CBR - will we be disappointed?

[mrsjoannh13]

So, good news is we were able to extend our stay by 2 additional nights on the front end. Bad news is we couldn't get the same resort (Contemporary) for these 2 nights. So we're doing a split stay which we really did not want to do.

Would up booking at the Caribbean Beach Resort. It was that or Port Orleans and we have already stayed at PO in the past. We were able to get "preferred rooms" at CBR - from what I understand this just means they are a shorter walk after check in.

Question is... I don't know much about CBR but have not read great things online so far. We are obviously very excited about staying at the Contemporary - theme park view rooms - so I'm thinking CBR will be a bit of a let-down.

Obviously this doesn't take away from the excitement of our vacation and happiness about the longer trip, but just curious to hear about experiences of CBR. Thanks!

 

[Nancyg56]

So, good news is we were able to extend our stay by 2 additional nights on the front end. Bad news is we couldn't get the same resort (Contemporary) for these 2 nights. So we're doing a split stay which we really did not want to do.

Would up booking at the Caribbean Beach Resort. It was that or Port Orleans and we have already stayed at PO in the past. We were able to get "preferred rooms" at CBR - from what I understand this just means they are a shorter walk after check in.

Question is... I don't know much about CBR but have not read great things online so far. We are obviously very excited about staying at the Contemporary - theme park view rooms - so I'm thinking CBR will be a bit of a let-down.

Obviously this doesn't take away from the excitement of our vacation and happiness about the longer trip, but just curious to hear about experiences of CBR. Thanks!

I don't know if you will be let down, but I know I like CBR. My family kept comparing it to the Poly, so they really did not like it, but I think it is charming on it's own merits. I think that you have already alleviated an issue with a prefered room. It was not enough for my whiners, but it was perfect for me.

So lets look at the positives:

The beaches are a lovely place to relax and enjoy a book and a cup of coffee. I love a hammoch!

The marketplace is loud and bright and has plenty of seating and choices for food.

I liked walking to OPR int he morning for my coffee. I sometimes sat out on the patio and just enjoyed the view. The entire area is spotlessly cleaned, and is just lovely.

Shutters: I like this restaurant. WE all did, andit si right onsite, so if you plan dinne there, you are already "home".

The POOL! The POOL! We all agree it is pretty nice, and personally I liked it better than Storm Along Bay at the BC.

The resort is themed beautifully, with sherbet colored buildings and beautifully plush grounds.

Negatives: This is a huge resort and transportation can be long.

This is not the CR, but honestly, it was never meant to be. It has a lot of charm on it's own that the CR is lacking simply due to it's location and it's size as well as it's theme.

I also wanted to add that if you are adding CBR onto the end of your trip, that may be the perfect time for the change. The CR is a busy resort, both with guests in and out, and it's atmosphere, so by the time you switch resorts your family may be ready to wind down. Moving from Deluxe to moderate is not alwasy a bad thing, especially when your family wants to kick back.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

I think if you go into it thinking you'll be disappointed, you very well may be. It's not deluxe, but it's a WONDERFUL resort. See it for the positives and give something new a chance!

 

[Nancyg56]

I think if you go into it thinking you'll be disappointed, you very well may be. It's not deluxe, but it's a WONDERFUL resort. See it for the positives and give something new a chance!

I agree. There cannot be a comparison. Now my DD and DSILreally disliked CBR, so when we book moderate, I choose POFQ. For them it was the size. But for me, it was charming. But I have never minded waiting for a bus and once I am on board I am as happy as a clam.

 

[mickeynut1]

I agree with both pp's, CBR is a great resort! We loved everything about it and wouldn't hesitate to return. You can keep checking for availability at the CR for those 2 nights, but I think CBR is a great choice for a moderate for those additional nights.

 

[kiford]

We always stay deluxe now but CBR was the first resort we stayed in. Admittedly, it's been a long time since we've been but I have very fond memories of the place. I have to also admit my bias - I'm not a big fan of CR so I'd probably take CBR over CR even though we now prefer to stay in deluxes. But it's a very nice resort. Each "island" has its own pool and beach area plus there's a main swimming pool. I seem to recall that our pool wasn't very crowded because of not having to share a single pool with the entire resort so it was a nice place to sit and relax for a bit. I don't know what condition the rooms are in but I remember ours being a good size and nice layout.

It's a bit far from some of the parks, at least in comparison to the deluxes but at the time we had a car so it wasn't an issue (we didn't even know that there was bus service or we might have used). However, because the location is a bit isolated, we found that it really felt like you were at a resort in the Caribbean.

Go with an open mind and you might find that you like it.

 

[Dug720]

CBR is my favorite resort!! Granted, I'm not a deluxe kind of girl at all - moderates are perfectly fine with me.

I do agree that if you go into it thinking "Man, we're going from a deluxe on the monorail with a theme park view to just a moderate..." Yes. You're going to be disappointed. Keep your mind open and think of it as a totally different vacation - don't compare.

 

[disnut8]

I think if you go into it thinking you'll be disappointed, you very well may be. It's not deluxe, but it's a WONDERFUL resort. See it for the positives and give something new a chance!

Totally agree. Reading a review or two about someone else's experience does not mean your experience will be bad. On our first (and not last time) at Coronado Springs, my husband wanted it to celebrate for a different feel and I agreed. I was concerned about the distance of things and all that but wanted to enjoy it with just my husband who then said we could think about his father (still alive at the time) and who loved the American Southwest. We had lived in Arizona for a short time so were familiar with the "design". Since it was just the two of us, I requested a room away from everything. It was perfect. We had so much time to explore and relax and talk about my father-in-law.

But that's not about you. The point is, I didn't really thing about all that when I made the reservation. I just wanted something different and it turned into something we enjoyed a lot. You can't make memories before you experience something so why think about it now? All the doubts had before we left went flying out the window when I saw we were so far back, we were near the nature zone at the time.

Each experience is so different and if you go in with negative, you tend to come out with negative.

 

[nkereina]

We don't care for CBR. That being said, we would certainly be fine with only two nights there. Our biggest gripe with it was the size of the resort, but you will be fine in a preferred room. We also had bad experiences with the buses - long routes (7 bus stops at the resort) and very crowded bus stops/buses. With no formal queues at the bus stops at the moderate resorts, it was a free for all sometimes when the bus pulled up. This was primarily in the mornings when trying to make rope drop, FWIW. Aside from these things, we did like CBR's food court and the main pool was nice as well. Also liked the refurbished rooms.

 

[Accident]

Everyone considers some resort their favorite and for some, that's CBR. For us, we'll stay there again if needed but we have others that are higher in our lists of where we'd prefer to be. Of course to know this, we had to stay there at least once. There's really no bad resort on disney property, it just depends on what your family wants from their resort when there and how much are you willing to pay for those options.

You'll have a good time and personally, 2 more days at disney is 2 more days at disney, your probably not going to be at the resort all that much the first couple days

 

[jolene63]

We don't care for CBR. That being said, we would certainly be fine with only two nights there. Our biggest gripe with it was the size of the resort, but you will be fine in a preferred room. We also had bad experiences with the buses - long routes (7 bus stops at the resort) and very crowded bus stops/buses. With no formal queues at the bus stops at the moderate resorts, it was a free for all sometimes when the bus pulled up. This was primarily in the mornings when trying to make rope drop, FWIW. Aside from these things, we did like CBR's food court and the main pool was nice as well. Also liked the refurbished rooms.

This is exactly how I feel about CBR.

 

[bare necessities]

I think if you go into it thinking you'll be disappointed, you very well may be. It's not deluxe, but it's a WONDERFUL resort. See it for the positives and give something new a chance!

This was my thought exactly when I saw the thread title.

 

[Dis703]

The 2 prior years we went deluxe and stayed at BC and BWI. We absolutely loved the Epcot area resorts, but to return earlier this year we had to tighten up our budget and booked CBR. I was a little worried about going down to a mod and read a number of concerning negative reviews, but I did my research and planned on making the best of it. We stayed for 9 nights in May and I can honestly say I didn't miss the deluxe resorts one bit. We had a fabulous stay and found it to be a very quiet, peaceful, relaxed resort with awesome CMs, a great pool, a very good food court, and the best bus transportation we've had to date at a Disney resort. We absolutely loved it and it will definitely be our first pick for our next family vacation.

 

[dansdad]

The 2 prior years we went deluxe and stayed at BC and BWI. We absolutely loved the Epcot area resorts, but to return earlier this year we had to tighten up our budget and booked CBR. I was a little worried about going down to a mod and read a number of concerning negative reviews, but I did my research and planned on making the best of it. We stayed for 9 nights in May and I can honestly say I didn't miss the deluxe resorts one bit. We had a fabulous stay and found it to be a very quiet, peaceful, relaxed resort with awesome CMs, a great pool, a very good food court, and the best bus transportation we've had to date at a Disney resort. We absolutely loved it and it will definitely be our first pick for our next family vacation.

Completely agree with @Dis703. We had to switch to CBR for free dining years ago and ever since, we haven't been able to stay anywhere else. We just love it for all the reasons listed above.

 

[RustManFan]

I love CBR and would have no hesitation staying there again! I personally like that it is spread out

 

[nilla]

I don't know much about CBR but have not read great things online so far.

You just outed yourself as someone who is NOT reading my latest Trip Report. Shame on you.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We are DVC members and did a week at CBR this summer (we were out of points and our son was doing an internship at WDW). We thought it was delightful. Nice sized rooms with two queen beds. Lovely grounds, nicely landscaped. Buses were not packed and we were relatively close to both the bus and the neighborhood pool (for a standard room). Think of it as a new adventure and you won't be disappointed. Don't let the "moderate" status keep you from liking your trip. You can be disappointed anywhere or happy anywhere. It's your choice.

 

[loves to dive]

I think since you have stayed at a moderate before you know what to expect so that is half the battle. You really can't depend on anyone else's opinion, it is after all just their opinion. I have not stayed at CBR but have stayed at POR and enjoyed it. I usually stay in the deluxe resorts, Epcot ones if I can get them. It isn't even a matter of money for me, the time I stayed at POR I couldn't get rooms for my entire trip at OKW, which was where I was staying. I could have gotten a room at CR for the whole trip but, hmmmmm, I don't like that resort so I was willing to go split with a moderate. I loved the resort, I was afraid because I kept reading how big it was and how far everything was but seriously, even walking to the main bus stop in the morning only took me 5 min. from Magnolia (where there was a stop right behind it). I walked the entire perimeter in 15 min and that was a a slow pace. Sounds like you will be close to the main bus stop so take advantage of that. Enjoy and like others have said, you will still be at Disney.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

Appreciate all the feedback.

I should have probably prefaced my story a bit to say we are taking my Mom and Dad and treating them to this trip to thank them for all their help with DD. We booked Contemporary as Mom is in a wheelchair and we wanted to be close to MK and have monorail access. We were not able to book CR when we added these 2 new room nights so that was a bit disappointing. Then I read that there are no elevators at CBR (seriously?). So spent about an hour and a half at various times calling in to specify we need ground level for medical reasons. When I finally got through on the 3rd call the "system was down" so I'm still not sure the note has made it on our reservation.

Also, when we arrive it will be late after a full travel day so we just wanted to grab something to eat at the resort and go to bed. Looks like the food court at CBR and Shutters both receive overwhelmingly negative reviews. So I'm stressed out thinking everyone will hate their food but we won't really have any options.

I think I'm just a perfectionist and the issues with location, mom's mobility and food are bringing me down a bit. DH is already complaining about having to switch rooms, so there's that, too. With the split stay we can't do the expedited online check-in. We'll need to stop in at both CBR and Contemporary to get our Magic Bands set up when we arrive. Which is also not ideal with a group of impatient travelers (not so much me as the others with me). Just anticipating the complaints from them about the inconvenience.

I planned the trip and just want everyone to have a good time and I feel like this resort kind of throws a kink into it. I think it looks lovely and I'm glad to have the extra time at Disney. But I am also traveling with a persnikity group and I will be the target of complaints should anything go wrong.

I know that's not the best mindset going into a Disney vacation, and prior to this I was shooting rainbows and unicorns out my rear end over this trip. I am really excited to be going and taking DD for the first time. Guess I am just one of those who would rather prepare for the worst and be pleasantly surprised. I'm sure there is a clinical personality disorder type that applies to me. I blame Disney.

 

[Kevin355]

I love CBR and would have no hesitation staying there again! I personally like that it is spread out

This is why we like it. Do not feel like you are walking over and around people all the time. The morning walk around the lake is always nice, and we like the food court. Have only had one bad experience with buses, and that was on Christmas Day a few years ago. Just got back from a 1 week stay and am looking forward to going back again. Love the main pool at night, when we can sit by the pool and walk to the bar or food court, and love the quiet pools to just sit and relaz.

If you use these boards to pick a resort, just remember...no matter the name of the resort, there will always be someone that doesn't like it. And what some do not like, (i.e.) size or food court, is why my wife and I like it.