole bus to ourselves once. Some people hate the PM but we found it good value because the portions were so big we often shared. We did not like the buffet breakfast at the Maya grill. We have stayed at several value resorts but we also spend a fair bit of time at the pool so for the extra money it's worth it for the slide and hot tub.

 

[F4disneyfan]

We are considering planning a trip to WDW this December during Pop Warner week, which is when we can use the 20% off PIN I received last week. We were watching last year's DVD Friday night and the kids want to stay at Pop again. However, a moderate during value season with 20% off is quite attractive as well. So we are thinking about doing a split stay and try a moderate that isn't invaded by the Pop Warner crowd. From what I have read, CSR is one resort which Pop Warner usually doesn't use.

So if you have stayed at CSR, what did you like/not like about the resort, how is the bus transportation to the parks, which building would you suggest requesting, what is the food court like and would you stay there again. There is a great thread about CSR on the resorts board but I thought I like to get the Canadian perspective as well.

Thanks!

We loved CSR the playground is incredible so is the pool and the food is top notch. I would highly reccomend this hotel for the moderates. It is by far the most deluxe hotel in this price range rivaling many of the deluxe resorts for accomodations and ammenitites.

 

[SaskDisNut]

Thanks Everyone, for all your input - both the positive and negative. I've also been checking out Buzz's CSR website and anything else I can find too. I tend to research things to the extreme so all of the responses have been very helpful. I've even got a spreadsheet with all the different options that I've come up with.

So we have decided on a trip in Dec. most likely the 5th to 14th and depending on the % discount I can get we will spend at least part of our time at CSR and maybe most.

Now if only the CRO hadn't closed at 10PM EST!