Pete C
Active Member
Took my wife to CSR this weekend for her birthday. We live just north of downtown Orlando, but I had some Disney points saved up and we decided to take a weekend away from the house. The room ended up being $240 per night after tax for Easter weekend. My impressions of CSR are mixed. The usual complaints...spread out, not family friendly, etc, do not pertain to us. We don't mind walking at all, and since we were in Casitas 3 we were not far at all from the main building. The best thing about CSR is the grounds. Beautiful to walk around and look at the colorful buildings and flowers. I saw some nice hammocks that would also be really nice to relax on day or night. The pool area is fantastic, but we did not even take advatage of it because we were busy at the parks. However, if you are with family and staying for few days, the pool at CSR should be a plus.
The main building is very nice as well, with a sparkling lobby, nice shop, a swanky lounge (which would be fun if people actually went there...maybe they do but it is prob more for convention functions), a nicely themed food court called the Pepper Market, and their expensive restaurant Maya Grill, which we didn't try. The food at the Pepper Market was okay, having good fajitas, decent freshly-made pizza, and okay chinese. Very expensive for what you get IMO.
Next, the bus system. No complaints here...they were arriving fast and furious for every park. Based on some complains of other resorts, I can't see anyone complaining about the bus system at CSR.
Overall, if only rating the resort on these things, I would totally stay there again, but now on to my main complaint...the room. We had a standard room, but let me tell you this: I have stayed at around probably 30 different Hampton Inns over the years being an HHonors member, and I can't think of a single one that did not have a better room than CSR. Hampton Inns are the low end of the Hilton chain, but CSR is not even on that level. Dark, dreary decor, ugly colors...where are those fun colors from outside on the buildings? Maybe they do this to hide dirt, I don't know. The run-down Mexican furniture motif didn't do it for me. Why don't they just go full-stop on the theme and have no air conditioning? I am exaggerating a bit here of course, but compared to other hotels I have stayed at for WELL under $240 a night, this did not compare. The bathroom is very small, has a smallish shower, and the shower head was making a tea kettle-like like screaming sound whenever in use (I'm sure most don't do that but who knows). The tile colors on the bathroom walls just looked dated...not like a newer resort should look. I like a nice, bright white bathroom that feels fresh and clean. Just not impressed...not impressed at all for this price. I don't even think I would bother with any moderate resort again if the rooms are like this. On the plus side, the beds were nice...very nice queen beds and comfortable. However, they dropped the ball on the pillows. What the heck are these things? 3 small pillows on a queen bed? Where are the standard queen-sized pillows?
Anyway, even though the rooms were average at best, CSR has a lot going for it in other ways. I have a feeling that Port Orleans gets the higher marks because the rooms are better...at least I hope.
The main building is very nice as well, with a sparkling lobby, nice shop, a swanky lounge (which would be fun if people actually went there...maybe they do but it is prob more for convention functions), a nicely themed food court called the Pepper Market, and their expensive restaurant Maya Grill, which we didn't try. The food at the Pepper Market was okay, having good fajitas, decent freshly-made pizza, and okay chinese. Very expensive for what you get IMO.
Next, the bus system. No complaints here...they were arriving fast and furious for every park. Based on some complains of other resorts, I can't see anyone complaining about the bus system at CSR.
Overall, if only rating the resort on these things, I would totally stay there again, but now on to my main complaint...the room. We had a standard room, but let me tell you this: I have stayed at around probably 30 different Hampton Inns over the years being an HHonors member, and I can't think of a single one that did not have a better room than CSR. Hampton Inns are the low end of the Hilton chain, but CSR is not even on that level. Dark, dreary decor, ugly colors...where are those fun colors from outside on the buildings? Maybe they do this to hide dirt, I don't know. The run-down Mexican furniture motif didn't do it for me. Why don't they just go full-stop on the theme and have no air conditioning? I am exaggerating a bit here of course, but compared to other hotels I have stayed at for WELL under $240 a night, this did not compare. The bathroom is very small, has a smallish shower, and the shower head was making a tea kettle-like like screaming sound whenever in use (I'm sure most don't do that but who knows). The tile colors on the bathroom walls just looked dated...not like a newer resort should look. I like a nice, bright white bathroom that feels fresh and clean. Just not impressed...not impressed at all for this price. I don't even think I would bother with any moderate resort again if the rooms are like this. On the plus side, the beds were nice...very nice queen beds and comfortable. However, they dropped the ball on the pillows. What the heck are these things? 3 small pillows on a queen bed? Where are the standard queen-sized pillows?
Anyway, even though the rooms were average at best, CSR has a lot going for it in other ways. I have a feeling that Port Orleans gets the higher marks because the rooms are better...at least I hope.
