Coronado Springs Tips?

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

Hey guys, we just booked an August trip and was wondering if anyone could give any resort tips for CSR? Preferred buildings for transportation? For going to food court? Best stations/dishes at food court? Closeness to pool? I've read that the rooms are bigger? How can I find out about conferences that may be here during my travel dates? How do conferences effect your stay?

I've never stayed here before and we had a pin code that made it $140 different to stay here as opposed to an All-Star resort. My FIL has stayed here multiple times and says it is his favorite. Any tip would be appreciated.

-Mike

We have stayed both preferred and standard, in Casitas and Cabanas... we loved them both. If you plan to use the food court often, I would spend the money and go preferred otherwise save your money. Always request to be close to transportation or the pool either way you will have good views because the whole resort is beautiful and will immerse you in it! Coronado is definitely big enough that outside of the main pool, you will hardly notice anyone else is there! That is one of my favorite things about it!
We prefer Cafe Rix to Pepper Market, but it does seem the menus are becoming more of the standard Disney food court and less "spanish."

This past September we were in Cabanas 8B. Which was literally a 30 second walk to bus stop 4 and about 2 - 3 minute walk from the main pool!

 

[Mr Toad]

We stayed in Cabañas as well. Very lovely resort and lots to see...very underrated resort due to the Convention Resort tag. Really that just means that the pool isn't that crowded during the day!

 

[mhaftman7]

I just requested a room in one of 9B, 4, or 5. 4 or 5 was based on proximity to buses, pools, food, and fitness center which my DW will probably take advantage of.

 

[CheshireCat12]

I've stayed at Ranchos 6a (very quiet, in the back, but right next to a bus stop) and Ranchos 7b (right across from the Dig Site pool area). Both were lovely and QUIET locations. Convention guests are usually put in Casitas (bldg 1-5) from what I understand, unless they get the Business class in Cabanas 9b. Personally I would not bother with paying extra for 9b. People talk about CSR like they are afraid to walk- we walk all day at WDW so I figure it's just a little more. It is a beautiful and scenic walk around the lagoon. And since there are 4 bus stops, you can get on/off easily with the bus service. Each bus goes around the resort for pickup/dropoff before heading back out, so I've used it to get to El Centro if necessary.
For food, I would say avoid the Cafe Rix around peak hours, especially lunchtime if there is a convention going on. We waited about 30 min. just to get a grilled sandwich and the cold items were all picked over. This is IMHO CS's worst aspect. But you can avoid it by eating at a park or even having snacks/drinks at the bar by the pool, and the Pepper Market has changed a bit since I was last there so I am not sure what it's like now, but they had a really good Margherita pizza and steak fajitas.

 

[vericarey1]

I've stayed at Coronado Springs twice while my ex-husband attended conventions there...It is a very nice resort, the pool is great, there are several quiet pools, and the food wasn't bad in my opinion, I don't think the walk was that bad, and the grounds are beautiful. We found that it worked better to get on the bus right outside the Lobby, if we waited for the bus by our room it would be too full. Have a great time.

 

[hull327]

I guess it depends on what you're going to be doing. We stayed at Ranchos and did not use the lobby except for check-in/check-out as we were at the parks from 8AM - 10PM every night. It was close to the pool that my kids spent one afternoon but the biggest benefit was the bus system. The buses run clockwise starting at the "top" of the resort and finishing at the lobby as their last stop. At Ranchos we were always able to get on the first bus for the particular park we were visiting that day but by the time our bus would stop at Cabanas and get people and then get to the lobby it was full. On our last day there we decided to go to the lobby, grab a cup of coffee and then head to the parks. My family waited for 45 minutes only to be greeted by 3 rounds of buses that were already full. We wound up walking back to the Ranchos stop and jumped right on an empty bus. Lo and behold, when we got back around to the lobby our bus was filled and there were people at the lobby stop that I was standing with that still weren't able to get on a bus.