The *NEW* Coronado Springs FAQ Thread (Part II)

[Sherrkel]

I wanted to ask has anyone ever had any problems with using the Magical Express? In paticular their luggage service. Will it arrive in our room in a timely manner (within 2-3 hours) after getting there. My wife and I get a little paraniod about our luggage. We have TSA approved locks, but we always are a little worried until we see our luggage on the other end.

We also used Magical express. No one in our grand gathering group had any problems with luggage, and we had 21 people and 7 rooms. Some received their luggage within minutes and others an hour or so. The only delay was getting our one room, which wasn't ready until after 3pm (we checked in around 11 :30). We had prepared for this however after reading trip reports, and packed a change of clothes in our carryon bags for transitioning from the cold snowy northeast to warm, sunny Florida! If you are really concerned, you can pick up your own luggage from the airport when you arrive, and carry it to your bus with you. Just don't use the magical express luggage tags.

 

[gr8tdame]

bump

 

[sleepingbean]

our luggage took more then the 2-3 hours we expected. It took about 5-6, but we had our carryon, with what we needed inside (swimsuits).
We planned for the luggage to be a bit late, and packed carryon accordingly.

When we checked out with the airport magical express checkout process (where you get your tickets at the resort instead of at the airport) it took a very long time, but that is because we went at 11 (room checkout). I would assume that if you go at an off time, you won't have such a wait!

 

[mpls_mm]

We did have issues, but I don't think it was the norm. Our flight was way delayed, we were next to a screaming baby and we finally got to MCO. It hit me that it was midnight and we might not get our bags until morning. We had swimsuits in our carry ons, but not pajamas toothpaste etc. I just asked if we could get our own bags and they let us get them from the bag carousel and we just carried them to the bus. Now the part that did make me super crazy was that it was after midnight and the magical express person said I had to walk thru the queu (completely empty I might add) on the red carpet to get my bus assignment. I said we have exhausted kids, there are only two buses outside, we are not traipsing through this maze when I can just walk up to the ME person I see right there. They made me walk through anyway. The kids and ex-dh waited outside on the benches and watched me walk through the empty maze to get to the ME person. Then he escorted me to our bus where the kids were already waiting to get on. By the time we got to the resort they had given away our room so we were glad we had grabbed our own luggage.

 

[momrek06]

Subscribing to this thread........

My DS and his DF are planning to stay at CSR for their 10-day honeymoon June 2009!!! They are really excited.

BUZZ, the pictures on your website are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!

Quick question...when booking are you able to request a particular room (or Cabana) and actually get that room?

Also, does anyone think they should just call CSR and book OR should they use AAA?

TIA!!! :

 

[Buzz2001]

Thanks! I just call the 800 number and book myself with a AAA discount. It depends what you are looking for.

 

[Sherrkel]

Subscribing to this thread........

My DS and his DF are planning to stay at CSR for their 10-day honeymoon June 2009!!! They are really excited.

BUZZ, the pictures on your website are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!

Quick question...when booking are you able to request a particular room (or Cabana) and actually get that room?

Also, does anyone think they should just call CSR and book OR should they use AAA?

TIA!!! :

You can always make a request for a particular area , Cabanas for example, but it's not a guarantee. We had our AAA travel agent document our request for one of the cabanas buildings when we went, and were lucky to have our request made. I've heard others don't always get their request. If you check in and they don't have that area available, you can always ask to be moved when it is. However, you may find you'll enjoy whatever location you get (Cabanas, Ranchos, Casitas).

 

[mylittleprincess]

What time did you check out on the 15th? I saw someone with a decorated window right where yall stayed when we were there... wonder if it was yalls room?

We got in about 11am on the 15th... could it have been your room?

Hey,

I took my decorations down early that day like before 9 am. We were out by 10 am. I still cannot remember our room number. We always just looked for the corner room with the decorations.

 

[starwarsdisney]

We did have issues, but I don't think it was the norm. Our flight was way delayed, we were next to a screaming baby and we finally got to MCO. It hit me that it was midnight and we might not get our bags until morning. We had swimsuits in our carry ons, but not pajamas toothpaste etc. I just asked if we could get our own bags and they let us get them from the bag carousel and we just carried them to the bus. Now the part that did make me super crazy was that it was after midnight and the magical express person said I had to walk thru the queu (completely empty I might add) on the red carpet to get my bus assignment. I said we have exhausted kids, there are only two buses outside, we are not traipsing through this maze when I can just walk up to the ME person I see right there. They made me walk through anyway. The kids and ex-dh waited outside on the benches and watched me walk through the empty maze to get to the ME person. Then he escorted me to our bus where the kids were already waiting to get on. By the time we got to the resort they had given away our room so we were glad we had grabbed our own luggage.

Wow, that sounds bad.

I called and asked if we could grab our own bags. The CM said sure, but we would either have to hurry or have one of us (me) grab the bags while the other (my wife) went to the Magical Express area to hold the bus. He said with our using the yellow tags they won't know if we are coming and won't stick around. We are notorious overpackers and usually have at least one change of clothes in our carry ons and enough toiletries for at least a couple of days. We'll just pack our suits in our carry on too. Maybe we will trust our luggage to them after all.

 

[MATTLIZ]

Thanks! I just call the 800 number and book myself with a AAA discount. It depends what you are looking for.

Buzz,

If you book your own room, you must also do your own room request, do you fax the request or call them?

Thanks!
10 more weeks until April 18th.......!!!

 

[Buzz2001]

Buzz,

If you book your own room, you must also do your own room request, do you fax the request or call them?

Thanks!
10 more weeks until April 18th.......!!!

I request a section when I book my room and then fax per allearsnet instructions.

 

[starwarsdisney]

Buzz do you have a link to those insrtuctions?

 

[Buzz2001]

Buzz do you have a link to those insrtuctions?

Here you go.

http://allearsnet.com/acc/cro1.htm

 

[sleepingbean]

Here is a question - I want specific requests, but I don't want to overwhelm and lose my chance for one request because I asked for too many.

So...where I'd like connecting rooms, close to lobby, in cabanas, I didn't ask for all that.

I did tell them I'd like to be close to our grand gathering party and
I'd like us to be close to the lobby because of motility issues for two of our grand gathering members.

Now, will I regret not specifying "connecting" rooms or "cabanas"?
I feel pretty confident that they'll do their best to get us close to the lobby (which means close to the bus stop too!) and that is really our main thing. And our rooms don't HAVE to be connecting, so long as they are in the same area.

I'd hate to request all those things and end up in the Cabanas (because I requested it) but as far from the lobby as possible in that section.
YKWIM?

Last time I paid for waterview and I requested 8B or 8A. I asked for adjoining rooms for our previous grand gathering.
We got CONNECTING rooms in 9B (ideal location, as close to lobby as can be!). I couldn't hope for that twice!

I didn't pay for waterview this time because we keep the curtain always shut for privacy. Will that negatively effect our chance of a close to lobby room?

 

[MATTLIZ]

I request a section when I book my room and then fax per allearsnet instructions.

Buzz,
It does not ake much to totally confuse me... I can't seem to figure out by reading the instructions on Allears if you shoud fax your request directly to the Resort or to Member Services????? HELP PLEASE!!!

Thank-you!

 

[Buzz2001]

Coronado Springs Fax - 407-939-1001

No requests should be sent until 4 days prior to actual check-in. The resorts do not get to download the reservations from the DRC computers until 10 days before your arrival and the room assigners generally block your rooms 3 days before. If you fax a request to a resort before they have the reservation in their computers and are ready to assign it, they will file it in a special "pass" folder. That folder should be checked daily to pull out faxes that came in early but there is always the chance yours could be missed. The best way to avoid getting in the Pass folder is to not send in your request until 4 days before.

Figure your 4 days prior to arrival this way:

Thursday - Arrival day/check-in
Wednesday - 1 day prior
Tuesday - 2 days prior
Monday - 3 days prior
Sunday - 4 days prior

Faxing after 4 pm is usually best only because the morning Room Assigner is usually bogged down with checkouts and the evening Room Assigner is usually dealing with check-ins until 4 pm. Honestly though, if you are faxing it doesn't matter when you send it. If they are busy they will file it and the evening Room Assigner will get to it when they start blocking requests.


Sample
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disney's Wilderness Lodge
Attn: Room Assigner
Date: September 16, 2001


Greetings from Texas!

Our first magical Disney vacation is finally (almost!) here and I wanted to see if you could possibly accommodate our room requests for Sept. 20-29. We have a courtyard view, need a nonsmoking room, would like to be on the fifth floor, and would love it if we could see the fireworks from the balcony. Our little Mouseketeers are 5 and 7, so they would really like a room with the bunk beds, too! Thank you in advance for any help you can give us in making our first visit wonderful!

{name}
reservation #
{home address}
{home phone}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Disney Padawan]

OK Buzz here's a question that I'm sure you know.

Do you have the link or website where they tell you what conventions are going on at the CSR in 2008?

Thanks very kindly.

 

[Suzibrat]

Buzz, how are you able to sit still at this point? It's almost time for you to go! Are you going to be doing and reports while you are there or will we have to do without you for the entire length of your trip (horrors!!!) If you'd like I'll tag along and write down everything you want to relate to the DISers...just to help you out of course! Not like I want a trip to WDW NOW instead of September..nope, not me, wouldn't even be thinking of such an underhanded thing

 

[Buzz2001]

OK Buzz here's a question that I'm sure you know.

Do you have the link or website where they tell you what conventions are going on at the CSR in 2008?

Thanks very kindly.

Sure, I made it.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=21401216&postcount=107

 

[Buzz2001]

Buzz, how are you able to sit still at this point? It's almost time for you to go! Are you going to be doing and reports while you are there or will we have to do without you for the entire length of your trip (horrors!!!) If you'd like I'll tag along and write down everything you want to relate to the DISers...just to help you out of course! Not like I want a trip to WDW NOW instead of September..nope, not me, wouldn't even be thinking of such an underhanded thing

This will be the longest week at work too. Everything will slow down to a crawl and make the week feel like three. I'll have my laptop and be keeping everyone informed about any info I can find out and new pics. You have to get in the line of people that want to sneak in a trip in our suitcases. But this time next week will be great!