Lord Fantasius
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2005
- Messages
- 387
From my previous thread, I mentioned I was able to use a local friend's car starting Sunday evening which really helped not having to rely on Disney bus transportation during my stay. So...last Monday morning (2/07) I packed up the car and after correcting my double-charged phone call at the front desk, I drove over to the CBR.
At the start, I have to admit arriving right after two full busloads of "tourists" was not a great way to start my check-in experience; so I opted to start my day of touring the other resorts (particularly FW and the WL) before even attempting to check-in at the CBR.
I finally arrived back at check-in around 1:30pm and even though the line was a little long, it definitely was shorter than it had been before so I chanced the wait...amazingly, the line moved rather quickly as they actually had a CM at every window! Again, I was told by my very pleasant CM-in-training that my room was not ready but to call the no. at around 3:00pm and they would tell me my rm no.
After tooling around WDW property for awhile, I finally arrived back at CBR a little after 3:00pm where I find out I am staying at Barbados Bldg #15.
Argh, again, a first floor room looking in toward the center (away from the parking lot). First impressions - except for a slightly different styled cabinet and furniture, the room is exactly the same as the room at the CSR. Upon closer scrutiny, there are a few other minor differences - the a/c is a through-the-wall floor model which unfortunately does make a little more noise when on than the CSR's "central a/c" wall-model but the housing of the unit does extend into the room a little bit so you don't have the constant flapping of the curtains while the fan is on...one of my big pet peeves.
The biggest difference is that the rooms at the CBR have two sinks in their counter for 4 person's use rather than just the one at CSR. Also, this TV set does have input jacks in the front so you can plug in a camcorder/digital camera to view it on the TV and the glasses and ceramic mugs have been replaced by styrofoam cups (ugh!). Otherwise, the hurricane-force toilet flush is still in operation at this resort and there is still a little mold around the bathtub.
Again however, due to it's outside-entry motel-style set-up, I immediately close the curtains and turn on the lights after entering the room...so again, what's the point of your window's view if you can't keep it open to view out of? Disney really needs to develop an interior-corrider moderate hotel design...and I would be really glad to help!!!
In general, unlike the CSR, this resort does not cater to conventions so there were few businessmen/women running around talking on cellphones, etc., to distract from the "Disney experience." Most of the people there were there for pleasure...including the large group of cheerleading teenagers that took over the main pool and the miniscule hot-tub the resort has. One would think that for a resort of over 2000 rms, it would have a hut-tub that seated more than 4 or 6 people at a time. Was definitely not a great invitation to relax.
However, my main disappointment with the CBR is that it just felt crowded. Not necessarily with people all the time, though the quiet pools were mostly unused due to the not-as-warm weather (yeah, right) as I'm sure most Floridians were used to, but just that all the buildings seemed to be on top of each other. It felt as though Disney were trying to see how many buildings and rooms it can cram into the smallest possible space for a resort. Comparatively, while the CSR felt open and relaxing, nothing at CBR felt open nor relaxing. I figure if I'm going to be in a motel-setting with an outside-entrance, I really should be able to walk between the buildings and see a little sky!
As a "party resort," I'm sure Disney succeeded in creating a pseudo-Caribbean "fun" experience, but it wasn't my cup of tea.
No problems with Express check-out this night so at least I didn't have to visit the front desk again to make any corrections.
Unfortunately, due to the overall cramped feeling I got walking through the property I would have to rate it the lowest of the three resorts I stayed in. It might be to alot of people's liking, but I'm kind of past the college/fraternity stage, so I'll pass on another visit here.
At the start, I have to admit arriving right after two full busloads of "tourists" was not a great way to start my check-in experience; so I opted to start my day of touring the other resorts (particularly FW and the WL) before even attempting to check-in at the CBR.
I finally arrived back at check-in around 1:30pm and even though the line was a little long, it definitely was shorter than it had been before so I chanced the wait...amazingly, the line moved rather quickly as they actually had a CM at every window! Again, I was told by my very pleasant CM-in-training that my room was not ready but to call the no. at around 3:00pm and they would tell me my rm no.
After tooling around WDW property for awhile, I finally arrived back at CBR a little after 3:00pm where I find out I am staying at Barbados Bldg #15.
Argh, again, a first floor room looking in toward the center (away from the parking lot). First impressions - except for a slightly different styled cabinet and furniture, the room is exactly the same as the room at the CSR. Upon closer scrutiny, there are a few other minor differences - the a/c is a through-the-wall floor model which unfortunately does make a little more noise when on than the CSR's "central a/c" wall-model but the housing of the unit does extend into the room a little bit so you don't have the constant flapping of the curtains while the fan is on...one of my big pet peeves.
The biggest difference is that the rooms at the CBR have two sinks in their counter for 4 person's use rather than just the one at CSR. Also, this TV set does have input jacks in the front so you can plug in a camcorder/digital camera to view it on the TV and the glasses and ceramic mugs have been replaced by styrofoam cups (ugh!). Otherwise, the hurricane-force toilet flush is still in operation at this resort and there is still a little mold around the bathtub.
Again however, due to it's outside-entry motel-style set-up, I immediately close the curtains and turn on the lights after entering the room...so again, what's the point of your window's view if you can't keep it open to view out of? Disney really needs to develop an interior-corrider moderate hotel design...and I would be really glad to help!!!
In general, unlike the CSR, this resort does not cater to conventions so there were few businessmen/women running around talking on cellphones, etc., to distract from the "Disney experience." Most of the people there were there for pleasure...including the large group of cheerleading teenagers that took over the main pool and the miniscule hot-tub the resort has. One would think that for a resort of over 2000 rms, it would have a hut-tub that seated more than 4 or 6 people at a time. Was definitely not a great invitation to relax.
However, my main disappointment with the CBR is that it just felt crowded. Not necessarily with people all the time, though the quiet pools were mostly unused due to the not-as-warm weather (yeah, right) as I'm sure most Floridians were used to, but just that all the buildings seemed to be on top of each other. It felt as though Disney were trying to see how many buildings and rooms it can cram into the smallest possible space for a resort. Comparatively, while the CSR felt open and relaxing, nothing at CBR felt open nor relaxing. I figure if I'm going to be in a motel-setting with an outside-entrance, I really should be able to walk between the buildings and see a little sky!
As a "party resort," I'm sure Disney succeeded in creating a pseudo-Caribbean "fun" experience, but it wasn't my cup of tea.
No problems with Express check-out this night so at least I didn't have to visit the front desk again to make any corrections.
Unfortunately, due to the overall cramped feeling I got walking through the property I would have to rate it the lowest of the three resorts I stayed in. It might be to alot of people's liking, but I'm kind of past the college/fraternity stage, so I'll pass on another visit here.
