Please give me the lowdown on Caribbean Beach

[phillymummer]

Okay, whenever I see people mention moderate resorts I always see POR and POFQ and Coronado Springs. I never see people mention CB. Why? Is is bad? It is a moderate resort, but is it not worth the money? I know it is rather spread out, and you can end up having to walk a distance to the food court, but is there anything nice about it? I think I might be the pot with this one, but I think it looks nice in the pictures and I want to know if the pictures are deceiving. Thank you.

 

[nemorocks]

I can't tell you exactly either...we stayed there last October and really loved it. It has a fun atmosphere and the kids really enjoyed the pool. We had no problems and thought our room was very roomy and comfortable. For our trip this year we automatically booked at CBR, but then we started to think that it might be fun to try a place we had never stayed, so now we are going to POR But, I would stay at CBR again in a heartbeat..we really enjoyed it there!

 

[phillymummer]

I did realize that at CB, the beds are only double, not queen (like at POR and FQ) so that could be a factor in keeping people away. That is kind of bumming me out. I would think all moderate resorts would have queen beds for the price . Oh well, If I can't get POFQ then I am still going to try for CB I think.

How is the bus service, with so many stops? Two years ago I stayed at POR, so I am used to 4 bustops. We always got on at the main entrance bc the bus tended up get packed as it made its way around the resort.

When you make the reservation, can you request a certain village to stay in? Does anyone have any recommendations on which village to request?

 

[cwt580]

for us the double beds was always the killer....we always thought it looked like a nice tropical-feel place to stay for the price...

 

[gtpoohbear]

We loved the resort itself when we stayed there 2 years ago, but for us the issue was the location and transportation issues. It seemed like we were very far away from everything, and it took forever on the busses. They make the whole loop around the resort stopping at different buildings, and it would sometimes take 20 minutes for us to even be out on the main roads!

It didn't seem to matter where we got on, I guess we were just unlucky b/c a few times we thought we had "the system" figured out, and walked to a different stop, but the bus was running a different route, or in a different direction, and we still had to make the whole loop.

We come back for a mid-day break, then go out again in the evening, so it seemed like we lost a LOT of time in transit. That was when DH declared all future trips would be Deluxe, or stay home, lol! If I was just going to stay at the resort all week, CBR would be lovely. And honestly it might not be so bad if you had a car, but we hate driving at WDW.

It is beautiful though, can't say a single bad thing about the resort itself!

 

[mickeystoontown]

We've stayed at the CBR 8 times in the last seven years and absolutely love the resort. (obviously or we wouldn't keep going back ) The resort is, as others have said, large but that's part of the appeal to us. We've been at the resort when it was booked to full capacity and it didn't feel like it.

The rooms are slightly larger than the other moderates. Right now, there are double beds in the rooms but I've heard rumblings that they will be replaced with queens. No official word but talk with castmembers say that it's going to happen. We are used to sleeping on a queen size bed at home and the double beds weren't that bad.

There are nightly outdoor movies and a marshmallow roast just outside of Old Port Royale. At the resort marina, you can rent surrey bikes, bicycles and all sort of watercraft and the prices are reasonable. There's also a pool table (free of charge each time we've visited) at the marina.

Each resort village has a quiet pool, laundry room, beach and bus stop. It's nice to be able to either visit the beach or swim while doing laundry. Many evenings, we would go to the beach and sit for a while and unwind from a day in the parks. The sand on our feet felt like a foot massage.

Speaking of bus stops, like I said, there's one in each village so you won't have far to walk to catch the bus. Because the resort is centrally located, it doesn't take long to get to any Disney destination. The buses do stop at each village before leaving the resort but it doesn't take long to make the loop. We've been to the resort during Memorial Day week, second week in May, first week of August and second week of August and the buses always ran efficiently. I actually timed our bus rides and, from the time we sat down on the bus in Jamaica and made our way around to the other stops, our times were: 10 and 11 minutes to Epcot (went two times), 11 minutes to Hollywood Studios, 13-16 minutes to Magic Kingdom (went multiple times) and about 15 minutes to Animal Kingdom (I can't find my notes on the exact time.) Of course, if the bus driver has to help a scooter load, it will take longer but that's the case at every resort.

The island in the middle of the resort has a playground for the kids and hammocks for the adults. There are several seating areas on the island as well.

The main pool is zero entry and has two slides. For the younger kids, there's a separate play area which has a pirate theme. Also near the main pool are two hot tubs. If the girls in the group want to have their hair wrapped, there's a station right outside Old Port Royale.

The food court has several different food stations. You'll find a variety of foods to choose from at breakfast, lunch and dinner and we've never had a problem finding a table in the large seating area. Just outside of Old Port Royale are quite a few umbrella tables and picnic tables. If you want to eat outside, just ask the castmembers for covers for your food items. The kids' chicken nugget meals come in a plastic sand pail with shovel that they can use when playing on the beach.

At night, you can see the higher EPCOT fireworks from many areas in the resort. We've watched them from Old Port Royale, Martinique and Barbados.

Hum, I am sure that I've left something out but that's all I can think of right now. I have pictures of our most recent stay in my trip report. The link is in my signature below if you want to join in.

Oh wait, you asked about room recommendations. We've stayed in Jamaica 41 and 42, Barbados 11, Aruba 51 and Martinique 23, all of which are standard rooms. Our longest walk was from our room in Barbados and it was a 7 1/2 minute walk to Old Port Royale. All others were about a 5 minute walk. The walks are very easy. My 77 year old mother had no issues with walking from Jamaica to Old Port Royale.

 

[minnie mum]

The PP has given you a very accurate description of what staying at CBR is like. We've stayed there several times and have always enjoyed it. I would definitely say that the photos of the resort do not deceive. It is one of the most beautifully landscaped resorts in all of WDW.

We have never had issues with the transportation system. Any resort can have an off day with busses- you see similar complaints about just about any resort- even the deluxes have to share buses to some parks- just recently there was a thread complaining about how long it took buses to get around all the Epcot resorts.

I think the most common complaint with CBR is the double bed situation. The other is it's apparent size. Although I've gotta say, POR and CSR are both huge spread out resorts as well. We've just never seen it as a problem. We have always been located in Jamaica, and it's only a few minutes over the bridge to the main buildings and pool. And I'm no spring chicken. If I can drag my weary butt to and from the food court a couple of times a day, anybody can.

 

[Julie711]

We've stayed at the CBR 8 times in the last seven years and absolutely love the resort. (obviously or we wouldn't keep going back ) The resort is, as others have said, large but that's part of the appeal to us. We've been at the resort when it was booked to full capacity and it didn't feel like it.

The rooms are slightly larger than the other moderates. Right now, there are double beds in the rooms but I've heard rumblings that they will be replaced with queens. No official word but talk with castmembers say that it's going to happen. We are used to sleeping on a queen size bed at home and the double beds weren't that bad.

There are nightly outdoor movies and a marshmallow roast just outside of Old Port Royale. At the resort marina, you can rent surrey bikes, bicycles and all sort of watercraft and the prices are reasonable. There's also a pool table (free of charge each time we've visited) at the marina.

Each resort village has a quiet pool, laundry room, beach and bus stop. It's nice to be able to either visit the beach or swim while doing laundry. Many evenings, we would go to the beach and sit for a while and unwind from a day in the parks. The sand on our feet felt like a foot massage.

Speaking of bus stops, like I said, there's one in each village so you won't have far to walk to catch the bus. Because the resort is centrally located, it doesn't take long to get to any Disney destination. The buses do stop at each village before leaving the resort but it doesn't take long to make the loop. We've been to the resort during Memorial Day week, second week in May, first week of August and second week of August and the buses always ran efficiently. I actually timed our bus rides and, from the time we sat down on the bus in Jamaica and made our way around to the other stops, our times were: 10 and 11 minutes to Epcot (went two times), 11 minutes to Hollywood Studios, 13-16 minutes to Magic Kingdom (went multiple times) and about 15 minutes to Animal Kingdom (I can't find my notes on the exact time.) Of course, if the bus driver has to help a scooter load, it will take longer but that's the case at every resort.

The island in the middle of the resort has a playground for the kids and hammocks for the adults. There are several seating areas on the island as well.

The main pool is zero entry and has two slides. For the younger kids, there's a separate play area which has a pirate theme. Also near the main pool are two hot tubs. If the girls in the group want to have their hair wrapped, there's a station right outside Old Port Royale.

The food court has several different food stations. You'll find a variety of foods to choose from at breakfast, lunch and dinner and we've never had a problem finding a table in the large seating area. Just outside of Old Port Royale are quite a few umbrella tables and picnic tables. If you want to eat outside, just ask the castmembers for covers for your food items. The kids' chicken nugget meals come in a plastic sand pail with shovel that they can use when playing on the beach.

At night, you can see the higher EPCOT fireworks from many areas in the resort. We've watched them from Old Port Royale, Martinique and Barbados.

Hum, I am sure that I've left something out but that's all I can think of right now. I have pictures of our most recent stay in my trip report. The link is in my signature below if you want to join in.

Oh wait, you asked about room recommendations. We've stayed in Jamaica 41 and 42, Barbados 11, Aruba 51 and Martinique 23, all of which are standard rooms. Our longest walk was from our room in Barbados and it was a 7 1/2 minute walk to Old Port Royale. All others were about a 5 minute walk. The walks are very easy. My 77 year old mother had no issues with walking from Jamaica to Old Port Royale.

This is well said. We have stayed at this resort 4x before and love it. Agree with everything you wrote

 

[phillymummer]

Thank you Mickey!! that was wonderful! CB has moved up on my list to 2nd! POFQ is still #1 bc is it my hubby's request.

We stayed at POFQ the last time and had a bit of a walk to the dining hall, but we didn't mind it. So I don't think CB would be an issue.

Thanks everyone! I see somone bumped the CB FAQ thread!

 

[GoHerbie]

On our first 2 trips we stayed at POR, then on the recent one we tried CBR. CBR wasn't bad, it just didn't click with us so we'll be returning to POR for future trips.

The POR food court is definitely nicer, and we specifically drove over there for 1 lunch. We only took CBR buses to the MK and didn't have any problems. If you're a Hollywood Studios fan then CBR is the place for you, because if you drive out the side exit HS is only 1 light away.

Good things about CBR were the bucket with the kids meal, roasting marshmellows on the beach, and nibbler the duck.

CBR seemed similar size to POR, but the Trinidad south rooms would definitely be a hike.

The differences between CBR and POR are more like coke vs. pepsi and it all depends on what clicks with you.

 

[danceintherain]

We LOVED our stay at CBR. I haven't stayed at any of the other moderates though. The double bed thing wasn't a problem for us because we got a king bed room. We were in Building 13, which is one of the furthest away and enjoyed the walk.
The bus service didn't bother us either.
The room actually felt bigger to me than our room at AKL, because the layout.

I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Thank you Mickey!! that was wonderful! CB has moved up on my list to 2nd! POFQ is still #1 bc is it my hubby's request.

We stayed at POFQ the last time and had a bit of a walk to the dining hall, but we didn't mind it. So I don't think CB would be an issue.

Thanks everyone! I see somone bumped the CB FAQ thread!

You are very welcome. If you think of any specific CBR questions, post 'em. I'm sure if I can't answer them another Diser can.

 

[jenniferma]

On our first 2 trips we stayed at POR, then on the recent one we tried CBR. CBR wasn't bad, it just didn't click with us so we'll be returning to POR for future trips.

The POR food court is definitely nicer, and we specifically drove over there for 1 lunch. We only took CBR buses to the MK and didn't have any problems. If you're a Hollywood Studios fan then CBR is the place for you, because if you drive out the side exit HS is only 1 light away.

Good things about CBR were the bucket with the kids meal, roasting marshmellows on the beach, and nibbler the duck.

CBR seemed similar size to POR, but the Trinidad south rooms would definitely be a hike.

The differences between CBR and POR are more like coke vs. pepsi and it all depends on what clicks with you.

Love this.. Coke v. Pepsi, so true. We've done both CBR and POR. I have to admit, I much preferred POR. Just my two cents.. But I thought the food court and store were nicer at POR, l liked the boat access to DTD and the carriage rides available at POR, and most importantly.. We really liked the layout at POR better. CBR is really spread out. We stayed at one of the better buildings, Jamaica, and even so, it felt like a long treck to get a bite to eat at the CS. I also disliked the way the check in and food are in separate buildings at CBR. I like having it all together, makes life easier when checking in, out or have problems. I have heard even better things about POFQ.. I love the layout and compactness of. POFQ. Good luck!

 

[dansdad]

Love this.. Coke v. Pepsi, so true. We've done both CBR and POR. I have to admit, I much preferred POR. Just my two cents.. But I thought the food court and store were nicer at POR, l liked the boat access to DTD and the carriage rides available at POR, and most importantly.. We really liked the layout at POR better. CBR is really spread out. We stayed at one of the better buildings, Jamaica, and even so, it felt like a long treck to get a bite to eat at the CS. I also disliked the way the check in and food are in separate buildings at CBR. I like having it all together, makes life easier when checking in, out or have problems. I have heard even better things about POFQ.. I love the layout and compactness of. POFQ. Good luck!

Coke v. Pepsi for sure. Some of the many reasons we prefer CBR over POR are the reasons you prefer POR over CBR.

We love the fact that the check-in is NOT in the same building as the food court. This makes the feel of OPR so much more relaxed and peaceful without throngs of people checking in/out and waiting for ME. We only need to go to the Custom House twice, at check-in and check-out. There's no need for it to be in the same building as OPR. At check-in ME dropped us off. At check-out bell services picked us and our luggage up and dropped us off. We were at OPR a couple times a day.

We like CBR's food court better. We just like the way it's laid out better and preferred the food offerings. Not that there was anything wrong with POR, just our preference.


We prefer the spread out feel of CBR. We have stayed there when it was at capacity and it never felt like it. We like to stroll the grounds on our resort days. The landscaping is just beautiful.


Not knocking POR at all, we do like it, just pointing out even further the fact that there's something for everyone when it comes to WDW resorts.

 

[ktmo]

I just got back a month ago from CBR. I took my 2 DDs down for a solo trip without DH. I had originally booked ASMu, but it ended up being $250 to switch to CBR (the only mod available for our dates). So, I switched. The main draw was the pool. My DDs loved the main pool. They loved the slides and my youngest loved the pirate splash/little kiddie water area. It really was well worth it. Although, it was June and rained oftened when we were at the pool, so we didn't use it as much as I would have liked.

We were in Aruba 56, pretty far away, but really didn't have any issues with the walk. My DDs 5 & 7 never complained about the walk. Some days we didn't even go to Old Port Royale, so it didn't matter. We would hop on the bus to the parks and that was an easy walk.

We liked the food court and ate dinner there a few nights. We didn't have any issues with busses. Never waited long.

 

[Turkogloop]

LOVED CBR! My girlfriend and I went last January and it was literally the best time I've ever had at WDW and the resort certainly contributed to that. We were in Jamaica, relatively close to the main house/food court. The only reason that this upcoming January we are going to AofA instead of CBR is because this time we have a party of 6. If I ever went with just her again, it's CBR ALL THE WAY!

 

[Linda T.]

We love CBR and that is the resort we always stay at when visiting Disney! Mickeystoontown described CBR perfectly. We will be again vacationing at CBR in the summer of 2013.

 

[mickeye]

I've gone to the CBR 8X and absolutely loved it each and every time. It is a wonderful resort that whisks you away to the tropical islands and for us it never has disappointed. I've been to other resorts (deluxe) and enjoyed them, but I would never hesitate to go to CBR; it's wonderful.

 

[Laurali]

I have to agree with most of this! We have stayed at CBR and really loved it and are staying there again in September. The pool for the kids is definitely the best! As for the double beds, I dont see why the big deal, they are only 6 in smaller so thats 6 inches closer to your companion! Like others have said, we love that the resort is spread out. You get quieter areas since you can be further away from public places and it has never felt crowded!

 

[tanyaandallie]

We stayed a few nights at CBR last summer and really enjoyed it. It IS big and spread out but so are all the other mods (except POFQ). My kids loved it and are begging to stay when we go this year. The pool is really wonderful, kids had a great time there!