Renovated Coronado Springs ... Not a Fan

[cobright]

First the good:

1. The new rooms are very pretty.
2. When we asked about upgrading to a room with a king bed, as it was just my wife and I and celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary, we were put in a room with a better view and of course the king bed, and the upgrade was complimentary.
3. The Keurig machine in renovated rooms deserves special acknowledgment.
4. Mousekeeping was fantastic.
5. We received that charming Three Caballeros 'Under Construction' pin set. Which is cool because the construction affected us zero.

Now the downer:

1. The resort is so huge we ended up spending almost no time at the main building, El Centro, and feel like we missed out on the great customer service that we have received in the past at other resorts.
2. When we did get up to El Centro, the gift shop was poorly stocked, like it looked vacant, and had no real theming. The quick service restaurant was just okay, wouldn't have even put it here except we had to walk 20 minutes across the resort to get to 'just okay'.
3. The hallways and elevators were a bit dirtier and more run down than I have seen in other resorts. The elevator doors didn't close just right. Little things that add up.
4. The 'smart' thermostat refused to let us set a temp less than 68 degrees without putting it into Limited Energy Management mode (Len on display). And it's room temp display lied to us, telling us it was much cooler than it actually was.
   
5. I absolutely hated the hard surface floor. For a couple reasons, but I'll just cover the superficial ones here. It looked nice and was warmer than most plastic 'wood' flooring, but it sounded like it was hollow and it felt like walking on plastic. It felt like an old linoleum floor. I associate hard surface floors (other than actual wood) with wet rooms, kitchen, bathroom, laundry etc. Having a plastic floor throughout the room made it less cozy.
6. No tub. I had no idea how big of a downer this was going to be when we checked in. I don't know if some of the renovated rooms kept their tub or not, but every review on YouTube shows the new shower stall. It's a nice shower stall, but it's not a tub. After walking for 10 hours straight, there's nothing relaxing about standing that much longer in a shower.

To be fair, the room was cheap. It ended up being $25 a night or so more than the Value we had originally booked. So I'm not saying it was a bad value. One of the reasons for the steep discount is that the main pool is down during construction which is a big deal to some families. I had no interest in the pool anyway so thought it would be a great time to try a new resort. In the future when constrained by a similar budget I'm not sure I will go this same route again.

 

[a1tinkfans]

To have to walk 20 minutes to even get to the main area, then have a less than stellar gift shop and an Eh food area is All bad imho

Thx for posting ur experiences.

 

[Tramp&TheLady]

totally agree. from what i have seen i also do not like the way they have taken all the wonderful character out of this resort by making everything very bland and nondescript.

 

[Moliphino]

The gift shop is being renovated, which is probably why it was less than impressive during your visit.

totally agree. from what i have seen i also do not like the way they have taken all the wonderful character out of this resort by making everything very bland and nondescript.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the de-theming they've been doing there lately. The Pepper Market looks so dull now.

 

[cobright]

To have to walk 20 minutes to even get to the main area, then have a less than stellar gift shop and an Eh food area is All bad imho

Thx for posting ur experiences.

To be fair, as I try ... lord I try, Casita 5, is about as far from El Centro as you can get. It was also a long way from the laundry and the bus stop. Having a room far from everything is not unique to CSR, but the scale of this place did seem to magnify the issue.

Didn't help I ended up with a blister on my toe the 2nd day, probably made me cranky.

 

[GAMom2]

Thanks for your review! We stayed for a few nights in October and I completely agree with everything you said. The rooms were great but the distance to everything was such a downer. And where are the bathtubs in the new rooms??? I had a three year old and no tub for baths. It was such a pain to try and get him clean in the shower when he’s not used to that and already tired from being in the parks.

 

[a1tinkfans]

When we stayed we did the business room... I forget the actual name, but it was very close to center area, included food morning, evening and drinks and the price was great as well. We returned ... and were disappointed in the location .. it’s tiring to walk after long park days.
They did however give us free drink coupons ...to celebrate an Anniversary.
It’s too much convention atmosphere for our likes... but we do enjoy trying all the resorts.
Sorry about the toe issue... that d make anyone cranky lol.

 

[Tramp&TheLady]

Thanks for your review! We stayed for a few nights in October and I completely agree with everything you said. The rooms were great but the distance to everything was such a downer. And where are the bathtubs in the new rooms??? I had a three year old and no tub for baths. It was such a pain to try and get him clean in the shower when he’s not used to that and already tired from being in the parks.

Yup what a bonehead move that was to remove the tubs. My two year old is scared to death of showers.

 

[buzznina]

Sorry you did not have a great stay, We are not fans of the new refurbs in any of the resorts getting them, it's so generic. And when a lot of Dissers were all excited about the new flooring, I did not think they were going to be that great. I have stayed at CSR many times for conferences and vacations, and have stayed in all 3 sections, including the very back of Ranchos and it has never taken us more then 10 minutes to walk to El Centro.

 

[gillep]

Sorry you did not have a great stay, We are not fans of the new refurbs in any of the resorts getting them, it's so generic. And when a lot of Dissers were all excited about the new flooring, I did not think they were going to be that great. I have stayed at CSR many times for conferences and vacations, and have stayed in all 3 sections, including the very back of Ranchos and it has never taken us more then 10 minutes to walk to El Centro.

Agreed, I have been in the way back of the Ranchos section, and it has never taken me over 10min to get to El Centro. Also, it is a spread out resort but I always felt that the bus stops were well placed for each of the sections and were quick to get to from the various buildings.

I haven't stayed at CSR since the refurb but I love the hard floors in the YC.

Sorry you had a less than great stay, some resorts just don't work out for a person's preferences and vacation style. I don't mind the walking at CSR, but I hated everything about how spread out CBR was lol.

 

[kaytieeldr]

The resort is so huge we ended up spending almost no time at the main building, El Centro,

In fairness, the refurbishment has nothing to do with this. None of the buildings were moved.

The elevator doors didn't close just right. Little things that add up.

This was just cosmetic, right? If it had been a mechanical issue, the elevator wouldn't have worked?

No tub.

Did they swap out All the tubs, or - as with Pop Century - convert just some?

To be fair, as I try ... lord I try, Casita 5, is about as far from El Centro as you can get

Honestly, from the map and everything I know about CS, isn't the Rancho's section even further?

 

[SteveH]

Thanks for your review. Personally I am not a fan of the "hardwood" floor in hotel rooms. I stayed at one a couple years ago (not a Disney resort), that was awful, seemed to make the room so much colder and louder. I took the time to review it on sites and email corporate. Got a reply back online and email thanking me and letting me know they were making changes due to feedback. I went back a year later, the change was to add carpet between the beds and a runner of sort, so less carpet but didn't really didn't change anything except now they had to sweep and vacuum the area.

The whole de-theming of the resorts has really removed the Disney personality and honestly one of the few remaining benefits away. They look just like any Best Western.

We stayed a few times at CSR, over 10 years ago, and it was a favorite before we found the Swan/Dolphin for about the same price (or less). But the thing that will keep me away is the new building that just doesn't fit in with all the low buildings there now.

I will say we stayed at Casita 5 and never found the walk to be long at all, from there to Pepper Market was less then 20 minutes even with a couple of young boys. I know it was closer then to walk to Ranchos.

 

[cassie58]

Thanks for the report. I am also sad about the detheming being done - that is the point of it being Disney and unique, not just some Marriot or Hilton anywhere. CSR was our favorite moderate before, loved the rooms and beautiful, serene feel of the landscape, and sadly don't think we will be back with the big new building being added that has no connection, and with bland rooms and no tubs - said from the beginning that it makes no sense - as mentioned here tubs for small kids are the choice for most families which is a large part of their demographic, and would have turned me off when we first stayed there and my 5 yr old DD was scared of showers. And of course for some adults that enjoy baths, especially to soak after a long day - even to just soak your feet for relief.

And they are also detheming Pepper Market?? Makes no sense to me. One of our favorite parts was the pool and fast slide so with that closed right now, it would really be a bummer. We(just DD and I) stayed at ASMu last time for a short trip, and loved the theming, especially in Broadway section, and paid less - obviously not as comfortable if we had all 4 of us, but definitely felt like we were transported as we walked to our room. Also spent one night at AoA and was blown away by the theming in our LM room, and especially the Cars section. CSR was of course a different type of theming, which we enjoyed in it's feeling of being in the Soutvwest, but seems like it will not be the same.

 

[cassie58]

Thanks for your review. Personally I am not a fan of the "hardwood" floor in hotel rooms. I stayed at one a couple years ago (not a Disney resort), that was awful, seemed to make the room so much colder and louder. I took the time to review it on sites and email corporate. Got a reply back online and email thanking me and letting me know they were making changes due to feedback. I went back a year later, the change was to add carpet between the beds and a runner of sort, so less carpet but didn't really didn't change anything except now they had to sweep and vacuum the area.

The whole de-theming of the resorts has really removed the Disney personality and honestly one of the few remaining benefits away. They look just like any Best Western.

We stayed a few times at CSR, over 10 years ago, and it was a favorite before we found the Swan/Dolphin for about the same price (or less). But the thing that will keep me away is the new building that just doesn't fit in with all the low buildings there now.

I will say we stayed at Casita 5 and never found the walk to be long at all, from there to Pepper Market was less then 20 minutes even with a couple of young boys. I know it was closer then to walk to Ranchos.

Totally agree(as you can probably see in my post!). Must have been writing as you were posting!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Thanks for the report. I am also sad about the detheming being done - that is the point of it being Disney and unique, not just some Marriot or Hilton anywhere.

Exactly, and this applies to any Disney resorts that have been refurbed recently. If it's going to look like a Marriott, Hilton, etc., but cost three times as much, then I'd rather stay in an actual Marriott or Hilton, as I've been doing more often lately.

 

[Moliphino]

And they are also detheming Pepper Market?? Makes no sense to me. One of our favorite parts was the pool and fast slide so with that closed right now, it would really be a bummer. We(just DD and I) stayed at ASMu last time for a short trip, and loved the theming, especially in Broadway section, and paid less - obviously not as comfortable if we had all 4 of us, but definitely felt like we were transported as we walked to our room. Also spent one night at AoA and was blown away by the theming in our LM room, and especially the Cars section. CSR was of course a different type of theming, which we enjoyed in it's feeling of being in the Soutvwest, but seems like it will not be the same.

It's already complete (pictures here). I've seen it compared to a college dining hall now. All the bright colors are gone.

 

[Tramp&TheLady]

i have seen college dining halls with more appeal. this is a ongoing trend with disney's hotel designers.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Disney has gone full in for the conference crowd with the remodel. And thats fine. One less option to have to choose from. Ive never been a fan of southwest theming in general anyway. I did want to take my kids to that pool at least once though. It looks amazing

 

[Searc]

Are the CSR rooms the new Disney "hospital chic" theme like the other recent refurbs?

 

[Brett Wyman]

Are the CSR rooms the new Disney "hospital chic" theme like the other recent refurbs?

Oh yeah. I personally like it. I know a lot do not.