Cabana Bay pros and cons

[rcraw45425]

Received the GA resident PIN for CB at $114 a night for June 16-Aug 16. Called and got multiple rates and options depending on location and standard room vs suite. Still on the fence though because once you add the unlimited express pass for three (or four) adults it takes the total up to around the cost of Royal Pacific with a AAA discount.

Found out that WiFi is free in all hotels now but the better strength one for streaming is $15 a day. Also, CB has fridges in all rooms, there's still a fee for one at RPR, HRH and PBH.

I have a courtesy hold right now on RPR with AAA that's $306 with tax for the fist night, Friday and Saturday are higher. She suggested if we wanted to check out Cabana Bay to book first night there with the discounted rate and then the other two nights at RPR (or HR) to get the express pass option.

Decisions decisions. I'm just a little curious about the bus situation now, I know I read that walking is still treacherous.

Other option is to wait till Thanksgiving/Christmas due to college and HS schedules.

Any advice? We were just at PBH over Thanksgiving and hubby has no desire to freeze again, at least with heat we can always forego the parks for something cooler (or ride a water ride)!

 

[damo]

HRH fridges are now free in every room. They took out the mini bars and replaced them with mini fridges.


When are your planned dates?

 

[macraven]

i thought i read that at HRH free fridges were in the rooms now.

 

[3happydancers]

i thought i read that at HRH free fridges were in the rooms now.

They are. Learned this when we booked our stay for HRH in late August. But the thing is, they said they supplied all resorts with mini fridges now yet I see some have said only the HRH. So not sure about the other deluxe resorts.

 

[Bluer101]

We'll as of last weekend RPR had none. This weekend we are a PBH so we will see.

 

[rcraw45425]

Yeah, it may just be HRH. The lady I spoke with was adamant about none but she was trying to sell RPR to me too. No garden view rooms at HRH with the AAA discount (what I was searching since there are no other discounts out there she said).

Damo, I'm looking at July 10-13 but I'm also waiting on hubby's ER schedule for July. I'm pretty locked into the first two weeks of July as older DD will be through with her summer semester of college and DD17 will have finished her drum major camp in Indiana and won't have to be at school yet for Marching band camps. Having older kids really makes it difficult to plan!

 

[cah1pgh]

Check out orbitz. They have a code for discount on CB rooms and I got $78/night in September. Cheaper to do that and buy unlimited EP than stay at deluxe.

 

[rcraw45425]

Check out orbitz. They have a code for discount on CB rooms and I got $78/night in September. Cheaper to do that and buy unlimited EP than stay at deluxe.

for my dates Orbitz is quoting rack rate. I just ran the numbers in spread sheet form and for two adults and one junior RPR is within just a few dollars of CB after I factor in the doubling of ticket price for unlimited express. HRH is around $200 more, $1400 vs $1600 for three nights with two day park to park unlimited. Insane. Maybe I should run numbers for WDW!

 

[cah1pgh]

Maybe mine was so much cheaper because of going in September.

 

[damo]

Mid July is prime time. It's going to be tough to find any bargoons.

A club 2 queen room at the PBH is $380 with the annual pass rate. That's not bad. An ap is going to run you $300 bucks. Not sure if that would be an option for you.

There are no other rooms available with the AP other than Cabana Bay at $105.



I checked out the Deluxes at WDW just to compare and their standard views were all over $400/night.

 

[sassy2000]

We just got back from Cabana Bay yesterday. Stayed for 6 nights. Here is my opinion:
Pros: *The suites are VERY nice to have with 2 kids. We can put them to bed and stay in the living area, not having to worry about keeping them up. Beds were very comfortable.
*Bathroom area is divided 3 ways by doors. 1.Shower/bath with sink 2. Vanity area 3. Toilet
*Kitchenette area has mini fridge, microwave, sink, and plenty of storage area for food and drinks
*Bus service was FANTASTIC! We never waited more then 5 minutes for the bus. It always seemed like when we left our room, the bus was pulling out and by the time we got to the bus stop, another bus was there. It is only a 5 min ride to City Walk. I really think travel time was quicker with the bus then it was during our stay at RPH waiting on the boat or walking.
*Small walk-in closet
*Not nearly as crowded as RPH was during our stay there last summer. The pool was very fun too. Kids enjoyed the slide. They had movies by the pool every night too.

Cons: *Food court left ALOT to be desired. We ate there twice, lunch and a breakfast on our departure day. The place was empty. Food was cold both times. I had the tuna sandwich for lunch which was delicious but beware if the place is empty, the hot food has obviously been sitting out for awhile and was not at all warm.
*Couple problems in the room, hairdryer did not work 1st night. It blew very slowly and was super hot and kept shorting out. Called maintenance but did not wait for them to come because we had dining reservations. When we got back that night they had left a card saying it was fixed. NOT! 2nd night, same thing so we called again and this time he came and replaced it. It worked fine the rest of our stay until our last night when it got super hot, smelled like smoke, and died The TV in living area would shut off for no reason. It did this on several occasions and I have no idea why. The wiring for the room is a little weird. The light switch by the front door has to be on for the closet in the back of the bedroom to work. I won't tell you how long it took us to figure that one out.
*They do not have fitted sheets on the beds. They use flat sheets that barely cover the mattress. I'm not sure why.
*Parking gate is very glitch. It always took 3-4 attempts at swiping our room key for the gate to work. Apparently someone else took issue with this because we watched a guy get out of his car and manually push the gate up. I guess he was tired of swiping his card lol.

With the new HP opening I'm sure crowds will be a lot worse then they were for us but we didn't need express passes. We never waited more then 20 min for anything except FJ and most lines were under 10 min. From 11:00-2:00 were the busiest times.

 

[rcraw45425]

Mid July is prime time. It's going to be tough to find any bargoons.

A club 2 queen room at the PBH is $380 with the annual pass rate. That's not bad. An ap is going to run you $300 bucks. Not sure if that would be an option for you.

There are no other rooms available with the AP other than Cabana Bay at $105.



I checked out the Deluxes at WDW just to compare and their standard views were all over $400/night.

I looked at WDW too damo but for some weird reason I can get Swan regular room with AAA for $139 a night, go figure.

 

[rcraw45425]

We just got back from Cabana Bay yesterday. Stayed for 6 nights. Here is my opinion:
Pros: *The suites are VERY nice to have with 2 kids. We can put them to bed and stay in the living area, not having to worry about keeping them up. Beds were very comfortable.
*Bathroom area is divided 3 ways by doors. 1.Shower/bath with sink 2. Vanity area 3. Toilet
*Kitchenette area has mini fridge, microwave, sink, and plenty of storage area for food and drinks
*Bus service was FANTASTIC! We never waited more then 5 minutes for the bus. It always seemed like when we left our room, the bus was pulling out and by the time we got to the bus stop, another bus was there. It is only a 5 min ride to City Walk. I really think travel time was quicker with the bus then it was during our stay at RPH waiting on the boat or walking.
*Small walk-in closet
*Not nearly as crowded as RPH was during our stay there last summer. The pool was very fun too. Kids enjoyed the slide. They had movies by the pool every night too.

Cons: *Food court left ALOT to be desired. We ate there twice, lunch and a breakfast on our departure day. The place was empty. Food was cold both times. I had the tuna sandwich for lunch which was delicious but beware if the place is empty, the hot food has obviously been sitting out for awhile and was not at all warm.
*Couple problems in the room, hairdryer did not work 1st night. It blew very slowly and was super hot and kept shorting out. Called maintenance but did not wait for them to come because we had dining reservations. When we got back that night they had left a card saying it was fixed. NOT! 2nd night, same thing so we called again and this time he came and replaced it. It worked fine the rest of our stay until our last night when it got super hot, smelled like smoke, and died The TV in living area would shut off for no reason. It did this on several occasions and I have no idea why. The wiring for the room is a little weird. The light switch by the front door has to be on for the closet in the back of the bedroom to work. I won't tell you how long it took us to figure that one out.
*They do not have fitted sheets on the beds. They use flat sheets that barely cover the mattress. I'm not sure why.
*Parking gate is very glitch. It always took 3-4 attempts at swiping our room key for the gate to work. Apparently someone else took issue with this because we watched a guy get out of his car and manually push the gate up. I guess he was tired of swiping his card lol.

With the new HP opening I'm sure crowds will be a lot worse then they were for us but we didn't need express passes. We never waited more then 20 min for anything except FJ and most lines were under 10 min. From 11:00-2:00 were the busiest times.

thanks for this honest current review! We're also a family of four but our girls are 17 & 19 now. If the second bed was in the alcove part of the suite it'd be perfect as they stay up watching tv whenever we share a room. our last stay at US was PBH club level over thanksgiving, I don't thin kI want to stay there again for a while. For every two boats for RPR and HRH there was at the most one PBH boat during our entire stay. The bus sounds ten times better than Disney buses, especially the ones for AKL!

We're not food court people, so I'm wondering about the dining options. In terms of closeness, I guess HRH has the most variety the closet when you factor in City Walk. Although with the boat from RPR the playing field is leveled.

This trip would be mostly to see the new Gringotts ride and the new HP stuff, all of the other rides are fun but not essential. I just don't know if RPR would be a better fit factoring in not having to pay double for our tickets with unlimited EP ($155 per person PER DAY!)

Thanks every and keep your opinions coming. I have a courtesy hold on a room at RPR until 4pm tomorrow so I have a little time to decide.

 

[damo]

Robin, if you are there mainly for the Harry Potter stuff, remember that the Harry Potter stuff doesn't accept express passes. Perhaps you don't even need them???!!!???


We've stayed at the Swan a couple of times. I really like it! Gotta add the service charge on there too of $23/night and the beds are just doubles.

 

[Lynzer4]

I booked my room at RPR for July 11-13 on cheap tickets. It was $240 a night for a total of $580. They had a 25% of during Memorial Day. July 4th Might have a 25% also. That was the cheapest I was able to find the rooms. The original price was $330 a night.

 

[rcraw45425]

I booked my room at RPR for July 11-13 on cheap tickets. It was $240 a night for a total of $580. They had a 25% of during Memorial Day. July 4th Might have a 25% also. That was the cheapest I was able to find the rooms. The original price was $330 a night.

thanks, I looked, $320 a night for RPR, $174 Cabana Bay, $389 Hard Rock and $390 PBH. No deals during our "tentative"dates (still no schedule for hubby)

 

[mdsd8700]

thanks, I looked, $320 a night for RPR, $174 Cabana Bay, $389 Hard Rock and $390 PBH. No deals during our "tentative"dates (still no schedule for hubby)

I know you are not sure of your dates but if you use the code JetSet on Cheap Tickets the rooms at all Universal resorts are supposed to be 20% off through the end of the year. I seen it on Mousesavers, must be booked by June 15th, if you will know your dates by then.

Be careful though Mousesavers mentions a glitch that you have to call back to add kids under 18 otherwise it charges them as extra adults.

 

[Lynzer4]

thanks, I looked, $320 a night for RPR, $174 Cabana Bay, $389 Hard Rock and $390 PBH. No deals during our "tentative"dates (still no schedule for hubby)

.

Yes you have to use jetset in the promo code box. You don't see the discount until you go to book then you see the price change.

 

[3happydancers]

We'll as of last weekend RPR had none. This weekend we are a PBH so we will see.

Thanks Bluer! If you remember, could you post whether PBH has a mini fridge. Just curious.

 

[Bluer101]

Thanks Bluer! If you remember, could you post whether PBH has a mini fridge. Just curious.

Sure thing, that's what I live for. Lol.

Word of mouth fine of do you need a photo ?

I wonder if they do put them in if it will be one in the parlor room and one in the bedroom for suites?