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

[Michelle<3sDisney]

My family and I are staying at the CSR in early February and reading through this thread has gotten me beyond excited! Everyones pictures are absolutely breathtaking and I just can't wait to go! All of your experiences sound, for the most part, extremely positive -- Disney just never lets us down! Can't wait!

 

[Lucky'sMom]

I did the on-line check-in, assuming falsely that it would SAVE time.

Where do you do on-line check-in?

You can do on-line check-in right on the Disney World site up to 10 days before your trip. I don't advise it for CSR. Although, I have read that you can get in the regular line if you wish. The problem for me was, the on-line check-in line LOOKED much shorter, and was much shorter, but it took much longer.

 

[cjsm&d]

I did the on-line check-in, assuming falsely that it would SAVE time.

Where do you do on-line check-in?

You do it on the WDW site.

Our experience is contrary to the other poster. Every resort we've done the on-line check-in including CSR, we were at the desk and on our way to our room in a matter 5 minutes or so.

 

[danceteachermom]

We are leaving in 11 days. I am traveling with 39 of my high school students who will be performing in Downtown Disney on Jan. 23 at 4:45. This is the 6th time I have taken a student group to DW and we have always stayed at the CSR. We do this for a few reasons. First my kids are high school age, extremely respectful, very well-behaved, and generally just an amazing group. I like to avoid staying where other student groups stay (values & CBR) beacuse I just don't think there are many groups that behave as well as mine and I like to keep my kids away from that. Second we always travel in January and with the unpredictable weather the hot tub at the CSR is a must. I think it is the largest on property. Third you can't beat the queen beds - the only at a mod. Then fourth we love the Pepper Market. I think it gives our kids and families much better options and higher quality food than any other value or moderate resort.

We love the CSR grounds. Although I prefer to stay in rooms closer to El Centro we have never been dissappointed with our rooms, the bus service, or the grounds. I think all the walking is good for my HS students. I bring my family and many of the students families join us as well. The walk to and from the main building can be hard for tired little ones but it is no worse than walking in the parks and it is so beautiful.

We can't wait for this stay....we are counting down here. We will stay six nights and we all have 5-day park hoppers. The kids take a dance workshop backstage in Epcot and perform in DD at 4:45 PM Sun. Jan 23rd. We have a few cool meals planned....dinner at DD Rainforest, Breakfast at CP, and another breakfast at AK Rainforest.

I have visited almost all of the resports and stayed offsite, at the Contemporary, and at WL. CSR is my favorite primarily beacuse of the Dig Site!

11 days and we are there....can't wait.

 

[Camno's Mama]

I just booked a trip for the last week of March and we are staying at CSR. Has anyone gone at this time of year? What can we expect for crowd levels? Does CSR tend to have really crowded buses at busy times, or do they just keep them moving faster?

We stayed at POP early last June, and I was really impressed with how efficient everything was. The food court, the buses, the pools weren't bad...

We are not really that thrown off by crowds...it is Disney, after all. Just wondered.

Also, did you find that the weather was nice enought to use the pools pretty regularly? I looked up the average temps, and it looks like it will be about 80.

We have wanted to stay here for a few years now, so I'm pretty excited!

 

[KatMark]

I noticed someone already answered the question regarding balconies. However, each room has it's own outside entry door and walkway to each room from the stairs. Hope that helps.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAT!!!

Can you believe it? Nine days out.. yay!

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Your trip is almost here.

My DD and I just looked at all the beautiful CSR pics! She is almost 2 and kept saying Ooooh! Ooooh! Thanks for helping us get even more excited!!

So glad that your daughter is enjoying the pics.

Has it been announced yet what buildings are now preferred locations? We are booked in May and I have requested Cabanas 8B but I don't want to pay extra.....

The last "official" word I got from the manager's office at the CSR is that Casitas 1, 2 and 3 will be preferred.

Room request question:
We are leaving on 1/13 for our FREE Disney trip ( i won it in a radio contest!) and they are putting us at the CSR! From the information they sent us, they have us in a water view room. I'd like to make a room request that is close to a bus stop, close to a pool (either the Dig Site or a quiet pool) and relatively close to the main building. Where should I put the request in for?

Cabanas 9A would be perfect!

 

[KatMark]

If we Have a water view reserved anyone have any idea which buildings have this view or what I should request for good location to el centro and bus stop?

Also, do you recommend the on line check in? Can I put my request for room location there?

There are waterviews throughout the resort. You could get a view of the lake, a fountain, quiet pool, etc. No, online check in does not allow you to desiganted a specific section (you can request 1st floor, close to transportation, I believe).

We just got back from our stay at Coronado Springs, and I thought I would give my review. We were in Casitas 3. It was a nice proximity to the bus stop (which was a plus during our busy weeks - it was often standing-room only by the time we got around to the front), but I found the Casitas to be very maze-like. It literally took me 10 days to figure out the best path back to our room from El Centro, and I am usually really good with directions.

The rooms were beautiful - no complaints there at all. Next time, I will bring some additional storage like a shoe holder or hanging sweater holder.

The gift shop was great. The employees were very helpful and remembered us.

Pepper Market was OK. The food was good, and the portions were hearty. I didn't like that DD kept getting her food 10+ minutes before DH and I. She either had to sit at a table alone or wait with us while our food was prepared.

We ate at Maya Grill twice, and it was very good. Service was slower than I like, but the attention we received was great. When DD didn't like her meal (the shrimp tacos were a little spicy for her), they offered a replacement, which they totally didn't have to do.

DD loved the pool and the waterslide. We visited several other resorts, and DD said she wants to come back to CS again for the pool.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay and felt the resort was a good value for the money.

Thanks for your review. I am so glad that you enjoyed your stay at the CSR. And delighted that your daughter enjoyed the pool and waterslide...we do too.

This is an awesome thread! I've been reading through it all day (much to my DH's annoyance...Disney Scrooge!). We are going to WDW in August. It is my 1st trip and I've wanted to go for more than 20 years! We were going to stay in the DTD area but thanks to the room discounts that became available we are now able to stay at CSR!!! I'm so excited! I requested to have a room in Cabanas 8A or 8B and I have a water view room (was all that was available) so I hope I get that.

_______________

222 more days until our 1st family trip to WDW!!!

Welcome. I'm glad the thread has been helpful to you. I hope you have a wonderful first visit to the World!

Disney Scrooge - Love that term!!

I agree, DaniB! That is a great term.

I just called CSR to ask them about the "Preferred" Rooms (which is what we booked) and the CM that I spoke to stated that there are no specific buildings that are designated to the "Preferred" Rooms it will just guarantee you that your room will be near the main building.

Not sure if that will change just thought I would pass along what I heard.

You didn't actually TALK to the CSR. When you call the CSR number it goes to the CRO just as all other resort calls go. They see that the call is coming into the CSR and answer the phone that way. I know the secretary to the manager of the CSR and the last she was made aware is that Casitas 1, 2 and 3 will be preferred (Cabanas 9B remains "Club Level").

We had a wonderful stay at CSR! Our DME bus was waiting at the airport when we arrived, so we made it to the resort by 10:40 am. The only bad part of our stay was the check-in. I did the on-line check-in, assuming falsely that it would SAVE time. My line had only 3 people ahead of me, but took over 40 minutes. The CMs staffing it went from 3 to 2 to 1 while I was in line. The regular check-in line had 10 CMs, and went much faster even though the line was much longer. I had requested connecting rooms, and was told that I received them. When we got to our rooms, we found that they did not connect. I had to visit the front desk again later after returning from AK and a very, very kind manager was able to just switch one of our rooms to make them connect on the other side. That was the only negative part of our experience here. All the CMs we encountered were very friendly, and we really enjoyed a few meals at the Pepper Market. I think it has a great selection. We were upgraded to Casitas 1, even though I paid for a standard room. The location was nice. We were pretty much right in between bus stop 1 & 2, so we always took 2. It was a must. The seats were all taken every morning by the time the bus was at #3. The people at #4 never got a seat. We rode the bus between 8:15 and 9:00 each morning.
Casitas 1 is a LONG walk to the Dig Site. LONG. The resort is huge. Our housekeepers did a pretty good job. We never got any towel animals, but my DDs stuffed animals were always arranged on her bed. Good enough! I ordered a case of water from Costco and it was at the business center for pick-up. Even with the $10 service fee, it still is a great deal, because I paid less than $16 for 24 bottles of water, which sell for $2.50/ea. at the resort. We drank them all and did end up buying 2 of the large bottles for the final evening. I brought along the Crystal Light drink packets so my kids could make lemonade or cherry drink if they didn't want the plain water at night. I loved utilizing the RAC service. I didn't realize that our boarding passes would appear on our door the last night. It was so easy to check-in our bags with RAC, and we caught an early DME bus for our return. Since I have 5 kids, we have been staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek in 2 or 4 bedroom villas the last few trips. I enjoy the larger accommodations alot, but the free dining and free DME service was awesome and a nice change of pace. CSR is a great choice for your vacation...you won't be disappointed!

Thanks so much for your review. I'm glad you enjoyed your stay at the CSR. Yes, it is a long walk to the pool from Casitas 1, but such a beautiful walk. Did you use the bridge or did you walk all the way around?

Thanks again for posting your experience at the CSR.

My family and I are staying at the CSR in early February and reading through this thread has gotten me beyond excited! Everyones pictures are absolutely breathtaking and I just can't wait to go! All of your experiences sound, for the most part, extremely positive -- Disney just never lets us down! Can't wait!

Welcome to the CSR thread. I have found that you can have a good or bad experience at every resort. If it is major, I go to the front desk and ask for a manager. We've been very fortunate that we've only had one major issue at another resort and one or two minor issues at the CSR in our nine stays that have been easily rectified.

We are leaving in 11 days. I am traveling with 39 of my high school students who will be performing in Downtown Disney on Jan. 23 at 4:45. This is the 6th time I have taken a student group to DW and we have always stayed at the CSR. We do this for a few reasons. First my kids are high school age, extremely respectful, very well-behaved, and generally just an amazing group. I like to avoid staying where other student groups stay (values & CBR) beacuse I just don't think there are many groups that behave as well as mine and I like to keep my kids away from that. Second we always travel in January and with the unpredictable weather the hot tub at the CSR is a must. I think it is the largest on property. Third you can't beat the queen beds - the only at a mod. Then fourth we love the Pepper Market. I think it gives our kids and families much better options and higher quality food than any other value or moderate resort.

We love the CSR grounds. Although I prefer to stay in rooms closer to El Centro we have never been dissappointed with our rooms, the bus service, or the grounds. I think all the walking is good for my HS students. I bring my family and many of the students families join us as well. The walk to and from the main building can be hard for tired little ones but it is no worse than walking in the parks and it is so beautiful.

We can't wait for this stay....we are counting down here. We will stay six nights and we all have 5-day park hoppers. The kids take a dance workshop backstage in Epcot and perform in DD at 4:45 PM Sun. Jan 23rd. We have a few cool meals planned....dinner at DD Rainforest, Breakfast at CP, and another breakfast at AK Rainforest.

I have visited almost all of the resports and stayed offsite, at the Contemporary, and at WL. CSR is my favorite primarily beacuse of the Dig Site!

11 days and we are there....can't wait.

It sounds as if you have a GREAT group of kids...good for you. I hope you ALL have a great trip and I am so glad to hear that you love CSR. Say hi to Pooh and Tigger for me.

I just booked a trip for the last week of March and we are staying at CSR. Has anyone gone at this time of year? What can we expect for crowd levels? Does CSR tend to have really crowded buses at busy times, or do they just keep them moving faster?

We stayed at POP early last June, and I was really impressed with how efficient everything was. The food court, the buses, the pools weren't bad...

We are not really that thrown off by crowds...it is Disney, after all. Just wondered.

Also, did you find that the weather was nice enought to use the pools pretty regularly? I looked up the average temps, and it looks like it will be about 80.

We have wanted to stay here for a few years now, so I'm pretty excited!

We've never gone in March but we went the first week of April and the weather was great for the pool and we found the crowds to be in the middle level.

 

[KatMark]

Well, it's official. We have booked our 2011 trip.

We will stay at the AKL with a Savannah view for two nights -- September 23 and 24. On September 25, we will come "home" to the CSR for four nights before driving to Marco Island for a week. I can't wait!

 

[cjsm&d]

I just booked a trip for the last week of March and we are staying at CSR. Has anyone gone at this time of year? What can we expect for crowd levels? Does CSR tend to have really crowded buses at busy times, or do they just keep them moving faster?

We stayed at POP early last June, and I was really impressed with how efficient everything was. The food court, the buses, the pools weren't bad...

We are not really that thrown off by crowds...it is Disney, after all. Just wondered.

Also, did you find that the weather was nice enought to use the pools pretty regularly? I looked up the average temps, and it looks like it will be about 80.

We have wanted to stay here for a few years now, so I'm pretty excited!

I have not found the buses to be overcrowded often (at park closing the exception). Because of the convention business, I never found the food court, or pool areas overcrowded.

We love this resort. Hope you have a great time.

 

[Rantybaby]

We are leaving in 11 days. I am traveling with 39 of my high school students who will be performing in Downtown Disney on Jan. 23 at 4:45.


Is this your group's only performance? I arrive on 1/23 @ 7pm. Also staying at CSR.

 

[danceteachermom]

We are leaving in 11 days. I am traveling with 39 of my high school students who will be performing in Downtown Disney on Jan. 23 at 4:45.


Is this your group's only performance? I arrive on 1/23 @ 7pm. Also staying at CSR.

Yes unfortunately it is. But we will be at the CSR on Monday so if you see a well behaved group of high school age students they may be mine. I suppose if it rains on Sunday the show could be moved to Monday but I hope not because many of my performers families leave Monday morning.

 

[suemom2kay]

I asked this as a thread on the resort board without much help, maybe someone here knows?

I want to book CSR for 6/9 1 night on the Premium Plan and 5 nights 6/10-6/15 room only. At this time I can only make 1 deposit, so here is what I'm thinking of doing-booking all 6 nights room only and making the 1 night deposit. Next month when I can make the deposit on the 1 night Premium I would call and take 1 night off of my already booked room and book the Premium package.

I will be booking the room only with the current discount. I do know that to book the Premium package you have to do so paying the rack rate.

My fear is that when I call next month to book the Premium package the rooms may already be gone and by booking it with my room only reservation now I'm kinda holding it-does that make sense? Our airrival night 6/8 is being spent at PoP due to no vacancy at CSR other than a Jr. King Suite which is as much as a night at the Poly .

For the past 3 years I've wanted to stay at CSR and have not been able to because the rooms go so fast it seems with the discount codes that are offered. Each year I had seen availability and not booked thinking I could get the room at a later time only to find it gone. I want to get it if I can.

Will this work?

Room only and packages area separate. You can try booking the whole thing as room only, but when you change that ressie to one night less, that single night may not be sitting in the system for you. Best bet is to call CRO and see if you can do that. Since you are going from discounted night to undiscounted night you may be able to do it.

 

[LisaKeys]

Well, it's official. We have booked our 2011 trip.

YAY!

We will stay at the AKL with a Savannah view for two nights -- September 23 and 24. On September 25, we will come "home" to the CSR for four nights before driving to Marco Island for a week. I can't wait!

Oh, I know you've been wanting to stay at AKL, so I'm very happy for you. Two nights is perfect - and a Savannah view! Still, nothing like coming home for four more nights - to top it off with a drive to Marco Island for a full week. Sounds marvelous!!!

We are down to ONE DAY for our trip! My DD and DSIL are packed and will be meeting us tomorrow night at an airport hotel and we head out Monday morning to a full plane. We will be doing a dual-TR - plus I'll make sure to come back here for our review of CSR.

Till then...

 

[minimandymouse]

Is there a plan of the room numbers etc with interconnecting rooms
As there is for Pop Century which was very helpful last year
Many thanks in advance
Mandy

 

[KatMark]

Oh, I know you've been wanting to stay at AKL, so I'm very happy for you. Two nights is perfect - and a Savannah view! Still, nothing like coming home for four more nights - to top it off with a drive to Marco Island for a full week. Sounds marvelous!!!

We are down to ONE DAY for our trip! My DD and DSIL are packed and will be meeting us tomorrow night at an airport hotel and we head out Monday morning to a full plane. We will be doing a dual-TR - plus I'll make sure to come back here for our review of CSR.

Till then...

Have a wonderful trip. And be sure to let me know where your TR is so that I can follow it (post a link or send me a PM).

I hope you love CSR half as much as we do.

 

[kmarie99]

Can anyone tell me if the CSR marina will be open duirng our stay from Feb 5-13?

 

[KatMark]

Can anyone tell me if the CSR marina will be open duirng our stay from Feb 5-13?

I doubt it. The marina is open scheduled to be open only during peak times. However, when we were there in September ALL of the boats were gone. Personally, if you are looking to rent watercraft, you really are better doing it from one of the monorail resorts where there is a lot more room to move around and a lot more to see. The lake, although big to walk around, is not all that big to take a boat in and you don't leave the property at all.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Well, it's official. We have booked our 2011 trip.

We will stay at the AKL with a Savannah view for two nights -- September 23 and 24. On September 25, we will come "home" to the CSR for four nights before driving to Marco Island for a week. I can't wait!

Yay for you!

Have a WONDERFUL time! Enjoy AKL - there is so much to do around the resort, and it is very relaxing.

 

[KatMark]

Yay for you!

Have a WONDERFUL time! Enjoy AKL - there is so much to do around the resort, and it is very relaxing.

Well, it is a long way off, but I'm looking forward to it. Your post on AKL compared to CSR was very helpful. We figured two days to just enjoy AKL and the grounds, animals and pool would be good before we hit the parks, Halloween party, etc.

 

[TinkerBrie]

We are leaving 1 week from tomorrow!!!!!!!!!! I am packing as we speak! I put in my request on my original reservation, do you think I should still call for a building request again??? Also, does anyone know if they have bed rails available??