CABANA BAY BEACH RESORT Thread..........

[Travelgrrl]

I've heard the pools are pretty much always very crowded. Has this been the experience of those in this thread?

I've only stayed there once and the pools are huge so there was always plenty of loungers available and the pools and lazy river did not seem crowded. (However, it was a bit chilly for swimming, for my taste so maybe that was a factor.) HOWEVER, this was when they had both pools open. Now the right hand pool is only open on weekends.

So much for our (empty) "Pool View"!

 

[macraven]

Disboards Daily Thread
Of the Day….Cabana Bay
11-11-2021

 

[Withnail]

I've only stayed there once and the pools are huge so there was always plenty of loungers available and the pools and lazy river did not seem crowded. (However, it was a bit chilly for swimming, for my taste so maybe that was a factor.) HOWEVER, this was when they had both pools open. Now the right hand pool is only open on weekends.

So much for our (empty) "Pool View"!

I'd be real happy if they were able to get back to having them both open soon.

 

[yellowfish78]

I've heard the pools are pretty much always very crowded. Has this been the experience of those in this thread?

I think the pool by the lazy river "feels" more crowded than the pool with the slide. Well, it us. so...when this is the only pool open then yes. LOL I like the pool with slide better - more chairs and more space.

 

[trompettecon]

If I need 2 standard bedrooms (pool) and one exterior entry (pool) suite, is there any way to have them in the same building?

 

[DoryGirl1963]

If I need 2 standard bedrooms (pool) and one exterior entry (pool) suite, is there any way to have them in the same building?

No, all of the exterior entry rooms are family suites - there are no standard rooms in any of those 3 buildings.

You could get an interior entry family suite in the same building as the 2 standard rooms (presumably - you'd have to request it & hope they could meet that request.)

 

[kbelle8995]

Just back from Cabana bay. It looks like they are refreshing some of the rooms. So that's good. If you want a bigger standard room stay in the tower. We had a great time.

 

[hmcater]

Do any of the family suites connect to another family suite? We have 7 people and figure we'd enjoy the extra room.

 

[DoryGirl1963]

We

Do any of the family suites connect to another family suite? We have 7 people and figure we'd enjoy the extra room.

We've only ever stayed in exterior entry family suites and some of those definitely have connecting doors. Not sure about the interior entry ones.

 

[larissawbb]

Do any of the family suites connect to another family suite? We have 7 people and figure we'd enjoy the extra room.

Yes. We always get two connecting family suites with interior entry. My son loves the lazy river.

 

[sandam1]

Just got home from Cabana Bay last night and have a few notes:

- They are having some issues with lazy river. One night they closed early and the next day opened late. The TM that we talked to said something about damage to the concrete in the river. Today someone commented on Facebook that the lazy river being closed for unscheduled maintenance and that there is a flag on the reservations page to that effect. Just a head's up to anyone who is going in the near future.

- We found a solution to the "no fan in the toilet area" problem. I picked up a travel size can of Febreeze (maybe at Five Below or Target) and it worked perfectly.

- Saturday night, the Bayliner Diner was an absolute MESS around park close. The lines to order food were almost to the registers. The coolers were completely cleared out of prepared food (salads, sandwiches, etc). They were SERIOUSLY understaffed and under-prepared. I texted the hotel info number and they said that the hotel was sold out and that they were doing their best. Personally, I would think that if you don't have enough staff, you should proportionally reduced what capacity is, but anyways...Then I tried the Hideaway food area (near the lazy river pool bar) and they were also closed. So lacking any options and completely unwilling to wait 45+ minutes to order food, I wound up using the snacks in the room as a meal. So my advice is that if you are going at a busy time (or any time), make sure that you have a Plan B. I have a free trial for Uber Eats, but didn't have a chance to get it set up before I left. Big mistake! We've stayed at Cabana Bay probably 10+ times so it never dawned on me that it would be a problem, but apparently it is part of the "new normal" right now.

- The bus service was as good as usual.

Overall, we had a good stay and none of the issues were terrible or deal-breakers. If anyone has a questions that they need answered about current operations, let me know and I'll help if I can.

 

[macraven]

I totally understand how aggravated it can be when
you need food and the crowds are too great to deal with.

But you managed the kinks you went through.

i dread long food lines at the hotels but I would have done what you did and eat up your snacks you had

 

[kbelle8995]

Just got home from Cabana Bay last night and have a few notes:

- They are having some issues with lazy river. One night they closed early and the next day opened late. The TM that we talked to said something about damage to the concrete in the river. Today someone commented on Facebook that the lazy river being closed for unscheduled maintenance and that there is a flag on the reservations page to that effect. Just a head's up to anyone who is going in the near future.

- We found a solution to the "no fan in the toilet area" problem. I picked up a travel size can of Febreeze (maybe at Five Below or Target) and it worked perfectly.

- Saturday night, the Bayliner Diner was an absolute MESS around park close. The lines to order food were almost to the registers. The coolers were completely cleared out of prepared food (salads, sandwiches, etc). They were SERIOUSLY understaffed and under-prepared. I texted the hotel info number and they said that the hotel was sold out and that they were doing their best. Personally, I would think that if you don't have enough staff, you should proportionally reduced what capacity is, but anyways...Then I tried the Hideaway food area (near the lazy river pool bar) and they were also closed. So lacking any options and completely unwilling to wait 45+ minutes to order food, I wound up using the snacks in the room as a meal. So my advice is that if you are going at a busy time (or any time), make sure that you have a Plan B. I have a free trial for Uber Eats, but didn't have a chance to get it set up before I left. Big mistake! We've stayed at Cabana Bay probably 10+ times so it never dawned on me that it would be a problem, but apparently it is part of the "new normal" right now.

- The bus service was as good as usual.

Overall, we had a good stay and none of the issues were terrible or deal-breakers. If anyone has a questions that they need answered about current operations, let me know and I'll help if I can.

We noticed that they were not opening the lazy river until noon.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

We noticed that they were not opening the lazy river until noon.

They were doing that when we were there at the end of Oct.

 

[CourtH]

Anyone stay in a 2 bedroom Volcano Bay Suite before? Is it worth the upgrade over a family suite?

 

[yellowfish78]

Spent two days here before Thanksgiving - Saturday to Monday in a exterior family suite. Check in line was semi-long and only got longer as the night went on - I know the OI nights were going on and it was going to be rough but by the time we checked in....the line was to the tree. Got ground floor, right around the corner from the front desk which was perfect for us given we were NOT doing parks before our cruise. Beds were super soft. I really wish the shower and toilet were swapped....seems odd to have a sink in with the shower over the toilet. Also, make sure the sliding door is shut if you want to change only one TV channel at a time! LOL We were in the living room area and frequently turned the channel on the bedroom TV. HA!
Enjoyed the pool, haunted mini-golf. Ate at Antojitos and was disappointed in everything. Chips were greasy, food wasn't the best, service could have been better.

 

[BrotherCraig]

Checked out of Cabana Bay on Friday after staying two nights there. Had a suite on the 7th floor in the Continental building. Getting over to the room was a pain since they are doing renovations on the 7th floor in both elevator lobbies closest to the main building. Had to take an elevator to the 2nd floor and then walk down the corridor to the third elevator lobby to get up to 7. We really enjoyed our stay there. We were at Royal Pacific for 3 nights before our stay here. Only one pool area was open but no complaints. Lazy river and pool was fantastic. They had movie night at the pool each night. The bar there was good. The bowling alley was booked each day so didn't get the chance to experience. The bus shuttle from CityWalk was decent. The main cafeteria was crowded even during off times but it decent. Room was a good size for our family of 6 and clean. Would stay there again.

 

[GulAtiCa]

They were doing that when we were there at the end of Oct.

As well for us for a week of Labor Day weekend and again our recent Thanksgiving week trip. Closes early too and just periodically not running. Starting to more think it's staffing reasons? Also not to sure they are still heating the lazy river currently (was pretty chilly when we went into it on our recent). Only reason mention that is cause I went Feb 2020 a few days after a big cold front and remember the lazy river being heated and nice and warm.

Anyways, it's a shame, cause really like that lazy river, it's among our favorite things to do as a mid-day break before heading back to the parks.

 

[BrotherCraig]

We were at Cabana Bay Thanksgiving week and the Lazy River was running from morning until late at night. Zero issues.

 

[GulAtiCa]

Hmm, so was I, but it def was closed off at different times as would walk by. Could just be luck of draw & I got unlucky at times. It was 100% more open & ready to use during the mid-day and more so compared to our Labor Day Week trip, then it was on and off. I think my main complaint was that it was chilly for this trip.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, had their Thanksgiving meal (lunch & dinner) and it was really really good. Large portions too, we ended up just sharing 1 meal for dinner. Think we will 100% do this again.