Disney's CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT Information & Questions

I must say- seeing these photos made my heart sink. I REALLY hope Disney adds some "pixie dust" to these poles in the way of greenery or decor that make them less of an eye sore.

CBR has been my family's go-to resort for the 29 years I've been alive. Countless trips here. My parents daily still use the old-school CBR multicolored refillable coffee mugs. My husband and I took our engagement photos here because of my love for the place. Usually at minimum 1 stay per year now that I'm an adult.

I am so hesitant about these changes. I keep trying to be positive because I know Disney always ultimately has a good end-product in mind. Plus, the idea of the gondolas is pretty cool. But these pictures seriously got me down- I hope CBR doesn't change too much in overall experience (even though I know we'll end up paying more $$ to stay there once the gondola is operating!) ughhh
Sincerely,
-Sad CBR lifer
Unfortunately there is no way that the Gondolas will not affect the "serenity" of CBR to some degree.

The Gondolas will be a cool,fun and quick way to get to DHS and Epcot.

We will just have to wait and see if the "trade off" is worth it.:)
 
Is Jamaica the most centrally-located of the buildings?
Well, it depends. None of the villages/islands are just one building, they each have several buildings. Both Jamaica and Aruba have a building that is very close to the bridge that takes you over to the main pool area. However they also both have buildings that are farther away from the bridge and therefore not quite as convenient.

If you truly want to be closest to the main pool and food court when it opens, you would need to book preferred and that would put you right next door. We have stayed standard twice though in Jamaica and Aruba and enjoyed them both.
 
Is there an extra discount for staying during the reno? I read on a page about a gift card offer, does that still apply? Sorry, I cant read thru all 400 plus pages, but I wondered how Disney handles renos.
 


Is there an extra discount for staying during the reno?

Nope.

I read on a page about a gift card offer, does that still apply?

Nope. You had to book prior to March of 2017 to get the gift card.


Sorry, I cant read thru all 400 plus pages, but I wondered how Disney handles renos.

They usually do nothing but since so many basic amenities were removed they offered the gift cards.
 
Just coming back from cbr-there were 2 special offers. Extend stay for a day which was $179.50 and a bounce back on my email. Annoyingly I called to see if I was eligible for bounce back the day before leaving, told no. Then as driving home clicked on email from Disney that was a bounce back offer. For those who don’t know bounce backs have to be booked before checkout. Bummer, but that’s life! Glad to answer other ? Boards here helped a lot. Big thank you to all!
 


Just wanted to post a little update. We ended up staying in Aruba 5133 (May 22nd-May 30th). It was a really nice walk to the main pool, I loved the location. Honestly, never heard anything. We drove everywhere so no experience with the buses, but minimal issues from the construction. Ate at the food truck once (kids loved the hotdog meals, burger was decent), and the dinner buffet at the tent was "OK". My hair does not like Disney hair products at all, but there were tubes of nice lotion in the bathroom. Overall I don't regret switching from POR to CBR at all!

@coralietg (and anyone else) how did you like the pool? Has any of the construction affected it? We stayed for the weekend back in the beginning of April but it was way too cold to swim. We’re headed back down for a few days in the beginning of July and would like to then!

Also, has anyone tried both Spyglass breakfast and the tent buffet breakfast and found one personally preferable to the other? They both look so good! Hahaha even if one is in a tent the menu looks good!
 
I check in on the 24th November. Very excited but can anybody tell me the chances of Old Port Royale being back open by then?
 
I check in on the 24th November. Very excited but can anybody tell me the chances of Old Port Royale being back open by then?
Depends who you ask. Truth is, nobody knows. We check in a whole month before you and I'm viewing it as unlikely but secretly hoping I'll be pleasantly surprised.
 
Thank you all. I shall just keep my fingers crossed as all the new things they are building sound really good.
 
I'm looking to book at CBR for next summer. What are the chances that once all the construction is done that the price will go way up?
 
I'm not sure. Everything they seem to be adding does point at there will be a price bump. However, I am not really sure.

It will be a smaller resort, have more dining options and unique transport to two theme parks.

I'm not sure if the current, Value, Moderate and Deluxe rankings will cover everything in a couple of years.
 
I booked CBR for 8/29-9/3 we are passholders the price keeps going down last night I just decided to add the quick service dining plan and it was only almost $400 more. When I change it to the other rooms and hotels it is the regular price like $600 for dining plan. Not sure if they are adding in some kind of "discount" in lieu of the gift cards but I'll take it! We prob would have spent $400 on food anyways. I can get CBR for cheaper than pop right now with the dining plan added!
 
We returned yesterday from a wonderful disney vacation and a great stay at CBR. It was our first family trip to Disney- me, DH, DS12, DD8, and DD5. We were there for 7 nights and are so happy we chose this as our resort! I was well prepared for the construction, limited food options, and busing issues at this resort due to all the info on this forum, and I thank all of you who have posted such helpful info.

We loved the resort! We were in Jamaica 4463, just steps away from the island market and coke freestyle machine in Jamaica 43, very close to the Jamaica pool, 1-2 minutes from the Jamaica bus stop, and only a few minutes pleasant walk across the bridge to the main pool and buffet. The location was perfect for our family-I did not make any specific room requests, only to be close to transportation. The construction did not bother us at all. There is a gondola tower that was just outside of our room door and I didn't see or hear any active construction when we were there. We noticed construction EVERYWHERE at Disney, so CBR is no exception and the visual blight didn't seem any worse at the resort than anywhere else!

We used the busing for all transportation and yes, it was unpredictable and annoying at times, just as I expected. It was not a deal breaker for us, but I am going to give a lot of info so as to help some of you who will be heading there soon in hopes that you can learn from our mistakes!

As I had posted prior, we had two 8:05am breakfast reservations that I was concerned about getting to. The day we arrived we went to Epcot and had no trouble getting a bus efficiently to get there and back (about 2pm-8pm), so I figured it would be ok to try for the 8am Akershus reservation the next morning. We arrived at the Jamaica stop at 6:47am and the bus sign said "every 20 min" for arrival time, which we figured out later on in the trip meant they have no idea when a bus would actually arrive :). By 7:10 I was getting a little anxious, but the sign now said the Epcot bus would be arriving by 7:20, so I figured it would be ok. The bus actually arrived at 7:25, we were at Epcot by 7:45, through the bag check and breakfast entry line by about 7:55 and practically dragged our kids through the park to check in at Akershus at 8:04am. Not exactly the enjoyable empty park stroll I was hoping to enjoy, but it worked! We quickly ate our breakfast, visited with all the princesses and rushed out the door to walk on to FEA amidst a crowd of rope droppers who were practically running in.

We had no trouble with the buses to or from AK or HS, though all the days we went to those parks we were not in a rush and didn't get out the door until around 8:30 or 9. The problem was MK! The first day we went to MK I wanted to get there for the 8am extra magic hrs, so we arrived to the bus stop at 7am and noticed that the sign said "every 20 min" for bus arrival. At this point we were still naive and didn't realize what this meant ;). There were several other families waiting at the same time. Eventually the time board said a MK bus would be there at 7:20, but this kept creeping back to 7:30 until finally it switched to 7:50. We realized that we could see where buses were turning out of our resort and that 2 MK buses had bypassed our stop and Aruba due to being full. At this point, people were getting angry and we decided to walk to the Old Port Royale stop to see if this was better. We caught a bus there around 7:50 and sure enough, our bus bypassed Jamaica and Aruba as it was too full. By the time we got to MK and entered the park, it was 8:20, so there was little advantage to the extra magic hour.

The next few days there was a cast member at the Jamaica stop in the mornings and it appeared that they had dedicated busing to both sides of the resort, which helped immensely. I was strongly considering getting an uber for our 8am reservation to BOG as I still didn't trust the busing to MK. The day before our reservation I realized that our family was really too exhausted for another early morning, and we decided to stay late at HS to watch Fantasmic the night before, so I cancelled the reservation (ugh, bummer!).

My advice to anyone going soon who wants to get to MK early in the morning is to catch the bus at Old Port Royale or take an uber/lyft/minnie van if you are staying in Jamaica or Aruba. Or decide to go later in the morning as we did and be less anxious and more joyful :).

We took an afternoon break each day for 2-4 hrs and spent time at the pool, which really helped our kids reenergize for evenings at the parks. It was no problem getting back and forth from the parks in afternoons and well worth the time for our family. My kids LOVED the main pool. The first afternoon there were characters there for games and a dance party (Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy). The slides were fun and there were always activities going on.

We ate at the food truck for lunch one day and the buffet for breakfast another day. Both were good and convenient for quick service meals. The last night we walked out to spy glass grill (maybe 10-15 min walk from our room, and that was with my 5yo walking VERY slowly). We really enjoyed it- I had the tacos and my husband had the cuban sandwich and both were very good.

The resort is really beautiful, with nice walking trails and I can only imagine how nice it will be when the construction is completed. I think the gondola towers will just become part of the background, just like telephone poles are in our neighborhoods. We would not hesitate to stay here again, so I hope this long-winded post helps someone else plan their dream trip!

 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!






Top