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

[avw1295]

We stayed at CSR 5/5-5/13. It was our first stay at CSR. It is a beautiful resort. I had requested the Cabanas, but did not get it. They tried to move me when I checked in, but there was nothing available. We ended up in Ranchos 6A. It is quite a hike to El Centro, but I did not mind it. DH is another story. He was very unhappy with our location, but not enough to request a change. Once settled, he didn't want to move. We were very close to Bust stop 3 and the Dig site. The pool is fantastic. We really enjoyed it. Loved the Pepper Market. I'm not sure if we will stay there again. There are a several other resorts that I want to try, but even my disgruntled DH admitted that, despite our location, he enjoyed the stay. Thanks for all of the wonderful information in this thread! It was very helpful in making our decision to stay at CSR. Although I think we would have enjoyed our stay even more if we had a better location, I do not regret choosing CSR.

 

[Narawen]

Does Cafe Rix offer cold "breakfast" offerings in the evening? I'm trying to figure out how to get us to AM EMH rope drops and was thinking if we could grab a muffin or plastic bowl of cereal and milk to have in the room the night before, it would be one less stop in the morning.

 

[KatMark]

We stayed at CSR 5/5-5/13. It was our first stay at CSR. It is a beautiful resort. I had requested the Cabanas, but did not get it. They tried to move me when I checked in, but there was nothing available. We ended up in Ranchos 6A. It is quite a hike to El Centro, but I did not mind it. DH is another story. He was very unhappy with our location, but not enough to request a change. Once settled, he didn't want to move. We were very close to Bust stop 3 and the Dig site. The pool is fantastic. We really enjoyed it. Loved the Pepper Market. I'm not sure if we will stay there again. There are a several other resorts that I want to try, but even my disgruntled DH admitted that, despite our location, he enjoyed the stay. Thanks for all of the wonderful information in this thread! It was very helpful in making our decision to stay at CSR. Although I think we would have enjoyed our stay even more if we had a better location, I do not regret choosing CSR.

Thanks for letting us know about your trip. I am glad that you enjoyed your trip despite your location. We are hoping to be in the Ranchos (7B) in September as the Ranchos are the only place we've not stayed in nine visits.

Does Cafe Rix offer cold "breakfast" offerings in the evening? I'm trying to figure out how to get us to AM EMH rope drops and was thinking if we could grab a muffin or plastic bowl of cereal and milk to have in the room the night before, it would be one less stop in the morning.

Yes, they had those little boxes of cereal where you can pull back the lid and add milk and you can buy the small little milks. These are out all of the time (as are muffins, etc.).

 

[MAMA GRAVE]

We got back yesterday and have mixed feelings about CSR. We requested Casistas 4 or 5 and for them to not put us in the Ranchos section. We checked in on Sunday with a very nice girl at the front desk and she told us we are in the Ranchos. I was not to happy about it but found that the Ranchos 6 A to be a great location. We were close to the main pool and bus stop three wasn't a bad walk.

Things we really liked about CSR:

The main pool and lifeguards were awesome!! The pool was open as late as 1:00 am and the lifeguards went off duty at 9:00 pm. My kids really enjoyed the games the lifeguards played with them and we had fun with the giant tug of war contest in the main pool. The poolside drinks were quite tasty.

This place is really beautiful. The grounds keeping was immaculate and they really keep the place clean

Things that were so so about CSR:

This place is big so please think about what part of the resort you might use most. You are looking at a 10 minute walk with kids from the Casistas 1 to the main pool.

The rooms were neither good or bad. Housekeeping was a little slow at times.

Pepper market food was good. My wife really enjoyed the nachos. The service was pretty bad. We had a hard time getting someone to cook our food and the drinks refills were hard to come by.

The bad:

The bus service was awful!! We waited over 45 minutes before a bus came from Epcot. Our average wait time to and from the parks was 15-20 minutes at the bus stop.

The Maya Grille. Simply put, STAY AWAY!! This was by far the worst service we received on our trip. The food was bland and I would stay away from this place.

Magical express to and from the airport was great.

Overall summary:

I don't think I will come back here again. The place is really beautiful but I felt that the restaurant service was lacking and the place is too big with parents with small children. They really need to do something about the bus transportation. We noticed a lot of the same buses coming before ours would arrive.

 

[KatMark]

We got back yesterday and have mixed feelings about CSR. We requested Casistas 4 or 5 and for them to not put us in the Ranchos section. We checked in on Sunday with a very nice girl at the front desk and she told us we are in the Ranchos. I was not to happy about it but found that the Ranchos 6 A to be a great location. We were close to the main pool and bus stop three wasn't a bad walk.

Things we really liked about CSR:

The main pool and lifeguards were awesome!! The pool was open as late as 1:00 am and the lifeguards went off duty at 9:00 pm. My kids really enjoyed the games the lifeguards played with them and we had fun with the giant tug of war contest in the main pool. The poolside drinks were quite tasty.

This place is really beautiful. The grounds keeping was immaculate and they really keep the place clean

Things that were so so about CSR:

This place is big so please think about what part of the resort you might use most. You are looking at a 10 minute walk with kids from the Casistas 1 to the main pool.

The rooms were neither good or bad. Housekeeping was a little slow at times.

Pepper market food was good. My wife really enjoyed the nachos. The service was pretty bad. We had a hard time getting someone to cook our food and the drinks refills were hard to come by.

The bad:

The bus service was awful!! We waited over 45 minutes before a bus came from Epcot. Our average wait time to and from the parks was 15-20 minutes at the bus stop.

The Maya Grille. Simply put, STAY AWAY!! This was by far the worst service we received on our trip. The food was bland and I would stay away from this place.

Magical express to and from the airport was great.

Overall summary:

I don't think I will come back here again. The place is really beautiful but I felt that the restaurant service was lacking and the place is too big with parents with small children. They really need to do something about the bus transportation. We noticed a lot of the same buses coming before ours would arrive.

Thanks for your honest review. I'm glad you ended up liking your location and that you all enjoyed the pool. I have to agree...the walk from Casitas 1 to the pool is a long one.

I am very sorry to hear about the bus service. This is quite the surprise because the CSR has always gotten rave reviews for their bus service and lately they've been slacking. I do wonder, however, if this is happening at all resorts; perhaps they have cut back on buses, etc., as I've read some pretty bad reviews of other resorts as well.

We have never eaten at Maya Grill (well, breakfast once when it is a buffet) and we keep saying yes and then no. I have a friend here on the DIS who even though she doesn't stay at the CSR goes there every trip just to have dinner at Maya Grill...her and her family love it. I think for the time being I will stay away.

I'm glad you at least gave it a try, and hope you had a magical time at the parks.

 

[saskdw]

The thing with the Maya Grill is that it is "one style" of food. They have an upscale Mexican dining experience. If you like that kind of food you will think it is great, however if you don't like that style of food then definately don't go there. We ate there once, I enjoyed my meal, but my wife and son weren't crazy about it. We did have a different service experience though, the service was excellent.

A 15-20 minute wait for the bus is considered normal. Disney try's to have a bus for each park come about every 20 mins. I find this reasonable when you consider how many people they are trying to move from each resort and theme park. If you find a 15min wait for the bus unacceptable then you have to plan for alternate transportation, because this will be the same at all resorts. Disney runs the bus service not the resort.

We had the same check-in experience. We requested Cabanas 9A/B or Casitas 1/2 thinking we needed to be close to the food area. They assigned us Ranchos 7B. We were imediately irritated, thinking it was going to be a long walk for food and asked to be moved. The computers were getting a Disney wide upgrade to the reservation system the day we arrived so they said they couldn't assign a different room until morning, but they would try to accomodate us then. We faxed a room request, but as reported in this thread they no longer look at those. So we decided to go check out this room and we would decide in the morning if we wanted to move. As it turns out the resort is not nearly as long to walk around as some people suggest and we ended up with a room over looking the Ranchos 7B quiet pool which was awesome!! We absolutely loved the view from this room and location. It was a 2min walk to the main pool and 5-7 min walk to the food court depending on walking pace. I agree it would be 10mins if you had small kids in tow, but not the epic journey some make it out to be.

As stated many times in this thread the service at Pepper Market seems to be hit and miss. We ate there 4 times, had great service twice and crappy service twice. But nothing that I would let ruin my vacation. All in all a very beautiful resort and a great vacation and we will most likely stay there again next time. We planning a split stay with CR and CSR.

 

[thinkerbell]

Hi,
I just got to this thread because we are planning a trip for July at CSR and again in December. We were going to stay one other time--not sure what happened. Anyway, we went and visited last year and loved the grounds so now we are going to give it a try.

One question-- I looked through some of this thread and plan to look a lot more. If this has been asked, please forgive me. I saw the picture of the in-room safe. Is it big enough and thick enough to hold a 17 in laptop? I would like to take mine so I can dump pictures and video on it each night. It looks like it would fit from the picture but hard to tell.

Thanks!

 

[saskdw]

Hi,
I just got to this thread because we are planning a trip for July at CSR and again in December. We were going to stay one other time--not sure what happened. Anyway, we went and visited last year and loved the grounds so now we are going to give it a try.

One question-- I looked through some of this thread and plan to look a lot more. If this has been asked, please forgive me. I saw the picture of the in-room safe. Is it big enough and thick enough to hold a 17 in laptop? I would like to take mine so I can dump pictures and video on it each night. It looks like it would fit from the picture but hard to tell.

Thanks!

I would say no. It was a tough squeeze to get our iPad in there with a couple other items. It might squeeze in if you're not putting anything else in, but I doubt it. The problem is the safe door edge closes into the safe so it might not close even if you squeeze it in.

 

[Crazy Kanga]

Mama Grave,I hate to hear that the bus service was poor. When we were there in 2003 it was excellent. It seems that the overall bus service at WDW has suffered. I wonder if gas prices are affecting the routes causing longer waits. We drive down and over the years we are doing more and more driving to parks than we used to for this very reason.

 

[MAMA GRAVE]

The thing with the Maya Grill is that it is "one style" of food. They have an upscale Mexican dining experience. If you like that kind of food you will think it is great, however if you don't like that style of food then definately don't go there. We ate there once, I enjoyed my meal, but my wife and son weren't crazy about it. We did have a different service experience though, the service was excellent.

A 15-20 minute wait for the bus is considered normal. Disney try's to have a bus for each park come about every 20 mins. I find this reasonable when you consider how many people they are trying to move from each resort and theme park. If you find a 15min wait for the bus unacceptable then you have to plan for alternate transportation, because this will be the same at all resorts. Disney runs the bus service not the resort.

We had the same check-in experience. We requested Cabanas 9A/B or Casitas 1/2 thinking we needed to be close to the food area. They assigned us Ranchos 7B. We were imediately irritated, thinking it was going to be a long walk for food and asked to be moved. The computers were getting a Disney wide upgrade to the reservation system the day we arrived so they said they couldn't assign a different room until morning, but they would try to accomodate us then. We faxed a room request, but as reported in this thread they no longer look at those. So we decided to go check out this room and we would decide in the morning if we wanted to move. As it turns out the resort is not nearly as long to walk around as some people suggest and we ended up with a room over looking the Ranchos 7B quiet pool which was awesome!! We absolutely loved the view from this room and location. It was a 2min walk to the main pool and 5-7 min walk to the food court depending on walking pace. I agree it would be 10mins if you had small kids in tow, but not the epic journey some make it out to be.

As stated many times in this thread the service at Pepper Market seems to be hit and miss. We ate there 4 times, had great service twice and crappy service twice. But nothing that I would let ruin my vacation. All in all a very beautiful resort and a great vacation and we will most likely stay there again next time. We planning a split stay with CR and CSR.

Maybe I shouldn't of lumped the Disney bus service in with my review of CSR but it was frustrating waiting for a bus on a hot day. I know luck does come into play with the timing of the buses but it just seemed like we waited every day to and from each park.

I understand that the Pepper Market and the Maya are not run by Disney. I do feel that they should correct the lack of service at each restaurant or bring in a place that has acceptable service.

I remember as our trip was coming up that I would hate reading any bad reviews of CSR knowing I would be there in a couple of weeks. I want everyone to know that we did have a good time there but just thought certain services could improve.

 

[Crazy Kanga]

Maybe I shouldn't of lumped the Disney bus service in with my review of CSR but it was frustrating waiting for a bus on a hot day. I know luck does come into play with the timing of the buses but it just seemed like we waited every day to and from each park.

I understand that the Pepper Market and the Maya are not run by Disney. I do feel that they should correct the lack of service at each restaurant or bring in a place that has acceptable service.

I remember as our trip was coming up that I would hate reading any bad reviews of CSR knowing I would be there in a couple of weeks. I want everyone to know that we did have a good time there but just thought certain services could improve.

No need to appologize! Every guest is entitled to their opinion and I think it is good to know the good and the bad. It never hurts to go in wary and to then be pleasantly surprised versus the opposite. Just as long as people realize that many of the good and bad events of any one trip can vary greatly from one person to the next just based on pure luck or whatever you want to call it. We have had similar less than great things happen at several resorts, but the overall experience at each resort has been very good.

 

[David Brent]

Is there any food item(s) that is a must try for CSR. For example, POFQ has the beignets...

 

[aubriee]

Is there any food item(s) that is a must try for CSR. For example, POFQ has the beignets...

The nachos at the Pepper Market are really good. We made a special trip over there when we were staying at POFQ April 30th-May 8th. My husband and I both got the Mexican steak, but our friend got the nachos. They looked so good that my husband and I made a special trip back over there a few days later just to try them. For some reason at the last minute, I round up getting the rotisserie chicken, but really wished I'd gotten those nachos. My husband loved them. They are huge and made to order. His were covered in chicken, black beans, cheese, sour cream and jalapenos and then he got more sour cream, guacamole, and jalapenos on the side. They were huge.

 

[aubriee]

I have trips planned at CSR Sept 10th-18th and then again Nov 26th-Dec 4th. As usual I'm getting a little nervous. It seems like alot of people are being stuck out in the Ranchos, especially since they've made Casitas 1, 2, and 3 preferred. I love CSR, but really want somewhere in the Cabanas.

 

[Buzz_gator]

when i went a few years ago i was dreading the walk between areas because how people make it sound but honestly i don't think its that bad at all no where is more then a 10 min walk i don't think

i know 10 mins is a lot for some people and on a different sort of holiday i wouldn't really like the idea of 10 min walk either way to get to the pool but when you think how long it takes to walk round each park 10 mins is nothing

 

[David Brent]

The nachos at the Pepper Market are really good. We made a special trip over there when we were staying at POFQ April 30th-May 8th. My husband and I both got the Mexican steak, but our friend got the nachos. They looked so good that my husband and I made a special trip back over there a few days later just to try them. For some reason at the last minute, I round up getting the rotisserie chicken, but really wished I'd gotten those nachos. My husband loved them. They are huge and made to order. His were covered in chicken, black beans, cheese, sour cream and jalapenos and then he got more sour cream, guacamole, and jalapenos on the side. They were huge.

Thanks! I'll be sure to get the nachos on our way back from the parks...sounds like a good sharing snack.

 

[Classickat]

We are staying at CSR June 2-13 as part of a Grand Gathering (there are 3 rooms, 10 people total). This is our first stay at CSR and we requested Ranchos 7B. I know requests are not guaranteed.

We requested 7B because it looked to be close to a bus stop, a quiet pool (thus laundry facilities) and the Dig Site. But now I keep reading people who say they are so worried about "being stuck in Ranchos". Other than the fact that it is the furthest area from the food court (which we use only a few times...we usually eat at the parks) is there another reason people don't want "stuck" here? I'm concerned that maybe we didn't make a good request.

The bus really is our first priority. If the bus makes its first stop at the Casitas (Bus Stop #2?), by the time it gets to our stop, provided we are in 7B, we'll be the 3rd stop (Bus Stop #4?)...will the buses be full and pass us by?

We chose to request this building in part because my DS9 is recovering from a broken ankle (he just got out of his cast 4 days ago but is still in a brace and will be during our trip). With all of the walking that you do at Disney anyway, 7B just looked close to everything.

I'm assuming that whatever rooms they assign we are going to be committed to. With a grand gathering, they do their best to keep the rooms in close proximity to one another and the odds of 3 rooms being together somewhere else probably won't be too good. People have a hard enough time moving from 1 room to another, let alone 3!

Any experienced comments or other suggestions welcome! Thanks!

 

[CAJUNWDWFAN]

I'm hoping to make a return trip to Coronado Springs Resort in April 2012.

ps. Just a side note, it's 2011, it might be a good time to update this FAQ since it's dated 2010.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

We are staying at CSR June 2-13 as part of a Grand Gathering (there are 3 rooms, 10 people total). This is our first stay at CSR and we requested Ranchos 7B. I know requests are not guaranteed.

We requested 7B because it looked to be close to a bus stop, a quiet pool (thus laundry facilities) and the Dig Site. But now I keep reading people who say they are so worried about "being stuck in Ranchos". Other than the fact that it is the furthest area from the food court (which we use only a few times...we usually eat at the parks) is there another reason people don't want "stuck" here? I'm concerned that maybe we didn't make a good request.

The bus really is our first priority. If the bus makes its first stop at the Casitas (Bus Stop #2?), by the time it gets to our stop, provided we are in 7B, we'll be the 3rd stop (Bus Stop #4?)...will the buses be full and pass us by?

We chose to request this building in part because my DS9 is recovering from a broken ankle (he just got out of his cast 4 days ago but is still in a brace and will be during our trip). With all of the walking that you do at Disney anyway, 7B just looked close to everything.

I'm assuming that whatever rooms they assign we are going to be committed to. With a grand gathering, they do their best to keep the rooms in close proximity to one another and the odds of 3 rooms being together somewhere else probably won't be too good. People have a hard enough time moving from 1 room to another, let alone 3!

Any experienced comments or other suggestions welcome! Thanks!

I think most guests who say they get "stuck in Ranchos" are unhappy with the distance to the main building. If you plan to eat breakfast at Pepper Market every morning or like to refill your mugs a lot (although you can refill at Siesta's pool bar, too), then a 20-min round-trip to the main building could get tiresome. We stayed in Ranchos one year and didn't find it inconvenient, but we may eat at the resort once per trip and rarely buy the refillable mugs. We have used Bus Stops 1, 3 and 4 on different trips and we've never had a bus pass us by, full.

I'm hoping to make a return trip to Coronado Springs Resort in April 2012.

ps. Just a side note, it's 2011, it might be a good time to update this FAQ since it's dated 2010.

Welcome to the thread and hope you enjoy planning your trip. The FAQ is dated for the month it was started; threads are closed when they hit 250 pages so a new one has to be created when that happens. As the most recent date, we know this is the current thread.

 

[mamamary]

We are staying at CSR June 2-13 as part of a Grand Gathering (there are 3 rooms, 10 people total). This is our first stay at CSR and we requested Ranchos 7B. I know requests are not guaranteed.

We requested 7B because it looked to be close to a bus stop, a quiet pool (thus laundry facilities) and the Dig Site. But now I keep reading people who say they are so worried about "being stuck in Ranchos". Other than the fact that it is the furthest area from the food court (which we use only a few times...we usually eat at the parks) is there another reason people don't want "stuck" here? I'm concerned that maybe we didn't make a good request.

The bus really is our first priority. If the bus makes its first stop at the Casitas (Bus Stop #2?), by the time it gets to our stop, provided we are in 7B, we'll be the 3rd stop (Bus Stop #4?)...will the buses be full and pass us by?

We chose to request this building in part because my DS9 is recovering from a broken ankle (he just got out of his cast 4 days ago but is still in a brace and will be during our trip). With all of the walking that you do at Disney anyway, 7B just looked close to everything.

I'm assuming that whatever rooms they assign we are going to be committed to. With a grand gathering, they do their best to keep the rooms in close proximity to one another and the odds of 3 rooms being together somewhere else probably won't be too good. People have a hard enough time moving from 1 room to another, let alone 3!

Any experienced comments or other suggestions welcome! Thanks!

The distance to the food court is the only reason why I didn't want Ranchos. I know that I am the one to run in the mornings to pick up breakfast and extra coffee and bring it back. We were in Casitas and honestly I was tired of the running back and forth but I was glad to give the kids and hubby some extra time to get ready. Don't think I would have been as accomodating if I had to do this from the Ranchos section.