Disney's CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT Information & Questions-Old Thread-New Thread Link in Post 1

[Bills22]

Newbie here! We just booked today for end of Oct./beginning of Nov. w/ free dining at CBR and are super excited. This will be our first family trip to Disney (with our 6 and 9 yr. old girls) and also have close friends going. They booked a standard room to save some money but we got a waterview at the suggestion of my TA. She said it would be closer to the pool/dining. But now I'm second guessing myself and wondering if we should also do standard and save that $170 for something else, or is the water view worth the extra? I saw someone mention having a courtyard view and outside there was a smoking area, I definately would not want this with a standard though.

Also trying to decide if I should request ground floor or second floor? I'm thinking maybe less traffic/noise by our room on second floor, but DH wants ground floor so that he doesn't have to carry our 6 yr. old up a flight of stairs at the end of each busy day after the parks. Do all rooms come w/ a minifridge or is that something I need to request? And can I request a murphy bed if there are only 4 of us in the room? Thought that may alleviate some fighting between my kids at bedtime.

I'm sure I'll be back w/ more questions! Thanks for your Disney wisdom

For us, upgrading our room isn't worth the extra money. I know many people disagree with that. We spend so little time in the room, we stick with the standard.

 

[busymommy2pink]

Have had very little problem with smokers at WDW and CBR. You get the occasional smoker who gets away from the area, but not often.

Thank you, I appreciate this! We have also noticed that 99.9% of smokers are very considerate on property I was just looking at the resort map and it's hard to tell where the areas are actually located. It makes it seem as if it could be directly beside some of the rooms. I'm sure that's not the case, but just want to ask

 

[BrerRabbit66]

Hi all! Getting ready for a return visit to CBR June 13-19, but already looking forward to the next trip. Does anyone have information on the current bounce back offer?

 

[dis_guy]

We will be celebrating our 25 anniversary and oldest DD's college graduation.

Wow, congratulations on two milestones! It's always nice to do something special to mark an occasion. A couple of years ago DW and I finally took our much talked about trip to Europe. Only after booking it did we realize we would be away for our 25th anniversary. Turns out we celebrated it in Rome! Unforgettable to say the least.

 

[Bills22]

Wow, congratulations on two milestones! It's always nice to do something special to mark an occasion. A couple of years ago DW and I finally took our much talked about trip to Europe. Only after booking it did we realize we would be away for our 25th anniversary. Turns out we celebrated it in Rome! Unforgettable to say the least.

Thank you, dis_guy!!

 

[lllGurulll]

How bad will the bus transportation be at this resort. I currently have a minivan rented for the family. We have always done the bus in the past but that was at Pop.

 

[Monykalyn]

48 hours from right now I sincerely hope DH and I will be by the main pool, adult beverage in hand, while kids swim...Hard to believe it's almost time!!

 

[KrazeeK120]

How bad will the bus transportation be at this resort. I currently have a minivan rented for the family. We have always done the bus in the past but that was at Pop.

I'd drive if I were you. Last Friday (24 hour day), I got to the bus stop at about 5:35 for the 6 AM opening. There were a lot of people there. I heard a guy get on the phone and say "Yeah, we've been waiting 35-40 minutes for a bus..." That's all I needed to hear (I don't know who he was talking to). DH and I turned right around and got in the car. DH and I knew that we would be cutting it close on seeing the opening show, so I wasn't upset that it was ending as we were walking into the park. But I'm sure that there were some disappointed people at CBR who probably wanted to see that show and didn't get to since no buses were coming.

We took a mid-day break and went back to the bus stop to return to the park around 6 PM. A bus pulled up, let some people off, but wouldn't let those of us at the bus stop on because the bus was too full. Again, we turned around and got in the car. I wasn't going to stand there and hope that we would eventually be able to squeeze onto a crowded bus.

That was the first day of the trip and we didn't attempt the bus again after that. I thought the resort was fine, but I may have a different opinion had I relied on bus transportation. You'll be glad you have the minivan.

 

[Metz172]

48 hours from right now I sincerely hope DH and I will be by the main pool, adult beverage in hand, while kids swim...Hard to believe it's almost time!!

Us too Bags are packed. Don't know how I am going to get through tomorrow. Luckily we have a 7am flight on Monday.

 

[wdw4rfam]

Hoping you can all help a newbie out. When is the best time to call in and add room requests to our reservation? We have a water-view. I need to request to be far from any smoking areas and DD and I are both highly allergic, so we do our best to avoid them. We would love Jamacia 45 or 44 based on the map, but can we only request a certain country? Floor level doesn't matter so much, but we would like to avoid a connecting door as well (is this a request?). sorry for so many questions! On our other stays we just asked to be far away from the elevator lol

We have always requested the second floor, that way even if you are near a smoking area, it's not right outside your door. ( it's our first time at CBR but at the other resorts it works)

 

[dansdad]

Newbie here! We just booked today for end of Oct./beginning of Nov. w/ free dining at CBR and are super excited. This will be our first family trip to Disney (with our 6 and 9 yr. old girls) and also have close friends going. They booked a standard room to save some money but we got a waterview at the suggestion of my TA. She said it would be closer to the pool/dining. But now I'm second guessing myself and wondering if we should also do standard and save that $170 for something else, or is the water view worth the extra? I saw someone mention having a courtyard view and outside there was a smoking area, I definately would not want this with a standard though.

Also trying to decide if I should request ground floor or second floor? I'm thinking maybe less traffic/noise by our room on second floor, but DH wants ground floor so that he doesn't have to carry our 6 yr. old up a flight of stairs at the end of each busy day after the parks. Do all rooms come w/ a minifridge or is that something I need to request? And can I request a murphy bed if there are only 4 of us in the room? Thought that may alleviate some fighting between my kids at bedtime.

I'm sure I'll be back w/ more questions! Thanks for your Disney wisdom

In our opinion paying extra $$ for a specific view in a moderate or value resort is not worth it. In order to enjoy the view, you will have to leave the blinds open and with the exterior hallways and peoples curiosity you will have people looking in your room. So we always book standard. Now one the rare occasion we stay deluxe, those rooms have a balcony to sit on so we will pay for a nice view.

We prefer the 2nd floor because we like the view outside our room from the 2nd floor. Plus my wife feels we have less of a chance of a little critter getting in our room if we're up higher. So it makes her feel better.

Hoping you can all help a newbie out. When is the best time to call in and add room requests to our reservation? We have a water-view. I need to request to be far from any smoking areas and DD and I are both highly allergic, so we do our best to avoid them. We would love Jamacia 45 or 44 based on the map, but can we only request a certain country? Floor level doesn't matter so much, but we would like to avoid a connecting door as well (is this a request?). sorry for so many questions! On our other stays we just asked to be far away from the elevator lol

There is no best time to call. You can call any time from the day your book up until about 10 days days prior to your arrival.

How bad will the bus transportation be at this resort. I currently have a minivan rented for the family. We have always done the bus in the past but that was at Pop.

We have stayed 45 nights at CBR and have never had an issue with the buses. I know every resort can and does have issues sometimes, but we haven't at CBR. In fact it has been the best bus experience of any of the resorts we have stayed.

 

[lllGurulll]

See thats what I mean. For every negative review there is a positive review. lol

I guess we will just spend the money for the convenience of being able to go where we want when we want. It will probably be the last time we go for several years anyway.

 

[dansdad]

See thats what I mean. For every negative review there is a positive review. lol

I guess we will just spend the money for the convenience of being able to go where we want when we want. It will probably be the last time we go for several years anyway.

I forgot to mention that we had our car with us for 3 trips and all 3 times our car never moved until we checked out. If we would have had breakfast ADRs at another resort during those trips we would have used our car for that.

 

[lllGurulll]

I forgot to mention that we had our car with us for 3 trips and all 3 times our car never moved until we checked out. If we would have had breakfast ADRs at another resort during those trips we would have used our car for that.

well one things for certain. I will be driving everywhere. I don't believe in wasting money by paying for something then not using it. lol

 

[dansdad]

well one things for certain. I will be driving everywhere. I don't believe in wasting money by paying for something then not using it. lol

Understood.

 

[Kevin355]

How bad will the bus transportation be at this resort. I currently have a minivan rented for the family. We have always done the bus in the past but that was at Pop.

Have over 60 days at CBR. Have had one bad day of buses...Christmas Day. Other than that, never had a problem.

 

[Kevin355]

I just checked all of my tickets from the years. I called a CM and request Aruba. Have never stayed there. Asked for building 51...Dick Butkus fan. Chances of getting it? More or less than 50%.

 

[astronautmom]

Just did online check in and requested "Jamaica" and "close to transportation." Also booked fast passes and got all the ones we wanted. Now this trip is feeling real!

 

[ready4mouse]

Aruba vs Jamaica?
I would like to be in one of these, near the bridge if possible...they appear to be the same distance to the bridge.
Any reason why Jamaica seems to be more popular?

 

[disneycruisegal]

We have never had a problem with the buses at CBR. We know ahead of time that we are going to have a wait for buses, but nothing out of the ordinary. Never more than 20 minutes, most of the time, 5-10. We have never rented a car while visiting Disney. We drove down once and stayed off park property and have never done that again. Getting into that hot car after a day in the parks, no thanks. We would much rather let Disney do the driving and sit back and relax.