Just switched from Pop to Coronado Springs

[minerva78]

I earlier updated my reservation of our family four to a standard room at Pop from December 15 - 22 to include free dining, just to make sure I secured a reservation. I then started looking at some other options and changed my reservation to Coronado Springs at the Gran Destino Tower. I know NOTHING about this new part of the resort, have not researched it, only looked at some pictures and found the location on a map and it just looked like a great place to stay! Since I've upgraded and had to add the park hoppers I'm not saving as much on our trip, but I am still paying less than what I would have had to pay with our Pop trip and my OOP food budget. I used free dining as an excuse to upgrade our trip. It looks like the Tower just opened, does anyone have any opinions about it, especially in comparison to Pop? I hope I made a good decision, and I really hope the rooms are bigger than the pictures of the ones at Pop.

 

[jhoannam]

Haven’t stayed at the Tower but everything I’ve seen is gorgeous! CSR is a great place to stay, we’ve stayed there twice.

 

[hes122]

I'm glad you were able to take advantage of the promo. FD isnt being offered during my dates, but the room discount is. Unfortunately, we booked under the old ticket pricing structure, so using the room discount would actually cost us more than our current rate so we're keeping everything as is.

 

[minerva78]

I'm glad you were able to take advantage of the promo. FD isnt being offered during my dates, but the room discount is. Unfortunately, we booked under the old ticket pricing structure, so using the room discount would actually cost us more than our current rate so we're keeping everything as is.

That really sucks. I honestly just lucked up that these were our original travel dates and there was quite a lot of availability for discounts. I kept reading on these boards about so many people who were not able to take advantage of these offers. I am still really surprised they offered free dining at all.

 

[hes122]

I was surprised by the FD offer as well. I think we'd have been able to use it, but we're in the short window where it's not being offered. I might actually be arriving a day early, so I'll be able to use it for that.

 

[Tissa]

If you look on youtube for the DIS unplugged, they did a tour of it. It looks nice.

 

[SaintsManiac]

There are a bunch of new video tours on YouTube. I thought about switching from POP, but we need a bathtub and we aren't really into the theme of the resort. I know that sounds silly, but it matters to us.

 

[minerva78]

There are a bunch of new video tours on YouTube. I thought about switching from POP, but we need a bathtub and we aren't really into the theme of the resort. I know that sounds silly, but it matters to us.

It's not silly at all! We all want different things for our vacations. When I saw the bathrooms I thought, what are they thinking with this setup? It doesn't bother me personally because we've only taken cruises since my youngest daughter was 5 (she's 10 now) and we are used to only one person being able to use the bathroom at a time and having to use a shower. Even with this huge bathroom only one person could use it at a time unless you wanted the person at the sink to see you in the glass shower. SMH. I know this is supposed to appeal to the convention crowd but plenty of employees still share hotel rooms at conventions! This has a very classy feel to it, but it's not catering to families at all, especially with the lack of fun theming. I thought the theming at Pop looked cute and fun and I'll miss that. But my primary reason for booking this was for the room size. I was very nervous about the size of the Pop rooms for 4 of us, we plan to have plenty of down time in our room. I had/have a reservation booked at the Doubletree Suites at Disney Springs as a backup mainly because of the price and the large room suites. The size of rooms and the proximity to a bus stop and dining were more important for me, but would not be for a lot of families if it meant sacrificing fun theming and a bathtub. Completely understandable.

 

[glocon]

The GDT looks so deluxe that it doesn’t even look to compare with Pop. I would definitely switch! We did Pip last year and will be at the GDT next week- can’t wait. There are lots of pictures and videos out there if you are interested in looking at those. Very different from Pop.

 

[Shellyred8]

The only downside I can see is that POP will have the gondola transportation by that time, so you will lose that. From pretty much every other perspective, I would vote for GDT.

Have a great trip!

 

[alex9179]

Pop's rooms are 260 sq ft. GD's are 375 sq ft, so noticeably larger and about 60 sq ft larger than other moderate rooms at 314. AKL and WL standard rooms are 344 sq ft.

 

[VicarJT]

I made that exact switch yesterday as well. We've never been interested in staying at Coronado Springs, but the new tower rooms sold us on it for our November trip. It meant changing a lot of my plans around and switching ADR's, but I'm excited!

 

[shannonstar]

I switched my dates by 4 days and from POFQ to Coronado as well. We haven't ever stayed there and are hoping we like it. I hope you end up liking it as well!

 

[chelleb1974]

I'm glad you were able to take advantage of the promo. FD isnt being offered during my dates, but the room discount is. Unfortunately, we booked under the old ticket pricing structure, so using the room discount would actually cost us more than our current rate so we're keeping everything as is.

This is a very good point that I didn't think of! We booked under the old ticket pricing as well and I was considering calling Disney to see if the room discount would apply to us (we check in too late for FD, boo). We are going 11/30-12/8, so the tickets will be more than they were when I booked.

 

[Diana Burdette]

This is a very good point that I didn't think of! We booked under the old ticket pricing as well and I was considering calling Disney to see if the room discount would apply to us (we check in too late for FD, boo). We are going 11/30-12/8, so the tickets will be more than they were when I booked.

We are staying the exact dates as you. Tried yesterday for any kind of discount and couldn't get anything then today 30% discounts for A.P. holders any couldn't get anything but Grand Floridion. Will keep what I have and continue to watch for additional discounts.