Coronado Springs Resort - New Unofficial FAQ Thread - November 2011

[KatMark]

Benniecopper, LOVE the pic of your Doggies,,, what cuties!

You guys kinda have me scared about the housekeeping I've only ever stayed at the POP, and the service there has always been great... I would expect the moderate to be even "greater", but now I'm kinda scared!

I would not worry too much about this. This can and DOES happen at every resort from the values to the deluxes. Our dirtiest room ever was at the Contemporary. If you are NOT happy with something, go to the front desk (do not call because the call does not actually go to the front desk, but a call center). Ask for a manager and have them get the problem taken care of. In our nine stays at the CSR, we've had two minor issues in our room -- a broken light bulb which was replaced within 15 minutes, and on coffee cups which they brought up within 30 minutes.

 

[princess mom of 4]

We are trying to decide between the CSR and Caribbean Beach, as we have decided to do a mod this time. The room pics of CSR all seem kind of dark - are they really? (Maybe its just the dark wood of the furniture...) Any comparisons from folks who have stayed at both?

 

[wen8jr]

Maya Grill Menu Question -

I've seen conflicting menus for Maya Grill. Their official website has a menu that appears to be very similar to San Angel Inn's menu at Epcot. DIS and All Ears look different. Does anyone know which one is accurate?

 

[benniecooper]

Benniecopper, LOVE the pic of your Doggies,,, what cuties!

You guys kinda have me scared about the housekeeping I've only ever stayed at the POP, and the service there has always been great... I would expect the moderate to be even "greater", but now I'm kinda scared!

Aww thank you!! Those are our boys-Gage is up front and Otis is the one in the back.

Like everyone else said, CSR is fabulous. Aside from our small issue with the lady at the Cafe, our stay was great. Our room was clean, it was quiet and every other CM we encountered was always friendly. The bus service was great, the food was good. We have NO complaints about CSR as a whole and we will stay there again.

 

[brerdawg]

Just returned from a 5 night stay at CSR over the Thanksgiving holiday. So I thought I would share our impressions. We had a great time, but there were a few issues of concern.
We were in 8A, room 8221, upstairs. Our room was generally quiet in terms of noise from outside. We rarely heard people in the corridor or in the adjoining rooms. But we could hear the elevator around the corner (our back wall must had backed up to it.) It made a "dong-dong" noise every time it arrived on the second floor, and we heard that late into the night. This location was very convenient to bus stop 4 and the Dig Site (pool area). But a hike to El Centro and the main food areas. That wasn't really too much of an issue - generally we only walked there once a day for breakfast.
It's a lovely resort. It has a wonderful, peaceful atmosphere and you definitely have the feeling that you are away at a resort. We enjoyed the pool one night, just sitting around and visiting with family while the kids swam. They watched the 7pm movie (Lion King) and played on the playground. The bar area by the pool is nice - yummy nachos. If my daughter had more time, she would have played on the sand volleyball court - volleyball is her thing!
The holiday decorations were lovely, lots of red and white poinsettias.
The bus service was great. It seemed like we rarely waited very long and I liked that the buses were solely for CSR and not stopping at other resorts.
My main area concern is housekeeping and the food service in Cafe Rix (the quick service dining place.) I was told by a woman at the front desk that Cafe Rix is not operated by Disney, but a contractor. I found that the service there was poor. One morning, the line was out the door and around the corner and they had one register running. (I went to speak to the front desk to see if they could open another register and that's when she told me that it was not Disney operated.) The people working there were not polite or friendly and really seemed like they could not be bothered to serve us. They were usually talking over us to each other (in Spanish) and there was no greeting, no thank you, no smiling, just shove the food at us. (Not a complaint, just an observation, because it is such a contrast to the service everywhere else at Disney.)
That being said - the croissant breakfast sandwiches were yummy in the morning! We also ate at Pepper Market and the service there was lovely.
Our biggest issue was with housekeeping. I wonder if they have contracted that out as well, because it was verrrrrry poor - not at all what we have been accustomed to in previous Disney stays. There were black hairs all over the bathroom and the floor, wall, and tile were not scrubbed clean. Things were not replaced - our tissue box stayed empty after the second day. The plastic bag for the ice bucket was thrown out after the first day and never replaced. (I don't like putting the ice directly in the ice bucket - who knows what previous guests have used it for!) One of our towels had a huge hole in it. We saw three cockroaches in the bathroom. The comforter/duvet on the beds was too small - like it was the wrong size for the bed, double instead of queen. The beds were sloppily made (covers not tucked in). The duvet cover itself would not stay on the comforter; there was a big gap in the back that was open.
The worst was that housekeeping did not come AT ALL on our last day, so the room was not cleaned. Which meant the trash was not removed (including our nachos takeout from the day before - stinky!) And we had no clean towels. We left the room at 7 am and returned about 2pm - room had not been cleaned. We were in the room for about an hour, left again at 3:30. We saw someone from housekeeping in the corridor and asked them to please clean the room. Returned at 10:30 pm after Illuminations at Epcot (ie exhausted and ready to crash!) and the room still hadn't been cleaned. We had to call for towels so we could clean up and go to bed. That's just inexcusable.
The morning of checkout, there was a knock on the door asking when we would be out of the room so they could clean. Hmmm, how about yesterday?
So, that part of our stay wasn't great, but overall we liked Coronado Springs itself. There was a great deal to like, and hopefully our issue was just an isolated incident due to holiday staffing.

I think that poor mousekeeping is inexcusable! I hope that you reported your problems to the front desk.

Did you try the breakfast at the Maya Grill?

 

[brerdawg]

Thanks for the review, we were there over Halloween and I agree with you about housekeeping. On the day we were to check out a knock came @ 9:30
asking when we would be leaving, what nerve but also wanted to add that the Pepper Market seemed to have taken a step back. We had a terrible breakfast (most was cold) and dinner was not that great even though you have options maybe we picked the wrong options for that day but the service was good, we had a better brkfast at Cafe Rix.

I have two questions:

Did you try the breakfast at the Maya Grill?

Do you know if they brought back the buffet at the Maya Grill?

Thanks!

 

[meliss1214]

The dining board has a resent post about Maya Grill being closed and Pepper Market becoming a buffet starting 12/4. Does anyone know if this is true? We are staying at CSR in April and I was looking forward to Pepper Market for QS meals.

 

[peachydreamyxx]

Booked bounceback on our trip this past September and will be returning for 10 nights to CSR in September 2012! We switched it up this past trip to try CBR since the pool area looked great for DS.. but we were VERY disappointed with the food court. We love the pepper market so we can not wait to return!!! 300 days to go

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

I have two questions:

Did you try the breakfast at the Maya Grill?

Do you know if they brought back the buffet at the Maya Grill?

Thanks!

The most recent menu still has Maya Grill as an a la carte restaurant. Buzz reported on his site that a new Maya Grill menu will be coming in late December or early January. I don't think there are any plans to bring back the buffet to Maya Grill.

The dining board has a resent post about Maya Grill being closed and Pepper Market becoming a buffet starting 12/4. Does anyone know if this is true? We are staying at CSR in April and I was looking forward to Pepper Market for QS meals.

There have been rumors for a while that PM is going to become a buffet restaurant. It seems like a quick turnaround to have it happen by 12/4, especially since Disney isn't taking ADRs for PM at this time (as far as I know). But it does seem likely that it is going to happen at some point.

Someone else reported that Maya Grill was closed for breakfast, but as far as I know, it still offers breakfast. The post on the restaurants board did say Maya Grill would continue to be open for dinner.

 

[lovethattink]

We are trying to decide between the CSR and Caribbean Beach, as we have decided to do a mod this time. The room pics of CSR all seem kind of dark - are they really? (Maybe its just the dark wood of the furniture...) Any comparisons from folks who have stayed at both?

We've stayed at CSR a bunch of times, 3 times just this year, plus a few times in the late 90's! We have stayed in all 3 villages of CSR, the Cabanas, Ranchos, and Casitas. We've stayed at CBR 3 different times. We stayed in Trinadad North, Trinidad South and Jamaica.

My preference is CSR. CSR has elevators in all buildings except building 2 which shares elevators with 3? I think. CBR doesn't have any elevators, steps are only option to 2nd floor.

There is free wireless internet at CSR, the internet at CBR uses an ethernet cable and is $9.95/24 hours.

CBR give a combo shampoo/conditioner, face soap and body soap. CSR gives separate shampoo and conditioner, body lotion, the same face sopa and the same bath soap.

CBR's pool is more small child friendly than CSR's.

The baby pool at CSR is pitiful. However, the jaguar slide at CSR and theme pool is awesome for children who can at least swim with a life jacket.

CSR's playground is one of the best on property. There is a playset for bigger kids, and one for preschoolers. There are swings. Ping pong tables. The fuseball table was gone our last 2 visits, but was there in March. There is also a giant tick tack toe board, and 2 sand boxes.

Both CSR and CBR are pretty spread out. When we stayed in the Ranchos we used our car to go to the food court. When we stayed in Trinidad South we also used our car to go to the food court. The cabanas and Casitas were an easy walking distance to the food court for us, as was Jamaica and Trinidad North.

The marina at CSR has been closed with no plans to re-open it in the near future.

I do not like the food court at CBR. We ate there a few times, but mostly avoided it.

I love the fajitas at the Pepper Market! The different set up for the food court at CSR may take some getting use to, but once you are familiar with it, it's easy. There is a 10% service charge at the Pepper Market.

The front desk is far removed from the rest of the resort at CBR. At CSR, it is centrally located.

 

[Pixiedust34]

The dining board has a resent post about Maya Grill being closed and Pepper Market becoming a buffet starting 12/4. Does anyone know if this is true? We are staying at CSR in April and I was looking forward to Pepper Market for QS meals.

I read that thread and popped over here to see if anyone has updated information. If Pepper Market becomes a ts buffet, then the cs offerings with an indoor place to sit are too limited IMHO.

Can someone who is at CSR this week please update if there are changes coming to Pepper Market?

We are hoping to stay at CSR Aug. 2013 (yes--planning WAY ahead! LOL), but not having a true food court on site gives me pause. I know there's the Dig Site food offerings, Rix offerings, and the place (the name escapes me at the moment!) where you can get light fare outside of El Centro, but an indoor non-buffet food court is nice to have.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

I read that thread and popped over here to see if anyone has updated information. If Pepper Market becomes a ts buffet, then the cs offerings with an indoor place to sit are too limited IMHO.

Can someone who is at CSR this week please update if there are changes coming to Pepper Market?

We are hoping to stay at CSR Aug. 2013 (yes--planning WAY ahead! LOL), but not having a true food court on site gives me pause. I know there's the Dig Site food offerings, Rix offerings, and the place (the name escapes me at the moment!) where you can get light fare outside of El Centro, but an indoor non-buffet food court is nice to have.

I just got an e-mail from Buzz, who is the definitive source for CSR info. Pepper Market will have a breakfast and lunch buffet starting December 4. Dinner will remain the same at PM and at Maya Grill, with Maya Grill getting a new dinner menu in late December.

I e-mailed him to see if that means that PM will be TS for breakfast and lunch and CS for dinner. I'll update with his info when I hear back.

 

[Pixiedust34]

I just got an e-mail from Buzz, who is the definitive source for CSR info. Pepper Market will have a breakfast and lunch buffet starting December 4. Dinner will remain the same at PM and at Maya Grill, with Maya Grill getting a new dinner menu in late December.

I e-mailed him to see if that means that PM will be TS for breakfast and lunch and CS for dinner. I'll update with his info when I hear back.

Thank you for the information.

 

[lovethattink]

I just got an e-mail from Buzz, who is the definitive source for CSR info. Pepper Market will have a breakfast and lunch buffet starting December 4. Dinner will remain the same at PM and at Maya Grill, with Maya Grill getting a new dinner menu in late December.

I e-mailed him to see if that means that PM will be TS for breakfast and lunch and CS for dinner. I'll update with his info when I hear back.

I was reading it as buffet table service at lunch and CS for dinner as it has been.

I will try to stop by CSR on the 4th, if not it will be the 9th.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Update from Buzz:

It appears that PM will still be a CS location for dinner. He's not certain about breakfast and lunch, but he's hoping it will also stay a CS location.

Buzz thinks Maya Grill will stop serving breakfast after the Pepper Market reconfiguration.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

I will try to stop by CSR on the 4th, if not it will be the 9th.

Thanks!

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

More info from Buzz:

Pepper Market will still be a counter service location for all three meals. Breakfast and lunch will be buffet, while dinner will be a la carte. Maya Grill will not be serving breakfast after the PM conversion, but it will receive a new dinner menu in late December/early January.

 

[THERESA522]

Today I switched my May ressie from POR to CSR and have read through all the pages this afternoon.

Thanks to everyone for all of the great information! I am so excited to learn some more about this awesome resort.

 

[lovethattink]

Today I switched my May ressie from POR to CSR and have read through all the pages this afternoon.

Thanks to everyone for all of the great information! I am so excited to learn some more about this awesome resort.

They are both great resorts. At one time POR was my favorite. But CSR has won my heart back. I hope you will enjoy CSR every bit as much as I have!

 

[THERESA522]

They are both great resorts. At one time POR was my favorite. But CSR has won my heart back. I hope you will enjoy CSR every bit as much as I have!

Thanks! I'm always excited to have the luxury of bringing my kids (and myself!) to Disney and CSR looks wonderful.