Are they letting Cabana Bay go?

We went for dinner during our April 2015 stay just to check it out (we were staying at RPR). We were not impressed. The lobby was a ghost town with one or two employees working. The food court was painfully slow. I just didn't like the vibe. I know the place gets rave reviews (especially from the podcast team) so I just figured I was missing something. I have stayed in Disney values and I like them but my initial impression of CB (albeit not as a guest) was tepid at best.

This is how different people's experiences can be. My son and I stayed at RPR in June 2015 and ate at CB twice. Both times food was out quickly and staff was very nice. The eating area was spotless. We really liked it. We're staying there two nights this trip - if it weren't for no Express Pass, we'd stay there the whole trip.
 
Oh no! I hope the people smoking in non-designated areas was an isolated incident. I'm really allergic to smoke and get asthma attacks from the smallest amount of smoke. Did staff tell them to go and smoke in the proper area or do they ignore it like Disney does? I can't tell you how many times I've had to alert CM's about the smokers smoking wherever they please.
We were walking by and there wasn't staff right there at those times. I didn't complain as I was just walking by - though I made sure to let them know on the survey they mailed me after my stay. I'm quite sensitive to cigarette smoke myself, but since we were walking by, I was able to avoid most of it. We're pretty fast walkers, so that helps too.
 
Oh no! I hope the people smoking in non-designated areas was an isolated incident. I'm really allergic to smoke and get asthma attacks from the smallest amount of smoke. Did staff tell them to go and smoke in the proper area or do they ignore it like Disney does? I can't tell you how many times I've had to alert CM's about the smokers smoking wherever they please.

I don't think anyone can say it won't happen. We saw people smoke in the parks where they shouldn't........a few times while walking you could smell someone in front of us smoking......that's something with the best will in the world can't be stopped unfortunately......some people just don't care.

Citywalk especially at night had smokers. I don't mean it's everywhere, but it's unrealistic to expect you won't come across it.......I'm sure in your real life away from the parks you come across folks smoking in the street and such. I hate cigarette smoke with a passion.......so I understand how you feel.

There are designated smoking areas at the hotels, a couple being on the path to get to Tchoup Chop and the boats at RPR........I hate walking through there when smokers are there.......but they are designated areas for them.

TM will tell folks to stop if it's blatant and they are around.....in queues for example. Last year at HHN guy in front of us was vaping, TM told him to stop, he argued he wasn't smoking, TM said stop or leave.......he stopped.

But it does happen.
 
Wow. I've had at least 7 stays in the 2 years since it's been open and honestly have never ever had an issue. I'm staying there again later this month and bringing along some first-timers who I've given my highest recommendation to. I REALLY hope we don't encounter these issues and come away disappointed.
 
We were just at CB in March, the week leading up to Easter. I have to say, we didn't have a single issue. Our room (family suite), was spotless. The pool area was very clean, and there were always tons of warm fresh towels available no matter what time of day, or night, it was. The service at the food court was great and food was just fine for what it is. I didn't have a single complaint the entire time we were there. It was definitely what we expected for a hotel at that price point.
 
Crap i am booked for Oct 30-November 4th... i think I'll be changing hotels
 
Crap i am booked for Oct 30-November 4th... i think I'll be changing hotels

You really shouldn't.

There are many, many excellent reviews for this hotel.

We stay exclusively at RPR and I have seen reviews for there that make me wonder if reviewers had actually stayed there.........we have never had a bad or negative experience there. You see some bad reviews for any hotel.
 
Avic think more of the positive posts about Cbay rather than the one or two
Negative posts

You might really enjoy Cbay!
 
We love Cabana Bay and will be staying there in September for HHN. We are even bringing a friend with us that has never been to Universal and is a very big Harry Potter fan. I am looking forward to showing her around and her first HHN. My husband loves the place. Like we have never seen a dirty plate or trash lying around at the other hotels. I have stayed at all the onsite hotels now and I saw bags of empty food containers in the plaza at the Portofino when we staying their last month. I think some people are just overly critical of stuff and I understand that hey I paid a lot of money for this experience but everyone is human and people do leave their trash around. Staff can not be their every minute of everyday.
 
We have always had good experiences at CB, so I'm disturbed to see multiple people say that it was not up to par.

One possible theory is with Sapphire Falls opening soon, they may be pulling star employees from Cabana Bay to help open Sapphire Falls. Hopefully this is just a temporary thing and it will be back to normal soon. We are going June 13th and hope to see our usual happy place!
 
Since this thread is still going, I really hope more recent travelers report back in. I really don't think I was overly critical, I don't have very high standards and know it's a value hotel. It had such good reviews, I really thought it would be my "go-to" and replace RPR because it's so cheap. It just seemed like there was no process to keep things tidy in key areas. There was also garbage overflowing outside the gates where you swipe your key card but I did not complain about that, that is totally understandable. We are AP holders for years and always have rose colored glasses with Universal. I prefer staying there and have previously given a glowing review of RPR on Tripadvisor(although there too are flaws there). We are booked at Sapphire Falls for 3 nights in August and am sure it's going to be sparkling and beautiful. Maybe resources have been diverted as PP mentioned, that was the originally intent of my question. Did they have a lot of resources and have repeat travelers noticed that they are cutting back on them?
 
I know oops things can happen at any hotel
I believed you when you wrote about your disappointment at Cbay

There will always be hotel reviews that are opposite of what others have posted positively on them

All reviews are important

Just because we have not read about them before, doesn't mean it can't happen

If I experienced what you did, I would be posting about it also

Hope your stay at SF will be a great experience
 
We stayed there in December and had no issues. That isn't very recent though.
 
I'll report back after our week at the end of May. We have had 2 fantastic stays at Cabana (7 nights Oct 14 and 10 nights Oct 15) so i'm concerned things may have taken a turn for the worse.

Trip advisor recent reviews seem ok so maybe your experience op was limited to a short period of time. Not saying that is ok, very far from it but maybe staff being at sapphire falls training new staff or manager away?? Hoping our experience is same as usual anyway.
 
We were there last week, and we liked it a lot. We upgraded for $20/night to a family suite. It was in Castaway opposite Sapphire Falls. There with 2 teens and they loved the extra room as did I. Thought the theming was really cool, great pool areas, buses were fantastic. We never had to wait for one and only sat a few minutes on return from parks until more people got on.

As for the complaints in this thread. I thought the towels were a bit thin, though the bath towels seemed better. The carpeting and the light orange chairs were stained somewhat. Garbage cans in the room weren't emptied the one day. The plastic plates and bowls were never replaced. The water pressure in the shower was terrible. The construction noise was audible but it did end at a decent hour.

Check in was very annoying. We had to keep driving around and around waiting for a spot to open so we could park to check in. It seemed very disorganized and I'm sure all the constuction going on there had a lot to do with it. The TV in the living area kept going off. Our room keys didn't work for the lazy pool area. Another guest let us in.

My teens didn't end up using the pools, but did find the towels were always in stock whenever we walked by, which was usually in the evening. I thought the beds were quite comfortable and 100% better than Pop Century, where we had stayed earlier. The bowling area and game room were also nice to spend some time at if you were at the hotel and looking for something else to do other than the pool, and didn't want to go "out."

So a lot of little things when you sit down and think of them, but I wouldn't consider any of them a deal breaker. It's a value hotel and I definitely felt it was well worth what we paid, though we got a much lower rate than what it is going for now.

So, all in all, we had a great time, in a spacous room, in a hotel with a very cool theme.
 
I stayed at this hotel last year (last week of October through first week of November) and didn't encounter any of the issues that people have been reporting lately. The hotel was clean, and I always saw staff early in the morning cleaning things (sidewalks, pool areas, chairs, picking up trash, etc.) and our standard room was clean as well. We didn't get thin towels, our beds were comfortable, and there wasn't any worn furniture in our room. The food court was good but a bit hectic during the morning and evening meals (which I expected, TBH).
For a value level hotel, we were quite impressed. The biggest disappointment we had with this hotel was there were no Express Passes included during our stay, but since we went during off season we didn't need them (except for the Haunt nights).

Honestly, I'm wondering if this hotel is one that is only good to visit during certain times of the year, the staff might not be able to keep up with peak holiday and spring break crowds.
 
Just returned from 4 night stay 5/14_5/18. 4 adults and 3 year old in 2 connecting poolside suites Starlight section. Rooms were clean and enjoyed the extra space with passholder rate. Didn't experience any issues with cleanliness around pool and lazy river area. Watched staff clean the pool grounds diligently every morning right up to pool opening at 8am. Would highly recommend this value resort!
 
Every hotel has its bad days. It's a shame to hear about your experiences Op. CB sounds a lovely hotel.
 
I am here now. Room is lovely and clean. Food court was well kept even with lots and families and I haven't seen any trash laying around anywhere. The biggest con (besides no Express Pass) is that it's quite a hike from the bus drop off to the parks! Maybe I'm just used to the walk from the water taxis.
 
Thanks for checking in here and telling us all is fine at the hotel

The drop off place for the busses for the parks is a big hike!
 

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