Back from CBR 11 nights

[diskids2]

Hi Everyone,

Before I say anything else....thanks to all who answered my questions and gave me advice prior to our trip. Even though this was our ninth trip to WDW, everytime I still have lots to ask!

Now on to my thoughts.....as please remember....these are only my humble opinions not the law

A bit of background: Travelers were me, DH, DD - 18 and DS - 14. This was our fourth time staying at CBR....however, we had not been for ten years. We were in other hotels in between. We looked forward to a return visit.

I booked the 4/3 deal. Because of certain FL laws (at least this is what I was told)...I had to have two reservations. One was a ten night package on the 4/3 with tickets and the dining plan and the other was a one night only stand alone room reservation.

Check in: I did online check in. When we arrived at approx 5 pm there was no one on line in either queue....so we were helped right away and I can't comment on if it saved me time because I didn't wait at all and I wouldn't of waited if I hadn't done online check in either. I liked the online check in as they had my credit card info already....but my one issue is that there is no place online to list any special "requests". I had those listed at the time of booking, but I would have liked to list it again. At check in we were given our KTTW cards, maps, and general hotel info in a nice folder. I have to say ALL my requests were granted....Martinique (we had paid for a preferred room), water view, corner room, not near a smoking spot (more on this later), first floor. My room assignment was 2425 and it was wonderful. My other special request was for a VIP Cleaning (more on this later too). I do have something to mention. In my past CBR visits, I was always driven to my village via a small van or golf cart. When I checked in, the CM told me to take the internal bus. I immediately said I'd like a van to drive me to Martinique and it was no problem. Over my visit, I saw many people walking...dragging luggage. I also heard on the boards that they were instructing visitors to take the bus from the custom house. If you check in, ask for the small van or golf cart. I had no problem.

Room: As I said, the room was wonderful. It was clean when we arrived, nothing seemed to be out of order. It seemed bigger than I remembered and maybe that was due to it being a corner room. The curtain separating the sink/bathroom area from the bedroom was perfect and there was a good amount of room in the sink area for changing. I found plenty of storage space. There were five or six drawers in the tv unit...not too deep...my DD and DS used them all for their stuff (we brought six outfits each, bathing suits, etc). There is one very deep large drawer under the seat bench. DH and I used this, but it was difficult because it was so deep that we kept having to rummage through to find things. This drawer would work great for kids outfits that have been pre-set up and placed in zip loc bags. There was a storage shelf in the sink area and room under the closet bar. There were open areas under the sinks that we put all the toiletries. We also stored cases of water under the table. Our airconditioner worked very well. After 11 nights, with four "pretty much" adults...it go to be rather difficult...on our next trips of this lenght....I would get two rooms now. Now the smoking area....I asked to be away from a smoking area. When I arrived at the room I noticed that there was a smoking bench on the concrete walkway that goes around the lake. My door opened lakeside...I had to go down a four footstep path to the main walkway. It was a little too close for my liking, but I didn't smell smoke at all. I would say that I would not want to be in a room near the smoking sections in the middle of the villages where they have tables and chairs....but this room was no problem. I also want to note that I did call to voice my dissatisfaction and I was told that we could move the next day if I wanted.....they also tried to move the bench down a bit...but it is cemented in ..... they told me that they added one more cleaning stop of the two large ashtrays (they look like large patio planters)....I thought this was more then accomodating and since we didn't notice any smoke we stayed in our room.

Housekeeping: I requested VIP cleaning every day and I got it. The sheets were changed every day and the room was spotless. I had towel animals upoin arrival and pretty much every other day. We left $5 a day in a "mousekeeping" envelope by the phone. I had no complaints about housekeeping. I found no stray hairs, or spots or anything of that nature...now I wasn't looking for them either....but nothing was noticed by me. One note: one our first day of arrival, I called to get two extra pillows and the staff told me that needed manager approval. When the manager called me back, he said that the pillow supply was limited but that a request for two pillows was no problem. It took him 5 minutes to call me back and another 5 for the pillows to be delivered...so I had no problem with this....even though I found it odd to need manager approval for pillows.

Buses: I waited an average of 5-7 minutes for the bus. We did not rent a car so I relied on disney transportation. A few times I waited about two minutes for a bus and a few times I waited about 20 minutes for a bus (downtown disney and magic kingdom). My biggest problem with the bus is where they drop you off. It seemed like the CBR stop was the furthest away at all the parks. Maybe they could do a better job in taking turns as to which hotel is dropped off/picked up the closest. Quite a few times, we ended up being dropped off at another hotels stop...since the driver was now going to go to another hotel and it was always a hotel that was dropped off further away...it became a big joke to my family and were were always laughing about it. For my room 2425, I could have used the Martinique stop or Port Royale. I never minded going to all of the villages to pick up or drop off. IMHO I think CBR is pretty centrally located and the bus driving times weren't bad. (Just a side comment....twice we ate at the Contemporary and used the busses to go to DHS or DTD....now that was an experience...we stopped at the Poly and GF and it seemed like to took forever to get where we were going!)

Food court: It's not great....and it's not bad. We ate there twice for dinner and once for lunch. We had breakfast in the room (more on that later). I had the DDP. We found the portions to be normal. As far as refillable mugs, we didn't get them this trip and we always usually get them. Two things made us change our minds.....on the DDP we got a drink and we would get unsweetened iced tea or something from the fountain. We could fill our paper cup up as many times as we needed during our meal. The second thing is that we had plenty of drinks in our room. The mugs would have gone unused and for approx. $60....I didn't think it was worth it. Food choices were ok....hamburgers, ribs, chicken, turkey, sandwiches, nuggets, pizza, meatball subs....again...not great....but ok. They have plenty of fruit in the grab and go and I used that as a snack about five times. It was a nice change from all the desserts on the dining plan.

Refrigerator and Food Delivery from Garden Grocer: This was the first trip I used Garden Grocer....got that tip from these boards! OMG...what a pleasure...I am going to do it over and over and over. We ordered three cases of Aquafina water. The refrigerator kept them cold (we did pull it out from the back a bit and kept the door open and I had NO problems..except I did walk into the open door a few times). We brought Crystal light singles with us and we had iced tea or lemonade every night when we returned and in the parks as well. (This is one reason why we didn't get the refillable mugs). I also ordered bagels, butter, muffins, wheatthins, a few snacks - chips, nutrigrain bars....we ate all of that for breakfast - well ok not the chips...well maybe not the chips.... I also ordered some toiletries....shampoo, listerine, conditioner, and toothpaste. I did this to save on weight with the checked luggage. It was an average price...not like a sale...but not overly expensive. The delivery was done on time and was dropped at bell services. Bell services delivered it when we got into our room (after our dinner and the pool).

Shutters: Sorry folks, but never again....ever...and I didn't even get to eat there. We had one TS credit that was not used in the middle of our trip (DD didn't want to go to Le Cellier with us....she was tired), so our plan was to eat in the food court that night (had Chef Mickey's for breakfast) and then go to DHS for EMH evening. I told my family, I'd eat at Shutters. I made an ADR that day for 7 pm. I checked in at 6:55 pm. I was not seated and it was 7:30. Three families were seated ahead of me and there were tables empty for two....you can see in the restaurant from the waiting area. The CM's were almost rude. Four of them talked about their personal plans while they stood at the podium the entire time I waited. At other disney restaurants, they are either so busy or they interact with you...showing you the menu, etc. I asked for the manager to inquire about my wait and othes going in front of me and she said it was the policy of the restaurant....basically she didn't care...Anyway, I told them to forget it and I got the name of the Area food and beverage manager and called him the next day to voice my displeasure (I believe in doing that). He asked me to try it again...I told him ... sorry...no second chances. 'm sorry to say this, but if you need to have a good TS location at your WDW hotel, then don't stay at the CBR.

Pool: I found the rennovated pool to be wonderful. It was always busy...but not overly crowded. My teenagers even liked the theming and went down the faster slide many times. We used the quiet pool twice when we did the laundry and I found that to be clean (as were the laundry rooms) and very appealing. Not as crowded. There were plenty of towels at the main pool and I always found a seat.

Laundry room (Martinique)...This was clean...washing machines deep....dryers worked very well...never had to run the cycle twice. A good tip that worked very well for us...we used Purex 3 in 1 sheets. So we saved on detergent, etc. and I didn't have to drag my Tide with me on the plane! I found it no problem at all to do laundry on our mid day breaks and it was better to not have as many clothes with us (saved on our checked bag fees too!)

Gift Shop: I found this to be nice. They had typical merchandise and some CBR themed items. They always had a special...spend $25 get a beach towel for $10 or a backpack....we got both. I had no problems with the deliveries from the parks, although I do miss the "in room" delivery that I remembered from CBR. I was used to the gift shop pick up though because that is what we got at the dolphin (the hotel we stayed at four our three visits before this trip).

Check out: I had to do this twice since I had two reservations. It was no problem...although the walk to the Custom House from Martinique was challenging for me....it took me about 5 minutes to check out and I met my family on the bus....they picked it up in Martinque and I picked it up in barbados and we headed to the MK.

Overall I would stay at CBR again and recommend it depending on that TS issue.

If you have any questions, let me know.

[KatMark]

WOW! That is one detailed review. Thanks for the many facets of your review and glad you had a great time.

[Stitch2244314]

Wow, thanks for the incredibly detailed report! Glad you had a great time at CBR (except for Shutters, which we've never eaten at), and welcome back.

[melc0305]

We are off to CBR in 3 days, so I really appreciate your review. I checked in online and I also noticed there was nowhere to put in a request (other than for a fridge, which CBR has anyway). I think I will call to put in my room request.

Thanks for the tip on Shutters. Everything I've read has said to avoid that place!

[diskids2]

Originally Posted by melc0305

We are off to CBR in 3 days, so I really appreciate your review. I checked in online and I also noticed there was nowhere to put in a request (other than for a fridge, which CBR has anyway). I think I will call to put in my room request.

Thanks for the tip on Shutters. Everything I've read has said to avoid that place!

Have a great time! You will love it. I would definitely call and put in your room requests.

[diskids2]

Originally Posted by KatMark

WOW! That is one detailed review. Thanks for the many facets of your review and glad you had a great time.

Thanks Kat and Stitch....we had the best time!

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Welcome back and thanks for the very detailed review!

I'm so glad you had such a nice time at CBR and it's good to hear that children of all ages enjoy the CBR pool & slides! We thought it was pretty awesome too!

Never been to Shutters, or any of the moderate restaurants. They just haven't interested us I guess. Sorry about your experience there.

Thanks for sharing! Do you have any pictures?

[MFLetou]

I think the main usefulness of the TS restaurants at the moderate resorts was for breakfast. Now that they've eliminated that (which I think is unfortunate), having a lousy TS restaurant doesn't bother me too much. I've never been to CBR (or Shutters), but have enjoyed the breakfast at Boatwright's several times (cinammon sugare baguette french toast was awesome). I was thinking that we'd give it a shot at Shutters until I realized they cancelled breakfast!

[Amy&Dan]

Thank you for the review, lots of good detail which is always so nice! I am sorry about Shutters, that can unfortunately happen anywhere. Not to discount your experience, but we had a great experience there, it was one of the hightlights and surprises of our DDP meals that trip. So I guess I have to just say, one bad experinece is just that, and for others who do have an interest in eating there, give it a try. If people stay away from any WDW resort based on restaurant reviews, they'll never get to stay anywhere on site!

Thanks again for taking the time to post such a helpful review.

[notaclue]

Sorry about your experience with Shutters. It must have really changed in the 2 years since we ate there. We found it to be a very pleasant experience; the staff was friendly and accomodating and the food was very good.

[stlouisdisneyguy]

Thanks so much for your review. We are staying here in September and it will be out second time, and I cannot wait!

[ValpoCory]

Thanks for the review. I have stayed at each of the Moderate resorts, and CBR is the best for families IMO. It is such a fun place. We went last year to CBR for a week and are either going to rent DVC points for Beach Club Villas or go to CBR again, with Free Dining hopefully, next year. We can't wait.

Thanks again.

[WDWisOurHappyPlace]

Great review diskids2! When were you at CBR? We were there July 10 - 19 in Building 25. It really was a great location! I totally agree with your opinion on the bus stops, because CBR is so centrally located to everything, the stop at all of the villages wasn't a big deal.

[Pleakleyfan]

Thanks for the great review. We will be going there in 7 days and you answered a few of my questions.

I have a few more though.

What is a VIP cleaning and does it cost extra?

When you put a credit card on your account, do you have to show that card when you check in? I have already put the card on the account and would like to leave it at home if I don't need to actually show the card at the resort. It would be one less thing to worry about misplacing.

Our last night there we have an ADR at CA Grill. How much time and what busses would you advise us to take from CBR. It is a late one at 930PM

Again thanks for the detail in your review.

[diskids2]

Originally Posted by Pleakleyfan

Thanks for the great review. We will be going there in 7 days and you answered a few of my questions.

I have a few more though.

What is a VIP cleaning and does it cost extra?

When you put a credit card on your account, do you have to show that card when you check in? I have already put the card on the account and would like to leave it at home if I don't need to actually show the card at the resort. It would be one less thing to worry about misplacing.

Our last night there we have an ADR at CA Grill. How much time and what busses would you advise us to take from CBR. It is a late one at 930PM

Again thanks for the detail in your review.

You are going to have a great time! The VIP cleaning service does not cost extra, but it intended for medical purposes ... like someone who have asthma or allergies to dust, etc. My DH has asthma so we requested it, but were not asked to provide any details beyond that. It consisted of (at least for us) that our linens were changed everyday and a more thorough cleaning of everything else. I believe it to be like when they prepare the room for new guests... vs. when they are cleaning for the same family day after day.

I did the online check in so I did not have to show my card. Honestly, I would call the resort or get other's feedback on this. I would hate for you to leave your card at home after online check in to find out that you needed it based on my one experience. When I checked in, I was asked what KTTW cards I wanted charging priviledges. I put it on my card (of course!), DH (only because I had to ) and my DD who is 18. My DS's card (he is 15 and was not going to be allowed to roam around without one of us) did not have the priviledge.

Just a side note about the charging privilege....I wanted to pay cash for the items I charged on my KTTW card, but when I woke up on our check out day, I had a slip on my door and they had already charged my credit card. It was no big deal so I didn't try to change it....but if you really want to pay cash at the end of the trip for anything you charged to KTTW...pay the day BEFORE you check out.

For the California Grill, I would take the Magic Kingdom bus and then the resort monorail to the Contemporary....I'm not sure what the MK park hours are for your ADR date...but the busses run about 1 to 1 1/2 hours after the park closes....so check that out for your return. It looks like the MK is open to 11 pm or 10 pm for August. I doubt you will have a problem with the 11 pm close, but the 10 pm close might be in question.

The MK busses tended to be the longest wait during our trip. I would say an average of 12 minutes. I did wait once a full 20 minutes for a MK bus. So to be on the safe side....and including the resort monorail and the fact that they want you to check in 10-15 ahead of your ADR...I'd give myself 75 minutes.

Anything else, just ask!