We're back from our first trip to Coronado Springs Resort. Having stayed at the Poly every other trip we've ever taken, we were a little hesitant to stay at a moderate. We had a great time, and the Coronado is every bit as beautiful as it looks in the photos on these boards.
There were some pros & cons to staying there, I thought, and I'm just going to give my perspective & opinions here...On the positive side: the transportation was amazing! I generally HATE the buses, but at the Coronado the bus service is wonderful. Only once or twice in the whole week did we get on a full bus, and we rarely waited for more than 5 minutes for our bus (I think we waited longer maybe 3x). The ride to MGM / Epcot and Animal Kingdom were really short, and Magic Kingdom wasn't too bad. It was hard to gauge just how long each trip would take because the drivers seemed to use different routes at different times, but all in all this should never be considered a negative to CSR...it was great. Also, like others have posted in the past, if you're staying there, catch the buses at stops other than from El Centro...we were on Bus Stop 2 (behind Casitas 4 & 5), and it was the first pickup in the resort, and the first drop off...perfection!
As for dining at the resort: the Pepper Market is great...lots of variety to please everyone in the family, but I thought it was a little pricey at between 12.00 - 13.00 per entree/plato. Its not exactly counter service. And...there were lots of conventions (dancers, martial arts, and more) so the restaurant really filled up fast...in the late morning the line snaked out of the Pepper Market and around the hall down towards the Convention Center (read: really long line). And there is no other choice on site except the Maya Grill which offered a Breakfast Buffet at 16.95 per adult...none of us could eat that much, so we didn't do that. Often we just waited til we got to the parks and grabbed something there.
The Laguna Bar is pretty nice, sitting right outside and next to the lake. I highly recommend the Pina Coladas there.
We never used the big pool...it was just too packed. But there are lots of quiet pools and though its posted that they close at 10:00pm, but people would be out there until at least midnight every night...which was nice, because there's nothing like a swim after a day at the parks.
The property is beautiful, as beautiful as the Poly, if not more so. They don't pipe in the Disney music along all the walkways like they do at the Poly, and I missed that...though it is piped in by the big pool.
We did have one snag though, and if not for this one thing we'd say it was a perfect alternative to the deluxe: upon our return to the room one evening, we found a pancake sized wet spot in front of our sink...we didn't think much of it, but when we woke up the next morning, the spot was much bigger...we called the front desk to report it, and the woman said she'd contact housekeeping...we hung around for about an hour, then left for the parks...when we returned, the wet spot was the entire vanity area...it was soaked. We called the front desk again, and the woman said she'd send up housekeeping. A guy showed up with a wet vac, and sucked up the water, and we went out again. Upon our return a few hours later, the floor was still soaking. We went down to the front desk in person, explained the problem...again...and were told to go to the room and wait for maintenance...over an hour and a half later, a very nice man named Angel came up and looked over the spot, determining that a pipe was leaking either behind the wall or under the floor. We'd have to be moved. Mind you, we had a magnificent room with a great water view (room #4430 in Casitas 4)...my dh went to the front desk again to arrange for a new room and was given room # 5237 in Casitas 5. This was billed as water view room, but it was not. It is a palm tree view...there is a wide trunked palm tree right smack in front of the room...and a family of heavy cigar smokers were parked on the balcony, too. Dh was not happy, and asked for something, anything, else. He was told that there was nothing else available, sorry. Steaming, but not wanting to upset me or the kids, dh accepted the new room. We packed up, then called Bell Services to come to our room to move our luggage. I sat on hold...no kidding...for over 10 minutes and no one came to the phone. I hung up, tried again, sat on hold for another 5 minutes...before dh imploded, we just decided to move ourselves to the new room. This was not the Disney service we were accustomed to...We didn't expect to be comped anything, or be given anything, we just wanted a comparable room to the one we had.
One thing I did notice, and I don't know if this is true at other resorts or not but cigarette butts were everywhere in the foliage and in these water capture areas along the sides of the buildings. Empty water and soda bottles were tossed into the borders, and wet towels were left on the walkways. After seeing a dirty facecloth on the stairs for 2 days, we finally picked it up and tossed it out. That may happen everywhere, though...
All in all, I'd recommend Coronado Springs to families with older children, or couples. Would I stay there again? I would. It was lovely, and had great transportation. Our burst pipe incident is just one of those things, not likely to happen again.
And thats my two cents...
Beth
Maybe its one of the rarities ? Strange tho, did you mention anything to the FD or HM ? I always remeber CSR being very well kept and clean!! weird!! Im glad you enjoyed some extent of your stay!
