Caribbean Beach Resort.

[Talking Hands]

How is handicapped access. Do the buildings have elevators? Are the handicapped rooms near to food and buses?

 

[Talking Hands]

I got stuck at CBR for this trip. Never been at this resort and was not particularly happy about it but it was the only one available due to DFD. And I can't even get free dining because I am annual passholder.
How is this resort with handicapped access? Any wooden bridges to avoid. Elevators? Are handicapped rooms close to food and transportation? Is the counter service dining laid out so I can actually get in line or will my DH have to do all that for me?

 

[Haley Whippet]

We have stayed there 3 times and loved it. It is bright and cheery.
Request a ground floor room and if you need a accessible room call them and let them know.
The food court is easy to to maneuver and if you stay on the food court side you won't have to cross over the bridge although the bridge is easily crossed and accessible. Check out pictures on the resorts page of the main DIS pages.. Enjoy your stay there, The resorts music will make you smile too.
Deb

 

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

No elevators. I actually wouldn't recommend CBR to someone who is handicapped or needs special assistance. It is really spread out. I saw maybe 2 handicapped people on the buses in 10 days at CBR, last year at Pop we were always on a bus with someone in either a wheelchair or ECV.

 

[Talking Hands]

We have stayed there 3 times and loved it. It is bright and cheery.
Request a ground floor room and if you need a accessible room call them and let them know.
The food court is easy to to maneuver and if you stay on the food court side you won't have to cross over the bridge although the bridge is easily crossed and accessible. Check out pictures on the resorts page of the main DIS pages.. Enjoy your stay there, The resorts music will make you smile too.
Deb

I'm concerned about wooden bridges because they are very painful for me. Music isn't a big thing because I can't hear most of it clearly anyway. I informed them when I reserved the room that I use a wheelchair. Of course it is not on my reciept so who knows what will happen.

 

[amygirl27]

I don't know how accessible it is as I didn't really look for that while we were there but I agree with the prior response. It is really spread out and I can imagine it would be hard to get around. I don't remember any elevators and getting to the food court is a challenge depending on where you were. We were in Jamaica (relatively close) but still had to go around our pool, over a path, over a bridge and then up the path to the main building.

Pop seems much more accessible IMO.

 

[RNMOM]

I stayed there in 2002 and loved it. I too had doubts about the resort. I rented a scooter but had a traditional room. The food court was very easy as each station was kinda like a mall food court and the check out was across the isle. I found it easy to navigate myself with the scooter.

The buildings are very spread out but it leands itself to a quiet and relaxing visit. We really enjoyed it a lot. I hope you have fun and come back with good vibes about it too.

 

[Talking Hands]

Nothing availabel except at CBR unfortunately. I am stuck.

 

[SueM in MN]

We stayed at OKW a lot of times before we bought DVC and we do go back there to eat at the food court from time to time.
Here's a map:

The check in and out area is removed from the buildings where the rooms are. It's "Custom House" on the map. You will need to use the bus to get to your room when you check in and back there when you check out. There is an internal bus that you can take. Here's a link to the DIS page about CBR and a link to the pictures.
The rooms are actually the largest of the moderates (CBR was the first moderate built). There are no elevators; because the buildings are only 2 stories, they are not required by the ADA.

We usually stayed in the area called Martinique, which is close to the Food Court, bar and main pool (Old Port Royale).
Old Port Royale was renovated about 8 years ago (can't remember, just guessing) and is very nicely set up and accessible. You can get to that area on nice paved paths (no bridges) from Martinique, Barbados and Trinidad North. You can check the map for the closest buildings. I am not sure, but I thought that Martinique and Barbados were 'preferred' buildings with a higher cost.

Some people have posted they requested "close to the food court" and ended up in Aruba or Jamaica, which are across the water, requiring a trip over wooden bridges and along a winding path thru a little island in the middle of the water.

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

I got stuck at CBR for this trip. Never been at this resort and was not particularly happy about it but it was the only one available due to DFD. And I can't even get free dining because I am annual passholder.

CBR is my favorite moderate! It is gorgeous and very quiet and peaceful.

How is this resort with handicapped access?

I'm not in a chair and we didn't have a h/c room. My friend was in an ECV (she has MS), but didn't take it with her when we went to the food court. The internal bus is w/c & ECV accessible, though. (We took it several times to the check-in/concierge building.) So, I can't help too much with this question, but at a glance, I'd say things are fairly accessible.

Any wooden bridges to avoid.

We didn't use the bridge to the island to the food court place - we used the internal bus (as well as my friend's car). You should know that the food court is indoors, but has outdoor-type pavers for the flooring to make it feel like an outdoor place. This may not be comfortable in a chair/ECV.

Elevators?

Since half the rooms are on the first floor (there are only two floors), there are no elevators. We were in a first-floor room bec. of my friend's ECV and our disabilities (stairs can be a problem). Our room was on the outer rim of the building (as opposed to facing the center court picnic area in the middle) and was very quiet and lovely. The perfect potty spot for my service dog was literally right outside our door, so I would definitely recommend that room, the one next to it, or the one next to that one (we had a corner) again! (The spot was perfect 'cause it was a large grassy area that was blocked from view from the parking lot/street by trees and bushes.) It is a short walk to the trash can, which is in the center picnic court area, however.

Are handicapped rooms close to food and transportation?

I'm not sure where the h/c rooms are, but I put in a request to be near the bus for walking reasons and our room location was great. I went to the beach behind our section of buildings one night and was so thankful that our room was not all the way back there, as that would've been a problem! (The beach was gorgeous, though!) So, make sure this is on the request you fax the room assignors about four days before you get there.

Is the counter service dining laid out so I can actually get in line or will my DH have to do all that for me?

It looked to me like the lines are accessible, but since I'm not a chair user, I'm not completely positive. I think you should be able to get in line
(or go through the exit if you can't maneuver the rope small-line maker) and order, though.

I believe the checkout area is wide enough, as well.

Have a GREAT time!! Post your experiences when you get back, as I would like to know about the chair accessibility there.

 

[MarieS]

We stayed at CBR 2 years ago. I chose CBR because it was the largest of the moderates and both of my boys use wheelchairs. When making our reservations I went through special reservations to request first floor due to medical needs. We did not stay in an accessible room because we don't need the accessible bathroom for the boys. ( We did book 2 connecting rooms--1 for me and the boys and one for our friend/boys caregiver.) We stayed in Barbados because we wanted a quiet area away from pools and food court. The food court was easy to get to with paved paths. I can't be sure of the perspective from a wheelchair user, but we had no problems pushing the chairs around the food court and checkout. You can eat inside or out. We did tend to go at off peak times though. The gift shop connects to the food court and we were able to push the chairs in there as well. We had our own van so I don't know about the busses.
We liked staying there and are hoping for another good experience in November. Have a great trip!

 

[Talking Hands]

Well we arrived at CBR and even after requesting a handicapped accessible room and stating that I use a power wheelchair we were assigned a 2nd floor room. Then assigned a 1st floor room but not accessible. Finally spoke with a manager who moved us to an accessible room with a roll in shower which was in building 26 (next to Old Port Royale). Perfect! But it took the better part of an hour to get it worked out. Only bad thing about the room was it was right next to a beautiful courtyard sitting area which was made unusable by the fact it has been made into a smoking area. Yuck.
Disney has also misplaced my renewal for my annual pass so I need to get that straightened out.
Night of Joy was fantastic dispite the fact I almost choked when my poncho got caught in the back wheel of the PWC. THank God for some teens who came to my rescue.

 

[SueM in MN]

sad to hear you did not have a very good start to your trip - sounds like they did not run your reservation thru Special Reservations.
hope the rest of the trip is less eventful , but more fun

 

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

Our second floor room overlooked a beautiful but smoked filled courtyard too! I found the service at CBR to be less than what I had at a value and I was truly dissapointed. I almost felt like they were thinking, "go ahead call us all you want! We KNOW you are not going to walk yourself down to the customs house to complain in person!"

I hope you still have a wonderful trip and not let the bad service overshadow how magical disney can be!

 

[madenon]

Sorry to hear things didn't go smoothly. I'm just back from a 9 day trip and my experience with them was great. I was in room 3107, which is the first building of Trinidad North right next to the OPR. No courtyard (and therefor smoking ) there, but the carpark.

B&AMom, I couldn't have a totally more different experience. Remember, you don't have to walk/bus over to the custom house to complain, just go to OPR where they've also got a desk or call front desk. I trew them all kinds of curve-balls these last 9 days and they dealt with all of them in a great way, never minding if I went to CH, OPR or just called in.

 

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

Our problems were having things delivered to our room. Our grocery delivery took 8 hours to get delivered after it arrived at the hotel and our luggage took 6 hours after our flight even though it arrived after 3 hours. We also had a broken fridge that needed replacing and that took a half of a day. Plus we needed KTTW cards made because their machine was not working at the time we checked in. I did get those at OKW but we were in the far section of Jamaica and it was 97 degrees so the walk was not too pleasant. With all of those situations I called and called and was told that they were understaffed and that they were sorry but they would get to us eventually.

 

[madenon]

Sorry to hear that B&AMom! I guess our trips couldn't be more different. In my case the luggage almost beat me to the room and the work that needed to be done (remove doorbars) was done within minutes both times -someone in mousekeeping was a bit too enthousiastic and put it back on after 3 days-. I couldn't detect any understaffing going one, found there to be a LOT of people so hopefully that was just a bad fluke you ran into?

 

[KadysMom]

I have a question... We are going next month and I was wondering about the shampoo. was it the blue H20 shampoo or the red black and white bottles?

 

[madenon]

It's the blue H2O one and white round soaps with mickeyheads in it.

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

Talking Hands, sorry to hear you had troubles. I hope Night of Joy was a blast, though, you lucky duck!!

How did you put the info. on your reservation about your chair? Did you fax the folks who assign rooms a few days before you got there? Or go through Special Needs?