kwdw
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2010
- Messages
- 2,919
Arrived last Sunday - with plan to go to US on Monday morning.
Cabana Bay review - I wrote a review on Trip Advisor for that - so I am only going to do the stuff related to "the parks" in my trip report.
There is one bus stop at Cabana Bay and like the value resorts at Disney - queue lines are not covered. It is central to the entire resort and close to the food court. The buses start running one hour before the first parks early entrance time. So - since last Monday IOA opened at 7am, the buses started at 6 am. US early entrance was 8 am. I was on a bus at about 6:30 am and was in line at the US gates a little before 7 am. I was about 10th in my line. They opened the gates at 7:30 - and off to DA.
TIP - pay attention to where you get off the bus! I hadn't been paying attention in the morning and when I went back to my room, it took me a minute to identify the escalators down to the bus/taxi area.
It does take time to get from the bus drop-off to the gates of either park. It's not a two-minutes walk. If you have a crowd or slow walkers - you need to plan this time if your arrival time at the park gates is important to you.
Mid-afternoon - both times I left the parks then - there was a bus waiting. And both times I caught the bus from CB to the parks mid-afternoon - the wait was short - less than 5 minutes.
End of the evening right after US closed - LONG line to get back to Cabana Bay on the bus. Because the walking path isn't finished yet - and I hadn't investigated it - there was really no way for me to walk it, either. They need to work on this problem. If they don't fix the bus mess at night, walking might be appealing. This was a mess.
I was traveling solo - and I did buy the express pass - which is not included in the price at Cabana Bay. I'm glad I bought it. Even with it - several attractions at US start "every so many minutes" - so you do still end up waiting for some attractions regardless, but just less time than stand-by.
I really liked the hotel - and I booked a family suite even though traveling alone because I like having a kitchenette - which the deluxe resorts don't offer for a reasonable price. I also found the pool slide and lazy river big draws for me over the pool features at the deluxe resorts. So - I'd go back. It would have been nice to have a table service restaurant, but at least the food court had decent options - salad bar, pizza, some entrees, etc.
That said - if traveling at peak time - I do think the express pass for Universal parks is essential. Standby lines were LONG on alot of attractions. I would have had a miserable time without the express pass. Because it was just me - the price to add that wasn't bad when comparing the price of Cabana Bay vs the deluxe hotels. But for a family - that would be alot more money - and then maybe the cost would drive some families who want the express pass feature to the deluxe hotels.
BUT - if your main goal is the Harry Potter areas - the early entrance included at Cabana Bay is all you need - since the express pass doesn't work on the big rides in HP areas anyway.
Having just stayed at CB, it's a bit disturbing that some folks seem to think that "folks who stay here" are causing EE to be crowded - it's like they think it shouldn't be a perk of the "value" resort. Well, guess what, folks? It is. And frankly, I think unless you are staying at a deluxe simply for the express pass, I'm not sure why anyone would stay at one of those instead. There's no bonus to having a mini-bar in my room - its a negative!
Cabana Bay review - I wrote a review on Trip Advisor for that - so I am only going to do the stuff related to "the parks" in my trip report.
There is one bus stop at Cabana Bay and like the value resorts at Disney - queue lines are not covered. It is central to the entire resort and close to the food court. The buses start running one hour before the first parks early entrance time. So - since last Monday IOA opened at 7am, the buses started at 6 am. US early entrance was 8 am. I was on a bus at about 6:30 am and was in line at the US gates a little before 7 am. I was about 10th in my line. They opened the gates at 7:30 - and off to DA.
TIP - pay attention to where you get off the bus! I hadn't been paying attention in the morning and when I went back to my room, it took me a minute to identify the escalators down to the bus/taxi area.
It does take time to get from the bus drop-off to the gates of either park. It's not a two-minutes walk. If you have a crowd or slow walkers - you need to plan this time if your arrival time at the park gates is important to you.
Mid-afternoon - both times I left the parks then - there was a bus waiting. And both times I caught the bus from CB to the parks mid-afternoon - the wait was short - less than 5 minutes.
End of the evening right after US closed - LONG line to get back to Cabana Bay on the bus. Because the walking path isn't finished yet - and I hadn't investigated it - there was really no way for me to walk it, either. They need to work on this problem. If they don't fix the bus mess at night, walking might be appealing. This was a mess.
I was traveling solo - and I did buy the express pass - which is not included in the price at Cabana Bay. I'm glad I bought it. Even with it - several attractions at US start "every so many minutes" - so you do still end up waiting for some attractions regardless, but just less time than stand-by.
I really liked the hotel - and I booked a family suite even though traveling alone because I like having a kitchenette - which the deluxe resorts don't offer for a reasonable price. I also found the pool slide and lazy river big draws for me over the pool features at the deluxe resorts. So - I'd go back. It would have been nice to have a table service restaurant, but at least the food court had decent options - salad bar, pizza, some entrees, etc.
That said - if traveling at peak time - I do think the express pass for Universal parks is essential. Standby lines were LONG on alot of attractions. I would have had a miserable time without the express pass. Because it was just me - the price to add that wasn't bad when comparing the price of Cabana Bay vs the deluxe hotels. But for a family - that would be alot more money - and then maybe the cost would drive some families who want the express pass feature to the deluxe hotels.
BUT - if your main goal is the Harry Potter areas - the early entrance included at Cabana Bay is all you need - since the express pass doesn't work on the big rides in HP areas anyway.
Having just stayed at CB, it's a bit disturbing that some folks seem to think that "folks who stay here" are causing EE to be crowded - it's like they think it shouldn't be a perk of the "value" resort. Well, guess what, folks? It is. And frankly, I think unless you are staying at a deluxe simply for the express pass, I'm not sure why anyone would stay at one of those instead. There's no bonus to having a mini-bar in my room - its a negative!
