Caribbean Beach FAQ part V

[princessmom29]

I just ran the OLP transportation wizard. It says If we want to come back from AKL to CBR, we have to take a bus to Blizzard Beach, then from there another bus to CBR. Is transportation regular in the off season (we're talking mid-January) and at night? I wanted to make an ADR at Jiko or Sanaa after AK, but if we are going to be stuck taking a taxi cab, maybe not. TIA!!!

There is no resort to resort transportation. You would have to take a bus to a park of some sort and then to the resort. Blizzard Beach is the closest place to do that for the route you are traveling. From what I understand, cab fare between the resorts runs $15-$20.

 

[mcd2745]

I just ran the OLP transportation wizard. It says If we want to come back from AKL to CBR, we have to take a bus to Blizzard Beach, then from there another bus to CBR. Is transportation regular in the off season (we're talking mid-January) and at night? I wanted to make an ADR at Jiko or Sanaa after AK, but if we are going to be stuck taking a taxi cab, maybe not. TIA!!!

There is no resort to resort transportation. You would have to take a bus to a park of some sort and then to the resort. Blizzard Beach is the closest place to do that for the route you are traveling. From what I understand, cab fare between the resorts runs $15-$20.

You may have to plan on taking a differnt bus though.If you have a dinner ressie at AKL, when you finish dinner it is likely that Blizzrd Beach and AK (same bus) will be closed (especially in Jan) and buses may no longer be running to them. If that's the case, just go to Epcot, DHS, or Downtown Disney. All are very close to CBR.

 

[Crazy Kanga]

We are going with another family but they are flying in and will arrive several hours earlier than us. If we both do online check in will we be able to get rooms near each other or would we be better off letting them do regular check in and asking for adjoining rooms then?

 

[TaraBara]

Wow! What a fantastic trip we had!!!!! We did a split stay while there. We stayed 5 nights at CBR and 3 nights at AKL. Our stay at CBR was amazing!!!! I requested Jamaica and was able to get a first floor corner room in building 46.
We loved just about everything about CBR and the double beds didn't bother us a bit. To tell you the truth, we were actually wishing we had booked the entire stay at CBR. We found out that split stays are not for us and AKL was not a good fit for our family. I sure hope we can go back again next year!!!!!!

 

[Ariel on Land]

We are going with another family but they are flying in and will arrive several hours earlier than us. If we both do online check in will we be able to get rooms near each other or would we be better off letting them do regular check in and asking for adjoining rooms then?

I can't say for sure about online check in since it was down the last time we went, but I had our two ressies "tagged" together with reservations so when SIL arrived first and checked in, she asked if we were going to be adjoining, they said yes, they had it in their system. SO when we got there 4 hours or so later, our room was right next door! No problem!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Wow! What a fantastic trip we had!!!!! We did a split stay while there. We stayed 5 nights at CBR and 3 nights at AKL. Our stay at CBR was amazing!!!! I requested Jamaica and was able to get a first floor corner room in building 46.
We loved just about everything about CBR and the double beds didn't bother us a bit. To tell you the truth, we were actually wishing we had booked the entire stay at CBR. We found out that split stays are not for us and AKL was not a good fit for our family. I sure hope we can go back again next year!!!!!!

Welcome back! So glad you had such a nice time at CBR, thanks for the report.

 

[safetymom]

We are going with another family but they are flying in and will arrive several hours earlier than us. If we both do online check in will we be able to get rooms near each other or would we be better off letting them do regular check in and asking for adjoining rooms then?

You should call reservations and ask for a "travel with" on both reservations. That will help when they go to assign rooms.

 

[Missy Mousie]

subscribing

 

[love2go2disney2]

Is the bus transportation as bad as everyone says it is? We will have a rental car when we visit. However with 3 kids I want to be able to go back to the resort and rest.

Thanks

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

We have always had excellent bus service at WDW and particularly at CBR. I told all about our last experience in the first post of this review ~ http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2074555

 

[mcd2745]

Bus service wasn't bad when we were just there, particularly going to the parks. Coming back was definitely worse - especially when you leave a park at closing. I mentioned it in my brief trip report a few posts back, but it always seemed like CBR was getting the least amount of buses. What was driving all of nuts was that there was a seemingly never-ending parade of busues going to Pop Century. Definitely one night at MK after Wishes, there were at least 8 Pop buses to only 3 for CBR.

 

[mercydisney]

Bus service wasn't bad when we were just there, particularly going to the parks. Coming back was definitely worse - especially when you leave a park at closing. I mentioned it my brief trip report a few posts back, but it always seemed like CBR was getting the least amount of buses. What was driving all of nuts was that there was a seemingly never-ending parade of busues going to Pop Century. Definitely one night at MK after Wishes, there were at least 8 Pop buses to only 3 for CBR.

It's funny, we had the opposite experience. Their was always a bus waiting for us when we were leaving the parks. We had to wait at least 15min for a bus to get to a park.

Our 1st day their the bus for Epcot to forever. The bus driver drove as if he had nowhere to go. Seriously I think if we would of walked we would of gotten to Epcot before the bus did.

Loved my CBR stay.

 

[catbertdave99]

We've always had good bus service at CBR as well. Seems like there's always a bus coming -- but even when we've had to wait a little while, it's better than me having to drive all over -- that way, I get a vacation too!!!

Coming back from the parks, sometimes we've had to wait a while, but for me, it's still been worth it.

 

[TaraBara]

Is the bus transportation as bad as everyone says it is? We will have a rental car when we visit. However with 3 kids I want to be able to go back to the resort and rest.

Thanks

We were at CBR from 8/28-9/2 with our 7 and 4 year old boys. I can't say we had the best bus service, but it wasn't horrible either. I'm a pretty patient person though so having a bus take up to 15 or 20 minutes doesn't really bother me. There were times we got right onto a bus and other times we would have to wait a while. I don't think this problem is exclusive to CBR though. We also stayed at AKL from 9/2-9/5 and had about the same experience. I think the worst bus service is probably from the resort to Downtown Disney, but I'm not 100% positive.

Bus service isn't something that is a "make it or break it" in my opinion. Even though we occasionally had to wait for a bus at CBR, I would go back there in a heartbeat! I am seriously missing it so much!!!! I told my husband every day, "I love it here! This is the best vacation!"
I was already thinking ahead to next year while we were there. I mentioned trying out another resort to my husband, but we loved CBR so much that we both just want to go back there again!!!!!! I don't need the amenities of the deluxe resorts at all.......just give me the beautiful, relaxing, tranquil surroundings of CBR and I will be in my happy place!

 

[mickeystoontown]

We've always had good bus service at CBR as well. Seems like there's always a bus coming -- but even when we've had to wait a little while, it's better than me having to drive all over -- that way, I get a vacation too!!!

Coming back from the parks, sometimes we've had to wait a while, but for me, it's still been worth it.

Ditto!

 

[verticalchaos]

We were at CBR from 8/28-9/2 with our 7 and 4 year old boys. I can't say we had the best bus service, but it wasn't horrible either. I'm a pretty patient person though so having a bus take up to 15 or 20 minutes doesn't really bother me. There were times we got right onto a bus and other times we would have to wait a while. I don't think this problem is exclusive to CBR though. We also stayed at AKL from 9/2-9/5 and had about the same experience. I think the worst bus service is probably from the resort to Downtown Disney, but I'm not 100% positive.

Bus service isn't something that is a "make it or break it" in my opinion. Even though we occasionally had to wait for a bus at CBR, I would go back there in a heartbeat! I am seriously missing it so much!!!! I told my husband every day, "I love it here! This is the best vacation!"
I was already thinking ahead to next year while we were there. I mentioned trying out another resort to my husband, but we loved CBR so much that we both just want to go back there again!!!!!! I don't need the amenities of the deluxe resorts at all.......just give me the beautiful, relaxing, tranquil surroundings of CBR and I will be in my happy place!

I really agree with the part I bolded. I've stayed at most of the mods and 1 deluxe (my parents have stayed at other deluxes) and the bus service has varied in a pretty standard way across the board. The only time we've ever had "really long" (meaning 15-20 minutes) waits was if we saw the bus pulling away as we were on our way to the bus stop. Other times it was never as long as 15-20 minutes.

With the exception of DTD - whether that's because in most (? all?) cases you're doing water park drop off/pick up or for some other reason I don't know. But it does seem like the DTD bus issue is always, well, a bit of an issue. If we're heading there, that's where we usually take advantage of my CM sister and her car and just drive over there.

 

[memster]

We've always had good bus service at CBR as well. Seems like there's always a bus coming -- but even when we've had to wait a little while, it's better than me having to drive all over -- that way, I get a vacation too!!!

Coming back from the parks, sometimes we've had to wait a while, but for me, it's still been worth it.

I agree we went Aug 22 to Aug 28 in the bus service was great leaving the resort but coming back sometimes could be a little wait.

 

[mcd2745]

We were at CBR from 8/28-9/2 with our 7 and 4 year old boys. I can't say we had the best bus service, but it wasn't horrible either. I'm a pretty patient person though so having a bus take up to 15 or 20 minutes doesn't really bother me. There were times we got right onto a bus and other times we would have to wait a while. I don't think this problem is exclusive to CBR though. We also stayed at AKL from 9/2-9/5 and had about the same experience. I think the worst bus service is probably from the resort to Downtown Disney, but I'm not 100% positive.

Bus service isn't something that is a "make it or break it" in my opinion. Even though we occasionally had to wait for a bus at CBR, I would go back there in a heartbeat! I am seriously missing it so much!!!! I told my husband every day, "I love it here! This is the best vacation!"
I was already thinking ahead to next year while we were there. I mentioned trying out another resort to my husband, but we loved CBR so much that we both just want to go back there again!!!!!! I don't need the amenities of the deluxe resorts at all.......just give me the beautiful, relaxing, tranquil surroundings of CBR and I will be in my happy place!

We feel the same way. While it got a little frustrating waiting for the buses coming back (mainly the one night it took over an hour before we made it on a bus returning from MK)...we wouldn't hesitate to stay there again. You really do feel like you're in the islands when you're there. I love it.

 

[javamom]

I have bus issues with the mods, which is one of my biggest concerns for this trip. But, since we are only staying 2 nights here, I just need to suck it up and wait!

 

[brookness]

We also recently got back from CBR. Our stay was 8/29-9/3. We did online check-in and it worked fine, but wasn't a necessity. There were no lines for either place. We paid for a preferred room through Travelocity and got our requests (ground floor, connecting with my mom), no problem. I think they put us as far away from OPR in preferred as they could've...bldg 33 in Trinidad North. It wasn't really far, but slightly annoying, since I paid to be closer, and really don't think we were. We were very close to the bus stop, which was very nice, and had excellent bus service. I think one time, we wondered why it was taking so long, and then it showed up. Leaving the parks, we were very lucky and never waited more than a couple of minutes. I didn't love all the different stops at the resort...I think we've been spoiled by one stop at POFQ.

We have no complaints or issues with the room at all. It was perfectly clean and well kept. Overnight one night (or VERY early in the am), they powerwashed the walkway outside our room. That was a little noisy and annoying, but no one but me even noticed it.

We only ate at the food court, so cannot comment on Shutters. The turkey dinner was quite good, and I kept going back to that! I agree with a PP that it was really cold in there. In swim clothes with cover-ups, it was uncomfortably cool to sit and eat.

My daughter (10) preferred the slide at the pool at POFQ. She doesn't like enclosed slides, so she really stayed on the smaller of the two, but she enjoyed it. The kids water play area is fantastic in theory, but there are no lifeguards and the older kids playing in it like banshees made it unsafe for my 2 yo son. It was also much colder water than the main pool, which we thought odd. My son ended up wanting to be in the big pool anyway, so none of that really mattered in the long run. It seemed like the pool area was smaller than POFQ, but it could've just been perception. I hated to imagine what it would be like when it was really busy, though, as it was pretty crowded at times, and the parks and resort were not busy at all.

The bottom line for us is...CBR is a very nice resort, and we would certainly stay there again, but it wouldn't be our first choice. I would only stay there in a preferred area, personally. That was not because there were any problems, but just personal preference. For some, the size is a huge problem, for others, it doesn't matter. We were kind of in between, but we do prefer a smaller resort, in general. I would certainly recommend it, even though it wouldn't be my "goto" resort.

Hope that helps anyone looking for info!

Brooke