Has anyone recently stayed at CBR?

[rdsx28]

Hi,
I am thinking about booking a room here for a few days but have read some less than stellar reviews on trip advisor. Has anyone had some bad experiences? Is it really as run down as they are suggesting? Where would you recommend staying on property? Thanks for any help you can offer!

 

[elriel]

My friends and I stayed in November....if that's close enough

It wasn't bad....the room was nice (we got an free upgrade to the pirate room and it was awesome My only complaint was the buses.
We had to wait everyday for buses :/ and the food court wasn't that great and closed really early (like 10 i think)

My husband and I stayed at Riverside and had no complaints

 

[Suziannie]

I stayed there in 2008. It's very nice resort. Quite pretty. There were quite a few small flamingos wandering around the grounds which was really cute I thought.

The pool area is nice, the food court is also nice. I don't recall it closing early but it was Christmas time so they may have had special hours.

The resort as a whole is HUGE. Not sure if it was because we didn't carry a map with us, but we kept getting on/off at the wrong bus stops and then having to walk for what seemed like forever. It's a BIG place.

Other than that though...it could be a hotel in any location anywhere. It was nice...but I haven't been back and probably won't be back again.

 

[meliss8599]

We stay at CBR every single summer and absolutely love it. Any maintenance issue we've had was corrected within hours. The grounds are so tranquil and beautiful. The food court has an excellent selection of food. CMs are wonderful. The shopping area they have is fun to visit.

I will agree with other posters though, that bus service is lacking. We often waited 10-20 minutes for a bus to whatever park we were going to. Also, cell reception is pretty bad in the rooms. Those are the only real cons I can think of off-hand right now.

 

[justanothermark]

We were there mid-december (2 connecting rooms with 6 total people - 2 adults and 4 kids). We were returning with the kids after a previous adults only long weekend because we enjoyed it. Neither visit did we find any significant problems (or any real minor problems either). The rooms didn't have queen beds but not a problem to us. We were in aruba once and jamaica the other time and found the buses were better than all star music (we have previously stayed in the suites there) in that we never waited more than 10 minutes at CBR. At all-star music we always had problems with waiting and having to wait for multiple buses due to crowds. (Even at part close waited 30 seconds for a 2nd bus to show up when first was full.). CBR is rather large but never found it unreasonable and walk to the food court was not much different than at all star music. Food court isn't huge but worked for the couple of days we had a quick breakfast there.

Another note it felt like CBR wasn't a long bus ride to any park as it is relatively centrally located. Would have no trouble recommending it. We are going back for another adult only long weekend and staying at POP (first time for us there). Staying at POP to try something new and to save a bit of money.

 

[lowlight79]

I stayed there last October, it can be quiet and peaceful, if you stay in the right area, the bigness of the resort is not bad. I would recommend Jamaica 45 or Aruba 52 non-preferred.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I've stayed there twice and never had bus issues. We stayed in either Jamaica 45 or Aruba 52. Never had complaints. The kids loved the pool. The food courts not bad.

But then again I'm not hard to please. I'm in WDW.

 

[minnie mum]

CBR is one of our favorite resorts. I don't know your dates, but CBR will be getting a refurb in a couple of months, with queen beds finally being put in. We've never had any maintenance issues other than one time when the battery in our door lock died.

As for the buses, we thought the service was better than some resorts, even with the multiple stops in the resort. Disney aims to have buses to each park arrive, on average, every 20 min. We have rarely had to wait that long. Of course, if you are staying on site with a car you also have the option of driving to the parks and parking for free.

 

[pktbMouse]

we go to CBR every single year and wouldnt go anywhere else..its out little bit of paradise...its so relaxing..I dont know what it is about it..the beautiful lake, ducks, fish, bunnies, amazing food court,smores on the beach, fantastic pool, even the grounds itself are beautiful to walk around. The rooms are bigger too than any other Mod resort which we like. We just cant pull ourselves away to go anywhere else..the kids love it too! We cant wait to go back this year June 1st!!

 

[Vixey]

My family and I have just returned from the CBR. I will never book a room there again.

We were first assigned to the Martinique section building 25. The room was on the second floor and it was a corner room; one with 2 windows. As soon as we walked in the smell slapped us in the face. It was disgusting. We looked around and found a huge amount of black mold around the door, windows and where the carpet meets the wall. We called the front desk and got a new room in Martinique building 24. There was a small amount of mold in this room as well. Mostly where the carpet meets the wall. The rooms were really dirty. There was a thick layer of dirt on many things around the room and when I'd lean against the sink a brown liquid would run out from the counter into the sink.

The property is beautiful but they really need to do something about these rooms. I could never recommend this resort to anyone.

 

[kaybird]

We stayed there New Year's week, had never stayed there before. Our room did have a moldy/musty smell that was never addressed, but aired out somewhat during our stay.

We thought the busses were amazing! (btw, a 10-20 minute wait is not long; they run approx. every 20 minutes) This resort is in a very central location, and other than coming back from MK on NYE, the transport to parks and back was very fast.

Pool area and hot tubs were amazing, even gave the waterslides a go. (Only one night, as it was cold cold cold the week we were there)

Shutters was a great surprise as a dining experience, and we thought the food court was filled with lots of choices.

It is a big and widespread resort, took us a couple of times to find the quickest path from the bus stop to the room, but once we got it down it was good. I will say it seemed the least "Disney" of all the resorts we have stayed in, but the location more than made up for it.

 

[Steve690]

We are at CBR now in Trinidad North. We always stay at CBR, the pool and hot tubs are great, the food court is very good. Most will say the resort is too big, however it never feels crowded and we enjoy the quiet walks around the resort, it is tropical and so relaxing. Our room is very clean and everything works, an update will be nice.

 

[tabm01]

We will be staying in a pirate room May 30, wonder if updates will be done by then? On average, how long would you say it takes to get to each park using buses (first week of June)?

 

[dansdad]

We will be staying in a pirate room May 30, wonder if updates will be done by then? On average, how long would you say it takes to get to each park using buses (first week of June)?

From the permits pulled by Disney, the Pirate Rooms were not included in the refurb.

MK - 18 minutes
Epcot - 7 minutes
DHS - 7 minutes
AK - 9 minutes
BB - 8 minutes
TL - 8 minutes

 

[SarahG03]

We have stayed at CBR a few times and really like it! Never had any complaints. The kids really like the pool area and we enjoy taking daily walks around the resort.

 

[redefine6]

CBR is one of our favorite resorts. I don't know your dates, but CBR will be getting a refurb in a couple of months, with queen beds finally being put in. We've never had any maintenance issues other than one time when the battery in our door lock died.

As for the buses, we thought the service was better than some resorts, even with the multiple stops in the resort. Disney aims to have buses to each park arrive, on average, every 20 min. We have rarely had to wait that long. Of course, if you are staying on site with a car you also have the option of driving to the parks and parking for free.

Can you confirm this refurb? I am not seeing it on any of the logs.........

 

[dansdad]

Can you confirm this refurb? I am not seeing it on any of the logs.........

Permits were pulled for the refurb on 01/09/14.

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/wdw-permits-2014.878380/

 

[jperrot1]

We stayed at CBR August 2013 and the rooms are worn but nice. The main pool and food court/game room/gift shop building area looks brand new and well kept.

A full room rehab. is scheduled to begin April 2014. I would predict an August 2014 CBR stay could yield a brand newly refurbished room. If you are staying earlier, well, the earlier, the fewer rooms would be complete so you get the point.

Also, you could check these boards after April 2014 to get an idea of which buildings are complete. I have a feeling that the preferred rooms would be refurbished first, but this is purely speculation on my part. But someone will probably let us know which sections are complete, and then you could put a request for that building/area on your reservation. If preferred rooms are complete first then that would make things easy as you could just book a preferred room which, at this resort, is a great idea in any case.