Riverside vs. CBR

[tazmanrmv]

Hi All,

We recently reserved a room at CBR for this December, but in this age of information overload (lol), DW and I are now reconsidering switching to Riverside.

Has anyone stayed at both and if so, what are the biggest differences that you've experienced? We are relying on Disney Transportation, and are planning on 3 parks(no AK this time), plus DTD and resort hopping to check out the Christmas decorations at other resorts. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
T

 

[magrudersmakes3]

We have stayed at both.

CBR - The biggest con that we had was the walk to everything. We had a large distance from thebuses to our room, the main pool to our room and the food courts. While we thought the resort was nice, we have never been back.

POR - This is our favorite resort. It is quiet and the walk to bus stops, food and pool is not bad. We have even done the walk from FQ to RS in about 15 minutes.

We have not had a bad experience with buses at any of our trips. There were times we had just missed our bus and knew we had to wait. We either decided to wait or sometimes we would change our plans. POR has a boat to DTD that is a nice ride.

 

[maxiesmom]

I've stayed at both, and much prefer POR.

Both resorts are big, no question. However CBR has 7 stops compared to the 4 at POR. Those extra stops make a difference when you are heading out to the parks, or wanting to get back to your room at night.

I also think the food court at POR is one of the best, while the one at CBR was one of the worst. POR has a pick your pasta station that is soo good! You pick your pasta and sauce, and can add chicken to it if you wish. I had a hard time finding anything to eat at the CBR food court, and ended up eating chicken nuggets multiple times.

CBR is beautiful, but so is POR. Both resorts are laid back, peaceful, and very beautiful. However for me CBR was just too spread out, and lacked decent quick service food.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

I also prefer POR to CBR. The thing I disliked most about CBR is that it is almost impossible to walk to or from the Custom House where you check in and out to anywhere except for a couple of preferred building locations. If you don't have a car this means you ave to shuttled to check in and out.

I agree that the food court is also better at POR.

We didn't have any problems with transportation at either place.

I will give CBR props for having the better pool.

 

[DizDaD7]

In our personal experiences I don't even think it's close..

I know I know the CBR police will bash me for this , but CBR I just don't get.

Yes they both are big, but really...Pirate rooms more $$ far away..HuH..
CBR still the obly mod w/ OLDER Full size beds..All other w/ new QUEEN size comfy beds.

Pools are close, although I loved the vibe every day at POR.

Bush situation, was bad at CBR, POR genearlly avg. at best but VERY BAD coming home from FANTASMIC.

POR's food court is Excellent, and restaurant too, ALSO YEEHAW Bobs, at the Lounge. Hih - Lare - E -us.....

Plus the DTD Boats...Huge plus...

It's easy for us to say that POR is our 2nd fav. Mod.

Now if you haven't ruled out the other 2 mods. Then I'd Definetely recommend CSR over POR....

For everything I said about POR vs CBR, CSR just ups the ante on all the things considered, w/ the only exception of not having the boat..

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

We've stayed at both and enjoyed both of them. The theming gives POR a slight edge, but I wouldn't hesitate at CBR either. If you are traveling with younger children, CBR has a much better pool area. They are the only mod with a zero entry pool and the only one with a separate water area for children under 48." The pool is important to us, so if my kids were younger, we would definitely stay at CBR.

We thought the bus service at both were about the same. Yes, CBR has more stops, but POR shares with POFQ which takes about the same amount of time. We had less problems with crowded buses when we were at CBR, but that probably has more to do with when we were there. I think both resorts are similar in size, but neither of them ever felt crowded either.

If you really like going to DTD, you can take a boat from POR. We generally skip DTD, because its not a must do for us and the bus service there is usually terrible no matter where we stay. I think we went to DTD 2 or 3 times when we were at POR.

I thought the food courts were about even. POR seems to have more choices, but I found myself eating the same thing every time though. Overall I would think about what is most important to you in a resort and which theme appeals to you more.

 

[maxiesmom]

We thought the bus service at both were about the same. Yes, CBR has more stops, but POR shares with POFQ which takes about the same amount of time.

POFQ and POR don't always share a bus. I've stayed at both resorts multiple times, and if the parks are busy, each resort will have their own bus.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

POFQ and POR don't always share a bus. I've stayed at both resorts multiple times, and if the parks are busy, each resort will have their own bus.

That may be true. I was just sharing what we experienced and the majority of the time, we stopped at POFQ. However, bus experiences vary enough that I wouldn't choose my resort based on the buses. For every person who is lucky enough to get the bus stop right when the bus arrives, there is someone who gets their right after the bus leaves.

 

[maxiesmom]

That may be true. I was just sharing what we experienced and the majority of the time, we stopped at POFQ. However, bus experiences vary enough that I wouldn't choose my resort based on the buses. For every person who is lucky enough to get the bus stop right when the bus arrives, there is someone who gets their right after the bus leaves.

Very true. I just wanted to mention that, so someone else wouldn't think POR/POFQ always share a bus. They don't. It depends on how busy the parks are, and how lucky you are.

 

[tinkbyday]

Well, I guess I will be in the minority here, but we preferred CBR over POR.

We had a preferred room (it wasn't at an extra cost when we stayed there), so the pool and bus stop were extremely close. I loved the tropical theming and the food court was great. We ate at the then Shutters and although I had seen many negative reviews after our stay, we had an awesome meal there.

Although I had initially looked forward to staying at POR, after our experience there, it is the one resort we would not even consider again. It's a really long story that I won't bore you with, but there were some pretty significant issues that occurred here and the Management could have cared less. The best part of the stay for us was the fact that we would only have to be there 2 nights.

On a positive note, the boat ride to DTD was a nice benefit.

 

[momof2intx]

We stayed at both. We prefer CBR. I liked the grounds much more. POR to us was kind of dreary...kind of buggy too due to all of the ponds and marsh-like landscaping. We had non-preferred rooms at both but had to walk much further from the food court at POR than CBR. We loved our 1st floor room at CBR because every morning we would wake to 4-5 little ducks "knocking" on our door with their beaks to beg us for some crumbs
POR was nice, it's just that CBR was more our style. Hoping Disney puts out a summer deal so we can stay there again!

 

[maxiesmom]

Another small negative of CBR is the lack of elevators. They have none, while POR has them in the Mansion sections. Just wanted to throw that out there, in case the elevators were important to someone.

 

[Linda T.]

We also have stayed at both and CBR is our favorite.

 

[goofyintoronto]

POR is my fave mod. Its gorgeous and not as big as CBR. Love the pool and food court.

 

[jude&jonah]

The theme of CBR appeals to me so much more - altho I don't dislike POR- it's a bit dreary for me as someone else previously said. The pool at CBR is much more appealing too.

 

[NJtoATL]

Stayed at both....
+ @ POR - better food court, boat to POFQ, boat to DTD

+ @ CBR - hammocks @ the beach, movie night


My two favorite mods are POR & CSR

 

[Mynamewastaken]

We stayed at POR for our honeymoon and we are going back in 4 weeks to check out the Royal Rooms. If it weren't for DD who insisted we stay there then I would have tried CBR.

 

[DondzilaFamily]

We've stayed at both. POR was my favorite Mod until our last trip to CBR. I love the tropical theme, we had a standard room booked but they upgraded us at check-in to a preferred room and we were close to the custom house (less than a 5 min walk) and close to the bus, even though we had our own car. There is a nice variety of food, same with POR but I loved walking around the colorful beach theme over the new orleans theme. My daughter loved the pirates theme with the pool and overall even though we didn't stay in a pirate room, they were too far away. I guess it comes down to what your preference is but they are both nice resorts, they are the only 2 Mod's we would stay in.