Hi all, we just returned tonight from a six-night stay at the CSR. This was our fourth trip to Disney (see signature for other stays). We stayed in Ranchos 6B when we made our reservations, we had requested Cabanas but it wasn't available when we checked in.
A quick take on the CSR:
Plusses:
- fantastic pool and playground, our DS's (4 & 6) LOVED, and I MEAN LOVED!!!! the playgrounds and the pool, we really only spent one full day at the resort, but we could have easily spent more time at the resort than at the parks and they would have probably had a better time given the crowds at the parks. For the pool & playground alone, we will probably pick CSR over any other resort when we come back next year. My older son spent most of his time in the pool playing basketball, or using the water slide, or just swimming. My younger one enjoyed the sand pits.
- beautiful grounds - very nice to walk through, perfectly landscaped
- plentiful buses - very short waits, but VERY crowded buses for return trips given we left most parks at closing or after fireworks displays. We left Epcot on two nights after Illuminations. Both nights we had standing-room only on our buses, the 2nd night it took 3 buses before we were able to board given the length of the line. We liked the fact that there were four bus stops, so we were able to get off at one close to our building.
- Great lunch/dinner choices - Pepper Market and Maya Grill were VERY good for lunch and dinner with a wide variety of choices. We had lunch twice at Pepper Market and dinner once at Maya Grill. Pepper Market didn't have much diversity for breakfast though (unless you really like eggs), and it could be expensive depending on your choices. We averged $30 a day for breakfast for two adults and two kids. The buffet at Maya Grill is $14.95 for adults, $9.95 for kids, we couldn't bring ourselves to spend $60 for breakfast including service charges.
- Siestas at the pool had a great selection of lunch items including burgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, and salads.
- Plenty of other stuff to do at the resort, including boat & bike rentals. We signed out life vests and kept them throughout our stay, but the marina is only open from 10-5.
- Very nice rooms - no formal closet, but our room had a decent sized fridge, two double-beds, and a small sitting table.
- Bus service to the parks was fine. We never waited more than 10 minutes for an out-bound bus, and trips to most resorts averaged 10-15 minutes.
The only real complaint was that on our first day we were picked up for our trip to MK by a charter bus that Disney brought in to help with the crowds. Our driver seemed confused and dropped us off at the Ticket and Transportation Center. He parked in spot #10 and told us to meet a return bus there later. We realized his mistake and took the monorail to MK, which added about 30 minutes to our trip but our kids loved the monorail so we didn't mind. We learned later that CSR is stop #10 at MK, not at the TTC, so the driver was obviously confused and went to the wrong place. Had we been Disney newbies we might have taken the monorail back to TTC and stood out in the parking lot waiting for our bus.
Downsides:
- Pepper Market - as I noted above, fairly expensive for breakfast. We were on the dining plan so we tried to minimize our breakfast meals and not use counter service meals, saving them for lunch instead. The coffee was horrible as well. They do have a coffee bar if you want more expensive brews.
- A bit of a long walk to get around, but we really didn't mind it. I actually enjoyed the walk, but if you forgot something in your room it was a long walk back. They do have small extended-golf-cart style trams that drive around as well if you don't feel like walking.
- An hour-long wait for bell service on the last day. I called at 10:00 AM to request luggage pickup at 11:00 AM. By 11:30, nobody had showed. I called and got stuck on hold for 10 minutes before someone could take my call, finally at noon the bell person showed up. Fortunately we had 12:45 reservations on DME, otherwise we would have been in trouble.
- It's a big resort, and with conventions in town it can be fairly crowded. We typically had a 10 minute wait to get a table for breakfast, and 5-10 minute waits at most PM stations (and we normally ate breakfast at 10:00 AM). I imagine between 8-9 it would be a lot worse.
- The AC never seemed to cool the room, but the ceiling fan helped a lot.
- We paid for a water-view room which was a waste. There are no balconies, just an open air hallway in front of the rooms. Your water view is out the front window, and you will likely want to keep the shades closed so everyone walking by doesn't look in on you. I would not request a water view room again. (Our "water view" was actually a view of the quiet pool).
- Laundry - $2.00 for a wash, $2.00 for a dry, $1.00 for a box of suds.
- Mousekeeping - knocked on the door every day between 8:50-9:00, we're not early risers so we had to scramble to get the "Do Not Disturb" sign out. We left $5.00 a day but never got a towel animal.
I am pretty much bumming over this as I vowed this was my last stop resort, meaning I wouldn't stay anywhere else (unless I buy into DVC but thats another story!). 
Just wanted to share my excitement!!!!!!!!! hehe
