Coronado vs Contemporary

[BrotherCraig]

Hello all. I have a friend that is looking at staying on property for his family vacation in early December. He is look at either Coronado Springs and Contemporary Resort. Both are $970 a night so the price is the same. I have not stayed at either and can't give any advice other than Contemporary is near MK and can use the Monorail. Other resorts are around the $700 a night range that week To me, way too pricey and no hotel is worth that but he is all about it. Any feedback about either place? Thanks

 

[Jcruise86]

C. Springs at $970 a night?

Contemp.
1. He can walk to the MK,
2. rent a cool little speed boat on Bay Lake,
4. be closer to better restaurants, &
4. have fewer people disappointed in him for paying $970 a night. (I must not judge. I must not judge. I must not be jealous! )

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Hello all. I have a friend that is looking at staying on property for his family vacation in early December. He is look at either Coronado Springs and Contemporary Resort. Both are $970 a night so the price is the same. I have not stayed at either and can't give any advice other than Contemporary is near MK and can use the Monorail. Other resorts are around the $700 a night range that week To me, way too pricey and no hotel is worth that but he is all about it. Any feedback about either place? Thanks

Those prices are insane for either of those resorts. CSR and CR are two very different resorts. Coronado is a disney moderate (mid priced hotel) that is themed to replicate the American Southwest. The Contemporary is a disney deluxe (higher priced hotel) that is a modern, contemporary resort located near the MK. Essentially in Disney speak, the moderates are motel style room entry resorts. Now your friend may be looking at a room at the new Gran Destino Tower at the Contemporary, and if that's the case, that is a bit nicer than the rest of the resort, however, it's still a moderate. That portion of CSR has room entry via inside the hotel tower. It's very nice, feels more like a deluxe but it does still have all the regular CSR amentieis.

Transport- only disney buses are available at CSR whereas at the CR you have the buses and monorail and walk to MK. Right now, there is still no monorail to epcot.

Food- much more upscale dining at available at CR with California Grill. There are good dining options at CSR too but nothing considered upscale. Not sure if that matters to them.

Neither of the pools are anything amazing, they both have slides and are adequate. I prefer the theming of the CSR pool over the CR.

Recommendation-If the room sleeping arrangements are similar, two queens, king etc between the two and he plans to go to MK at all during the trip, and he is ok with the price tag, I'd pick Contemporary. It's not my favorite deluxe but it's nice and the convenience of walking or monorailing to MK cannot be beat. Unless he has a strong theming preference to CSR, I think CR is much more convenient.

 

[Sarahslay]

Contemporary is a deluxe resort with walking distance to MK, Coronado is a moderate resort that hosts conventions (that has a tower, which I'm guessing is where the room is that your friend is looking at given the price). The tower rooms at Coronado are new and nice, but bus service can be iffy there, and it's only bus service from there. From Contemporary you can ride the monorail to the other MK resorts to eat, or a boat to Wilderness Lodge to eat, which is super convenient, plus you have places like The Wave, California Grill, and Chef Mickey's onsite which are good. I'm not as familiar with the stuff at Coronado, but I know they just aren't as good as what is at Contemporary. If it were me, and price were the same, I'd go Contemporary, especially since their rooms are currently getting a full refurb. I stayed at Contemporary this Christmas and loved the convenience, just hated how dated the room was, now that they are getting updated I'm sure it'll be much better.

 

[BrotherCraig]

C. Springs at $970 a night?

Contemp.
1. He can walk to the MK,
2. rent a cool little speed boat on Bay Lake,
4. be closer to better at restaurants, &
4. have fewer people disappointed in him for paying $970 a night. (I must not judge. I must not judge. I must not be jealous! )

Thought that was crazy as well. Yacht Club, Saratoga Springs, Wilderness Lodge, Grand Floridian, and Beach Club are cheaper at $750 a night. I would choose GF is my budget allowed. Thanks.

 

[Sarahslay]

Also, there will probably be discounts as the dates get closer. We had a hefty discount for our Christmas trip this year, we didn't pay anywhere near the rack rate (which was over $1000 since it was a theme park view room), it was more in the $650-700 range after discounts.

 

[_19disnA]

There are several room categories (i.e. main tower vs garden wing, theme park vs lake view/ etc.) at the Contemporary so a bit hard to say if you are doing an apples to apple comparison. $900 for just a room (no tickets) at the Contemporary seems very high, but you didn't provide specific dates to allow me to check availability. Even when Disney offers discounts, there is no guarantee it will be for the specific type of room you reserved, so I wouldn't depend on that.

 

[Cheburashka]

Hello all. I have a friend that is looking at staying on property for his family vacation in early December. He is look at either Coronado Springs and Contemporary Resort. Both are $970 a night so the price is the same. I have not stayed at either and can't give any advice other than Contemporary is near MK and can use the Monorail. Other resorts are around the $700 a night range that week To me, way too pricey and no hotel is worth that but he is all about it. Any feedback about either place? Thanks

Contemporary. No contest if they're the same price.

 

[redc]

Contemporary. No Contest

 

[Timandalicia]

Hello all. I have a friend that is looking at staying on property for his family vacation in early December. He is look at either Coronado Springs and Contemporary Resort. Both are $970 a night so the price is the same. I have not stayed at either and can't give any advice other than Contemporary is near MK and can use the Monorail. Other resorts are around the $700 a night range that week To me, way too pricey and no hotel is worth that but he is all about it. Any feedback about either place? Thanks

Contemporary- nostalgia and sentiment. Isn’t that why we go in the first place.

 

[Dug720]

Also, there will probably be discounts as the dates get closer. We had a hefty discount for our Christmas trip this year, we didn't pay anywhere near the rack rate (which was over $1000 since it was a theme park view room), it was more in the $650-700 range after discounts.

Honestly, based on what I'm hearing from my travel agent, I would not count on the same hefty discounts this year. People are travel hungry and have a year or so of vacation money and sometimes time saved up. Dec 2020 vaccinations were not out yet - at least not widespread - and many travel restrictions were still in place. People were more reluctant to travel.

It's a different ballgame now that things have opened up more, vaccinations are more widespread, and many travel restrictions have been lifted. Just look at how few resorts were included in the late summer rates. Especially for December, I would not be holding my breath for those same discounts as in 2020 - or possibly any discounts.

 

[Roxas_XIII]

I might be the only one here on favor of Coronado. I get that Contemporary is a deluxe and Coronado is a moderate, but the Contemporary theming does nothing for me. Coronado's grounds, on the other hand, are stunning. And honestly, the rooms are really nice, especially after the remodel. Plus Coronado is quieter!

All that said, $970 a night is stupid high for Coronado, if we're talking about standard rooms. A suite might make more sense to be that high, but normal rooms should be a lot lower!

 

[Eastern]

I don't see how both are $970/night. I can get CS deluxe suite to come up at around that much. I was able to get CR CL std to come up for 1,104/night avg but very few dates available. CS is available a lot cheaper but maybe he is limiting himself to suite/CL only. I would vote for CR for location to MK and restaurants. Also the monorail goes through it and that is kewl.

 

[nkereina]

Is that for a tower room at CSR? That price is insane and its not worth it for either. But I would opt for CR over CSR at that price point solely for the logistical/transportation convenience of walking to MK, boating to FW/WL, and using the monorail. CSR is centrally located, but its all bus service which I would not be happy with at that price.

 

[Nabas]

The Coronado Springs rate almost certainly is for one of their suites. If it’s for their executive suites, then you’re talking about something that’s almost the size of a DVC Grand Villa. More likely, it’s a one bedroom suite, with a bedroom and separate living room.

The Contemporary pool is one of the worst. It’s a throwback to how public pools were built in the 1960s. Coronado Springs’ pool is much better themed.

I suggest your friend try to book at:

swananddolphin.com

 

[Meglen]

Show him swan/dolphin.. idk if I can recommend anyone pay 900+ a night for Disney..

 

[Farro]

You guys, CSR is not $970 a night unless they booked a suite.

 

[BrotherCraig]

You guys, CSR is not $970 a night unless they booked a suite.

Yes. Only available room and lowest rate.

 

[Farro]

Yes. Only available room and lowest rate.

If it was in the Tower (Gran Destino) I would be tempted because it's just looks so awesome.
And I think CSR as a whole is a much prettier resort than CR.
I also think it has more lounge/bar/food options. Hopefully Toledo is open by December and by all accounts it's a very good restaurant. Gorgeous. I personally don't think California Grill is that amazing anymore.
CSR has a better pool. More pools.

But for that price for both - because your friend has children (?) probably go with CR for nostalgia factor, monorail through atrium and boat/walk to MK because people seem to not like CSR for the buses. Personally I don't care about buses and if bad, we just Uber.

 

[Sarahslay]

Honestly, based on what I'm hearing from my travel agent, I would not count on the same hefty discounts this year. People are travel hungry and have a year or so of vacation money and sometimes time saved up. Dec 2020 vaccinations were not out yet - at least not widespread - and many travel restrictions were still in place. People were more reluctant to travel.

It's a different ballgame now that things have opened up more, vaccinations are more widespread, and many travel restrictions have been lifted. Just look at how few resorts were included in the late summer rates. Especially for December, I would not be holding my breath for those same discounts as in 2020 - or possibly any discounts.

Oh, I know, but I'm sure people will start to back off when the rooms start to not go down from close to $1000 a night. People are travel hungry, but most aren't made of money. Even I, who doesn't have much of any monetary restrictions, don't see the point in paying that much for a room and would downgrade my room if no discounts came out. I do know there won't be those same discounts, I'm not blind to that at all, but I'm sure there will be at least a 20% off (which is nowhere close to last year, but it'll knock a bit off). I do work in healthcare, and have friends in the travel industry, so I'm well aware of what's happening.

This is also where Disney is pricing itself out of being a destination for "regular" families. They'll see a drastic drop in attendance at some point if they keep up with the prices, and they'll have to do discounts. Will it be this holiday season? Probably not, but eventually they'll run in to issues especially at the deluxe resorts. Meanwhile my January trip is on rented points in a 2 bedroom villa just to make sure I could get a good deal, I'm not playing Disneys games this year.