Coronado Springs - just returned

[Jackie H.]

We just returned from a 7 night stay at Cornado Springs. We really liked it!

There were 8 of us spread over 2 rooms. We got connecting rooms. When we checked in they had us on completely different sides of the resort - across the lake from one another. I understand if they cannot do the connecting rooms, but my goodness that was rediculous.

We were there with a cast member, so he asked them to be check to see if we could at least be in the same building. After a lot of checking we were in connecting rooms. My only question was: if these rooms were available, why didn't they just do that to begin with? But whatever, we were very glad it worked out that way.

We were in rancho 7B facing the quiet pool. One GREAT thing about his resort is the sliding wooden doors seperating the sink area from the sleeping area. It really comes in handy when some are still sleeping while others are dressing or brushing their teeth or whatever.

And while this resort is huge, it never felt too large to navigate. We weren't crazy about the pepper market, but we only ate there a couple of times. I really do not understand what the service charge is for if it isn't the tip. Can anyone tell me that?

This resort is lovely, the beds are great, the staff is wonderful, the college students with us loved the pool, the bus service was great. The only complaint I can come up with was the service charge at the pepper market and if it was the server tip I wouln't complain about it.

I would highly recommend this resort to anyone.

 

[cjsm&d]

Thanks for the review! We haven't stayed at the ranchos, but 7B looks like a pretty good location (near bus, pool), as we usually stay right next to it in Babanas 8A.

When we were there, I was given the impression that the 10% at Pepper Market was for a tip.

We really liked the Maya Grill and were thinking about going on our trip in Feb. Did you have a chance to try it?

Glad you had a good trip! I also wonder how they can ignore the connecting rooms request unless you press them on it, then magically have one become available.

 

[Alabama Minnie]

Just wondering if you requested connecting rooms before you went. Our last request was not honored in December. Just wondering if they even consider requests.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

Our last request was not honored in December. Just wondering if they even consider requests.

I think they are getting lost in the new reservation system, or at least any that aren't in the drop-down box upon online check-in. If a human doesn't do the room assignment, they wouldn't see the request. We didn't get our request in December either.

 

[Alabama Minnie]

Hope it's just not us Southerners...LOL.

 

[KatMark]

Just wondering if you requested connecting rooms before you went. Our last request was not honored in December. Just wondering if they even consider requests.

And I read in another thread that the computers are now doing the assigning beginning January 1 (wonder if there are kinks still to be worked out?).

 

[KatMark]

We just returned from a 7 night stay at Cornado Springs. We really liked it!

There were 8 of us spread over 2 rooms. We got connecting rooms. When we checked in they had us on completely different sides of the resort - across the lake from one another. I understand if they cannot do the connecting rooms, but my goodness that was rediculous.

We were there with a cast member, so he asked them to be check to see if we could at least be in the same building. After a lot of checking we were in connecting rooms. My only question was: if these rooms were available, why didn't they just do that to begin with? But whatever, we were very glad it worked out that way.

We were in rancho 7B facing the quiet pool. One GREAT thing about his resort is the sliding wooden doors seperating the sink area from the sleeping area. It really comes in handy when some are still sleeping while others are dressing or brushing their teeth or whatever.

And while this resort is huge, it never felt too large to navigate. We weren't crazy about the pepper market, but we only ate there a couple of times. I really do not understand what the service charge is for if it isn't the tip. Can anyone tell me that?

This resort is lovely, the beds are great, the staff is wonderful, the college students with us loved the pool, the bus service was great. The only complaint I can come up with was the service charge at the pepper market and if it was the server tip I wouln't complain about it.

I would highly recommend this resort to anyone.

Thanks for your review. I'm glad you enjoyed your stay at the CSR.

My impression is that the 10% gratuity was for the servers; I could be wrong.

How did you like Ranchos 7B? Did you find the walk too much to the front building. We've stayed in the Casitas 7 times and the Cabanas 2 times and I really want to give the Ranchos a try this trip.

 

[Jackie H.]

Yes, we requested the connecting rooms. As I said there were 8 of us. One couple, my husband and I, one 16 year old and 5 college students. Four males, four females. The cast member was a college rep (one of the college students) so he doesn't work onsite at WDW - he works at The University of Alabama lining up interviews and such for the college program for WDW.

We were down to see my son's bowl game in Orlando (he plays for Bama). After the bowl game, we stayed to play at WDW

Anyway, we made it clear from the beginning that we were all together. The reservations were made at the same time. They were paid on the same credit card. We told the CM we wanted connecting rooms - got the standard "we cannot guarantee them, but will try to honor that request". In fact, that was our only request. They at least said they were putting it in the system.

As for the Pepper Market. The menu they gave us said it was not the tip and we asked the server and he told us it was not the tip. I also thought surely it was the tip. And although I usually tip closer to 20%, I would not have a problem with them automatically adding 10%. But adding 10% for some reason that is a mystery to the customer? Sorry that was my one and only trip to the Pepper Market.

Sorry we didn't get to Maya Grill - we tried one night, but it was so crowed and we never got back. We did like Rix.

 

[Alabama Minnie]

KatMark,
I heard the same thing about the ressies so I have decided I will not make a request for our upcoming BWI trip and leave it to chance and see what we get. We have never stayed there anyway so I don't know what to ask for.
Hope you enjoy AKL. Glad to see you got a SV room. That was our mistake there.

 

[Jackie H.]

KatMark:

No, we found the walk short to everywhere.

We were very close to the bus stop, over looking the quiet pool and very near the main pool.

Thanks to the bridge, it was a short walk to El Centre. I had no complaints on anything as far as distance. We liked our location. It may have seemed like it was a long way, but it really wasn't.

It was rather cool at night. Otherwise, I really would have enjoyed laying in the hammocks on the beach near our building!

 

[joeCool:)]

just found this about the pepper market...

"A 10% gratuity is automatically included, as there are bussers available to refill your drinks, clean the tables, etc."

I've been going round in circles trying to decide which resort to book for our april vacation... Coronado, is the only of the moderates we haven't stayed at and I've been wanting to try it...

however, my travel person is kind of steering us away, she said it's her least favorite of the moderates, "It is a big convention hotel and there is a lot of business people there. It is a fact that their food court is more expensive because of the businesses that go, most of them are on an expense account so don't care about the prices."

We are a family of four, my two girls are 15 & 17, and are going for 5 nights this time... what's your opinion? do you recall the food prices being that high that you'd notice? I like the idea of having a queen sz bed (vs full sz at the other resorts)... how was the resort overall? was it crazy busy with "business people"? how were the buses? anything else you can tell me? very much appreciate it!!! thx

 

[KatMark]

just found this about the pepper market...

"A 10% gratuity is automatically included, as there are bussers available to refill your drinks, clean the tables, etc."

I've been going round in circles trying to decide which resort to book for our april vacation... Coronado, is the only of the moderates we haven't stayed at and I've been wanting to try it...

however, my travel person is kind of steering us away, she said it's her least favorite of the moderates, "It is a big convention hotel and there is a lot of business people there. It is a fact that their food court is more expensive because of the businesses that go, most of them are on an expense account so don't care about the prices."

We are a family of four, my two girls are 15 & 17, and are going for 5 nights this time... what's your opinion? do you recall the food prices being that high that you'd notice? I like the idea of having a queen sz bed (vs full sz at the other resorts)... how was the resort overall? was it crazy busy with "business people"? how were the buses? anything else you can tell me? very much appreciate it!!! thx

In our nine stays at the CSR, we've seen two people in business suits -- and they were assistant managers of the resort. Yes, it is a convention resort and there are business people there. But they always say hello and look envious that we are on vacation and they are working. 99% of them are in casual clothes going to their meetings (the Contemporary, Boardwalk, Grand Floridian and B&Y Club are also convention resorts). We've had at least one if not two conventions, during each of our nine stays and never had an issue with the convention guests.

The food prices are a little higher than the average food court; but a good portion of the food is also made to order and not sitting under hot lamps, etc. If you are on the dining plan, the Pepper Market is a great deal (you can get a steak for dinner and charged a counter service credit).

 

[LSUwest]

We also just returned from a 7 night stay at CSR. I was a bit worried about choosing CSR since our last trip was to WL which I loved. We had stayed at CSR before about 7 years ago and decided to give it another shot. We asked for Cabanas to be closer to the front, but were put in the Ranchos 6B. Not a big fan of the location, but in the end, it wasn't that bad. Its just a big resort and everything is very spread out. The inside of the rooms are nice, and I too liked the sliding doors between the beds and the sink.

I wasn't a huge fan of the Pepper Market. I just didn't like the setup. The bus stop was close, but it always seemed like the bus we needed never came. While waiting for a Hollywood Studio bus, we got 5 buses in 20 minutes, 4 of which were Magic Kingdom buses. Not CSR's fault, but just one of the aggravations of the buses at WDW.

My post sounds negative, but overall we had a great time with our family. In the end we decided that we will wait until we can afford a monorail resort or an Epcot area resort before we return.

....and Geaux Tigers!!

 

[Amy&Dan]

So glad you enjoyed CSR! We were in that same location and had adjoining rooms a few years ago and like you didn't find the walks to be bad at all, esp. with the bridge. My husband's aunt was with us, she was recovering from a hip injury and she did fine as well.

Thanks for posting the review!

 

[mjohnson96]

We just booked our stay at CSR and was told due to the amount of adults we had that they could not do joining rooms. This makes sense so that way they can hold the joining rooms for those families with younger children who need 2 rooms. They did tell us that our rooms would be close together, we are booked under a grand gathering number so hopefully that will help.

I now need to figure out which rooms to request that we will more than likely get. I hate spending a couple hundred more for a week just for a prefered room. Unless people think that it is really necessary.

We are going to have 3 rooms now, 5 Adults and 3 kids with us as of right now.

 

[Jackie H.]

mjohnson: my advice would be to request it and when you get there if it isn't what you want ask them what they can do about it. It worked for us.

joecool: like the name by the way! anyway.... the menu they gave us said the service charge was NOT the gratuity and when I asked the server he also said it was not.

We had a 16 year old, two 19 year olds and two 20 year olds and they all loved the resort. I believe the queen beds and the ability to close off the dressing area would be something your teens would like. Ours loved the pool area and went several times.

I didn't see anyone in a business suit. The 'conference' that was going on while we were there was a high school all american football game. High school football players - enough for two teams, cheerleaders and coaches from all over the country were there. Not exactly a stuffy group. But they were all high school seniors with their parents - being recruited by college coaches - not a rowdy bunch either. It was on ESPN on Thursday night.

Was the food expensive? Yes, but no more than anywhere else in WDW that I could tell.

The bus transportation? We didn't have any issues.

 

[Alabama Minnie]

mjohnson:
If you are going to rely on the buses: Bus Stop 2 is the first-on/first-off at CSR (less chance of standing) in case you don't already know. It is close to the Casitas Bldgs. I heard they are preferred now and cost more. IMO is might be worth it to pay the extra for preferred than not having any say over your location.
It really is a pretty resort and we like the rooms more than our AKL room.

 

[Jackie H.]

It was quite awhile ago when we stayed at AKL, but these rooms seemed larger. They probably were not, but they at least felt larger.

 

[aubriee]

It was quite awhile ago when we stayed at AKL, but these rooms seemed larger. They probably were not, but they at least felt larger.

Actually the AKL rooms are just a tad larger (344 sq ft at AKL compared to 314 sq ft at CSR). I agree the CSR rooms feel bigger though (maybe because the AKL rooms are darker than than the ones at CSR). I did a split stay last May at AKL then CSR. The main thing I noticed was the AKL beds were no where near as comfortable as the ones at CSR, the bus system at AKL was no where near as good as the one at CSR, and the AKL rooms could do with a refurbishement. I loved both resorts though.

 

[Alabama Minnie]

The furniture in the AKL rooms is HUGE. I think that is what makes ALOT of the difference.
I will NEVER again pay extra to stay there unless I get a savaanah room.