Coronado, Shades of Green, of Art of Animation?

[ginnygi]

Ok, so I am REALLY torn here. I am taking a trip to Disney in February 2013. My first choice is to stay at Coronado Springs resort, but we can only afford that if Disney continues to offer the Military room discount of 40%. At this point who knows if they will or not? So my backup plan is to stay at either Shades of Green or Art of Animation Resort.

Yes, I know SoG is a "deluxe" and has huge rooms. BUT AoA has a better theme for my young kids (6 and 5). Also, SoG doesnt have Magical Express and I cannot get the meal plan, which we have done our last two trips and really loved those particular ammenities. Transportation to parks is a big factor in my decision then. Which hotel is better overall, considering "perks" of Disney hotels? Which hotel has better/faster transportation?

I would LOVE and appreciate any and all feedback to help me with this decision. Thanks in advance!

 

[Alabama Minnie]

If you can get 40% off one of the suites at AoA I would definately do it with small children. CSR is very nice but not that "Disney-themed" IMO.

 

[ginnygi]

I agree that the theming at AoA is more kid friendly and fun, but the pool at Coronado is much nicer, and I like that they have a night club for when the kids go to bed. My MIL is going so, free babysitting! Plus I have heard great things about the new buffet breakfast and lunch that only cost a quick service credit from the meal plan. If I have to choose between AoA of SoG, you definitely think AoA? I think that is what I am leaning towards anyway...

 

[Alabama Minnie]

We aren't military (DH was in the Navy 3 years) so I don't know about SOG.

We now have grown children but if I had little ones I would have to stay at least once in one of those suites, especially with a great discount like that. Maybe someday with the grandkids.

We aren't big pool people either but our kids didn't care as long as they were playing with other kids in one.

We always take our drinks with us for the fridge in the room. It's alot cheaper than buying them at the hotel.

 

[Mousemommy1]

If the military discounts continue, you would only get 35% off of Coronado as that is what the mod discount is (40% is for deluxe), not sure if that factors in.

Between AoA and SOG, I would absolutely stay AoA and have all of the on-site benefits such as ME, DDP, etc...
If AoA has dedicated bus service, which at this time it appears that it does, than the transportation should be pretty decent. Though, at SOG, you can walk to the TTC and Poly and have those transportation options too. I'd still pick AoA between the two.

 

[KatMark]

I would definitely go with CSR if you get that discount. The pool is great, as are the queen beds, the buffet and, as you said, the nightclub. We are not fans of the values (our kids weren't either), but if you can't get the code with CSR, I'd probably try the suites at AoA.

 

[Nomad70]

I am trying to decide myself where to stay for our family vacation 2013 as well. We are thinking of Wilderness Cabins vs SOG. The +'s of SOG are, size of room, proximity to MK and for us the transportation is perfect. It's close enough to the Poly to walk, but we never had a problem with the SOG transportation ourselves. It is a beautiful resort and unlike some people, don't think it has a 'military' feel at all. Themeing is not a concern of ours, even when the kids were little they really didn't care what the hotel looked like, I think it's more of a parents concern! lol a - is the food facilities are pretty sub par. Except the ice cream parlor. And of course, the price can't be beat. Now, with that said, the AoA does look great. I have heard they have their own transportation, but it is also the furthest from MK, but pretty close to HS, Epcot and DTD. So it's up to you which is best. I wonder if they will have discounts for military too. I maybe deploying for 6 months with my job (federal, but not military, dh is military) in January so coming home to a family vacation at Disney would be fantastic!!

 

[The Wise One]

The last time we were at Disney (December 2011) DH and I stayed at All Star Movies and my MIL and rest of DH's family stayed at SoG. Let me tell you, staying at the All Star was so much better. The buses for SoG didn't come as often as our buses so they would wait about an hour for a bus to come, once was in the rain with two sleeping children. They said the food at SoG was more expensive as well if you plan to eat at the hotel.

 

[Mom2six]

If the military discounts continue, you would only get 35% off of Coronado as that is what the mod discount is (40% is for deluxe), not sure if that factors in.

Between AoA and SOG, I would absolutely stay AoA and have all of the on-site benefits such as ME, DDP, etc...
If AoA has dedicated bus service, which at this time it appears that it does, than the transportation should be pretty decent. Though, at SOG, you can walk to the TTC and Poly and have those transportation options too. I'd still pick AoA between the two.

At AoA, you would only get 30% using the military discount. We are staying there for 4 nights in September. The pool actually seems quite nice and there is a nice splash area for kids. The food court looks pretty good too. We are thinking of running over to Coronado for the lunch buffet though on our resort day. However, there is not a pool slide like at Coronado.

We've stayed at SoG, and thought the transportation was good and the rooms were nice. It's a tough call.

 

[MomToPirate&Princess]

We just returned from a great week at SOG. We have also stayed at All Stars, Pop and POR, using military discounts. We stayed at SOG several years ago (kids were 4/6). For our next trips we stayed to ASMovies then PoP thinking the kids would enjoy the theming. They were 5/7 the first year and 6/8 the next. They looked around when we first got there and posed for a few pictures. Other than that they didn't seem to even notice decor. When they were 7/9 we tried POR. Again, they didn't really notice theming, but loved the pool there.

This year, when considering SOG again, we were at first worried about the dining plan, we had used the regular DDP and the QSDP in the past and liked the convenience of it. However, DS switched over to a Disney adult and we just decided it would be worth the $$ to use a dining plan so for us that became a non-issue in deciding where to stay. We actually came out saving quite a bit of money paying OOP over the dining plan (even if DS would have still been on the child's plan). We are not big TS fans so we mostly ate at CS places and did a lot of sharing of meals. We saved money and didn't feel like we were wasting food.

Since we weren't getting the dining plan and we were driving so didn't need DME, it made our decision to try SOG again much easier. We had a great week there. The rooms are so much larger than what we were used to in Value and even at POR. We had 2 queen beds, a table with 2 chairs, and a couch that flipped to a twin bed (great to keep the kids 8/10 in their own beds). We were on the ground floor and had a great patio with 2 chairs/table.

Transportation was never a problem at SOG. We walked to POLY on MK and EP days (the kids loved the walk and trying to catch lizards or spot an alligator in the ponds). On other park days, we were at the bus stop at the scheduled pick up times and had no problems. One thing we noticed each time we rode a crowded SOG bus as compared to Disney buses. Men almost always gave up seats for women with small children. (I know that's a whole separate issue, but remembering back to our days traveling with small children, I found that to be refreshing to see).

My kids loved SOG and never seemed to even notice the lack of Disney theming. The only thing they missed was the slide at the POR pool. They both have already asked if we can stay there next time we go to Disney and have marked it their favorite Disney hotel.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Nomad70]

We just returned from a great week at SOG. We have also stayed at All Stars, Pop and POR, using military discounts. We stayed at SOG several years ago (kids were 4/6). For our next trips we stayed to ASMovies then PoP thinking the kids would enjoy the theming. They were 5/7 the first year and 6/8 the next. They looked around when we first got there and posed for a few pictures. Other than that they didn't seem to even notice decor. When they were 7/9 we tried POR. Again, they didn't really notice theming, but loved the pool there.

This year, when considering SOG again, we were at first worried about the dining plan, we had used the regular DDP and the QSDP in the past and liked the convenience of it. However, DS switched over to a Disney adult and we just decided it would be worth the $$ to use a dining plan so for us that became a non-issue in deciding where to stay. We actually came out saving quite a bit of money paying OOP over the dining plan (even if DS would have still been on the child's plan). We are not big TS fans so we mostly ate at CS places and did a lot of sharing of meals. We saved money and didn't feel like we were wasting food.

Since we weren't getting the dining plan and we were driving so didn't need DME, it made our decision to try SOG again much easier. We had a great week there. The rooms are so much larger than what we were used to in Value and even at POR. We had 2 queen beds, a table with 2 chairs, and a couch that flipped to a twin bed (great to keep the kids 8/10 in their own beds). We were on the ground floor and had a great patio with 2 chairs/table.

Transportation was never a problem at SOG. We walked to POLY on MK and EP days (the kids loved the walk and trying to catch lizards or spot an alligator in the ponds). On other park days, we were at the bus stop at the scheduled pick up times and had no problems. One thing we noticed each time we rode a crowded SOG bus as compared to Disney buses. Men almost always gave up seats for women with small children. (I know that's a whole separate issue, but remembering back to our days traveling with small children, I found that to be refreshing to see).

My kids loved SOG and never seemed to even notice the lack of Disney theming. The only thing they missed was the slide at the POR pool. They both have already asked if we can stay there next time we go to Disney and have marked it their favorite Disney hotel.

Good luck with your decision.

Hey, this sounds like I may have wrote it the last time we stayed there! The size of the beds and room is really why we decided to switch over to SOG from POP. I was worried we would get stuck with two double beds and well, this is an anniversary trip after all. We also do alot of meal sharing, we just aren't big eaters here and only do one TS per day.