Disney's Coronado Springs Resort
Coronado Springs is one of Walt Disney World's Moderate resorts, themed on the colours and design of Spain, Mexico and the American Southwest and set around a lake called Lago Dorado. It comes in two halves. Three low-rise themed villages and the newer 16-storey Gran Destino Tower, with its rooftop Spanish restaurants and lake views. It has plenty of places to eat, a lakeside beach and a pyramid-and-waterslide main pool.
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Is it worth it?
A Moderate resort with a big southwestern theme, a lake and plenty of dining choice, where the room you book matters more than at most Disney hotels.
Coronado Springs suits a family who want more room and more choice of places to eat than a Value resort, and who are happy to travel to every park by bus. It's one of Walt Disney World's Moderate resorts, a step up from the Value hotels in space, theming and food, and below the Deluxe and villa resorts on price. The decision that shapes a stay is the villages or the tower, since the tower is the newer, more upmarket half.
It's the first Moderate built around a convention centre, and it's large and spread out, so a pram is essential and the walk to breakfast can take ten minutes.
Best for
You want a Moderate's space and dining choice, and you're happy to reach the parks by bus.
Tower or village?
The tower has the only lifts, indoor corridors and central dining. The villages are cheaper, more themed and mean stairs or a ground-floor room.
The Dig Site pool
A good main pool with a pyramid waterslide, but it isn't zero-entry. The youngest children get a small gated kiddie pool that's capped at ten people.
The convention crowd
It's Walt Disney World's convention hotel, so it feels more grown-up on big event evenings, though the pools and buses are often quieter by day.
Bus-only
Every park is reached by bus. There's no Skyliner, boat or monorail, so a tired toddler faces a folded pram and a bus after each park day.
Where is it?
The Animal Kingdom Resort Area of Walt Disney World, wrapped around Lago Dorado, with short bus rides to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.
Quick facts for UK families
A southwestern theme, in the villages and the tower
Three low-rise themed villages and a 16-storey tower, wrapped around a lake, with quite different rooms and feel.
Coronado Springs opened in 1997 as Walt Disney World's first Moderate resort built around a convention centre, and it's themed on the Spanish, Mexican and southwestern-US regions its buildings evoke. The three villages each take a different look. Casitas is the Spanish colonial one, four-storey peach and terracotta buildings with arches, fountains and tiled courtyards. Ranchos is the arid Southwest, ochre pueblo-style buildings among cactus, dry washes and a small rocky stream, but the most remote part of the resort. Cabanas is the coastal Mexican one, lower two-storey beach-house buildings along the lakeshore, most with lake views, with a sandy beach and hammocks strung between the palms. In the middle sits El Centro, the hub, themed as a 16th-century Mexican market town.
The resort is named after Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, the explorer who set out from Mexico in 1540 in search of the seven golden cities of Cibola, and the lake at its centre is Lago Dorado, the golden lake. The main pool is themed as the lost city of Cibola, the treasure at the heart of that legend, and for an older child who likes a story it's a thread to follow around the grounds, from the market-town hub to the dig at the pool.
The Gran Destino Tower was added in 2019 and feels a tier above the rest. At 16 storeys it's the tallest building at the resort, and its rooms, rooftop restaurants and central lobby dining are closer to a Deluxe hotel than a Moderate. It's themed around a real collaboration between the artist Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney on a short film called Destino, so the design is full of dreamlike ceilings, dandelion chandeliers and a rippling metal facade that's lit up over the lake at night. The lifts are the memorable bit for children, since you tap your floor on a touchscreen outside and it sends you to a car with no buttons inside. The short film plays on a loop in the lobby.
Dotted around the resort are a dozen documented Hidden Mickeys, the three-circle Mickey shapes Disney's designers tuck into the scenery. Three floodlights line up on the lobby wall, a face is carved high on the wooden entrance doors, a profile appears in the bus-stop signs, two more sit in the rock columns at the Dig Site and a dandelion in one of the tower paintings reads as another. Hunting them out is a free way to keep young children looking up and moving while you cross the large grounds, and a printed list or a quick phone search gives you the full set to find.
Where to book your room
It's a big resort, so the building you're in changes the walking, the stairs and how close you are to a pool.
The single biggest choice is the Gran Destino Tower or one of the villages. The tower is the pram-friendly option, with lifts instead of stairs, indoor corridors so you're never pushing a buggy through a Florida downpour between your room and food, plus coffee, lounges and the main bus stop all under one roof. Its standard rooms are also among the largest at any Moderate. The trade-off is price, since the tower costs more than a village room, and there are no balconies anywhere in it, just large picture windows.
Among the villages, Cabanas is the one families tend to ask for, and Building 8A in particular, because it's the closest to the Dig Site pool, the playground and a bus stop, with a footbridge across the lake to the tower and El Centro. A ground-floor village room means no stairs with a pram at all. Casitas is a strong middle option, close to the hub and the first bus stop, with arches and tiled courtyards. Ranchos is the one to think twice about with young children. It's the most remote section, a ten-minute-plus walk to anything, and families regularly regret how far it is from the food and the pool. Village rooms are sold by location now rather than by view, and you can request a building, floor or room number when you book, though it's a request rather than a promise.
Because everything here is a walk from everything else, keep the nappy bag, sun cream and water with you for the day. Nipping back to the room isn't quick, and if you've boarded the bus and left something behind, you ride back for it.
The rooms
Village rooms and larger tower rooms, most sleeping four, with suites the only real option for a bigger family.
Most rooms at Coronado, in the villages and the tower alike, have two queen beds and sleep four, plus room for one child under three in a cot. The tower rooms are the newest and among the largest of any Moderate, with double sinks, a rainfall and handheld shower, plenty of charging points and a Keurig coffee machine, but no balcony. Their televisions also carry a round-the-clock Disney parks-music channel and short animated bedtime stories of about ten minutes, a calm way to wind a toddler down after a park day. Village rooms are a little smaller and were last refreshed in 2019, with Three Caballeros artwork on the walls, a single sink and a combined bath and shower. A cot, Disney's travel-cot style rather than a full-size one, is free on request.
| Room | Size | Sleeps | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Village Standard | ~314 sq ft (29 m²) | 4 | Two queen beds in Casitas, Ranchos or Cabanas. Ground floor or up stairs, no lift. |
| Village Preferred | ~314 sq ft (29 m²) | 4 | The same room closer to El Centro, the dining and transport, for a higher rate. |
| Village King | ~314 sq ft (29 m²) | 2 | One king bed, in a standard or preferred location. |
| Village 1-Bedroom Suite | ~942 sq ft (88 m²) | 6 | A separate living room with a sofa bed, mostly in Casitas. The main single-room option for five or six. |
| Village Executive Suite | Larger again | 8 | A king, two queens and a sofa bed near El Centro. The largest village layout. |
| Tower Resort View | ~375 sq ft (35 m²) | 4 | Two queen beds in the Gran Destino Tower. Lifts and indoor corridors, no balcony. |
| Tower Water View | ~375 sq ft (35 m²) | 4 | A lake or pool view. Magic Kingdom fireworks are visible from some rooms at night. |
| Tower Club Access | ~375 sq ft (35 m²) | 4 | Two queens or a king on the 15th floor, with access to the Chronos Club lounge. |
Disney doesn't publish room sizes, so the figures above are the reported measurements and are approximate. The tower also has larger Deluxe and Presidential suites.
For a family of four a standard room in either the tower or Cabanas is fine. These rooms sleep four, with no fifth bed, so a family of five needs a suite or two connecting rooms. Each room has a mini-fridge but no microwave or hob.
Where to eat
A food court, an all-day sports bar, an island grill and rooftop Spanish restaurants, spread around El Centro, the pool and the tower roof.
Most of the everyday places to eat sit around El Centro and the Dig Site pool. El Mercado de Coronado is the food court, a big 400-seat hall with Italian, Mexican and American stations, a bakery, a Dole Whip and even a ramen bar, and as counter service it's walk-up with no booking. Alongside the everyday pasta and tacos it does a couple of shareable plates worth knowing, a loaded pepperoni pretzel and the triple-meat Tripleta sandwich. Unusually for a Disney food court, El Mercado doesn't take Mobile Order, so at busy times you queue at the counter rather than ordering ahead on the app. Rix Sports Bar & Grill is the all-day sit-down option and the only one open for breakfast, which makes it the easy pre-park meal, with a children's menu at every meal and Watchos, queso-and-bacon loaded waffle fries, as the plate to share. Café Rix next door does coffee, pastries and gelato but closes in the early afternoon. By the pool, Siestas Cantina serves hot food as well as drinks, with pizza and chicken tenders for children. A refillable resort mug is sold for a one-off fee, and once you have it you can top it up with soft drinks, coffee and hot chocolate as often as you like for the whole stay, at El Mercado, Café Rix and Siestas. Over a week of long park days some families find it worth the money and others don't bother, so it's worth a look at how much your family actually drinks at the resort.
The table-service restaurants work differently and need booking ahead through Disney dining, since they rarely take walk-ins. For a sit-down family dinner, Three Bridges Bar & Grill is built on a small island in the lake and reached by footbridges, with an open-air setting, a sunset view, a children's menu and ducks on the water to watch while you wait. Maya Grill, the original Mexican table-service restaurant, does dinner only and has a children's menu too. The travel site AllEars named it the most-improved Disney World restaurant of 2025, and because it stays under the radar you can often get a table on the day when Three Bridges and the rooftop are booked up. Up in the tower the rooftop is more of a grown-up affair. Toledo is a Spanish restaurant recognised in the Michelin Guide, which is a listing rather than a star, and it does have a children's menu, but it's really a special-occasion dinner rather than a toddler one. The Dahlia Lounge beside it is a late rooftop bar known for its churros and a terrace looking out on the fireworks, and Laguna Bar down by the lake is an adults' tequila and mezcal spot. Barcelona Lounge in the tower lobby opens early for coffee, around half past six, which suits a parent heading out to a park before the children are fully awake.
High chairs are at every table-service and most counter-service places, and Disney handles allergies through trained staff at each venue. In-room dining runs from breakfast to late evening, and its children's meals, from mac and cheese to chicken tenders, are among the most toddler-friendly options at the resort, delivered to the room so you can skip a restaurant at the end of a long park day. Six of the venues are run by a family firm, Palmas, rather than by Disney, which is unusual on Disney property but makes no practical difference to a family eating there. The tower also has the Chronos Club on the 15th floor, the only Club Level lounge at any Moderate, with food and drink through the day for guests who book a Club room, though nothing aimed at children. The early-evening spread is the substantial one, hot dishes like steak and croquettes rather than just nibbles, enough that a Club family can make a light dinner of it. What the Club premium buys is the lounge, not a park perk. Unlike Deluxe Club Level it doesn't include Extended Evening Hours in the parks, and the lounge itself shuts overnight, from 10pm to half past six, so a family weighing it up is paying for the food, the coffee and a quiet 15th-floor space rather than extra time in a park after closing.
Pools, the playground and things to do
A pyramid-and-waterslide main pool, a small toddler pool, a lake with a beach and a run of free evening activities.
The main pool, the Dig Site, is themed as the archaeological dig of that lost city of Cibola, around a 50-foot replica of a Mayan pyramid with the Jaguar waterslide twisting out of it. It's among the best resort pools at Walt Disney World, with lifeguards and free life jackets in children's sizes. It isn't zero-entry, though, and the water is around four feet deep, too deep for a toddler to stand. The spot for the youngest children is a separate gated kiddie pool right beside it, zero-entry with a few shooting water jets, but it's small and capped at ten people at a time, so in busy or convention periods you can wait for a place. There's no dedicated splash pad here of the kind Caribbean Beach and Port Orleans French Quarter have, so if water play for a toddler is a priority, those are worth comparing. Beside the pool is one of the biggest hot tubs on Disney property, which parents rate for the end of the day.
Each village also has its own quieter pool with no slide, handy for a calm swim away from the crowds. Next to the Dig Site is Explorer's Playground, a large dry play area with a sand dig, a jungle gym and slides, split into a part for younger children and one for older ones. The lake itself isn't for swimming, but Cabanas has a small sandy beach with hammocks, a quiet place to rest with a baby away from the pool, and a flat paved path loops the water for about nine-tenths of a mile (1.4 km), level and good for a pram at nap time.
Free and paid activitiesThings to do around the resort
Most evenings there's a campfire by the Dig Site with marshmallows to toast and s'mores kits to buy, which families single out as the best thing here for little ones after dinner, followed most nights by a Disney film shown outdoors on the lawn, where a toddler can doze in a pram. There's an air-conditioned arcade by the pool, board games, volleyball and pool games through the day, and a few paid classes aimed at adults. The one to know is Sangria University, a weekend session up in Toledo where you taste four house sangrias then mix your own to a recipe and leave with a diploma and the recipe cards. It's 21-plus and needs booking ahead through Disney dining, and it's not something the other Moderates offer, so it's a real parents'-evening option if a sitter has the children. Beyond those the resort runs a string of small free activities that fill the daytime hours a young family spends off the parks. There's a hidden-character hunt, where children track down a hidden Bruno prop and take it to the front desk for a surprise, and a resort scavenger hunt with clue sheets from the desk. A self-guided butterfly garden and a nature walk sit on the west side, with a guide leaflet from the shop. Bus and Minnie Van drivers hand out Disney transportation trading cards for children to collect, the arcade runs a daily tournament, and a Coronado Nights pool party runs some evenings at the Dig Site. A craft session at the Dig Site most afternoons has children making Mickey tie-dye T-shirts and tumblers to take home for a small charge. Two fitness centres are open around the clock, from age 14, and there's no spa, so don't plan on one. The daily activity times change, so the schedule posted at the resort is the one to follow.
Getting to the parks by bus
Every park is a bus ride and the pram folds each time, with two parks close by and Magic Kingdom the longest haul.
Coronado sits in the Animal Kingdom area, so the rides to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios are among the shortest of any Moderate, while Magic Kingdom is the longest at around twenty to twenty-five minutes. It's also one of the few resorts with a year-round direct bus to the Blizzard Beach water park, with no change on the way.
There are four bus stops inside the resort, one in each village and a shared one at the tower and El Centro. Buses pick up the villages first and the tower last on the way out to the parks, so at busy rope-drop times a bus can reach the tower stop already full. Tower guests who want a guaranteed seat sometimes walk the few minutes to the Casitas stop, which is first in the loop. There's also a Minnie Van service for a charge, and Uber and Lyft pick up at the tower entrance. If you've hired a car in Orlando, self-parking at the resort is free, and unusually for a hotel at this tier there's a paid valet as well, with drop-off at the tower entrance, handy on a wet arrival day with a baby and bags. When a big convention is on, the park buses are often less crowded, because the delegates aren't heading to the parks.
Checking in and early entryArrival, the app and early park entry
You can use the My Disney Experience app to check in online before you arrive, and bell services will hold your bags on either side of the stay. As an on-site guest you get Early Theme Park Entry into any park ahead of the general public, though the exact window changes, so check it for your dates. The rooms also have Disney's Hey Disney voice assistant if you want to ask it for park hours or a wake-up call. Most UK families book Coronado as an ATOL-protected package with the Walt Disney Travel Company, flights, room and tickets together, and at the time of writing the UK site has a free dining and drinks offer on 2027 stays that's worth pricing up. How UK booking, Early Theme Park Entry and Lightning Lane all work is set out on our tickets and passes guide.
Babies, toddlers and the day-to-day
What the resort lends and stocks, the convention feel and one thing that's missing for summer-2026 stays.
There's no kids' club or in-room childcare at Coronado, since those are Deluxe-resort features, so an evening out means booking a sitter through an outside service. A travel cot is free on request, one to a room, so add it to the booking and confirm it at the desk, and if you'd rather have a full-size cot the Orlando baby-kit firms deliver to the resort. Panchito's, the resort shop, stocks the everyday things you run out of, though it's safest to bring your own nappies and formula rather than count on a size or brand being in. Housekeeping comes every other day rather than daily, and extra towels or bin bags are free on request, worth knowing on the days it doesn't come.
There's a 24-hour self-service launderette beside each of the three quiet village pools, which on a week or more with a baby keeps pool-soaked and food-covered clothes from becoming a packing problem, so if you'd rather not travel with a fortnight of outfits you can wash as you go. For cash there's a 24-hour ATM by the front desk, and the desk changes foreign currency if you're carrying pounds. Disney doesn't rent prams at its resorts, so if you need one an Orlando hire firm delivers it to bell services for you to collect, the same as a full-size cot. There's no first-aid station here, which is the case at every Disney hotel, so the front desk handles minor needs and points you to the first-aid centre inside each park, or to an off-site walk-in clinic (AdventHealth Centra Care) for anything more.
This is Walt Disney World's convention hotel. It doesn't feel unfriendly to families, but it's calmer and more grown-up than the bright, character-led Value resorts, and on evenings when a big event is in, the bars and restaurants fill with delegates and the waits get longer. The one event to steer around is the all-star dance championship in late April, which brings competition families and packs the pool and the dining. There's no public calendar of what's booked, so a web search for your own dates is worth doing. For summer 2026, Coronado isn't part of the Cool Kids Summer programme, which lends baby kit and runs character visits and pool parties for young children at four other resorts including Caribbean Beach and Port Orleans Riverside. Every resort guest arriving that summer does get a free water-park day on check-in, and Coronado's direct Blizzard Beach bus makes that an easy one to use.
Loves and gripes
The praise and the complaints both come up again and again in family reviews.
Families come back happiest about the grounds and the water. The lake, the arches and tiled courtyards of Casitas, the Cabanas beach with its hammocks and the lit tower mirrored on the water at night all get singled out. The Dig Site pool and its hot tub, one of the largest on Disney property, come up again and again, and the nightly campfire with s'mores followed by a film on the lawn is the evening parents rate most with little ones. Anyone who's stayed in the tower tends to praise the smart lifts and the larger rooms after a week of folding a pram.
The steady complaints are the walking and the busy evenings. In a resort this size the outer buildings are a long way from the food and the pool, and Ranchos guests in particular say they gave up eating at the resort because it was just too far with children. On a big-event evening the restaurants and lifts get busy and a table that's usually a short wait can take much longer. Some long-time guests also feel the food court lost character when its heavily-themed original was toned down, though it's still large and bright.
Questions parents ask
A few things families check before booking.
Can our toddler go down the waterslide?
There's no posted height or age limit on the Jaguar slide, but it lands in the deep main pool, so a young child needs an adult right there, and children under about four rarely want to.
Will a family of five fit in one room?
Not in a standard room, so the two options are a suite or two connecting rooms. Connecting rooms are mostly in Casitas and work out cheaper than a suite, but they're a request rather than a guarantee, so book early and phone to flag that you need them together.
Is it worth paying more for the tower?
Price it up before you assume so. A Casitas Preferred room often costs about the same as a standard tower room, so compare those two for your dates first. If you want the tower mainly for the lifts and staying under cover with a pram, a ground-floor Cabanas room by the pool gives you the no-stairs part for less, without the indoor corridors and central dining.
Is there a way around the resort other than walking?
Not really. There's no internal shuttle between the villages and the tower, so getting about means walking, and reaching your room from a park means the park bus. Bell services will move luggage and can sometimes give a lift for a genuine need, but it isn't a service to count on, so plan for a pram and some walking.
Can we warm a bottle in the room?
There's a mini-fridge to keep milk cold but no microwave or hob, so heating a bottle means using the food court or asking at the front desk. A small packable bottle warmer saves that trip, which is why some families bring one.
Is the food court hard to use with the app?
A little, since it's the one restaurant here without Mobile Order. If ordering ahead matters to you, Three Bridges takes a walk-up list on the app once you're at the resort, and in-room dining covers the end of a long day.
Coronado Springs photos
The Gran Destino Tower and the village courtyards, the village and tower rooms and the Dig Site pool, all in one place.
Open the Coronado Springs photo gallery →
Useful links
- Disney's Coronado Springs Resort: the official hotel page for rooms, dining and live prices.
- Disney's Pop Century Resort: our guide to a cheaper Value resort, if the Moderate price is more than you want to spend.
- Animal Kingdom: our guide to the nearest park, a short bus ride away.
- Tickets and passes: how tickets, Early Theme Park Entry and UK booking work.
- Walt Disney World with little ones: our guide to the resort, its parks and getting there.
Last updated 9 July 2026.
