1. Prime Location
One of the best reasons staying at Coronado Springs is it’s location. It’s located on West Buena Vista Drive, right beside the major intersection to World Drive (on the way to Magic Kingdom). If you look on a map, Coronado Springs, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Caribbean Beach Resort are almost RIGHT in the middle of Walt Disney World. This makes it super easy in the morning to get from the resort to your theme park, and, more importantly, BACK to your resort after your long adventurous day in the park!
Here are the travel times from Coronado Springs to each of the parks and water parks (according to Google Maps)!
Magic Kingdom – 10 minutes
Animal Kingdom – 10 minutes
Epcot – 7 minutes
Hollywood Studios – 4 minutes
Typhoon Lagoon – 8 minutes
Blizzard Beach – 3 minutes
Disney Springs (mango parking garage) – 9 minutes
2. Best Bang for your Buck
Being that Coronado Springs falls in the moderate resort category, you can still get some pretty luxurious digs, and not fork out half of your savings on where you rest and recharge for the night. For a moderate resort, Coronado Springs has a lot to offer. It’s large, and never feels crowded as the rooms are evenly spread out around the lagoon. There are a total of 4 pools, each spread out evenly to control traffic. The main dig site pool will always be the most busy. There are already great dining options and with the addition of Toledo at the Gran Destino Tower, it only gets better (more on this in the restaurants section)!
3. Amazing Theming
Coronado Springs is inspired by American colonial Spanish and southwestern American. This quote is from Disney’s website:
An oasis set on the shore of Lago Dorado, the re-imagined Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort celebrates the daring spirit of the great Spanish explorers, artists, writers and architects. Throughout the Resort, discover a blend of classic Spanish influences, imaginative Disney touches and modern comforts both inside and out—so you can feel energized and inspired during your stay.
– Disney’s Coronado Springs
You can certainly feel the spirit from the moment you walk into the main reception, and out the back doors looking out over the Lago Dorado. The architecture on the buildings is reminiscent of Spanish Colonial, where the main pool “The Dig Site” takes you back to ancient Mexico, with a towering pyramid with a waterfall flowing down the steps, and a tapestry of vines and greenery climbing the stone structure. It truly is a beautiful site!
4. Variety of Excellent Restaurant Offerings
Coronado Springs offers a wide variety of food and drink options from table service to walk up bar.
There are two outdoor bars – Laguna bar and Siestas Cantina. Laguna bar is located just outside of the main reception and sells frozen drinks, cocktails, sangria, and margaritas! A nice place to grab a drink and relax at a table while looking out over Lago Dorado. Siestas Cantina offers similar drinks as Laguna bar, but also fills your hungry belly after a nice swim! Food offerings are your typical snack bar – nachos, burgers, wraps, sandwiches, and salads. Here are the official menus for each: Laguna Bar and Siestas Cantina
Other offerings to satisfy your hunger are: Rix Sports Bar & Grill, El Mercado de Coronado (formerly – Pepper’s Market), and Maya Grill. Rix is a combination lounge and sports bar complete with TVs, bar, and sofas for you to relax after a long day! You can indulge in breakfast, lunch, and dinner – and it is even open until midnight! Here is the menu for Rix Sports Bar & Grill
El Mercado is the resort’s food court. It is open all day, and where you will typically find most guests getting in their calories for their upcoming theme park adventure! Typical food court fare offered here. We found it was very good when we went, but it gets a bit boring if you’re spending the week. You may wish to venture outside the resort for breakfast – a couple of our favourites are: Sunshine Seasons in Epcot, and Be Our Guest in Magic Kingdom (counts as a quick service on the dining plan, but, book this early!)
Lastly, Maya Grill is a table service meal featuring “tex-mex” cuisine only open at dinner. We’ve only peaked in at Maya Grill, as last time we visited, it was under renovation! Here is the menu for Maya Grill.
In July 2019, Cornado Springs opens its doors to the Gran Destino Tower. With it, brand new food offerings that we’re super excited to try – especially the rooftop restaurant Toledo! Toledo is a “tapas, steak & seafood” restaurant – and it looks impressive! The large open concept and huge windows have “sweeping views” of all of Disney World. Click here for pictures from Disney’s website.
Along with Toledo, another restaurant opens along with two more lounges. Three Bridges Bar & Grill was craftily built over Lago Dorado, and looks like an amazing place to unwind from a day in the parks.
Also, Barcelona Lounge opens, which features, specialty coffee drinks, wines, pastries, and lighter fare. Dahlia Lounge is a rooftop lounge offering “Surreal Romance” (their words – not mine), through decor, flights, and a full bar which should satisfy what you’re looking for. The menus for these two lounges are not available at the time of writing this, however, here is the menu for Toledo.
5. Gorgeous Lagoon – Lago Dorado
One of the hallmark sights at Coronado Springs is Lago Dorado. We love to take our breakfast from the food court and sit out at one of the tables overlooking the lagoon. Often times, you can see critters come up to you while looking out over the water. We’ve seen a small alligator and a Florida soft-shelled turtle (which looks like they have little snorkel’s for noses!).
The walk around the lagoon is very serene and peaceful! It takes roughly 10-15 minutes, and is about 0.7 miles around. So roughly 3 laps is 2 miles for you runners!
6. Beautifully Themed Pool
As mentioned before, the main pool – The Dig Site, is a great place to spend a non-park day. We like to sleep in, catch a late breakfast, and relax by the pool for the day, before heading to Disney Springs for the afternoon/ evening. We’ve never found the pool too busy; it’s very big, so there is enough room so that you don’t feel crowded. Behind the pyramid is a waterslide, which is obviously nothing like Typhoon or Blizzard, but is fun for kids or to give it a try! *Note, if you need to visit the restroom, be sure to bring your magic band, you’ll need to scan it to get access to the restrooms (at least this is how it was when we were visiting).
7. Just a Touch of Disney..
Okay, let me explain this one.. Currently, Mona and I travel together and do not have little ones along for the “ride”. When we’re at the parks, there is Disney music, characters, pictures, and merchandise ALL around us everywhere we go. Coronado Springs (because it caters to large conference groups) sprinkles in just enough Disney, so as to allow you to still feel the magic, but not to the extent as you would see it at say.. one of the All Star resorts. For us, it’s nice to come back to the resort and detach for the evening. In all honesty, it makes it more magical when you get to go back to the park and feel the magic rejuvenate all over again.
8. Newly Renovated Rooms (2019)
Around 2014-15, Coronado Springs began a face-lift on all of it’s rooms. Now, when you book your stay, you are guaranteed a renovated room. The renovation came just in time as the old rooms were getting tired, and the resort expansion is set to open July 2019. In addition to this, we’ve always been able to ask to have a room in the Casitas area, which is significantly closer to the main lobby and restaurants. With the opening of Gran Destino, the main reception and check-in has moved to the new tower. This makes the Casitas a bit further away now, and Cabanas are the closer option. Don’t be afraid to ask to be moved upon check-in. Most of the time they will try to accommodate – it never hurts to ask!
9. Gran Destino Tower Expansion
This one has put people in two categories – you either love it, or you hate it. We love the new concept and can’t wait to visit again! I think a lot of people hated the idea of construction, and with the opening, a large majority of them will slide over to LOVE IT when they’re able to enjoy and take in what Gran Destino has to offer! I do get that the tower was an eye sore during construction, but now that it is complete, it really is gorgeous!
10. Large Resort, but not a lot of Walking?
Our last reason why we feel Coronado Springs is the best Disney Resort is because it is a big resort, but you can get around very easily. Even if your guest room is located in the Ranchos (farthest from the reception/restaurants), you can easily catch a bus to the parks (or main lobby for that matter) at one of the 3 bus stations located around the Cornado Circle. There is also one more bus station at the main lobby. Because of the large size of the resort, guests are spread out nicely, and you don’t ever feel crowded.
We hope you enjoyed reading about Coronado Springs, let us know what you think in the comments below. What is your favourite resort and why?
