Caribbean Beach Resort FAQ's Part II

[mshawsc]

Thanks for the heads up - I will call first thing tomorrow!

 

[OneBadApple]

After reading the majority of this thread and getting some wonderful reviews from my BIL, we finally decided to book our upcoming trip at the CBR. We booked a preferred room for Nov 24 - 30. We are looking forward to trying a moderate. Our 1st trip to disney was last year and we stayed in the cabins at FW.

Thanks for a wonderful and informative thread.

 

[KMLOVESWDW]

Thinking about CBR for our next trip-unfortunately it would more than likely be in May when the main pool is closed. Any thoughts or knowledge on whether or not the Banana Cabana would be closed too? Any other thoughts on the resort would be great.

 

[safetymom]

I doubt Banana Cabana would be closed. If you don't want to read the entire FAQ start at the back and work your way forward. You will find all sorts of information about CBR.

 

[tinabheart]

Safetymom - will you pleeease keep us updated with pic's during the pool rehab next year???

 

[safetymom]

I sure will.

 

[TN_DISNEY]

Thinking about CBR for our next trip-unfortunately it would more than likely be in May when the main pool is closed. Any thoughts or knowledge on whether or not the Banana Cabana would be closed too? Any other thoughts on the resort would be great.

FWIW, we only went to the main pool once. We found the "village" pool to be just fine (and it was much closer to our room).

The larger pool was quite crowded and didn't have much shade. The slide at the pool also disected the pool in such a manner that it made it difficult for us to keep an eye on our two kids since they were in different parts of the pool (our 7 year old wanted to slide and our 3 year old can't swim).

 

[catbertdave99]

FWIW, we only went to the main pool once. We found the "village" pool to be just fine (and it was much closer to our room).

I agree. While the main pool is very popular, we spent more time at the quiet pool by far... often we were the only ones there!

 

[deejohn]

There are 8 other pools in the different villages, so you can still take a dip. My kids enjoyed the beach with the hammocks, playground, and sand.

 

[safetymom]

Just a reminder that pool hopping is not allowed for resort guests. At CBR you are allowed to use the other village quiet pools but you aren't allowed to use the pool at other Disney resorts.

 

[brenda1966]

We have friends who live in Florida -- can we have them come swim with us at the pool? Do they make sure each person has their room key with them when you get into the pool? (I know they don't do this at Pop, but I've never stayed at a moderate.)

 

[cdotla]

Again, my apologizes if these questions were already asked and answered.

1. Which is faster when travelling to MK:

(a) Disney bus straight there; or

(b) Disney bus to Epcot, and get monorail from there to MK?


2. We have character breakfast ressies at MK for 8am and I want to ensure that we will have no problem getting there. I hear the 1st busses start at 7:30am - true?

3. I assume there are different buses that arrive at CBR for each of the 4 Parks and other destinations, but I would also like to confirm this. i.e. if travelling from CBR to MK that we would not be making stops along the way at Epcot, MGM, ect.

4. Do the CBR buses to the Parks travel there direct or do they stop at other Disney resorts to pick up guests?

Many thanks!

 

[safetymom]

brenda1966, you should ask at the front desk of your resort or the life guards if you are allowed to have guests at the pool.

 

[safetymom]

cdotla, CBR does not share busses with the other resorts. You would board the MK bus and it would take you to MK directly.

I would think taking the bus directly to the park would be quicker than the bus and monorail.

 

[rotlex]

cdotla, CBR does not share busses with the other resorts. You would board the MK bus and it would take you to MK directly.

I would think taking the bus directly to the park would be quicker than the bus and monorail.

Sweet! Staying there in August and was not sure about the bus thing.

 

[cdotla]

cdotla, CBR does not share busses with the other resorts. You would board the MK bus and it would take you to MK directly.

I would think taking the bus directly to the park would be quicker than the bus and monorail.

Thanks Safety Mom.

Are there different buses for each Park?

 

[CleveRocks]

Again, my apologizes if these questions were already asked and answered.

1. Which is faster when travelling to MK:

(a) Disney bus straight there; or

(b) Disney bus to Epcot, and get monorail from there to MK?

This is an easy one ... bus straight to MK.

Try to look at it this way -----> each time you must wait for a mode of transportation, it adds to your transportation time. For a bus from CBR to MK, you wait for only one bus, a bus labeled "Magic Kingdom" that will take you directly to Magic Kingdom once it leaves CBR. If you went with plan (b) above, you'd first wait at CBR for an Epcot bus (which, on average, won't arrive any quicker than a MK bus), then you'd be dropped off at Epcot, then you'd walk to the monorail platform and wait for the monorail, then after riding the monorail to the Transportation and Ticket Center you'd have to get off the monorail and then walk around to the other monorail platform and wait for a monorail to take you to MK. In other words, this plan involves 3 separate waiting periods. They might be 1 minute each, they might be 15 minutes each, no way to know for sure.

3. I assume there are different buses that arrive at CBR for each of the 4 Parks and other destinations, but I would also like to confirm this. i.e. if travelling from CBR to MK that we would not be making stops along the way at Epcot, MGM, ect.

There are 7 bus stops at CBR (not including the bus stop at the Custom House, which is served ONLY by the CBR internal shuttle bus). Every bus will stop at every bus stop. There are separate buses for: MK only; Epcot only; MGM only; Animal Kingdom and Blizzard Beach; Downtown Disney and Typhoon Lagoon. So an Epcot bus goes ONLY to Epcot from CBR, it doesn't stop other places.

Buses going to/from Magic Kingdom and DTD will start in CBR at Martinique, and from there go clockwise to Old Port Royale, Trinidad North, Trinidad South, Jamaica, Aruba and finally Barbados, and then will go straight to MK.

All other buses will start in CBR at Jamaica and from there go clockwise to Aruba, Barbados, Martinique, Old Port Royale, Trinidad North and finally Trinidad South, and then will go straight to their specific destinations.

4. Do the CBR buses to the Parks travel there direct or do they stop at other Disney resorts to pick up guests?

CBR doesn't share buses with any other resorts.

 

[CleveRocks]

Are there different buses for each Park?

I answered this just above, but I'll put it in a different perspective.

Let's say your room is in Aruba, and you want to walk from your room to the Aruba bus stop to catch a bus to MGM. You see a bus coming around the bend, and you have to read the LED sign on the front of the bus (there are smaller ones on each side) to determine where it's going. The "signs" are in large capital letters. So if the first bus you see says "ANIMAL KINGDOM," you don't want to get on that bus. A few minutes later you might see a bus that says "MAGIC KINGDOM," and you won't get on that one, either. Let's say the next bus says "DISNEY-MGM STUDIOS" ... that's your bus, so get on it when it stops!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Per safetymom's request, below is my second review of the CBR!



Just got back from another fantastic 10 day stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort. This was our second stay there and we enjoyed the second trip just as much as the first.

On our first trip, we were in Jamaica Building 41. We really liked the location so we requested it or Aruba for our June, 2007 trip.

We arrived at the Custom House around 4:30 p.m. and there was a bit of a crowd. I hopped in line and in less than 10 minutes, I was talking with a castmember and was being checked in. When she was checking us in, I asked if we were assigned to Jamaica or Aruba as I requested and she said that we were not. I know that my face must have showed my disappointment because she immediately said they had upgraded us for free to a stay in Martinique. So, I was smiling again.

In less than 20 minutes, I was checked in, given our room key/park tickets, a package of information and on my way to the Concierge desk to pick up our Hoop Dee Doo Review tickets.

There were two Concierge windows open and I was immediately greeted by a castmember. She had our Hoop Dee Doo tickets printed in no time. I also asked if she would give me a printout of ALL my dining reservations. She gave me a printout and she also gave me a small card for EACH dining reservation. They were about the size of an index card and, when folded in half, fit perfectly in my husband's wallet. Each card had the restaurant name, date and time of the reservation and the restaurant location. I loved the convenience and I kept them to put in our scrapbook.

My son and husband were just waiting around for me to complete the check in and the lady at the Concierge desk gave my son two editions of the Disney Adventures magazine....."for free?!?!" (my son said) to keep him busy.

All totaled, we were in the Custom House for less than 30 minutes.

The village of Martinique is a preferred location and is, therefore, supposed to be closer to the food court, main pool, marina, etc. We actually felt as if the walk was about the same as that from Jamaica.

Our room in Martinique Building 23 was just about a minute walk to the bus stop. It took us about 3 minutes to get to the Martinique quiet pool.

When we arrived, we started unpacking and, since we had brought along Cokes, water and milk from home, we started to load the refrigerator. We noticed that it wasn't cool at all. So, we turned it up as high as it would go. After unpacking everything, it still wasn't very cool. We called maintenance and, within about 5 minutes, they were knocking on our door. They looked at the refrigerator and told us they would bring another one.

We went ahead and went strolling around the promenade and when we got back to the room, we had another refrigerator. They left the old one and we had a new one too. The new one worked perfectly. A day later, our old one kicked in and it worked great too. So, we had extra space to store our left over desserts and fruit.

Mousekeeping was good and it was last time as well. We received six towel animals during our 10 day stay (armadillo, rabbit, bird, swan, bear and something we never figured out).

I did notice that there were a couple of semi-large brown stains on the carpet (looked like coffee) but they looked kind of old and weren't all wet and sticky.

The rest of the room looked nice. It showed a little wear and tear. Not much. This may be because Martinique is a preferred location and more people are coming in and out of the room. I thought the Jamaica rooms were newer looking. There was certainly nothing about the room or location that turned us off!

The resort grounds were still immaculate. I am always amazed how Disney is constantly keeping everything clean and fresh. Two days into our stay, there was a crew changing out the mulch around the shrubbery and planting new plants.

The food court still offered a wide array of foods to choose from. I was sad to see that the fresh made sandwiches (in the grab-n-go section) weren't there this time around. I did notice that there were more items displaying the Disney Dining Plan emblem.

The last day of our stay, we went to the store and food court for lunch. The employees were having a limbo contest for the kids. They had music playing and the castmembers were shaking tamborines and maracas (spelling?). Our son won the limbo contest and was given a Certificate with his name on it. Very cool!

Once again, our stay at the CBR was absolutely wonderful! We might not get to stay there next year because we might have a fifth teenager in our party and 5 can't stay in a room at the CBR.

I can't say enough good things about the CBR!

Lisa

 

[cinderella_mom]

Per safetymom's request, below is my second review of the CBR!



Just got back from another fantastic 10 day stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort. This was our second stay there and we enjoyed the second trip just as much as the first.

On our first trip, we were in Jamaica Building 41. We really liked the location so we requested it or Aruba for our June, 2007 trip.

We arrived at the Custom House around 4:30 p.m. and there was a bit of a crowd. I hopped in line and in less than 10 minutes, I was talking with a castmember and was being checked in. When she was checking us in, I asked if we were assigned to Jamaica or Aruba as I requested and she said that we were not. I know that my face must have showed my disappointment because she immediately said they had upgraded us for free to a stay in Martinique. So, I was smiling again.

In less than 20 minutes, I was checked in, given our room key/park tickets, a package of information and on my way to the Concierge desk to pick up our Hoop Dee Doo Review tickets.

There were two Concierge windows open and I was immediately greeted by a castmember. She had our Hoop Dee Doo tickets printed in no time. I also asked if she would give me a printout of ALL my dining reservations. She gave me a printout and she also gave me a small card for EACH dining reservation. They were about the size of an index card and, when folded in half, fit perfectly in my husband's wallet. Each card had the restaurant name, date and time of the reservation and the restaurant location. I loved the convenience and I kept them to put in our scrapbook.

My son and husband were just waiting around for me to complete the check in and the lady at the Concierge desk gave my son two editions of the Disney Adventures magazine....."for free?!?!" (my son said) to keep him busy.

All totaled, we were in the Custom House for less than 30 minutes.

The village of Martinique is a preferred location and is, therefore, supposed to be closer to the food court, main pool, marina, etc. We actually felt as if the walk was about the same as that from Jamaica.

Our room in Martinique Building 23 was just about a minute walk to the bus stop. It took us about 3 minutes to get to the Martinique quiet pool.

When we arrived, we started unpacking and, since we had brought along Cokes, water and milk from home, we started to load the refrigerator. We noticed that it wasn't cool at all. So, we turned it up as high as it would go. After unpacking everything, it still wasn't very cool. We called maintenance and, within about 5 minutes, they were knocking on our door. They looked at the refrigerator and told us they would bring another one.

We went ahead and went strolling around the promenade and when we got back to the room, we had another refrigerator. They left the old one and we had a new one too. The new one worked perfectly. A day later, our old one kicked in and it worked great too. So, we had extra space to store our left over desserts and fruit.

Mousekeeping was good and it was last time as well. We received six towel animals during our 10 day stay (armadillo, rabbit, bird, swan, bear and something we never figured out).

I did notice that there were a couple of semi-large brown stains on the carpet (looked like coffee) but they looked kind of old and weren't all wet and sticky.

The rest of the room looked nice. It showed a little wear and tear. Not much. This may be because Martinique is a preferred location and more people are coming in and out of the room. I thought the Jamaica rooms were newer looking. There was certainly nothing about the room or location that turned us off!

The resort grounds were still immaculate. I am always amazed how Disney is constantly keeping everything clean and fresh. Two days into our stay, there was a crew changing out the mulch around the shrubbery and planting new plants.

The food court still offered a wide array of foods to choose from. I was sad to see that the fresh made sandwiches (in the grab-n-go section) weren't there this time around. I did notice that there were more items displaying the Disney Dining Plan emblem.

The last day of our stay, we went to the store and food court for lunch. The employees were having a limbo contest for the kids. They had music playing and the castmembers were shaking tamborines and maracas (spelling?). Our son won the limbo contest and was given a Certificate with his name on it. Very cool!

Once again, our stay at the CBR was absolutely wonderful! We might not get to stay there next year because we might have a fifth teenager in our party and 5 can't stay in a room at the CBR.

I can't say enough good things about the CBR!

Lisa

I thought I was seeing double!