Dolphin, Coronado, or Value?

[amador]

Boyfriend and I are planning a trip in November 2021 for 6 nights, 5 days in the park. This is a 5th anniversary trip and we want to have a romantic vacation. Priorities are easy transportation to parks, and feeling like we're in the Disney bubble.
Dolphin and Coronado are same price.
Pop Century and All Star Movies are about $100 in price between each other, $300-400 cheaper than the above for length of trip.
Help! I've never stayed at any of these resorts before.

 

[mindeola]

I absolutely love Coronado. I stay at Pop pretty often as well. Pop has the skyliner. Both have refurbished rooms that I love. Coronado definitely wins on the more romantic front though. Rooms are a little bigger, too. Great lounges and places to drink/eat.

I've never stayed at the Dolphin. No advice there...

 

[Wishuponastar0412]

If you are looking for romantic and in the bubble, I'd say Coronado. It offers more than the normal moderate (such as gym and a lot more dining), but is still a great price! We've stayed 2 times and have really enjoyed it. The Dolphin is great and I've stayed there a lot, but the rooms are for sure just a normal hotel room for a Sheraton. There are no Disney touches and overall just feels like a normal hotel. The perk is the price & being able to walk to 2 parks.
Pop & Movies are great for budget trips, but I wouldn't say it's romantic. They do have the Disney feeling! Pop has the advantage of the skyliner, but it doesn't seem as much as an advantage as it was before. I've heard the lines in the morning and nights can be 30+ minutes.

 

[amador]

I absolutely love Coronado. I stay at Pop pretty often as well. Pop has the skyliner. Both have refurbished rooms that I love. Coronado definitely wins on the more romantic front though. Rooms are a little bigger, too. Great lounges and places to drink/eat.

I've never stayed at the Dolphin. No advice there...

Thank you! Good point about the room size, we'd like to take advantage of the lounges too.

 

[amador]

If you are looking for romantic and in the bubble, I'd say Coronado. It offers more than the normal moderate (such as gym and a lot more dining), but is still a great price! We've stayed 2 times and have really enjoyed it. The Dolphin is great and I've stayed there a lot, but the rooms are for sure just a normal hotel room for a Sheraton. There are no Disney touches and overall just feels like a normal hotel. The perk is the price & being able to walk to 2 parks.
Pop & Movies are great for budget trips, but I wouldn't say it's romantic. They do have the Disney feeling! Pop has the advantage of the skyliner, but it doesn't seem as much as an advantage as it was before. I've heard the lines in the morning and nights can be 30+ minutes.

We might value the Disney feel over the walking distance because of this! Thanks so much!

 

[Schneewittchen37]

Coronado is nice, but if you're looking for the best park access (your own feet) Swolphin might be the better deal. Oh, and Marriott tends to have better beds. Both have nice pools and good dining options.
You know, I'm going to be like this, stay at Swolphin. Literally, you can walk into HS/Epcot. There are tons of night life options right there.

Coronado has lovely theming, but you still got to ride in the sad bus.....

Edit: I spit on value resorts. Garbage food court, garbage beds, tiny can't turn around in the bathroom rooms. I'm going to start raging about all the inconsiderate jerks smoking everywhere in a minute.....

 

[Marthasor]

I would choose the Dolphin, especially if it's the same price as CSR. While the hotel itself may have less Disney theming, you are right in the thick of the bubble as soon as you walk outside and get on a Friendship boat or start walking around the Boardwalk. There are so many more restaurants and lounges in the EP area. I'm not a huge fan of having to take a bus to every park.

 

[amador]

I would choose the Dolphin, especially if it's the same price as CSR. While the hotel itself may have less Disney theming, you are right in the thick of the bubble as soon as you walk outside and get on a Friendship boat or start walking around the Boardwalk. There are so many more restaurants and lounges in the EP area. I'm not a huge fan of having to take a bus to every park.

The Dolphin actually ends up being about $75 cheaper (splitting hairs here) than CSR. I'm assuming the walking distance would cut down significantly on travel time in the mornings too.

 

[DL1WDW2]

Which one has the Heavenly Beds? Swan or Dolphin...

 

[SwanVT2]

I would stay at Dolphin. DH and I stayed there before we had our daughter. Walking the boardwalk at night when it is all lit up us so romantic. Hopefully fireworks begin by your trip and you can see them over Epcot, HS and MK. There are so many dining options to walk to..you can walk to two parks..and the pool is gorgeous. The pool bar makes delicious drinks!!

 

[iheartglaciers]

I'd pick Dolphin because you can walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Although you're not directly in the Disney bubble, you're so close to Boardwalk, Beach Club, and Yacht Club. And it'll be a bonus if you're going during the Food and Wine Festival!

 

[Olaf Myfrenzargay]

Split stay Pop and assuming Toledo reopens, CSR, preference for Grand Destino Tower. You want Disney bubble and Dolphin ain’t that. You also want “easy” transpo and CSR ain’t that. Pop gets you to two parks easily and can easily be classified as within Disney bubble, plus can walk over to AOA and Skyliner it over the Riviera for a fantastic meal.

 

[ucf_knight]

Dolphin hands down. If you’re looking for romantic things to do, walking around the boardwalk area at night to experience the different lounges would be one thing. You aren’t going to have that at a convention center based hotel. We always feel like we are in the Disney bubble when you share such a close proximity to the parks and such great resorts to explore right next door in walking distance.

 

[Dug720]

I would say Coronado. It's not my favorite, but I don't think anything at the Values is "romantic" and I don't like Marriott based on past experiences, so I avoid their properties at all costs.

 

[JM_97]

If you’re looking for a more adult trip, I’d do Coronado or Swan/Dolphin. There is nothing romantic about the Value resorts and honestly I’m not a fan of them in the first place.

I prefer to be in the bubble so I’d go with Coronado. Close to a lot of parks but it’s also not Disney in your face too much. Plus they have the restaurant on the lake! I guess it depends if being at a Disney hotel is important. If not, then I don’t think you could go wrong with either.

 

[Ross Kratter]

For an anniversary, I would go with Coronado or the Dolphin. The Dolphin doesn't have much in the way of Disney theming, but if you get a Resort View room on a high floor, you can see into Epcot and Hollywood Studios very easily. The rooms are gorgeous and huge. If you're doing Coronado, go for a Water View room in the Gran Destino Tower.

 

[shyjade]

I've never stayed at Dolphin, but I have stayed at Poly, AK, Pop, ASMu, and CSR. That said, we only stay at CSR now and have for the last several trips (and will be back in 3 weeks). While values are fine, CSR is a much better experience for a decent price. Deluxe resorts were wonderful, but not worth the steep price tag, IMO. CSR allows us to feel like we're on a real vacation in addition to being at Disney.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Dolphin. It’s super close to lots of great places to eat, you could scoot over to WS easily for drinks, it’s considered to be a deluxe, the general area it’s in has a great “vibe” IMO. With the values you won’t get such a romantic adult experience. Coronado is nice, especially if you get the tower and its more adult and romantic than the values but it doesn’t have the proximity to parks, comfortable beds, deluxe level and general excitement of location that dolphin has. I’m DVC so I’ve never stayed there but I’ve had multiple trips to the resorts that surround it and I’ve eaten and visited there a lot and I really like it. Tough choice you have.

 

[jsbowl16]

I would say Dolphin because location, location, location. To me it is much more romantic to have a drink or bite to eat and a nice walk back to an Epcot area hotel around Crescent lake than waiting in line at the end of the night and sitting on a bus or gondola. One point of advice is to make sure you are including the extra fees at The Dolphin in your price comparison. They charge a resort fee that is separate from their normal price.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

I would say Coronado. It's not my favorite, but I don't think anything at the Values is "romantic" and I don't like Marriott based on past experiences, so I avoid their properties at all costs.

I agree with you.
I'm not a huge fan of the casitas ( some of the buildings away from the tower) but the tower
( Grand Destino tower) is awesome at Coronado. It does not have Disney theming like all star or pop has, but does have a really nice pool.
Staying at pop is nice because you save some money really feel the disney bubble and has the skyliner.. but it's a popular family resort so lots of kids.
If I were you I would go on you tube and look up the hotels there are some really good walk through to give you a better idea.
What's kept me from dolphin was the resort fees, they were so high I decided to stay on property
Also look up Caribbean beach resort (cbr) we really like this resort because it's a good mix