Coronado Springs or Pop?

[tanc]

Caribbean beach imo is the best, it's the main hub for the gondola and in my experience, after you wait 15 - 30 mins at another resort only to go and wait more at the main hub, it's to me worth the extra cost. Plus you will have way more options onsite, which pop is alright with the food court, but it's just a pain to walk so far just to get food sometimes with such limited options. Pop is obviously great for if you just want the barebones, but the perks of the caribbean are great if you could find a room.

If not, coronado would also be nice, but be prepared to probably wait a bit longer on the gondola due to having to stand in more lines.

 

[Ldno]

We really enjoyed our stay at CS (stayed before the refurb, had a room way in the back, and still really liked it). They didn't have Destino built then but we did like the resort. The pool was lovely and not crowded (although it was a bit of a walk back to our room). We've never stayed at Pop or CBR. I can only guess at the higher price for CBR being that it has the skyliner and the pirate rooms. From what I've heard, it's huge resort. From what I've read, pirate rooms are in the Trinidad section and appear to be close to the Skyliner (but fairly far from other main amenities, FWIW). Here's map that shows the location to the Skyliner...
View attachment 496249

When I went in March I stayed at the CBR Barbados area, although you see how close it is on the map it’s like a 10 minute walk from there to the skyliner, It was great for going to Epcot but it’s fast, it’s good if you want to go to Holly wood studios but the wait for the buses to head into magic kingdom from there added an hour a day for the wait.
From what I heard busses will add more to the whole trip so stick with hotels on the sky liner route. I managed to ride the entire skyline route it’s a good 20 minutes however you look at it!! So worth it!

Consider the reduced park hours And reservation system, less to do at the resorts and less to do at the parks, stick with pop, save the money for more expensive merch if need be!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Caribbean beach imo is the best, it's the main hub for the gondola and in my experience, after you wait 15 - 30 mins at another resort only to go and wait more at the main hub, it's to me worth the extra cost. Plus you will have way more options onsite, which pop is alright with the food court, but it's just a pain to walk so far just to get food sometimes with such limited options. Pop is obviously great for if you just want the barebones, but the perks of the caribbean are great if you could find a room.

If not, coronado would also be nice, but be prepared to probably wait a bit longer on the gondola due to having to stand in more lines.

We've never had to wait long for a gondola at AOA/Pop, Epcot or DHS. In fact the only time we waited was after Illuminations and Epcot closed for the night. The rest of the times we walked right on. But you're right about CBR having more dining options. That's always a plus!

 

[daisyduckie]

I have to disagree with many. I have stayed at 12 different Disney resorts, and Caribbean is far and away my least favorite of them all. It may have many dining options, but none of them are very good in my opinion. I dislike the size of the resort too.

Out of your choices I would go with CSR. But I have another suggestion--the Swan or Dolphin. Right now their rates are very comparable to the Disney moderates. And the location of them is great!

 

[Nutso4Disney]

As for what you listed as important to you I would go with CS. The Food Options much better at CS. The buses from what I have seen are not as crowed at CS. The walking to room shouldn't be an issue because of the several bus stops. I have never experience CS during the holidays, but really what resort isn't beautifully decorated during the holidays? CS has a great pool. So really it comes down to price.