POP or Coronado Springs?

[Wubar]

Heading to WDW in January 2018 with my wife and 4 year old son, who has never been there yet! Currently have 6 nights booked at Pop Century with 6 day hopper tickets. Perusing the Disney site (before it went down), saw I could also get Coronado Springs with 7 day 1-park tickets for only about $200 more. I know CSR has some construction going on (as does Pop), but does anyone have any advice or opinion as to whether I should make the switch? Thinking a jump from a value to moderate resort for $200 isn't so bad...

Thanks in advance!

 

[CarolynFH]

DH and I have stayed at both within the last year. CSR has the advantage of offering table-service as well as food court dining opportunities, and the feature pool at CSR is nicer & has a slide, which Pop doesn’t offer. Also, all rooms at CSR have 2 queen size beds and a coffee pot, whereas only the renovated rooms at Pop have those things, and you may or may not get a renovated room in January (renovations are ongoing now and less than half of the resort is done). OTOH, CSR seemed more spread out to us although the landscaping is beautiful so we didn’t mind.

All in all, for $200 more we would pick CSR (need that coffee pot for caffeine to get started in the morning and decaf to wind down at night, not to mention we don’t fit in a double bed anymore). YMMV.

 

[Shellyb84]

For only $200 more I would probably choose CSR. I really love both resorts, but CSR has a better pool, nice hot tub, excellent bus service (in my experience), less crowded food court, and a more relaxing feel overall.

 

[CWdreamer]

I was trying to decide between POP and CSR for next year and chose CSR. The price difference is minimal and worth the upgrade with the better pool, covered bus stops, restaurant choices and laid back atmosphere, especially if you are there for a week. The construction doesn't worry me because I just stayed at CBR with the construction and it didn't bother me there and it has much more construction than CSR.

 

[Wubar]

Thanks for your responses, will certainly take those into consideration. The only thing holding me back right now (other than it is an additional $200) is that I have heard CSR is HUGE, and walking anywhere can be a bit much, especially if you have young kids. My little guy is usually full of energy, but I'd rather have him burn it off at the parks as opposed to just getting to the front desk or bus stop!

 

[Shellyb84]

Thanks for your responses, will certainly take those into consideration. The only thing holding me back right now (other than it is an additional $200) is that I have heard CSR is HUGE, and walking anywhere can be a bit much, especially if you have young kids. My little guy is usually full of energy, but I'd rather have him burn it off at the parks as opposed to just getting to the front desk or bus stop!

There are multiple bus stops, so you're never that far of a walk from one. Depending on where you are it could be a trek to the food court but you can always hop on a bus because they stop at El Centro before heading to a park.

 

[CarolynFH]

There are multiple bus stops, so you're never that far of a walk from one. Depending on where you are it could be a trek to the food court but you can always hop on a bus because they stop at El Centro before heading to a park.

I concur with this.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Heading to WDW in January 2018 with my wife and 4 year old son, who has never been there yet! Currently have 6 nights booked at Pop Century with 6 day hopper tickets. Perusing the Disney site (before it went down), saw I could also get Coronado Springs with 7 day 1-park tickets for only about $200 more. I know CSR has some construction going on (as does Pop), but does anyone have any advice or opinion as to whether I should make the switch? Thinking a jump from a value to moderate resort for $200 isn't so bad...

Thanks in advance!

I would stick with POP, I have stayed at both and I know a 4 year old would appreciate POP over CSR. While POP can feel a little "crazy" at times in the food court/lobby area, the rest of the resort has nice grounds and really fun theming for kids. Our girls loved the larger than life animals and the pool. The pool area is a a bit nicer at CSR however I know POP would be my kids' preference over CSR. My opinion of CSR hasn't changed since I first visited it in the 90's, it's a convention hotel to me and still feels that way today. The only other drawback on POP is the buses since it is larger and shares rides with the other values nearby. But we've done it in the past and had a great trip. It's not a deal breaker for us. Plus I have heard that the recent renovations at POP have been nice upgrades to make it feel like less of a value resort.

 

[Wubar]

I would stick with POP, I have stayed at both and I know a 4 year old would appreciate POP over CSR. While POP can feel a little "crazy" at times in the food court/lobby area, the rest of the resort has nice grounds and really fun theming for kids. Our girls loved the larger than life animals and the pool. The pool area is a a bit nicer at CSR however I know POP would be my kids' preference over CSR. My opinion of CSR hasn't changed since I first visited it in the 90's, it's a convention hotel to me and still feels that way today. The only other drawback on POP is the buses since it is larger and shares rides with the other values nearby. But we've done it in the past and had a great trip. It's not a deal breaker for us. Plus I have heard that the recent renovations at POP have been nice upgrades to make it feel like less of a value resort.

Does POP share a bus with AoA or the All-Stars now? I thought POP had their own bus. I hear you on the theming aspect of it, certainly looks much more "fun" for my son. I figured CSR had a better pool with a slide (no slides for you, value resorts! That'll teach you to upgrade, LOL), but in reality, will it be warm enough in January to even use the pool?

Certainly appreciate all of the advice though, thanks!

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I would look but last time we were at POP, maybe 1.5 years ago, we shared with the nearby values, that may very well have changed and I could be wrong. To me the buses are never an issue. We did POR on our last trip and as large as that resort is, we never had issues with getting on a bus to a park or back to POR. I feel like if you allow ample time to/from the resort/park, the bus is a non-issue. Crazy stuff can happen and I know it has but the majority of bus trips go without a hitch. Yes no values have slides but when we stayed our girls were little enough it was not an issue, they weren't daring enough to slide anyway.

 

[Shellyb84]

Does POP share a bus with AoA or the All-Stars now? I thought POP had their own bus. I hear you on the theming aspect of it, certainly looks much more "fun" for my son. I figured CSR had a better pool with a slide (no slides for you, value resorts! That'll teach you to upgrade, LOL), but in reality, will it be warm enough in January to even use the pool?

Certainly appreciate all of the advice though, thanks!

Pop has their own bus.

It's hard to say about the weather in January. We went mid February and the weather was warm enough for the pool everyday (for DD and DH anyway, not for me!). The pools are heated.