As the previous poster shared, the CBR will be undergoing room refurbs beginning in April. This was confirmed to me by someone of higher standing at the resort itself. There was confirmation that they will be getting queen beds but no confirmation on the decor.
We have never stayed at Art of Animation but we did take a walking tour of the resort when we visited in May. If you enjoyed the theming of Pop (we've toured it too), you'd like the AoA theme as it is very well done. I have to say, though, that the walk from the food court to the Little Mermaid rooms seemed quite long because there is no shade to speak of.
While at the AoA, we also went through the food court to have a look around and it was loud and messy. The plates and utensils are "real" and were piled up near the trash cans and it was quite nasty looking. I don't know if we caught it at a bad time (not peak eating time though) or what but I didn't like what we saw. Sounds like we might have if you liked the food court there.
Having said that, we did think that the overall theme of the resort was extremely well done. Would I stay there? Possibly if our budget didn't allow for a moderate.
We have stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort many many times. It is a large resort but not any bigger than CSR so if you were fine with the size of CSR, you'd be okay at the CBR. (We walked around the CSR as well. What can I say? We like looking at other resorts.
) The walks may be the same as that at AoA (not sure just saying) but because there's shading it didn't seem as long to our famly.
Like at the CSR, there are multiple bus stops at the CBR and the bus stops are covered. The CBR is centrally located so it doesn't take long to get to any Disney destination. The main pool is awesome and has not one but two pool slides. Should you want to take a quick dip in the pool without going to the main pool, there are quiet pools in each resort village.
I posted many many pictures of the CBR on the CBR pic thread just yesterday so if you'd like a walking tour of the resort (complete with pictures of the buildings, landscaping, quiet pools, laundry room, food court, food options, etc.), check out the pic thread.
If you have specific CBR questions, please feel free to ask and I'll try to answer them for you.
