Coronado Springs Resort -- New Unofficial FAQ Thread -- October 2010

[Jetta8300]

Food from the Maya Grill

 

[silverhaze269]

Wanted to tell everyone about our amazing time at the Coronado! We just returned from an absolutely wonderful stay (May 1-7) with just my husband and I at this hotel, and it was PERFECT! The pictures of this resort really do not do it justice, and were blown away by how everything looked in person.

I leave in 19 days, and your review and pictures have gotten me even more excited! I can't wait!

 

[SnowWhite33]

Wanted to tell everyone about our amazing time at the Coronado! We just returned from an absolutely wonderful stay (May 1-7) with just my husband and I at this hotel, and it was PERFECT! The pictures of this resort really do not do it justice, and were blown away by how everything looked in person.

We would have been happy anywhere in the resort, and went fully expecting to do some walking. We went not putting in any room requests, and got Cabanas 9B which was a great location, but anywhere in the resort would have been OK! We LOVED everything about the room!

Every night we took a walk around the lake, and it is not as big as it seems in pictures. It took us about 5 or 6 minutes to get from the Ranchos section back to the main building, and we thought it was a beautiful section, and a really nice walk. We have now been to every resort on property for at least a meal, and this is the prettiest resort on property in my opinion.

The rooms were very clean, and very modern looking! We loved having the huge amount of counter space (compared to our previous stay at the Contemporary). Mouse Keeping was phenomenal, the room was spotless every day with plenty of towels, shampoo, etc. The hotel was also in the center of each park , and was a very quick ride everywhere. The beds were SO COMFORTABLE!


We loved both Cafe Rix and the Pepper Market. I had a Latte every morning at Cafe Rix, and it was great! Absolutely no complaints about the Pepper Market food or service, but we did only have 2 meals there. One late night for some amazing nachos and dessert, and the other in the morning for some good french toast. Other than that we ate at the parks or Cafe Rix. It was very simple, just have someone stamp your ticket, then pay. Much easier than bringing a full tray of food up to the counter to pay with.

As for the conventioners, there were 3 large conventions going on when we were there, (completely booked) and the resort did not feel crowded at all. The only place we saw conventioners were at the Laguna Bar at night, and everyone was extremely friendly. Other than that the resort was extremely quiet, and we did not notice them at all. We never saw them at the pool, and even though there were a lot of people at the pool, it still didn't feel crowded. It is HUGE pool.

I just can't say enough good things about our stay at this hotel. I miss it already! We will surely be back when we return to Disney!

Thank you for your review and pictures!

I keep telling DH that we are going to love it here. We normally stay at the Poly and were looking for a change. It really does look like the most beautiful resort in the pics, can't wait to be there!

29 more days!

 

[jgates]

jgates,
can you tell me how and where you got such a good deal on the rental car?

Lisa - I start checking months in advance. 90% of the time I am renting from National only. I have an emerald club membership, which you can get by enrolling online (I think mousesavers has a link). The advantage of Emerald Aisle - it allows you to book a mid-size & pick from whatever vehicles are in the EA at that time. You go directly to the garage, pick your vehicle & proceed to the gate. You also have other eligible drivers (or a co-worker with you) that can then drive the car. (You don't add them as a driver, but they are eligible). WHATEVER rental company you pick, make sure you are a member of their club. Even Dollar, where you still have to go to the counter, has a separate window for their club members - we walked right up with 1 or 2 people ahead of us, while there were over 60 people waiting in line at Orlando in the regular line at Dollar.

The other advantage to their clubs is that you save your rental preferences such as 'no insurance' etc & no one pushes you for it when you get there.

Anyway, to the question.............

I normally begin checking as soon as I have booked anything. In February or March?? the rental would have been over $400. Obviously ME & a couple of taxis were on our agenda. However, I started checking again a few weeks ago. $186, $135, $123, $114, $96, $92, $80. It just kept dropping like a rock. With National you actually have to go in & start a new booking to see the new rates. It used to 'auto-drop' rates, but no longer does that. So as you can tell I have rebooked & then cancelled the old ones MANY times in the last few weeks.

The best discount code for National I have hit lately has been 6600422 (I think that one is AirTran). I use codes from mousesavers, flyertalk, fatwallet, etc. Make sure they are ones you are eligible for. The rest of my discount was the $35 off coupon code that National sent out for weekly rentals about 3 weeks ago - this one is good thru 5/31. ND8578ADT. They usually have ones running for $20 to $25 off a weekly rental (must include a Saturday night keep). If you are renting M-F, etc., you will normally have a lot higher cost. We had to do $240 in LV for Sun to Friday as no coupons valid during prime business rental days.

If you see anything good, book it & cancel later if you need to or if you get something better. I was playing one night & it cycled over midnight in the eastern time zone. I hit submit & the rental I was booking jumped like $40 - they had new rates loaded which went into play at midnight. If you are going directly thru the rental car sites, 99% of the time you are not obligated & can cancel at any time. (I have seen premium convertibles, etc where they require a guarantee & you can't cancel).

I have become a bit more paranoid about insurance, but signed up with American Express's program. Once you sign up, as long as you pay with your AE card, they charge a flat $25 fee for the extra insurance - no matter how many days. My insurance agent tells me I would be fine, but it's just a bit of mental cushion on my part.

 

[rrbar]

Lisa - I start checking months in advance. 90% of the time I am renting from National only. I have an emerald club membership, which you can get by enrolling online (I think mousesavers has a link). The advantage of Emerald Aisle - it allows you to book a mid-size & pick from whatever vehicles are in the EA at that time. You go directly to the garage, pick your vehicle & proceed to the gate. You also have other eligible drivers (or a co-worker with you) that can then drive the car. (You don't add them as a driver, but they are eligible). WHATEVER rental company you pick, make sure you are a member of their club. Even Dollar, where you still have to go to the counter, has a separate window for their club members - we walked right up with 1 or 2 people ahead of us, while there were over 60 people waiting in line at Orlando in the regular line at Dollar.

The other advantage to their clubs is that you save your rental preferences such as 'no insurance' etc & no one pushes you for it when you get there.

Anyway, to the question.............

I normally begin checking as soon as I have booked anything. In February or March?? the rental would have been over $400. Obviously ME & a couple of taxis were on our agenda. However, I started checking again a few weeks ago. $186, $135, $123, $114, $96, $92, $80. It just kept dropping like a rock. With National you actually have to go in & start a new booking to see the new rates. It used to 'auto-drop' rates, but no longer does that. So as you can tell I have rebooked & then cancelled the old ones MANY times in the last few weeks.

The best discount code for National I have hit lately has been 6600422 (I think that one is AirTran). I use codes from mousesavers, flyertalk, fatwallet, etc. Make sure they are ones you are eligible for. The rest of my discount was the $35 off coupon code that National sent out for weekly rentals about 3 weeks ago - this one is good thru 5/31. ND8578ADT. They usually have ones running for $20 to $25 off a weekly rental (must include a Saturday night keep). If you are renting M-F, etc., you will normally have a lot higher cost. We had to do $240 in LV for Sun to Friday as no coupons valid during prime business rental days.

If you see anything good, book it & cancel later if you need to or if you get something better. I was playing one night & it cycled over midnight in the eastern time zone. I hit submit & the rental I was booking jumped like $40 - they had new rates loaded which went into play at midnight. If you are going directly thru the rental car sites, 99% of the time you are not obligated & can cancel at any time. (I have seen premium convertibles, etc where they require a guarantee & you can't cancel).

I have become a bit more paranoid about insurance, but signed up with American Express's program. Once you sign up, as long as you pay with your AE card, they charge a flat $25 fee for the extra insurance - no matter how many days. My insurance agent tells me I would be fine, but it's just a bit of mental cushion on my part.

Thanks for the info on the car. I have read about that same American Express extra insurance on Slick Deals. Those people really love to save money but several on that board also recommended the extra American express insurance- you have to sign up with american express ahead of time- as they said it was great extra coverage. I may look into it. We are considering renting a car for a weekend while we are there so we can go to Gatorland and go to the store a 2nd time as we will be there for 9 days. Do you see good deals for a weekend rental at the end of August? I don't want to pay a lot but would like a car for 1-3 days, depending on the price. I don't mind a bus the most of the time.

 

[jgates]

I threw in 8/19 to 8/22 for kicks & it came up at $202.08. Probably more than I would want to pay for a weekend but if I WANTED the car, I would book it & then just continually check it and rebook later. We ended up at $240 in LV instead of $210 because my best friend just didn't know if she wanted to do a car (we were each paying 1/2). I thought we were not so I didn't book it - then guess what - rates went up & never went back down. So it does pay to have at least one booked & taken care of.

Again I always go direct - I never use priceline or expedia or another source.

 

[KatMark]

Jetta8300--


AWESOME photos. Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[brerdawg]

Great Photos! Brings us back to 2008 and looking foward to 2012!!

 

[brerdawg]

At the top of this page, you'll see many different tabs. Click the one that says "Tickers," and you will be able to make your own. You'll be given about 3 options of code; the one you want starts with and ends with [url]. To put it in...ugh the site but did not not see any banners.

 

[brerdawg]

we created a Mickeypath countdown banner but do not how to put it in or DIS signature. Anyone?

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Thanks. We went though the site but did not not see any banners.

At the top of any page, above the ad, there are 2 lines of words. Those are links. The top one starts with "User CP" "Chat" "Reviews" "News".... "Tickers" is in that line.

we created a Mickeypath countdown banner but do not how to put it in or DIS signature. Anyone?

After you create the banner, you'll get about 3 different lines of code. Copy the one with the at the beginning, all the way to t...ture." Paste the URL code into the text box.

 

[*~PrincessBelle~*]

Just booked for our first ever stay at CSR (and first trip to Food & Wine) for October 5-9

 

[KatMark]

Just booked for our first ever stay at CSR (and first trip to Food & Wine) for October 5-9

on both counts.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Just wanted to post and say....

I'll be at Coronado Springs in 7 days, 21 hours and 40 minutes!



Can you tell I'm excited?

 

[rhonda_2003]

I just booked our first ever Christmas vacation which is also our first trip to CSR! I am dying to go after reading this entire thread. It is going to take forever for December to get here. I will be traveling with DH, DD4 and DS2 (only 19 months old now, but 2 at travel time).

We took DD to Disney when she was 2 and stayed at POFQ, which I LOVE! I hope to have the same experience with CSR.

What are some not to be missed character experiences for my kiddos? DD definitely needs some princess pictures and DS loves Mickey, just Mickey. I am hoping he doesn't do the scared face in every picture-LOL!

 

[rhonda_2003]

We are going Dec 17-22 and have tix to MVMCP on the 18th.

 

[sbsteel]

Food from the Maya Grill

What is the entree on the right? I thought maybe it was fish tacos, but when I checked on the Maya Grill menu I didn't see any descriptions that looked like it would fit. It looks delicious, I want to order it this weekend!

 

[aubriee]

I'm going back!!! We just got in late last night from a stay at POFQ. We loved how small the resort was, food court was OK, loved the boat to DTD, had great housekeeping (got three cute towel animals), had good bus service, and enjoyed Eliot Dyson's show two nights BUT absolutely hated the new beds and pillows at POFQ. I assumed they'd be the same pillow top mattresses that CSR has. Boy was I wrong. I have stayed at all three levels of WDW resorts and have never had such an uncomfortable bed. My husband who can normally sleep like a log on a bed of nails, even complained about the beds and said he refuses to go back to POFQ, even though we really loved everything else about the resort. I don't think either of us slept for more than a few minutes at a time and we both woke up every morning with headaches, neck pain, back pain, and hip pain.

Anyway, it was so bad that I called from the room and canceled my Sept 24th-Oct 2nd POFQ trip. I asked to switch to CSR for those dates using either the general public code I booked with when I booked last January or with the bounceback code that was in our room. CSR was not available for either that week or the week before or after. I thought about it for a day, but decided the POFQ beds were so bad that I'd rather not go than try to sleep on them again, so called back and asked the CM to find any dates in Sept for a standard room at CSR. She was able to switch my reservation to Sept 10th-18th. That means I'll be going two weeks before I really want to, so will have to change my vacation request at work and will also have to cancel and rebook all my ADRs, but whatever, I'M GOING BACK TO CSR for their comfortable beds! Can't wait and don't plan to stray again!

I also booked a second bounceback at CSR for Nov 27th-Dec 4th. Again I really wanted to go a week later, but the bounceback deal didn't cover those dates. I'll actually be going Nov 26th-Dec 4th, but hopefully will be able to get the 26th with an AP discount. The CM said she didn't think the AP discount would be beating the bounceback rate this year. I think I got both trips for like 35% off, which is what I usually pay for a moderate with the AP rate.

I had the CM put in a request for first floor Cabana 8A. Hopefully I'll get somewhere (anywhere) in the Cabanas both trips. I still have a fear of being stuck out in the Ranchos. Regardless I'll be back at CSR, so am happy.

 

[KatMark]

I'm going back!!! We just got in late last night from a stay at POFQ. We loved how small the resort was, food court was OK, loved the boat to DTD, had great housekeeping (got three cute towel animals), had good bus service, and enjoyed Eliot Dyson's show two nights BUT absolutely hated the new beds and pillows at POFQ. I assumed they'd be the same pillow top mattresses that CSR has. Boy was I wrong. I have stayed at all three levels of WDW resorts and have never had such an uncomfortable bed. My husband who can normally sleep like a log on a bed of nails, even complained about the beds and said he refuses to go back to POFQ, even though we really loved everything else about the resort. I don't think either of us slept for more than a few minutes at a time and we both woke up every morning with headaches, neck pain, back pain, and hip pain.

Anyway, it was so bad that I called from the room and canceled my Sept 24th-Oct 2nd POFQ trip. I asked to switch to CSR for those dates using either the general public code I booked with when I booked last January or with the bounceback code that was in our room. CSR was not available for either that week or the week before or after. I thought about it for a day, but decided the POFQ beds were so bad that I'd rather not go than try to sleep on them again, so called back and asked the CM to find any dates in Sept for a standard room at CSR. She was able to switch my reservation to Sept 10th-18th. That means I'll be going two weeks before I really want to, so will have to change my vacation request at work and will also have to cancel and rebook all my ADRs, but whatever, I'M GOING BACK TO CSR for their comfortable beds! Can't wait and don't plan to stray again!

I also booked a second bounceback at CSR for Nov 27th-Dec 4th. Again I really wanted to go a week later, but the bounceback deal didn't cover those dates. I'll actually be going Nov 26th-Dec 4th, but hopefully will be able to get the 26th with an AP discount. The CM said she didn't think the AP discount would be beating the bounceback rate this year. I think I got both trips for like 35% off, which is what I usually pay for a moderate with the AP rate.

I had the CM put in a request for first floor Cabana 8A. Hopefully I'll get somewhere (anywhere) in the Cabanas both trips. I still have a fear of being stuck out in the Ranchos. Regardless I'll be back at CSR, so am happy.

"Welcome Home, Aubriee." And this from my friend who hated the CSR!!!!

I'm so glad you are coming "home", but only wish you could have gotten the dates you wanted so that we could see you (we will miss you by five days).

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I just booked our first ever Christmas vacation which is also our first trip to CSR! I am dying to go after reading this entire thread. It is going to take forever for December to get here. I will be traveling with DH, DD4 and DS2 (only 19 months old now, but 2 at travel time).

We took DD to Disney when she was 2 and stayed at POFQ, which I LOVE! I hope to have the same experience with CSR.

What are some not to be missed character experiences for my kiddos? DD definitely needs some princess pictures and DS loves Mickey, just Mickey. I am hoping he doesn't do the scared face in every picture-LOL!

Welcome to the CSR thread and congrats on booking your trip! You made a great choice!

For character experiences, we have enjoyed Tusker House breakfast at Animal Kingdom (try to get a time before the park opens for great pictures and views and to be near the Safari when the park opens) - it has Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Daisy. We also liked Garden Grill at Epcot, with Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale. Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary is a perennial favorite, also. For your daughter, I can only tell you that my best friend has 2 daughters (I have boys, so no princesses for us!) and they love Akershus at Norway in Epcot for breakfast. I also hear good things about 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. You should check out the Restaurants board here on the DIS for recommendations on those.