Resort choices - Coronado Springs or Carribean Beach?

[ang79]

I've been talking to a friend's mom who is a travel agent that specializes in Disney trips. At first I thought I could do all the planning myself to save money but since this is our first trip and I'm totally confused by everything I decided a travel agent wouldn't be so bad! So we are considering end of October (which coordinates when the girls have off school 2.5 days AND falls in the Free Dining Promo), or end of January or beginning of Feb. I am leaning towards October due to weather (I know my kids will want to swim in the hotel pool). For sake of conveniencce, and because this may be our only big Disney trip, we've decided to stay on-site. With the free dining promo it makes more sense to stay in a Moderate (though DH was wanting a suite so that we don't have to share a room w/ the girls for the week). She has sent me a quote for Coronado Springs and I'm also looking at Carribean Beach. My girls will be 6 and 9 in the fall, what are pros/cons to either of the above?

Any idea what kind of deals Disney runs in the winter months? Would we be able to get a better deal then? I know my girls would love staying in the Little Mermaid Room at Art of Animation (which apparently never has discounts applied to it), or even the Lion King or Nemo suites, but we do want to do at least one character meal, so it seems like using the meal service is best when doing the character meals. Would appreciate any tips, this is all a bit overwhelming!

[rkold]

I've been talking to a friend's mom who is a travel agent that specializes in Disney trips. At first I thought I could do all the planning myself to save money but since this is our first trip and I'm totally confused by everything I decided a travel agent wouldn't be so bad! So we are considering end of October (which coordinates when the girls have off school 2.5 days AND falls in the Free Dining Promo), or end of January or beginning of Feb. I am leaning towards October due to weather (I know my kids will want to swim in the hotel pool). For sake of conveniencce, and because this may be our only big Disney trip, we've decided to stay on-site. With the free dining promo it makes more sense to stay in a Moderate (though DH was wanting a suite so that we don't have to share a room w/ the girls for the week). She has sent me a quote for Coronado Springs and I'm also looking at Carribean Beach. My girls will be 6 and 9 in the fall, what are pros/cons to either of the above?

Any idea what kind of deals Disney runs in the winter months? Would we be able to get a better deal then? I know my girls would love staying in the Little Mermaid Room at Art of Animation (which apparently never has discounts applied to it), or even the Lion King or Nemo suites, but we do want to do at least one character meal, so it seems like using the meal service is best when doing the character meals. Would appreciate any tips, this is all a bit overwhelming!

I've stayed at the Caribbean and Coronado Springs. What I liked about the Caribbean was it has one huge very nice pool, a few quiet pools and some nice playgrounds. Depending on where your hotel room is everything can be a real hike. The Customs House (or was that what check in was called) is where the QS food is found and is near the main pool. It's not super close to the separate building where you check in. We didn't try to get to the parks from there (we were only there 1 night) but the resort is huge and I can imagine it is a long trip by bus just around the property. There is a bus just around the property if you come in by Magical Express because it's so far from check-in to some of the rooms. We had a rental car, and parking was easy to find and very good. The rooms are a older and a little larger. Some people swear by this hotel and like how it is located not too far from any of the parks. We stayed Feb 2014. I last stayed in Coronado December 2005? The rooms were "newer" then, but what they are like now I am less sure. It too has quiet pools and one huge theme pool closer to the main building. The main building is where QS food and check-in is located. I personally, didn't feel like Coronado was as huge as Caribbean. It does feel more "adult" because of the Convention Center (sort of like how Beach Club is more family and Yacht Club is more adult.) I think the Casitas are the rooms right off the main building. I stayed in the Rancheros and requested a room near a bus stop. I don't remember the walk seeming too bad to the main building but I was mostly by myself.

I've not stayed in Art of Animation but have heard nothing but positives about it. I think there are limited discounts on it because it is very popular and the newest resort on property outside the DVC units at the Grand and the Poly.

Since Oct already hit 6 months, I personally wouldn't plan on doing a meal plan unless you can actually get the reservations you want. I'd go to the Disney site right now and start booking things for your potential trip in October. You can always cancel, but Oct is relatively popular and things will be gone. I can tell you unless you get lucky with cancellations BoG is long gone.

I guess the big plus of Jan is it's not 6 months out yet, so you will be able to book restaurants at 6 months out. January is generally very quiet and low season. There are usually substantial discounts as long as your visit is after the Marathon week end. I think the discounts usually go until right before Presidents Week, which is a popular time to visit and culminates in the Princess 1/2 week end.

I've gone to WDW several times in Jan. Some of the trips have been really chilly, Jan 2014 and Jan 2015. Jan 2014 was so cold Animal Kingdom Lodge had to bring in a lot of the animals for their own safety and the pool was on reduced hours. Jan 2015 was pretty chilly, but DD didn't care and wanted to go in the pool. Luckily, there were some other kids from Canada who also wanted to use the pool. We once went the last week of Jan, 2011, and that year it was very warm and we had no problem using the pool. February can also be like that. The Frozen 5k this year was well Frozen, but by the 1/2 on Sunday it was 80+ by 8:15 am.

[jam224]

I've stayed at Coronado Springs and I've visited Disney World in January before. The key thing to staying at Coronado Springs is to request a room near a bus stop! We didn't and it was always a trek at the start of the day and at the end of the day. We went in January of 2012 and had a great experience -- the crowds were nil (we also spent 1 day at Universal Studios and walked onto nearly every attraction there, including all of the Harry Potter rides!) and the weather was mild. The last day there, the weather did get a little chilly, but it was totally doable with a light fleece/hoodie jacket. I suppose it's all relative though -- Florida winter is nothing like Ohio! ;) Don't know if any of that helps, but good luck planning!

[egoldber]

All of the moderates except Port Orleans - French Quarter (POFQ) are very large and very spread out. If you don't get a good building location, you can be in for a long walk or a long bus ride thought the resort. We've stayed at all of them over the years, and this is one reason I personally prefer POFQ of all the moderates. But they are all beautifully designed and landscaped. :)

[hellokitty]

I prefer pofq too. However CBR is the most recent reno and has a great pool from what I've been told, so I would stay there over Coronado, if I had to pick btwn the two.

[ang79]

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, POFQ isn't included in the free dining offer, the only moderates included are Beach and Coronado. Need to talk to our travel agent about where the bookings are still available at Beach for that week in Oct. My concern w/ January are weather (we're from PA, and after the last two very cold/snowy/icy winters I'm a bit worried about travel being delayed due to weather), as well as rides being closed for maintenance. For those who have gone in the winter before are there many closures for maintenance of must do rides? This may very likely be are one big Disney trip as a family, so I want it to be planned as stress free as possible (hence the travel agent and meal plan) and to be able to do as many of the things the girls would enjoy doing.

[hellokitty]

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, POFQ isn't included in the free dining offer, the only moderates included are Beach and Coronado. Need to talk to our travel agent about where the bookings are still available at Beach for that week in Oct. My concern w/ January are weather (we're from PA, and after the last two very cold/snowy/icy winters I'm a bit worried about travel being delayed due to weather), as well as rides being closed for maintenance. For those who have gone in the winter before are there many closures for maintenance of must do rides? This may very likely be are one big Disney trip as a family, so I want it to be planned as stress free as possible (hence the travel agent and meal plan) and to be able to do as many of the things the girls would enjoy doing.

We went the last wk of Jan this year. We are in OH, so get the same crapola weather that PA does. The only big ride that wasn't open was splash mtn, but it had an early soft opening on our last day there, so dh and the older kids did get to ride it. We loved how quiet it was and yes, even though it was still kid of chilly, the kids wanted to go to the pool. We really liked the weather. I cannot stand hot FL weather, so we always prefer to go anywhere btwn late Nov to Jan.

[rkold]

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, POFQ isn't included in the free dining offer, the only moderates included are Beach and Coronado. Need to talk to our travel agent about where the bookings are still available at Beach for that week in Oct. My concern w/ January are weather (we're from PA, and after the last two very cold/snowy/icy winters I'm a bit worried about travel being delayed due to weather), as well as rides being closed for maintenance. For those who have gone in the winter before are there many closures for maintenance of must do rides? This may very likely be are one big Disney trip as a family, so I want it to be planned as stress free as possible (hence the travel agent and meal plan) and to be able to do as many of the things the girls would enjoy doing.

I'm from CT near the NY border, so we also get a lot of cold and snow. We also tend to use a smaller regional airport.

We use to love to go the Sunday the Marathon ended (January 10th in 2016) and then go for a week. As I said, in 2014 it got down to 50 during the day, so the pools were on shortened hours and some of the animals needed to be brought in, but there were no lines for anything. When we went to Epcot (which is where Anna and Elsa were meeting at the time) the line was only 1 hour. (We stupidly didn't wait and waited 4 hours in February.) I've not seen a lot of ride closures in January, I think the only closure is one of the water parks. (I can't remember which, maybe Blizzard Beach?) If we weren't going to get in trouble for pulling DD from school I would go then in a second. The 50 feels really warm coming from CT and it is lovely for walking around the parks. This year it was a little warmer, but I'll admit it was too cold for me to go in the regular pools, just the hot tub. DD didn't care though because it was still much warmer than CT. In 2011 we went the last week of January and had 70-80s the entire week and went in the pool. I'd say the biggest disadvantage of Jan is the parks close early. For us, this is a non-issue. If you have older kids, I guess make sure to visit the park with EMH or do Downtown Disney or DisneyQuest?

So far, we've been lucky, I've never had a weather delay in January or February going to WDW. I did have one when flying back home from Disney in December. Since we use a smaller regional airport our flight got cancelled because of fog and we were put on another flight 2 days later and all of us in separate seats! The concierge/manager at our resort was just mazing and got us a different but wonderful room at a discounted rate in the same resort and gave DH a free day at the park, since his ticket had expired. (I had an AP and DD was under 3)

The big closure I've noticed is the last two years the week after the Princess 1/2 they do monorail work and close the monorail. It's a little annoying because it's still a relatively popular time of year to be there. It caused us to decide to spend less time post the race even if the park is more crowded during President's Week.

BTW you don't get a choice where you get put in Caribbean Beach, Coronado, Port Orleans French or Riverside (or any Disney resort really.) You can say book a water view room or in French/Riverside one of the special themed rooms, or I think Coronado has another category as well. They can put a note in your booking you want near a bus stop or in the casitas or in a specific island but there are no guarantees. My impression of Coronado Springs might be that it is smaller than Caribbean might be because of where my room was. I always requested and got in the Rancheros near the bus stop. It was an easy cut through from there to the main pool and then across the pool to the main building. We also had a rental car that trip so getting from check-in to our building was a simple car ride.

Just to warn now, depending on the hotel the different room categories can vary in quality. Caribbean counted an oblique view of the quiet pool as "water view."

But yes, I would definitely consider the fact the 6 month booking window hasn't opened up yet for January a major plus if you're hoping to do a meal plan. I also found it much easier to get reservations in Jan. Eating at Be Our Guest in Oct-Dec is really really hard even if you are on at 6 am. I had no problem getting it in Jan and Feb. I couldn't get a FP+ for Anna and Elsa even at midnight 60 days out Oct 2014, but had no problem getting them Jan and Feb 2015.

I don't know how old your DCs are, but one thing you could always think about is a split stay. 5 nights in Hotel 1 and 2 or 3 nights in Hotel 2. The negative is of course having to move, though Disney will move a lot of your things for you as long as you are still on property. The other negatives are your 180 and 60 day booking windows are different. But it's also a nice way to try more than 1 hotel and it's also a way to see if you really like the dinning plan since you can book it for just part of your trip. And I guess if you really like it, you can add it the last bit too. I've done the dinning plan a few times and have mixed feelings about it. It can save you money, especially if you do all character meals, and nothing but character meals, but doing all character meals is exhausting and time consuming. I also found myself always wanting to get my money's worth, so always getting dessert and always getting a non-alcoholic drink. We're doing a split stay in Oct. (We're DVC) And doing 5 nights at the Poly and 2 at Kidani, all in a studio. We might do a dinning plan for the 2 days in Kidani because we could use the credits starting Friday when we are already there. (So could use a QS on Friday for lunch and QS for Sat lunch and maybe credits for dinner on Friday and Sat?) I have to make sure the cost is worth it

One thing you might want to consider... If you go in January, you can rent points from a DVC member someplace like the Disboards. It wouldn't give you the free Dinning and it might be a little more money, but you could also have a huge 1 bedroom unit with a full size kitchen and a washer and a dryer and some of the resorts are much closer to the parks.

[egoldber]

We've been in late January many times because we typically have a 4 day school break at the end of the month. It's really my fav time to go because the parks are absolutely empty. You barely even need fastpasses except for things like Toy Story and 7 Dwarves.

The weather is quite unpredictable. We've had times where it 60/70 and sunny, and also times when it was 40 and rainy and freezing.

The parks do often close early, but the last time we were there in January (2014), I know the MK was open until 9/10 most nights. One night we stayed for EMH until 12!