Please give me the lowdown on Caribbean Beach

[msmith07101]

CBR is one of my favorites...rooms are a little bit bigger than other mods, but mostly I love the theme and the tropical feel. The main pool is cute too. I have not disliked a resort at Disney yet! I am planning a stay at Pop Century for this fall...looking for cheap and free quick service dining, so Pop for this trip!

 

[ARAITHEL]

CBR was just OK for me. The transportation issue is definitely the reason why I won't go back. It seemed like it took FOREVER to get "home." As for the other moderates, I have only stayed at POR though, and will return there this September for our second stay.

CBR is huge. Pay for the preferred room. Main pool is great! I thought the food court was OK, and the POR food court is definitely better. Quite a long walk to "Old Port Royale" if you aren't in a preferred location.

However, I'm not really complaining, it still was a great resort! After all, it is a DISNEY! Have a great trip, wherever you choose to land!

 

[Renee1061]

My daughter and I have stayed at CBR twice and we love it! We are going to book our next trip there, also (October 2013)! If you don't want to pay for a preferred room, request Jamaica 45 or Aruba 51. Both of those buildings are very near the bridge that goes across to the island and to Old Port Royale (food court & gift shop) and the pool.

As others have said, the atmosphere is very relaxed. And with the music and smells, you really do feel like you are in the Caribbean!

 

[kshattuck]

Our family is a huge fan of CBR! We stayed there in September 2009 and will stay there again this October. To be completely honest, we stayed at POFQ in 2010 and would have preferred that (until the end of our days if my family had its way), but there was no availability during FD. CBR was an easy 2nd choice!

As PP so eloquently stated, it's a huge resort but never felt that way to us -- we had a 16mo, 4yo, my DH and I, as well as my wonderful parents in their early 60s. We had requested one of the Trinidad villages, but ended up with Martinique, which I will be requesting again! Loved it.

For us, even more than being close to OPR was being in a building nearer a bus stop. There is a bus stop at every "village" but we were basically right on top of our bus stop. With our little ones, we were up and at 'em early and then had tired kids upon return, so the shorter the bus distance to lug the kiddos and strollers, the better.

The theming, landscaping, pool, music, all of it -- we LOVED it and commented constantly that our resort felt like a vacation within a vacation. So relaxing, so tropical, so fun!

We all agreed that the CBR food court has got POFQ beat, hands down (except those yummy beignets!) There were SO MANY CHOICES and they had cute little activities for the kids each time we were in there -- limbo contest, etc, super cute and fun!

We also loved the zero entry pool for our very little ones. Just so perfect for families! Additionally, the splash pool area is so unique and fantastic with the pirate ship.

Honestly, we were never bothered by the size of the resort and remarked many times about how close we felt we were to OPR.

My understanding is that CBR has the largest room square footage, but certainly the smaller beds. My husband is 6'2" and over 200 lbs and (love ya honey, but) kind of a complainer when it comes to sleeping accommodations. He never said a word. It's possible he was so exhausted it never became an issue

The buses typically picked us up very quickly, but there's no comparison to POFQ, which is basically door-to-door. There were times that it *felt* as though we were driving around our resort an impossibly long time, but I have no data to back that up. It also seemed that we did not ever wait very long for a CBR bus at a park.

We loved it and we're excited to return this fall!

 

[ijlmcooper]

does CBR do the hair wrapping?

 

[dansdad]

does CBR do the hair wrapping?

Yup!

 

[maxiesmom]

I've stayed at all 4 moderate resorts, and I have to say CBR is my least favorite. Not that it was awful, it just wasn't as good as the others.

The bus service was fine, but with 7 stops, it can be awhile before you are on your way to the parks. Or awhile before you are dropped back by your building at night.

I also found the food court to be lacking in choices. At the other moderates I had a hard time deciding what I wanted. At CBR there were maybe 3 things that looked appealing to me. I had chicken nuggets a few times.

We also had a few roaches (not palmetto bugs) in our room. I did call down, and they asked if we were on the first floor. I'm guessing they are more of a problem on the lower level? They said they would take care of them, and I never did see them again after that. I know that can happen anywhere, but out of more than a dozen stays at WDW that was a first for me! Leaves an impression that is not the best.

Roaches aside, CBR is pretty. But the bus service, and sheer size of the resort was not a positive.

 

[LovinPooh]

We loved cbr. Its gorgeous! I would recomnend a preffered room tho. Those rooms put u right on top of the buses and port royale. Would def stay there again. Never had an issue with anything. Buses were great as were tge staff.

 

[jdonat]

Our family is a huge fan of CBR! We stayed there in September 2009 and will stay there again this October. To be completely honest, we stayed at POFQ in 2010 and would have preferred that (until the end of our days if my family had its way), but there was no availability during FD. CBR was an easy 2nd choice!

As PP so eloquently stated, it's a huge resort but never felt that way to us -- we had a 16mo, 4yo, my DH and I, as well as my wonderful parents in their early 60s. We had requested one of the Trinidad villages, but ended up with Martinique, which I will be requesting again! Loved it.

For us, even more than being close to OPR was being in a building nearer a bus stop. There is a bus stop at every "village" but we were basically right on top of our bus stop. With our little ones, we were up and at 'em early and then had tired kids upon return, so the shorter the bus distance to lug the kiddos and strollers, the better.

The theming, landscaping, pool, music, all of it -- we LOVED it and commented constantly that our resort felt like a vacation within a vacation. So relaxing, so tropical, so fun!

We all agreed that the CBR food court has got POFQ beat, hands down (except those yummy beignets!) There were SO MANY CHOICES and they had cute little activities for the kids each time we were in there -- limbo contest, etc, super cute and fun!

We also loved the zero entry pool for our very little ones. Just so perfect for families! Additionally, the splash pool area is so unique and fantastic with the pirate ship.

Honestly, we were never bothered by the size of the resort and remarked many times about how close we felt we were to OPR.

My understanding is that CBR has the largest room square footage, but certainly the smaller beds. My husband is 6'2" and over 200 lbs and (love ya honey, but) kind of a complainer when it comes to sleeping accommodations. He never said a word. It's possible he was so exhausted it never became an issue

The buses typically picked us up very quickly, but there's no comparison to POFQ, which is basically door-to-door. There were times that it *felt* as though we were driving around our resort an impossibly long time, but I have no data to back that up. It also seemed that we did not ever wait very long for a CBR bus at a park.

We loved it and we're excited to return this fall!

This is our favorite moderate.. Our first stay at the CBR was in the spring of1989, yes, 1989....only about 1/3 of the resort was done! We'd stay there in an instant again I'd we go down and don't use our DVC points. Loved the zero depth pool from the beginning!

 

[Gmouse]

We didn't care for it. The room was ok. But the door had an 1.5" gap at the bottom- anything could come in. Had to get on a bus to get to the main pool and hot tub. Buses were SLOW as Christmas. Had to get on a bus to get to the food court, which was terrible. Cleaning crew were great. Left all kinds of character towels for us. The grounds were pretty. Nothing to jump up and down about at CB.
PORS is really pretty. It's like a few notches up from CB, to us.

 

[lisam427]

we stayed at cbr in 2010 and i am looking forward to staying there this upcoming trip. we stayed in martinique last time. i loved the location so much that i am requesting it again. the theme and the pool are amazing. we have stayed at all the mods except french quarter (but we had dinner at fq last trip) out of the mods i would say that we enjoyed the food courts at cbr and csr the most. i have loved staying at all of the moderates. although csr is my favorite i really enjoyed my stay at cbr. we had such a good experience at cbr from my past trip that i would not hesitate to recommend it and stay again.

 

[Nefferz]

.. but how deep are the quiet pools at CBR? My son is over 6' tall and he loves to be able to go 'over his head'.

Anyone have info on this?

Thanks!

 

[ellie'smom]

We have stayed at all the mods except for the cabins and I like CBR the best. My husband on the other hand likes POR best. Both bus service is about the same, slow. Pools similar with great theming, ( CBR main pool has 2 slides). I just found CBR more relaxing and the kids activities run in a more child friendly manner. Liked the food court as well, not as crowded as the other 3 resorts. My spouse liked POR , He liked the beds, the theming and the proximity to DTD. Neither one of us would do FQ or CSR again. Been there, done that sort of scenario. All that being said we are returning this year to POR because my husband wants to do it again. Maybe next year we will return to CBR.

 

[nkereina]

Didn't read all the replies, so I apologize if I'm repeating. While scrolling through, I saw a lot of people coming to CBR's defense. But I think the reason a lot of people don't consider it is because it is in need of refurbishment (only mod that hasn't been recently refurbed) and the size/layout of the resort - it's the biggest mod and the lay out is not the best with the property being long rather than round. Makes it a long haul if you're at the furthest building from the main one.

Personally, I have never stayed there as the theme doesn't appeal to me. But, I don't let the opinions on here decide for me. Don't be afraid to try it - you never know!