Carribean Beach Resort question.

[misshilda1]

My husband scheduled up our next visit to WDW in Sept.This will be our first ever stay at the Carribean Beach. I never knew it was such a large resort. I have read so many different things on the disboards about it being such a long trek to the parking lot, food court, ect if you get stuck in certain buildings.... I always book a preferred room whenever I schedule our trips to WDW, however the hubby has booked a waterfront room and after looking at a map of the resort I am beginning to realize that a waterfront room could be virtually any building on the property of this resort since it is basically well surrounded by water.. so am I right to assume that this means we could still end up in exile (lol). I am just wandering from you more experienced CBR peeps should I call and specify preferred room immediately and pray that they have one or should we be ok....please someone help!!!!! Thanks

 

[JennyDrake]

IF you plan to use the food court much _I_ would pay extra for a preferred room location. DH and I went on our 15th anniversary and I knoew he would live on coke and pizza. It was worth every penny for the room. When I go with GFs and we spend most of our time in the parks, it does not matter.

 

[Sfmarine]

I totally agree with you that CBR is one huge resort. I did my research long in advance when I stayed there last year and I read that Jamaica was the best location. I put that in my request and got it so I'd definitely recommend staying at Jamaica. It is very close to the bus drop off and just a short walk across the bridge to the food court and main pool. Each building has its own pool which is nice for a relaxing dip in the afternoon.

 

[Amy&Dan]

To me the only really remote location at CBR is the rooms in Trinidad South. All of which are pirate rooms which you did not book.

If you are "waterfront", you will be close to the lake. There is a bridge that connects Jamaica and Aruba to the main area and you should be very close to that bridge. The couple of buildings in Barbados that I assume are waterfront are also not a far walk.

I might request Jamaica if I were you, we enjoy that location very much.

I think your waterfront location (is this the same as water view?) should have you in the front part of any section which means you won't be in the back near a parking lot.

CBR is very large, however I think its well laid out. If you are okay with a 5-7 minute walk from your room to the food court, you will be fine. Since all buildings are pretty much that close, except Trinidad South which again, you are clearly not in since you didn't mention being in a pirate room.

 

[TJDisneymama]

I would just book preferred and request waterfront, just to be on the safe side.

 

[P00H1010]

My husband scheduled up our next visit to WDW in Sept.This will be our first ever stay at the Carribean Beach. I never knew it was such a large resort. I have read so many different things on the disboards about it being such a long trek to the parking lot, food court, ect if you get stuck in certain buildings.... I always book a preferred room whenever I schedule our trips to WDW, however the hubby has booked a waterfront room and after looking at a map of the resort I am beginning to realize that a waterfront room could be virtually any building on the property of this resort since it is basically well surrounded by water.. so am I right to assume that this means we could still end up in exile (lol). I am just wandering from you more experienced CBR peeps should I call and specify preferred room immediately and pray that they have one or should we be ok....please someone help!!!!! Thanks

CBR is a very large resort but it is not unmanageable. People do tend to exaggerate on the size IMO. We have stayed there twice in pirate rooms....which as you would say is in exile . All pirate rooms are located in Trinidad South which is the furthest village from Old Port Royale. We didn't find the distance to be annoying, we would either walk or take the internal shuttle over to where we wanted to go in the resort. If you plan on going to Old Port Royale often to eat or are big on refillable mugs I would suggest getting a preferred room if you are worried about distance....better safe than sorry . Have a great trip!

 

[maryj11]

I would just book preferred and request waterfront, just to be on the safe side.

This is what I would do too
We are staying in October and have booked a preferred room and requested Martinique 25 hoping we get it because it is one of the closest buildings to Old Port Royal and the main pool.

 

[disneyfanlincoln]

Go for a preferred location, it is a large resort and the walk can be tiring after a long day at the parks.

 

[aubriee]

Go for a preferred location, it is a large resort and the walk can be tiring after a long day at the parks.

Agree! I've stayed in both a preferred room and a standard room and if I ever go back will be paying for that preferred location. When we were in the standard room, we only used our refillable mugs once. It was just too far to walk over there for a soda.

 

[Mousemommy1]

If we ever stay at CBR again, I will absolutely be booking a preferred location. If you are going to use the food court, get the preferred view.

You should be alright with parking lot, as those are pretty close to each village.

 

[turkeymama]

We have stayed at CBR twice and are headed back in 10 days.

We have always paid for preferred rooms and have not been disappointed. My friend, who is meeting us in 10 days (yay!), stayed in the Pirate themed rooms and said she will not pay the premium for that again. The walk was too far for their liking.

Having said that, even in a preferred room, you could still have what feels like a bit of a walk to Old Port Royale. I make the trip every morning to refill mugs and such. Walking along the backside of buildings takes a little longer, but it is nice to walk along the jogging/walking path near the water. It was relaxing and I quite enjoyed it.

I would switch the room to a preferred instead of water view. Water views at Moderates are overrated in my opinion. In order to appreciate the view, you would need to be sitting in a chair near the window with curtains open. You will not necessarily have an unobstructed view of the water, and the setup of mods means other guests can and will be walking past your window as they make their way to respective rooms. To me, it is just not worth asking for a water view.

The resort is very manageable, however, and I think you will really enjoy your stay there.

 

[catbertdave99]

We have stayed at CBR twice and are headed back in 10 days.

We have always paid for preferred rooms and have not been disappointed. My friend, who is meeting us in 10 days (yay!), stayed in the Pirate themed rooms and said she will not pay the premium for that again. The walk was too far for their liking.

Having said that, even in a preferred room, you could still have what feels like a bit of a walk to Old Port Royale. I make the trip every morning to refill mugs and such. Walking along the backside of buildings takes a little longer, but it is nice to walk along the jogging/walking path near the water. It was relaxing and I quite enjoyed it.

I would switch the room to a preferred instead of water view. Water views at Moderates are overrated in my opinion. In order to appreciate the view, you would need to be sitting in a chair near the window with curtains open. You will not necessarily have an unobstructed view of the water, and the setup of mods means other guests can and will be walking past your window as they make their way to respective rooms. To me, it is just not worth asking for a water view.

The resort is very manageable, however, and I think you will really enjoy your stay their.

I agree with everything you said! (Except for heading back in 10 days -- we're heading back in 14 days!!!) Can't wait!!

 

[Nancyg56]

CBR is huge. I think it is worth the money to book preferred rooms.

 

[mom133d]

We stayed there last year in a pirate room. Our building was right next to the Trinidad South bus stop and pool.

I can't speak of the distance to Old Port Royale. My little one had become a whiner so we drove over the few times we went to the pool there or the food court.

 

[danceintherain]

I would switch the room to a preferred instead of water view. Water views at Moderates are overrated in my opinion. In order to appreciate the view, you would need to be sitting in a chair near the window with curtains open. You will not necessarily have an unobstructed view of the water, and the setup of mods means other guests can and will be walking past your window as they make their way to respective rooms. To me, it is just not worth asking for a water view.

The resort is very manageable, however, and I think you will really enjoy your stay their.

That's exactly what I was thinking. A water view simply can't be appreciated from the way those rooms are set up. We even had a corner room during our stay there (more windows) and I don't think we had the blinds open at all. Granted, we hardly kept our blinds open when we stayed at AKL either (pool view), because we're not really accustomed to having anything to look at out of hotel windows. We're going to have to work on that if we ever intend on fully appreciating a theme park view.

If you look at a map of CBR, you'll see that it's actually fairly hard to get a view of the parking lot. A lot of the rooms face interior walkways.

We were in Barbados, and I didn't mind the walk to OPR at all.
Also, requesting a ground floor room may prove more beneficial, because CBR doesn't have elevators.

 

[Butterbunkins]

I agree that the water view rooms are not worth it. My mom and I stayed in Martinique (building 25, loved the location!) in a water view room. The only time we really appreciated the view was when we were coming or going from the room. When we stay in a villa and we have our own private balcony, then we have the curtains open and take advantage of the view. But when our windows face out to a walkway it’s not the same with people walking by and we just prefer our privacy.

We only stayed there once and since we were close to Old Port Royale we never got the full idea of how large the property is, but we appreciated not having far to walk. We ate breakfast there almost every morning and hung out a few evenings with a cocktail and watched Illuminations from their patio area.

 

[dansdad]

I would definitely not pay extra for a water view. It would be different if CBR had private balconies.

I also would not pay extra for a preferred room. Yes, CBR is big but it's size is soooo blown out of proportion on the DIS it's kinda funny.

Before we went I had seen all the complaints of how big the resort was and was so surprised when we arrived. There are so many non-preferred rooms that are a 5 minute walk to OPR and the main pool. The only location I would consider questionable is Trinidad South which is where the Pirate Themed rooms are located. And even that is still under a 10 minute walk. We were in Jamaica and it was a beautiful 4 minutes across the bridge to OPR in the AM.

I know I may sound like a weirdo stating how long it takes to walk from certain buildings, but like I said before I had read so many complaints before we went and that first morning I was walking to OPR and stopping to take pictures from the bridge and it felt like I was there in no time. So I HAD to time my trip back to Jamaica. The week after we were coming home, friends of ours were going to be staying in a Pirate Room and were worried about the walk. I left from the farthest point in Trinidad South and walked at a slow pace to OPR.

But if you are really concerned about being too far from OPR and the main pool, it would be wise to switch from water view to preferred.

 

[TJDisneymama]

I agree about water view not being worth it. I booked preferred but also requested a water view, just so I wouldn't be on the parking lot side (and thus, further away from OPR). So we were in Martinique 25, facing the water, which it seems is just about the best location as far as being close to OPR. But you couldn't really appreciate the "water view" unless you pulled up a seat at the window in your room (which the a/c is connected to) and looked out the window and thru the slats of the railing. Or I guess you could pull a chair outside your room and sit in the walkway.

But if booking a preferred room, I suggest to put in a request a water view and maybe you'll get it. But if you're going to pay extra for a room, I would pay extra for preferred, not for water view.

 

[Minnesota!]

Honestly, water view is a waste of money at a Moderate. You really have no way to appreciate it from in your room. And water view could very well be a view of the pool...which can be loud.

We have stayed at CBR quite a few times...a good chunk of them in Trin South. We have never found it too big...we had more of a walk at CSR staying in one of the "close" buildings. You won't have Trin South b/c of the Pirate rooms.

If being closer to the food court is that important, I would skip the water view and get preferred. However, it really isn't that far - 3 - 5 minutes tops. I would save the money and pay for hoppers, or the like..

Enjoy!

 

[connie1042]

We just got back, and this was the first time we had a preferred room. We were in Martinique, building 25, room 2532. We have stayed at CBR several times and always have gotten Jamaica at our request. One time we were upgraded to a pirate room. That was okay, because we had our 2 grandsons with us. Now all that being said, I will never go without getting a preferred room again. It was just so nice, to have such a short walk. We were right next to a beautiful courtyard. We used the bus stop at OPR, because it was the closest one to our room. We love CBR. Love the beaches, pool, food court and it really seems private. Except at night, and right away in the morning do you see a lot of people. Going to book this resort again, just don't know when yet.