Coronado. What would you do?

[kmb584]

Sooooo many people are saying those same things about CSR! It makes me want to go so bad! I think we will be staying with AoA for now, but I am getting excited and falling more and more in love with CSR each day. For me, the AoA is child-centered while CSR is child-friendly, which is perfectly fine but I'd like to put a little adult feel in our trip.

You're 100% correct! The Values and over-the-top themeing are definitely child-centered, and AoA looks like a child's dream come true. I'm not a Value fan but am 99% certain that our October '14 trip is going to be in either a Nemo or LK suite at AoA as my daughter has been bugging me non-stop to stay there ever since I showed her pictures of the resort! I know she'd love a LM room but I, personally, do not like the size of the Value standard rooms (which is the ONLY reason as to why I'm not a fan of the category itself), but a family suite will provide us with room to spare.

CSR is a convention resort and geared more towards adult, but as you mentioned, it's absolutely child-friendly. My daughter was 2 when first stayed there and loved everything. We were in the Ranchos section which is the furthest from El Centro as one can get, but she absolutely LOVED walking over to the main building because of the bridge and water, flowers, hammocks, sand - the whole 9 yards. There's no ginormous iconic Disney icons on display but it still has the Disney "vibe". And the rooms truly are beautiful. When I first walked in to our room I was in a little bit of awe as our last Mod stay had been at POFQ (my favorite Mod) prior to its refurb. The decor and furnishings just screamed deluxe and that was a huge, happy surprise. The sliding doors separating the room from the vanity area and bathroom were priceless to me as my little one wakes up at the drop of a pin; it was so nice being able to keep those doors closed while I showered and got ready each morning as I wasn't disturbing her.

 

[kmb584]

This is the only thing kinda making me squeamish about going to CSR! So many bad reviews! However, on our penciled out "schedule" we're only planning to eat one meal at our resort (which will be lunch upon arrival) so I doubt it'll matter much at all. What's also bothering me is the number of snack options available at AoA compared to CSR, but I'll have goldfish crackers and pretzels stashed away in our room so I don't see it being that much of an issue.

I wouldn't be squeamish in regard to Pepper Market. While it's not the run of the mill QS we've grown accustomed to throughout both the parks and resorts, it was certainly a breath of fresh air. It was very nice not having to look for a table and when my (then) 2-year-old vomited all over the her, me, the table and floor on the evening prior to our last full day the CMs were not only fantastic in helping me clean up, but our server (we had him off and on throughout our stay) even went back to the food stations we had gotten our food from and gave us, free of charge, meals to go to replace the ones that were now inedible. I'm not a food snob but can be very picky with my food and how it tastes, and I can't think of a single complaint with any of the meals (4x breakfast and 2x dinner) I had there.

 

[kmb584]

My thoughts exactly.

Ditto that.

 

[Shaden]

I'm in a CSR quandary myself. I
We're a family of 6 (littlest will be under 3 but just under) - I loved POR but wanted something new - older girls would likely love CSR pool, but quick service pepper market comments have me concerned as we often grab a QS meal at our resort daily.
Anyway - if we do go with CSR - should we do 2 connecting rooms or Jr Suite?!
Any suggestions?
I wonder how hard it is to get Jr suite in Cabanas section?

Two things, a) Cabanas are AWESOME ... I don't know about a suite, but that section is the absolute best.

b) Pepper market isn't the only option, there is also the rix Café which offers a nice selection of QS meals, and the poolside QS restaurant, which also offers some nice QS options.

And the Maya grill is also fantastic. I have eaten at Jiko, Sanaa, Ohana, Via Napoli, Wolfgang puck, and... prob 2 dozen other places, and Maya is still one of my favs ... just awesome.

 

[KaLyn]

Thank you everyone for all the information, you were all super helpful! You were so helpful in fact that I am happy to say that as of 8:50 AM today, our reservation has been switched from AoA to Coronado Springs! Yay! Yay! Yay! (I really need to figure out how to insert that dancing banana while on my phone app lol) Thanks again!

Oh, and any of you wanting an AoA Little Mermaid room, quick! Run! I know there's at least one available for the first week in May!

 

[DonnaDuck]

Love this thread!

Yay for CSR! We're staying there for the first time in 67 days!