Posted my review as a separate thread, but since it will quickly disappear I'll post here also. This CBR thread has a wealth of info, really helped me out when planning our trip.
Caribbean Beach Resort - CBR - July 10 - 19, 2009
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HISTORY: This was our 26th Disneyworld trip. Our first 5 trips were at Port Orleans Riverside, since then we have stayed multiple times at all of the value resorts. It was me-47, DH-49, DS-23, DD-16.
PRE-TRIP: I decided we needed a change and booked Caribbean Beach Resort, mostly because it was recently refurbished. Our trip was for Saturday, July 11 through Sunday July 19, 8 nights, preferred building. We had 4 days left on a previous park hopper, no dining plan.
TRAVEL DAY: We left home at 7:30 am on Friday, July 10 planning to stop in Tallahassee, Florida for the night which was an 8 hour drive. The next morning we would finish the last 4 hours of our trip to Disneyworld. As we so often do, we changed our plan. We were almost in Tallahassee, it was still early, everyone was in agreement. I called Disney Reservations and asked if we could check in a day early. The CM said a room was available, so we continued on and arrived at CBR around 9:30 pm. Our 8 night trip was now a 9 night trip.
CHECK IN: Since it was kind of late, there was no line at check in. The CM said something about a second floor room. I asked her if we could possibly get a room Building 25, ground floor. She disappeared for a few seconds, came back and said we have room 2514 in Martinique, Building 25, ground floor. Great! Check in was fast and easy.
MARTINIQUE-BUILDING 25-ROOM 2514-GROUND FLOOR: We walked into our room, took in a deep breath, it smelled very fresh. Did a visual inspection, was very clean and neat, we were happy. What we liked about the room(some of this is in comparison to value resorts because that is what we are use to): the extra space really made a difference, the privacy curtain comes in handy when you have grown children, the extra lavatory is nice to have, my son did use the coffee pot a few mornings, I put two cups of ice in the refrigerator the night we got there to make sure it was cold enough, and the ice was still in the cups the morning we left, so, the frig was definitely cold. Now, the number one thing we liked about our CBR room is
.the old fashioned air conditioners! First of all they cool off the room very fast, as compared to value resorts that have the updated systems. And the noise so drowns out any outside noise. We loved this. The beds were comfortable, I slept better here than I do at the values, mostly because of the humming of the a/c.
DHs IMPRESSION FIRST MORNING: Maybe we should switch to Pop Century half way through our trip. (Remember this.)
MOUSEKEEPING: Our room was cleaned everyday, vacuumed, wiped down, extra towels, the sheets were changed twice, every 4 days. No complaints from us. We left a tip every morning.
FOOD COURT: Now this is where I prefer the value resorts, their selection is more., but we were satisfied. We ate breakfast most mornings, I was hooked on the Western Omelet and potatoes with a bowl of fresh pineapple, but tried the French Toast/Bacon a couple of mornings. We also tried the Pasta w/Marinara Sauce and Meatballs, Pork with Mashed Potatoes, Corn, and Cornbread, and the16 Pepperoni Pizza, all were good. My kids were hooked on the Worms in Dirt, DH and I liked it too! Also got a couple of M & M cookies, I love cookies. We bought refillable mugs and used them a lot. I drink a lot of tea and liked the sweetened green tea. We got ice cream once, you buy the cup at checkout, then go to the soft serve machine (vanilla, chocolate, or swirl) and fix it yourself, with chocolate or butterscotch syrup.
POOL: We swam in the main pool two times. It was great! We all went down the slide multiple times, so fun. Loved watching the bucket overturn in the kids section, the little ones were having a blast in there. Liked that they had towels by the pool.
LAUNDRY ROOM: We washed 3 loads of clothes twice while there. $2.00 for washer/ $2.00 for dryer. Worked fine and had to only use one drying cycle for each load.
SIDEWALK AROUND LAKE: DH walked 2 laps every morning. Took 20 minutes to walk each lap. (He really grew to like this.) I walked a few times also, wish we had this atmosphere to walk around every day!
WILDLIFE: We saw ducks, squirrels, lizards, rabbits, and I wont mention anything about the 2 ft. black snake that crossed the path in front of me and DD near our room (IT WAS ON A PATH, NOT THE SIDEWALK IN FRONT OF OUR ROOM), or about the alligator in the lake. Were from south Louisiana, not a biggy for us. Mosquitos - didn't see any, not even one.
CONCEIRGE: I had to go ask about finding a nearby clinic to take DD to on Friday. They had a pamphlet and map to get to Florida Hospital Centra Care Clinic right around the corner from the Downtown Disney Disneyworld entrance. We went there and the people were very nice. It was CROWDED and we were there for a total of 4 hours (walk in clinic), but it served what we needed. (This clinic has complimentary shuttle service from Disney resorts if you ever need it. Very nice to know.)
GAME ROOM: My DD and DS played here a few times and had fun. They dont have the games where you win tickets to buy stuff, like at the value resorts, but thats ok.
BUS TRANSPORTATION: We drove everywhere except the Magic Kingdom where we rode the bus 2 times used the Martinique bus stop. The first time, a MK bus was leaving right as we got there. But it took only about 10 minutes for another one to come. The second time, a MK bus got there almost as soon as we got to the bus stop. Both times we were first to be picked up and first to be dropped off. The numerous bus stops were not bad at all to us.
ILLUMINATIONS: DH and I pulled up a chair by the Shutters entrance and watched the fireworks. You can actually see the top of Spaceship Earth from there. I enjoyed it with an M & M cookie and a White Russian from the pool bar. Yum.
MISC: The Space Shuttle took off while we were there. Lots of Cast Members came out by Shutters entrance and people stopped in their tracks to watch. But, there were lots of clouds and only some got a glimpse of it through an open patch in the clouds. If you werent looking in the right spot, you missed it, I did.
DHs FINAL REMARK ABOUT CBR: I would definitely want to stay here again. And that remark pretty much sums up what we thought about Caribbean Beach Resort.
PS--I took a walk around the lake and did a photo shoot around the entire circle. Will open up a Photobucket account later and post all of the pictures in the order that I took them. CBR is such a beautiful resort.
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Do you mean the extra sink?
I should have used Disney terms, CBR has double sinks in the dressing area, where the value resorts have just one sink.
