Caribbean Beach & Moderates Review

[jude&jonah]

I wanted to review CBR on here since I just returned yesterday and see a lot of CBR questions on the disboards. I went on an adults only trip to Disney world for a week and we did 6 nights at CBR (and one at the Poly- our dream resort!)

I had stayed at CBR 18 years ago but was a child and could barely remember it. I have also stayed at CSR in 2011 and have also taken the time to extensively walk around POR and POFQ.

I was nervous when getting ready to head out to CBR that I'd made the wrong choice. My traveling partner and I chose it for the Caribbean feel- both northerners who needed a bright and colorful escape from winter- but I kept seeing it at the bottom of every list of the moderates and that made me nervous. I almost was tempted to switch us to POR.

I have to say we were very happy! We requested Jamaica and didn't get it- so asked very politely at the front desk if they could check if there was any Jamaica availability. Ideally we wanted Jamaica 45 upper level- but didn't say it. Guess what we got? Jamaica 45- upper level! Wow, we loved this location! The buildings are the prettiest in the entire place IMO and the location was ideal. It was less than a 5 minute walk across the bridge in the morning to fill up our mugs. I love how vs. CSR the pool was close to the food court- it was nice to have a little central hub area. We were also so happy by the tropical feel of the resort- that is just such a big plus for me. It feels like a vacation within a vacation. The room was also huge and the cast members were fabulous! Oh and also the pool itself is great- favorite moderate pool followed by CSR personally. We didn't feel the resort was too big- it felt very similar in size to POR and CSR to me just situated a bit differently. I think for those concerned about size I'd suggest requesting a building closer- I think most of the time they help you out- or pay for preferred.

Drawbacks were the room was definitely more dated than some (but I think they're redoing them right? We aren't too picky so it didn't bother us much) and of course the bus system- which we knew about in advance. It definitely added about 15 minutes onto each of our travel times- which was a little frustrating. With that said- I think we felt the theming of the resort was worth the longer bus waiting- but again- no strollers with us

After really analyzing all of the mods what strikes me as the coolest thing about Disney is that I love ALL of the moderate resorts- I honestly don't think there's one that I wouldn't stay in. I liked staying at CSR about the same as CBR and although the theming of POR and POFQ aren't as appealing to me- those resorts still have their own unique elements and cool features too- I'm sure over the years I will try each out.

There's always such a debate here on "this resort" vs "this resort" and while I do agree they all have pluses and minuses- I truly think the unique theming of each is what makes it hard to make a definitive call of one vs. another. In the future I can only imagine telling people to pick a resort based on what pictures they fall in love with- because I think ambiance is what it's all about personally- particularly if traveling without children under the age of 5.

Oh and the view from our front door- we looked out onto this gorgeous little courtyard and then were about 50 paces from a view of the lake. Loved it!

 

[FantasiaMagic]

Thanks for the trip report. Glad you had a nice time at CBR. I have also stayed at deluxe villas while in disney but i really would like to try a mod. Not sure whih one i would try yet since like you said they all seem nice in their own way.

Thanks for the great pics!

-FantasiaMagic

 

[grumpytx]

Over the years we've questioned, on property versus off property, on property has always won. The next question is where? Clearly everyone has their favorites but I came to the conclusion years ago, on property ANYWHERE is always GOOD!

 

[minnie mum]

I'm glad you enjoyed the resort so much- your report pretty much mirrors our feeling about CBR. And I completely agree with your views on selecting resorts. Everybody has their favourites- the only way to pick a resort (most of the time) is to just go with the one that appeals to you the most.

 

[nkereina]

Since you did Poly as well, do you feel the price difference for Poly is worth it over CBR? We always stay moderate and are tempted by deluxe but can't justify the additional cost. We stayed at Poly on our very first trip and haven't been deluxe since.

 

[mmmears]

Thanks for the great review! I've always though that the tropical theming of CBR looked appealing, but I've also read some negative things about it. Good to read another review with a different perspective.

 

[tinkmagic07]

We are heading back to CBR in April and while I haven't tried other moderates, we have a few others to compare to and keep going back to CBR. My DH wanted to stay at Poly, but just couldn't justify the huge price difference. The CBR food court suits the kids the best and my son loves the pool/slide, while the little princess loves the splah park - CBR meets all our needs. And DH and I love the "escape" feeling from the north as well. Love that as soon as you get on the park buses the steel drums are playing.

Jamaica 45 is our building of choice as well - was lucky enough to ask and get it (Aruba 51 works the same). Opted to try Preferred this trip and hoping to get Martinique. Reason for Preferred... we got Trinidad South once - we booked last minute and this is what they had. The walk to Port Royale was too far for grandma, so we had to take bus every time we went for food or to the pool, and sometimes the internal bus would stop for 20 minutes at the custom house, so hoping Preferred upgrade solves these issues.

Snow today... I'm DONE with hurricanes, blizzards, and Nor'Easters!!!! I can't wait to see the palm trees and beautiful colors at CBR!! 50 days and counting!!!

 

[jude&jonah]

Glad it was helpful to many- I'm sure once I stay at POR and POFQ one day I'll probably see more differences between the places- but by what I can tell all the mods really do seem to even out in different ways. I can imagine Trinidad South being super far- I would probably try to upgrade to preferred when checking in (if financially possible) if I got put there.

Regarding Polynesian vs. Caribbean- Poly was a million times better IMO. I loved loved loved it and we purposefully limited our park visiting when we were there. We only had one night- but we got there at 2am Monday and left at 3pm the next day so it was a full 24 hours- and during the time we only went to MK for 3 hours- otherwise we stayed on Poly property to enjoy it. For me I could never afford deluxe (or even jusify deluxe) for an entire trip- so while we loved it a million times more (just the ambiance was amazing, the location, the magical feel, the huge rooms, the nice restaurants on property, etc.) I think we will stick with split stays for the future. One night was not enough at the poly so I'm thinking in the future something like 5 nights at a moderate (or even value- I'm not a huge value person but I do want to try AoA at some point) and then the final two nights doing a less park heavy ending to the trip and doing a moderate and doing more of a food focused part of the trip. We kind of mixed and matched a lot and did some nice food throughout the whole trip- but I definitely think in the future I would do 5 days at a moderate and do more of a commando approach with not as great restaurants and a bit more quick service- then 2 nights at deluxe with 1 or 2 signature restaurants.

And so true about on property vs. off. We used to stay off a lot- but honestly it was NOT the same! I hate leaving the magic.... and well... I like having some cocktails and not having to drive!

Have a great trip everyone! You'll love CBR!

 

[danceintherain]

Jamaica 45 is our building of choice as well - was lucky enough to ask and get it (Aruba 51 works the same). Opted to try Preferred this trip and hoping to get Martinique. Reason for Preferred... we got Trinidad South once - we booked last minute and this is what they had. The walk to Port Royale was too far for grandma, so we had to take bus every time we went for food or to the pool, and sometimes the internal bus would stop for 20 minutes at the custom house, so hoping Preferred upgrade solves these issues.

Snow today... I'm DONE with hurricanes, blizzards, and Nor'Easters!!!! I can't wait to see the palm trees and beautiful colors at CBR!! 50 days and counting!!!

Trinidad South is all pirate themed rooms now, so you'll only get put out there if you book one of those.

We booked a king bed room at CBR with our only request as ground floor and got a corner ground floor room in Barbados 13. We don't mind a little extra walk, but this time around we're trying POFQ. I think it will be helpful with the 2 year old for everything to be at hand.

I totally agree about preference. I always see people trying to reconcile their resort choice by the transportation. In my experience, there's not a huge difference from place to place. Maybe the monorail resorts have monorail and boat transportation, but I can't get over the fact that they share buses with other resorts! It's one thing to make a loop around an interior road in a resort, it's something completely different to exit one resort and go to another.
We stayed at CBR, because the theme appealed to us. We stayed at AKL, because the cost suited at the time. We loved both trips and resorts. We're staying at POFQ because of the theme and the smallness of the resort.

 

[jude&jonah]

Becca- yes people always seem to make it about transportation and I do think that's so silly. Disney for us is about a magical experience- and we just don't let slow transportation get to us if we love the theming we've chose!