I have never been able to truly figure out why the Unofficial Guide has had such an issue with CBR. It is our favorite Moderate by far and our 2nd favorite resort in all of WDW right behind the Boardwalk Inn. Unless you are staying in a Pirate Themed Room, the rest of CBR is the same size as CSR and POR. The furthest non Pirate Themed rooms are the same distance from the Main Feature Pool and the Food Court as the furthest rooms are at POR. We feel the food court is the best out of the ones we have tried. And we have tried them every food court on property except the one at CSR.
My theory is that CBR got a bad rep when it opened because it was the first non-deluxe resort built on property. It was designed and built to be a lower cost alternative to the Poly, Contemporary, and Grand Floridian. So of course it was not as nice as the original resorts, was more spread out, etc. I don't think it ever recovered from that. CBR was our favorite Moderate even when it was the only one without queen beds. And now that they have installed the queen beds, it's even more so.
I understand your feelings though. We were very big fans or POR and POFQ until having to switch to CBR for Free Dining years ago. We too read the horrible reviews/ranking for CBR and almost cancelled or switched back to POR. We are so glad we didn't. My whole family kept saying "did these people really stay here?" I couldn't understand it. We have recommended CBR to a whole bunch of our friends and family. Every one of them came back with glowing reviews and all have now had multiple stays at CBR.
We have been to CBR when it is at capacity and it never feels like it. We always feel like we're the only guests in our building even though we know we're not. It has such a laid back, relaxed atmosphere that is such a nice change from the craziness of the parks.
But shhh.....let's just keep this here in the CBR Thread. I don't want it getting out and making CBR more popular which will raise the price.