Coronado Tower vs Caribbean Beach

[LolaNJoe]

We are planning a cruise for January (fingers crossed) and deciding between a few days beforehand at either Coronado Springs in the new tower or at Caribbean Beach. It would be three nights and two park hopper days. We are watching lots of videos and LOVE the look and restaurants of CS, but the skyliner at CB is super tempting for park hopping. We're driving down so we will have our car but prefer not to use it on property.

Cost is within $100 total so that aspect is a wash. Pools wouldn't really matter since it's January and we'd be looking forward to white sand beaches on the cruise anyway.

Opinions welcome!

 

[JM_97]

Personally I prefer hotels with interior corridors. I know a lot of people don't like how Coronado isn't an obvious Disney theme but to me I'd like to avoid getting Disney-ed out. That way you get a little of both

 

[jbreen2010]

I've stayed at Coronado springs and Caribbean beach (not the coronado tower), but I do have to say that Caribbean beach was a very nice place to stay. It felt spread out around the lake with room to relax. I very much enjoyed my stay and would pick Caribbean beach over regular Coronado. Also skyliner is now on Caribbean beach as well, so could be more fun than taking a bus everywhere.

 

[jennyq87]

In my opinion, this is an apples and oranges comparison. I'd choose the tower 100 out of 100 times over CBR. Especially if you have a water view.

ETA: I don't have children to consider in the equation

 

[ouwxgirl]

How many are in your party and are bathrooms important to you at all? We have a 7 year old and a 9 year old, and the bathroom configuration is the main reason that I will not stay in the CSR tower. It would make it really difficult and a longer, more drawn out process to get ready each morning with the clear shower door + sinks in the same room. We stayed at CBR last year and loved everything except how big the resort was.

 

[LolaNJoe]

It's just the two of us adults, so bathroom situation would be just like at home in our 1 bath!

 

[ouwxgirl]

It's just the two of us adults, so bathroom situation would be just like at home in our 1 bath!

Then CSR tower. It looks beautiful, and from everything I've heard, would be a great place for a couple to stay!

 

[everreal15]

I don't think anything in CBR is really comparable to the Tower rooms. But CBR does bring the Skyliner, so its really do you prefer having the option of the skyliner or the feel and experience of a deluxe room in a tower at a moderate price point. And also theming, CBR feels much more DISNEY, CSR as a whole is lot more subtle. For me I would pick the tower each time but I dont feel like either is a bad choice. Just different experiences at both.

In terms of value for your money I would say GDT pulls ahead but again that comes down to how much value you put into having access to the Skyliner. OH THE CHOICES!!! lol.

 

[Rm4OneMore]

Take this with a grain of salt as both of our stays at each resort were in the mid 00's and I believe both have had some improvements/refurbishments since then. We loved Caribbean beach resort. The laid back atmosphere, the bright colors, the staff, the main pool, the Shutters restaurant (now closed), we loved it all and stayed there four years straight. At some point, we decided to mix things up and stayed at Coronado springs. We stayed there once and we will never stay there again. The resort is nice but we felt it was a bit light on Disney theming (again that might have changed since our trip). The main reason we didn't enjoy our stay was that the resort had a conference center. That meant every time we went somewhere, we were stuck on buses with entrepreneurs trying to sell their products, their brands, and/or themselves. We were used to retirees and couples with/without kids like ourselves and had trouble adjusting to the incessant business chatter.

 

[Spazz2k]

So my 2 cents... We have stayed at both many times, with family and friends of all ages, and I will say that the younger kids really love CSR over CBR all day. I don't know what it is, but every time we travel with kids under 5, they go crazy for the pool and the playground area. I personally like the new pool area at CBR better, but I personally love CSR overall. So I will say that if your coming in January, pool probably will not be top priority, so skyliner is a def plus!! In the summer I would say not so much...why, because anytime there are storms in the area, it becomes a nightmare!!! They will make you get off at the next stop, no matter what that stop is, and at that point, it is bus hopping time to your destination...not fun. If you do goto Coronado and get a tower room ...IMO if you like fireworks, get a standard view high floor room to the east side...fireworks can be seen from EPCOT and Hollywood Studios