We stayed in the cabanas building, very nice room, beds are fine, nice bathroom. Two story building, close to the beautiful pool. The resort is really large, nice restaurants, good coffee bar. They have bus stops to take you to the parks. The parking area is very close to the room. Room service every other day, which is fine. The prices really aren't bad, free parking now. The service is always good, very nicely done.
My wife and I recently spent two nights at Coronado Springs in Gran Destino Tower, and we were pleasantly surprised with the quality of our room and our stay overall. The new lobby and facilities in the tower are very nice, and the rooms are well appointed. I also found the resort as a whole to be well maintained and staffed by friendly cast members. All of this contributed to a positive stay over Memorial Day Weekend. Planning the Trip: We visit Walt Disney World pretty often, and we typically stay at the Deluxe Disney resorts. However, we booked this trip on short notice over a holiday weekend, at a time when virtually every resort on Disney property was fully booked. Coronado Springs was pretty much our only option if we wanted to stay on-property. We had heard that staying in Gran Destino Tower is more like a “light” version of staying at a Deluxe resort, since the rooms are all new and located in a single high-rise building with interior corridors. After staying there, I absolutely agree with this. It feels very much like a Deluxe resort when you stay in Gran Destino Tower, just at a lower price point. In fact, our room at Coronado Springs was objectively nicer than the last room we stayed in at the Grand Floridian, where the room was clearly in need of renovation, but cost so much more. Arrival Experience: We completed online check-in prior to our stay, which I highly recommend doing to bypass the front desk and save time. I received a text from Disney shortly after we arrived at Orlando Airport around 10:45 am, letting us know that our room was not yet ready. This was not a surprise early in the day during a busy holiday weekend. Another text came shortly after we arrived at the resort to drop off our things, letting us know that the room was still not ready. I got a final text at 12:30 pm when we were in Epcot, letting us know that the room was ready and providing the room number. Once you receive the text with your room number, you can go straight to the assigned room without stopping at the front desk if you have a MagicBand or the My Disney Experience app, which is great. We had ordered MagicBands that we brought with us to use as room keys, but the My Disney Experience app also has a mobile room key feature that you can use directly from your cell phone to unlock your room door. If you don’t use either of these options, you would have to stop at the front desk to get a physical room key. When we first arrived at the hotel in an Uber from the airport (we no longer bother with the complimentary Magical Express transportation, due to the long wait times we’ve experienced on past trips), friendly cast members at the entrance greeted us immediately and directed us to the luggage storage room to drop off our luggage until our room was ready. The luggage storage area has a separate entrance that is accessed outside the lobby, off to one side. There was a line of other guests waiting to drop off their bags at the same time, but the line moved quickly and we were on our way. Picking the bags back up later that evening was no problem and just took a minute. We took a quick look at the lobby after we arrived, and I was immediately impressed by how nice Gran Destino Tower is. The lobby (which is the lobby for the entire resort, not just the tower) was usually busy and bustling with guests throughout our stay, but had two levels with lots of nice seating areas and artwork for added visual interest. The space is grand, with large columns and views of the resort’s lake. If you’re looking for a Disney resort with a clear theme, I wouldn’t say that the lobby makes it overly clear that this is a resort celebrating Mexico/Spain/the American Southwest, but I really liked it. It may feel like a more generic hotel than what Disney used to build when creating new resorts, but I liked how new and upscale it felt, clearly a major step up from any of the other Moderate resorts. I think Disney is gradually adjusting their resorts to have a more streamlined and modern look, with only subtle hints of a theme, and we’re very much ok with that. We want a hotel to be nice, not overly kitschy. Hotel Room: Our room was a Standard View King in Gran Destino Tower, and we were given a room on the 9th floor (0945) directly above the front entrance/portico of the hotel. Although it mostly looked at the parking lots and hotel entrance below, the view beyond that was interesting, with a view of Tower of Terror and Galaxy’s Edge in Hollywood Studios, and even a view of the Epcot ball if we craned our necks while looking to the left. Especially if you can get a higher floor, I think the standard view in Gran Destino Tower is pretty decent. An upgrade to lake view will get you a room on the other side of the hallway overlooking more of Coronado Springs itself, including the lake and other sections of the resort. I think that would be a better view, but either one would generally be fine with me in the future. There are normally some rooms in Gran Destino Tower that are on the club level with access to food and beverage in a club lounge. These haven’t been available during the pandemic, but I’d definitely be interested in trying those once the club lounge is re-opened later this year. Right from the start, we enjoyed the modern features of the tower, such as the elevators, which are assigned to you after pressing a button to indicate which floor you’re going to. We thought the elevators were efficient and easy to use, and we always had the elevator to ourselves with no stops in between. One evening, a cast member was trying to assist with getting everyone into elevators when there was a line for elevators after park closing. The cast member meant well, but was creating more issues by hitting the elevator buttons for people and trying to pair groups together, all of which just ended up delaying the process. That was the only time we had any delay at all with using the elevators. When we entered our room, we were immediately impressed. Beyond being impeccably clean, I thought the décor was very nicely done with a slight Southwest/Mexico feel (very slight), while still keeping things very modern and streamlined. The laminate floors that looked like hardwood were nice, and the room as a whole felt pretty large for two of us. I appreciated the large couch and swiveling armchair that were offered in addition to the king bed. The room had a good amount of storage, with three large drawers in each night stand, drawers in the large desk/dresser, and some storage space in the armoire/closet. The bed was on a raised platform, allowing for luggage or other items to be stored under it. All of the other basics that we’d expect were also present, such as well-functioning wifi and lots of USB and regular outlets by the beds and desk. We both commented that everything about the room felt thoughtfully designed. The bathroom was also nice with slightly upscale touches, and definitely contributed to the room feeling better than the typical moderate resort at Disney World. The main section of the bathroom had a nice vanity with double sinks and good shelving and cabinet space for toiletries, and a relatively large (but sort of narrow) walk-in shower that was adjacent to the sinks. The shower featured separate shower heads with rainfall and handheld options. The toilet was in a separate water closet, and both the bathroom as a whole and the water closet had heavy sliding doors. One thing that could have been improved in the room was the linens. This is not unique to Coronado Springs, but we hate that the Disney resorts don’t have adequate bedding. The beds really only have a thick sheet on them, which I find insufficient. A real duvet should be provided. The pillows were also really small and lumpy and need to be upgraded. We found the mattress itself to be comfortable, so that was a positive. The bathroom was stocked with plenty of towels to get us through our two nights without having to re-use any, but the towels are a bit small and thin. I also found the door to the hallway to be much too thin. When lying in bed, we could easily hear the conversations of every person who walked by, which made it a little difficult to fall asleep. I also heard a good bit of noise from rooms above and around us, such as toilets flushing and things dropped on the floors. I don’t know if much can be done about most of it, but thicker doors to the hallways would be a start. I also found it ridiculous that no room cleaning was offered at all during our stay. They’re currently offering a “modified” housekeeping service every other day, which basically just consists of emptying the trash and replacing towels. However, since we were only staying for two nights total, we received no service at all. We weren’t there for long, and the room wasn’t exactly dirty, but when paying over $300 per night, I would expect normal housekeeping. We’ve stayed at other hotels in various destinations since the start of the pandemic, and not a single other one had a modified housekeeping service to this extent. What may have started as a pandemic-related modification has morphed into an excuse for Disney to provide less service with no reduction in prices, and should not continue. Hotel Amenities & Layout: Since we were only at the hotel for two nights and spent most of our time in the parks, we really didn’t get a chance to enjoy hotel amenities. However, the amenities generally consist of standard things you’d expect at a Disney resort, such as several pools, playgrounds, and a gym. The main Dig Site Pool is located on an island in the center of the resort, with large Mayan-style ruins as the centerpiece of the pool, along with a water slide, large hot tub, and nearby playground. When I took a walk around the resort one afternoon, the Dig Site Pool was packed, with tons of families there enjoying the pool, and almost all of the seating taken. I had read that the pool has been reaching capacity and required a waitlist to get in recently, but it wasn’t necessary that day. For a quieter experience, each of the three other sections at the resort has its own smaller pool that offers a simpler and also quieter swimming experience. I would recommend being very careful about which room you book at Coronado Springs, as the look, feel, and location of rooms can vary greatly at this large resort. Gran Destino Tower is simply the newest and most convenient part of the resort, with the rooms just steps away from the main lobby and bus stop, as well as all of the main dining. However, Gran Destino Tower rooms are more expensive than the rest, and are clearly marked as a separate category when booking. The standard rooms, which were original to the resort before Gran Destino Tower was built a couple years ago, feature motel-style accommodations in buildings with exterior corridors. These are further split into three sections, Casitas, Ranchos, and Cabanas. If you book a standard room, you can be in any of these three sections and your room may be a bit of a hike from the lobby. You can also book an upgrade to a water view room, which can still be in any of the three sections in a standard building, but will have a view of either the lake or a pool. Preferred rooms are another separate room category you can book, and all are located in the three closest buildings to the lobby in the Casitas section, which is the first section of the resort that you hit when leaving the tower and walking clockwise. Casitas features buildings that are supposed to look like a Mexican city, and look a bit grander than the others. The standard, non-Preferred rooms in Casitas are in two buildings a bit further away from the lobby. The next section of standard rooms is Ranchos, which are the furthest from the lobby. This section has more of a desert look, and is nice and very quiet, just a little far out. The third section coming back around toward the tower again is Cabanas, which has more of a beachy Mexican look. Some of the rooms in this section are just as close to the lobby as Preferred rooms in the Casitas section, but are sold for less money as standard rooms. Other than booking a Preferred room, which is guaranteed to be in Casitas Buildings 1-3, standard rooms and water view rooms at this resort can be in any section, and it may be worth it to consult the hotel map in advance and make specific room requests if location matters to you. From walking around the resort, I was very impressed with the landscaping and general feel of it. It’s a very well-executed resort with interesting theming between the sections. Outside of the tower, I liked the overall look and peaceful feel of Ranchos the best, but the location of Casitas seemed the best. I also think Gran Destino Tower, which sort of looms above the rest of the buildings, is out of scale and sort of plain looking on the exterior compared to everything else. However, it’s so nice on the inside that I give it a pass on being a bit off design-wise on the exterior. Dining: There are a good number of dining options at Coronado Springs, many of which were open while we visited. First, in Gran Destino Tower, there is the Barcelona Lounge on the lower level of the lobby. This is a really nice bar area, which is currently only open in the morning for to-go coffee and pastries. We really enjoyed the coffee drinks here, particularly the cold brew with sweet cream. It was nice to have an easy option for upgraded coffee drinks that was just a quick elevator ride from our room. It would be nice if they would re-open this bar for drinks in the evening, but it’s currently only a morning option. At the top of Gran Destino Tower, there are the Toldeo Restaurant and Dahlia Lounge. Toledo serves Spanish-style tapas, but is currently closed. Dahlia Lounge is open, but we never got a chance to check it out. I’ve heard that the views from both venues and the outdoor roof deck are lovely. A lot of the other dining options are located closer to the large convention center, which is down a long interior hallway from the tower, which takes you to what was the original lobby of the resort before the tower was built. The design is a little disjointed and kind of goes back and forth between the modern décor of the tower and a more dated Mexican feel in the older section, but it’s all connected inside and is generally nice. El Mercado de Coronado is near the convention center and is the food court for the resort. We did get a quick breakfast there one morning, and the breakfast sandwiches with hash browns were acceptable for the price (although the bread was basically a hamburger bun and could have been better). However, I found it frustrating that every item being served was pre-packaged in a grab-and-go style. The food courts at the Disney resorts used to offer larger menus with food plated to-order by cast members. I think at this point in the pandemic, going back to more of that style would be totally reasonable. I would have liked greater selection and food that was fresher and hotter. Right across from the food court is Rix Sports Bar, which is essentially just a basic sports bar. It’s right by the convention center, so I assume it was put there to appeal to convention-goers. However, it’s a bit out-of-place with the hotel’s general feel and theme. Down the hall from there is also Café Rix, which is currently only open in the morning and offers pre-packaged sandwiches and pastries to-go, along with a selection of coffee drinks. I believe what is offered there is similar to what is offered at Barcelona Lounge, but not quite the same. Maya Grill is a table service Mexican restaurant near the food court that is currently closed, so that is not a dining option at the moment. The final table service dining option at the resort is the Three Bridges Bar and Grill that is located in the center of the lake. It looks like a very nice open-air restaurant with good views and a great ambiance right on the water, but we didn’t have a chance to check it out. Transportation: Bus transportation is the only option from Coronado Springs to the various amusement parks and Disney Springs. Since the resort is large, there are four internal stops within the resort, with one at Gran Destino Tower and one at each of the other three sections. We only took the bus to Magic Kingdom, which we did twice, and we found that the buses came pretty quickly each time. We never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus, and when we were at the bus stop very early one morning before park opening, Magic Kingdom buses were literally coming one after another, which we appreciated. I’m not sure what the order of the bus stops is within the resort, but for us, the tower was always the last stop before the bus left and went directly to the park. We never took the bus back to the resort, so we couldn’t compare the bus route or wait times in that direction. The only frustrating thing with the buses is related to the My Disney Experience app. The app has a feature which lists the arrival times of the next bus to each destination (the same information is available on TV monitors at the bus stops too). We assumed we could rely on this information, but found that it had no relation to the reality of when the buses came. For example, one afternoon, we got to the bus stop early for the pick-up time specified in the app, but found that the bus was pulling away as we got there, and the app listed that the next one wasn’t coming for 25 more minutes. While going back and forth on whether we should wait or just get an Uber, another bus for us pulled up about 10 minutes later and we got on, but it was still nowhere close to the time specified in the app. It just led to confusion and frustration on our end. If the information can’t be accurate, or even close to accurate, the bus arrival times shouldn’t be predicted at all. Overall: Overall, we had a really nice stay at Coronado Springs. Staying in Gran Destino Tower was a great fit for my wife and I, since we prefer Disney’s Deluxe resorts, and staying in the main tower felt like that. The motel-style layout of the rest of the resort isn’t really our thing, even though I thought the landscaping and theming were quite nice. It was a great place for a leisurely walk. The fresh, new rooms in the tower, combined with its convenient location within the resort, were a great benefit to us, and all of the limited time we spent at the hotel was very pleasant. The staff members we interacted with were all quite nice, always saying hello when we passed by and greeting us immediately every time we returned to the resort. I would definitely return to Coronado Springs if we were in a similar situation again, where no rooms were available at the Deluxe resorts or we simply didn’t want to pay that much. Staying in Gran Destino Tower at Coronado Springs is the next best thing.…
My husband and I just spent 6 nights at the Coronado Springs. Very nice resort about 15 minute drive to the parks. Very well maintained property. We had a preferred king room in the Casitas #3 to be closer to amenities. It was Off season so not very crowded. The room was perfectly fine; clean with plenty of towels and toiletries; cleaned and refreshed every other day. Rix for breakfast and lunch was fine. Not a huge menu but what we had was good. Maya grill for dinner was also good The Market (grab & go) was just ok. We thought it was expensive for what it is. $4.30 for a cup of coffee $2.50 for an apple and $10 for a 3.5 oz of almonds. Crazy !! We would definitely stay again
We stayed here early January. We upgraded from Value Sports Resort to Gran Destino Tower Club Level… although pricey.. felt like a great value with breakfast/snacks/drinks included. We were incredibly lucky to get a room right next door to the Chronos Lounge. Nicole was our first Concierge to help us locate our magic bands. She was fantastic just like all the staff at the Chronos Lounge. The pool and amenities were incredible. The kids loved the “big dig pool”. This was our first family “on site” resort stay, and we weren’t disappointed. Our room was also incredible. We had an amazing view of Tower of Terror and the sunrise. Our room was cleaned daily. That was welcomed surprise. Parking was free mid stay. Apparently Bob Iger is pumping more value into staying at the resorts with no more parking fees. Very happy to see Iger back at the helm. He gets it.…
First off I want to say that my room was very clean. The housekeeping staff does a great job. Also the event staff at the convention center were amazing. However, we tried to get drinks at the bar downstairs from the front desk, and were ignored for twenty minutes until we gave up and left. There was only one other person at the bar. Second, the restaurant staff we encountered were some of the worst I've ever experienced anywhere. Their attitudes were those of people who were sick of seeing travelers to Disney and were sick of dealing with people. We were with an extremely large group and so many of us had bad experiences with the restaurant staff that it was clear they don't want us to come back.
there are obvious there are management issues here. arrived thursday 1/5 left 1/12. was informed housekeeping is every 2 days, didn't happen one time. requested towels, they complied with putting a bag towels on the bed with 2 rolls of toliet paper/no beds were made and no garbage taken out. I put garbage bag outside room. Food service: waitress tacked on additional 2 dollars at the RIX restaurant. Had to ask for coffee cups, coffee, shampoo ( 2 times), and microwave. I would not go here again. I made 5 calls to front desk about these items over the days i was there. ALso, found broken finger nail under the coffee tray with previous travlers 10.00. Apprently, the previous guests had similar experienc regarding housekeepng.
This was a beautiful resort. Me and my family really enjoyed staying here. I loved the pool and the slide it was amazing for the kids. The hot tub was beautiful. And there was also a pool right next to our cabana room which was ideal. What I didn’t like about this resort was that the beds were never cleaned. Also I didn’t like how there were to many people in the hot tub at night drinking alcohol. There were many people waiting ages to get in the hot tub. And the staff didn’t do anything about it even though they were standing right there. I just didn’t enjoy people swearing in front of small children.
There are some pros and cons to staying on a Disney property. While this hotel was nicely appointed like most of Disney’s hotels, some of those amenities were not available during our time there. This particular hotel is mainly geared towards couples or families that have older children and no more than 4 in a family. Getting here from the airport, your choices are using Mears Connect, rental car, or Uber/Lyft option. There is no longer shuttle buses provided by Disney. Using the my Disney experience app or magic bands you can open your room door, check in/out digital bypassing the front desk altogether. If you use the rental car option, it will cost you $20/night to self-park, $30/night to valet park. There is no street parking. We were a party of 6, bring our 2 adult sons and their spouses. Booking 3 king size bed rooms in the tower, they overlooked the way in which we were able to see the Epcot fireworks from our rooms, 561, 563 and 567. They were clean, you can request to have rooms cleaned everyday or every 3rd day, we were staying 5 nights, so cleaning on the 3rd day was fine for us. Disney’s design for the rooms were well thought out. The shower was big having a rain shower head as well as a wand shower head with pump bottles of body wash, shampoo and conditioner. Hooks mounted nearby for towels so you don’t how to drip over for a towel. Double sinks allow two to get ready at the same time. Lighted make up mirror. They also had the standard amenities such bar soap and lotion but also shower cap, aloe vera gel, mouthwash and a little vanity kit. Plenty of space to place your own toiletries as well. Should you need an iron one is available. Safe is also available. Plenty of drawer space as well as closet space. There is a little dorm style refrigerator but no microwave. Besides the bed, there is desk area as well as a small sofa (maybe a sleeper sofa) and one swivel chair in a clean modern line style. Here’s why the lower rating, dining options on the property. If you are staying here, it’s because you don’t want to be driving to find a place to stay and eat. Now admittedly we were staying after Christmas and before New Year’s but a couple of the dining options were closed, Three Bridges and one other, and the ones open were open at the same time the shuttles left for the park so getting something to eat before the going to the parks was not option if you wanted to take advantage of early entry offered to hotel guests. If you booked dining reservations well in advance you may be able to eat at the Maya Grill, but let’s be honest, how do you know long you are going to be a park? We could not get in to any of the places on site with a party of 6. Fortunately for us, we had a rental car and went off site for dinners (too bad Disney!) otherwise it would have been UberEats! We did not go around the outside of the hotel but as they have a convention center at this hotel they have some nice pools and gardens, would have been nice if Three Bridges was open, would have loved being able to see the place from the water. Shuttle service stops from the hotel to the parks have signage to help with knowing where the park bus will be stopping. There are four bus stops around the property and the buses are equipped to handle wheelchairs/scooters.…
Pure filth ! Don’t stay at Coronado springs unless you pay to upgrade to the tower. You are treated like a second class citizen if you stay any where other then the tower. I did a week in the tower and the cleaned and sorted the beds everyday and changed them at least 3 times. Yet I moved to the cabanas and so far on day 8 they have cleaned my room twice emptied the bins 3 times and not once changed the bed. The give you excuses like covid. That is pure utter rubbish unless you are immune from covid if you stay in a tower room. All I can say is it is pure filth!!! I would have expected at least for the bed to have been changed each week. I cannot express how disgusted I am and this is only about the rooms. Don’t even get me started on disability issues within disney.
My husband and I had a nice stay at the Coronado Resort. At check-in I asked to be moved from a standard room to a preferred room because the resort is very large and thankfully they were able to accomodate my request (and I agreed to pay the higher cost as well). The restaurants and bars are abundant and the resort is very nicely landscaped. We had light housekeeping every other day which was basically just emptying garbage and changing out the towels. We would've liked our beds to have been made, but it was not a huge deal for us to do it ourselves. Cast members were all very nice and housekeeping responded very quickly when we asked for extra blankets. The pool area was nice with plenty of chairs and fun activities for the kids. I was hesitant to stay here due to the size of the resort, but we were not bothered by it, probably because we had the preferred room. I would be happy to stay here again.…
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