CORONADO SPRINGS FAQ THREAD w/ PHOTOS (PART III)

[Buzz2001]

Just back from our stay 12/14-12/19 (plus 3 days at ASM) and we had a great stay!
We were in Casita 1 (sent a fax and received our request). Great location to El Centro. Although the bus stop was quite a distance in either direction, we were able to park our rental car very close to our room. Since we traveled with our elderly in-laws, it was very convenient to drive to the parks. We had a parking lot view, but honestly we aren't the type to sit by the window to enjoy a view! For us, not worth an extra price. Our room was clean and had queen sized beds.
All of the CM's we encountered were very helpful and pleasant, including the Pepper Market. The food we had was good. My FIL had the chicken wings, and I think they use Franks Red Hot sauce on those bad boys. They were soooo good! (What calories?) We didn't have the dining plan. I heard some people griping behind me in line to pay about the wait they were experiencing to pay. It didn't seem like an extreme wait to me, so I was reminded of how peoples perceptions differ.
Luckily the weather warmed up by 20 degrees the last few days of our trip and we were able to play in the pool! The Casita pool was FREEZING! We hung out there long enough to get a load of laundry done. We promptly went to the dig site, where the pool is heated! What a great time! The pool slide is great! In the evening we headed to the hot tub. Nice and big, lots of families had the same idea...but there was plenty of room!
We have stayed at CSR a few years ago, and really enjoyed our stay in the Ranchos section. This visit, I actually wondered why we have stayed anywhere else. Even with a parking lot view and a non-renovated room, this visit was purely magical. We absolutely loved it!
Thanks BUZZ and Kat and all of you DIS'ers for all of the info!!

You're welcome! Glad you had a great stay!

We were there the 14th-17th and unfortunately didnt have the best luck with pepper market, but everything else was fabulous about the resort. I looooved the hot tub! I was just getting that " ive been squinting all day and havent eaten much and burned off every calorie I ate dad can I have a dollar can we swim Im thirsty headache" so the tub was fabulous. Played volleyball with my wife and 6 year old which I never did before, and watched football on tv outside next to a pool, which Ive never done. It really was a great time.
I expected more wildlife, but Ive never been to Fla in December..Being from the north, with the snow, the christmas feel was just not there for me, and the decorations seemed out of place, but thats just me..I was trying to escape the snow, and thats just what I did at 104 degrees in the tub outside!

Glad you had a great stay!

 

[monte]

Looks like a beaver.

 

[ibelieveinmagic]

hi -Those pics are jaw droppingly beautiful!!!! I have a question, we leave in 4 days ,want to fax a room request for a newly rennovated room and close to bus stop 2 any suggestions?

 

[kate&sarahsdad]

hi -Those pics are jaw droppingly beautiful!!!! I have a question, we leave in 4 days ,want to fax a room request for a newly rennovated room and close to bus stop 2 any suggestions?

Check buzz's post on page 1 (#5). Lots of info there on room locations. Have fun!

 

[buffalogirl]

tlrotzoll-those pictures are amazing, such beautiful colors!!!

 

[MATTLIZ]

tlrotzoll-those pictures are amazing, such beautiful colors!!!

Just BREATHTAKING!!! Unbelieveably perfect pictures. You must have a very expensive camera!!!!!! Thanks for posting them!!!!!

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Has anyone who has stayed at CSR come across snakes at the resort?

Yes, my mom & I came across a 3 foot black snake in the Cabanas section a few years ago. My mom has since deemed the Cabanas the "snake side" and the Casitas the "bunny side" (because we see several bunnies around the courtyards).

It was large and literally right in front of someone's ground floor door! We called the front desk to have it removed because we were worried that it might harm a child.

 

[tlrotzoll]

tlrotzoll-those pictures are amazing, such beautiful colors!!!

thank you!

 

[tlrotzoll]

Just BREATHTAKING!!! Unbelieveably perfect pictures. You must have a very expensive camera!!!!!! Thanks for posting them!!!!!

certainly not cheap, but not a real expensive one either. A sony cybershot. It is a fun, easy to use camera.

And thank you for the compliment! I enjoyed taking them.

 

[tlrotzoll]

I wish I could say that I took this laying in one of the hammocks, however, I never did make it down to just lay there & enjoy the surroundings. Guess I'll have to book another trip! Think my husband would go for that just so that I could lay in one of the hammocks?

 

[KatMark]

I wish I could say that I took this laying in one of the hammocks, however, I never did make it down to just lay there & enjoy the surroundings. Guess I'll have to book another trip! Think my husband would go for that just so that I could lay in one of the hammocks?

If he says no, just let me know. And we'll plan a trip and leave the husbands behind and we can both go find a hammock (I know there is more than one--my favorite one is by Casitas 5) and we can get drinks from Francisco.

 

[TINKERIFIC]

Anyone have fax numer for room request? At what point should the request be sent?

 

[vettechick99]

We stayed at CSR in Cabanas 8B in October. This was my second time staying there - I stayed for a weekend in 2000 though I hardly remember it. This was our first time with a baby (18m). I wanted to share my review and a few resort photos from our trip, particularly how we accommodated baby's crib in the room as that was very important to me in selecting a resort.

Pros:
*Clean, beautiful, classy resort.
*Customer service was excellent - from the front desk to the Mousekeeping.
*Pepper Market had a wide variety of excellent food and some of the best servers I've had in recent memory.
*The Dig Site is huge and well-themed. We spent most of our time at the kiddie pool, which was a perfect size for DD.
*We were super close to the bus stop. You can't beat 8B or 8A in that department!
*Towel animals! In my 25+ visits onsite, I've never gotten them. It was a nice surprise. They also took DD's stuffed Mickey and Minnie and had them sitting up on the bed. Sweet touch.
*Bus service was great. The last October we went we stayed at BCV and it was horrid. Anyway, we never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus and since we were stop 4, there was just one more stop and it was on the road to the parks!
*Quiet rooms. Either we were the only people on our level or the walls were thick.

*As reported by others, the resort is big but we did not find this to be an issue for us. It took about 7-8 minutes to stroll from the lobby to our room.

Cons:
*I really can't think of any!

Our room

We brought our own pack 'n play and stuck it in the closet. This worked great because we could close the curtain and DD wouldn't be tempted to stay up and watch us moving about the room.

Kiddie pool and Dig Site

What we did for 3 hours when DD went down for her afternoon nap.

Notice the beer.

And this is what we looked at!

Thanks to all for the great information on CSR - we will definitely stay there again! If you have any questions, please ask.

 

[KatMark]

We stayed at CSR in Cabanas 8B in October. This was my second time staying there - I stayed for a weekend in 2000 though I hardly remember it. This was our first time with a baby (18m). I wanted to share my review and a few resort photos from our trip, particularly how we accommodated baby's crib in the room as that was very important to me in selecting a resort.

Pros:
*Clean, beautiful, classy resort.
*Customer service was excellent - from the front desk to the Mousekeeping.
*Pepper Market had a wide variety of excellent food and some of the best servers I've had in recent memory.
*The Dig Site is huge and well-themed. We spent most of our time at the kiddie pool, which was a perfect size for DD.
*We were super close to the bus stop. You can't beat 8B or 8A in that department!
*Towel animals! In my 25+ visits onsite, I've never gotten them. It was a nice surprise. They also took DD's stuffed Mickey and Minnie and had them sitting up on the bed. Sweet touch.
*Bus service was great. The last October we went we stayed at BCV and it was horrid. Anyway, we never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus and since we were stop 4, there was just one more stop and it was on the road to the parks!
*Quiet rooms. Either we were the only people on our level or the walls were thick.

*As reported by others, the resort is big but we did not find this to be an issue for us. It took about 7-8 minutes to stroll from the lobby to our room.

Cons:
*I really can't think of any!

Our room

We brought our own pack 'n play and stuck it in the closet. This worked great because we could close the curtain and DD wouldn't be tempted to stay up and watch us moving about the room.

Kiddie pool and Dig Site

What we did for 3 hours when DD went down for her afternoon nap.

Notice the beer.

And this is what we looked at!

Thanks to all for the great information on CSR - we will definitely stay there again! If you have any questions, please ask.

Thank you for your wonderful review. So glad that you enjoyed your stay at CSR!!!! And your daughter is beautiful.

 

[JamesLynn]

Hello Everyone.
I do apologize for being gone for so long. We recently just rebid for our days off and I'm ajusting to new days off. Not to mention my husband getting sick, family visiting, and attending classes to further learn new roles at the nado. Let me say that going from working overnight to having to start class at 8:30 in the morning is awful! And I'm planning for my family visit next week. Aaaah!
Just wanted to let you all know that I haven't disappeared.

 

[Miss Hunnybee]

Hi everyone, wanted to give a review of our stay at CSR from December 5th-13th. All I can say is AMAZING. We went with a very picky party of 13 and EVERYONE loved CSR! We faxed room requests five days before our arrival that specified the health issues of two members of our GG and asked for rooms close to El Centro. When we arrived at CSR we braced ourselves, knowing CSR was sold out and there were two conventions, but CSR exceeded our expectations. We stayed in adjoining rooms on the first floor of Casitas 3 with a lovely view of the lake. The quiet pool was right around the corner, but it was being refurbished. No big deal though, as Floridians it was only warm enough to swim once so off to the Dig Site we went. We had three children in our GG and they loved CSR too. No worries about it being "not Disney enough." Grab a refillable mug with Donald Duck on it and turn on Channel 18! I only ate at Pepper Market once, around ten at night. There were no crowds and my grilled chicken sandwich was YUMMY. Rix was great for a quick treat - I recommend the eclair! We only used the bus once. The busses came very quickly and the ride to Magic Kingdom was a breeze. Our wait for a return bus was only about five minutes. The rest of the time we drove, with Epcot, Dis Studios and Downtown Disney no more than a five minute drive from our parking lot. We LOVED Siesta's at the Dig Site. The finger food was so good and we were able to grab drinks from the bar or use our refillable mugs. The Lagoon Bar was a great place to wind down. I grabbed a soft drink from Rix and joined my party on the comfy chairs. You could see Wishes to the left and the higher Illuminations fireworks to the right. CSR really is the ultimate vacation resort.

There was one not-so-good thing that I want to bring to your attention. A little backstory: I booked a Candlelight Processional Package months ago. A stomach virus hit a few members of our GG and we had to change the ressie from 7 people to 4. Unfortunately, we did this at Guest Services at Disney Studios. They cancelled our original ressie, as policy states, but we couldn't make a new ressie without a credit card. Having just gotten off TOT/RnR, I had given my bag to another member of our party to hold. The CM assured us there were plenty of tables left at San Angel Inn and that we would have no problem making a new ressie. When we got back to CSR we grabbed our mugs and headed to Rix. I decided to stop at the Concierge and ask them to book a new package (had the Visa this time). We waited in line and were prompted by an older gentleman (I won't say his name), of average height with glasses. He was very sweet but when I explained the situation he looked me in the eye and said "Oh no, those have been sold out for months." I shook it off and called Disney Dining from the room the next morning. I got a table, no problem, I was offered a barage of times...1:40, 1:50, 2:00 etc. Then later we were at Siesta's. We got into a convo with another family when their father arrived looking bewildered. He handed his wife an envelope and said, "they had planty of seats!" His wife explained that they tried to get 6 Cirque Du Soleil tickets for the weekend, but the same concierge said, "No, that's always sold out. Next time you come, get tickets in advance. And six together is impossible." Not so, as the man was able to get his tickets by going to the box office. Not to say this man is lazy or incompetant, just beware of the Concierge who refuses to consult his computer!

That is my one and only complaint. We loved CSR so much, we're going back soon for a weekend retreat! I really want to thank KatMark and JamesLynn for all their help. And thanks to everyone on this board who answered my wacky questions! Happy Holidays to all and a Safe, Happy and Healthy New Year, too!

 

[KatMark]

Hi everyone, wanted to give a review of our stay at CSR from December 5th-13th. All I can say is AMAZING. We went with a very picky party of 13 and EVERYONE loved CSR! We faxed room requests five days before our arrival that specified the health issues of two members of our GG and asked for rooms close to El Centro. When we arrived at CSR we braced ourselves, knowing CSR was sold out and there were two conventions, but CSR exceeded our expectations. We stayed in adjoining rooms on the first floor of Casitas 3 with a lovely view of the lake. The quiet pool was right around the corner, but it was being refurbished. No big deal though, as Floridians it was only warm enough to swim once so off to the Dig Site we went. We had three children in our GG and they loved CSR too. No worries about it being "not Disney enough." Grab a refillable mug with Donald Duck on it and turn on Channel 18! I only ate at Pepper Market once, around ten at night. There were no crowds and my grilled chicken sandwich was YUMMY. Rix was great for a quick treat - I recommend the eclair! We only used the bus once. The busses came very quickly and the ride to Magic Kingdom was a breeze. Our wait for a return bus was only about five minutes. The rest of the time we drove, with Epcot, Dis Studios and Downtown Disney no more than a five minute drive from our parking lot. We LOVED Siesta's at the Dig Site. The finger food was so good and we were able to grab drinks from the bar or use our refillable mugs. The Lagoon Bar was a great place to wind down. I grabbed a soft drink from Rix and joined my party on the comfy chairs. You could see Wishes to the left and the higher Illuminations fireworks to the right. CSR really is the ultimate vacation resort.

There was one not-so-good thing that I want to bring to your attention. A little backstory: I booked a Candlelight Processional Package months ago. A stomach virus hit a few members of our GG and we had to change the ressie from 7 people to 4. Unfortunately, we did this at Guest Services at Disney Studios. They cancelled our original ressie, as policy states, but we couldn't make a new ressie without a credit card. Having just gotten off TOT/RnR, I had given my bag to another member of our party to hold. The CM assured us there were plenty of tables left at San Angel Inn and that we would have no problem making a new ressie. When we got back to CSR we grabbed our mugs and headed to Rix. I decided to stop at the Concierge and ask them to book a new package (had the Visa this time). We waited in line and were prompted by an older gentleman (I won't say his name), of average height with glasses. He was very sweet but when I explained the situation he looked me in the eye and said "Oh no, those have been sold out for months." I shook it off and called Disney Dining from the room the next morning. I got a table, no problem, I was offered a barage of times...1:40, 1:50, 2:00 etc. Then later we were at Siesta's. We got into a convo with another family when their father arrived looking bewildered. He handed his wife an envelope and said, "they had planty of seats!" His wife explained that they tried to get 6 Cirque Du Soleil tickets for the weekend, but the same concierge said, "No, that's always sold out. Next time you come, get tickets in advance. And six together is impossible." Not so, as the man was able to get his tickets by going to the box office. Not to say this man is lazy or incompetant, just beware of the Concierge who refuses to consult his computer!

That is my one and only complaint. We loved CSR so much, we're going back soon for a weekend retreat! I really want to thank KatMark and JamesLynn for all their help. And thanks to everyone on this board who answered my wacky questions! Happy Holidays to all and a Safe, Happy and Healthy New Year, too!

Welcome back, Miss Hunnybee. I am SO glad that it worked out so well for you and that you had a great stay at CSR. That is awesome that you have decided to go back for a weekend retreat! How awesome. Happy Holidays to you as well.

 

[Lilolvr]

Hi everyone, wanted to give a review of our stay at CSR from December 5th-13th. All I can say is AMAZING. We went with a very picky party of 13 and EVERYONE loved CSR!

Welcome back and thanks for sharing!!

 

[Lilolvr]

Here's a few we took when we were at CSR the first week of December.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[bucci818]

Hi all!
I'm finally able to post a review of our stay at CSR from 12/7 to 12/13. We where a Grand Gathering of 10 and had three rooms. We had requested the Cabana section, but we didn't get that section....and we could not be happier! We ended up in Casitas 3 on the first floor (3114,3115 & 3116), 2 of the rooms where ready when we checked in at 11:00am. We had a beautiful courtyard view and a covered walk all the way to the main building. Our Mousekeeper for the week (Anna) was the best. Everynight, my two DS's (6 & 5) could not wait to get back to the room to see what she left for us ( imagaine a big stuffed Pluto surrounded by toilet paper!). Don at the concierge desk was wonderful when I realized that the Brown Derby messed up our groups dinning credits. I will be sending a message along to CSR about the two of them. The bus service for CSR was pretty good. Only twice (at the MK) did we wait longer than 10 minutes for a bus back to the resort. The longest we waited for a bus was from the AK to the Beach Club...45 minutes!! I don't understand how a deluxe resort can have such bad bus service. We ate at the Pepper Market once for lunch...best burger I've had in a long time. Our last morning we ate at the Maya Grill for breakfast. The food was pretty good. All in all, we loved everything about the resort and will most likely stay there again! I will definatly recomed it to anyone going who wants to stay in a Moderate!! Thanks to Buzz and JamesLynn for all there info! Once I get onto Photobucket, I will post some of the pictures I took!