Caribbean Beach Resort FAQ Part 3

[who me?]

Thanks Declansdad and Aribelle ... true about the car just sitting there; also true that is nice to have that freedom. I am thinking we will give it a try for a few days without it, if it gets frustrating I can always give a call ... will do my homework before I go so I know who to call / prices etc.

Thanks again ... anyone else with experience I am all ears (so to speak) ...

 

[CleveRocks]

For me personally, one of the most delicious aspects of WDW trips is parking my car at my home airport, putting the car key in my WDW room safe, and not even looking at that key for a week.

I drive about 25,000 miles a year for work and play, and the idea of NOT driving for a week for me is, like I said, delicious. I love being able to sit back and shut my eyes for a few seconds. I love being able to cuddle and horse around with my kids on the bus.

I HATE that last morning just before leaving our room when I have to put my car key back in my pocket.

 

[gardengirlco]

The DSAs are listed on the map. There are a lot of DSAs at CBR. As I noted, we were in Aruba #55 and the courtyard right outside our room was a DSA. I'm not sure we would have known that based on the room # alone. Were I to ever go back to CBR, I would put in a request to not be near a DSA and then, when checking in, ask exactly where my room was relative to the DSAs. All of the buildings seem to have a DSA associated with them, but the DSA might be on one side of the building, so the other side would be more smoke free.

Here is a link to the CBR map: http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/cbrmap.htm

Thanks so much for the additional info and suggestions. I'll be sure to make the request and then follow up at check in.

 

[Debs Hill]

Snakes Alive!!! I think I will restrict 'the island' to daylight hours when I can see what is lurking! ha! ha!
When we were at the quiet pool at OKW a black snake was sliding behind our loungers over the bush........very close! My son thought this was so exciting, especially when the snake man came to remove it! This has only happened once.......other than that we've only ever seen lizards and bunnies....and hubby saw a gator on the golf course!
Debsxx

 

[mikkiwikki]

Snakes Alive!!! I think I will restrict 'the island' to daylight hours when I can see what is lurking! ha! ha!
When we were at the quiet pool at OKW a black snake was sliding behind our loungers over the bush........very close! My son thought this was so exciting, especially when the snake man came to remove it! This has only happened once.......other than that we've only ever seen lizards and bunnies....and hubby saw a gator on the golf course!
Debsxx

Little known fact : Did you know that the "Animatronic gators along the river bed in Adventureland" - that can be viewed via WDW railroad, have been 'bitten' by fellow challenging gators. I guess imagineers have had to repaint the animatronic gators numerous times due to tiffs with resident gators.

 

[mikkiwikki]

Has everyone seen this?

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/30/caribbeanbeachresort73008.jpg

Overall I think its really cool, and we would definitely change our location for this...but I think the privacy curtain would freak my kids out. Everything else can stay haha..

The following was published July 30, 2008
==================================================
by Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel's Tourism Central Florida


Walt Disney World has unveiled a rendering and a few details of some retheming and renovations in the works for Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort -- theming it after the hugely-popular Pirates of the Caribbean ride/movies/games franchise. Beds that look like ships. Dressers that look like old crates. Curtains that look like tattered sails.

Disney is planning the look for 384 rooms in the Trinidad South Village Area, set to be ready sometime next year. The resort has a total of 2,112 rooms.

 

[mikkiwikki]

Thanks for the nice comments. If I stayed on property again, I would definately like to stay at CBR again. However, assuming that car rental prices stay low, renting a nearby vacation home is looking much more tempting for my next trip.

Having done both - ie on-site AND offsite with car vs. onsite without car....I suggest adding up the costs of the house rental with the car rental. In my experience, after I added the car rental (and we would have to rent a mini-van) the cost resulted in our 'budget' enabling us to stay at a monorail resort if we so choose. My point, is make sure you add up all your costs before you make a decision. After I realized that the home rentals werent that much of a deal for us (once adding the mini-van cost) add to that the stress of navigating orlando with their lack of signage, and car rentals are not worth it to us. However you have to do what is right for your family. Just my 2 cents.

 

[BellAbbeys Mom]

Having done both - ie on-site AND offsite with car vs. onsite without car....I suggest adding up the costs of the house rental with the car rental. In my experience, after I added the car rental (and we would have to rent a mini-van) the cost resulted in our 'budget' enabling us to stay at a monorail resort if we so choose. My point, is make sure you add up all your costs before you make a decision. After I realized that the home rentals werent that much of a deal for us (once adding the mini-van cost) add to that the stress of navigating orlando with their lack of signage, and car rentals are not worth it to us. However you have to do what is right for your family. Just my 2 cents.

I too would have to rent a mini van, and after reading your post, I think I will stick it out with Disney's transportation. THANKS

 

[LuvsTinker]

The more I read / think about the bus service the more I am picturing us standing around endlessly waiting for a bus and/or spending too much time on one trying to get to the parks from CBR. I am sure the first day or two it is fun enough to check out the sights but coming home at 10 pm with two pooped kids and a cranky husband is more than I want to think about as part of my 'vacation'.

Although my budget is telling me otherwise, I am trying to figure out if renting a car is something I should consider. They seem to be fairly inexpensive considering the alternative.

We usually do rent a car every trip and still use the buses; with the exception of going to Downtown Disney.

If someone has a rush mode mentality, then the buses may not be for them, but otherwise it's really not a problem.

Consistently with each trip, our average wait from CBR is no more than 10 mins. - sometimes it does take 20 but that's not often; and other times the bus is pulling up as we are walking up. Leaving the parks usually is only overly crowded when the parks are closing. Again, I know by then it's late, but if you just go with the flow, it's really not a big problem. We do not let it aggravate us or interfer with our trip.

Have Fun!

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Last year on our trip in Dec. the longest we waited was 20 minutes for a bus, we were going to Epcot one morning, and we just missed the bus pulling away from the stop, so we had to wait for another. That was our longest wait. I did have to wait one day at DTD to get a bus back to CBR but I had just finished shopping most of the afternoon, so the wait on the bench was a bit welcome. Put your fears aside, your waits should not be too long. CBR is a great resort, if you are looking for a room close to Old Port Royale, then book a Preferred Room, it is not simply a request. If you do that, you should have a great trip. We did, and we have booked the same for this year.

 

[DJ Disney Kid]

Any chance anyone is going to be getting some pics of the current pool construction? I am officially booked at CBR for Nov. and Im just really excited to see how far they've gotten. I think the last time we had a photo update was last month. I hear the pool now has water and that most of it looks complete. Im really interested in seeing the progress, anyone?

 

[mickeystoontown]

Any chance anyone is going to be getting some pics of the current pool construction? I am officially booked at CBR for Nov. and Im just really excited to see how far they've gotten. I think the last time we had a photo update was last month. I hear the pool now has water and that most of it looks complete. Im really interested in seeing the progress, anyone?

Well, I took pictures last week but somehow my photos were lost when I connected my camera to my computer. I cried for an entire day!!!!

Anyway, when we were there, the workers were painting all the light fixtures and other accessories. The first couple of days, it looked like they were sealing the inside of the pool. The last day we were there, I was super surprised to see water in the pool. I don't know if they were testing the pool or what.

The fort part of the pool still had scaffolding all around it and I couldn't get a good look from the backside.

The new part with the boat and bucket looked completely finished.

If I can ever find my pictures on my computer (I ain't giving up without a fight!!!), I will post them.

I believe Safetymom was going to be making a trip over to the CBR soon and you know she'll have pics and info for us!

 

[Lilolvr]

There are programs that you can use to retrieve lost photos from cameras and/or sd cards. Search Google.

 

[ahecht]

When I left all the scaffolding was down, and the only construction left to do was the shingles on the roof of the bathroom/changing room building.

As for the lost pictures, try using Undelete Plus from http://undelete-plus.com/ . It's free, and it's helped me a few times in the past.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Has everyone seen this?

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/30/caribbeanbeachresort73008.jpg

Yes, this looks so cool!

I think it was very smart of Disney to take a location that people really didn't want to stay in (Trinidad South) and create a demand for it.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Well, I took pictures last week but somehow my photos were lost when I connected my camera to my computer. I cried for an entire day!!!!

I sure hope you can recover your pictures!

 

[mickeystoontown]

When I left all the scaffolding was down, and the only construction left to do was the shingles on the roof of the bathroom/changing room building.

As for the lost pictures, try using Undelete Plus from http://undelete-plus.com/ . It's free, and it's helped me a few times in the past.

Cool! We were there at the same time except we left two days earlier than you!

I appreciate everybody wishing me the best on retrieving the photos. I've decided to just wait a day or two and start trying again. You know how you try and try and look and look and you just become so disgusted that you aren't thinking straight anymore? Well, that's my situation right now. I am just praying and keeping my fingers crossed that I can get them back!

I took lots of photos of the new Nemo room. I took photos of the CBR pool construction. I took photos of the foods that we ate so I could post them on the food thread. I took a couple of photos of the new T-Rex restaurant.

I gotta go blow my nose since I am on the verge of tears again!

 

[OneBadApple]

Cool! We were there at the same time except we left two days earlier than you!

I appreciate everybody wishing me the best on retrieving the photos. I've decided to just wait a day or two and start trying again. You know how you try and try and look and look and you just become so disgusted that you aren't thinking straight anymore? Well, that's my situation right now. I am just praying and keeping my fingers crossed that I can get them back!

I took lots of photos of the new Nemo room. I took photos of the CBR pool construction. I took photos of the foods that we ate so I could post them on the food thread. I took a couple of photos of the new T-Rex restaurant.

I gotta go blow my nose since I am on the verge of tears again!

I now know exactly how you feel. Monday, I was given the news that my motherboard and hard drive went on my notebook. And guess what was on the notebook? You guess it all my pictures, music and other files. Luckily I have uploaded a lot of the pictures to Kodak, but I was literally in tears when DH called me to tell me the news.

 

[jonw]

So I booked a stay at CBR, two rooms, I requested "preferred" rooms and I was told I could have them for an extra cost. I said that that was fine. When my email confirmation came the rooms are labeled "CARIBBEAN BEACH-WATER VIEW". I didn't believe that these we really preferred rooms, so I called. The CM stated that they were in fact preferred and would be close to Centertown/Old Port Royele.

Are these really preferred? Do you pay extra for non-preferred water view rooms?

 

[mickeystoontown]

The more I read / think about the bus service the more I am picturing us standing around endlessly waiting for a bus and/or spending too much time on one trying to get to the parks from CBR. I am sure the first day or two it is fun enough to check out the sights but coming home at 10 pm with two pooped kids and a cranky husband is more than I want to think about as part of my 'vacation'.

Although my budget is telling me otherwise, I am trying to figure out if renting a car is something I should consider. They seem to be fairly inexpensive considering the alternative.

Q: Does anyone know if you have to pay for parking at the parks if you are staying at a resort ?

Thanks!

We drive to Walt Disney World so we have a car available to us. That being said, we only used it once during our 8 day 2008 stay and twice during our 10 day 2007 stay. During our 2008 stay, we went to a shop offsite and during our 2007 stay, we went to a shop offsite and drove to Epcot once.

We found that the buses at the CBR are an efficient way to get around Walt Disney World.

Although you don't have to pay to park at the theme parks if you are Disney resort guest, you must know that, often times, driving your own vehicle takes longer than taking Disney transportation.

If you will look at my post several posts above, you will see that I timed our rides to the theme parks and to Downtown Disney. They were all less than 30 minutes and some were wayyyy less than that.

When you drive your own vehicle to the Magic Kingdom, you will have to park in a parking lot at the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC). From the parking lot, you take a tram to the TTC. Once there, you must get on either the ferry boat or the monorail to get to the entrance to the Magic Kingdom. This takes quite a while. When taking a Disney bus from the CBR, you will bypass the TTC and will be dropped off very near the entrance to the park. Thus, you have saved a good bit of time.

When you drive to any of the other three theme parks, you will park your vehicle in the parking lot, get on a tram and be dropped off at the park entrance. It's a pain in the rear end to get onto one of the trams during the morning and evening rush. There is no rhyme or reason to getting on and everybody just rushes to it when it stops. I, personally, hate it.

The Downtown Disney parking situation is a pain too. There are several different parking areas and lots of them have one way traffic. So confusing and definitely not worth driving ourselves, in our opinion. Disney buses have two bus stops at Downtown Disney...one at Pleasure Island and one at Marketplace.

It's also nice to get into an airconditioned bus at the end of a hot and tiring day. Because the CBR is centrally located, it won't take long for you to get to any Disney destination or back to the CBR from anywhere on Disney property. So, even if you had to stand on a bus, you won't be standing for long.

Like I said, we never have had an issue with the Disney buses and I just can't see us fighting the traffic on Disney property. I'll let the experienced Disney bus drivers do it for me!