Gran Destino Tower at Coronado Springs Resort Review
Gran Destino Tower is a new addition to Coronado Springs Resort at Walt Disney World, offering a totally different type of accommodations that are arguably Deluxe-caliber, but at a Moderate price. In this hotel review, we’ll share room photos, thoughts on amenities, plus the pros & cons of staying at Gran Destino Tower.
One thing we won’t be covering extensively is the themed design and my personal grievances with Walt Disney World choosing to plop Gran Destino Tower in the middle of a sprawling Moderate Resort. For that, see our Gran Destino Tower First Impressions & Photos. Likewise, if you’re looking for a review of the outlying building clusters, see our Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort Review.
It cannot be understated just how different the rest of Coronado Springs is from Gran Destino. While the latter is at the former, these are less similar to one another than the Contemporary is to Polynesian Village Resort. The outlying buildings of Coronado Springs are materially different from Gran Destino Tower, even if they are technically part of the same property.
Coronado Springs Resort is Walt Disney World’s main convention center hotel, and Gran Destino Tower undoubtedly was built to satisfy the conventioneer demographic that only has a passing (at best) interest in Disney. This is evident in the general design and substantive offerings, which are reminiscent of Las Vegas. It’s also apparent in the marketing, and the indoor pathway to the convention center.
Along with the explosion of high-end dining at Disney Springs and new lounges added over the past few years, this is yet another way that Walt Disney World is catering to demographics beyond just families with small children. To the contrary, Gran Destino Tower seems to intentionally avoid appealing to families.
While there are legit criticisms about how this has resulted in more muted theming, the upside is that regular guests to whom this style might appeal–who aren’t conventioneers–can also take advantage of Gran Destino Tower’s approach.
Let’s start with a look at the guest rooms in Gran Destino Tower…
Gran Destino Tower offers 545 guest rooms, including 50 suites and Club Level rooms. Regular rooms are differentiated by their view and whether they have two queen beds or one king bed. Rooms are 375 square feet in size, which is larger than other Moderate Resorts.
This is actually larger than some Deluxe and Deluxe Villa Resorts, on par with Epcot Deluxes, and smaller than Magic Kingdom Deluxe Resorts. (See our Hotel Room Sizes at Walt Disney World for more.) In reality, these rooms do not feel significantly larger than regular rooms at Coronado Springs, though. Much of it is devoted to the entry hallway.
The other downside as compared to all of those Deluxes is that Gran Destino does not offer balconies, which is potentially a big blow. During a nicer time of year, I would’ve missed having a balcony, but not during our July stay when the ‘feels like’ temperature was over 100 degrees most of the day.
Guest rooms in Gran Destino have laminate faux-hardwood floors, a sizable desk, wall-mounted smart television, pod-style coffee machine, and mini-fridge. The room also has a good amount of storage, with multiple drawers, plus a dedicated armoire, and luggage storage under the bed.
Walt Disney World has been touting this television, which features interactive content and personalization. It’s possible to display Disney PhotoPass images on the screen, and stream from personal devices to the in-room television. (This is another feature that’s reminiscent of Las Vegas hotels.)
In terms of style, there are some accents like the headboard and wall patterns to give the room some semblance of character. Calling this room “themed” to anything would be a colossal stretch, and not even remotely accurate. It’s fine, but if you told me this were a Marriott or Hilton in some random place, I wouldn’t question that.
That’s likely an intentional choice, and we’ll reiterate once again that Gran Destino Tower was designed in large part for conventioneers who aren’t particularly interested in Disney. These rooms will likewise appeal to other guests who want a muted room design. (As is becoming par for the course, there are no bed runners, and the sterile white bedding adds to the boring, vanilla appearance of Gran Destino’s rooms.)
Gran Destino’s bathrooms are among the nicest, but also the most perplexing at Walt Disney World. The bathroom is separated from the main living space by a large sliding door, and there’s another door that divides the two sinks and the glass-walled shower from the toilet…and the shower rack?
This is an interesting use of space in the bathroom, as the sink and shower cannot simultaneously be used except by those who are intimately familiar with one another. It’s almost as if these rooms were designed for couples or parties of one, which would again make sense for conventioneers.
The flip side to this is that this use of space in the bathroom alone will likely make Gran Destino Tower really unappealing to families, as it’ll prolong the time it takes everyone to get ready in the morning. Theoretically, it would take twice as long for everyone to shower and get out the door–that’s a tough sell for parties looking to rope drop the parks.
The good news is that, layout aside, it’s all really nice. It features a hand-held shower head and a ceiling-mounted rainfall shower head. The sink area has a vanity cabinet with plenty of storage and shelving, large mirror. Lighting is multi-directional and brilliantly illuminates the area.
When it comes to room categories, we’d recommend sticking with standard view. It’s cheaper and from this side of the tower, you’re potentially facing Epcot or Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The water view is facing away from the parks and towards the rest of Coronado Springs Resort (you can also see Expedition Everest in the distance).
We’d recommend requesting a standard room that faces Disney’s Hollywood Studios or Epcot (some standard rooms will have views of both), and also a higher floor. The reasons for both requests should be pretty self explanatory. These standard rooms will be on floors 3 through 14, with higher level rooms reserved for suites and Club Level.
Gran Destino also offers the ability to book rooms with access to the Chronos Club Lounge, which is Gran Destino’s Club Level. Chronos Lounge serves breakfast, dinner, and dessert options, as well as alcohol and coffee (the espresso is the same as what’s served at Barcelona Lounge!) throughout the day. It’s among the largest Club Level lounges at Walt Disney World.
Chronos Club is also by far the cheapest Club Level options at Walt Disney World. (We paid ~$275/night for Club Level after discount, which is much less expensive than its counterparts.) Despite this, we found the cuisine to be among the better Club Levels at Walt Disney World. We’ll have a full review of Chronos Club soon, but suffice to say, it earns our seal of approval.
If you’d prefer to do dining at Gran Destino Tower as you go, there are a trio of options. Toledo – Tapas, Steak & Seafood is the rooftop table service restaurant that is arguably California Grill-lite.
The next-door Dahlia Lounge offers one of the coolest bars at Walt Disney World. Downstairs, the lobby Barcelona Lounge is a coffee bar during by day and a bar by night.
Toledo and Dahlia Lounge are both closer to what you’d expect at a Deluxe Resort than they are a Moderate Resort. The rooftop location is a huge selling point, and both also offer a nice moody atmosphere and lighting.
These strike us as similar in atmosphere to the adult areas of the various Disney Cruise Line ships. (We’ll also have full reviews of both soon.)
In addition to the convention center on the other side of El Centro, there are a number of meeting spaces in Gran Destino Tower. While it’s unlikely many people reading this will have much use for them, but they’re quiet areas when not being utilized by convention guests.
There are also a lot of public workspaces in the lobby, which are a good option if you need to take your laptop out of the room to get some work done. In general, we found the lobby to be a fairly loud activity hub, so you might want to bring headphones.
We also found the fitness center to be far more popular than its counterparts at other resorts. My plan was to take photos of it at 5 a.m. before anyone was in there, but even at that hour, several people were using it.
I’m not going to awkwardly take photos of people working out, so you’ll just have to take my word that it’s nice. Above is a photo of a random lamp instead.
Elevators are another interesting, nice, and Vegas-like feature of Gran Destino.
Rather than hitting the up or down button, you tap your floor, and the screen directs you to a certain elevator. It’s much more efficient than a normal elevator system, and we loved it. (With that said, I also rode the elevator with no less than 3 parties who were somehow confused when the elevator didn’t stop at their floor.)
Otherwise, resort amenities at Gran Destino Tower are those at Coronado Springs Resort, and are covered in our full review of the main hotel. The most significant of these is the Dig Site pool. This makes our list of the Top 10 Pools at Walt Disney World; there is a lot to love about this pool area, which has a ton of recreation options beyond just the pool, some of which are more appealing to adults.
There’s also the matter of buses. Although entirely anecdotal at this point, our (admittedly limited) experience with Gran Destino Tower led us to believe that Walt Disney World increased the number of rooms without increasing the number of buses servicing Coronado Springs. We found the buses to be more cramped than normal. Bus service at Walt Disney World can be very hit or miss, so hopefully this was simply a “miss” for us. If not, hopefully the problem is remedied.
For families, it’s hard to see the appeal of Gran Destino Tower unless you can get past the use of space in the restroom and lack of Disney themed design. There are other upsides, but these two downsides would seem to pretty much make it a non-starter. There’s also the more ‘adult’ and convention atmosphere, which is already a frequent complaint about Coronado Springs and will only be more pronounced at Gran Destino.
Setting aside the issues of theme, scale, etc., this is pretty much all upside for adult couples who book here. Gran Destino Tower instantly becomes our #1 mid-range hotel recommendation for an adults-only trip to Walt Disney World or for honeymooners who are on a budget. As appealing and romantic as Port Orleans is, Gran Destino has it beat on substance.
With Gran Destino, you get the consolidated hotel experience and have almost all of the amenities you need under one air-conditioned roof, and don’t have to brave the Florida sun and heat to have dinner, go to the bar, or use the fitness center. Additionally, the main food court, convention center, and even the bus stops are all pretty close and under covered or indoor walkways.
For some Walt Disney World guests, me included, part of the resort experience is the expansive and lush grounds, with area to explore, enjoy the themed environments, and so forth. As a guest of Gran Destino Tower, you also get that…but only if/when you want it. You don’t have to walk 15 minutes outside from the lobby to your room when it’s hot, humid, or rainy. Finally, you don’t see the ugly building towering on the horizon if you’re inside said ugly building. This makes staying in Gran Destino Tower something of a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario.
By contrast, guests of the outlying buildings arguably have a ‘worst of both worlds’ scenario: they have to walk outdoors those long distances to Gran Destino or El Centro, while also having tower serve as an eyesore from their building clusters. Because of this, Coronado Springs Resort now only appeals to us in one of two scenarios: 1) we book Gran Destino, or 2) the outlying buildings are cheaper than every other Moderate Resort by at least $15-20 per night.
Overall, that’s pretty much where we stand with Gran Destino. From the outside around Coronado Springs, it’s an ugly eyesore…but if you’re staying inside of it, you don’t necessarily see that exterior too much. The Las Vegas-lite style won’t appeal to everyone, but the same could be said for more thematically-rich hotels at Walt Disney World, too. If you don’t care about theme, are value-conscious, want Deluxe-caliber amenities and somewhere with a more adult vibe, Gran Destino is tough to beat. Just keep in mind that even then you’ll have to sacrifice a balcony on your room and being within walking, boat, or monorail distance of Magic Kingdom or Epcot. However, if you don’t mind all of that, you can save a considerable amount of money by booking Gran Destino. With all of that in mind, it should have tremendous appeal to some Walt Disney World guests.
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Your Thoughts
Does Gran Destino appeal to you? Is the (lack of) theme a deal-breaker for you? What do you think of the bathroom layout? Are the upgraded amenities a selling point for you? Do you agree or disagree with our review? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I’ve been to multiple conferences at WDW – mostly at the contemporary and yacht club. The first time I came for a conference was around 1990 – so Disney has catered to conventions for a long while. The tower looks nice with lots of features that a single business traveler would appreciate – especially a gym. Disney does a great job with large groups – especially night time entertainment at the parks and the special half day or evening tickets.
I understand there has been a major power outage last night affecting half of the tower. They were moving people to other rooms at the resort and estimating that it will be fixed by Wednesday. We were just there Thursday to Sunday.
We just came back from a 2 week Disney vacation and stayed in the GDT the last 5 days, my kids LOVED it (they liked it better than the savannah view at Kidani!). We had club level rooms and the staff made it very special for them. We loved the food and watching fireworks. We spent a lot of time reading about Salvador Dali and my five year old LOVED the books and toys in the Chronos Club. The eight year old boy thought the view was amazing and he thought the furniture/design was cool! They were bummed to find out that next time we will be at Kidani and Boardwalk Villas, and not GDT.
Wow this hotel is so sterile. This makes the Contemporary Resort look aggressively themed. I will avoid staying at both Gran Testino and the regular Coronado Springs (so I dont have to look at Gran Testino ruining the skyline).
Is there a pool for the new building?
I am concluding our stay in a standard club level room at GDT with my teen daughter. This is our first stay at CSR. We’ve enjoyed our time here. If you have or are a picky eater, you may not enjoy the hors d’oeuvres selection in the Chronos Lounge. However, the breakfast was great and they have 20 oz. waters – unlike the mini bottles available at Grand Floridian’s sugar loaf building. The quietness of the tower appealed to us this trip, as we intended to stay out late and sleep in. This building had some hiccups during our stay. We encountered some brand new construction issues, but nothing that would make me second guess a future stay. I enjoyed walking the grounds and buses were great! This may not be for everyone, but I highly recommend a stay here.
We’ll be there in three weeks and are excited to stay there. I assume that once the gondolas are operational that they can deploy more busses to the other resorts served only by busses.
Oddly enough you posted this today as we are checking out from our first adult only Disney trip where we opted for a standard view club access room in GDT and full heartedly agree! We had a room just down the hallway from The Chronos Club with a view of DHS and Epcot and were able to watch fireworks from both (and a pretty wicked lightning storm) from our room before heading up to dinner at Toledo.
Although for us, I planned on using Lyft much more but found the bus service to be almost always empty (pre-park opening, midday breaks to and from various parks and around park close or just slightly before) although wait times could be improved. Absolutely loved the tower and the Chronos Club.
The criticism of CSR for large groups due to the conventions still rings true IMO as we didn’t get to enjoy the pool much as there was a huge college leadership convention going on so the Dig Site was basically like a huge frat party mid day with all the convention goers that decided not to spend the money on a ticket to the parks for the day… so the Chronos Club was the perfect refuge from the busy amenities and lobby.
We are staying in the tower, was able to get the $199 Disney Visa discount. I think it’s ok. And for some reason, after long hot day at Animal Kingdom, we are waiting out the rain at Animal Kingdom Lodge where we really enjoy the ambience
Thanks for your review! I wondered if you you prefer the regular rooms to the tower rooms? Curious, for would love to give it a try.
Is there a pool in the new building?
I understand this hotel/tower is geared towards convention guests but I actually really like the look of it all.
As much as I love the Epcot resorts (Boardwalk, Beach Club, Yacht Club) I think the same can be said about Disney touches in those rooms there.
Same argument can be said about the bathrooms at Polynesian Resort, Contemporary Resort, Disneyland Hotel (California), etc.
My son, myself and mother (ages 12, 40+ and 70+) just returned from a 3 nite stay at the Tower. I thought your review was spot on! We’ve stayed at deluxe, moderate and value Disney resorts over the years. When walking into this tower, it is beautiful, lots of space in the lobby and it’s quiet (yes, very quiet). It has a business/conference feel everywhere we were. And most people we spoke with we on a conference. We didn’t see any “families” or children in the tower. The customer service from the front desk was amazing, no waiting here! Aside from the fact it’s the only resort that ever lost our magic bands (never did get them, they were amazing). We were greeting with a “personalized” welcome on the tv when we turned it on. We had a standard 2 queen room which was quite large. We didn’t feel squished. Mostly, as article states, the extra space is the entry way but there is more clothing storage here than I’ve seen at most places. The bathroom design was definitely not family friendly. The entire bathroom is all in one space with the toilet separate within it. Adding to it the glass shower doors and only one “family” member is really going to use this space at a time. The amenities were plentiful and lots of towels. Nice double sink and a lot of counter space. It’s a beautiful bathroom, and if the toilet was outside of the space, multiple people could get ready at a time. We were on the 5th floor. The lower half of the window was opaque so we had no view, if we managed to peer over it, there was a roof/wall so it was probably better it was blocked from eyesight. Tons of desk space, and I would say it’s a great functional space/room for a business person, but for a family, there was no reference to Disney at all in either the room or the Tower itself. If it wasn’t for the gift shop and refillable mug, it is just like a Marriott or similar hotel. We were hopping for some Disney feel, but none is here, and I mean zero! We like a preferred room when we go to resorts. I figured the Tower was the closest we’d get to the amenities. Well, it is, but it’s definitely not close in reference to the amount of time to get anywhere. There is long corridors rooms and hallways to get to the food court. The gift shop and a grab and go are down there too. Needless to say, the refillable mugs didn’t get used much this stay. The pool is a distance, but it is a nice walk and the pool is amazing. We loved the pool!! The water slide is great too. The bust stops at the Tower, well, the best thing I can say about them is that there are covered benches and a time board for the parks which is a plus. But, I didn’t like that there was stairs from the hotel to get to them and if we forgot something, going back and up the elevators was time consuming. The buses were crowded and I hope they fix this as it was not a busy time when we went, it will not be very nice during a busy season to get one. There are multiple stops within the resort (same as Caribbean Beach) before heading to the parks, so plan accordingly if you have a dining reservation. The elevators spoiled us for any future ones. Press the floor number on the touch screen and it immediately tells you which elevator to go to and it comes right away. We never had to wait more than a few seconds for one. No buttons inside so no changing your mind, and no one pressing multiple floor buttons either, a great feature for all really. All staff were incredibly friendly and helpful and I can’t say enough about them. It was a beautiful Tower, and we did get a Passholder discount, however, we won’t ever stay there again because of the lack of Disney feel. It is definitely a professional business oriented building through and through. Other than the lack of balcony, I would say it rates between a moderate and deluxe resort, definitely leaning more towards the deluxe end so if you are looking for a deluxe resort for a moderate price, as the article stated, and can do without any Disney feel, this is a potentially a good place for you. Anyone that wants a spec of Disney at their resort, I’d stay elsewhere. I really can’t see many families staying here because of the professional feel and the business environment. On the contrary, I did like the external appeal, I think it fits perfectly for a “business” hotel. But… as far as a “disney” look, ummm, not so much. But, for what it was built for, it will do well, it’s just too bad that it happens to be the closest to the food court than the rest of the place.
Hmm, I love Vegas…but, in Nevada. This may be the first time I’m on the side of curmudgeons. I wonder if Disney is doing in reverse what Vegas did in the 1990s? (i.e. tried to become “family” destination only to find that — shock!! — families don’t gamble; Vegas recovered nicely after it rediscovered what it’s good at) Is WDW going too far out of its way to appeal to… non-Disney clientele? Seems odd. I mean, the rooms and spaces look really lovely, but… I guess it’s not much different than folks who travel abroad and eat at McDonalds.
I’m staying at Coronado Springs next month and was wondering how Gran Destino would affect transportation… Hopefully with lower crowds in September it won’t be too terrible.
As for the tower itself, I think it’s nice! I don’t think every resort at WDW has to be themed or whimsical, and Coronado is the right place for a tower like this even if it is a bit of an eyesore.
Thanks for the review, Tom!
my husband and i just visited the resort and the bar on the top floor. there was a convention going on very crowded and trying to get access to the elevators was almost impossible. walking to the other area where the food is was horrible. not my hotel for sure , french quarter and riverside are so much better.
I have no problem with a hotel that appeals mainly to adults. But for me, it would be too jarring to go to Disney and stay in a hotel that looks like Vegas. My perfect adult scenario would be an entire hotel geared for adults OR even an adult floor that would have 1) upscale Disney theming — subtle touches similar to AK’s one bedroom with AK’s African art work rather than in-your-face cartoons; 2) more adult-like furnishings, maybe a desk with an ergonomic chair, a comfortable recliner under a reading light, a balcony facing somewhere quiet; 3) an adult only quiet pool with bar; and 4) if an adult floor in a Disney hotel, perhaps club level amenities.
Aside from the adults-only floor, which I don’t think will ever happen, I think you’ve pretty much described Animal Kingdom Lodge!
The place is nice looking. You can clearly see they wanted this hotel to service more than just the “DISNEY” fan. I love the look.
As far as the elevators I was at a conference in Manhattan and ran into the same elevator system. It’s so much more efficient but I think everyone takes a “wrong” ride once until they figure out how it works.
LOVE the elevators – you’re right, very efficient. The Hilton Midtown in Manhattan has a similar system as well, so much quicker.
I’m actually booked here and with an AP discount we saved quite a bit off the already good rates. It is for an adults only anniversary one night stay and the more adult feel is appealing for this type of stay. I’m looking forward to it. Other trips I might want the Disney theming but sometimes you might not. I think it is nice to have this option. Thanks for the review and great pictures!
I feel like this does appeal to me! Thanks for the article
Where has Disney gone!!!!!!!!!!!