Disney Moderate Resorts!

I have really had to ponder on how to cover the moderate resorts as well as the deluxe. They offer so much more than the value in the way of amenities and location it is much more difficult to cover them thoroughly. Therefore I have decided to break the moderates into two separate posts and cover two at a time.

The first Disney moderate resort I am going to cover is the Caribbean Beach. The thing that really sticks out about this resort from my stay here was this resort is enormous. The entire resort is built around a 45 acre lake called Barefoot Bay. There are six "villages" built around this lake and they are named after Caribbean islands (Barbados, Martinique, Aruba, Jamaica, Trinidad North, and Trinidad South). The Caribbean Beach has 2,112 guest rooms organized into 33 separate two story buildings around the lake. Most of the villages have their own pool, three villages have a white sand beach with hammocks and playground, laundry facilities, and their own bus stop. If you happen to get a room on the opposite side of the lake from the main building is you can expect a brisk 15 minute walk around to the food places. The main building called Old Port Royale (or Centertown) has a nice food court and a sit down restaurant called Shutters as well as some shopping and an arcade. For my family the best part was the main pool at Centertown which is built like a Spanish Fort (very cool), water slide, wading pool, and whirlpool. There are a total of nine pools on the entire grounds along with many beaches and playgrounds. The other nice feature of Caribbean Beach is because it is built around a lake there is a marina to rent boats and bicycles. The rich island theme makes for a real retreat because of the beaches, theme, and lush foliage you feel like you are in the "islands".

The Caribbean Beach rooms are pretty standard 340 square feet with two full beds and a bathroom. Each room does have two sinks, tub, toilet, a small in room safe, as well as a mini-fridge. The rooms are rack room priced anywhere between $149 during value season and $219 during Holiday season. Of course these are rack rates and do not include any promotion or package deals but it does give you any idea that moderate accommodations are almost double that of value resorts. There are also new pirate themed rooms available which are supposed to be very enticing for small boys but do have limited availability and more cost involved.

The second Disney moderate resort I am going to cover today is Coronado Springs. This one is a very interesting concept and to say the least is a bit of a hybrid resort. Coronado has convention center, ballroom, and full service business center on property so there will be alot of people here on business as well as pleasure. When we stayed here we noticed the grounds seemed to have only a small amount of people so maybe we were there during a big conference. The food court was always packed but the pool and buses seemed almost empty many times! Coronado has 1,967 rooms and suites situated in three villages around a 15-acre lake called Lago Dorado. This place feel enormous but not as bad as Caribbean to us. The theme here is American Southwest/Northern Mexico so it is kind of a Tex-Mex feel which my family loved. The guest rooms are about 314 square feet and do differ slightly from the other moderates in that they have only one sink but they do have queen beds. Surprisingly the room rates are exactly the same as the other moderates and you do feel like it is more luxurious.

Now what separates this moderate from all the rest are the pool, food area, and the health club. The food court is called the Pepper Market and in my opinion the best food court of any resort including the deluxes. Of course we love TeX-Mex food but there are so many choices such as tacos and fresh tortillas; Asian stir-fry items; American grill with steaks, rotisserie chicken, french fries; fresh pasta; specialty pizzas; cold and hot sandwiches; breads and sweet rolls. It is so elaborate they even charge a 10% gratuity at check out even though it is a food court! The food is excellent but remember because of the convention center it is almost always crowded. There is also an excellent table service restaurant called the Maya grill which serves traditional Mexican fare over a wood fired grill. The pool is also one of my favorite on property because a Mayan pyramid towers over an elaborate pool area with a water slide and a playground that doubles as an archaeological dig site for kids. Explorer's Playground located at the dig site provides kids an area to dig for artifacts in the sand, play on swings or climb into the Pyramid. The health club is a 3,000 square foot with everything you need for a great workout from weights to cardio equipment. There is also a marina at the lake where you can rent electric boats, paddle boats, or kayaks and enjoy the water. Even though it has been a few years I still remember our stay here vividly because of the amenities. For the money this is the the best bang for the buck if you are looking for amenities and you plan on staying around the resort alot.

This is a general breakdown of the first two Disney moderate resorts. In my next post we will cover the sister resorts of Port Orleans Riverside and our favorite French Quarter.