Coronado Springs

[lisapooh]

Any opinions on handicapped access at Coronado Springs. I use a power wheelchair and have requested as close to the Food Court area as possible and a room with grab bars in the tub. Unfortunately they will not guarantee a room close in. Makes me very nervous as far as getting food.

 

[Wade Shrader]

CS is laid out pretty well for WC users, IMHO. We stayed there 3 years ago. It is a little spread out though, certainly more so than DxL. Disney should be able to accomodate your requests to be close to the food court, bus stops, etc, while in an accessible room. Have you considered using Dreams Unlimited? Not only have they gotten us great discounts on rooms, made all of our PS for us, but they also found us the perfect accessible room at DxL: close to the bus stop, pool, and food court.

 

[colleen121]

Hi,
Im a newbie. I will be taking my first trip to DW in March and am quite excited. I will be staying at CS. I have CP and use a manuel w/c . Is there anyway to ask for a room that is near transportation? I'm not ill in anyway, but I dont think that i'll be able to walk/wheel over that sprawling lanscape to the bus. Any thoughts?

 

[SueM in MN]

Welcome, Colleen.
Here is the phone number for WDW RESORTS/SPECIAL RESERVATIONS
(407) 939-7807 [voice]
(407) 939-7670 [TTY]
They can help you with getting a room assigned to you that will met your needs.

 

[lisapooh]

Sue
They will not guarantee even with the special needs number. It is one of the reasons I am very leary of this resort. It is a shame that POFQ was closed as it was the prefect moderate for someone using a wheelchair. Everything close and easily accessible.

 

[BuckeyeBelle]

Special Reservation is wonderful but like Lisa said you still have to be careful when you go through them. I think the main benefit is that the room assigner is supposed to assign special reservations guests first. Also Special Reservations can denote all your needs on your reservation but it doesn't do any good unless the room assigner actually READS it.

That happened to us once at DxL -- special reservations had very carefully requested for us a first floor room with a bathtub, because our handicapped son was only 5 and couldn't use a shower. They also requested a trundle bed so he could crawl in and out of bed without assistance (like at home.) When we got there we were assigned a handicap room with only a roll-in shower (no tub) and no trundle bed. The bellman said that the room assigner sometimes sees "special reservations" and automatically assigns the handicap room without reading through the all special needs. (Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?) DxL made it right and moved us right away to an appropriate room -- there were plenty available, in fact we had our choice of buildings.

After that we always followed up with a call or fax to the room assigner a few days before we arrived -- just a friendly reminder to look more closely at our special requests. I know that sounds rather belt-and-suspenders, but it has worked every time!

 

[SueM in MN]

Like anything else, getting what you need depends on the humans who are doing the work. We have been told that the medical needs rooms are assigned first, whether or not the requests have gone thru Special Reservations. If everyone is doing their job right, things like what happened to Buckeye Belle's reservation wouldn't happen. But, not everyone uses common sense or care in their jobs and when that happens, you don't get what you need.

 

[teri]

I have been put into wheelchair-accessible rooms twice when I asked for 1st floor for medical reasons - they always move us ASAP when we ask. You do need to be specific.

I stayed at CS about 18 months ago for one night. It is a large resort, but I remember thinking it would be fine for wheelchairs (my father was still alive at the time) because it was relatively flat. There were elevators in every building. DxL was in a circle, CS is more like 2 wings, but is it really much farther from one end to the middle than CBR or DxL? Just wondering.

CS also has those nice, roomy junior suites - I remember thinking that would be a great and accessible room even without the special accomodations, plenty of maneuvering space.

 

[colleen121]

Do you have any reccomendatoins as to what section to ask for? By the transportation or by the food court?

 

[teri]

I think you should ask for a building closer to the food court. As for transportation, I believe there are bus stops throughout the resort.

You do know, the food court there is very different - it is a scramble-buffet system rather than counter service, and semi-table service. The servers bring your drinks to you and can probably assist with trays. I always wonder how people who are full-time wheelchair users find this system - I wasn't sure if it would be confusing, a hassle, or easier than the other moderates.

 

[Wheelsie]

I know if I try it I'll let ya know teri!

 

[olena]

Casitas 1 or Cabanas 9B should be good bets for you.....