Cabana Bay family suite vs. Sapphire Falls standard room

[andieb0602]

We're heading back to UO in May for the first part of a split stay ending with 4 nights at Disney staying at Pop. We stayed at Cabana Bay in November in an interior entry family suite and, quite honestly, we loved it. Our room was a good size and we enjoyed the pools, Bayliner Diner and the walk to Volcano Bay. That said, we walked through Sapphire Falls one day to catch the boat and loved the look of it. Right now for our dates, the AP rate for a standard room at SF is the same price as an exterior family suite at CB. (I'd prefer interior but it's not available.) One of my only complaints about CB is that the beds were smooshy (not in a good way) and my DS did not find the sofa bed very comfortable. I've heard that the beds at SF are much better. Has anyone stayed at both hotels and do you have an opinion? For those who have only stayed at SF, how well do you think a standard room would fit a family of four with an older child and adult-sized teenager?

 

[Koalayum]

It's been a few years since I've stayed at Sapphire Falls. More recently I've done a couple of large family vacations to Cabana in the exterior family suites. Personally, I prefer SF just because it feels like the "nicer" property to me. I do recall the beds being nicer at SF and I love the SF pool the best out of any of the resorts. But CB is definitely nice for the space/cost factor when you're talking about family trips. I do think it might be a bit cramped in a SF room in comparison to CB. Maybe worth mentioning is that the standard SF rooms (I think) all have that sliding barn door for the bathroom door. (read: stink/sound aren't as masked as with a real door..) CB suites definitely have the overall bathroom advantage with the way their bathrooms are set up to accommodate 3 people getting ready at once.

I asked my husband what he thought someone in your position should do, and he voted Cabana Bay for the space consideration and also because "there's more stuff to do for kids/teenagers who want to wander on their own."

Something I'm always quick to point out with the CB exterior rooms is that you do have a lot more opportunity for bugs. I wasn't totally prepared for that the first trip I took, and had to rectify my family's sloppy eating habits quickly because some overnight leftovers resulted in tons of various insects the next morning. Maybe i've just been unlucky in that regard, but it's been true with every exterior room i've seen there. I see it as more of a Florida reality with that type of room rather than a knock against the hotel. Also, we went to CB last May and got rained on hard.. Having to walk/run in the rain to our room all the time was kind of a bummer. These things might not prove to be true for you or even matter much, but just some thoughts. In spite of those things, I still will go back to CB in an exterior room when I have to accommodate my family of smokers. If it's just a trip with my husband, we would do SF over CB.

My advice regardless is just to constantly check the AP rates. New rooms pop up and prices change all the time.

 

[damo]

I don't remember a significant differences in the bed but I didn't have an issue with the beds at Cabana Bay.

 

[andieb0602]

Thanks guys! I booked a room at SF but then remembered that you have to ride the bus to get to Volcano Bay because the CB entrance to VB is specifically for CB guests. It was a deal-breaker for us because we tend to split our days between the parks and VB. So I'm canceling the SF room and booking a CB interior entry with a pool view since it's the same per night as the room I had booked at SF. Koalayum thanks for mentioning the bug issue. I agree that it's a Florida reality but bugs (irrationally?) freak me out and I wouldn't sleep well if I saw any. Also, from what I can see, there's a lot more for the kids at CB and, with their ages, they can have a little freedom to go to the arcade (or be left in the room while DH and I go to the lobby bar).