Booked at Pop considering upgrading to CBR. Thoughts?

[txcorey]

My 14 year old son and I are going to Disney August 8th through the 14th. I booked us at POP because of the rate, but now I'm considering CBR. It's basically $100 more a night, so $600 more. Considering the fact that we are going in August and that it's going to be hot, I'm thinking we will be spending quite a bit of time at the resort pool. The CBR pool and resort looks really nice. We've been to Disney several times. We've stayed at POP several times, and it's fine, but I'm not excited about it. The last time we were at Disney was in 2019 and we stayed at POFQ and really liked that resort, but it's not available for booking. I started looking at CBR and it seems really nice. The pools and ambiance seem like an upgrade from POP. How's the food, the transportation? These resorts actually seem to be close to each other. What are the advantages to staying at CBR over POP? Is the transportation that much better to Epcot and HS? Is it worth the extra $600? Just curious to see what others think.

 

[CableKC]

I will copy and re-post what I wrote in another thread about this. Although Pop Century is better than ASMo, I would still consider it to still be a tier below a Moderate resort, so what I wrote below earlier still applies.

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We stayed at the All Star Movies for one of our earlier trips to DW. All of the times after that, I decided ( just like you ) that we should splurge....so we ended up staying at CBR ( just like you ).

For me, there are a lot of things that I did notice that I ( as someone who purposely plans it so that the family spends time at the resort ) did appreciate. At Caribbean, I LOVED that you could do the following:

- Rent Bikes for the family to ride around
- Large Jogging path ( I'm a runner )
- A nice Table Service Restaurant
- Additional pools that you can swim at late at night
- Movie under the Stars
- Campfire at night

Moderate Resorts felt more like a Resort that had things to do as opposed to a large sprawling but fancy Motel ( which the Value Resorts can feel like ).

Of course, if you don't plan to spend any time outside of the 4 parks....then these additional amenities may not benefit you as much. But when I went with the family, I was able to enjoy many of these benefits. That's what you're mainly paying for.

I've also stayed at Port Orleans after going to the CBR twice. Although they are both Moderate Resorts, I liked Port Orleans better. The layout of the resort is better and I liked the design of the buildings.

Either way, enjoy yourself. It is definitely worth the additional cost.

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- I didn't add that transportation wise, keep in mind there is the additional option of going to some of the parks via SkyLiner as well.
- The Food Court food is probably a slight upgrade over the Pop Century Food Court. I would say that CBR Food Court probably has more variety given the theme of the resort. But there is also Sebastian's Bistro, which is a good table service restaurant. Either way, food is going to be better.
- The difference between the Value resort pools and the Moderate ( and above ) is that there is a Water Slide at the CBR For me, it's minor....but for the kids, it's a definite plus.

To me, staying at a Moderate Resort is often better....assuming that you have time to spend at the resort to enjoy the $600 worth amenities that you are paying for.

 

[slyster]

I had the same question. I went with CBR because like you it was around $100 more a night for two of us. I like that CBR was central to Epcot and HS. When riding from POP to DHS, you have to get off at CBR. It’s the hub. Since it felt like an upgrade, it seemed the most convenient. However, we did request room request because it’s a huge resort.

We did end up changing to BWI because we delayed our trip due to Covid. We ended up getting 25% off and made the change.