Coronado Springs Gran Destino Tower Review

The Gran Destino Tower at Coronado Springs Resort in Disney World is the newest (and in my opinion, the best) part of Coronado Springs. It opened in July of 2019, and added 545 rooms and 50 suites to the resort. The 15-story tower has a top floor restaurant (Toledo) and bar (Dahlia Lounge) that offers great views of Hollywood Studios and distant views of EPCOT and Animal Kingdom.

The Gran Destino’s theming is inspired by a Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí animated collaboration called “Destino” that’s both beautiful and unsettling—so unsettling, in fact, that we had to ask the hotel staff to cover a painting in our bathroom that was freaking out our six-year-old daughter. It was a ballerina with the head of a dandelion, not threatening at all.

The entrance to Coronado Springs Gran Destino Tower (photo cred: Brooks Witter https://www.instagram.com/to.witt.to.walt/)

The tower is a unique experience for several reasons. Coronado Springs is considered a moderate resort for Disney, and therefore shares the pricing of other moderate resorts like Port Orleans and Caribbean Beach. However, it’s the only part of any moderate resort with a high-rise hotel with rooms in a hallway. It’s also the only moderate resort to have a fitness center, a rooftop restaurant, or a club level. Given it’s upscale, subtle theming and renovations, most consider it a deluxe hotel with moderate pricing.

It has everything the deluxe hotels have except good transportation (no boats, monorails, walking, or Skyliners, only buses) or a character meal, all for a much more reasonable price than Contemporary or Polynesian.

Experience

We’ve had the privilege of staying in the Gran Destino tower six times. We started going during the pandemic when the rooms were cheap and almost brand new, and even though the prices have gone up, it’s always on our short list of resorts to stay at. This is particularly true if we can get a decently priced suite. My wife and I love the restaurants, bars, the views, and atmosphere. My kids love the quick service, the pools, the arcade, and the lake. And all of us love the smell.

Gran Destino Lobby

The downstairs portion of the lobby. Thanks to our awesome friends who take better pictures than us https://www.instagram.com/to.witt.to.walt/

If you want vacation magic, all you have to do is walk in this amazing hotel. First, your hit with the most amazing smell on Disney property (comparable only to the lobby at Polynesian). I found a spray from Magic Candle Company that does a decent impression of it.

Then you’ll see the towering coral columns, the multi-colored mosaics, the gorgeous chandeliers, and the beautiful art. It’s breathtaking. Consider yourself lucky if you have to wait for your room to be ready.

I should also mention that a lot of the chairs in the lobby have USB charging ports. They think of everything.

Gran Destino Tower Rooms and Room Size

There are a few different room types in the Gran Destino Tower. There are regular rooms that have either a king bed or two queens. Some of these regular rooms have club access.

The regular rooms are 375 square feet. These rooms are as large or larger than most deluxe rooms except for the monorail resorts.

The view from our room at Gran Destino tower

Gran Destino Tower Suites

Then there are several different types of suites. They have regular (called deluxe, despite being the smallest) suites with a living room and a master bedroom. The living room contains a pull-out couch that acts as the second bedroom. These rooms are 750 square feet, easily comparable to the suites at many deluxe resorts, especially DVC one-bedroom villas. Look below for our stay at one of the deluxe suites. The third picture is a shameless plug for my wife’s ACT tutoring business, the main reason we get to go to Disney.

The next type is called a one-bedroom suite. The only difference between it and the deluxe suite is that the “one bedroom” and the living room (and even the bathroom) are much larger than the regular suite. The one-bedroom suite is 1100 square feet, at the top end of deluxe accommodations!

If you’ve never stayed at a suite at Disney World, one feature they offer is an extra half bathroom. We love this because we have a baby. We can put the crib in the enormous bathroom, then use the other bathroom the rest of the night. That way, we don’t have to go to sleep at the same time as the baby. It’s also great because whoever is sleeping on the couch doesn’t have to go into the bedroom to use the bathroom.

The final room type is the presidential suite with two bedrooms, a giant living room, two full baths, and a half bath. They are 1850 square feet, which is bigger than my first house. That’s insane. Writing this doesn’t do it justice, so just watch the video if you want to see the awesomeness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syrn6EhG8_A&t=349s

Gran Destino Club Level: Chronos Club

As I mentioned, the Gran Destino tower is the only moderate resort that has a club level, and the club level rooms are far more affordable than those at the deluxe resorts. We were pixie dusted with several suites during Covid, but the club was closed. When we finally got to experience the Chronos Club, it was amazing for our whole family.

They had a great breakfast and coffee, light snacks at lunch time, and adventurous cuisine at dinner time. If you worked hard enough, you could almost treat it like an all-inclusive (especially if you take stuff back to the room). They also provide free beer, wine, and vodka cocktails. The Daura beer was phenomenal and unusual.

Trying to figure out how to win at checkers when the toddler keeps stealing your pieces.

It’s been said that the Chronos Club caters to an adult audience—with little overt Disney theming and adventurous food, but our kids loved it, too. They had plenty of snacks, fruit, sandwich meat, and crackers for our woefully picky eaters, and they provided whole milk on request for the baby.

It’s also great having your own check-in and guest services clerk available, instead of having to go to the lobby. Unfortunately, the lobby smell wasn’t as noticeable here, which is my favorite part of the resort.

For an in-depth description of the Chronos Club, click here.

Restaurants and Lounges at Gran Destino Tower

Coronado Springs has several restaurants on property—the upscale sports bar, Rix, the phenomenal and beautiful Three Bridges restaurant, the family-Mexican Maya Grill, the Siestas Café at the pool, and the underwhelming cafeteria Mercado (I think the grab-and-go cafeterias at Disney resorts are one of their greatest failures).

The Gran Destino tower itself hosts one restaurant and two bars/lounges—Toledo, Dahlia Lounge (my favorite), and Barcelona Lounge.

Toledo at Gran Destino Tower

Toledo is a tapas restaurant located on the top floor of the Gran Destino tower, with great views of Hollywood Studios and a distant view of EPCOT. The restaurant offers a variety of Spanish-inspired dishes, including small plates, paella, and sangria. Toledo has a lively atmosphere and is a popular spot for both locals and tourists alike. If you want creative food and a great view, it’s worth checking out.

Dahlia Lounge

Just outside those windows is an amazing balcony overlooking Hollywood Studios.

Next door to Toledo is the Dahlia Lounge. It has a creatively themed inside area and a balcony with comfy couches that overlooks Hollywood Studios with Animal Kingdom in the distance. The bar serves high-class liquor and cocktails, great beer, and incredible food from their grill. I spent many a night here watching the fireworks, reading, or waiting for laundry to finish. I highly recommend the Alla Prima Manhattan and the Prosciutto Ham and Cheese sandwich—two of my favorite things at Disney.

Barcelona Lounge

The Barcelona Lounge. Photo Cred: Brooks Witter https://www.instagram.com/to.witt.to.walt/

On the bottom floor below the front desk is the Barcelona Lounge. In the morning it serves incredible coffee—one of the best cold brews I’ve had and a la carte breakfast items. During the rest of the day, it’s a bar with most of the same menu as the Dahlia Lounge. This bar is far busier and less intimate than the Dahlia Lounge, with lots of guests passing through on their way to their rooms or the pool.

Gran Destino Pool

The spacious Coronado Springs feature pool

Speaking of the pool, Coronado Springs has one feature pool and 3 leisure pools. Oddly, none of them are at Gran Destino tower. It’s kind of a long walk to the pools, but at least it’s one of the prettiest walks. To get to the feature pool, you have to walk across the bridges, and to get to the closest leisure pool, it will take by the beach area.

The feature pool, the Lost City of Cibola, has an excellent water slide, dutiful lifeguards, a great bar and grill, a lap pool area (of sorts), a splash pad, playground, volleyball court, and an arcade. It has an enormous Mayan ziggurat with water coming down the steps that creates an amazing aesthetic. My only gripe is that the pyramid is not a water slide (would have been so easy). Finally, Coronado Springs has one of the largest hot tubs (once again, moderate plus).

The feature pool has complimentary life vests. Between that and the vigilant lifeguards, I feel so much safer sitting in a chair and watching my kids have fun (they can swim…well not the baby). Also, all the pools have complimentary towels.

The quiet pools are more subdued and less fancy, but my girls beg to go there. The lack of lifeguards means that I can throw them across the pool. Being a Dad at Disney is exhausting.

Again, none of these pools are technically connected to Gran Destino Tower, but I thought I’d mention them because they are huge part of the experience for our kids.

Gran Destino Tower Transportation

As I mentioned above, transportation is the only downside of staying at Gran Destino or Coronado Springs in general. The only transportation option is the bus, and since it’s a large resort, there are several stops inside the resort that make timing and bus crowds less predictable.

Gran Destino Tower is the last stop before the buses head to the parks, which is the best-case scenario if you’re heading to the parks in the morning. You don’t have to wait for several stops to load. The only potential downside is that the buses will head to the parks without you if they fill up before they reach you. In our experience, Disney is well-prepared for the crowds and adjusts bus frequency accordingly.

The only time I’ve been frustrated is waiting for a not-Magic Kingdom bus in the middle of the afternoon. Since there’s not a big need, they can be few and far between.

Currently, Disney offers free parking at the resorts and the parks for on-site guests, and we drive from Atlanta every trip, so this is a better option for us. There are two large parking lots close to Gran Destino tower, which also happens to be next to the entrance, so driving to the parks is easy.

Gran Destino Tower Elevators

I will assume that very few hotel reviews have a separate section for the elevators, but the Gran Destino elevators are special. In order to call an elevator, you use a touchscreen to tell the elevators what floor you are going to. Then, the screen will tell you which elevator to get on. The efficiency is amazing (except during Covid, when the system was at odds with the amount of passengers allowed).

Gran Destino Tower elevator touchscreen. Courtesy of https://www.instagram.com/to.witt.to.walt/

The elevator also makes a magical noise that I attribute with vacation. Unfortunately for me, the self-checkout machines at Kroger make the same noise, and I get misty-eyed trying to ring up my groceries back home.

Laundry

This is the worst part of any Disney resort (except maybe the value of the grab-n-go breakfast options), but Gran Destino has laundry on the third floor. Half the machines will be broken, and detergent is expensive so bring your own (I recommend pods). Wash your clothes, then split them into two loads in the dryer if you want it to actually dry.

As I mentioned above, I spent a lot of time in the Dahlia Lounge waiting on laundry. It’s nice that you can take your drink with you back down to the laundry room. Then you can yell at the machines and come back up. You don’t want to stay in there. The sensory deprivation (no theming) combined with the dryer heat and the same five music videos on repeat will ruin your vacation.

Gran Destino Tower Fitness Center

The Gran Destino Tower at Coronado Springs houses the only fitness center at a moderate resort. It’s nothing amazing: a couple of treadmills and ellipticals, a rower, a pull up rack, a few machines, and some free weights, but it’s there for anyone who wants to stay fit.

If you’re into cardio, I recommend just running around the lake. It’s beautiful.

Is Gran Destino Tower Good for Kids?

Well, my kids love it (except for a run-in with Dalí’s artwork). It’s definitely not aggressively Disney themed, but the majesty of the lobby will captivate kids all the same. The resort has lots of things to do, including movie nights right in front of the tower. And my kids loved the Chronos Club snacks and games. They love the pool (and all the related activities), the hot tub, the arcade, a lot of the food, and all the places to explore. The pull out couch is also pretty comfortable.

Our kids loved it. Pic during Covid. Can you find the hidden Mickey?

Conclusion and Further Reading

That’s the Gran Destino Tower at Walt Disney World. It’s hands down the best moderate resort accommodations on property. Give it a skyliner or monorail, and it’s up there with the deluxes.

If you want to keep reading, see my guide to the Chronos Club, my Disney World date night ideas (many of which happen at Coronado Springs), and my review of the Drury Plaza at Disney Springs (our favorite budget friendly, off-site accommodation at Disney.)