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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: AUGUST 17 TO AUGUST 25, 2019

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

For more on August 2019 at Disney World , see this.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/17-8/25/19

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 9a-10p 8/17 through 8/195, 9a-6p 8/20, 9a-10p 8/21 and 8/22, 9a-6p 8/23, and 9a-10p 8/24 and 8/25

Epcot will be open from 9a-9p every day

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open from 9a-9p  8/17 through 8/24 and 9a–8.30p 8/25

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open from 9a-9.30p 8/17 and 8/18, 9a-8.30p 8/19, 9a-9.30p 8/20 and 8/21, 9a-8.30p 8/22, and 9a-9.30p 8/23 through 8/25

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/17-8/25/19

Saturday 8/17 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 8/18  Morning:  Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Monday 8/19 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Tuesday 8/20 Morning: none Evening: Epcot

Wednesday 8/21 Morning:  none Evening: Magic Kingdom

Thursday 8/22 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 8/23 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 8/24 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Sunday 8/25 Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/17-8/25/18

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon parade: 2p every day

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/17-8/25/19

Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom: 9p 8/17 through 8/24; 9.15p 8/25

IllumiNations at Epcot: 9p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9p 8/17 through 8/24; 8.30p 8/25

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9.30p 8/17 through 8/24; 9p 8/25

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom:  8.45 and 10p 8/17 and 8/18; 8.45p 8/19; 8.45 and 10p 8/20 and 8/21; 8.45p 8/22; 8.45 and 10p 8/23 and 8/24; 8.30 and 9.30p 8/25

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/17-8/25/19

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

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(For the first page of this review of Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, see this.)

DINING AT DISNEY’S CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT

Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort has always had a wider range of dining options than any other Disney World moderate resort, and added even more in July 2019. In dining, it now far outclasses the other moderates, and is comparable to several deluxes.

Dining options are in four areas.

• Gran Destino Tower offers a new table service venue, Toledo, and two new bars, Dahlia Lounge and Barcelona Lounge, each of which also serves hot food. Barcelona Lounge during the daytime does double duty as a coffee shop with various simple breakfast options.
• Also new, over the water between the Casitas, Ranchos, and Dig Site, is the Three Bridges Bar and Grill, which combines a table service venue with a small bar.
• In El Centro are two table service venues, a counter-service option, and a grab and go coffee shop.
• It shares with Caribbean Beach the distinct position among the moderates of having hot food at the main pool bar, and it has a more extensive room-service menu than any other moderate, although the room service menu is weaker than it used to be.

Coronado Springs also has six bars–two in Gran Destino, two in or near El Centro, one over the water, and one at the pool.

If you are counting, that adds up to four more bars than any other moderate, and three more table service venues than any other moderate.

DINING AT GRAN DESTINO TOWER AT CORONADO SPRINGS

The standout at the new in July 2019 Gran Destino Tower is Toledo, a sixteenth floor Spanish-influenced venue with some nice, though limited, views, of Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot.

Toledo specializes in steak, seafood, and small plates. The non-entrees are the stars–the appetizers, cazuelas, house boards, and pintxos.  Above are a couple of these, the stuffed piquillo peppers and the Spanish charcuterie, both of which were delightful.

The rooftop setting is lovely for a moderate–or any hotel, for that matter–but can get quite loud, so much so that I would not consider it a date night option.

Despite the noise, I enjoyed the hanger steak, served on a bed of crushed potatoes and with charred peppers, greens, and salsa verde mixed in.

Here’s the review from our book, The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2020:

You can find the menu for Toledo on Disney’s website here.

Next to Toledo is the new bar, Dahlia Lounge.

Quite nice, it has both indoor and outdoor seating.

The view from outdoor seating at Dahlia Lounge. Just under the rail at almost the far left you can see Tower of Terror; the blue building just to its right is Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. The camera lens makes these appear farther away than they are–we are just over a half a mile away.

Dahlia Lounge also has an extensive food menu.  See it here. Above are the savory churros, which I kinda felt I had to order, but were a little disappointing–other than the presentation.

And by the way, if you, like me, are a tad empty in the head regarding just what is a Dahlia, above are some examples, courtesy of the Cuyahoga County Fair–my go-to source for Disney World questions. That said, the namesake of the bar is not a flower, but the love interest in the Disney-Salvador Dali collaboration Destino.

The third new option at Gran Destino is Barcelona Lounge.  This first floor space is on the way out to either the pools or El Centro, so it sees much traffic. While there is nothing wrong with it, during times both are open I can’t think of any reason to go here rather than the Dahlia Lounge.

Barcelona Lounge also serves hot food–the full afternoon and evening menu is here.

Not in the online menu (at least as I write this post) are the breakfast offerings–a range of cold and room temperature options like pastries and fruit plates, and also coffee drinks.

There’s no refillable mug station in Gran Destino–there should be–but there is a set of coffee urns off to the left (if you are facing the bar).

There’s an event lawn just outside the Barcelona Lounge. Above is a shot of it from my 8th floor room, while it is being set up for a wedding, which Disney would film for its “Fairytale Weddings” series. The Barcelona Lounge is just behind the left side of the picture.

The propinquity of this event space–and the presence of the Dahlia Lounge upstairs–makes me expect that at times the Barcelona Lounge will be closed for events.

THE THREE BRIDGES BAR AND GRILL AT CORONADO SPRINGS

Also new in July 2019–but not part of Gran Destino Tower–is the Three Bridges Bar & Grill.

This over-the-water venue on Lago Dorado is connected by three bridges–also new–that start from El Centro, the Casitas, and the Dig Site–shortening walks from the Casitas to the Dig Site in particular.

Among other Disney World resort venues, Three Bridges is most like Geyser Point at the Wilderness Lodge, with its views, and the fact that its sides are open to the weather. But it is larger than Geyser Point, and feels more like a restaurant than a bar–though besides tables, it does have a lot of lounge chairs that can do double duty as either bar-area or dining-area options, depending on how much dining is booked.

The night I dined here, dining was so heavily booked that bar guests literally could sit only at the small bar–although the cast member volunteered to move me to a table if one opened up.

I had the stuffed mushrooms appetizer, and the braised pork tacos entree.  Both were terrific.

Overall, Three Bridges Bar & Grill is the most comfortable (so long as the weather cooperates) and casual of the Coronado Springs table service venues, and has some pretty nice prices (the tacos were $13, and the mushrooms $12). That said, I could easily see it being a popular event space as well.

The Three Bridges Bar & Grill menu is here.

DINING IN EL CENTRO AT CORONADO SPRINGS

El Centro, between Gran Destino and the Casitas, has a gift shop where you can buy various shelf-stable and refrigerated snack sand such, and also a grab and go shop, a bar that doubles as a table service venue, a food court, another table service venue, and another bar outside along the lake.

The grab and go food shop offers pastries, coffee, soft drinks, and such, and can get quite crowded if a convention or meeting is happening.

Next to it is the food-court style El Mercado de Coronado, formerly Pepper Market, the “quick service” meal offering.

The food stations used to be overly complicated, but fresh and interesting, making Pepper Market then the best food court among the moderates, though admittedly convoluted.  Now El Mercado de Coronado is much more like any other Disney World food court, with a bit of an added garnish of southwestern offerings and flavors.

Checkout and payment used to have a mystifying multi-step approach that garnered the envy of former Warsaw Pact customer service staff, but now is utterly simple. El Mercado de Coronado is now comparable to other moderate quick service offerings, a loss on the food front but a gain on the service and simplicity dimension.

The El Mercado de Coronado menu is here.

There are two table service offerings in El Centro.  Best known of these two is the Maya Grill.

The Maya Grill review from The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2020:

The Maya Grill menu is here.

Also available for dining is the Rix Sports Bar & Grill, offering a table service menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The Rix Sports Bar & Grill is in particular a great option for a hot breakfast that’s fresher than the cafeteria style offerings at EL Mercado. That’s the Chorizo Skillet, at $14 not wildly more expensive than a less tasty option at El Mercado.

The Rix Sports Bar & Grill menu is here.

On the lake side of El Centro, you’ll find the last venue in the El Centro area, the Laguna Bar.

Because of its lakeside setting, Laguna used to the best bar among the moderates. However, it is now just the third or fourth best bar at Coronado Springs–a testimony to the quality and number of bars that opened here in July 2019.

Also here is lots of other outdoor seating.

DINING AT THE DIG SITE POOL AT CORONADO SPRINGS

The main pool bar, Siestas Cantina, is unique among the moderates in offering a hot menu.

One of my lunches-Carnitas Tacos–from Siestas Cantina, no longer on the menu.

Another more pedestrian lunch. As much as my co-author Josh is dubious about their actual ingredients, that Snake River Wagyu Hot Dog is quite good.

A perhaps more legible version of the menu is here.

ROOM SERVICE AT CORONADO SPRINGS

Coronado Springs used to offer the best room service menu among the moderates.

Above is the room service menu from as recently as April 2018.

The menu is much less interesting now…

…and food from it is presented unappealingly.

I expect that the demands of the meetings and conventions markets will force Coronado Springs to up its room service game.

THE POOLS AT DISNEY’S CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT

This review continues here!

TOPICS IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT

• Overview and summary review of Coronado Springs
• The theming and accommodations areas of Coronado Springs
• A photo tour of a standard room at Coronado Springs
• A photo tour of a Gran Destino Tower room at Coronado Springs
• Amenities at Coronado Springs
• Dining at Coronado Springs
• The pools at Coronado Springs

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• Where to stay–the Basics
• Where first-timers should stay
• Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 150+ stays in them

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

(For the first page of this review of Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, see this.)

THE POOLS AT DISNEY’S CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT

Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort has four pools. The main pool, full of amenities, is the Lost City of Cibola pool at the central Dig Site.

Three of the four accommodations areas at Coronado Springs–the Casitas, the Ranchos, and the Cabanas–has a pool as well, each much smaller than the main pool, and with no material amenities.

The new Gran Destino Tower between the Cabanas and the Casitas added (net) about 25% more rooms to the resort, but no new pool. From it, the main Dig Site Pool is a little more than 200 yards, and the closest quiet pool, outside Cabanas 8c, is less than 200 yards.

THE DIG SITE AND LOST CITY OF CIBOLA POOL AT DISNEY’S CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT

The Lost City of Cibola Pool is the main pool at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. Themed to represent a lost Mayan ruin including a decaying pyramid handy for sun-bathing, it’s the second best family pool among the moderates, bested only by the more kid-appealing pool at Caribbean Beach. It’s by far the best pool for adults among the moderates.

For kids, the appeal is the exotic theming, the playground, and the 123 foot water slide. For adults, the appeal is the expanse of pool chairs, biggest hot tub at Disney World, and hot food at the pool bar.

The pool is centrally located in an area of Coronado Springs called in total “The Dig Site.” See the map below. The Dig Site area and pool is just above the words “Lago Dorado.”

This area is convenient to Gran Destino, the Ranchos and Cabanas, and some of the Casitas. Other Casitas rooms are a hike, although new bridges added in 2019 cut some of the walking. The Ranchos, Cabanas, and Casitas areas each also has a smaller pool, and this smaller pool is particularly convenient if you are in buildings 1-3 at the Casitas and you don’t need the amenities and fun of the Dig Site.

The pyramid dominates the pool.

Next to it is an 120 foot+ water slide.

The Dig Site pool is quite large, with plenty of varied lounging areas, but is more crowded after the added rooms of Gran Destino Tower.

There’s also a fairly weak kids pool…

…a fire pit…

…a hot tub–the largest at Disney World…

…a volleyball court…

…and a bar, Siestas, that unusually among the moderates serves hot food.

The Siestas menu. The menu changes from time to time–see Disney’s website for the latest.

Siestas sometimes has live entertainment.

Next to Siestas is an extensive playground, with ping pong and cornhole games available.  The large sandbox that used to be here was removed in a 2018 renovation, kinda busting the “Dig Site” theme.

There’s also a slide, and…

…in the background, a jungle gym.

The entire area is called The Dig Site…

…and is particularly nice at night.

Each accommodations area except for Gran Destino has its own smaller pool as well–and those come next!

THE CASITAS POOL AT DISNEY’S CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT

The quiet pool at the Casitas is the only pool at Disney World laid out for swimming laps.

The Casitas pool from the other end…

…and the side.

The Casitas pool at night.

THE CABANAS POOL AT DISNEY’S CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT

The Cabanas pool.

The Cabanas pool from the other end.

THE RANCHOS POOL AT DISNEY’S CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT

There’s a quiet pool in the Ranchos area as well.

TOPICS IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT

• Overview and summary review of Coronado Springs
• The theming and accommodations areas of Coronado Springs
• A photo tour of a standard room at Coronado Springs
• A photo tour of a Gran Destino Tower room at Coronado Springs
• Amenities at Coronado Springs
• Dining at Coronado Springs
• The pools at Coronado Springs

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• Where to stay–the Basics
• Where first-timers should stay
• Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 150+ stays in them

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

BUZZ LIGHTYEAR’S SPACE RANGER SPIN

By Jim Korkis

Officially opening on November 23, 1998, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin puts guests in the middle of a giant arcade game, where they shoot at targets with their ion laser cannons to rack up points as they ride in a vehicle called XP-37 Space Cruisers that can rotate 360 degrees. The attraction, even the queue line, is scaled to size of a toy.

The storyline is Evil Emperor Zurg (voiced by Frank Welker) is stealing crystallic fusion cells (that look like batteries) for his Ultimate Weapon of Destruction. Firing at the “Z” emblems (which the Imagineers claimed stood for “Zap!” not “Zurg”) throughout the ride defeats the bad guys and garners points.

New recruits of Star Command (the guests) are sent to defeat him. An audio-animatronics Buzz Lightyear figure (voiced by Pat Fraley) using a Viewmaster explains the mission.

“Trying to recreate all of Buzz’s facial expressions with an audio-animatronics figure alone would be impossible,” said Tom Brentnall, senior imaginer engineer on the project. “It’s kind of a Madame Leota effect in a figure with a moving head. The projector and head now move in unison to stay aligned. Fitting the projector into Buzz’s body without affecting the head movements required some optical modifications involving a belt sander, a band saw and some glue.”

WDI worked closely with Pixar on a full-sized mock-up to animate Buzz’s computer-generated facial expressions, and get them to project accurately from behind on to the translucent mask.

Variations of the attraction can be found at Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Shanghai Disneyland.

The location was previously home to the If You Had Wings attraction (Eastern Airlines) from 6/5/72 through 6/1/87, If You Could Fly (Delta Airlines) from 6/6/87 until 1/3/89 and then Delta Dreamflight from 6/6/89 to 1/1/96. Then it was the unsponsored Take Flight attraction until 1/5/98.

The Imagineers were tasked with using the same walls and ride track under a tight deadline. The same WDI team under the supervision of Paul Osterhout that redid the Enchanted Tiki Room so that it was under new management was put in charge.

They resorted to blacklight paint finishes to simulate some of the dimensionality of the scenery, 3-D painting on interior walls, and computer-generated murals applied to vinyl as cost saving measures.

“The whole thing looks like molded plastic with the big rivet heads and highly polished finishes,” said Osterhout. “It’s like playing in the Buzz Lightyear action playset.

“Tomorrowland is a neighborhood with each building having a public function. We didn’t have a police station before, but now we do – it’s the home of Buzz Lightyear and the Space Rangers.

“We had to take the existing system that moves at maybe three feet per second and make it different and exciting. That’s when we came up with the spin that allows riders to control their own ride vehicle with a joystick making it a different experience every time because the guests have complete control over where the vehicle goes and which targets they shoot at. That’s going to keep them coming back.”

“One of the challenges we face now at the Magic Kingdom is how to introduce the newer ‘classic’ Disney characters to the Park,” explained Imagineering senior vice-president Eric Jacobson. “Characters should live on at the Magic Kingdom. The idea of creating a show about the fantasy world of Buzz Lightyear – not the whole world of Toy Story – in Tomorrowland suddenly clicked. It was a perfect fit.”

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim! And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his latest, The Unofficial Walt Disney World 1971 Companion: Stories of How the World Began, and Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: AUGUST 10 TO AUGUST 18, 2019

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

For more on August 2019 at Disney World , see this.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/10-8/18/19

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 9a-10p 8/10 through 8/15, 9a-6p 8/16, and 9a-10p  8/17 and 8/18

Epcot will be open from 9a-9p every day

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open from 9a-9p every day

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open from 8a-10p 8/10, 9a-10p 8/11, 9a-9p 8/12 and 8/13, and 9a-9.30p 8/14 through 8/18

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/10-8/18/19

Saturday 8/10 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 8/11  Morning:  Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Monday 8/12 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Tuesday 8/13 Morning: none Evening: Epcot

Wednesday 8/14 Morning:  none Evening: Magic Kingdom

Thursday 8/15 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 8/16 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 8/17 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Sunday 8/18 Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/10-8/18/18

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon parade: 3p 8/10 through 8/15; 2p 8/16 through 8/18

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/10-8/18/19

Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom: 9p every night

IllumiNations at Epcot: 9p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9p every night

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9.30p every night

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom: 9 and 10p 8/10, 8.45 and 10p  8/11; 8.45p 8/12 and 8/13;  8.45 and 10p  8/14 through 8/18

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/10-8/18/19

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

(For the first page of this review of Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, see this.)

A new accommodations building, Gran Destino Tower, opened at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in July 2019. It includes 545 new rooms in a 15 story building–50 suites, and the rest a mix of king bed and two queen rooms.

I stayed in a two queen Gran Destino room in late July, and these photos are from that stay. (A photo tour of a standard room in the other accommodations areas at Coronado Springs, the Casitas, Ranchos, and Cabanas, is here.)

The main differences in the Gran Destino two queen rooms compared to two queen rooms in the rest of Coronado Springs:

• Interior, rather than exterior entries
• No Disney theming in the rooms themselves
• A larger overall space–but with most of the extra space absorbed in the hallway from the entry to the sleeping area, not adding any actual livability
• A nicer and larger bath, but with an awkward layout for families and (I believe) no tub option–showers only
• Nicer views

Room amenities otherwise are largely similar to those in the other Disney World moderate resorts, but like the rest of Coronado Springs rooms, there are a few key differences related to the importance of the convention and meetings market at Coronado Springs–especially offering a desk instead of a table and two chairs, and more drawer storage.

As you enter the room, you’ll find a somewhat sterile hallway, with the closet and connecting door (if present) on one side and the bath on the other.

This entry hallway from inside the room.

Back to the room entrance, the bath on one side is closed by a sliding barn door. If you leave the barn door open and shower in the glass shower, you may have an interesting effect if someone opens the entry door.

A closer view of the shower–note the rainfall and hand-held shower heads. So far as I can tell, no standard rooms in Gran Destino have tub/shower combos. This is a needlessly limiting design choice.

As is becoming common in hotels at Disney World and elsewhere, shampoo, conditioner and body wash is available in large wall-mounted bottles.

The sink area is between the shower and the toilet space.

More toiletries here.

There’s storage–and a hair dryer– underneath the sink.

The toilet is in its own separate space.

A better design would have 1. made a tub/shower combo available, and 2. (cut and pasted together above) put both the toilet and the tub/shower into one separate space, with the sinks outside of it.

On the other side of the entry is a closet.

Inside the closet. On the right, barely visible, is an ironing board. Also note the safe.

I did not measure the safe, but it is large–my book is 6 inches by 9 inches.

Deeper in the room on one side you’ll find a pair of queen beds.

The bed side from the back.

A closer view of one of the queens.

As has become common in recent Disney World room designs, the beds are a single mattress on a platform, and are about 30 inches high. Open underneath, there’s room for you to stick your luggage under the beds–there’s about 14.5 inches of clearance.

Between the two beds is a bedside table.

There are three unusually large drawers in this table, each easily big enough for your important books.

The other side of the room is dominated by a long mini-fridge/desk/dresser combo, and an easy chair.

This side of the room from the back.

Closest to the closet is an object that doubles as an uncomfortable bench seat and a luggage rack.

Next to it is the first part of the long object…

…with a glass-doored mini-fridge below…

…and a coffee service above.

Next is the desk area and beyond it a dresser with a 54″ TV above.

The three dresser drawers, when combined with the three drawers in the bedside table, the closet, under-bed space for luggage, and cubbies in the bath, provide plenty of storage for the four people this room will sleep.

The menu structure of the TV is new–see the bottom row.

Channel selection also has a new interface.

Here you’ll also find the room service menu, weaker than past Coronado Springs offerings–but better than what you’ll find at the other moderates…

…with an uninspiring presentation of food when delivered.

Next on this side is the easy chair with lamp and small table, near the window.

The view outside my room. There are two bookable room views–water views, as is this one, and standard views.  Gran Destino Tower water view rooms are, on average about $50 more per night than standard rooms elsewhere in Coronado Springs.  Standard view tower rooms are about $20 more per night on average than rooms elsewhere.  Some of these standard rooms also have views of the fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and even Epcot, but such views are not specifically bookable. A water view won’t give you them, but a standard view may or may not.

These Gran Destino standard rooms are about 86 square feet larger than standard rooms elsewhere in Coronado Springs (and at the other traditional moderates), but that’s misleading in terms of livability:

• 76 extra square feet are dedicated to the entry hall, and not valuable
• 20 extra square feet are in the bath–which is nicer than that in standard rooms, but less well laid out
• The main living sleeping area is about 10 square feet smaller than that in other standard rooms, a difference that is not noticeable

The awkward bath design, absence of a tub, and lack of Disney theming in these rooms make these Gran Destino standard rooms best suited to solo travelers and to couples.  Dual occupancy conventioneers, and families, will find standard rooms elsewhere in Coronado Springs more livable.

AMENITIES AT DISNEY’S CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT

This review continues here!

TOPICS IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT

• Overview and summary review of Coronado Springs
• The theming and accommodations areas of Coronado Springs
• A photo tour of a standard room at Coronado Springs
• A photo tour of a Gran Destino Tower room at Coronado Springs
• Amenities at Coronado Springs
• Dining at Coronado Springs
• The pools at Coronado Springs

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• Where to stay–the Basics
• Where first-timers should stay
• Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 150+ stays in them

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!