I stayed there last February 14th to the 20th in a garden wing room through the SOG program. I'll give you my thoughts on the resort and quick review.
1. The rooms are very big and perfect for a family of 5 or less. They have a couch that converts into a very comfortable single bed in seconds. My one son thought that was so cool and loved sleeping on it. Alot more comfortable than a regular sofa bed.The color and theming in the room turned me off though. A little to wild for my tastes and had no "Disney" theme to it. It felt like it could use some decoration like the rooms at the DLH in Anahiem. I didn't see any sign of Disney characters or decorations in the room.I didn't see any sign of Mickey and friends in my room and that's just not right.
2. The bathrooms were roomy also and I liked that the toliet area was seperate from the shower/sink area. A big help when you have kids and are trying to get ready in the morning. The toilet room had the weirdest art work hanging over the toilet and had nothing to do with Disney and was just plain ugly. If they would decorate the rooms and the resort with a true Disney character theme, I think more people would be happy. I talked to many guests while doing laundry and they agreed with me in saying the resort needed something along those lines.
3.The transportation of the resort is great and can't be beat. I loved the boats and who doesn't love taking the monorail? The walk way to the Magic Kingdom is pretty cool also and from the entrance hallway of my garden room (front foyer) you can see the Castle and SM at night. It's a beautiful sight and I loved hearing the train when I opened my patio door.Speaking of the Patio, why didn't they put a full patio out side of every 2 floor garden room is beyond me.
. They have the room for it and I missed not sitting out with a chair enjoying the end of day like I can at the Poly. The layout of the resort is big and if you are in garden room at the end of the resort, you will be doing some walking. I really think the Tower rooms are your best bet and I will only stay at the CR if I can get one. You are so close to everything in a Tower room and the sight of the Monorail coming into the resort is so cool!
4. The food and shopping choices are good too and the only drawback is I wish they had some kind of food court with differnt types of things to eat at affordable prices. Chef Mickey's, Cailfornia Grill, and the Concourse Steak house can be expensive if you had to eat there every night. The snack shop just didn't cut it for me at night and something like the Pepper Market would be great.
5. The resort does need some remodeling and I saw the carpet in the hallway and the wallpaper needed some attention. It didn't bother me so much because I was only paying $89.00 a night for the room thanks to the SOG program. If I had been paying the full rack rate for the room, I would have been disappointed. A true Disney classic and a landmark resort such as the CR deserves better. They should take a page from the Poly and start redoing on section at a time. Don't get me wrong, it's still a nice resort and I felt lucky to say I stayed there once. Most families will be happy staying there if they get a good deal.
6. Last point. The pool area is nice but they should have did something like what they did at the GF and the Poly with a zero entry pool and some form of themed slide. Maybe next time when they remodel the area they will do something along those lines. The Pool at some of the Moderates were better than the one at the CR. Bottom line it's still a great resort and a classic in it's own right, just needs a few changes to get it back to where it once was. I hope this helps anyone who was interested and wasn't designed to irritate anyone. Thank you for your time in reading this post!
