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

[pooh2001]

A question for CSR experts.

I am getting sold on staying at CSR.
Our family DH age 54, DW age 52, DS age 19 and DD age 16
We always stayed at Deluxe resorts

We like to be close to the 1st bus stop going to the Parks (#2)
We also like to be close to the laundry and food court.

Casita 4 seems to be close to the bus stop #2,a large quiet pool and the laundry - and .24 miles away from the food court.
But Casita 4 also has the hair-doo place and whatever - so should we ask for an upper floor room and not a 1st floor room ?
What about convetions - should we avoid the Casita's ?

Our next choice would be the Cabana 9A.
But the Cabana is the 3rd place the bus picks up before going to the Parks

The Rancho's are ok with the quiet pool and bus stop - 2nd bus stop on the way to the Parks - but the Rancho's seem too far a walk to the food court.

So back to the Casita's - what if we ask for a ground floor room - if we ask for Casita #4, 1st floor - can we not be near the hair-doo place and whatever else they offer the convention people ?

 

[kayleesmomxo]

Hi guys! I wanted to share a few pictures of mousekeeping from our September 2010 trip! Our mousekeeper was Luis and she was AWESOME! My daughter couldn't wait to get back to the room to see what she had left for her! Enjoy

Don't worry, we left her a nice tip at the end Love her!!!

 

[KatMark]

How absolutely adorable. How sweet of her to take the time to do that. And who says there is no "Disney magic" at the Coronado????

 

[999ghostslover]

THat is some amazing Pixie dust. Who says CSR isn't really Disney enough? That certainly proves them wrong! I got one lousy bird (the kind that was made well in advance) at WL for an 8 day stay and I tipped every day in hand decorated Tip envelopes.

 

[kayleesmomxo]

How absolutely adorable. How sweet of her to take the time to do that. And who says there is no "Disney magic" at the Coronado????

I know Kathy! She went out of her way to do this for my daughter and it really made our trip magical This was our second stay here and we had a wonderful vacation! No complaints!!! Thanks again for all of the wonderful information on this thread! It has been so helpful to us for both of our stays here

 

[kayleesmomxo]

THat is some amazing Pixie dust. Who says CSR isn't really Disney enough? That certainly proves them wrong! I got one lousy bird (the kind that was made well in advance) at WL for an 8 day stay and I tipped every day in hand decorated Tip envelopes.

You are cracking me up!!! I did call housekeeping about 3 days before we checked out to make sure she was working since I waited and tipped at the end of our stay. We were there for 10 nights and I wanted to make sure she got the tip for the days she took care of us! I left a tip for our last 2 days as well but we never got anything It didn't matter though, she had already sprinkled enough pixie dust for 2 vacations

 

[eeyoresnr]

ok KATMARK, this question is for you (unless someone else just happens to know)...as you know we changed from POR to CSR for my 50th birthday trip in Dec....when we changed the CM asked if we had a building request and we told her 9A (I didn't have my contacts in) so we are going to call back and request 8B as that is our favorite building....my question is, we have a water view, short of going through my 1000's of pic how can I find which room that faces the lake is a corner room....thanks in advance for your time

 

[jk and ek]

this is a great thread! thanks for putting so much effort into it!

I have a possibly dumb question- are all of the rooms updated to the "new" style? if so I think that will officially tip me in the direction of saying YES and commmiting to CSR. (jk has been trying to convince me, but the pictures he showed me were the old style rooms and I......wasn't impressed) I really prefer a more "modern" contemporary style but also have budget concerns. (we also want to upgrade from the value resort we stayed at last time)

we are in VERY preliminary stages, but I live to plan!

thanks in advance!

 

[KatMark]

this is a great thread! thanks for putting so much effort into it!

I have a possibly dumb question- are all of the rooms updated to the "new" style? if so I think that will officially tip me in the direction of saying YES and commmiting to CSR. (jk has been trying to convince me, but the pictures he showed me were the old style rooms and I......wasn't impressed) I really prefer a more "modern" contemporary style but also have budget concerns. (we also want to upgrade from the value resort we stayed at last time)

we are in VERY preliminary stages, but I live to plan!

thanks in advance!

Yes, the rehab took a year, but it was all completed October 2009. So all rooms have the new decor and two queen beds or one king bed. Happy planning.

 

[Ash&Wes07]

49 days until we arrive at CSR!!!

I just had to get that out, lol.

I am loving the pixie dust towel animals! How wonderful!

 

[CoolPool]

We just booked Dec 19 to 24 at CSR. I'm a little nervous because its the first time to stay at a moderate for more than one night. My concern is the air conditioning unit. The only, only thing I did not enjoy at POFQ was the window air conditioning unit that kept me awake all night. Please tell me CSR does not have that type of airconditioner...although it may be a moot point in December anyway. We are really looking forward to going!

 

[999ghostslover]

We just booked Dec 19 to 24 at CSR. I'm a little nervous because its the first time to stay at a moderate for more than one night. My concern is the air conditioning unit. The only, only thing I did not enjoy at POFQ was the window air conditioning unit that kept me awake all night. Please tell me CSR does not have that type of airconditioner...although it may be a moot point in December anyway. We are really looking forward to going!

You are in luck! Central air baby!!

 

[CoolPool]

You are in luck! Central air baby!!

Awesome! Thanks!

 

[StrikerObi]

The GF and I will be at CSR for two nights in a few weeks. I booked a king room. Does anybody know if they are all in a particular area? Just trying to figure out where our room might be. I stayed in Rancheros right around the time CSR opened and haven't been back since. Hoping to get one of the other two sections this time.

 

[KatMark]

The GF and I will be at CSR for two nights in a few weeks. I booked a king room. Does anybody know if they are all in a particular area? Just trying to figure out where our room might be. I stayed in Rancheros right around the time CSR opened and haven't been back since. Hoping to get one of the other two sections this time.

There are King rooms in every section of the CSR. I would call and put a "request" on your ressie for Cabanas or Casitas if you want to try one of those sections.

 

[StrikerObi]

There are King rooms in every section of the CSR. I would call and put a "request" on your ressie for Cabanas or Casitas if you want to try one of those sections.

Cool, thanks for the advise. I just got off the phone and added a request for either of those sections (preferably Casitas since I think it looks the nicest). I'll cross my fingers. I have pretty high hopes since I'm requesting a room in either of two sections, rather than in one specific area.

Edit: Just caught up reading the entire thread and now I'm crossing my fingers about hopefully getting a free upgrade since it seems like many of you have. If I do online check-in a few days before we get there, does that lessen the chance of getting an upgrade compared to checking-in in person at the resort?

I've only ever gotten one upgrade in my entire life, but it was a good one. Maybe about 6 years ago some family came down to FL to visit and the four of us split a room in the Contemporary. We booked a tower room but when we got there we were upgraded to a concierge level tower room at the very top of the hotel (Bay Like side). Even though we didn't have the MK view, it was amazing and were were able to watch the Electric Water Pageant!

Another (more general) question. We'll be driving down from Tallahassee and thanks to that new toll road (FL-429) Coronado Springs will be pretty much the first thing we see on Disney property. We'll be getting there around 9 or 10 in the morning, before check-in time. Even though we won't be checked-in yet (or maybe checked-in online), is it possible for us to park our car at the CSR, and then take Disney transit to the parks? Also, if I leave our bags with the bell hop will they be "magically" brought to our room so that when we return we won't have to pick them up from the bell hop?

 

[100AcreWood]

We just returned from our 5 night stay at the Coronado Springs. This was our first visit. This board was so helpful with advice I wanted to return and give a review.

Positives: Housekeeping was awesome! The room was always clean. I would have liked more towels since we have three kids but I didn't bother to call and request more. They actually caught on about two nights into the trip and on the 3rd day started leaving more towels which I thought was really nice. The kids were so surprised one night to return to our room and find the lights on and all the stuffed animals stacked up on pillows watching the disney channel! One had the remote and housekeeping had turned the TV so they could "see" it better from the bed. It was so cute and my oldest was convinced the animals did it on their own . The next night one of the animals was waiting by the window for us.

The pool was wonderful! We enjoyed it only once but it was a nice morning and we really liked the water slide. It was also nice to get a golf cart ride to and from the pool. We just had to call and request a pick up!

On our way back to the room one day we were stopped by a cast member in a golf cart. She gave my kids each a disney character figurine. We were so surprised. What an extra special treat! The resort itself was beautiful.

Negatives: We requested a room close to the bus stop. Preferably Casitas 4 or 5. We got 3. Walking to and from the bus was a haul. We would have preferred a room with a better location. I faxed and made a request on our reservation.

We had a great lunch at the Pepper Market, but the same day we ate there for dinner and it was the worst experience all week with food. It took over an hour for a burger and chicken sandwich. What a mess! When we finally got our food the kids had finished eating and were really tired (it was 8:30pm). So I threw mine in a to go box and ate in the room. The food that night was pretty blah.

Overall we give it two thumbs up and would definitely recommend it to others!

 

[princess o's mom]

Just got back from our trip to Coronado this afternoon. We stayed 7 nights with my husband, myself and our two kids in one room and my parents in another. We arrived last Sunday around 1 pm on Magical Express with my parents arriving by car around 4 pm. Check-in was quick and easy (we did online check-in before we left) and our room was ready when we got there. I had requested Casitas 4 or 5 1st floor so we could be close to first bus stop to accommodate the ECV we had rented for Dad. We were assigned Casitas 5 while my parents had 4. They were great about moving us to bldg 4 but we were on the 3rd floor and my parents on the 2nd floor but it was fine with us. Magical Express was easy and worked well for us and our luggage was there within a few hours of our arrival. Buses to the park were smooth all week and not very crowded with the exception of the bus back from Epcot yesterday afternoon. Bussing at Epcot for some reason seemed to be the only place that could get problematic. It was nice to be in a short line of folks waiting for the Coronado bus while watching the hordes of people waiting for some of the other resorts.

We didn't find the size of the resort to be a problem at all and it was not nearly as large as I expected. Of course it wasn't super hot either so that made the walk pretty pleasant. It did seem long at 5 am this morning as we headed to catch Magical Express home, but anything seem like a long walk at 5 am after a week of Disney parks! LOL They were painting the outside of building 4 all week but the only problem we had with that was reminding my 10 year old son not to run his hand or shoulder along the walls that said wet paint. Why do little boys do that anyway?

Mousekeeping was great the entire time we were there for both rooms. The mousekeeper must have really liked us as we were covered up in towels and toiletries every day! It became our daily joke to return to our room and see just how many more towels she left for us! LOL The fridge in our room would not seem to get cold but they replaced it the first night for us with one that worked correctly. Mom and Dad's worked just fine from the beginning. The beds were really comfy (and I am like the princess and the pea so they must have been good if I was comfy!). All the staff we dealt with was very friendly and helpful and all but one seemed to know the answer to any question I asked. The one who checked us in was convinced that she could not print out our Hoop De Doo tickets even though Hoop De Doo had called my cell the night before we left and asked us to have them printed at Coronado beforehand b/c the computers would be down the day of our ressie. I just came back later and found another employee at the desk who knew how to print them.

The grounds were lovely and we had perfect weather for strolling around the lake in the evenings and eating outside. No alligator sightings but did see lots of turtles in the lake. Did not get a chance to use the quiet pool but did swim at the dig site one night with the kids and used the hot tub. Putting tired feet in front of the jets in the hot tub was great!! Margaritas from the dig site bar were also wonderful after a day at the park. Kids liked the playground and the theme of the playground was really neat. Arcade was expensive and we only went there b/c we had two 100 point coupons from AAA but most games were 50 pts each! The kids blew through that in 5 minutes (or less!) and we headed to the playground after that.

The area we were in seemed nice and quiet. We only had noise one night with a group of folks standing outside our room which was near the stairs talking/laughing very loudly. Thankfully it did not wake the kids and I was about to pop my head out the door and say something but they moved on first. There seemed to be two small conventions/meetings during our time (one seemed like some sort of tech conference and the other was Make A Wish). The conventioneers did not bother me at all. They were all polite and nice when you ran into them in the restaurants and the only problem I could see with them was them clogging up the bar area in Pepper Market which made it take longer to get to-go drinks.

Food - we ate at Pepper Market several times and pretty much had the hang of it after our first meal. We all liked all the food we tried but our favorites seemed to be the steak, pasta alfredo with shrimp, market nachos and the chicken fajitas. I think the only thing I had that was so-so to me was the tuna melt I had for lunch one day but maybe I just wasn't in a tuna melt kind of mood! We took our meals to go each time and ate outside which was really nice. They had people playing steel drums in the evenings and they let the kids try them out. We also tried several items from Cafe Rix and I was thrilled to find they had a kids pick meal with grilled cheese for my picky daughter. It's actually grilled ham and cheese but she's not a meat eater so they made it with just cheese.

My only complaint about Pepper Market would be that I found the system a little more complicated when there with small kids. If everyone wants something from a different counter, it's hard to keep track of who had the to go ticket, have the food be ready near the same time and make sure you knew where your kids were at all times and it's hard to wait for the food to be made with a tired, whiney 4 year old hanging from your leg - but that's a whole other story! I would also like to see them change the way you get your to go drinks. If there are bar patrons at the bar it could take a while to get your drinks which was just a little irritating. It would be nice if you could request a to go cup and then just fill it at a pop fountain. I would think it would make the bartenders job easier too.

So that is our experience - if I think of anything else I will be sure to add. I've been up since 3:30 this morning so I'm sure I've forgotten something!

Thank you all so much for this board as it made me feel that I knew the place inside and out before I even got there and that helped make for a great trip! I would stay here again for sure but it will be several years before we head to Disney again.

 

[KatMark]

Cool, thanks for the advise. I just got off the phone and added a request for either of those sections (preferably Casitas since I think it looks the nicest). I'll cross my fingers. I have pretty high hopes since I'm requesting a room in either of two sections, rather than in one specific area.

Edit: Just caught up reading the entire thread and now I'm crossing my fingers about hopefully getting a free upgrade since it seems like many of you have. If I do online check-in a few days before we get there, does that lessen the chance of getting an upgrade compared to checking-in in person at the resort?

I've only ever gotten one upgrade in my entire life, but it was a good one. Maybe about 6 years ago some family came down to FL to visit and the four of us split a room in the Contemporary. We booked a tower room but when we got there we were upgraded to a concierge level tower room at the very top of the hotel (Bay Like side). Even though we didn't have the MK view, it was amazing and were were able to watch the Electric Water Pageant!

Another (more general) question. We'll be driving down from Tallahassee and thanks to that new toll road (FL-429) Coronado Springs will be pretty much the first thing we see on Disney property. We'll be getting there around 9 or 10 in the morning, before check-in time. Even though we won't be checked-in yet (or maybe checked-in online), is it possible for us to park our car at the CSR, and then take Disney transit to the parks? Also, if I leave our bags with the bell hop will they be "magically" brought to our room so that when we return we won't have to pick them up from the bell hop?

I'm not sure whether online check in makes your chances of an upgrade any less.We've done it both way sand reeived upgrades both ways.Perosnally, in all of the times we've checked in at the CSR, there has never been a long line at the regular check in.

You can check-in at any time. Your room may not be ready, but they will give you your key cards and you can park the car there and go off to the parks. They will text you when your room is ready.

I can't answer about the luggage because we always take it to the room ourselves.

We just returned from our 5 night stay at the Coronado Springs. This was our first visit. This board was so helpful with advice I wanted to return and give a review.

Positives: Housekeeping was awesome! The room was always clean. I would have liked more towels since we have three kids but I didn't bother to call and request more. They actually caught on about two nights into the trip and on the 3rd day started leaving more towels which I thought was really nice. The kids were so surprised one night to return to our room and find the lights on and all the stuffed animals stacked up on pillows watching the disney channel! One had the remote and housekeeping had turned the TV so they could "see" it better from the bed. It was so cute and my oldest was convinced the animals did it on their own . The next night one of the animals was waiting by the window for us.

The pool was wonderful! We enjoyed it only once but it was a nice morning and we really liked the water slide. It was also nice to get a golf cart ride to and from the pool. We just had to call and request a pick up!

On our way back to the room one day we were stopped by a cast member in a golf cart. She gave my kids each a disney character figurine. We were so surprised. What an extra special treat! The resort itself was beautiful.

Negatives: We requested a room close to the bus stop. Preferably Casitas 4 or 5. We got 3. Walking to and from the bus was a haul. We would have preferred a room with a better location. I faxed and made a request on our reservation.

We had a great lunch at the Pepper Market, but the same day we ate there for dinner and it was the worst experience all week with food. It took over an hour for a burger and chicken sandwich. What a mess! When we finally got our food the kids had finished eating and were really tired (it was 8:30pm). So I threw mine in a to go box and ate in the room. The food that night was pretty blah.

Overall we give it two thumbs up and would definitely recommend it to others!

Thank you so much for coming back and giving us your review. It sounds as if the trip was a huge success with the exception of location and one poor meal at thee Pepper Market. Something you said is new to me. I have never heard that you could call for a golf cart and they would take you to the pool???

I love what mousekeeping did with the kids stuffed animals.

 

[princess o's mom]

We just returned from our 5 night stay at the Coronado Springs. This was our first visit. This board was so helpful with advice I wanted to return and give a review.

Positives: Housekeeping was awesome! The room was always clean. I would have liked more towels since we have three kids but I didn't bother to call and request more. They actually caught on about two nights into the trip and on the 3rd day started leaving more towels which I thought was really nice. The kids were so surprised one night to return to our room and find the lights on and all the stuffed animals stacked up on pillows watching the disney channel! One had the remote and housekeeping had turned the TV so they could "see" it better from the bed. It was so cute and my oldest was convinced the animals did it on their own . The next night one of the animals was waiting by the window for us.

The pool was wonderful! We enjoyed it only once but it was a nice morning and we really liked the water slide. It was also nice to get a golf cart ride to and from the pool. We just had to call and request a pick up!

On our way back to the room one day we were stopped by a cast member in a golf cart. She gave my kids each a disney character figurine. We were so surprised. What an extra special treat! The resort itself was beautiful.

Negatives: We requested a room close to the bus stop. Preferably Casitas 4 or 5. We got 3. Walking to and from the bus was a haul. We would have preferred a room with a better location. I faxed and made a request on our reservation.

We had a great lunch at the Pepper Market, but the same day we ate there for dinner and it was the worst experience all week with food. It took over an hour for a burger and chicken sandwich. What a mess! When we finally got our food the kids had finished eating and were really tired (it was 8:30pm). So I threw mine in a to go box and ate in the room. The food that night was pretty blah.

Overall we give it two thumbs up and would definitely recommend it to others!

We must have been there at the same time! I could have given you some towels as we had to start stacking them on top of our luggage b/c we ran out of room for all the ones they left us!

They arranged my kids stuffed animals also and my daughter thought it was so neat. She was very excited every day to see what they had done with them!

I heard that there was a new employee on the grill at Pepper Market a few nights this week so that might have been the hold up there. We did have to wait there a few times also. It's not easy when trying to feed kids and everyone's stuff is ready at different times.