Back from CBR & AKL last week!! Long

[Momto8]

My DH, 2 DDs and I got back from CBR & AKL late last Tuesday night. I've been so busy that I'm just getting around to posting now. We had a great time. Had most of our rain the first 2 days. After that only a couple of showers but they didn't last long. We were there for 11 days.

We all liked both resorts for different reasons. At CBR we were in Jamaica Bldg 43, close to the bus stop, room 4356. We had a standard view at AP rate of $74/night, but faced the courtyard. We were not too far from the quiet pool, which was convenient, as we used the laundry facilities late one evening, and about a 10 minute walk to Old Port Royale. We did have to wait longer than normal for the buses on a couple of different days (maybe 25-30 minutes), but for the most part, did not have any trouble. No problems at all at park closings either. No sooner would one bus leave when another one would pull up within 5 minutes. For the pickup route, sometimes they picked up first at Jamaica, sometimes it was in the middle stop and sometimes it was the last stop. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it. We all liked having the curtain in the room, so one of us could get dressed while someone was in the shower. I also felt that there was much more storage space in the room than POR or CSR or even some of the deluxes.

Housekeeping at CBR was very good. We requested extra towels and pillows and they brought them within 15 minutes. We did have a problem with getting our room clean one day. We left a little after 9:00 and came back around 4:00 and they hadn't cleaned our room. I called Housekeeping and they apologized and asked when I would like them to be there. I told him that we would have to take showers (we were at Blizzard Beach that day) and asked them to wait until after 5:00. In the meantime, they immediately brought us some clean towels to shower with. The guy kept coming back to clean and we weren't ready yet, so he finally said to just open the blinds and he would know that we were gone. All in all, I think the room was very clean. They didn't do any towel animals, but did put my DD's stuffed animals in the window one day. We tipped them everyday and extra when we requested towels, etc. We only used the main pool once as we went to TL and BB a few times. The only really negative I felt was that I was disappointed with the food court. I just felt they didn't have the choices that POR or AS have. We didn't eat here but a couple of times. We got a pizza one night, but really thought it didn't taste very good, but it could have been me as I wasn't feeling the greatest. We stayed here 6 nights.

We really loved AKL. This resort is wonderful. At AKL we had reserved a standard room under the AP rate of $124/night, but we were pleasantly surprised when we checked in and were upgraded to Savannah view room on the Kudu Trail. We could have gotten the Zebra Trail, but my 2 DDs wanted bunk beds and none were available on that trail. BTW I didn't ask for an upgrade. The CM said that the resort was full and we were upgraded to a savannah view. We were really surprised because I really didn't think we would get an upgrade at all. I thought if we did, that it might be pool view. Needless to say my kids were really excited about seeing the animals out of our balcony. We did see animals every day....giraffes, ostrichs, ankole cattle, cranes, storks and lots of birds. My DD used up our memory card on our digital taking all kinds of pictures of the animals and it holds 300 pictures! Luckily we had another memory card. We got the refillable mugs and got more than our money's worth on them. The pool was great and my DDs loved the slide. Also the bus service was great. No problems there either going to the parks or at park closings.

We went to all 4 theme parks, TL, BB and DD and DQ. We went to DQ about 4-5 times. My 2 DDs love this place. On Sunday, 6/8 the first day we were there, we went to MK and got there about 9:30. We were able to ride Space Mountain 3 times (with a FP for one of the times)and BL in about an hour. The lines for most of the rides weren't that long. Sunday seems to be a really good day for MK, at least it was that day.

Some of the restaurants we ate at was Mama Melrose, Liberty Tree Tavern, Cinderella's Royal Table, Tony's Town Square, 50's Prime Time Cafe (ate there twice), Alfredo's, LeCellier and of course had dessert at the Cheesecake Factory 3 different times.

Sorry this is long. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to answer them.

 

[gumdrop]

Welcome back! It sounds like you had a wonderful time and thanks for sharing the great reviews of both resorts. I was wondering if you got a chance to eat in any of the AKL restaurants--Mara, Jiko, or Boma. If so, how were they? Congrats on that great upgrade too!!

 

[Toots]

Would you return to CBR over POR?

Did you find AKL to be worth the difference in money when compared to a moderate?

Thanks in advance for your views.

 

[safetymom]

Momto8, could you please post your trip report to CBR in the CBR FAQ listed below? I know many people look for information from folks that stayed at the resort.

I would appreciate it and your information will help others.

Thank you.

 

[Momto8]

Thanks, Gumdrop. We ate at the Mara the first day for lunch. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we ate there and then hung out by the pool for a little bit. My 2 DDs got the individual pizzas and my DH and I each got Caesar salads. They were very good, but didn't like the bread they give you with the salad. We didn't get a chance to eat at any of the restaurants but would have liked to eaten at Boma.

Toots, I like both POR and CBR. My 13 year old liked the pool and slide better at POR, but liked the room better at CBR. I also liked the looks of the room better than POR but we always stay in AB, so can't compare to MB. There seemed to be more room in the dressing area and bathroom at CBR. I also liked the curtain for privacy. The coffee maker is a plus. There is also more storage space than POR. You have the bench next to the armoire that holds more clothes. PORs doesn't open. There is also room under the sink to put your toiletries. However, I would go back to either resort. I really thought transportation would be a problem, but with the exception of one or two days, it was great. Very convenient to MGM and TL. I thought it would take forever to go through all 7 bus stops, but they aren't spaced as far apart as POR and it seemed to me that it took about the same time going through CBR as POR.

My DH liked CBR better with the exception of the food court. POR is better. Whether I would return to POR over CBR, I think I would go with CBR for first choice, but it would be a tough decision.

I definitely thought it was worth the extra money to stay at AKL. This resort is really nice. Of course, we did get an AP rate of $124/night. I had my doubts at first about staying here, but once we checked in, I was happy that we made the choice. The lobby is awesome. We wanted the WL at first, but that was booked. I don't regret staying here at all. It was a great experience seeing all the animals every day, and in the evening when we would get back from the parks, the cattle would be sleeping in the grass right below our balcony along with the birds by the pond. Every day they would put some kind of leafy branches in a container that was attached to a tree right outside our balcony, and the giraffes would come up to the tree to eat.

I would definitely stay here again.

 

[Toots]

Theresa, it's great to hear from someone who has recently returned. We've booked the FTP for late October @ CBR and I 've had my doubts about whether this was the best choice.

Our only other on property stay was @ POR in the AB section. We loved the resort, but it wasn't available when we booked in May. Now according to Disney's web site there are rooms available. I've considered switching to POR, but now I think I'll stay with CBR. I'm glad to hear you liked the rooms @ CBR. I thought the rooms @ POR were nice but a little warn.

We're planning on several trips to TL so it's also good to hear it's so convenient.

Thanks again

 

[NCBUZZ]

How was Tony's. I haven't eaten there in a few years and we've got a PS for July 4th. What did you have and was the service good? Thanks!

 

[gumdrop]

Thanks for your response Theresa! I have two more questions if you don't mind...1) At the Mara, were you able to get your food right away and then pay, or did you have to wait for your number to be called to pickup the food. That is how it was at WL and I was wondering if it was the same here. 2) This may be tough to answer, but do you think you would have enjoyed AKL as much if you had the standard room? That is all we can afford and I hope we won't be missing out on the animals. Did you notice if there were other places to view the animals besides the savannah rooms? Thanks so much for any help!!

 

[Momto8]

Sorry I haven't responded sooner but we're not allowed to participate in discussion forums at work, so I can only access the boards when I'm at home. I'll try to answer all your questions.

You're welcome, Toots! My kids really liked the room at CBR and we all wanted to try something new this time. We're glad we did. Good luck with your trip planning.

NCBuzz, the food was very good at Tony's. The menu has changed somewhat in the past couple of months, but not too much. I had the strip steak with carmelized onions. They used to serve it with mashed potatoes, but recently started serving it with macaroni and cheese. My 2 DDs had spaghetti (one had the meatballs and sauce and the other just wanted spaghetti with olive oil and garlic, which is her favorite and is not on the menu), and my DH had the Italian chicken with peppers and onions. He said it was very good. He was a little disappointed that they stopped serving the antipasto at dinner as he always ordered this. It was one of his favorites. I think the waiter said that it was still on the lunch menu though. The service was excellent. Our wait was less than 5 minutes once we checked in, which was the quickest we've ever been served there before. We had PS, but got there about 45 minutes early.

Gumdrop, we were able to order our food and pay for it. They gave us a number to put on our table while they prepared it and brought it to our table for us. I thought that was rather nice that we didn't have to get it ourselves. As far as your 2nd question, I think it was nicer having the savannah room, but we still would have enjoyed staying here. The pool area was nice. It has zero entry. The girls were much more excited especially my 13 year old about the animals outside our balcony, but there are plenty of areas that you could view the animals. If you go right out the back of the lobby there is a big area there and this is probably better than the view that we had as there is a much larger savannah here. So if we were to go back, I would still probably go with a standard room just because it is a big difference in price. I know others feel differently, but that is JMHO.

Safetymom, I tried posting on the CBR thread last night, but kept getting knocked off of AOL. I will post about our stay at CBR but will have to do this later.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

 

[gumdrop]

Thanks Theresa--very helpful response. It's good to know that there are other great viewing areas around the resorts. I think we will really enjoy it!