Disney's Coronado Springs Resort

Moderate is the tier, and it delivers what that promises: a feature pool with a slide, table service dining, a bar worth sitting at, and grounds that reward a walk. Theming draws on Spain, Mexico and the American southwest, from the tiled courtyards and fountains of the Casitas to the desert ranch buildings out at the far end. All of it is arranged around a man-made lake called Lago Dorado, in the Animal Kingdom corner of Walt Disney World.

Gran Destino Tower changed the character of the place when it opened. Rising above the entrance, it holds a proper hotel lobby with a soaring painted ceiling, lift access to every floor, interior corridors and, at the top, Toledo and the Dahlia Lounge. Nothing else in the moderate tier looks remotely like it, and for a UK couple who want a Disney address without deluxe pricing, that tower is the entire argument.

Convention business is the thing to understand before you book. Coronado Springs carries the largest meeting space of any Disney resort, so at certain times of year you will share the lifts and the coffee queue with delegates in lanyards. It rarely spoils a holiday. It does mean the resort feels more grown up and less child-dominated than Port Orleans or Caribbean Beach, which suits some parties and disappoints others.

Early Theme Park Entry applies here in full. Every guest at Coronado Springs gets into any of the four theme parks 30 minutes before the published opening time, every morning of the stay, exactly as deluxe guests do. Nobody checks your room rate at the gate.

Extended Evening Hours do not apply. Those late sessions at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT are reserved for Deluxe and Deluxe Villa guests, and no moderate booking includes them, Gran Destino Tower or otherwise. Be sceptical of anyone who suggests the tower changes that, because it does not.

Which of the three original villages you land in shapes your holiday more than the room itself does. Casitas are the closest to El Centro, the main services building, and are styled as a Spanish city with courtyards and fountains. Ranchos take the desert ranch approach, with dry landscaping and cacti, and sit furthest from most things. Cabanas run along the lake with a beach feel and land somewhere between the two for convenience.

Gran Destino Tower rooms are the other option entirely. Interior corridors, lifts, a modern finish with Spanish surrealist detailing, and a location directly above the lobby and the bus stop. Higher floors on the lake side give you a view across Lago Dorado, and some rooms face towards Disney's Hollywood Studios in the distance. For anyone who dislikes external walkways or arrives with heavy cases, the tower removes most of the friction from a moderate stay.

Standard rooms across the property are sold for up to four guests. Disney also sells preferred locations, water views and a small number of suites, and the exact bed layout is shown against your chosen dates on the booking page. Check that panel rather than assuming, because configurations differ between the villages and the tower.

Every room includes a small fridge, a coffee maker, a safe, a hairdryer and daily housekeeping. Storage is reasonable by Disney standards and better in the tower than in the older villages. Accessible rooms are available in both the villages and the tower and should be requested when you book rather than on arrival.

Distances deserve a mention. Coronado Springs is a large site and a room in the Ranchos can be a ten minute walk from the main lobby, though internal bus stops serve each village to soften that. If you are travelling with a grandparent, a buggy or anyone who tires quickly, book the tower or a Casitas room near El Centro and say so clearly at the point of booking.

A 123 foot waterslide runs out of a spitting jaguar carving at the top of a 50 foot Mayan pyramid, which is a sentence that sounds invented and is not. The Dig Site is the feature pool area built around that pyramid as the Lost City of Cibola, with water pouring down its stone steps. Archaeological props are scattered around the edges as though a dig has been abandoned mid-excavation.

Alongside the main pool sits the largest hot tub anywhere on Walt Disney World property, rated for 22 people at once, which is either wonderful or appalling depending on your view of strangers. A kiddie pool covers the youngest swimmers, Siesta's pool bar handles the adults, there is a white sand volleyball court, and the Iguana Arcade takes care of the hour before dinner when nobody wants to walk anywhere.

Three leisure pools serve the villages, one each in the Casitas, the Ranchos and the Cabanas. They have no slides and almost no crowds, and families staying in an outlying village often use theirs far more than the Dig Site simply because it is thirty seconds from the door. Loungers are usually free even in the middle of August.

A scenic trail loops the whole of Lago Dorado, which covers 22 acres, giving a 0.9 mile circuit for runners and evening walkers. It is one of the better resort walks on property and the lighting after dark makes it genuinely usable. An archaeologically themed playground sits near the Dig Site for smaller children.

Poolside activities, campfires and film screenings appear on the daily schedule in the My Disney Experience app, and the resort runs a health club and a spa alongside the convention facilities. Towels are provided at the pools and lifeguards are on duty during posted hours. There is enough here to fill a proper rest day without leaving the property, which is not true of every moderate.

Disney's Animal Kingdom is the nearest theme park and the bus journey is over almost before it starts. Blizzard Beach water park and the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex are the other close neighbours, the latter mattering a great deal if your trip is built around a youth football, cheer or athletics competition. Disney's Hollywood Studios is a short drive to the north.

Around 15 minutes away by bus sits Disney Springs, which needs no admission ticket. Restaurants, a two-storey World of Disney store, cinemas and live music sit along the waterfront, and it is the standard arrival evening plan for families still adjusting to the five hour time difference. Go early in the trip rather than saving it.

Flamingo Crossings, on the western edge of Disney property, is under 10 minutes by car and holds a supermarket, quick restaurants and a petrol station, which makes it the obvious first stop on the way back from the airport. Highway 192 in Kissimmee is around 7 miles east and covers pharmacies, chain restaurants and outlet shopping.

Universal Orlando is about 12 miles north east up Interstate 4, a 25 minute drive outside rush hour and considerably longer inside it. Anyone with a car and a free day should also know that Clearwater Beach on the Gulf coast sits around 90 miles west, a comfortable morning's drive that most UK visitors make at least once.

Couples and adult parties are the group Coronado Springs serves better than any other moderate resort. Toledo, the Dahlia Lounge, Three Bridges out on the water and a lakeside walk after dark give you an evening that does not require leaving the property or fighting through a crowd of pushchairs. Book a high floor in the tower and the whole stay reads as considerably more expensive than it was.

Families with primary school children do very well too. The Dig Site is a proper feature pool with a real slide, the arcade and playground fill awkward gaps in the day, and Animal Kingdom is minutes away by bus. Younger teenagers tend to like the sports bar and the volleyball court more than their parents expect.

Business travellers and conference delegates are a large slice of the guest list, which is precisely why the resort has lifts, a health club and four restaurants. Anyone combining a work trip with a family holiday will find Coronado Springs the easiest Disney property to run both from.

Guests who want an intensely themed Disney experience may find it slightly restrained. Coronado Springs is handsome and atmospheric rather than cartoonish, and there are no character statues in the car park. Small children who want obvious Disney everywhere are better served at Caribbean Beach or the value resorts.

Parties of five are the sticking point. Standard rooms here are sold for up to four guests, so a family of five is either booking two rooms, looking at a suite, or moving to Port Orleans Riverside where some Alligator Bayou rooms include a child-size pull-down bed. Raise it early, because the answer shapes the whole quote.