Coronado Springs - First Timer

[buddylee]

Hey All,

We are visiting in April and staying off property minus 1 night on property to do our 2-day hopper pass to take out both parks within the two days (sleeping on property overnight in-between).

We have only ever stayed at the value resorts, but I want to step up a bit, and take advantage of the current promotion.

I like the look/feel of Coronado Springs, yet it doesn't seem there is good "fun" transportation to the parks (maybe just bus...like the boat or skyliner...never done that)...Whereas if I went with riverside or port Orleans, we would have boat options.

Also, trying to factor in who has better pool for late night swim....OKAY folks, give me your experienced advice!!

Thank you all!!

 

[foolishmortal91]

I’ve stayed at CS twice, it is a beautiful resort and the outdoor grounds are so nice for strolling. Toledo has unexpectedly good food!

However, I mostly remember having to ride the bus for transportation which is not as fun as a boat ride or skyliner, obviously. I stayed at Pop recently and got to experience the skyliner for the first time. It was such a breeze getting from place to place. I liked the transportation more, but didn’t exactly love coming “back” to Pop after a long day in the parks. While the bus is boring, coming back to CS felt more relaxing and nice.

So, I’d say it boils down to whether mode of transportation is more important to you than what resort you come back to.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Umm… the only boat option from POR/POFQ is to Disney Springs. If you want “alternative” transportation to a park that isn’t a bus without staying at a deluxe hotel your options are Skyliner hotels of Art of Animation, Pop and Caribbean Beach. Marriott’s Swan/Dolphin/Swan reserve have boat access to EP/DHS. Otherwise it’s buses.

Here is a link to our thread on CSR. The first page will have all the resort info. If you have q’s beyond that skip to the end and ask anything!

 

[JAMIESMITH]

CSR is a beautiful resort with a lovely pool and a great food court. Our complaint was with how spread out it was. It made for a lot of extra walking. Buses are the only mode of transportation, but we had great luck with them.

CBR has the skyliner for EP and HS. POFQ and POR have the boats to Disney Springs. Having stayed at CSR in the past, I would personally try one of the others.

 

[loves to dive]

As others have said, the only boats you are going to get to parks are at deluxe of Swan/Dolphin. There is the sky liner from Pop, AoA and CB. CSR has buses, it is close to Epcot and HS so the trip to either of those parks is not long.

As far as the sky liner, yes it can be convenient but be aware of a few things. If there are strong winds or thunderstorms, it will shut down. Disney will provide buses in that case but you don't always know the sky liner has been shut down until you get to the loading area. If you are not staying at CB, the sky liner has a hub there and you have to get off and onto another one if going to HS and/or Epcot. Sometimes there are lines at that hub, sometimes not. Personally, I'm not a huge fan and certainly would not stay at Pop or CB just to have access to it. I kind of like the buses, but maybe I'm old school.

Another aside, don't rule out Swan/Dolphin. Sometimes, you can find a room there that is about the same as a Disney moderate. If you are looking though, make sure to factor in the "resort fee" that Swan/Dolphin charges. They are within walking distance to both HS and Epcot and they have boats to both. The pool system (I say system since both Swan and Dolphin have pools and you can use either one) is large and has pretty much what ever you want.

I love CS and if I'm staying moderate, I'm staying there. I just like the theming of the place, like the deluxe lite feel and love me some 3 Bridges. The pool is nice and it has the largest hot tub on property. Be aware though, that hot can and will fill up with unruly unsupervised young ones. There are "quiet" pools at each village at CS, which are nice but no hot tubs and no bar access if that's important.

 

[SL6827]

Best moderate pool slide is at CSR.

 

[R&RsMom]

My adult daughter just stayed at Caribbean Beach, and said it was OK, but kind of meh. We have stayed at CS four times, with fifth booked for October. She said CB did not compare favorably to CS. pools are great at CSR. Last trip we did not even go to main pool, which was close. we stayed at quiet pool, which was like having our own pool.

 

[pooh2001]

CSR has conventions - as well as the Dolphin- so the busses will not be crowed in the morning, since there will be meeting for the convention people to go to.
So, I think you will be fine if you are an earlier riser.
The restaurants and buses could be busy later in the day.

We always eat dinner in a park, We do not return to our room till about 8 pm - showers, watch some TV, relax and sleep - Repeat the next day.
One day is a resort day - use the pool,, walk around the resort, do laundry,, relax

 

[Skippyboo]

The Tower at Coronado is super nice. Multiple dining and lounges. It has a conference center so more geared to Adults. The main pool has Mayan pyramid with a slide. It’s all bus transportation. The POR resorts are buses to parks and boats to DS . Caribbean Beach is the Skyliner hub so you can get to Epcot and HS via the Skyliner. It’s also a spread out resort. The main pool is old stone fort sort of what you see on pirates of the Caribbean.

 

[Orion Nebula]

I have gone twice and to be honest the last trip wasn't anything special. The first time my wife and I really like it due to being a more adult oriented resort. Not that there aren't kids, but it for sure was a bit more low-key overall. We went back and took the entire family and the place just felt different. We ran into a few various issues early on which we didn't get very good CS about. And I noticed a lot of the buildings needed a bit of TLC. My feeling then was that CSR had become more concentrated on the tower, which simply feels like a different resort in it's own. Not to mention the fact that I think it seems really out of place with the theming. Walking around the place sucks if you are in the buildings across the lake. And depending on where you end up the bus situation also sometimes sucked due to being one of the last stops.

My thinking usually is that we are never in our rooms, and even though we do spend a few pool days for a feet break, the pool itself is one of the best features (so that was nice). It wasn't a horrible trip in general though. To be honest my best experience at the moderates was POFQ, it was small, had the DS boat and the theming was pretty consistent.

I am thinking about CBR although I keep hearing some hit or miss things about it. But mostly because of the Skyliner and the fact it's the only moderate we haven't stayed at.

 

[sdc10]

I stayed at CS last year. Let me preface by saying our trip was thrown together last minute, and we just dedicated time to the parks, no rest day or day to just lounge around the resort.

While CS is a great looking resort and has a lot of cool offerings, it was far too spread out imo. It took forever for us to find our room when we first arrived. We didnt figure out the most direct path to the parking lot until the very last day of our trip, which resulted in a lot of extra walking. Especially annoying first thing in the morning when catching a bus.

My advice is definitely schedule time to get familiar with the layout of the resort and your room in relation to everything.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

CSR used to be our favorite resort and we always enjoyed our stays there. Then they built the tower and to me, it changed the feel of the resort. We stayed at French Quarter for a long trip in 2017 (it was the first time our kids had stayed there, although my husband and I had stayed for a couple's weekend). They proclaimed it their favorite over CSR, even though the pool is not as flashy as CSR. Not that I'm trying to dissuade you from staying at CSR, I'm just saying that it's not our favorite anymore. We never really had an issue with buses at CSR, but we like that there's just one stop at POFQ and it's much smaller. We splurged on Beach Club on our covid-postponed vacation in June 2021 and we really enjoyed the location there - easy to walk to Epcot or Studios, and we could ride the skyliner, too. But the price point was a little steep. To save half price on the room cost, we've decided that POFQ is fine.

 

[Dcfas]

We just got back from staying at CSR at the tower. I have to say that this resort went beyond our expectations. We booked a standard room and when we got their three hours before check-in they looked to see what was available and immediately put us in a water view room with a great view.

The hotel, the grounds, the layout, the theming, were all beautiful. The pool and food service there was great. My DS and I played beach volleyball with some folks by the pool and some ping pong.

We ate at both Toledo and Three Bridges; both were excellent. Toledo was actually better imho than California Grille.

At night we strolled by the lake and played some chess with the over-sized chess board and pieces under the palms and near the fire pit.

The place was just fantastic. We didn’t have any issue with the size of the grounds, nor the buses. We simply walked to bus stop 2 in the morning to go to MK; bus stop 1 (at the tower) for HS.

The last time we were at WDW we stayed at POR. This was also a beautiful resort that we really enjoyed, but I have to say CSR was just another level up.

Next time I think we will try Dolphin/Swan as we will likely go as a couple sans kids and we will be most interested in spending time at Epcot.

 

[Betsyp]

I stayed at CSR Tower in November - it’s really beautiful. I stayed during Nicole, so it was great being able to to go the Dahlia Lounge on a night that no one went out - really good tapas. I was too tired to even try to get into Toledo again.

I must warn about the buses - I expected some delays, but these were outrageous - 30, 40 minutes at least every day. They really got my mornings off to poor starts, getting to the parks much later than I wanted. The Tower, I think, is the last pick up, so buses would apparently pass us by if they were full. That happened way too many times.

Toledo was wonderful, and 3Bridges just as good in its own way. I only got to do the pool once, and I liked it fine...nothing special. I love slides, but I’ll be honest, this one was rough - I think I drowned at the end, lol

I really loved the hotel, but I’m not sure I’d ever stay there again because of the buses