Just back from the CSR and Polynesian...Part 1 (very long)

[Disney-Kim]

We just got back today from our honeymoon in WDW. We spend May 3-11 there and spent 4 nights at the CSR and then 4 at the Polynesian. It was a fun trip and we loved it as usual. Here is just a couple quick reviews.........and please do not flame me. I am allowed my own opinions. Please also remember that I am not one of those whose trip is ruined by not getting a view and I usually don't expect anything extraordiary. I am only stating how things went so you can understand our feeling.
But this was our Honeymoon and I wanted it to be really special.

CSR - We were disappointed. so sorry to all the CSR fans. This is just our personal opinion, ok.
We arrived at about 8pm on Friday the 3rd. We had faxed a preference for a room close to the food court and stating that it was our honeymoon. thats it. no other requests. I had never done this before but figured our honeymoon deserved the extra effort. I had read a lot on the boards about good customer service etc at the CSR. So anyway......check in we find out that our room is in the Ranchos....the farthest room in the farthest bldg. Okay I understand this is a busy hotel.....but no way jose. I asked for anything closer....please......okay how about a parking lot view in the Cabanas (the one closest to the Dig Site). No thanks again.....so we ended up with a room in the Casitas #5......also the furthest from the food court. We took it. We were tired from the flight and starving. The front desk kept saying how he was giving us a king bed and I had to remind him that I paid for a king bed.

the room: It was nice, clean, and we liked the look but hated the Casitas. We were on the 4th floor and using the elevator made us feel to much like being in a hotel/motel. Plus we decided we just weren't crazy about the whole SW theme since we see it everyday. We had been concerned about this....should have went with our gut feeling. Housekeeping never made up our room before 4pm in 4 days either.
We requested to be moved the very next day to the Cabanas and they could not move us till the next day. So 2 nights in the Casitas and 2 nights in the Cabanas.
We really liked the room in the Cabanas. I think it was 9506. nice lake view and so very close to the front. We were happier but still felt the overall feeling of discontent.

the foodcourt: I am sorry but the food was awful. The prices too high and the whole idea of paying after a nuisance. We also did not enjoy the convention atmosphere. It was defineatly felt in this hotel. Don't let anyone tell you differently. I did not like seeing working/business people every day. Who wants to be reminded of work every day of your vacation? not us.
remember this was our honeymoon.

Castmembers: nice but no extras. nothing extra in the room from the mousekeeper and we tipped nicely every day. nothing from the front desk people.....we felt more of a nuisance. Luggage services also forgot to transfer our luggage to the Poly and we did not get it till 6pm... with the help of the Polynesian's luggage svc.

So in conclusion......the CSR was not as bad as I probably just made it sound but it was not the place for us and especially not for our honeymoon. Oh they did NOTHING. not even a congrats.
The look of the CSR is what all of nicer Phoenix looks like and I thought that would not be as big of a deal but it really was. Plus the convention people made it feel like any old Hilton. The disney magic was just not there for us. We really wanted to check out on our 2nd day and go to the Polynesian early but we had already paid for it and did not want to take the extra expense.
I am really sorry to the CSR fans out there, this was just our experience.
Kim

ps.....sorry sooooooo long......our review of the Polynesian is execellent.....

 

[jennymouse]

Thank you so much for you honest report...I'd been waffeling about staying here for a while and you helped me make my mind up. Hoping for code rates so we can spend our entire stay at AKL instead of splitting, but if a split has to be made, we'll go with either CBR or POFQ.

I had already been worried about the convention atmosphere and this not being as much of a "family" resort as the others...plus, I think my DD would like the tropical feel of CBR. I'd like the boat to DD and smaller size at POFQ.

This doesn't sound like you had a very "Disney" experience there at all........I feel bad for you too. Now I'm going to have to hurry and read your Part #2, or I'm going to cry.

 

[soccerchick]

Congratulations on your wedding! So sorry to hear CSR didn't do anything to help you begin your celebration. That's disappointing to hear that they don't make at least a small gesture for honeymooners.

We had a very different experience at CSR but I agree with you on the Food Court - I just wasn't impressed with our stay in March (we did two meals there). We were there the week prior to Easter and perhaps that was a slow time for conventions (although I did see some signs), but we hardly noticed anyone. Of course we were also at the parks at opening and for most of the day.

 

[Buzz2001]

Sorry you didn't enjoy CSR. It isn't for everyone. I hope you still had a great honeymoon overall. Congrats!

 

[luvpooh]

We stayed at CSR for 4 nights in late April. I was THIS close to moving after the 1st day, we really disliked it that much. I agree with everything Kim said, not friendly, too convention-y (although we did see Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks there), Pepper Market was awful, waaaaaay too big (and we were in Casitas 1, which BTW is attached to the convention center, which is attached to El Centro).

But oh well, live and learn...for July I have booked POFQ, but since we've already stayed there, I might wind up changing to a hotel that we haven't stayed at already, or if the reviews of POFQ after it reopens are favorable, I may just stay with it (it was our favorite resort anyway!)

 

[DeeP]

So sorry to hear that you did not enjoy your stay at CSR. It is our favorite moderate resort but we also do not like the Casita section, too many reminders of real life when you see all the conventioneers on business trips! We always try to get a room in the Cabanas section, so much more relaxed and vacation like. Whenever anyone on this board asks for a recomendation for which section at CSR I always say Cabanas and I am always surprised when I read posts that say Casitas? We do like the Pepper Market very much for the variety of different foods offered but this food court is more expensive than any of the other moderate resort food courts which makes no sense to us???? I hope you enjoyed your stay at the Poly!

 

[cookie2001]

Thanks for your honest report. We will be staying at CSR for 4 nights in June and then on to the Poly for 3 nights. I am a little worried about the conventioners but otherwise, no worries. That is awful that they didn't try to accommodate your request on your honeymoon.

I really have no desire to stay in the Dixie Landings Mansions (whatever they are called) for the same reason you had doubts about CSR, too much like home.

 

[Disney-Kim]

Remember everyone that this was just my experience and we all have different views. Thanks for listening to my thoughts.

We did not have a bad time and it did not ruin our trip or anything. I was a little disappointed that they did not do anything for our honeymoon. But such is life.

We did not want the Casitas either. The cabanas are really nice but again I was trying to give an overall feeling that we had.

The foodcourt is way to expensive for families, imho. There were families at the CSR because we saw them at the pool. The pool was really nice and the slide was fun.

We just did not love our stay there or find that "magic".

thanks for the congrats too....

 

[jimmiej]

Originally posted by Disney-Kim
We also did not enjoy the convention atmosphere. It was defineatly felt in this hotel. Don't let anyone tell you differently.

I'm sorry you didn't like CSR. We went in June 2000, saw a few conventioneers, but definitely did not feel they ruined the atmosphere. I told them(CSR-not the conventioneers-LOL!!!) we were on our second honeymoon & they treated us like royalty! It's really different for everyone. Glad you liked the Poly.

 

[dcedwards]

Congrats on your wedding. We live in the Phoenix area (which is large0 and I agree that the theme is not much different from here. That is one reason why it just doesn't appeal to me. I also agree with your impression of the food court. That was ours, also. And, after planning conventions for many years, staying at a convention hotel, isn't a vacation for me. Thanks for the honesty. It just confirms that we have made the right choice by staying at POFQ.

 

[caitycaity]

congrats on your wedding! sorry you didn't like csr.

if it makes you feel any better, the beach club did absolutely zip for our honeymoon too (although the people at po-rs were really great!)

 

[Tinkbell]

Thanks for your review. Sorry to hear that they did not even congratulate you. I think your requests were very reasonable. Sorry it didn't work out. I know that if I honeymooned in Disney I would probably expect something special too. When my boyfriend and I were at the GF last year, the staff kept assuming we were on our honeymoon. Even when we told them we weren't, they kept going out of their way to put smiles on our faces (as if we weren't smiling already.....We were at Disney )

I can't wait to hear the Polynesian review!

 

[wdisneelvr]

Disney-Kim, just out of curiousity...what made you decide to stay at CSR in the first place? There are so many disney resorts to choose from.

I like the southwestern look/feel and thought that the CSR would be a nice place to stay. I have only seen pictures. Would you recommend it to a first timer? What advice do you have about what bldg or rooms to request?

Thank you

 

[Buzz2001]

wdisneelvr - we just returned from CSR. We stayed there last week and it was great. I would recommend cabana 9b or 8a. Now that bus stop 1 was moved closed to cabana 9b, it makes it a more central location to the dig site, main building and bus stop. Have a great trip!

 

[Luv2Roam]

Most important -- Congratulations!
I think like any resort, it is just a matter of personal taste. Living in AZ, I can see where the atmoshere would be a real let down.
And I would agree on the CSR service. Except for housekeeping and the CM coming and going with our luggage, the service wasn't up to what we expected for Disney. It was more like a regular run of the mill hotel chain.
And I felt somewhat like you at check-in. I felt like they were nice, but kinda snooty. When they were almost done they started smiling -- like they were happy to almost be done with us. And it wasn't like there was any line at all for check-in that day. I think it was a slow time and they wanted a breather. That's the impression I got.
They just weren't overly friendly, like I expected and had read about. That was our first on-site stay and I had read so much good about the Disney CM attitude that I expected them to exceed my expectations.
Our service at ASMo was much better all the way around.
But the PM we really liked. Again just personal preference. I think half of guests can't stand it and half really like it.
The convention again, just depends on guest's tastes. It doesn't bother us in any way at all. We look at it as a plus, because that leaves more bus seats for CSR park guests. But others I know it really bothers.
I have found you almost always want to go with your gut feeling.
Very interesting report! Thanks!

 

[PamNC]

Very interesting to hear different opinions on resorts. Nobody should slam you for your opinion...that's what discussion boards are for.

We stayed at CSR twice. Once for a week long trip and once for quick weekend trip for our anniversary. If you would have asked me a few years ago, I would have told you CSR was our favorite resort. However, since then we have only stayed at Deluxe resorts and that has changed. Here is what I didn't like about CSR: the food court. Totally agree with you, it's overpriced and the food is nothing to write home about. We also didn't like the way it was set up. During our week long trip we had requested Casitas and we were not granted our request.

Now, the positive. Love having a restaurant like Maya Grille on property. Delicious. Loved the theming and the dig site pool. Also, we liked the location. We usually drive, or if we fly we rent a car. CSR is rather central...easy drive to all parks. But then again, most of the resorts are. Except we don't like PO's location.

The convention aspect didn't bother us. But I can understand how it would. I just never pad any attention to the business-like atmosphere.

All in all, I'd say it's my favorite moderate resort. But, I'm not chomping at the bit to go back. Our new favorite resort is Beach Club. Stayed there twice and loved it - love stormalong Bay. In less than 2 weeks we're going and staying at the Grand Floridian. Hmmm....I wonder if we'll have a new favorite?

The only way we can afford to keep staying at Deluxe resorts is because we have a cast member friend who gets us discounts. thank goodness for him.

PamNC
13 days and counting.

 

[Disney-Kim]

wdisneelvr - the reason we picked the CSR was because we had stayed at the POR and CBR twice and wanted to try something new. It helped us afford the concierge at Polynesian by staying at a moderate for a couple days.
I had read so many positive things about CSR and the pictures of it were beautiful. My DH never wanted to stay there but always goes along with me.

this resort is beautiful, but very big and just not for us. I would not recommend it for a first time stay....I would suggest the POR for a 1st timer.....its so themed and pretty. Plus we really liked the food court too and Boatworks restaurant.

The Maya Grill was a good dinner but DH hated it. He had ribs and did not like them. I had salmon and it was the best I have ever had. It was a really good dinner in my opinion.

 

[Piglet203]

Disney-Kim,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on CSR. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I'm still banking that Mickey76 and I are going to love it when we are there in 12 days We absolutely LOVE the theming of CSR. We have seen lots and lots of pictures of CSR, thanks to Buzz2001 and other sites I guess we should all follow our gut feeling....if it doesn't really appeal to you through pictures and descriptions, then it probably won't appeal to you. Again, thanks for your input. Congrats on your wedding.....

12 days and counting!!!

 

[Laura]

Originally posted by Luv2Roam
The convention again, just depends on guest's tastes. It doesn't bother us in any way at all. We look at it as a plus, because that leaves more bus seats for CSR park guests.

That's how I feel about it too!

I thought the resort was super myself. And if anyone's really worried about conventions, don't stay in the Casitas, stay near Dig Site instead. But I stayed in Casitas 4, and never once saw anyone who didn't look like a fellow Disney-fied tourist!

 

[nwdisgal]

Disney- Kim - Congrats on your wedding and thanks for your honest opinion on the CSR. I think people should always feel comfortable expressing their feelings on these boards, without coming under personal attack. Besides, the CSR fan club seems to be a pretty reasonable bunch. The neat thing about staying on site is there is something for everyone at the different Disney resorts. Also, I agree about the let down of staying at some place that reminds you too much of home. The WL looks gorgeous. I would probably even stay there....if I didn't live in the NW. By contrast, that is what is so intriguing to me about CSR. We have nothing like this in my neck of the woods. BTW, I am glad that you had such a great visit to the Poly. I am looking forward to reading your review on it.