CBR pool refurb.

[Shooby doo]

Hi all just received an update from WDW for our reservation for next year,the main pool at CBR is undergoing refurb from Jan '08 until 20/9 '08. Not great news WDW are laying on extra kids activities & a couple of the smaller pools wil have slides added but our "kid" will be 13 so is unlikely to think that this is a good sustitute. CBR had been our second choice as CSR was unavailable (how much in advance do you need to book to get in there?!) but as we don't fancy POFQ we may just have to lump it although I feel that we should have been informed at the time of booking by the CM!
SD

 

[jmagla]

We had the same letter, staying there Au 15th-22nd. I rang them up and they said we could change to another moderate at no cost. We were considering POFQ, why did you not fancy that, have you stayed there before?

We might keep it as is, but cant help but think that it will be a big miss not having the big pool (our eldest is 15). Looked at the CSR but didn't think the reviews were as good as the other two.

Cheers Michael

 

[Shooby doo]

Hi Michael,
there was no other reason for not liking POFQ other than we just didn't like the "look",in fact it has had good reviews.We originally wanted CSR because:it was newer & had a gym but booking over 12 months in advance it wasn't available! So booked CBR & the more I read about it the happier I became but no big pool is a blow,after all that's the pool that is in all the CBR photos.
SD

 

[the colonel2]

We just returned today after 10 days at CBR. We had heard a lot of bad things about this resort but we were very happy indeed after a wonderful stay. The resort is extremely beautiful and talk about being too spread out were way off the mark. We stayed in Aruba and while it was about a 10 minute walk to Port Royale this walk was a key feature of our stay. The early morning views over the lake with the mist gently lifting and burning off were very pretty indeed.

But back to the main pool. I honestly dont think the absence of it will detract from your stay. We went there once preferring to use the Aruba pool which was much less crowded. The main pool makes for a couple of nice photos and of course has the convenience of being next door to Centertown but I wouldnt get too down about it being out of action. They are currently refurbishing the beach area near Port Royale which has seen screens errected on the bridge link between Port Royale and Caribbean Cay. In effect we were walking past a construction site every day but hardly noticed (all pretty well hidden from view)

Only thing about this resort that scored less than 10/10 was the Port Royale food which was pretty ordinary.

Will post a full trip report when feeling fresher.

All pre trip worries about Weather, seat gazzumping, broken down Virgin IFE all gloriously came to nothing!!!!

 

[Shooby doo]

Colonel did you request Aruba? We haven't requested an area yet & the CM didn't mention it when I booked,like you we are not bothered about the walk but more about the view.This is our first time staying on-site & we are a bit apprehensive about building it up but a possible DVC purchase could rest on us liking it!
SD

 

[the colonel2]

We didnt request any island just got allocated Aruba 55 at the Desk. I spent some time strolling around the entire resort and genuinely cant undertand how a relatively fit and healthy person (child or adult) can get uptight about the walk from any of the islands to Port Royale. We had a standard room that looked out over a small courtyard with a few tables, chairs parasols etc . The car park was about 100 yards away and the bus stop 20 yards beyond that. Arubas pool and beach were a mere 50 or so yards away from the room and the views from there were splendid. As I said earlier the walk to Port Royale took 10 minutes and was really pleasant at any time of day or night.The views from each of the islands whilst slightly different are all impressive. We genuinely could not find a down side to being based in Aruba.For the time we spent in and around the hotel I was glad we did not get a waterside or preferred room. Would have been a waste of money from our perspective.

In terms of transportation the only down side was being one of the last drop off points which was no hardship even with a sleeping 3 year old and sleepy 11 year old, stroller and kit.The transportation itself was pretty impressive but I gave up working up the sequence of buses (Disneys Enigma Variations) The longest we waited was 23 minutes( late night return from Magic Kingdom) but on one ocassion we did see 4 consecutive buses roll up for MGM studios early in the morning.

I have no hesitation recommending this resort but if you have a penchant for fine dining then that may be the achilles heel. It served us well enough but was pretty run of the mill and uninspiring (would recommend the pizza delivery to the room which the kids loved)

 

[Shooby doo]

Thanks Colonel,sounds like Aruba could be the place for us! On the food front,our expectations are quite low for Shutters,we have a 2006 copy of the UG that lists all the restaurants.To be honest we always have a car & this time is no different so we can investigate elsewhere but all these ADR's are like planning a military campaign!!
SD