Anybody a Coronado Springs expert?

[Amy]

Ask wewantsdaredhead if he felt like Indiana Jones when they stayed there just recently. Snakes? Why did it have to be snakes??

[kelpseaweedkelp]

I just wanted to throw this in here, as I have never really seen much on or stayed at Coronado. My girlfriend and I were watching a some youtube vids from a really great Disney couple who live near WDW. They were staying at Coronado and man........wow! That place looks so cool! I've never really given that place a good look-see, but based on what was shown in the video, that resort looks very nicely themed. All the temple ruins strewn about...I also saw they have an interactive restaurant menu on one of their lobbies? Pretty neat stuff! I'll have to stay there someday!

Nice! I'll report back. I guess bc its a conference center too maybe they stepped it up a bit?

[wewantsdaredhead]

OK so we stayed there over Easter break and while we had some issues, the resort itself is very very nice. Very open and beautiful.
I am a POR guy and I have a friend that is a CSR guy---he said it perfectly when he told me, "If you can put the rooms and décor from POR on the CSR grounds it would be perfect." And he was right...

Our issues fall into the category of "stuff happens." My wife woke up in the middle of the night to a drip. Well it was coming from the ceiling. We called maintenance and we went back to bed. They finally showed up after we had left for the parks (after 9 or so). When we got back to the room we had a message that we had to move to another room in the same building.
it could have happened anywhere to anyone. No biggie.

Another note: I was coming around the corner headed to the bus and a snake was waiting there for me--scared the devil out of me--my wife said she never saw me move so fast--lol.
Yes, I know that snakes are everywhere lol I had just never been so friendly with one before...

We only went to the main pool (loud pool? ) and it was very nice as well. I am not a sun person and it had lots of chairs in, and out of, the sun.

All in all, I liked it. We decided that if we cant get into our beloved POR, we would have no problem staying there again. Although, I think we said that before the snake incident

[kelpseaweedkelp]

OK so we stayed there over Easter break and while we had some issues, the resort itself is very very nice. Very open and beautiful.
I am a POR guy and I have a friend that is a CSR guy---he said it perfectly when he told me, "If you can put the rooms and décor from POR on the CSR grounds it would be perfect." And he was right...

Our issues fall into the category of "stuff happens." My wife woke up in the middle of the night to a drip. Well it was coming from the ceiling. We called maintenance and we went back to bed. They finally showed up after we had left for the parks (after 9 or so). When we got back to the room we had a message that we had to move to another room in the same building.
it could have happened anywhere to anyone. No biggie.

Another note: I was coming around the corner headed to the bus and a snake was waiting there for me--scared the devil out of me--my wife said she never saw me move so fast--lol.
Yes, I know that snakes are everywhere lol I had just never been so friendly with one before...

We only went to the main pool (loud pool? ) and it was very nice as well. I am not a sun person and it had lots of chairs in, and out of, the sun.

All in all, I liked it. We decided that if we cant get into our beloved POR, we would have no problem staying there again. Although, I think we said that before the snake incident

NATURE.

Great! Great info. Thanks! Yeah, chair coverage definitely a plus. Did they have a bar by the pool?

[kelpseaweedkelp]

Just got back!
I recommend the Coronado!
First off, it was really peaceful and beautiful - the gardening is I think even a step above usual - gorgeous. The little wild areas are really beautiful - nice wetlands. The whole resort is set about a lovely little lake so you can just walk laps sipping pina coladas - theres a nice little drink shack by the front that is right on the lake so you can chill there and sip things. There are plazas with fountains to sit by and in the ranchos there is beautiful southwesty areas to sit. The place is so well laid out too that it never felt that crowded.
The rooms were indeed big and nice - included a small fridge - AND, there was a double sliding door between the bathroom area and rest of the room you could use which we found to be very useful late at night. The beds were super comfy - I found them to be just right.
The main pool was way too much of a thing for us - my best friend I traveled with is from Dominican Republic and he was laughing bc the main pool was super chaotic and noisey and drunk and chicken-fingery, just like a DR resort! With the fauna to match. And dance parties for the kids! But! The side pool by us was huge and not very crowded - lots of tanners and some ppl doing laps. Very nice.
It was weird to see all the convention people milling about in the morning in their black suits and fancy clothes and took you about of magic a little, but if you let them sink to the background, no problem

TIPS!:
The buses are indeed only dedicated to Coronado. There are 4 stops around the loop, traveling clockwise. The front is actually the last stop (say at 5 oclock), so the first is behind Casita 4 (around 7:30). We made the mistake of waiting at the front and both times the buses we wanted were totally full when they got to us. There was a cast member who said there were always buses idling on the lot, so an empty one did some really fast, but still, annoying. So! Instead we started walking to the first bus stop - no muss no fuss. Like figmentaholic said, the clock saying when the buses are coming is extremely accurate.

The whole place is very walkable and is smaller than it looks - easy to get where you want to go.

The hotel cast let us take plates and bowls and silverware to the room for eating stuff we got from GardenGrocer. The food selection is fine, but we got back really late a lot and nothing was open. Also, bowl of cereal in the morning = AOK.

It did end up feeling like we were on buses a lot, but we also were doing 2-3 parks a day. The walk from EPCOT to DHS through the resorts helped alleviate that feeling. Sometimes at MK closing, we had to wait two buses bc they filled up, and that was kind of rough, but it seemed to be like that for every resort line.

All in all, I would definitely stay there again. Very open and airy and beautiful.

[kelpseaweedkelp]

[cy1229]

Thanks for the 411! Sounds like you enjoyed the trip. I've always wanted to try a place like that. The last two times we went were on my (now ex-) stepfather's DVC points so we had a condo (which I wouldn't complain about at all, it worked out great) but unless we hit it bit we won't necessarily be doing that again because we dont' really need that kind of space for a Disney vacation. Coronado Springs sounds like a good place to look into, especially for eating a bowl of cereal or something quick and easy for breakfast.

[kelpseaweedkelp]

Oh! And! One more story.

The lines after magic hours at DHS were super long to get on the buses, so we took a good look at Google Maps and saw that the walk to CS was only a mile. And the Googs even said there was a path! So we walked out of DHS, went under the bridge, walked on a sidewalk past the mini golf place, walked through some parking lots and grass and were in visual range of CS. But....there wasn't a path across a highway overpass. We stood there awhile laughing and then two cast members stopped to see if we were OK, laughed at us for while, and then drove us over the highway overpass while performing the entire Wishes fireworks show for us. DISNEY MAGIC.

Anyways, you can't walk. Which is a bummer, bc its really close to everything!

[Amy]

Oh! And! One more story.

The lines after magic hours at DHS were super long to get on the buses, so we took a good look at Google Maps and saw that the walk to CS was only a mile. And the Googs even said there was a path! So we walked out of DHS, went under the bridge, walked on a sidewalk past the mini golf place, walked through some parking lots and grass and were in visual range of CS. But....there wasn't a path across a highway overpass. We stood there awhile laughing and then two cast members stopped to see if we were OK, laughed at us for while, and then drove us over the highway overpass while performing the entire Wishes fireworks show for us. DISNEY MAGIC.

Anyways, you can't walk. Which is a bummer, bc its really close to everything!

What a fun thing to have happen ~ great show by the cast members!