I recently took the most amazing 5-day solo trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando for my birthday, which fell on Good Friday this year.
SO many people were confused when I told them about my plans, but wanting to make the most of the long weekend and extra public holiday vacation days off work, I decided I wanted a weekend full of carefree fun!
Having spent one day solo at Walt Disney World last year for work, I knew I wanted to return for longer at some point, so I thought, why not do it now? After all, life’s too short to wait around for the perfect time…and well, this felt like perfect timing anyhow.
After a lot of research, I chose to stay at Disney’s Coronado Springs resort, and I had such a lovely stay I really wanted to tell you all about it!
So, ready to find out more about staying at Disney’s Coronado Springs? Let’s go!
Why Coronado Springs Resort?
Coronado Springs is one of Walt Disney World’s ‘Moderate’ resorts (the Disney levels being Value, Moderate, and Deluxe).
I’ve always wanted to stay at the Polynesian and Contemporary (and now after visiting the Boardwalk Inn, I’d love to stay there one day), but as I was booking over Easter weekend and they’re both Deluxe, the prices were super high.
So, I was then trying to decide between Coronado Springs and Port Orleans (both Moderates), but ended up choosing Coronado Springs purely because it was less intense on the Disney theming.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure how I would feel staying in a heavily themed resort solo without any kids, so I chose Coronado Springs as it’s apparently more ‘subtle’ in its theming and feels more grown-up.
It’s also a 4-Star rating, whereas a lot of the Moderates are only 3-Star.
For me and for this trip, it was 100% the right choice and I’m really glad I chose it.
Booking Coronado Springs
I booked Coronado Springs direct through Walt Disney World.
Disney World have some great deals running throughout the year, but if you’re in the UK they’ll only show you the UK specific deals which are usually for two week trips.
I didn’t want to book for two weeks, I only wanted four nights.
So I needed a way around this to access the US deals…
Being in the UK, to book for a long weekend I had to use a VPN to show my location as being in the United States, so I could then access Disney’s US website and access their local deals for shorter stays.
I was really fortunate that booking in the January sales, I booked using a deal where you got 4 nights stay at a Disney hotel + a 3 day park hopper ticket.
I think it only cost me around $1500, which I thought was very reasonable for both the resort AND park hopper tickets for 4 nights days.
Once you’ve booked your vacation, the booking will appear in the Disney app…
Location of Coronado Springs
Coronado Springs is located within the Disney parks area in Lake Buena Vista in Orlando, sandwiched between both Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.
It’s a short bus ride away from all the parks, as well as Disney Springs.
Transport to Disney Parks & Disney Springs
In fact, it’s so easy to get to the parks, Disney Springs, and other Disney resorts via bus from Coronado Springs, that this Uber-obsessed gal happily ignored the Uber app for the entire Disney portion of the trip, and only got the Disney transport system.
Believe me when I say this is a huge compliment to Disney.
Coronado Springs has four bus stops around the resort, and although they say buses come every 25-minutes, I found they were more like every 10-minutes. They were very frequent, but this may have been because it was Easter weekend.
When you’re ready to go back to the resort, you just find the right bus stop number on the board and head to that bus stop to wait. Again, I found the buses were fairly frequent and I never had to wait very long for one to turn up.
Casitas 1 – Preferred Room
Initially I was in room 2210, which is actually quite far from the main tower and restaurant area and backs onto the large resort car park. I asked to move rooms as I didn’t feel great being in that location as a solo woman, and they moved me to Room 1172, which is much closer to the main part of the resort.
The Resort ‘Villages’
The resort is broken into different ‘villages’ – Casitas, Ranchos, and Cabanas. There’s also Destino Tower which is the newest and most luxurious part of the resort, but this was unfortunately fully booked by the time I booked my trip.
The villages are then further broken down into numbered areas.
It’s a huge resort (but really beautiful), and all set around a huge lake in the centre.
I really enjoyed my second room location in Casitas 1, it was handy to get to both Bus Stop 4 and Bus Stop 1, although Bus Stop 1 was the one I used the most.
Disney Theming in Coronado Springs Rooms
I was pleasantly surprised with the room – it wasn’t too Disney-fied with the theming, it was super subtle with just a couple of pictures on the walls and the Disney Alexa device.
The Disney Alexa device was amazing!
I loved putting the soundscapes on in the morning to do my morning yoga, and in the afternoons when I came back to my room for a rest from the parks, I’d say ‘Hey Disney, play music!’ and it would play the Disney radio station.
Casitas Preferred Room
As well as the Disney Alexa, my second room was really lovely.
It felt super spacious and had everything I needed – even little shelves to put my birthday cards on!
The bed was huge and super comfy – I had four nights of amazing sleep – and I loved that the bedside tables had plenty of sockets to charge my phone and camera, and switches for the lights so I didn’t have to find my way to the bathroom in the dark.
I didn’t use the TV much, only one afternoon when I was tired from the parks and needed a rest, but didn’t want to sit in the sunshine by the pool. There’s a great selection of TV stations though, as well as Disney+.
They left this cute happy birthday message on for when I arrived…
The bathroom had a large closet, lots of little cupboards and storage space, and two sinks. Off to the side was a shower over a bath tub, and the toilet.
The shower was a bit hit-and-miss in terms of water pressure and temperature – I couldn’t get hot or cold water, it was always just a sort of lukewarm temperature no matter what setting I put it on.
Aside from the shower, the room was perfectly comfortable !
Pool & Amenities
Now, there are four swimming pools at Coronado Springs.
There’s the main ‘Dig Site’ pool, and three smaller, more basic pools in the ‘villages’.
The one afternoon I went to the Dig Site it was absolutely packed and full of lots of children. Even as just one person it was hard to find a sun lounger.
It’s a great spot for kids, but for adults it’s not the most relaxing place to sunbathe and swim!
The pool was also so busy I didn’t really want to be that solo weirdo taking photos with loads of strangers kids in it, so the below photo is from Resorts Gal!
The smaller pools were also always full of kids (to be expected – it is Disney after all, and at Easter!), but they definitely felt quieter than the main one.
In terms of amenities there’s also a full gym, and a large gift shop, and of course the convention centre.
Restaurants at Coronado Springs
Coronado Springs has a whopping TEN bars and restaurants onsite.
From the fancy Dahlia Lounge and rooftop restaurant Toledo, to the relaxed lakeside tequila bar, they really have something for everyone.
As I was at the parks for most meals, the only food I tried at Coronado Springs was the breakfast on my last morning.
If I’m being honest, it wasn’t the best food I’ve had. I loved the Mickey Waffles, but the sausages weren’t the best…I took one bite and didn’t finish them.
Service & Issues
I had a couple of little hiccups during my stay, but nothing major, and everything was handled very well.
Room choice as a solo female
My first issue was that they put me in a corner room right off the main path, backing onto the large car park. As a woman travelling alone, although it was Disney, I didn’t feel comfortable or safe in that part of the resort. It was about a 10-minute walk from the main lobby and reception area, and was just tooooo far from the main action.
I don’t know what it is about being situated right by large car parks in a quiet part of a hotel, but it makes me feel really icky.
I phoned them and asked if it was possible to change rooms, and they said they would call back in 10mins. 30mins later I called them as they hadn’t called, and they asked me to go up to the lobby.
So up I went, and thankfully they were lovely and managed to get me a much nicer room right by the main restaurant area in Casitas 1.
This room had a lovely view of the courtyard and lake (rather than the crappy car park), and was a far quicker walk to the lobby and main area, which made me feel much safer.
Shower & Housekeeping
The only other issues I had was with the shower and with housekeeping.
The shower was awful, truly, truly awful. It was a dribble and the temperature never seemed to work properly – it took ages to warm up, and it never got properly hot. It was always a sort of lukewarm.
Housekeeping at Coronado Springs is every other day, which is fine, but they didn’t actually come on the day they were supposed to. I got back to my room around 4pm after being at the parks all day, to find the room still hadn’t been cleaned. I had to call the front desk to ask that housekeeping cleaned the room for me.
However, they handled it very well and sent someone immediately to clean the room.
Is Staying at a Disney Resort Worth it?
For me, staying at a Disney resort was 100% worth it.
I’d previously stayed at the Gaylord Palms Resort Orlando and Hilton Lake Buena Vista, but staying at a Disney resort came with soooo many extra benefits.
I loved the ability to enter the parks and rides 30-minutes earlier than non-guests, and found this made a big difference to my day and the rides I was able to do.
The free (and frequent) Disney shuttle buses were also incredibly useful. They ran from around 7am until midnight-ish and they were super handy for Magic Kingdom, as they take you direct to the entrance vs external-Disney shuttles that drop you off at the Ticket & Transportation Centre, meaning you then have to get the boat or monorail to the entrance.
Then there’s the general ‘Disney’ vibe. Staying onsite means you’re in that Disney magic 24/7, and because it’s Disney, every little detail is beautiful.
And it truly does make a difference being in that Disney magic 24/7. I didn’t think it would, but I’m a complete convert!
I would 100% stay at Coronado Springs again, but I really want to try some of the other Disney resorts out too. I’m sooo desperate to stay at The Polynesian and The Boardwalk Inn!
I hope this review has been useful! 🙂
