Caribbean Beach?

[pedirn]

I bought Fodors WDW with kids. I thought about staying at the Caribbean. But after reading the review in Fodors, I am thinking of changing my mind. I am taking my 6yr old daughter. We have never stayed on Disney. I thought it looked good in the pictures mostly for the pool area. The book gave it bad reviews saying it was too spread out. And the rooms were old and tired looking.

And comments??

casey

 

[honeymom]

I haven't stayed there before, but am about to in March. From what I understand, all of the rooms have been refurbished within the last two years, plus new carpeting and redone bathrooms. Perhaps Fodors has not updated its writeup.

Re: being too spread out. We are paying $20 more per night for a preferred room. This assures us that we will either be in Martinique or Trinidad North right near Old Port Royale. If you don't want to pay any extra, it sounds like Jamaica and Aruba are right across a bridge from OPR.

My sister's family stayed there years ago and loved it. A lot of people do seem to like it despite some who don't. If its a theme that appeals to you the way it does us, then you should go for it.

 

[pedirn]

We were really hooked on staying there (we are going Jan 26th). Until my husband brought home this book. It is the 2004 edition. That's why I wanted to post a question. I wanted to ask someone who may truly know. Who may actually have been there. :

 

[tinarena2000]

We love the CBR , The rooms are nice updated, clean, very nice for kids. Lots to do. I don't think its too spread out at all. Perfect choice.

 

[DNBois]

My husband and I have been there three times and are contemplating going back in a couple of months; we already have reservations but are thinking about switching to All Stars Movies because we can save a few hundred bucks. CBR is our favorite resort although we haven't checked out many others; when we went this past May, the rooms were beautiful and looked like they had been refurbished. We never thought it was too spread out and we stayed in three different areas. The last time we stayed in Jamaica, Bldg. #44 with a great view of the water; the walk to the food court only took about three or four minutes and the scenery you had to walk through was breathtaking. We were also about a 1/2 minute walk away from Jamaica's pool and it was nice and quiet and relaxing. We used to buy the Frommer and Fodor books and found that these forums were the best place to get the best information on everything Disney. Hope this info helps - let us know if you need to know anything else.
Dave & Nicole

 

[safetymom]

Fodors information needs to be updated. The rooms have all been refurbished along with the food court.

I have pictures of the rooms and areas at CBR. It is spread out but there is an internal bus and it isn't a long walk unless you are in Trinidad South.

 

[ScottJoy]

I've stayed at three of the four moderate resorts: Port Orleans French Quarter, Port Orleans Riverside, and the Carribean Beach. Aside from decoration, the rooms in all three were pretty much the same. The pool was best at the French Quarter. I liked the resort layout best at Riverside.

The thing is there are so many good choices that if you worry too much about making the best choice, you'll always feel a little cheated.

Go and enjoy yourself to the fullest, wherever you stay!

 

[pedirn]

Thanks for all your great comments. My daughter's other choice was the new Pop Century. Once she saw the new Play Dough front, she was excited. My only criteria was: clean, nice rooms, and nice pool area. Since if we are not in the parks, we will be at the pool.

 

[ScottJoy]

I've only driven past the Pop Century, in October 2003, before it opened. We have neighbors planning to stay there in February this year. It does look fun.

Plus with the discount to $79/night, the Value Resorts seem like a bargain.

 

[cdrn1]

We love the CBR. It has such a tropical feel to it, the pool is very nice, the sand beaches are clean, on and on. The food court has a nice variety of food at good prices, and the rooms are a good size and very nice. Look at Safetymom's and Seaspray's pictures for an accurate look.

 

[goin2disneyagain]

We have stayed at CBR twice in the last 2 1/2 years and loved it both times. CSR is much more spread out than CBR. I think you will enjoy it.

 

[pedirn]

well now if I can just decide on if we should do a character meal or not. Any suggestions (yes or no) there? Is is worth the time and money?

casey

p.s. how did some of you get the things at the bottom of your posts saying when you would be next going to disney..... too cute

 

[crusoe2]

We spent a few days at CBR last June and ended up with a room in Trinidad South - about as far away from everything as you can get. But we still loved the resort and would stay there again. It is a bit of hike to the food court and pool but it really is a beautiful walk along the edge of the lake. If you don't want to walk you can always drive or take the internal bus.

We were very happy with the room - rooms at CBR are larger than at the other moderates. Also, the vanity area of the bathroom has a nice big countertop with storage underneath and there is a curtain you can pull across the doorway for privacy or so that the light won't disturb others in the room (a big plus for me since I always get up much earlier than the rest of the family).

The whole resort is nicely themed and landscaped, service was very good, and we found everything to be very clean and in good working order. My only complaint is that the food court does not have a larger selection but we took a cooler and some quick-fix stuff to have in the room - this gave us a nice break from the hassle of eating out and we didn't have to rely so much on the food court for our meals.

Overall, we liked CBR well enough that we are now torn between staying there again or trying somewhere new on our next trip. Hope this helps.

 

[DNBois]

Casey -

The thing attached so some members posts is called a "signature" - you can acess it through your User CO listed above. Once you click on that, you can "edit profile" and put any type of information you would want listed at the bottom of your posts. It will automatically enter it for you on each post or thread unless you uncheck the box. Hope this helps!

By the way, we just switched our ressies for March to Port Orleans just to try something different - we figured it was worth it for the extra bucks - actually switching from CBR to PORS saved us about $90 anyways. If you decided to stay at CBR, see if you can get Jamaica - one good point is that for about 85% it is the first stop for p/u and the first stop for d/o (and the bus stop is about 2-3 minutes away).

Good luck and have fun!!!

 

[tiggersmom2]

Casey,
you will love the CBR. I have two DS (10yrs. and 16 months) and we LOVE it!! I will tell you that JAMAICA is the only way to go. It is the best location for the bus and the pools and food court. YES, I would for sure do a character meal. My family likes Chief Mickey's, Crystal Palace and the Liberty Tree Tavern is our favorite!!!

 

[honeymom]

With 6 year old, definitely do character meal/meals. We found them to actually save us time in the long run:

1) Buffets tend to be quicker than sit down service
2) We saw a lot of the characters that we would have had to wait on line for at the theme parks (this can really soak up a lot of time as some of the lines are huge)
3) It was a nice way to rest and get off our feet for an hour (about the time you need to spend to see all of the characters - they try to circulate every character within 1 hour)

My only suggestion is that if you do character dinners - make an early p.s. Sometimes you will get stuck waiting with a late p.s.

We've done Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace and 1900 Park Faire. Chef Mickey's was most fun, Crystal Palace had best food although I've heard the food isn't as good anymore, and 1900 Park Faire was calmest. We're trying Cinderella's Royal Table on this next trip (yes I actually got PS on first try), repeating Chef Mickey's and might do one more character meal.