Tell me all that you love about CSR

[Lisadaa2]

We were planning on staying at POR in Nov again which we loved but can only get CSR with FD. FD saved us $1754 so it would be crazy for us not to stay there. The pool looks nice but we will only use it a couple times. My kids are 6 and 10 so I hope the resort isn't too "adult" for them. The only other option was CBR which I would have jumped on if they had queen beds because I like the Caribbean theme. So get me excited about our first stay there! Any tips would be great

 

[Lindaland]

I'm in the same boat! We wanted POR, but I was not able to get a room with FD (unless I wanted to pay more for the royal rooms) so I went with CSR and saved $50 off my original ressies for a value with the dining plan!!! The FD allowed us to move to a mod resort but I did not want to pay more for it, so CSR it is!!

 

[Babsy]

CSR is large but is so beautiful that even a stay in the furthest room was magical. We loved walking around the lake absorbing the lovely landscaping, fountains and diverse themes of each area. The food court is really great. THe pool is amazing, one of our favs in WDW. If you only use it a few times, you have more willpower than me. Too Fun. I just can't resist. LOL. The hammocks on the beach are so relaxing to lie in for awhile and let all your troubles melt away.............

Remembering our last stay here...................OK, I want to go back. Think I'll stay here again when I go in March. The 9B cabanas is a preferred area now, I understand. That would be good to try, I think.


You will love CSR. It is large, but it's layout is not confusing. We have always found that the buses have worked well for us there - better than any moderate except POFQ, IMHO.

 

[Masonmj84]

Here's my take about CSR:

Pros:
-Very attractive grounds and landscaping (has the most deluxe feel of all the mods IMO)
-Nice rooms with queen beds and duvets (other mods have bedspreads)
-Great pool with large hot tub
-Very good bus service and the resort is centrally located between the parks
-Fitness center

Potential cons:
-Very large resort (distance from El Centro to Ranchos section is akin to walking across a theme park)
-Convention resort so more adult/business oriented

FWIW, I think CSR is the best bang for the buck of any resort on property, epecially if you have free dining (our first trip on property was at CSR with free dining and it turned me into a Disney addict).

 

[Micca]

CSR is beautiful, it's not uncommon to hear it referred to as "deluxe lite". We stayed there several times, then tried POR and we were not impressed(it's fine, but CSR was much better for us).

The rooms are nice, the grounds are fantastic. We're not pool people but I've heard many good comments about them.

It can be a hike to El Centro, but depending on your needs you may not need to go there after check-in.

We always had a rental car and parking close to the building was a huge plus.

The convention aspect of it is going to be centered more around El Centro so when you're not there, it's not too noticeable. Besides, even the rowdiest conventioneer can usually contain themselves when small children are present.

Highly recommended

 

[dminnie]

Here's my take about CSR:

Pros:
-Very attractive grounds and landscaping (has the most deluxe feel of all the mods IMO)
-Nice rooms with queen beds and duvets (other mods have bedspreads)
-Great pool with large hot tub
-Very good bus service and the resort is centrally located between the parks
-Fitness center

Potential cons:
-Very large resort (distance from El Centro to Ranchos section is akin to walking across a theme park)
-Convention resort so more adult/business oriented

FWIW, I think CSR is the best bang for the buck of any resort on property, epecially if you have free dining (our first trip on property was at CSR with free dining and it turned me into a Disney addict).

I think it's my favorite of the moderates because of the little extras: fitness center, duvet covers, wood sliding doors on bathroom instead of curtains, very large hot tub and longest pool slide of the mods. I wasn't crazy about Pepper Market, but maybe if I was on free dining would have been ok. I didn't find the conventioneers to be an issue at all. Didn't even notice them. I think the bus service is a bit better there because of the conventions. It is just a really pretty hotel. We were in Casitas 5 on the top floor and we could see the fireworks for both Epcot and MK from our room. We were also very close to bus stop #2, which is the first pickup and drop off (as in, always a seat). This was about 1/2 way between El Centro and the main pool.

I felt like the only disadvantage was that the main pool and El Centro are not near each other. This wasn't a big deal for us. If you don't want to walk to El Centro, you could always hop any bus that comes along. El Centro is stop #1, but they stop there last.

 

[Lisadaa2]

Thanks for the positive feedback. I am getting excited!!

 

[disnut8]

The convention aspect of it is going to be centered more around El Centro so when you're not there, it's not too noticeable. Besides, even the rowdiest conventioneer can usually contain themselves when small children are present.

Highly recommended

The funniest thing we found about the conventioneers is that they tend to walk around the grounds with their nametags on. If I'm at a convention, I take that sucker off the minute I'm outside the meeting room. You will also find more people walking around yakking on their cell phones talking business. We just ignore them since they are there on business while we are on vacation.

 

[tndisneyfan]

CSR is my favorite moderate. Here are some of my pros...
Queen size beds.
Sliding door between the sink area and the bed area
I like the work desk with a chair instead of a table
It has the "feel" of a deluxe
great pool

cons....
large resort (but all the mods with the exception of POFQ are)
no traditional food court, food is pricier

 

[kelleigh1]

Like you, we're at CSR for free dining, moving from POR. When we originally started planning, we were deciding between POR and CSR. I can't remember what swayed us to POR, but now I'm researching CSR and we're excited about the switch. I know we'll get to POR eventually but we're happy for the savings and to see another resort we haven't stayed at yet.

 

[Yarna]

Hearing all these glowing comments about CSR has me really excited for our return trip in October!

 

[cart-mom]

Stayed csr years ago but had a great time while there. One drawback was the walk to the pool. Enjoyed the food and atmosphere a whole lot. While we were there a gator was in the lake and approaching people on the bridge. A few cm's came in and caught him. Really cool to watch. It was about 3-4 ft. So still a baby but after they tapped the mouth they let us touch him and talked to us for a few minutes. Great memories.

 

[jperrot1]

I love this place. It surrounds water and is very pretty at night. I like that it has a fitness room at a moderate resort - this is something I love. The pepper market cinnamon buns are to die for (if they still offer them). They have yummy ice cream in one of the fast food areas (where the soft drinks are).

 

[DJFan88]

CSR is totally better than CBR in my opinion.

Don't worry the kids will love it. The pool gets real busy, but the quiet pools are usually empty.

Great food at the Pepper Market.

I do love POR more, but that doesn't mean CSR isn't great too.

Try to request Casitas. Bussing from Cabana's sometimes means last to get on and full busses. Try to not catch the main bus.

 

[Lisadaa2]

CSR is totally better than CBR in my opinion.

Don't worry the kids will love it. The pool gets real busy, but the quiet pools are usually empty.

Great food at the Pepper Market.

I do love POR more, but that doesn't mean CSR isn't great too.

Try to request Casitas. Bussing from Cabana's sometimes means last to get on and full busses. Try to not catch the main bus.

What do you mean by "main bus"?

 

[dminnie]

What do you mean by "main bus"?

Probably meant don't catch the bus at el centro. It's ''stop number 1" but it's the last one and could be standing room only by then.

 

[Lisadaa2]

Probably meant don't catch the bus at el centro. It's ''stop number 1" but it's the last one and could be standing room only by then.

Oh ok thanks!

 

[vettegirl]

I have stayed there 5 times and I love the rooms, the dig site pool is super fun, great bus service, and it has the feel of a deluxe without the price tag!

 

[wen8jr]

We have stayed at both and we loved CSR, it really is beautiful especially at night. It looks like Hotel California when lit up across the lake.

The food court is awesome and we stayed during peak time but never felt that it was overly crowded and loud (like POR). You have servers in the food court that get your drinks and as a result the place seems much cleaner than the Food Court at POR. The pool is pretty cool, the landscaping and fountains are beautiful.

At both of these our rooms were the farthest away from the Food Court (my luck as always) and I felt the walk at CSR was not as long as our POR walk was and prettier, so we really enjoyed it.

The only thing POR has that CSR doesn't do better (as everything was a little better at CSR IMO) is the boat to DTD. This is the only reason we want to do POR this trip; actually wanted to do POFQ since we had never stayed there before. We plan on having several meals at DTD this time which we didn't do before.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised with CSR, I hope you enjoy your trip.

Oh and we were luck enough to actually see fireworks (we believe they were MK) far off in the distance. You can see them on the resort side of the lake across from the food court.

 

[DJFan88]

Probably meant don't catch the bus at el centro. It's ''stop number 1" but it's the last one and could be standing room only by then.

Yes, thank you , that is what I meant. We had a terrible time with that (Cabana 9A) so next time I would request a Casitas next to the next bus stop, which probably picks up 1st for most things. I think it was only for DTD that it picked up at El Centro first, and everything else it was last.