has anyone been at CSR while there is a convention going on ?

[mamita]

This will be our first stay there. I see there will be two conventions going on on our dates (5-11 jan) are the mostly big with tons of people?

 

[OKW Lover]

You'll find that there are a lot of conventions at CSR but they really don't impact your experience as a casual guest. The reason for that is that the convention attendees will be in the various conference rooms most of the time so you'll only notice them in the morning as they go from their hotel room to the conference room and back at the end of the day.

 

[Deb & Bill]

This will be our first stay there. I see there will be two conventions going on on our dates (5-11 jan) are the mostly big with tons of people?

I attended a conference at CSR and didn't think it had much of an impact on the resort. Except at the Pepper Market around noon when we broke for lunch.

 

[BiancaBernard&Penny]

I think there pretty much always is one. I found, in my VERY limited experience at CSR that it doesn't have impact on crowd but might have impact on "feel". We stated once and our stay overlapped two convention/conferences with about a day between.
# 1 was a respiratory therapist conference. The attendees were fun. Many therapists are women, there were a lot with families. They enjoyed the pools (you could pick them out discussing sessions while kids splashed around them). They were only easy to spot on park busses or the pepper market if they carried a drug rep tote bag, etc. Typical Disney goers, also getting some education credits. I may be biased as a nurse but I know our job is stressful and when the classes are over at a conference, hospital types love to let loose and have fun!

#2 was a financial/ business conference. Mostly men, mostly alone, without families. They were very professional and business like. Suit and tie for sessions, that's how you would see them at lunch and even traveling on busses- like DTD for dinner. By this time in our trip it was cooler and rainy... We didn't even use the pool so I don't know about them. We sat across from 3 guys in their suits in the way home from DTD and it was clear that the pixie dust missed them. They criticized Disney business practices, etc. analyzed transportation and dinner, then turned back to debating office politics. It was a bit of a bummer since we experienced it a couple times with that group. Too bad they didn't bring along spouses and kids and relax a bit. I suspect they were the serious career types who may not be married? Maybe just a mistake on the part if the conference hosts to pick a Disney resort and not Gaylord or something? I actually overheard some grumbling about "having to come to WDW" They were also frequent flyers who complained a lot at checkout/ airline check in. Many tried getting on our bus to the airport which was a couple hours earlier than the one they were signed up to take. (If I remember that correctly and if I'm use ing correct words).

I suspect most conferences are like the first, not the second.

 

[saskdw]

We spent the last 2 Christmas at CSR from Dec. 14th-28th. They don't have conventions over Christmas, but they were a couple both years for the first few days up until 17th or 18th. I honestly never even noticed. The only reason I know there were conventions there those days was my online research. I think Pepper Market probably gets really busy at the designated meal times, but we avoid those anyway no matter which resort we are at. We always eat at off times on vacation to avoid the chaos and it works out great. One of the great things about resorts like CSR and CBR is because they are spread out it never feels crowded even when they are full.

 

[disnut8]

This will be our first stay there. I see there will be two conventions going on on our dates (5-11 jan) are the mostly big with tons of people?

Conventions won't impact your stay. We've been there during conventions and I quite honestly laugh at the Type A business people who cannot take off their names tags. So you'll see that. You might also "experience" some hard working folk at night in the hot tub bragging to their fellow conventioneers about their jobs. That evening was hysterical for me.

However, we've also seen conventioneers in the parks doing team building exercises so you are likely to run into groups any time any where. The Boardwalk, the Dolphin, the Swan, the Contemporary all have convention centers so you have them all the time, you just don't know it.

 

[I Love Pluto]

We stayed at CSR twice. The first time - the convention was young business men & women. It was great - we had the pools & buses to ourselves during the day. BUT - AT NIGHT - we couldn't get near the pool, the hot tub, the buses, the food court - because the huge number of convention people were there. They were also VERY LOUD!

The second time we stayed with groups of soccer children (boys) who chanted day & night. They were very cute - sharing their spaces at the food court & pools with us easily. They were extremely polite. But there were so many of them! We felt that we were treading on their space.

I assume it's all about which convention is there when you go.

 

[snykymom]

I was there twice with conventions. The first was a kids' chess tournament or somthing like that. Lots of kids, lots of parents, but we didn't notice anything different than when there wasn't a convention - there's always lots of kids & parents!

The second was a square dancing convention. I only noticed them because of their beautiful square dancing costumes. No other effect on our stay.

 

[GovieMom]

We stayed at CSR twice. The first time - the convention was young business men & women. It was great - we had the pools & buses to ourselves during the day. BUT - AT NIGHT - we couldn't get near the pool, the hot tub, the buses, the food court - because the huge number of convention people were there. They were also VERY LOUD!

That was our experience as well. CSR, while a gorgeous resort, was the only one we didn't experience the Disney feel at, due to the large number of business people around.

 

[monorailmom]

We've only stayed at CSR once..this past Oct. There was one conference there, and the only time we noticed them was at night when hubby and I had gone out looking to sit and have a drink. Rix Cafe was packed after about 9:00pm, so we went outside, and the bar there was also packed. The upside is that the busses were never packed, and the pool in the afternoon always had tables and lounge chairs available.

My hubby travels a few times a year for conferences...he is a CFO.. so while I understand people not loving the 'business' folks around the resort, quite often we are those folks!!! I just wish one of his conferences would be at WDW!!!!

 

[RubySlippers]

Are you going during the Grainger Convention?

Check out the pics on page 3

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2884816&highlight=csr+conventions&page=3

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Are you going during the Grainger Convention?

Check out the pics on page 3

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2884816&highlight=csr+conventions&page=3

The Grainger convention is not at CSR in 2013.

 

[rznhal]

We were there with a couple of conventions (I'm assuming....we saw people in business casual clothes with name tags). They didn't affect us at all.

A large group did come into pepper market at the same time as us once (we ate there several times), and the CMs at PM went out of their way to seat us quickly so we could get our orders in ahead of the large group

They are so nice at PM! Every single CM was great there! Actually all the Cms were very nice!!!!