Well, everyone, you can just stop reading right here. This was the Worst Resort Ever.*

I didn’t really intend to stay at Coronado Springs this month. I certainly didn’t intend to stay there twice. (Thanks, blizzard!) I admit it: I’m a Deluxe resort snob. Thanks to family DVC vacations and my own terrible snobby standards, I’ve never stayed on property at anything less than the Wilderness and Animal Kingdom Lodges.  But two things conspired to get me to look at Coronado Springs, and wow am I glad that I did.  The first was that our 72-hour February trip to Disney was originally supposed to be just three nights, but at the last minute we decided to tack on an extra night. There was nothing left at Bay Lake Tower, so…we had to stay somewhere else. The second factor is this looming interest in perhaps buying DVC someday, and the accompanying realization that maybe we should pinch our pennies a bit and funnel the difference into saving for DVC. Instead of looking at a fourth night at a Deluxe, then, we decided to give Coronado Springs a try.

There’s good reasoning behind our decision. First (and rightly), Coronado Springs has a reputation as being the most deluxe of the Moderate class of Disney resorts, largely because of its status as the only Moderate convention hotel.  Catering more to a business traveler than a vacation traveler, Coronado offers amenities more in line with what the Deluxes offer – a 24-hour health club, salon, and the sheer number of restaurant/bar options chief among them.  Further, I believe it’s this eye on the business traveler market that led Disney to refurbish Coronado a few years ago with a more modern, less overtly Disney aesthetic. Sure, there are very subtle Disney touches in the rooms, but the emphasis is on subtle.  The rooms are comfortable, modern, and a disgustingly good value (for Disney.) Hence my hope to throw readers off the trail – Coronado is a hidden gem, and I hope it stays that way!

Let’s start with the biggest pros of staying at Coronado Springs:

Bang for your buck. See above – it’s (almost) like staying at a Disney Deluxe resort, but for a much more affordable price. Coronado offers several room classes to choose from, ranging from a standard two-queen configuration to a preferred King room in a concierge building.  CP and I stayed in a King Preferred Room on the last night of our trip to Disney earlier this month, and then I found myself back at Coronado during the blizzard when my boss and I were stranded in Florida. On that night, she and I were both put up in standard rooms, and I have to say – I liked the standard room better! So, if you are willing to stay in a standard room and don’t care much about what view you have or how far you have to walk to the main building (for us it was 10 minutes at the longest), you can save even more money on your stay.

Plenty of amenities.  One of the things I like about staying Deluxe are how many birds I can kill at one resort. That is, I like having ample options for eating, shopping, lounging, and drinking without having to travel very far. Coronado is probably the best Moderate resort in this regard, offering several restaurants and bars, a well-stocked gift shop, and probably the most adult lounge (Rix Lounge) on property.  While I didn’t use the gym or the health club on either stay, it’s nice to know I could have. Also, the guest laundry rooms are very nice and convenient to each section of the resort. You really wouldn’t have to leave Coronado’s grounds unless you wanted to.

Grounds and landscaping and beauty (oh my!). Coronado Springs is a beautiful resort. For one thing, it’s spacious – I know some people see this as a potential negative, but for me the breathing room was a welcome respite from the chaos of the parks and Downtown Disney.  For another, it’s a resort that’s been there awhile, so the landscaping is mature and the grounds are very lush and peaceful.  There were few things I enjoyed as much on both recent stays as taking a sunset walk around the lake. (Having a frozen margarita in hand at the time didn’t hurt, either!)

A different crowd. Don’t get me wrong – As a Disney kid myself, I know that so much of what Disney has to offer is for the kids. I for one appreciate watching the glee on kids’ faces as they encounter the parks for the first (or second or twentieth) time. But that doesn’t mean I want to be surrounded by full-on 3pm meltdowns or gaggles of toddlers all the livelong day. As a convention resort, Coronado seemed to offer less in the way of child-centered chaos than other resorts we’ve stayed at. With no character meals to draw visitors from other resorts and no themed rooms like the Caribbean Beach Resort, I never had to wade through a lobby full of impatient families and screaming kids. Sure, there are lots of families with kids at Coronado, but it’s on a different scale.  So if you’re like us – adults traveling without kids – you might want to give Coronado a try.  (That said, there were a lot of screaming conventioneers at night, but I think their free drink tickets had something to do with that.)

A friendly Cast. Maybe it was just luck, but on both stays this month I found the Cast Members at Coronado Springs to be downright wonderful – genuinely happy, really helpful, and proud of where they worked and with whom they worked.  I’ve found this to be hit-or-miss at other resorts, and it’s something I really appreciate, as it can make or break the Disney experience.

A great pool area for young and old alike. A great slide, a good poolside bar, a hot tub, and play area for your kids. It’s pretty perfect.

A couple cons to think about:

Location requests matter here. For my stay with CP, our King Preferred room was located on the ground floor of Casitas 3. It was great to be so close to the main building, but wow was that room dark and even a bit…dank? We got very little outside light, and the ground floor room felt for whatever reason quite cavernous. On my second stay in a standard room, I was put on the 2nd floor of Ranchos 7B. It was a night-and-day experience – the room was light, airy, and just about perfect. If this is something you are concerned about, you owe it to yourself to make a room request with Disney before you arrive.

The showers are a bit wonky. Two rooms, two weird showers. A classic Goldilocks problem: one setting was too weak, the other way too strong. It did the job, but it paled in comparison to the shower in our room at Bay Lake Tower, for example.

Kids bring their own chaos, but so do conventioneers. We experienced a bit of this staying at the Contemporary in September (also a convention resort), but sometimes a roomful of drunken corporate nerds is just obnoxious. Especially when they hit up a “swanky” lounge in their work khakis and polos and think they own the place.  Not a deal breaker by any means, but as my grandmother would say, nothing in life is free. If there are multiple conferences going on at Coronado at one time, encountering crowds of conferencegoers (drunken or not) will be inevitable. (If you’re considering a stay at Coronado, this site has a handy chart of known conferences to be held at Coronado. You might want to avoid the busier times.)

Best for: Deluxe resort lovers on a budget. Value resort guests who are ready for an upgrade at a more manageable price. Adults traveling without kids, or families who want a bit more peace and quiet than you’ll find at other Disney resorts.

Worst for: Families wanting the hustle and bustle of a more kid-friendly resort.  Individuals who want to be immersed in all Disney, all of the time.

Pro tip: If a gaggle of medical imaging professionals have crowded you out of the bar inside the Rix Lounge, head outside to the lakeside bar. The drinks there are good, and much easier to get!

Ready for some photos?

*and by “worst” I mean “one of the nicest Disney surprises I’ve had in a long, long time.” I just don’t want the secret to get out!