I'm back from 5 nights at CSR. I've stayed there many times over the years, but this was my fist after all tower and lake construction was complete, so thought I'd share a few notes...
I prefer Standard views, but was only able to get a Water View for my dates and an AP rate. I requested Top Floor in Cabanas and got that in building 8C. The one thing I did not want was to overlook a pool, because we really dislike the morning noise, and our room (8911) did have a combo pool/lake view, but there was no music playing and it was a very quiet room, despite being just down the hall from the elevator. The location was great for getting to the tower and food options. Room was clean and in good repair.
We had a couple lunches at El Mercado and it was okay: nothing to rave about, but not awful. A shame, really, because its turkey burger was once the thing of legends, but this time it was dry and tasteless. We had a late bite at Cafe Rix and the food was good, but service was not - piling dirty dishes and glasses on our table and leaving them there while we were still seated and waiting for our bill?! Yikes. One gorgeous evening we tried Three Bridges and that was a highlight of our trip! Food was great, service fantastic, and relaxing on a couch, listening to holiday music, watching the sun set was just about perfect. I grabbed a quick latte at the Barcelona Lounge, which is just stunning. The whole tower was amazing, really - photos do not do it justice! We tried the Dahlia Lounge for a drink one night, too, and it was lovely, service excellent.
Overall, every interaction I had with CMs was friendly, polite and professional.
We only used the buses once, as I much prefer to drive my own car. We walked to the Tower bus stop because it was a bit closer to our room - waited only a couple minutes for a MK bus, which was mostly empty (this was around 1pm). Returning to the resort around 5:30pm, the bus was full and made fuller at each stop as more people got on than off (
MVMCP night). I was reminded why I prefer to drive
The grounds were as beautiful as ever. I remember staying at CSR just after it opened and all the plantings were new and tiny: there was no shade and it was late May - it
felt like a hot, arid desert then! With it all grown in, it's a really lovely, relaxing place to me.