Disney's CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT Information & Questions

[LynnMc2015]

You will want to go in late August/early September-NOT late July.

July will be much more crowded than late August/early September and July is Ground Zero for The 15s.

The temperatures in late August/early September will be similar to late September.

Thank you. When in August do the US schools go back? I know this is generally when the crowds drop a little and varies by area but it would help me with selecting a date.

 

[GBBTomorrow]

Wonderful review! Thanks! So.... the pins now replace the goodie bag with snacks?? ???

I suppose they must. I didn't receive a goody bag.

 

[GBBTomorrow]

What do the Pins look like?Thanks.

 

[G.Goof]

I am an AVID Goofy Pin collector. If anyone who received one of those pins with Goofy relaxing in the tube is unhappy with it, I would LOVE to work out a trade/purchase. We'll be staying at CBR this December, so hopefully they are still providing these then. If not, you're my only hope!

 

[AngiTN]

Thank you. When in August do the US schools go back? I know this is generally when the crowds drop a little and varies by area but it would help me with selecting a date.

Depends.
The Northern half the US doesn't go back in August at all. (in general, few exceptions)
The Southern half the US goes back all throughout the month, we started yesterday (in general, few exceptions)
FL schools fall in the Southern half (in general) and go back in early to mid August so most are starting this week

 

[luvpalmtrees]

No, we got the gift card and the cooler bag.
Best I can tell the pins started to show up in August, roughly

Oh well, I wasn't as lucky!!

 

[DavidHobart]

Depends.
The Northern half the US doesn't go back in August at all. (in general, few exceptions)
The Southern half the US goes back all throughout the month, we started yesterday (in general, few exceptions)
FL schools fall in the Southern half (in general) and go back in early to mid August so most are starting this week

This image is based on the actual back to school dates of 15 million kids, weighted, by state, on the proportions of visits from that state to my site.

 

[The Sunrise Student]

Hi Everyone! I just checked out of CBR yesterday and thought this might be a good place to share my experience. Almost everything was good, despite the fact that half the resort looked to have been a victim of a nuclear detonation. I mean, I KNEW there would be construction, but WOW! It's a LOT!!!

Good Things:

• The front desk cast is wonderful. I was greeted by Carlos, and he was engaging and pleasant. I arrived before noon, and my room was ready. In fact, I received a small bump to a water-view room, which I really enjoyed. I had done online check-in, but stopped at the desk on the off chance the room would be ready early, and it was such a pleasant surprise that it was.
• I attempted to walk to my room after check-in, not realizing this is not something you can do now (see "not-so-good things" below!). I pretty quickly realized I had made a mistake after almost getting hit by several cars and a bus as I walked on the edge of the road looking for a sidewalk. Just as I was ready to turn back, a very friendly activities cast member (I didn't catch her name, sadly) pulled up in a golf cart and asked me if I needed a lift. She drove me directly to my door, chatting amiably the whole way and giving me tips on the resort. She refused to take a gratuity.
  
• My room was spotlessly clean, as were the non-construction areas of the resort.
• On the table in my room was a nice note explaining the construction, along with a gift of two pins.
• People are very eager to help you navigate the resort.
• In the immediate vicinity of the resort rooms, everything looks like it should: tropical greenery, pretty buildings, winding pathways.
• Looking at the giant, gaping hole in the resort where they are working, I got super-excited for all the neat things to come, including the gondolas and the new DVC resort! It's going to be AWESOME.
• You can really tell that everyone is bending over backwards to give people as good of an experience as possible.

Not-so-good Things:

• You can't walk to the Custom House.
  
• You can't get a park bus from the Custom House.
  
• You can't walk from check-in to your room and vice versa.
• Leave LOTS of extra time on your check-out day if you are using Magical Express. I was only coming from Epcot, so I budgeted an hour and fifteen minutes from the park. I found out this was not enough! I made my bus just by the skin of my teeth, as did another family. That family had called the desk to relay our distress, and a manager was waiting for us when we got off the internal bus to make sure we were OK. (Put that up in the "good things" section!) Anyway, I left Epcot with what I thought was enough time, but what I did not count on was the l-o-n-g wait for an internal shuttle. We got off the bus at the first stop within the resort to wait for the internal shuttle to take us to the Custom House, where I had dropped off my luggage in the morning. (That was a 3-bus proposition in itself: bus to Custom House, bus to a bus stop, THEN bus to the park.) We then waited and waited and waited for the internal bus to come. (That's when the other family called for help.) When one finally came, it was a painfully long ride through all the other bus stops to get to the Custom House, while we watched the clock inside the bus tick minute by minute closer to our time. The manager assured us that if we had missed the bus they would have taken care of us, and I don't doubt that. But if you don't want to feel that stress, budget a whole lot of time for this journey.
  
• The food options, while they truly are making a valiant effort, are a little shaky. The main buffet is in a big tent that feels like my parish festival, and the food trucks aren't exactly as plentiful or interesting as the communications I received ahead of my trip made it seem. The little markets in the different neighborhoods are also not too impressive. It's a neat idea, but all they have in there are the basic grab-and-go things that they have in all of the food court refrigerators. Eat in the parks or at Disney Springs, rather than spend your money on a less-than-stellar experience.
• I know I said this above, but I can't overstate how MUCH construction there is. You really will be surrounded by the sights and sounds of construction, including lots of fences, trailers, heavy equipment, bare dirt, workers, more fences, more fences, and building supplies. IT IS A LOT.

Advice:

• If you do not go to WDW often, or if this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, stay somewhere else. The construction really is enough to change the feel of your vacation.
• If you are lucky enough to go often and are looking for a moderate room at a bargain price, then sign up!

Thank you for this review, it was awesome!

 

[AngiTN]

Oh well, I wasn't as lucky!!

Yeah, I'm thinking you hit the bad spot between when they ran out of cooler bags and before they got the pins in

 

[cyndiella]

Yeah, I'm thinking you hit the bad spot between when they ran out of cooler bags and before they got the pins in

I wonder what the next perk is - when they run outta pins, that is.. lol. We go at end of October.

 

[cyndiella]

I am an AVID Goofy Pin collector. If anyone who received one of those pins with Goofy relaxing in the tube is unhappy with it, I would LOVE to work out a trade/purchase. We'll be staying at CBR this December, so hopefully they are still providing these then. If not, you're my only hope!

I love that you love Goofy! My DH and I are doing a 4 park/1 day challenge this visit. We plan to meet and greet Goofy with picture proof in all 4 parks! We will be wearing orange shirts with a black vest and green hats with a black ribbon and blue jeans.. My question is (if you can answer it for me) When did Goofy change from a black vest to a yellow vest? or are they both acceptable?? TIA very much!

 

[Terpsichore]

I was at CBR July 8th to July 16th and didn't receive the cooler bag or pins. I wonder if the rooms that receive them are the ones that didn't get the gift cards?? I can't remember reading about if some received the gift card and cooler bag/pins. I received a gift card so I was happy!! But the pins are cute!!

We were there from 7/26-8/1. We did not qualify for the gift card and we did not receiver either the bag or the pin. We still had a lovely time!

We also noticed that there were a lot of British visitors at CBR. We had several nice conversations on the buses with some of them. One gentleman was visiting with his family. They had dined at CRT and he gave the little sword he had received to my DGS8. We asked if there was a special deal specifically for CBR directed at UK visitors and he was not aware of any.

 

[bigeyedfish]

Many Northern schools do not go back until after Labor Day (first Monday in September).

 

[smidgy]

Depends.
The Northern half the US doesn't go back in August at all. (in general, few exceptions)
The Southern half the US goes back all throughout the month, we started yesterday (in general, few exceptions)
FL schools fall in the Southern half (in general) and go back in early to mid August so most are starting this week

Many Northern schools do not go back until after Labor Day (first Monday in September).

not sure about chicago public schools, but most of the school districts in the surrounding suburbs, towns, counties,etc. go back mid august. have for years. a few years back we had to take our trip in early aug. as our grandson had to be back by aug 15.. he goes to school in Belvidere IL which is near rockford ; boone county.about 40 miles NW of chicago.. mys son's wife (grandson's stepmom) teaches in geneva IL Kane county ( suburb west of chicago, but also in a dif county) also had to be back by aug. 15.
same this year. also our other grandkids start mid august in Algonquin ILMcHenry county. oh, a coworker at the restaurant works in the cafeteria in Barrington :lake county.. they also go back mid august.

 

[rotlex]

Posting some quick impressions for a during construction stay.

Checked in yesterday for a 13 night stay on a free dining bounce back. Check in went very smooth. Very friendly and very Disney. We received our gift card, $975, whoohoo!, and hit the pool until the room was ready.

Overall, while major, the construction is not bad at all. We are in Jamaica 43 and frankly, from here, you can't even see any of it. We spent our first afternoon at the main pool and other than the walls/skrims and anything you can see over them, it feels the same as CBR always has. (It's our favorite mod). The food trucks and dining area are off to the side and not even noticeable when in the pool area. Food choices are ok and the folks working them pleasant enough.

Back to the room. The room is in good shape, clean, and we wound
Up with a court yard view but paid for standard. Now, the one thing SPOILING us already is the fact that our building houses the food station and has the Coca Cola free style machine right below us. This makes a world of difference during the morning coffee and snack run! Really nice to have this and would love to have it stick around post construction.

Anyway, like I said, we have only been here a day, but so far we are loving it. No difference in our experience at this point and convenient food and drinks to boot! (Ok, the gift card is a really nice addition too)!

Oh, we also received the pins as the in room gift.

More later. Now it's time to hit the parks!!!!

 

[AngiTN]

not sure about chicago public schools, but most of the school districts in the surrounding suburbs, towns, counties,etc. go back mid august. have for years. a few years back we had to take our trip in early aug. as our grandson had to be back by aug 15.. he goes to school in Belvidere IL which is near rockford ; boone county.about 40 miles NW of chicago.. mys son's wife (grandson's stepmom) teaches in geneva IL Kane county ( suburb west of chicago, but also in a dif county) also had to be back by aug. 15.
same this year. also our other grandkids start mid august in Algonquin ILMcHenry county. oh, a coworker at the restaurant works in the cafeteria in Barrington :lake county.. they also go back mid august.

LOL... this would be one of the "few exceptions" noted. There are always some. Just like down here we have a few schools that haven't started yet. They are not the norm though. And I would guess that in the North, schools that are started next week are not the norm either. I think most of them stick to after Labor Day

 

[smidgy]

most schools in Illinois and Indiana start in august. it has changed since I was a kid . most wisconsin schools wait until after labor day. but the trend up here in the north is getting earlier and earlier

 

[smidgy]

(now I can't get the phrase "king in the north!" out of my head. from GOT lol)

 

[carly chloe]

most schools in Illinois and Indiana start in august. it has changed since I was a kid . most wisconsin schools wait until after labor day. but the trend up here in the north is getting earlier and earlier

I'm in Minnesota and we're starting school after Labor Day

 

[SimonSez]

I asked a CM at the Custom House, what would be going on at the resort next spring construction wise. She pretty much told us what we already know--it's gonna take about 18-24 months to complete this massive project. That CBR is experiencing the most extensive construction of any resort on the property. Shutters is going to be down by the beach and check in will be at the new OPR (or whatever they decide to call it). The gondola station will be where the Custom House is now, yada, yada, yada. So apparently those going next spring, looking at you GoofyGraham, will most likely see new stages of construction, as it's gonna take almost two years to complete. I'm thinking it will be around the halfway point by then, going by the timeline given. You may see/experience something different than those of us who went this summer/fall, maybe more structures going up. OPR is still standing but the roof is kinda torn up, not sure what they're gonna do there. TS, near the pool, is undergoing some kind of maintenance/construction as we saw backhoes and workers, don't what they're doing and I didn't ask. Why? I don't know For us, the construction wasn't a problem, but like anything else, it's subjective. We ate at the buffet twice, breakfast both times, on our first and last mornings there. All other days we ate at the food truck. Food was fine, and what we expected, again subjective. We stayed at TS pirate room, it's a fun room, but it does have full beds, not queen. We stayed in building 35 with a water view, nice but it was a small hike from the parking lot, not bad though. If I had to make a request for a building in TS, I think I'd pick 34. It contains that much heralded and sought after freestyle machine We hiked over there every night and morning, and that wasn't a problem, but I envied those who had rooms near it One night, most of the beverages were out, so we had to hoof it to building 38 to the other freestyle machine--pretty far from 34. This is why I thought 36 should have one but they don't, at least not yet. This walking all over shouldn't have been a problem for us, as we had already walked about ten miles everyday at the parks not that my feet felt like lead or anything...yep my own little first world problem there We got a gift card for seven nights and it covered most of our meals/snacks. Five of us ate at the Biergarten for dinner (The three of us and two family members who live in the area). We only had to pay $18 out of pocket for the mealWe also ate at Marrakesh and Liberty Tree Tavern. We killed the card at Biergarten, but it went a long way. We didn't get the cooler bag, but we got the little pins. We had a blast and sorry it's over. We have zero regrets staying at CBR and would do it again. As I said, everything is subjective and others may see things differently. People have to experience it for themselves and form their own opinions. Chances are, we will stay at a different resort on our next trip, but only because we like to change around. It's a very pretty resort overall, there are fences up and lots of construction equipment, but I never heard any noise. When you guys go, watch where you walk, there are lizards everywhere, and they don't always make it across the sidewalk For those of you heading to CBR, have a great trip and happy trails