Our arrival at the Coronado including the time zone loss was at 2:40pm. Check in was a little chaotic, but not overly crowded. The entire process took about 30 minutes with my family and my parents checking into separate rooms. We had booked the 4/3 deal with dining and had sent in our requests through the
travel agent and faxed in the same request. We expressed our desire to stay in the Cabanas, but we were not able to get those for the first night only. So for the first night we stayed in Casitas 5. The room was not renovated, no issue for us. We had a lake view and it was very nice. Guest services did set us up for a room switch the next morning and they were there at 8am sharp to move us to Cabanas 8A. These rooms were renovated and exceptional. Again, we had a lake view which was even better because we were closer to the water and it had a wonderful view over the sandy beach.
Another view looking back to 8A.
We have stayed at Wilderness Lodge and Swan and the basic room design is always the same with different colors and themes. Basically this is a deluxe styled room at a moderate price. You all have seen pictures of the rooms so I will not post additional of those. We did have a spcieal scene in our room at the end of every day and as you can tell the beds were very comfortable. Similar to that of the heavanly beds at the Swan.
Mousekeeping was there each morning and always left us a window greeting which the kids loved. All their stuffed animals would be there in the window like a pet waiting for you to come home. We used the safe for small valuables, but left things like laptops in their bags and had no issues.
We ate at the Pepper Market a couple of times and the food was always good. The first time we went the system was a little confusing, but simple on each return. This was not exceptional food, but good. It is quite a festive type place and thus the atmosphere is a loud. We have kids and noise is normal, not an issue. On the dining plan price was not an issue. I did notice prices though and they were middle of the road to expensive, for meals. Not too many things are that econimcal at WDW regarding food anyway. They have a very nice bakery setup, breakfast was good and the mexcian food was quite good, even for Texan taste buds.
Breakfast
The resort was always perfectly cleaned, the views were all beautiful and we enjoyed our stay. The resort itself was probably 80% full for most of our stay. At the end of the week it may have been overbooked with the Childrens Miracle Network Convention. They started packing in Friday and on Saturday they were busting at the seams. This did not really have an impact on bus travel though. They were always on time and only a couple of times did we have to stand on the bus, which was usually on the way back after park closings.
The main pool (Dig Site) was fun for the kids. The life guards were very interactive with the kids at the slide. LGs stayed strict on the rules, but they even made those fun. FYI, the pool bar shuts down at 6:00PM. Food orders shutdown an hour before that. We toted in our own small cooler a couple of times, but tried to order nachos around 5:30pm to no avail. The hot tub is large and at one point we had 12 people in there comfortably.
The lakes were great and eventhough the marina was shutdown (including guide trips)
So to answer a question in advance that may come up later, would we stay at CSR again? Yes, although it may be quite a few trips in the future because we want to try other resorts as well. The new rooms are an upgrade from the old, especially the beds. Those beds were really nice for a good nights sleep. The resort is basically quiet. Even with numerous guests coming back late at night you would only hear them if you were outside or had the door open.