I know of atleast a few Brits heading to CSR soon. So here's my slightly over due review of our stay at CSR in May ...
We (DH and I)booked a UK package via Disney to stay at CSR for 14 days from 11th to the 25th May, we booked a 'standard' room with 14 day park hopper tickets and free QSDP
We flew in from Washington DC and only had to wait about 1-2mins at the airport before boarding ME and we were the first stop.
When we arrived there seemed to be one queue rather than separate for online check in and hotel check in. We hadnt checked in online as we had never been before, we queued for just a minute or two then we had a really nice CM who confirmed that we had a room in my requested area (cabanas) and that it had been upgraded to water view. YAY!!!
We walked to the room and (from memory) it was room 840 which was on the 2nd floor and overlooked the cabanas quiet pool. The weather on our arrival was overcast and rained lightly all day, despite this we were both bowled over with the beautiful resort. Being from the UK the tropical flowers and plants, mexican theming and wildlife (lizards etc) were just like nothing we get to see at home. (Hated the love bugs though!) Our room was great and everything was clean and in a good condition. We had mousekeeping almost every day (except for when we put the card on the door to say we didnt want it a few times) they did a fab job but sadly we didnt get a single towel animal etc - dont they know that adults appreciate these just as much as kids?
The quiet pool was a good size and although people were often in it until late they were always quiet and we never heard them. We were a 5min walk (if that) from both El Centro and The Dig site. We really enjoyed main pool and often went for a swim, then hot tub, then swim, then slide, maybe hot tub again... until we walked to our room and stopped off to lay in a hammock for a while and look at the stars talking about how we were in the best hotel/resort we've ever been to and didnt want to go home!!!
A few times we walked around the whole resort. I'd say that I like the cabanas area best because I like the themeing and the hammocks etc and it is very conveniently located no matter which building you are in.
I liked the themeing of the Ranchos area best, it had the strongest theme I thought and felt secluded and calm. I wouldnt have had a problem with the walk from there to El Centro, though obviously the shorter walk was better. Now... please dont hate me but the area I'd like to stay in least is Casitas. I liked the fountains and court yards etc however didnt not like the large multi floor buildings and overall thought the themeing was the most 'low key'. Some of the Casitas buildings are just as far from El Centro as Rachos aswell.
El Centro was very nice and as with everywhere else was always spotlessly clean (though really..would we expect any less?)
We bought some food/drink from Panchitos and also some mexican-theme gifts. We went to Cafe Rix a few times for snacks and once for a sandwich from the hot snack food from there and the food was all of a good quality and the staff friendly. We filled our mugs there and so sometimes it was quite crowded but nothing we didnt mind.
We had the breakfast buffet at CSR and Dinner twice, again the food was good, not great but good and the CMs were always nice to us. Paying was odd as for Breakfast they brought a check to our table but for Dinner we paid at the till on the way out which confused me a bit at first. As for tips I always felt a bit uncomfortable as we were on the qsdp. We used to get a receipt suggesting a 15 or 18% amount of what the bill would have been oop but I thought that was too much for a buffet set up so usually only gave about 10% but then felt a bit cheap, however, I still believe 10% is fair so I got over that! For Dinner I think we tipped about 15%.
And finally.. the buses, we were about 3mins from bus stops 4 and 1. I hated whenwe got on a bus at El Centro then had to wait whilst it went around the whole resort before leaving so we always tried to get on a the last stop. We hardly had to stand, only after park closing etc. Often we waited no longer than 15mins. Once or twice we waited 30-40 mins (and i know for sure that one of those was due to a problem with a wheelchair on the prior bus) but in 2 weeks i thought that was pretty good. It annoyed me after park closing that the buses would come with no destination on until they arrived and then the resorts with the longest queue would get the buses first so it would happen a lot that our queue wasnt that long but we'd wait say 30mins while other resorts, mainly the values would have had several buses and people who arrived to those queues long after we did would be picked up earlier
All in all I can only summarise by saying that hopefully we want to go back to WDW next October .... and we'll be staying in CSR!
I have full dining reviews here : http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2933068
We (DH and I)booked a UK package via Disney to stay at CSR for 14 days from 11th to the 25th May, we booked a 'standard' room with 14 day park hopper tickets and free QSDP
We flew in from Washington DC and only had to wait about 1-2mins at the airport before boarding ME and we were the first stop.
When we arrived there seemed to be one queue rather than separate for online check in and hotel check in. We hadnt checked in online as we had never been before, we queued for just a minute or two then we had a really nice CM who confirmed that we had a room in my requested area (cabanas) and that it had been upgraded to water view. YAY!!!
We walked to the room and (from memory) it was room 840 which was on the 2nd floor and overlooked the cabanas quiet pool. The weather on our arrival was overcast and rained lightly all day, despite this we were both bowled over with the beautiful resort. Being from the UK the tropical flowers and plants, mexican theming and wildlife (lizards etc) were just like nothing we get to see at home. (Hated the love bugs though!) Our room was great and everything was clean and in a good condition. We had mousekeeping almost every day (except for when we put the card on the door to say we didnt want it a few times) they did a fab job but sadly we didnt get a single towel animal etc - dont they know that adults appreciate these just as much as kids?
The quiet pool was a good size and although people were often in it until late they were always quiet and we never heard them. We were a 5min walk (if that) from both El Centro and The Dig site. We really enjoyed main pool and often went for a swim, then hot tub, then swim, then slide, maybe hot tub again... until we walked to our room and stopped off to lay in a hammock for a while and look at the stars talking about how we were in the best hotel/resort we've ever been to and didnt want to go home!!!
A few times we walked around the whole resort. I'd say that I like the cabanas area best because I like the themeing and the hammocks etc and it is very conveniently located no matter which building you are in.
I liked the themeing of the Ranchos area best, it had the strongest theme I thought and felt secluded and calm. I wouldnt have had a problem with the walk from there to El Centro, though obviously the shorter walk was better. Now... please dont hate me but the area I'd like to stay in least is Casitas. I liked the fountains and court yards etc however didnt not like the large multi floor buildings and overall thought the themeing was the most 'low key'. Some of the Casitas buildings are just as far from El Centro as Rachos aswell.
El Centro was very nice and as with everywhere else was always spotlessly clean (though really..would we expect any less?)
We bought some food/drink from Panchitos and also some mexican-theme gifts. We went to Cafe Rix a few times for snacks and once for a sandwich from the hot snack food from there and the food was all of a good quality and the staff friendly. We filled our mugs there and so sometimes it was quite crowded but nothing we didnt mind.
We had the breakfast buffet at CSR and Dinner twice, again the food was good, not great but good and the CMs were always nice to us. Paying was odd as for Breakfast they brought a check to our table but for Dinner we paid at the till on the way out which confused me a bit at first. As for tips I always felt a bit uncomfortable as we were on the qsdp. We used to get a receipt suggesting a 15 or 18% amount of what the bill would have been oop but I thought that was too much for a buffet set up so usually only gave about 10% but then felt a bit cheap, however, I still believe 10% is fair so I got over that! For Dinner I think we tipped about 15%.
And finally.. the buses, we were about 3mins from bus stops 4 and 1. I hated whenwe got on a bus at El Centro then had to wait whilst it went around the whole resort before leaving so we always tried to get on a the last stop. We hardly had to stand, only after park closing etc. Often we waited no longer than 15mins. Once or twice we waited 30-40 mins (and i know for sure that one of those was due to a problem with a wheelchair on the prior bus) but in 2 weeks i thought that was pretty good. It annoyed me after park closing that the buses would come with no destination on until they arrived and then the resorts with the longest queue would get the buses first so it would happen a lot that our queue wasnt that long but we'd wait say 30mins while other resorts, mainly the values would have had several buses and people who arrived to those queues long after we did would be picked up earlier
All in all I can only summarise by saying that hopefully we want to go back to WDW next October .... and we'll be staying in CSR!
I have full dining reviews here : http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2933068
xx
haha
