Bad Experience at Coronado Springs Resort

GoTheDistance

Member
Original Poster
Last month, my husband and I stayed at Coronado Springs after a 6 night stay at the Poly. We made a last minute decision to extend our trip so we would be in DW on my birthday. We took this opportunity to try out the last moderate resort we had not tried so we went in very excited. Let me preface this by saying that I fully expected at least a little confusion at check in because we were coming off another (still active) reservation. We got way more than a little confusion and it heavily got in the way of our trip.

When we arrived at check in, there was a long, snaking line circling around the lobby and leading out the doors. It took us 45 minutes to see reach the check in desk which we found very odd because we had never had this experience checking in (and it was a Tuesday around 12pm). Sadly, things just went downhill from there. First thing we were told is that we were going to have to use temporary gray Magic Bands for the first 24 hours because our bands were still synced to the old reservation. Not too big a deal, just a little annoying needing to use two bands (we were planning on using our remaining DDP credits on the previous res that day). The CM then made note that our room would be in a preferred location as I requested which was great, but we were told the room wouldn't be ready until 5pm because they were replacing the TV set, but they would send me a text the moment it was read. All good, we leave our bags with the hotel staff and we go have fun at DAK.

We went to dinner at Tusker House and when we went to pay, we were greeted with the information that our new DDP had not been activated and we didn't have dinner credits left on our last reservation, so we had to pay out of pocket which we were not at all expecting to do. We were told to keep the receipt and our hotel would give us a refund and adjust our DDP credits. Annoying, but not terrible. We got back to the hotel around 8pm and still had not heard if our room was ready. We went to the front desk to take care of the dining plan issue and to hopefully get our room number and be able to sleep.

The CM we spoke to was friendly but had a lot of trouble trying to help us. She wound up charging us 3 additional times for our Tusker House meal before finally getting someone above her to try and reverse the charges. They were able to do it after about a half hour, but they were unable to get our dining plan to activate. We told them we weren't planning on using it anymore tonight and we would really like to go to sleep and we could fix the dining plan issue in the morning. Turns out, our room was still not ready for some reason and we'd have to be moved. This whole process takes another half hour, but finally we were given our map and our room number.

Our room was a good 10 minute walk from the main building which really upset me but we figured we'd change it the following day. Well, sadly, this is where it gets worse. Our magic bands do not open our door. We check to make sure we are at the right door, right building etc etc and it isn't working. There was a CM nearby so we flagged him down and told him what was going on and he called the front desk for us. They said we had to come back to get the magic bands fixed even though at other resorts they have been able to fix this type of issue remotely. I'm very overwhelmed by this point because my back is killing me and now I have to walk back and forth again.

This issue takes 90 minutes to resolve. 90 MINUTES. We got to the lobby, they fixed it real quick. We get back to our room, and guess what! It doesn't work. I'm crying, my husband feels terrible. We go back and refuse to leave until we can be guaranteed it works, which they told us they really couldn't do. It took 4 other CMs before I could get one of them to give me a Key to the World card which they have for purposes like this! At this point I brought up how we have now spent more time in this lobby than we did at the parks today and I felt mistreated and they apologized but did not do anything. I was not looking for anything necessarily but I was so upset.

When we finally got into our room, our bags were not there like they told us they were. Huge problem, obviously. We didn't get our bags until after 1am. The next morning, our DDP still does not work at breakfast. We spend another 40 minutes fixing this. Our DDP did not work all day at Epcot. Lots of money spent out of pocket, lots of receipts to keep. More time spent at the front desk that night. Didn't bother trying to switch rooms in fear of how much more time we'd give up. The last day continued like this as well. When we received our folio, we had over $5000 in charges from food that had been triple charged and not fixed like they said they had. Took an hour to fix that.

We got an apology from several people, but nothing was done other than two additional rapid refill mugs which we already had because we were on the DDP. We did get some additional snack credits.

Long story I know, but I was very disappointed and I will never stay there again. It was very strange to be feeling that it would have been easier to just have gone home after our initial stay.
 

rucifee

Well-Known Member
Sounds like a really bad time, I am surprised they didn't give you a few golden FP+s to try and ease the pain, it would have been really easy for them to do. TWDC has forgotten what customer service means which is sad because they kinda defined it.
 

surfsupdon

Well-Known Member
I know that feeling all too well.

At front desk, your MB is all set to go.
Walk all the way out to your room and DARN it doesn't open the door.
Walk back and get it fixed at front desk.
Return to door and it STILL doesn't work, so you need to walk back to lobby on your travel day so you are so tired (late night flight after work)
They take the bands to fix them, and return 35minutes later with grey bands. While your family just hangs out.
But at least they now work. Hour or more after you checked in.

I'm looking at you Yacht Club and Coronado Springs!!
 

CAPTAIN HOOK

Well-Known Member
That is bl**dy awful. I'm surprised that you can write so calmly about the whole experience.

I do hope that you've taken this complaint to a higher authority within Disney - I'd be expecting a HUGE refund over this, apologies are nice at the time but they don't fix the long term effect of the experiences they've put you through
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
Your entire Coronado stay should be refunded. We had similar issues (though no where near the level of yours) at Coronado and I will never return to that hellhole. Hated the food, stupid pool location, and my "preferred" room was also a 10-minute walk from the food court and 15-minutes from the main pool, of course. What a dump.
 

sgtmgd

Well-Known Member
There certainly should be some compensation for all the troubles you had, pretty ridiculous just to read it. Disney isnt immune to having these things happen, you just hit a perfect storm of suck all at one time. I will say the one time we stayed at Coronado years back we had no issues, yes you can walk a good distance for sure but we certainly didn't have the disaster you endured.
 

DisneyFans4Life

Well-Known Member
That sounds crazy. My wife and I stayed at Coronado for a couple nights for her birthday and didn't have any issues. I'm very surprised that Disney didn't do anything more to compensate you for all your trouble.
 

thomas998

Well-Known Member
Last month, my husband and I stayed at Coronado Springs after a 6 night stay at the Poly. We made a last minute decision to extend our trip so we would be in DW on my birthday. We took this opportunity to try out the last moderate resort we had not tried so we went in very excited. Let me preface this by saying that I fully expected at least a little confusion at check in because we were coming off another (still active) reservation. We got way more than a little confusion and it heavily got in the way of our trip.

When we arrived at check in, there was a long, snaking line circling around the lobby and leading out the doors. It took us 45 minutes to see reach the check in desk which we found very odd because we had never had this experience checking in (and it was a Tuesday around 12pm). Sadly, things just went downhill from there. First thing we were told is that we were going to have to use temporary gray Magic Bands for the first 24 hours because our bands were still synced to the old reservation. Not too big a deal, just a little annoying needing to use two bands (we were planning on using our remaining DDP credits on the previous res that day). The CM then made note that our room would be in a preferred location as I requested which was great, but we were told the room wouldn't be ready until 5pm because they were replacing the TV set, but they would send me a text the moment it was read. All good, we leave our bags with the hotel staff and we go have fun at DAK.

We went to dinner at Tusker House and when we went to pay, we were greeted with the information that our new DDP had not been activated and we didn't have dinner credits left on our last reservation, so we had to pay out of pocket which we were not at all expecting to do. We were told to keep the receipt and our hotel would give us a refund and adjust our DDP credits. Annoying, but not terrible. We got back to the hotel around 8pm and still had not heard if our room was ready. We went to the front desk to take care of the dining plan issue and to hopefully get our room number and be able to sleep.

The CM we spoke to was friendly but had a lot of trouble trying to help us. She wound up charging us 3 additional times for our Tusker House meal before finally getting someone above her to try and reverse the charges. They were able to do it after about a half hour, but they were unable to get our dining plan to activate. We told them we weren't planning on using it anymore tonight and we would really like to go to sleep and we could fix the dining plan issue in the morning. Turns out, our room was still not ready for some reason and we'd have to be moved. This whole process takes another half hour, but finally we were given our map and our room number.

Our room was a good 10 minute walk from the main building which really upset me but we figured we'd change it the following day. Well, sadly, this is where it gets worse. Our magic bands do not open our door. We check to make sure we are at the right door, right building etc etc and it isn't working. There was a CM nearby so we flagged him down and told him what was going on and he called the front desk for us. They said we had to come back to get the magic bands fixed even though at other resorts they have been able to fix this type of issue remotely. I'm very overwhelmed by this point because my back is killing me and now I have to walk back and forth again.

This issue takes 90 minutes to resolve. 90 MINUTES. We got to the lobby, they fixed it real quick. We get back to our room, and guess what! It doesn't work. I'm crying, my husband feels terrible. We go back and refuse to leave until we can be guaranteed it works, which they told us they really couldn't do. It took 4 other CMs before I could get one of them to give me a Key to the World card which they have for purposes like this! At this point I brought up how we have now spent more time in this lobby than we did at the parks today and I felt mistreated and they apologized but did not do anything. I was not looking for anything necessarily but I was so upset.

When we finally got into our room, our bags were not there like they told us they were. Huge problem, obviously. We didn't get our bags until after 1am. The next morning, our DDP still does not work at breakfast. We spend another 40 minutes fixing this. Our DDP did not work all day at Epcot. Lots of money spent out of pocket, lots of receipts to keep. More time spent at the front desk that night. Didn't bother trying to switch rooms in fear of how much more time we'd give up. The last day continued like this as well. When we received our folio, we had over $5000 in charges from food that had been triple charged and not fixed like they said they had. Took an hour to fix that.

We got an apology from several people, but nothing was done other than two additional rapid refill mugs which we already had because we were on the DDP. We did get some additional snack credits.

Long story I know, but I was very disappointed and I will never stay there again. It was very strange to be feeling that it would have been easier to just have gone home after our initial stay.
Well I guess I'm not the only person to swear off ever staying at Coronado Springs... We were there the third week of October and while not having as bad a time as you experienced get the joy of having the room which was supposed to be near the main pool with our only other request that it be a ground floor in the furthest place possible from the main pool on an upper floor where the pool for that group of building was closed the entire time we were there.... Did I mention my kids saw their first live wild rat scurrying around the vending machines the second night we were there? At any rate the Coronado topped our list of places to never ever stay at again.
 

Wendy Pleakley

Well-Known Member
I'm not not one to demand compensation over any little thing, but I'm shocked they didn't do almost anything for you in this case.

Sounds like a case that should have been escalated to a higher level of supervisor.

Coronado is my favourite resort, so this is disappointing. For those commenting on the long walk times to various amenities, I think that's inevitable at CS. I like the fact it is so spread out, but obviously many people don't.
 

daisyduckie

Well-Known Member
Well, you've all convinced me to never stay at Cornonado!

I've stayed at Coronoado Springs multiple times, with the last visit earlier this year, and have had no problems. I will say though that I would never try to resort hop if I had the dining plan, because I would be afraid of having issues like you had. I hope you have sent off an e-mail, as I agree that they need to offer you some sort of compensation.

Oh, and whoever told you your bags would be waiting for you in your room was very wrong. If you have your luggage moved from one resort to another, you have to call down for them to bring up your bags. They won't place them in your room for you without you being there.
 

daisyduckie

Well-Known Member
Well I guess I'm not the only person to swear off ever staying at Coronado Springs... We were there the third week of October and while not having as bad a time as you experienced get the joy of having the room which was supposed to be near the main pool with our only other request that it be a ground floor in the furthest place possible from the main pool on an upper floor where the pool for that group of building was closed the entire time we were there.... Did I mention my kids saw their first live wild rat scurrying around the vending machines the second night we were there? At any rate the Coronado topped our list of places to never ever stay at again.


You do know requests are just that, requests, right? If I swore off every resort that didn't meet my requests I would be swearing off many Disney resorts!
 

GoTheDistance

Member
Original Poster
I've stayed at Coronoado Springs multiple times, with the last visit earlier this year, and have had no problems. I will say though that I would never try to resort hop if I had the dining plan, because I would be afraid of having issues like you had. I hope you have sent off an e-mail, as I agree that they need to offer you some sort of compensation.

Oh, and whoever told you your bags would be waiting for you in your room was very wrong. If you have your luggage moved from one resort to another, you have to call down for them to bring up your bags. They won't place them in your room for you without you being there.

I didn't have my luggage moved from another resort, we brought it ourselves from the Poly and left it at the resort while we went to Animal Kingdom. Because of the extreme delay getting into our room, they told us our luggage was already transported to our room for our convenience. This hadn't happened.

We did send an email but we have not heard back yet. It's been a week, so we will see! I'm sure these things take time.
 

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
It's your call, but if this had happened to me I'd be angry enough to complain until I considered myself properly compensated.
Put as much time into e-mailing/calling as you want, but I would think that if you can substantiate all the nonsense you went through, it might pay off.
See if you can figure out how much of your total vacation time was wasted due to waiting for clerical mistakes to be sorted out.
 

thomas998

Well-Known Member
You do know requests are just that, requests, right? If I swore off every resort that didn't meet my requests I would be swearing off many Disney resorts!
All i know is when I made the reservation they asked if i preferred Cabanas or Casitas. I said Cabanas because it was closested to the main pool... Then we ened up in Casitas...if they offer you two options I don't view that as a request.
 

Mystic

Well-Known Member
I didn't have my luggage moved from another resort, we brought it ourselves from the Poly and left it at the resort while we went to Animal Kingdom. Because of the extreme delay getting into our room, they told us our luggage was already transported to our room for our convenience. This hadn't happened.

We did send an email but we have not heard back yet. It's been a week, so we will see! I'm sure these things take time.

They will respond. It just takes approximately 2 weeks before anyone will get back to you but they WILL respond.
 

DisneyJoe

Well-Known Member
All i know is when I made the reservation they asked if i preferred Cabanas or Casitas. I said Cabanas because it was closested to the main pool... Then we ened up in Casitas...if they offer you two options I don't view that as a request.

What many people don't realize is that they could have assigned you to Cabanas a few days before you arrived, and as other guests checked in, checked out, decided to stay a few more days, or asked to have their rooms changed before you arrived, they probably had no choice but to put you somewhere else due to the current state of occupancy in the Cabanas.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
What many people don't realize is that they could have assigned you to Cabanas a few days before you arrived, and as other guests checked in, checked out, decided to stay a few more days, or asked to have their rooms changed before you arrived, they probably had no choice but to put you somewhere else due to the current state of occupancy in the Cabanas.
"no choice"? It's a huge resort and they had to wait well into the evening for a room because of a tv replacement? Completely unacceptable. I do not believe in late October that there was not one freakin other room available that more closely matched their requests or, bare minimum, would have been available at the posted 4 pm check-in time. Such behavior would have been unacceptable at the Red Roof Inn, let alone at a "world-class" resort at Walt Disney World. Stop being the devil's advocate here. Disney's behavior was absolutely and obviously appalling. I am not one to push for compensation as I feel people seek out compensation too often for absurd reasons, but in this case, compensation is expected and should have been offered without the OP needing to ask. Astonishingly bad service. For shame.
 

rob0519

Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear about your issues. The Magic Band issue is not exclusively at Coronado Springs. We were at the Grand Floridian in July and experienced a similar situation. Go to dinner, no dining plan credits, no charging ability (Front desk person forgot to add the credit card to the bands). Get back to the room and cannot open the door. We had five people in two rooms. Some bands opened the door, others did not. We were assured it was fixed, but sadly that was not the case. It took probably 6 to 7 hours over two days to get this straightened out. I never asked for compensation, but was given $100 resort credit and 25 use any time fast passes (5 for each of us). I feel bad for the cast members that have to deal with this issues as well as the guests. This magic band program is a massive technology project with multiple points of failure.
 

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