Caribbean Beach Resort May 2012 Countdown!

[mickeystoontown]

Hello to all of my fellow May, 2012 Disboard travelers! We have been home from Walt Disney World less than a month and I am already counting down the days until our seventh stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort and our 17th trip to Walt Disney World.

For those of you traveling to the Caribbean Beach Resort in May, 2012, please post your dates here. You never know.....we may run into each other while there!

mickeystoontown: May 23rd to June 2nd

 

[charissemp]

I'm considering it! We haven't ever stayed or visited CBR, but we're contemplating a trip the last week of May 2012, and CBR has made my short list. You must be a fan, so tell me what I should know.
We originally thought Poly, but we can stay longer and do more if we save our money and stay at CBR.

 

[Jessica527]

I'm considering it! We haven't ever stayed or visited CBR, but we're contemplating a trip the last week of May 2012, and CBR has made my short list. You must be a fan, so tell me what I should know.
We originally thought Poly, but we can stay longer and do more if we save our money and stay at CBR.

CBR is on the short list for us too! It will be our honeymoon We are deciding if the $1000 between deluxe and mod is worth it.

Any thoughts?

 

[mickeystoontown]

Sorry I haven't been back to post. My daughter is getting married on August 20th and the wedding is about 600 miles from where we live. Needless to say, we've been super busy! I just posted the following answering another poster's question about the resort. I thought this information might be beneficial to you two. If you have specific CBR questions, just let me know.



We love the Caribbean Beach Resort because it's very family friendly. There are bus stops at each of the CBR villages so you won't have to worry about requesting a room near a bus stop. The buses stop at each of the villages and then make their way to the theme parks, water parks and Downtown Disney. We have never had a bus ride to the theme parks that was longer than 16 minutes (most were shorter) and that was from the time we sat down on the bus, stopped at the other village bus stops and pulled into the theme park bus stop. Wait, I take that back, there were longer times when we had to wait for the bus driver to assist guests who were in wheel chairs or ECVs which would be the case at any resort. Speaking of the buses, we have had efficient bus service during each of our six stays. Four of those stays were the last week of May/first week of June and the other two were the first week of August.

The CBR is a large resort but not so large that you'll be walking forever to get to and from Old Port Royale (main pool, store, food court, etc.) Our longest walk to OPR was 5 minutes at a leisurely pace. That was from one of the furthest buildings at the resort. If you were to stay in one of the pirate themed rooms (cost more and are in the furthest building), then your walk would be about 7 or 8 minutes. Because the resort is large, that also means that the guests are distributed evenly and you won't feel crowded. We've been at the CBR when it was booked to capacity and it didn't feel busy at all except at the main pool or during peak dining hours. Even then, it wasn't bad.

The rooms at the CBR are a bit larger than the other moderates at 340 square feet (others are 314 square feet). The rooms have a slight Nemo theme with a wallpaper border and bright colorful Nemo character bedspreads. The window curtains are blue with a white stripe which looks like wavy water. The mousekeepers usually do a good job at cleaning the rooms and leaving toiletries. This last trip, we had to remind our mousekeeper several times that we were a family of four and to leave more washclothes and towels since it was quite hot and we were swimming and showering more than usual. After a few days, she caught on and we didn't have to ask any more.

In the room, there are two double beds, a nightstand, a table and two chairs, a bench with a storage drawer, a fridge, a coffee pot, a dresser with several drawers and a peg shelf. In the bathroom/closet area, there are two sinks in a vanity that has storage underneath. There's also a hair dryer, iron and ironing board as well as a wall safe. If you need privacy, there's a curtain that can be pulled which will separate the bathroom/closet area from the bedroom.

As I mentioned, each resort village has their own bus stop which is, by the way, covered. Also in each village is a quiet pool, laundry facilities and a beautiful beach complete with hammocks and beach chairs (adult size and kid size). On some of the beaches, there are small playground areas. There's a larger brand new playground on the island in the middle of the resort lake.

Old Port Royale is where you'll find the main pool, kids' water play area, two hot tubs, hair wrap station, pool bar, marina, food court, store, full service restaurant and arcade. Also in OPR, there's a small concierge desk should you need a castmember's assistance.

The food court offers a variety of foods to choose from. We have never had a bad meal from the food court and find ourselves there if we have a day off from the parks. The kids' chicken strip meal is served in a plastic pail with shovel that they get to keep. That comes in handy if they want to play on the beach.

In the evenings, you can pull up a chair or lay in one of the hammocks and watch some of the higher Illuminations fireworks. We have watched them from outside OPR, the main pool, the Martinique and the Jamaica beaches. One of our favorite things to do when coming back from a long day at the parks was to go down to the beach. We'd take off our shoes and walk on the sand and found that it was like having a foot massage. It felt wonderful!

I have posted lots of CBR pictures on the CBR pic thread and in my trip report. If you have any specific CBR questions, feel free to post them.