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

[silverhaze269]

We are narrowing down our resort choices for our next trip and are considering CSR our top moderate pick. We are deluxe snobs normally, but budget is tight, and we're hopeful that CSR will meet or exceed our expectations. This thread has gotten me VERY excited, so thanks for all who have contributed!!

I would love to hear more comments, good and bad, about Maya Grill. It seems like many who love CSR have not even tried Maya. If you haven't tried it, why not? If you have tried it, please elaborate on your thoughts. We like to immerse ourselves in our "home" resort while staying there, really exploring everything the resort has to offer, so dining at Maya would almost be a necessity to us. We're specifically interested in dinner. Breakfast, for the most part, is grab-n-go.

TIA!

When we ate at the Maya Grill it was late, probably around 9pm. We hardly had a wait for a table, and I noticed the restaurant was very empty when we got seated.

Our table was very close to a fountain, and it was sort of in the middle of the restaurant so you could look around and see a good chunk of it. The theming was nice. I can't really elaborate too much there because it was late, and we were tired and hungry (it was our arrival night, after having flight issues). The lighting was pretty dim, though, so any pictures we tried to take didn't turn out well at all. The low lighting gave a nice intimate feel, however.

Our server, whose name I'm forgetting at the moment (for some reason I'm thinking it was Jose), was very helpful. He gave us our menus and then made a few suggestions, before leaving us to look it over and choose. We ended up going with his suggestion, which was for the sampler plate for 2. It was really good. There was 2 shrimp tacos, steak, and something else which I'm not remembering, as well as rice, beans, and tortilla. Before he brought our dinner out, he gave us bred with some kind of oil for dipping. It was amazing. I don't remember what the oil was, but it was fantastic. I definitely could have eaten more of that. For dessert we both had the key lime desert shot, which was also very good. I would highly recommend the Maya Grill, and I'm a little sad I didn't get back there during my stay.

 

[KatMark]

Like the Pepper Market at CSR, the Maya Grill has a love it/hate it relationship wth most people.

In our nine stays thus far, we've only eaten breakfast there once...and it was still a buffet at that time. The buffet was your typical breakfast buffet and was fine. The reason we've never eaten dinner is that we are never at the resort at dinner time, but eating at the parks or one of the other resorts for our meals.

I have a good friend here on the DIS who stayed at the CSR two or three years ago. To this day, they make a special trip back to the CSR for a dinner every trip because they loved their meal there.

 

[soontobewed07]

Can't find a regular room for 10/15 to 10/25 A total bummer because we really enjoyed our last trip

 

[aubriee]

I would love to hear more comments, good and bad, about Maya Grill. It seems like many who love CSR have not even tried Maya. If you haven't tried it, why not? If you have tried it, please elaborate on your thoughts. We like to immerse ourselves in our "home" resort while staying there, really exploring everything the resort has to offer, so dining at Maya would almost be a necessity to us. We're specifically interested in dinner. Breakfast, for the most part, is grab-n-go.

TIA!

I've eaten at the Maya Grill several times and for the most part always enjoy it. The food has a southwest flair to it, but is nothing like your traditional Tex-Mex cruisine that most people associate with Mexico. They do not have enchiladas, burritos or anything like that on the menu. They don't serve chips and hot sauce, instead before the meal they serve bread with this amazing dipping sauce. I could have made a meal on just the bread and oil. The oil has alot of spices in it. It's not hot, just really, really good. Over the years we've had the pulled pork empanada (sort of like a fried meat pie), the seafood skillet (small, but good), a really good salad that had avocado, polenta pieces, and jicama in it along with the regular salad fixings, duck tacos, and cerviche for appetizers. For entrees they used to have a really huge platter that had ribs, a filet, fish, grilled veggies, and about 5 lbs of mashed potatoes on it. Not realizing how big it was going to be, my mom and I both ordered one. When we finished it didn't look like we had even touched it, so we took them back to our room and ate the next day on them, and still threw away over half. That was biggest platter of food I have ever seen in my life. My mom and I still laugh about it. It was very good though. Too bad it's no longer on the menu. Also for an entree we've had the beef tips with mushrooms and pasta (just OK), pork loin (my mom liked it), ribeye steak (really good), and the Seafood Jalea (good, but all fried and very heavy). For desserts we've had the tres leche cake (too dry for true tres leche), fried cheesecake with strawberries (my favorite--but hasn't been on the menu the last two times I was there), flan, (good), chocolate cake with raspberry filling, and caramel ice cream. Twice I've eaten there when I didn't have an ADR. I was just tired and didn't feel like keeping my ADR. Both times I was able to walk up (once solo and once with a party of three) and was seated immediately. Each time our waiters have been very good. They have a tray with samples of desserts on them, so you can look at them before you order. The only thing I don't like about them, is that they change the menu fairly frequently.

 

[cruella4me64]

Is bus stop #2 still the first pick up and drop off? I have been going back through the pages to check for differences of opinions, but no luck. Thanks to those in the know!

 

[aubriee]

Is bus stop #2 still the first pick up and drop off? I have been going back through the pages to check for differences of opinions, but no luck. Thanks to those in the know!

Going to the parks the bus pick up order is #2 Casitas stop, #3. Ranchos stop, #4. Cabanas stop, then #1. Main building stop.

Going to DTD the order is #1. Main building stop, #2. Casitas stop, #3. Ranchos stop, and then #4. Cabana stop.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

For some reason I woke up this morning REALLY excited because a week from today we will be arriving at CSR!!! I soooo need a break from work - this can't come at a better time

 

[llb]

I've searched without luck. Does anyone know if there are any boats at the Coronado or is the water just for atmosphere

 

[aubriee]

I've searched without luck. Does anyone know if there are any boats at the Coronado or is the water just for atmosphere

They have a marina that supposedly is open seasonally. I've been there in May, Sept, Oct, and Dec and never seen it open. Maybe it's open during the summer, but I've never seen anyone post that it was. Maybe KatMark knows.

 

[KatMark]

I've searched without luck. Does anyone know if there are any boats at the Coronado or is the water just for atmosphere

They have a marina that supposedly is open seasonally. I've been there in May, Sept, Oct, and Dec and never seen it open. Maybe it's open during the summer, but I've never seen anyone post that it was. Maybe KatMark knows.

They continue to say it is open "seasonallly", however, I truly believe it is shut down. I've not even seen the boats docked the last two Septembers we have been there. And as I have mentioned previously, it truly is NOT worth getting a boat on the lake at CSR. You really can't go anywhere (the boats do not leave the property), and I would always suggest renting a boat at Bay Lake by the Contemporary or Poly as there is much mroe space to explore/roam.

 

[iloveeeyore]

When we ate at the Maya Grill it was late, probably around 9pm. We hardly had a wait for a table, and I noticed the restaurant was very empty when we got seated.

Our table was very close to a fountain, and it was sort of in the middle of the restaurant so you could look around and see a good chunk of it. The theming was nice. I can't really elaborate too much there because it was late, and we were tired and hungry (it was our arrival night, after having flight issues). The lighting was pretty dim, though, so any pictures we tried to take didn't turn out well at all. The low lighting gave a nice intimate feel, however.

Our server, whose name I'm forgetting at the moment (for some reason I'm thinking it was Jose), was very helpful. He gave us our menus and then made a few suggestions, before leaving us to look it over and choose. We ended up going with his suggestion, which was for the sampler plate for 2. It was really good. There was 2 shrimp tacos, steak, and something else which I'm not remembering, as well as rice, beans, and tortilla. Before he brought our dinner out, he gave us bred with some kind of oil for dipping. It was amazing. I don't remember what the oil was, but it was fantastic. I definitely could have eaten more of that. For dessert we both had the key lime desert shot, which was also very good. I would highly recommend the Maya Grill, and I'm a little sad I didn't get back there during my stay.

Like the Pepper Market at CSR, the Maya Grill has a love it/hate it relationship wth most people.

In our nine stays thus far, we've only eaten breakfast there once...and it was still a buffet at that time. The buffet was your typical breakfast buffet and was fine. The reason we've never eaten dinner is that we are never at the resort at dinner time, but eating at the parks or one of the other resorts for our meals.

I have a good friend here on the DIS who stayed at the CSR two or three years ago. To this day, they make a special trip back to the CSR for a dinner every trip because they loved their meal there.

I've eaten at the Maya Grill several times and for the most part always enjoy it. The food has a southwest flair to it, but is nothing like your traditional Tex-Mex cruisine that most people associate with Mexico. They do not have enchiladas, burritos or anything like that on the menu. They don't serve chips and hot sauce, instead before the meal they serve bread with this amazing dipping sauce. I could have made a meal on just the bread and oil. The oil has alot of spices in it. It's not hot, just really, really good. Over the years we've had the pulled pork empanada (sort of like a fried meat pie), the seafood skillet (small, but good), a really good salad that had avocado, polenta pieces, and jicama in it along with the regular salad fixings, duck tacos, and cerviche for appetizers. For entrees they used to have a really huge platter that had ribs, a filet, fish, grilled veggies, and about 5 lbs of mashed potatoes on it. Not realizing how big it was going to be, my mom and I both ordered one. When we finished it didn't look like we had even touched it, so we took them back to our room and ate the next day on them, and still threw away over half. That was biggest platter of food I have ever seen in my life. My mom and I still laugh about it. It was very good though. Too bad it's no longer on the menu. Also for an entree we've had the beef tips with mushrooms and pasta (just OK), pork loin (my mom liked it), ribeye steak (really good), and the Seafood Jalea (good, but all fried and very heavy). For desserts we've had the tres leche cake (too dry for true tres leche), fried cheesecake with strawberries (my favorite--but hasn't been on the menu the last two times I was there), flan, (good), chocolate cake with raspberry filling, and caramel ice cream. Twice I've eaten there when I didn't have an ADR. I was just tired and didn't feel like keeping my ADR. Both times I was able to walk up (once solo and once with a party of three) and was seated immediately. Each time our waiters have been very good. They have a tray with samples of desserts on them, so you can look at them before you order. The only thing I don't like about them, is that they change the menu fairly frequently.

Thank you for your detailed responses about Maya Grill. We really enjoy authentic Mexican food (loved San Angel last summer), so maybe we would give it a try. I can't get too many positive reviews of it (can barely even get anyone to respond over on the restaurant board). I'm leaning toward planning other ADRs and using Maya as a fall-back option if, for some unanticipated reason, we can't or don't want to make our planned ADR some night.

KatMark, I have read your posts about your DIS friends who love Maya. Would they have written any reviews of it? Or would they have a suggestion as to what to order?

Thanks, again!

 

[KatMark]

Thank you for your detailed responses about Maya Grill. We really enjoy authentic Mexican food (loved San Angel last summer), so maybe we would give it a try. I can't get too many positive reviews of it (can barely even get anyone to respond over on the restaurant board). I'm leaning toward planning other ADRs and using Maya as a fall-back option if, for some unanticipated reason, we can't or don't want to make our planned ADR some night.

KatMark, I have read your posts about your DIS friends who love Maya. Would they have written any reviews of it? Or would they have a suggestion as to what to order?

Thanks, again!

I don't think she does dining reviews (she might have a review within her TR!). Her DIS name is OhioDisneyLover if you want to do a search. Or you could send her a PM and I'm sure she'd be happy to answer you when sheh sees it (I know she's not been on a lot latelyl, but she does pop in from time to time).

 

[Disney Bunny]

So I have been waiting and waiting for the Disney website to be updated for the 2012 military discounted dates. Took a chance and called Friday after something I saw in another thread. They had just opened up my dates that I already had my reservation for, so I got 35% off of our room rate. So for anyone out there who is eligible for the military discount, the 2012 dates can now be reserved.

 

[Disney Bunny]

So I have been waiting and waiting for the Disney website to be updated for the 2012 military discounted dates. Took a chance and called Friday after something I saw in another thread. They had just opened up my dates that I already had my reservation for, so I got 35% off of our room rate. So for anyone out there who is eligible for the military discount, the 2012 dates can now be reserved.

Sorry....that was some typo!!!!! Should be 2012!

 

[Whatevaheatha]

Hello everyone
Skimmed over all 167 pages over the last week...whew. SOOO glad I did! My best friend and I are going on a no kids, no hubbies, GIRLS ONLY vaca for July 12-16!! Woohoo!
We are park junkies so while we'll love our CSR stay we'll be up at dawn, only to return after all EMH's/closings.
After reading so many wonderful posts I called and requested Casitas 4 or 5 simply because of the close proximity to bus stops and being the first to be picked up. Our families last stay (POP century) was a bus nightmare! I'm hoping we'll be in a better situation this time with less wait, less walking, less standing, less pack-us-in-like-sardines. Would you all agree with this location and if not, what other area would be a good fit for us?
Thank you in advance
Heather

 

[iloveeeyore]

Is there an unofficial cocktail of the CSR? You know, anything similar to the Lapu Lapu at the Poly or the African Star Mojito at the AKL? (I love my cocktails! )

TIA!

 

[carseatmommy]

We're going to WDW the first full week of December. "We" includes myself, DH, DS(2--nearly 3 at travel time), my mother, and one of my nephews(just turned 12 @ travel time). Currently we've booked a family suite @ ASMu. We were looking at the resorts and pricing again and it appears as if we can get a Junior Suite-King at CSR for $50-$60 more.

I'm wondering if it's more room and better beds. Our plan is to put our son in bed with us or on a pack and play mattress on the floor. Once we moved him to a toddler bed, he won't go back into a crib/play pen.

Does anyone have photos they could share of the CSR Junior Suite King? I've searched and searched, but with no luck.

Thanks!
Susan

 

[poohs_hunny]

Does CSR currently participate in the Resort Airline Check-In? I know that last time I was at CBR they didn't, but Pop does. I really like not having to deal with our luggage at the airport!

 

[mommytocalliesue]

Does CSR currently participate in the Resort Airline Check-In? I know that last time I was at CBR they didn't, but Pop does. I really like not having to deal with our luggage at the airport!

Yes...you can check in your luggage at the resort!! That is a great feature!!

 

[EpcotBill]

Hi, just an FYI for anyone going in May 2012. I just tried to book 2 Standard rooms for clients at CSR for three nights, May 7 - 10. There are NO Standard rooms available for those dates. There are plenty of Water View and King rooms but no Standard. They were available Friday morning but my clients wanted to think about it over the weekend.
I called WDTC and they said the rooms were probably blocked for a convention. I searched the web and I can't find a convention at CSR then.