What resorts shocked you?

[ktlm]

POR, then called Dixie Landings. It was 1999-2000, and I was bummed that we had no plans to celebrate the turn of the century. It was either 3 weeks before Christmas, or maybe even just 3 weeks before New Years. DH got on the phone to see if anything might be available and due to Y2k panic there had been 1 cancellation and 1 room available on all of Disney Property (POR). The travel agent somehow managed to get us decent priced flights too. Apparently a lot of people were cancelling or staying home with the Y2k paranoia. I had low expectations with it being described as a "lower" tier Disney hotel, since the only on -property hotel I had ever stayed at was WL (and I spent my honeymoon in a room there over the service area being woke up early every morning by back up beeps of trucks- so I figured there was no telling what we would get with a leftover room at a lower tier place). I figured at least it was Disney, and if the world blew up at Y2K, then at least we were AT Disney.

To our surprise, we absolutely loved POR/Dixie. I think we were expecting a motel type place since they warned us the doors opened outside and we would not have interior halls. It wasn't like today, when you can pull up a million pictures on the internet. We didn't know what to expect. We got there, and it was absolutely gorgeous. We were in a river view room in I think what is now Magnolia Terrace (might have been Parterre, but I know it was one of those 2). The room was nice and the grounds were just beautiful. It was fantastic! That whole trip turned out to be a charmed just great all around trip.

 

[ktlm]

We stayed at Beach Club this summer. Other than the proximity to Epcot, which was awesome, I was shocked at how underwhelming it was. The theme was minimal IMO and I loathed Stormalong Bay, which was the reason we picked it in the first place. That was my "negative shock" resort.

I half agree with you. We stayed there for the first time in October. We loved the easy access to EPCOT and the ability to get to DHS pretty quickly. As far as the hotel itself, we agree it was underwhelming. The lobby just looks like a scaled down GF, the quick service in the hotel is extremely limited and not that great, the store is fairly sparse; and the room was okay, but nothing special. That smell, they pipe into the lobby, would cause an allergy attack every time I walked through (and I don't think it smells very good either). My chest would tighten when I was down there, and I coughed a lot during the trip. DD was senstive to it too and it made her cough some at the resort, but not nearly as bad as I was. I paid for a water view room, and got a view of the quiet pool, which basically reminded me of a Motel 6 view. It was the worst view we have ever gotten on Disney property even in just standard view rooms (we were over the service area of WL once many many years ago, but back then, those rooms had a great view of fireworks and some trees).

I do differ in that we loved Stormalong Bay.The quick service and bar at Stormalong Bay were really good too. We thought that area was fantastic. We thought that and the Epcot access made it a place worth staying, and were the only reasons to stay there. We agreed we would not spend the money to stay at BC in the winter months, when you never know whether you will have swimming weather. Plus, as bad as it set off my allergies, maybe the only time we would do it would be during EPCOT Food and Wine again. The EPCOT access during Food and Wine and Stormalong Bay, would probably be enough to get us to try it one more time, but if my allergic reaction is as bad next time, I don't know that I would go back a third time.

 

[shell8558]

CBR - I was so excited to stay there and once we checked in, I was very disappointed . The kids loved the pirate themed rooms - and they were cute. But the resort was too big. I hated taking an internal bus to get around . I hated that I couldn't walk to the food court or big pool. The busses to the parks were horrible, so we drove most days. I was just unimpressed. On the other hand I totally loved POR, especially the mansions . And this year I was totally DREADING my stay at All Star Sports - but I really really enjoyed everything about it. ( big surprise)

 

[cavesrus]

We didnt like the bus service at CSR as well. but like you said once you get it figured out not AS bad. We thought only bus stop was up front so we Walked to front for first few days WOW! i personally would not stay there again. How ever i have some good friends that love it. They go to park in AM come home around noon then pool time etc than back in evening being such a convention resort the pool is always empty. We personally are at parks most of the time very rarely go to pool. just different for us all. i have to say that the the Bus for CR or BLT isnt the greatest either. i have had to wait long time for bus there a lot! i know last year at DTD there was prob 10 to 1 buses for pop vrs CR. im sure has to do with resort size.

 

[Desnik]

OP, I agree with you about CSR. We stayed there once and that was enough for us! It wasn't because of the "suits" or lack of Disney feel. We just didn't like the theming, and had a lot of issues with our room, issues with some CM's there and just didn't enjoy our stay there overall.

As for AoA, we love everything about it, stayed there twice, but have one big problem with it and won't go back because of it. The beds. So unconfortable and too small. Everything else about it was great!

PoP, I imagine we will stay at eventually in my quest to stay at every onsite WDW resort (almost achieved my goal!) but it's going to take a lot of convincing DH. The beds and theming will be the issue, but I'm willing to give it a chance for 1 night.

As for your question. Yes, we have been shocked, a few times with Disney resorts. First was AKL. We did not think we would like it. The GF and BW are more our style. We thought it was too dark, and we wouldn't like the Mara. We gave AKL a chance because of the animals and we were shocked at how much we loved it! We even added on DVC points there because we fell in love with the place.

We were also shocked about our BCV stay. We were so excited to stay there, heard so many great things, had visted the resort a bunch of times. We stayed there and did not like it. We hated the pool area, the room was just ok, and didn't care for it overall. Yes the proximity to Epcot was great, but we don't think we will stay there again.

Oh, and OKW. Everyone seems to love that place, we thought we would too! We actually hated it and I can honestly say we won't stay there again. We didn't like the food options, the decor, the layout of the resort, and even though the room was huge, it didn't make up for the rest of the things that bothered us.

 

[redc]

After a split stay a couple of years ago WL-> CSR.

We were shocked by CSR.

Agree with all nay sayers here...theming at

CSR:

HUGE FACELESS MOTEL.

 

[kmarie99]

I guess that is why they have all different kinds of themed resorts, because not everyone like the same thing. We happen to love the look and feel of CSR and don't like the in your face theme of the values. Have stayed at them before and don't like all the huge statues and kids running around everywhere. We love the laid back and relaxing theme of CSR and POR. When I leave the parks and step off the bus I want to feel relaxed. I don't get that feel at the values, too much stimulation and colors going on there for me. But I get how people with kids would love that.

Different strokes for different folks

 

[Robbi]

Except for the values and the floors at the GF, the resorts do not have a lot of over the top Disney themeing.

After a split stay a couple of years ago WL-> CSR.

We were shocked by CSR.

Agree with all nay sayers here...theming at

CSR:

HUGE FACELESS MOTEL.

I don't understand this post. There are 3 totally different themed areas of the resort. A huge pyramid feature at the Dig Site Pool. Even The Pepper Market is themed. CSR is hardly a faceless motel.

 

[saskdw]

After a split stay a couple of years ago WL-> CSR.

We were shocked by CSR.

Agree with all nay sayers here...theming at

CSR:

HUGE FACELESS MOTEL.

 

[Tigger's ally]

My surprise is how much I prefer POFQ to POR. Our first trips over that way were back in the Dixie Landing days. I never liked the look of the color of buildings over at POFQ so we always stayed at Dixie. Having stayed at many deluxes, mods and values, we have a strong awareness about what each level brings. However, on one trip we decided to stay at POFQ (I think POR was either booked or it was during Pop Warner and it was listed) and we haven't been back to POR since. Love the cobblestone streets and quaint little front yards ! We are staying at the BWI in Feb just to cross another hotel off the list, but if not there, I would be sitting at MardiGrogs every afternoon for my personal little "teatime" while the wifey gets in her afternoon power nap!

 

[princessallegra]

Sorry csr disappointed you, but happy Pop surprised you! Everyone is different which is why there is such a wide range of resorts at wdw. We personally hated Pop. The beds were rock hard, I'll never forget it! We loved ASMu though! We also love csr. We call it deluxe lite lol. I'm sorry you had bus issues. We've experienced nothing but stellar bus service there. But we always stay in Casitas so it's the first pick up and drop off. I can see anyone staying near stops 4 or 1 having issues.

 

[ArwenMarie]

My surprise is how much I prefer POFQ to POR. Our first trips over that way were back in the Dixie Landing days. I never liked the look of the color of buildings over at POFQ so we always stayed at Dixie. Having stayed at many deluxes, mods and values, we have a strong awareness about what each level brings. However, on one trip we decided to stay at POFQ (I think POR was either booked or it was during Pop Warner and it was listed) and we haven't been back to POR since. Love the cobblestone streets and quaint little front yards ! We are staying at the BWI in Feb just to cross another hotel off the list, but if not there, I would be sitting at MardiGrogs every afternoon for my personal little "teatime" while the wifey gets in her afternoon power nap!

This has happened to me a lot...whenever I visit a resort, I never want to stay there. I definitely believe you have to stay somewhere before you decide if you like it or not.

 

[maxiesmom]

I was surprised by how much I disliked the Beach Club. Judging by pictures and location I was sure it would be my (and my family's) favorite. Not so! No good food options unless you go out onto the boardwalk. Horribly packed buses that made many stops on the way to the parks. And a lovely themed pool area that shuts down completely at night and forces you to swim in the plain quiet pool.

I was dreading my last stay at CSR, as we had a not so great stay there before. My mind was totally changed as we had an awesome time! We were in Casitias 4, which has the first bus stop picked up right behind it, has a quiet pool right next door, and is close to the food court. It was the perfect location and helped take CSR off of my Do Not Stay list and put it back onto the Will Stay There Again In An Heartbeat column.

I think though that if you are avoiding ANY resort based on the bus service you are setting yourself up to be disappointed. Every Disney resort has it's good and bad days when it comes to bus service. A lot of it is luck.

 

[GovieMom]

If business suits bother you, stay away from the BW, YC, CR, and GF as these are all convention resorts.

We've actually stayed at most of those, and never saw the "suits." As opposed to dozens of them everywhere at CSR during our stay. They obviously had a huge convention going on; our building was filled with them.

 

[cavesrus]

agree with you on bus like i said CR has had bad wait time twice but not the reason why not to stay there. however if AK is bad then back to BLT i go lol ;P

 

[GovieMom]

As far as busses, we've spent a total of 30 days at CSR and have 12 nights more booked starting in 3 days. I have never waited longer than the 20 mins that Disney states and most times waits were under 10 mins at the resort. Anytime a wait was longer than 10 mins it was at the park going back to the resort. This is at Christmas time, the busiest time of year.

Which was probably why you had better bus service than we did. We went at a less crowded time of year, which was reflected by the very slow bus service.

 

[ShayBells]

The only reason I didn't like Corondo was the walking. We were close to bus stop two so no real problems with buses but we had to walk a mile every time we wanted to eat or fill up our drinks. It was just to much. Even the walk to the pool was far. Everything else was good. The pool is awesome and I liked pepper market. And I loved the theming.

I loved pop. It's awesome. The food court was my favorite. And The walk was far but nothing like csr.

The best yet was POFQ. It was just perfect. Okay the cafeteria wasn't great but I don't care lol. I loved the short walk to the pool, cafeteria, and buses. It was just perfect for my family.

I've stayed at sports too. Don't remember much except it was pretty cool. I don't remember buses or cafeteria but I remember the room and the outside lol.

Other than those I've been offsite as a child.

My bucket list is to try every one!!!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[6disneykids]

I have been very fortunate to have stayed at almost every resort, that being said, I don't have a favorite resort, but I do have a least favorite---Coronado Springs. While our stay wasn't bad, we didn't have any real complaints, it just didn't do it for me.
The other thing I noticed, the CMs I came in contact with just didn't seem the same spark, no one seemed especially stellar. I usually seem to encounter at least 1 CM that is a shining star but not at CSR.

 

[Micca]

We really enjoyed our stays at CSR over the years. The theming doesn't match that of the deluxes, but we still thought the rooms were nice, and the grounds were beautiful. The price was also very attractive. Pepper Market is ok, but we're not food court people anyway.

At least you gave it a shot, you can mark that one off your list of Disney resorts to try.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

OP- I am curious what section of CSR you were in? Our first night we arrived really late and were put into a a far away ranchos room facing the road. We did not like that section and were able to move to cabanas the next morning. I think room location can really affect how much you like a resort.