Feature Article: Disney's Coronado Springs Resort - A Disney Resort Hotel Review - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Feature Article: Disney's Coronado Springs Resort - A Disney Resort Hotel Review
Disney's Coronado Springs Resort - A Disney Resort Hotel Review by Mary Augustine
We recently spent four days at a Walt Disney World resort, and didn't enter the theme parks.
Not even once. No, it wasn't due to illness, loss of tickets or money, or poor planning. We decided to try this option, to relax after a Disney cruise. I have to admit, we had a great time. How was this possible? Read on. Last March, we experienced our first Disney cruise, on the Disney Dream. We started with a couple of nights in Florida, then cruised for four nights, and ended with three nights at a Walt Disney World resort. Although we are new to Disney cruising, we've made dozens of visits to Walt Disney World over the years. We've stayed in many of the Walt Disney World resorts, and have experienced nearly all of the attractions. For this trip, we were traveling with just our youngest daughter, on spring break from college. Admittedly, if our young grandchildren had been along, our plans may have been very different. But with just adults, we were planning to have a relaxing vacation, with lots of family time.
The first night of our Disney Cruise/Walt Disney World vacation was short, as our daughter had a late flight into Orlando after finishing classes. We dined at our hotel and retired relatively early, adjusting to Eastern Standard Time. We then spent a day in Port Canaveral, relaxing and enjoying local restaurants and shops. By the next morning, we were ready to sail, and arrived at the port shortly after the cruise terminal opened. Needless to say, the cruise was wonderful! We did enjoy late nights as well as early morning activities, and were ready for a more relaxed pace after the cruise. We used the Disney Cruise Line transfers from the port to our hotel, and found it to be very efficient, arriving at our resort at 09:15 am. We stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort, one of the few Walt Disney World resorts we’d not previously visited.
The resort was beautiful! We were fortunate in that there were no large conventions during our stay, with just one small group meeting being held during our first day at the resort. We stayed in the Casitas 2 building, relatively close to the dining, shopping, and check in areas. The weather was cool, but clear, and the nearly one mile walk around the lake was spectacular, with many fountains, flowers, trees, and beautiful vistas. Hammocks were available and the pool was uncrowded. The marina was closed for the first couple of days, but that just meant that things were especially peaceful around the lake. At night, the lighting was beautiful, and the views around the lake were dazzling. We were pleased with our room, which seemed large for a moderate resort, and had queen beds, as well as a larger bathroom area. Resort amenities included a fitness center, a salon and spa, and room service. The theme pool area is very interesting, called the Dig Site, and includes a Mayan temple with a waterfall, a tall jaguar slide, an arcade, a playground, a sand court for volleyball, and a large hot tub. We liked the location of Coronado Springs Resort, and thought that the Disney transportation was more efficient than we’ve experienced at times in other moderate resorts.
The food service at Coronado Springs included a quick counter service area, Cafe Rix; a food court with beverage service, The Pepper Market; and one table service restaurant, Maya Grill. We were pleased with the accommodations for our dietary issues (gluten sensitive, vegetarian). There was also a lounge in the main building, Rix Lounge, with a DJ on weekend nights. In addition, drinks and snacks were served at Siestas by the pool and the Laguna Bar, lakeside.
We enjoyed leisurely meals at several Downtown Disney locations, as well as our favorite resort restaurants, shopped at resorts as well as Downtown Disney, and enjoyed the nightlife at Downtown Disney. To avoid any stressful driving or parking, we used Disney transportation, and enjoyed the trips, as we weren’t hurrying to arrive in time for an attraction or a reserved meal time in the parks. We were able to enjoy time at the resort with relatives who live in Orlando. We slept late every day. We did things that had been planned on prior trips, but had been skipped due to lack of time, such as designing T-shirts at Disney’s Design-A-Tee in Downtown Disney, watching live entertainment there, taking Disney ‘slow boat’ transportation, and more.
When our last vacation day arrived, we were rested, happy, and ready to return home and to college. Would we do this again? Yes! Perhaps not on our next trip, but anytime the goal is to relax or "recover" we'd consider it. In the past, we’ve spaced park days with days off, and found that to be quite relaxing. I think of this vacation as a variation on that theme. Stay at a Walt Disney World resort without visiting the parks? Just one more option to consider when planning a relaxing Disney vacation.
What do you think? Please add your own comments, experiences, or news related to this article in this thread! Reader feedback is welcomed and encouraged.
Excellent review! We stayed at Coronado Springs for the first time just last March and fell in love. So much so, that we changed our December reservation from POFQ to Coronado Springs. . . and it's a 3 day stay after leaving the Dream! We only got park tickets for 1 day so that we could enjoy the resort even more.
Thanks for the ideas of all there is to do at Disney even without hitting the parks!
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
]Read all about our Disney Experiences on the Williams Family Blog: 
Linear Mode
