How much do conventions affect the resorts??

[SnowWhite33]

I have been so excited about planning our June vacation at CSR that I never thought about it being a Convention resort. On the CSR Fact thread there were reports of the Grainger Convention essentially taking over the resorts public areas and shutting down the main and some quiet pools for the Convention guests use.

I looked up the conventions going on during my visit and found that the National PTA Convention would be going on while I am there. This is what their website says:

Join thousands of parents, teachers, students, and leaders who come to national convention each year to enhance their skills, connections, and success!

* Education—choose from 50+ workshops
* Exhibits—visit more than 200 exhibits
* Issues—raise your voice on national business and emerging issues
* Resources—gather 100s of ideas, handouts, giveaways
* Connections—interact with 1,000s of other PTA & parent engagement leaders from around the country
* Orlando—bring the entire family and enjoy all that Walt Disney World has to offer

I am reading the word THOUSANDS and completely freaking out

That seems like a large convention! If it's going to shut down pools and take over the resort we might need to consider switching resorts

Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? Or even any experience with this particular convention?

 

[Lorelei Lee]

We're booked there for August. Where do you get info about the conventions?

 

[bicker]

I can't speak to CSR, but I have been to numerous conferences at the Dolphin and Swan. The conferences have had events which used the beach area, but it was after dark when the area would generally have not been used by regular guests anyway. Overall, the impact is minimal, but not unnoticeable. The biggest impact is the queue at the coffee kiosk.

 

[dvcHammer]

Convention groups take over the pool and bar areas.

I avoid CSR if there is a convention there, if any other MOD choice is available

 

[SnowWhite33]

We're booked there for August. Where do you get info about the conventions?

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2568966

KatMark has a list on the first page of this thread. Great info here too!

 

[SnowWhite33]

I can't speak to CSR, but I have been to numerous conferences at the Dolphin and Swan. The conferences have had events which used the beach area, but it was after dark when the area would generally have not been used by regular guests anyway. Overall, the impact is minimal, but not unnoticeable. The biggest impact is the queue at the coffee kiosk.

Convention groups take over the pool and bar areas.

I avoid CSR if there is a convention there, if any other MOD choice is available

I think my biggest issue will be IF areas like the main pool will be shut down to accommodate the convention guest. I'm paying for the use of the public facilities and expect them to be available. From what I understand this happened during the Grainger convention. Guests who complained were refunded 1 nights stay.

 

[dizfamily4]

hi guys I too was wondering about conventions, we are at CSR tried the WDW Dolphin and that was booked....is there anything going on 3/31-4/5 for conventions @ CSR??

 

[KatMark]

I have stayed at the CSR nine times and there has always been a convention. I have never seen the pool closed for a convention. This is not to say it doesn't happen, but it has never happened when we were there. We've stayed at the Contemporary during a convention and don't recall ever seeing the pool closed. I know we were hanging around the Beach Club/Yacht Club one eyar, and the beach area was closed for a convention party. It all comes down to whether the convention group has paid for extra activities. Sorry...I'm not much help.

 

[bicker]

And really that can happen regardless of a convention... a wedding could book the pool area and it'll be off-limits for a few hours as a result, with guests referred to the hotel's other pool.

 

[Jessica527]

This was one of my main questions when looking at this resort. Thanks for the OP!

 

[happiestgrl]

Snowwhite, Just wanted to give you an idea of how big the Grainger conference was. There were over 10,000 participants and 473 booths.

 

[mjohnson96]

On the positive side, the conventions book up the hotel but they are stuck there during the day. This makes for sometimes less crowded busses

We are going the same time from the 10th - the 16th of June and since CSR has almost 2k rooms and you can still get these rooms with the discounts then it really won't be as bad as you are thinking.

I am really looking forward to our stay at CSR, and have no intention of switching resorts unless I can upgrade to BC

Heck the week before that convention you can't get a room at all so I'm thinking either there is another convention that is going on during that time or these people are coming early

 

[dizfamily4]

very true anything can make a resort crowded and not readily accessible, but I too was just wondering if any info was known about my dates so I can just plan accordingly, I have been on both sides, experiencing a convention and actually being part of one.....but I am "thoughtful" convention participant knowing people are here on vacation and have paid good hard earned $ to be there as well...

 

[mjohnson96]

Snowwhite, Just wanted to give you an idea of how big the Grainger conference was. There were over 10,000 participants and 473 booths.

They must have stayed in other resorts too, just looked at the number of rooms and even if every room had 4ppl in it then you would still have less than 8k at the hotel, unless you count kids under 3 . But WOW that is allot of ppl in one place.

 

[happiestgrl]

They must have stayed in other resorts too, just looked at the number of rooms and even if every room had 4ppl in it then you would still have less than 8k at the hotel, unless you count kids under 3 . But WOW that is allot of ppl in one place.

Yep, there were several overflow hotels. One night there were six buses lined up at AKL that were just going back/forth between CSR and AKL. My husband booked for the convention in early January. At that time, CSR and CR were sold out of the convention rooms, so he was given AKL.

 

[jking6]

I have stayed at CSR several times and have never had an issue with convention people. The bar area at night seems a little more busy but other than that no issues.
In fact CSR is my favorite resort and I have stayed at POLY and BLT and enjoy CSR more.
Have a great trip...

 

[SnowWhite33]

Thank you for all of the responses.

I agree if there are still rooms available then I guess it shouldn't be too bad. When I first started planning in early January we were unable to get a room at CSR for the first couple of nights of our trip, since then all of our dates opened up.

I am not going to change resorts unless I'm bumped up/out to somewhere else.

And Grainger having 10,000 people-WOW! That is a lot of people at one place!

Still excited about CSR and will just plan for heavy crowds.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

We stayed at CSR past trip and they had a convention but it worked out well with the buses b/c convention people were doing stuff and didn't go into parks until late at night so the bus was great. The only negative was one morning the wait for Maya Grill to get a sit down breakfast was 35 mins (that was the only thing so not bad). We have stayed at The Swan and GF during convention and it really doesn't affect our stay.

 

[DeeDeeBop]

I wondered the same thing. I'll be there with the PTA convention as well...Its my first time staying at a mod, and I have heard so many good thing about CSR that I figured I would chance it.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

We love CSR, and I think there has been a convention every time we have stayed there. We have noticed people with nametags and have occasionally noticed the Pepper Market is crowded at breakfast. We have also noticed that the pool and buses are basically empty during the day since many of the guests are doing convention things.

The Grainger convention is HUGE and it really does seem to take over the whole resort. I seem to remember reading similar posts last year when Grainger was at CSR.

Most conventions are not on the same scale as the Grainger convention. When I have known about a convention before going to WDW, I have checked the registration website to see what activities are scheduled. Typically, the days are spent in the convention center and evenings may or may not have scheduled activities. It is unusual for a convention to adversely affect other guests, whether it is held at CSR, GF, YC, CR, Dolphin, Swan, etc. The Grainger convention is an exception.

Edited:

I got curious about the PTA convention - here is the tentative schedule.