We just returned from our 11 night stay at CSR. Overall I would say our experience was between good and very good. Our family consists of 2A, 2C and 1 (Disney) infant.
First, we paid extra to stay in Business Class (BC). For our family this was a good value. We ate breakfast there almost every morning. There was enough food to keep up full until lunch, but by the 4th day the offerings were feeling stale and repetitive. I know the average guest doesnt stay for 11 days, but it would be nice to mix it up a little. The evening food offerings werent doing much for me, but my H and I had several drinks each night before heading off to our 7pm ADRs. We certainly got our moneys worth in alcohol alone, the food was just a bonus. In addition to the lounge BC offered a great room location. There were other families in the lounge but it doesnt feel kid friendly at all. We always kept our girls quiet and made sure they were sitting and eating and not disturbing anyone, but it felt very stuffy in there. They also hid the kids drinks (apple juice and chocolate milk) in the back, so be sure to ask for them if you dont see them out. We didnt find the lounge staff overly friendly. I thought maybe they were grumpy because we didnt tip them after our first drink, but when we tried to tip as we left we were told they couldnt accept tips, so Im not sure what the issue was. I know it isnt a true club lounge, but they werent going out of their way to get us drink refills. It was the same 3 or 4 people the whole time we were there and they never once acted like they knew us. It was just strange. Id still pay extra for BC because it was worth it for us, but it wouldnt be because of the magical staff!
Our room was nice. We liked the doors separating the shower area and the sleeping area, it made shower time easier. We were able to get a roll away bed which made things tight when it was out, but the 3rd sleeping area was great. I appreciated all of the outlets, it made charging phones and tablets really easy.
Housekeeping was hit or miss. Some days it was great and wed get plenty of towels and soaps, and others wed have to call and ask for more. Some days they would come at 8:30a and others they still hadnt come by 2p when we returned for naps.
We had free dining so we only ate in the food court 2xs, once for breakfast and once for lunch. Breakfast was bad. My husbands bacon egg and cheese was gross the roll was hard and the egg was cold. My sausage gravy was OK at best. The kids liked the mickey waffles. Lunch on the other hand was outstanding! I had nachos, the kids had flatbreads and my husband got a chicken entrée. The portions were HUGE and the desserts were delish. At the end of our stay we had 3 QS credits remaining and we were allowed to get 3 snacks for each QS credit (or 2 snacks and a drink) so we took home some rice crispy mickeys from the Pepper Market. I hear this isnt the norm so I really appreciated that we didnt have to let the credits go to waste.
The grounds are beautiful. We didnt mind the walk over to the dig site, the girls loved trying to spot turtles and fish under the bridge. We all loved the pool - especially the slide! I was REALLY looking forward to the giant hot tub but was let down Even on a cool day the water temp was only warm and the jets werent very powerful. I wont comment on all of the children splashing and swimming around in the hot tub as that is not Disneys fault, though I do wish they made the hot tub 16+ or adults only to avoid that. There are plenty of areas for kids to play, leaving them out of the hot tub would be nice. The sign said kids under 12 required adult supervision but that wasnt enforced at all.
My kids really enjoyed the playground and sand box. I was disappointed to see they removed the swings from the playground. I hope they intend to replace them as there isnt much there for older kids. We used the ping pong and arcade, too.
The food at the pool was adequate. We were able to use counter service credits there to make a meal. It was nice to have some snacks to hold us over until dinner. We tried the nachos, empanadas, pizza rolls and fries. I only ordered 1 drink at the bar and it was very strong, which was nice considering the price, but it didnt taste very good. I drank it all anyway, though.
I only had one interaction with the front desk staff. I needed to pay down my balance with gift cards and inquire about remaining dining plan credits. The CM (dont remember her name, only that she was from Browns Mills NJ) was completely annoyed and tried to push me off to someone else. When I asked about the dining plan issue (50s charged 3 child TS when only 2 were on the plan and we should have paid out of pocket for the 3rds meal. I overlooked it at the time and when I realized the mistake I wanted to fix it) she was arguing with me saying the restaurant did it correctly which we all know is FALSE Disneys policy strictly states that dining credits can only be used by the person assigned to them, and since my 2 y.o. was assigned NO CREDITS she shouldnt have been able to use her sisters. In the end it wasnt an issue, 50s must have realized their mistake and corrected it because the credit was replaced. It was just annoying that the CM was arguing with me about it.
This was our 5th Disney trip in that last 2 years. Our other stays were at AoA Suites, Pop (x2) and PO-Riverside. Out of all those stays this was the worst bus service we experienced. CSR is a HUGE resort with 4 bus stops and for some reason bus stop #1 is the LAST to be picked up if youre going to the parks, even though you pay more money to stay in that area of the resort. I knew this going into our stay so we decided to walk to stop #4 so we werent at the absolute LAST stop. Our first morning, November 2, we arrived at #4 at 8a and waited for an hour and 20 minutes to get a MK bus. 4 FULL MK busses drove by us. People were calling and walking back to El Centro to complain, every park bus that came by we asked the driver when a MK bus would come and they all said its on the way. Finally after an hour and 20 mins an empty bus was sent to #4. By that time everyone waiting at the stop couldnt even fit on it, but my family got on. After that we always walked to stop #2 for MK (which was inconvenient) and used #1 for any other park. I will say that I complained to the manager that evening and she gave us an extra set of FPs for our next MK day, but that didnt change the fact that we missed the crucial early morning touring in MK on our first day. After that mess we noticed WDW Transportation employees at the stops and the busses from there on out seemed to run on a more regular schedule, usually having a 20-30 min wait at stop #1, though sometimes we got lucky and walked up just as a bus pulled in. Waiting at the parks and DTD was usually at least 30 mins. I cant tell you how many times a CSR bus would pull up, drop off passengers, and then say were changing our route, youre bus back to CSR will be here shortly. On Nov 10th it happened 3 xs at the DTD bus stop, it actually got to be a joke with everyone waiting in line.
Weve only been to one other mod, Port Orleans Riverside, and in a side by side comparison we prefer POR (thats without taking the bus situation into consideration as that can vary greatly at any resort depending on a variety of factors). We like the grounds, food and location better. Not to say we wouldnt stay at CSR again, it just wouldnt be our first choice.
Its really a non-issue though, since my Disney infant is now a Disney child and regular CSR rooms dont sleep 5. I would never pay for a Jr Suite at this resort, it would be cheaper to stay at an actual deluxe resort and benefit from deluxe amenities and location.
So, thats my CSR review! Hope everyone else enjoys CSR & their Disney vacation
Probably stop at PM for lunch, check into the room (I hope it will be ready), short rest, then Epcot for Rose and Crown dinner, Soarin' (DH's fav!), Illuminations, and kind of early night to be ready for MK Sunday! Do I sound excited?? 
