Im currently holding reservations for Pop and CSR for the week of Jan 20th. Heading down with my wife and our 6 year old for his first trip and am trying to decide on hotels. Obv we dont know for sure when the skyliner will be closed but Im wondering which resort we should stay at, standard rooms at both. We may skip HS depending on how the week goes but plan on being there for 5 days. Price is about the same for both stays.
Thanks
Jeff
The last few years it has closed that same week if I remember correctly. Might be worth keeping both until an announcement is made?
Would you stay at Gran Destino or regular CSR room?
Regular room at both the tower wasnt available.
Depending on where you stay at CSR, you may have quite a walk to the food court. I personally prefer Pop over CSR. The Tower rooms are beautiful but the feel of the resort was too convention-y for me. The pool is nice though.
With a young child I would go for Pop. CSR is very spread out. Unless you have a car, you might be frustrated at the length of time it takes to get anywhere. If you were in a Tower room it might be different.
Agree with those who’ve noted that CSR is very spread out feels like you’re doing a lot of walking with young kids BUT they do have a great feature pool with a cool water slide. If January is too chilly for the pool, they also have the biggest hot tub of any Disney resort (it fits 22 people!) Plus, more (and much better) food options. The resort definitely feels more upscale than Pop.
On the downside, we didn’t love the transportation situation, with 4 internal bus stops, which can make the trips to (or from, depending on where on the bus loop you are) the parks feel a bit long.
For a 5 day trip, where I have time to get my bearings of the resort to know where I’m going, I think I would pick CSR over Pop for the variety and quality of food options (plus the pool/hot tub situation). Just be prepared to spend more time on buses.
If you are doing a pool day and your kid loves to swim, I would 100% pick the water slide and hot tub at CSR for that reason. I’m a moderate hotel snob because of it But we plan for a lot of pool time and really take advantage of our resort. I’ve only stayed at CBR.
If you won’t be the resort much (or swim), the transportation at Pop is better.
As far as food goes - will your kid eat the food at CSR? The Pop food court is pretty robust and might be better for you. I’d take a look at the CSR menus as well. My kids are picky and my husband has some dietary needs so we CSR hasn’t appealed to us for that main reason.
I really disliked the food court at CSR. But if you like a nicer resort dining option CSR is great. Im concur with what many have said with the pool. It’s nicer at CSR. But when we went in March the main pool, while heated, was still t9o cold for us. The hot tub was nice but a six year old shouldn’t be in a hot tub much at all (medically). A little dip won’t hurt though. It’s definately more of an adult atmosphere there. But I saw plenty of kids in the hot tub.
Pop is one of my favorites too. I love the Skyliner. But if you’re skipping HS it really loses a little appeal. Most of the rides in Epcot are in the front where buses drop off. The big advantage of the Skyliner at WS for rides with kids is rope dropping Ratatouille. If that’s not in the cards, bus access to the parks would be just fine. Is there a reason you are considering Pop over the All Stars? I find kids LOVE the theming at All Stars.
DH disliked the huge layout of CSR. While a bit annoying the buses werent thst bad and it is a beautiful resort.
Not sure if any of this helps, lol. Pop is usually a little less but not always that big of a difference. Pops food court may appeal more to a 6 year old.
Some Pop standard rooms require a little bit of a walk to the main hall as well. So there is no guarantee you’ll have a quick resort walk. But it’s still a bit quicker than the CSR situation for standard rooms.
Im assuming anything more than a dip in the pool wont be happening due to the time of year. I’m not considering all stars due to it not being available for my dates. Im not sure we are going to skip dhs all together, we might make a stop there if we can fit it in, my wife loves rock n roller coaster
We really enjoyed Rix Sports Bar and Grill. We ate at the bar but they had plently of seating. Maya Grill gets a lot of decent reviews too. The CSR food court is so disorganized.
I would check your dates against last years Skyliner closure. If it’s likely to be closed my pick would be CSR.
I think you have 2 very good options though and cant really go wrong with either.
I’m hoping it will be happening. I’m going right around your time - and was there in January 2023 with 2 successful pool days.
That was another reason why I wasn’t crazy about CSR. DS wasn’t excited about the food choices at the food court. He finds the Pop food court much more appealing…and much easier to get to vs the CSR food court option.
My biggest complaint about the food court is how the food sits out and you just grab it youself. And some things they have on the menu but you have to ask them to make it. But they tell you food drops constantly. So you don’t know what you had to ask for.
It’s not under Disney management. While the manager there was helpful many of the other staff (at counter service) were less than friendly.
I like both resorts. But I prefer CSR. I think it’s a stunning resort. However, if the skyliner is running and you’re gonna use it, it’s extremely convenient and fun. This is one of those situations that’s difficult like AKL vs Boardwalk for me. AKL is stunning and has better food like CSR is stunning and has better food but Pop and Boardwalk are more convenient. So you have to decide what matters more to if cost is pretty equivalent. If the skyliner isn’t operating I’d def choose CSR.
I will state CSR and AKL have long walks to things like potentially your room but I’m personally not bothered by that and like that your room is quieter when it’s a hike. But if that bothers you then Pop is also the better choice.
Also the rooms at CSR are really big and they are very small at Pop. So if you want to spread out another reason to choose it.
I;ve stayed at both multiple times and agree with this 100%
Im not that concerned about the long walks as long as its not too far from the bus stop. Im figuring half the time ill just be going and getting food and bringing it back to the room for everyone anyway.