Carribean Beach or Port Oleans after the cruise?

[LuvThatMouse]

After our cruise, we are considering spending a couple of nights at one of the Disney properties. Any feedback on which is better, Carribean Beach or Port Orleans would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[cristit14]

I don't know about Port Orleans, but we stayed at CBR in July. I don't think I would stay there again. It was way too big. They have different "islands". We were in Aruba which was about as far as you could get from food court and drink area. I think it would have been a lot better if we were closer to the food court. The resort itself was nice, just too big for us. The last thing I wanted to do after walking around WDW all day was to walk another mile to get to the drinks.

 

[DisCrazzy]

We have never stayed at the Carribean beach, but we have stayed at Port Orleans. I did not like it at all. It was dark & dreary. Have you considered Coronado Springs? It's a moderate resort like the other two. We stayed there last month and I liked it. It has a awesome Mayan pyramid pool with a water slide. The kids loved that.

Jennifer

 

[marylee15]

I have to say that we cruised on the 1/8/05 Magic and stayed at the Caribbean Beach for four days before the cruise. I had stayed there before and loved it and my family loved it equally. Yes, it is quite large and we were in Barbados which is the last stop on most of the bus routes. Sometimes it can take up to twenty to twenty five minutes to get through the whole resort, on the first night we were coming back from Downtown Disney and my DH was very tired from traveling all day, well we were on the bus in the resort and we got behind a lift truck that was going to do some work overnight. It was going about 2 mph and the bus was going so slow. My DS kept saying "Dad are we going swimming, Dad are we going swimming" my DH finally lost it and shouted "no we are not going swimming" if I didn't feel so bad for my DS I would have died laughing. But back to the CBR, each village has a good sized pool and there are cabana like buildings that have the guest laundry which is great so you don't have to have clothes for the cruise and clothes for the resort (can also do them on the ship) the walk to the food court and main pool can be a hike but it is a nice path. I just really love this resort it is definately worth the money.

 

[LuvThatMouse]

We have never stayed at the Carribean beach, but we have stayed at Port Orleans. I did not like it at all. It was dark & dreary. Have you considered Coronado Springs? It's a moderate resort like the other two. We stayed there last month and I liked it. It has a awesome Mayan pyramid pool with a water slide. The kids loved that.

Jennifer

We stayed at Coronado Springs in 2003. We liked it very much but wanted to try one of the other moderately priced properties.
Thanks!

 

[aprilgail2]

I have stayed at Port Orleans Riverside three times now and I love it there! I have stayed at CBR too but did not care for it.

 

[sy1203]

I also prefer Port Orleans. We stayed at Caribbean Beach and didn't care for it. Its too big! Either French Quarter or Riverside are great. They are easier to get to food courts plus the added benefit of the boatrides to downtown disney is wonderful. I love the feel of Port Orleans and do not think it is dark and dreary. Go for a different theme since you will be full of the caribbean feel from your cruise. I have never stayed at Coronada Springs so I cannot give you my opinion. We wanted to try a different moderate resort for each visit but after Port Orleans I don't think we will ever experience it.

 

[Muushka]

Wow, we all have different opinions of the resorts! We have stayed at all 3:

Port Orleans Riverside (always Dixie Landings for me) Love it

Caribbean Beach Resort did not care for it

Coronado Springs Resort did not care for it- a lot!
Stayed there (CSR) 1 night and asked to be switched to Dixie Landings!

By the way, which Port Orleans are you talking about? French Quarter or Riverside? We have never stayed at FQ, the theme (Mardi Gras stuff) does not appeal to us.

 

[LuvThatMouse]

We really do like Coronado Springs. Service was great as was the food in both the restaurant and the food court. No complaints at all.

We just wanted to try one of the other two properties. I had seen a comment about the decor at Carribean Beach being dated. Anyone know anything about that?

 

[wanna-b-Tink]

We've stayed at Port Orleans Riverside several times and always like it.

We've stayed at Caribbean Beach once, and won't stay there again. Too big. If I'm going to walk a mile at the WDW resort, its going to be in Epcot or MK, NOT to go from my room to the food court for a Coke!!!!

 

[E&BMom]

We've stayed at both and liked them both. However I think I liked POFQ a little better because it was smaller and less crowded. It was wasy to walk to eveything in the hotel. Good luck and have a great time.

 

[JollyHoliday]

We stayed at POFQ in November and loved it.The resort has been recently remolded and the pool is great. The food court was to are surprise very good.The buses are less crowded then the other resorts including PORS.We left the park one night after Wishes fireworks and the line for the Carribean Beach buse was one of the looooongest!!! We would stay at POFQ again! Hope this helps!

 

[SeaSpray]

I've stayed at Caribbean Beach twice and LOVED the resort. It's beautiful, cheerful, tropical, and the rooms are a nice size; bigger than the other moderates.

We stayed both times in the Martinique section. It's now become a "preferred" location which means they now charge an extra $15 a night. If we were to stay at CBR again, I'd pay the extra because we really had an excellent location there.

I have a lot of pictures of CBR on my web site. The link is below in my signature. Be sure to visit both CBR sections on my site; 1 page is from 2001 and one page is from 2002

Enjoy!

 

[zeke11]

LOVED Port Orleans Riverside!

Kris

 

[Canadiancruiser2]

I had seen a comment about the decor at Carribean Beach being dated. Anyone know anything about that?

Hi LuvThatMouse,

We stayed at Caribbean Beach resort this past December. We were in Aruba and the room we had was very clean and looked new. I think this resort was renovated recently. The bed covers had a tropical theme and there was a picture of the Disney Magic docked at Castaway Cay on the wall.

CC

 

[MrsMork]

We've stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and LOVED it. Agree that CBR is just too sprawled out.

 

[JGB]

We've stayed at Polynesian 3 times - loved it but pricey and stopped when we started having children, Fort Wilderness trailors/cabins twice - still pricy but wonderful with small children, Port Orleans Riverside (Dixie Landings) once - like it but kept getting lost trying to find the main buildings. Kids loved the pool (Boatwrights - great food!), Key West once - I like it but the kids said it was very quiet - for old people, and the Carribean beach which everyone loved. Loved by all - the decor, food court, the paths were EASY to find your way to the main buildings and the court yards outside the rooms were very nice to relax. I walk to relax so being far from the main building was not a chore and we usually eat in the parks anyway so that wasn't an issue. We are going back this weekend and we are staying at Carribean Beach. I wanted to try the Corranado but my daughter begged for CBR.

 

[disneyfan73]

We have done both PORS and CBR over the last 2 yrs .... We would pick the CBR over PORS. CRB is way more festival/on vacation feel to it. Where as the PORS has the woodsy feel to it. If I wanted woods I could stay home … just kidding. As far as walking at either resort, it depends a lot on which building you get in.... you maybe close to bus stop but not pools or food. You can ask to be put close to one or the other, but tuff to get close all. Both resorts are very nice and isn’t nice to see that people like different resorts for different reason…. Otherwise we would all in up in one PLACE.

All the bus lines maybe long at end of day but be assured that Disney is routing more buses to the longer lines. I been stuck in short lines with few buses (i.e. Ploy, Beach Club) and stuck in lines (CRB, PORS, PoPc) with more buses running. They do a great job at keeping things moving.


just my 2cents

 

[dsnymomadopt2china]

We stayed at the POFQ 2 weeks ago and I loved it. I have small children and the compactness was ideal. The pool was perfect for my 8 and 9 yr olds, it is great for the younger set. The rooms were all redone and now have coffee plus the fridges. We had 2 adjoining rooms and the 4 kids would run back and forth easily.

 

[scrapcreator]

We stayed at the POR before our 10/19 cruise and loved it. Lots of greenery (even after the hurricane). We were right near the transportation and had a small pool right next to our building. We did have to walk to the food & the big pool (which we loved), but it was a pleasant walk. The boats to Downtown Disney were great. We would stay there again.

Jeanne