Coronado Springs Resort -- New Unofficial FAQ Thread -- November 2009

[aubriee]

As KatMark said, you can't get all of those, but we were very happy w/our location, thanks to KatMark and CSR posters on this thread. We requested Cabanas 8a or 8b, and got 8a, right next to bus stop 4(I think that's the right #) and a 2 minute walk to the main pool. It was probably 5 min. walk to the food court, but we usually stopped there on the way back from the parks, so just got off at that stop, and walked back to our rooms. We did not have a problem w/space on the buses, but we did use our car part of the time(which was convenient as well as we were next to the parking lot also.) The laundry area was right next to the quiet pool, which was just one building over, so a great location for us!

I agree with Cassie. I had a first floor room right in the middle of building 8a last fall and loved it. It was maybe a 2 minute walk to bus stop 4 (third stop), 2 minutes to the main pool, where I refilled my mug, and maybe 5 minutes (if that) to the main building. Again I was there the last week of Sept/first week of Oct, so it wasn't crowded, but I never had to stand on a bus. The bus service at CSR is the best of any WDW resort I've ever stayed at. For reference I've stayed at AS Sports (twice), AS Music, Pop (too many times to count), POFQ (again too many times to count), PORS, CBR, CSR (several times now), WL, AKL, and BW. I've also in Casitas 1, Casitas 2, and Cabanas 9B. My favorite area is the Cabana. I love the look of the Casitas, but love the location of the Cabanas.

 

[aubriee]

Yes, Conanardo Springs Resort is a truely astonishing resort.
Hotel ratings 9/10
Pool 8/10
Bus Service 2/10

Wow! What was going on with the bus service? I go to WDW several times a year and have always said that CSR has the best bus service of any WDW resort I've ever stayed at. As I said in my previous post, I've stayed at two of the All Stars, Pop, all four moderates, WL, AKL, and BW. None of them have even came close to the great bus service I've had at CSR every time. I had a few other problems at CSR my very first visit, but even then was willing to give it another chance because of the great bus service.

 

[DisneyLover75]

I'm really surprised about the bus rating. I didn't have any complaints about the bus service at all. We only had to stand once, and it was an MK bus, which are usually the most crowded. That was the only time though, and we went to MK four out of the eight days!
A CM was at bus stop 1 every day, making sure that buses were steadily coming, and calling for more if there was a big crowd waiting. Especially Sunday, 3/7, because of everything being rerouted to accommodate the Princess Half Marathon.

Meanwhile, I do have some pictures I could load, if you'd like to see them. Not of the buses, but of the resort in general. I took a few before I left on 3/7

 

[disadventurer]

I have so many pictures that it would take me too long to put them all here. So you can view them here
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery...422838518&facebook=true&sourceId=984136008703

Very quiet at CSR. Parking lots only 1/4 full. Parks were slow too. The only Fast passes we really needed to use was one for Soarin and one for TSM and even those would have only been maybe 20 minute waits. The TSM FPs were out early on Sunday Feb 28th due to ESPN weekend other than that there were still some left in the late afternoon.

We stayed in Ft Myers for 3 nights after Disney and saw two Red Sox games. We really enjoyed it.
We will definitely go at this time of the year again!! And we would stay at CSR again too but still want to try some other resorts at least once.

Great pictures!! Love the Ranchos Section. We leave in April and my kids just walked by and loved your shots. And the excitement builds. DH and DS14 are, of course, Sox fans!! Thanks!!

 

[DisneyLover75]

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL663/3279897/7476021/384151638.jpg

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL663/3279897/7476021/384151613.jpg

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL663/3279897/7476021/384151603.jpg

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL663/3279897/7476021/384151592.jpg

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL663/3279897/7476021/384151575.jpg

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL663/3279897/7476021/384151567.jpg

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL663/3279897/7476021/384151559.jpg

The view from outside my door (room 3444 of Casitas 3)
http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL663/3279897/7476021/384151548.jpg

The view from just inside the room:
http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL663/3279897/7476021/384151530.jpg

 

[luvmylittleboy2003]

Looking for suggestions please...I haven't made any room requests (not sure if I'm suppose to call or fax or both. This is my 1st year booking my own trip, my travel agent always made the request for us). I was planning on faxing something 3 days before, but, should I call also?
Anyway...I'm a 'need coffee now' in the morning kind of gal . To have a room close to the coffee machine (to refill mug), view of the lake (we have waterview rate - which I know is not a guarantee), and close to the bus stop - what area/bldg should I request. Thanks bunches

 

[KatMark]

Looking for suggestions please...I haven't made any room requests (not sure if I'm suppose to call or fax or both. This is my 1st year booking my own trip, my travel agent always made the request for us). I was planning on faxing something 3 days before, but, should I call also?
Anyway...I'm a 'need coffee now' in the morning kind of gal . To have a room close to the coffee machine (to refill mug), view of the lake (we have waterview rate - which I know is not a guarantee), and close to the bus stop - what area/bldg should I request. Thanks bunches

To fit the requirements you list above, I would call and ask that they note on your reservation that you would like Casitas 3. It is a short two minute walk to the main building for coffee, many of the rooms have a beautiful view of the lake or the fountain and it is close to Bus Stop 2.

 

[Mr_G3]

Thanks for posting the nice photos, soontobewed. We liked CSR very much, and we were in Ranchos section. It was our first trip, so we had nothing to compare against. This year, we will be staying at POFQ. Since you have stayed at both, what is it about FQ that moves it ahead of CSR for you? We see posts about POFQ needing a rehab, so we are a little concerned about that aspect, but it looks like we will enjoy it. Any input would be appreciated.

 

[luvmylittleboy2003]

To fit the requirements you list above, I would call and ask that they note on your reservation that you would like Casitas 3. It is a short two minute walk to the main building for coffee, many of the rooms have a beautiful view of the lake or the fountain and it is close to Bus Stop 2.

Thank you - calling now to request

 

[tinacaplan]

Wow! What was going on with the bus service? I go to WDW several times a year and have always said that CSR has the best bus service of any WDW resort I've ever stayed at. As I said in my previous post, I've stayed at two of the All Stars, Pop, all four moderates, WL, AKL, and BW. None of them have even came close to the great bus service I've had at CSR every time. I had a few other problems at CSR my very first visit, but even then was willing to give it another chance because of the great bus service.

I have to agree with you! We thought the bus service was fantastic. Never waited long for a bus to anywhere and not sharing the bus with any other resorts was another big plus. We took a bus to EPCOT from POFQ and I thought we'd NEVER even get out of the resort (you go through POR, too), let alone get to the park.

 

[mouselovenfamily]

Wow! What was going on with the bus service? I go to WDW several times a year and have always said that CSR has the best bus service of any WDW resort I've ever stayed at. As I said in my previous post, I've stayed at two of the All Stars, Pop, all four moderates, WL, AKL, and BW. None of them have even came close to the great bus service I've had at CSR every time. I had a few other problems at CSR my very first visit, but even then was willing to give it another chance because of the great bus service.

By your ticker, it looks like we'll be there the same time! Seems forever away but as I keep going crazy over my DDP, the 180 will be here soon and then it's summer, then time to go!!

 

[clarkfamily]

I was on the phone with a CM today about other aspects of my reservation, and she said she could enter my CSR room preference into the computer and that I shouldn't have to take any further action to make my preferences known. Is this really true, though?

Would others still recommend calling CSR directly or faxing or something?
Especially closer to our travel dates?

 

[KatMark]

I was on the phone with a CM today about other aspects of my reservation, and she said she could enter my CSR room preference into the computer and that I shouldn't have to take any further action to make my preferences known. Is this really true, though?

Would others still recommend calling CSR directly or faxing or something?
Especially closer to our travel dates?

Calling the CSR directly does NOT get you to the CSR. What it does is get you to the CRO center and they see the call is coming into the CSR and that is how they will answer. As long as they have it noted, you will be fine. IF you want to fax three days ahea dof time, you can, but it isn't necessary. We usually do...but it is more out of habit than a need to.

 

[Maine-iac]

I wanted to give my opinion on Pepper Market. We always did our orders to go. The first couple of times using it is confusing because there is no direction. There are no order here or pick up here signs. If there are no lines, just walk up to the counter anywhere to order. To get your drinks you need to go to the bar.
The pizza was good and the Pasta with Grilled Chicken was good. The one breakfast we got was not too good. The eggs were runny, potatoes blah and the bisquit dry. The best part was the bacon. I wish we had tried the french toast. My DS was very happy that the churros at the bakery were considered dessert.

We used the QS dining plan and felt it was too much food. We never finished our desserts and I never can drink a whole drink (usually share). We had to force ourselves to use the snack credits and the night before we left we had 12 snack credits to use up. We used them and because we went to Ft Myers for 3 nights we ate most of the snacks. If they took off the desserts and one snack and lowered the price we may find it is worth it for us but not the way it is now.

We ate a Siesta Cantina one day. The burger and cesear chicken wraps were good and the fries were good too. They are the shoe string type fries. We enjoyed our meal there.

 

[tlenzendorf]

And WOW am I tired! I thought a trip without the kids would be more relaxing. Yeah, right! We opened and closed the parks most days even when it was raining.

Some thoughts about CSR.... We LOVED it! When we go back in October 2011 with the kids its where we are going to stay. We did resort hopping our first day to see where we may stay when we take them back and decided to stick with where we were.

We stayed at ASMu the first night since we didn't get in until late and didn't want to pay so much for just sleeping. It was ok, really nothing special. These resorts are ok I think if you are just going to sleep and not hang out at the pool or anything(unless you have small children). The bed was really uncomfortable, we could see the body imprints in the mattress when the bed was made. There also didn't seem to be much to do/see there. We checked out right away in the morning, so we didn't really take too much time to check it out.

YC/BC was nice with SAB, but the resort just seemed kinda stuffy to us. We also decided that one of their rooms for 5 just wasn't gonna cut it for a little over a week like 2 rooms at a moderate. We'd really like 2 bathrooms.

We did like the theming of CBR, but the resort just seemed too large. The pool area was nice with its 2 slides and zero depth entry pool. The beds also didn't look as comfortable and had that body dip that we could see. The room that they showed us also had a musty smell.

We took a cab to CSR from ASMu, we wanted to get rolling since we had a full day of resort hopping, it was just under $13.

I had sent a fax 4 days before check-in requesting to be in Cabanas and we were assigned to Ranchos 7A. I had done online check in. I had gotten the 2 sections switched, so I thought Ranchos was the second choice I wanted when in reality it was Casitas. It felt like we were in the back 40, it was pretty far from the main building which we decided was where we liked to be. With refillable mugs it was a hike every morning there and back and the same at night when we had to get our mugs from the room first. We didn't want to haul the mugs to the park everyday. It was nice and close to the Dig Site, but since we didn't spend that much time in the pool decided close to the main building is for us. I did like that we could refill our mugs at the pool when Siesta's was open.

The rooms were nice and spacious. There wasn't that much room between the bed and the wall close to the bathroom, maybe a foot. I don't think it was easy to get out of bed in the middle of the night to use the restroom. The beds were definitely on the firm side which I really liked, but DH not so much. Neither of us slept very well since he tossed and turned every night. Eventually he just started sleeping in the other bed like we were in the 50s, lol.

The resort itself is gorgeous. I'll post pics in the next page. The Dig Site looks like tons of fun for the kids. We just hung out in the hot tub mostly.

The laundry facilities were nice. We had one dryer that didn't work, so we had to move our clothes to a different one after already paying and waiting and then heading out. When we came back several hours later our clothes were dry and waiting for us.

The PM. I know there is a lot of negativity towards this place. We only ate there once and had the french toast platter with sausage/bacon and fruit. It was good, but really I see no reason for why they should charge a 10% gratuity. Its only unlike other CS places in the fact that they bring your drinks and hand you the pastries and such instead of just grabbing your own out. We ordered ours to go since we knew from this thread how things worked. I would have been irritated if I had to pay the gratuity.

Thats my mini review in a nutshell. Up next, photos. Kathy-feel free to use any of my photos if you wish.

 

[tlenzendorf]

Our building, Ranchos 7A

The Dig Site

 

[tlenzendorf]

The Grounds

 

[KatMark]

Thanks for the review. And the awesome pictures! I love the one of the Dig Site...I think that is the first one I've seen from the opposite side that most people take their pictures from. I will be sure to use a couple of them the next time I update the CSR thread. I'm glad you enjoyed CSR enough that you want to go back with the kids...I'm always happy when we have another family who enjoys CSR.

 

[tlenzendorf]

El Centro/PM

 

[tlenzendorf]

Night Photos