Hi Dixie Girl. We just got back from a 7-night vacation at CBR yesterday. I've also stayed at the All-Star Music about 5 years ago. To give you a bit of a background on our trip, we were planning on staying at the All-Stars again to save the money, but we ended up getting a great deal that had us paying less for the moderates than we had originally been quoted for the values. So, we thought we'd take advantage of the cheap moderates and go for CBR.
After a week at the resort, I think my husband and I both agree that, for us, we'd just as soon save our money and stay at a value resort again. Don't get me wrong, CBR is very beatiful. We absolutely loved the theming. There were a few reasons why we thought the All-Stars would be just as good for us, that I've listed below. Many of the problems may be explained by the time of year. We didn't realize until after the trip was booked that the week after Easter was one of the busiest. In fact, they set attendance records in the parks on the first day we were there. We weren't expecting the crowds, so that may have made all the points below worse for us.
1. We originally thought that since the All-Stars were cheaper, they'd have more families than the moderates. Last time we went and stayed at the All-Star Music, we weren't really bothered by kids. We were expecting them, but it wasn't too bad. It was probably just the timing of the year, but the number of kids was absolutely huge this time. I know you need to expect DisneyWorld to be full of kids, but I guess I've never been there when it was so packed before. The All-Stars probably had the same number of kids, possibly more, but we were still surprised by the number of strollers at CBR. I'm not trying to complain, but it was something we were more than happy to get away from at the end of the week.
2. We found the bus services at CBR to be absolutely horrible compared to our last stay at ASMu. I can't remember one time when we didn't wait more than 20-25 minutes for a bus at CBR. I read some of my travel notes from the last trip, and I had written that the waits were no longer than about 7-8 minutes for any bus, except once when we were stranded at Pleasure Island for 40 minutes. It seemed to take forever to get anywhere from CBR. We had to plan to be at the bus stop at least a half hour to 45 minutes before we wanted to get anywhere! I don't mind waiting for a bus, but I wish they really had some sort of timetable posted. Not with actual times, but to state that from 8 am - 10 am buses to ---- come every xx minutes. It makes the wait easier when you know approximately how often the buses are supposed to come.
3. Do NOT stay in Trinidad South. It is WAYYYYY too far away from anything. Of course, it didn't help that we also had the furthest room in Trinidad South. When we originally saw how far away it was, we weren't worried. We're young (both 26), but after walking all day, each day, that walk between the room and the food court was just too much to bear. There is an internal bus system, but again, our luck with the buses was a 20 minute wait. It wasn't so bad catching a bus from Old Port Royale (food court) to the room because each bus, no matter what it's final destination, had to stop there. But to go to OPR from the room was really hard. The best way is to cut through the parking lot. It's still about a 10 minute walk. It normally wouldn't be as bad, but when you have a day of walking ahead or behind of you, it seems like forever!!!!
4. There are lots of other things to do at CBR itself, but we were so busy that we didn't have time to take in any. The only times we were in our room where to sleep. Although it would have been fun to rent a boat or a bike for an hour, we simply did not have the time to do it. I had put the qualifier above that FOR US, the All-Stars were better for the money. This is probably the biggest reason why. If you plan on spending more time in the resort, you'll probably want to look at this resort a bit more. Even though we were there 7-nights, if we weren't in one of the 4 parks, we were at a water park or in Downtown Disney/Pleasure Island.
As I said earlier, we loved the theming. But, we just had too many not so great experiences there. I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from going, but really look into what you think you'll have time to do. The All-Stars don't have as many pools, but again, we were so busy, we didn't even use the pools at CBR once!!!! (don't forget, we went to both water parks and got a fill out of water there). The rooms are supposed to be smaller, but other than the fact that they have a bit more hidden storage and an extra sink, we didn't notice too much of a difference (although with only 2 adults, I don't know if I would notice a difference - maybe someone with a family can attest to room size more). There were a lot of pools, but even though they were called "quiet," they were so many kids at the resort they weren't "quiet" in my sense of the word (Disney's "quiet" means that there are no water activities or lifeguards).
We still had a great time, but FOR US, we found that CBR was more than what we really needed. The All-Stars would have sufficed. I'm interested in hearing other people's opinions, through. As I said, the time of year might have had a big effect on my perceptions.
If you have any more questions about CBR or All-Star Music, please feel free to ask.
Sandi
I wish I could go too! We went last year, early May, and it was GREAT!
