Do You Avoid Convention Resorts?

[PlainJane]

A comment from someone wary of staying at CSR due to the possibility of a convention got me thinking. I've rarely seen the deluxe convention resorts singled out as bad places to stay because they also house convention spaces. It seems to come up frequently when discussing CSR.

So, where do you stand? Cast your vote and feel free to leave a comment.

Edited to add: Is it for some reason worse at CSR than the deluxes (or some of the deluxes)?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Ha, I keep saying the same thing. I don't see nearly the freakout about BC/YC conventions.

 

[Oswin]

I actually prefer CSR during a big convention. The lobby, restaurants, and lounges are busier but bus transportation is generally emptier and the pool isn't busy until night.

 

[constantstar]

I actually prefer CSR during a big convention. The lobby, restaurants, and lounges are busier but bus transportation is generally emptier and the pool isn't busy until night.

This! We were at CSR last month during a convention. The only time I saw them was when I was up early taking a walk before the kids got up (6am-ish). The buses were great and there weren't a ton of people. I like that all the rooms weren't taken up by people doing the same thing I was.

 

[minnie mum]

Why would the presence of guests who didn't mob the bus before RD or didn't hog the loungers by the pool in the afternoon bother me? Why would guests who ate their lunches ( and sometimes other meals) in the convention center instead of the food court bother me? Why would adults going about their business or chatting with colleagues instead of yelling at their screaming kids bother me?

The only thing that bothered me were the crowds at the bars once they let out for the day. And even that wasn't an every day thing.

 

[mommy2twinprincesses]

Not only do I not avoid them, I prefer them!! We found CSR to be very quiet and the pool wasn't busy during the day.

 

[marchingstar]

I wonder if it's just that for some reason the deluxe resorts don't get branded as convention hotels, so folks don't realize they're used for conventions? I mean, this basically confirms what everyone else is saying--conventions and conventioneers really don't have a negative impact on a Disney vacation.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We've seen the conventioneers walking around the Epcot resort areas, but there are never very many of them. The biggest impact for those staying at the Beach Club is when they have corporate parties on the beach. There was one of these parties with loud music when we were there in February. I was glad I didn't have a room that was close to the party.

 

[HopperFan]

LOVE CSR.

Hear the excuse often and think it's a cop out to blame convention space to justify a stay elsewhere. The advantages far outweigh the occasional guest walking around business casual.

 

[Sandi]

Maybe we just experienced the wrong convention when we stayed at CSR. The conventioneers were for the most part horrible, obnoxious people. Very demanding to the CMs, entitled attitude wherever they were -- food court, reception, etc. I won't stay there again because of that experience. Now I usually stay at BWI and, while there are always conventions going on there and you notice the people walking around with name badges, etc., they do not impact our enjoyment of the resort. A completely different experience. I answered the poll with "some" because of the different experiences between CSR and BWI.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

Let everyone complain about CSR...more room for the rest of us!

 

[loves to dive]

I'm looking at booking CSR for a split stay in Sept. and it didn't even occur to me to worry about them. I stayed at the Swan in March and I'll admit I was a little worried about it before the stay. Not the fact that they would be there but the fact that it was a Convention Resort and it wouldn't feel like WDW. Now there were a lot of them around and for the most part no bother. The cheerleaders on the other hand, oh my goodness. Evidently it was some sort of competition so they would take over the lobby at night with their meeting, which was always loud and they would tend to be milling around a lot more. There was no cheering though. I did see a number of ladies sitting in the lobby at different times doing their bags and even got stopped coming back to the resort one night by some people trying to get rid of their bags. Um, nope I don't want your swag bag, here's an idea, take it to your room (they were on their way to Epcot). I've stayed at YC/BC a number of times when they were there, other than being kind of loud in the bar area, I never had any problems.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

I do. Only because I love POR though.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I don't see any reason to. Conventioners are in meetings all day. They aren't cluttering up the buses to parks. I don't have any kids with me though. I understand some families prefer to stay where the majority of the guests are other families. In fact, I've got CSR next weekend. Got a deal on it, I'll probably have to be out in the Ranchos, but there are bus stops out there.

 

[PlainJane]

Like many have mentioned, I see it as a bonus to have a large number of people at a resort that won't be using the amenities until the evening hours. We've stayed at every convention resort on property, except for GF, and it has never negatively impacted our stay.

I wonder if it's just that for some reason the deluxe resorts don't get branded as convention hotels, so folks don't realize they're used for conventions? I mean, this basically confirms what everyone else is saying--conventions and conventioneers really don't have a negative impact on a Disney vacation.

I do wonder if there are some vacationers that simply don't know there are convention centers at a lot of the deluxes.

We've seen the conventioneers walking around the Epcot resort areas, but there are never very many of them. The biggest impact for those staying at the Beach Club is when they have corporate parties on the beach. There was one of these parties with loud music when we were there in February. I was glad I didn't have a room that was close to the party.

The only time I passed by one of these parties, we just happened to walk out of the World Showcase right as a very impressive fireworks show was starting. We quite enjoyed the show, and I never even thought of the negative impact for those rooms.

Maybe we just experienced the wrong convention when we stayed at CSR. The conventioneers were for the most part horrible, obnoxious people. Very demanding to the CMs, entitled attitude wherever they were -- food court, reception, etc. I won't stay there again because of that experience. Now I usually stay at BWI and, while there are always conventions going on there and you notice the people walking around with name badges, etc., they do not impact our enjoyment of the resort. A completely different experience. I answered the poll with "some" because of the different experiences between CSR and BWI.

I'm sorry for your experience, and I do understand a bad resort stay can sour you, even if it was possibly a one off. Who wants to pay for the second time to find out?

Thanks for the responses everyone! It looks like it from the poll it does dissuade some from staying, but it's not the norm. I was always curious, and now I know (from my highly unscientific survey ).

 

[patty57]

My preferred resorts are the Swan & Dolphin, which are convention resorts. I don't mind one bit. I read here that people don't like seeing "business people" in the hotels because it makes them less Disney. I just don't care what other guests are up to. I tend to be oblivious when it comes to what other people are doing.

 

[kathymac]

I love Coronado Springs and have stayed there many times. We did have a bad convention experience once when a tire company convention took over most of the grounds around the lake in the center of the resort. Chairs, podiums for musicians, tables of food, electrical cables running everywhere. It was a mess. Many of the conventioneers were drunk and loud. We took a bus to Downtown Disney one night with a group of the conventioneers and I was actually intimidated by the obnoxious behavior of the men.

Not our favorite Disney trip.

 

[nkereina]

I've stayed at CSR once, and experienced two different conventions while I was there. I always hear about the pool and buses being less crowded because of it but it was only noticeably by the pool for me. Buses still were standing room only at the busier times and this was in November which is not a busy time of year.

While I wouldn't necessarily avoid a convention resort and we would stay at CSR again, our experience was that we felt the business folks somewhat detracted from the vacation-feel "disney bubble" for us. I travel quite a bit for work, so when I saw people in suits and on laptops and on conference calls sitting all around us by the lake while we were eating breakfast, it reminded me exactly of my own work and what's waiting at home. We also found the bar to be crowded after their day ended at 5pm, and we also made the mistake of going to DTD around 7pm one night and were on the bus with a group of about 20 of them (they all had the same shirt on). So they traveled in packs at times too. Lastly, we had requested a standard rooms in the one of the Casitas buildings because we wanted to be closest to that bus stop, and they were not able to grant the request because virtually all of those rooms were blocked for the convention attendees, being the closest rooms to the convention center. None of this was problematic and noise was never an issue, but just something to consider.

 

[disnut8]

When we stay at Coronado Springs, we like to walk around the grounds. We actually have a better time because when we see the conventioneers outside and they are wearing their name badges even through they aren't in a meeting, we relax more and realize we are on vacation and work is not where we are. We sat in a hot tub at Coronado Springs and were smirking at each other while four others were yakking about work. Because they were sitting in a hot tub talking about work and we were on vacation and enjoying ourselves.

 

[Sue M]

Inhaventvstsyed in CSR, but have stayed at YC, and GF, both convention hotels. Never bothered me. Also stayed at WL when invention was at CR. Seems WL was overflow hotel. It just made boats a bit busier going over to CR, but not a problem.
I've heard the stories about drunk obnoxious conventioneers. But haven't personally experienced that.