Disney's CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT Information & Questions

That is why people take it to a gas station and walk over.
How long is the walk? Do they hold you over at the temperature tent? if that is the case is there any advantage to this? Thought about doing breakfast at Ale and Compass if it would be worth it but if the walk is too long might be hard for some people in my group....
 
There is a fee if bell services delivers groceries to your room, correct? If so, how to you pay the fee? I really don't want to charge things to my room.
 
How long is the walk? Do they hold you over at the temperature tent? if that is the case is there any advantage to this? Thought about doing breakfast at Ale and Compass if it would be worth it but if the walk is too long might be hard for some people in my group....
I think the walk from the gas station and the walk from Yacht Club would be comparable. You would be held at the temperature tent in both scenarios. So, if being at the front of the pack before rope drop is important to you, you just have to decide if you want breakfast at Ale & Compass or not. If not, get dropped off at the gas station.

The advantage by going to the gas station or walking from an Epcot area resort is that it allows you to be at the front of the pack. People that take Uber directly to the park or are driving themselves are at the mercy of when the parking lot opens (roughly 45 mins before opening I think?) and Disney buses don't even start running until 45-60 mins before park opening.
 


We are booked for late June and I had a few questions. 1. Are they allowing you to fill your own drinks from the drink machines? 2. Are the Freestyle machines around the resort open? 3. Do buses go to every park from Riviera Resort or just to MK and AK like CBR? 4. Which is your favorite "island" to stay in? Thanks in advance!
 
How long is the walk? Do they hold you over at the temperature tent? if that is the case is there any advantage to this? Thought about doing breakfast at Ale and Compass if it would be worth it but if the walk is too long might be hard for some people in my group....
The walk from the Speedway to where they will hold you before temp checks is about .60 miles. They will normally hold you there until about 8 then move everyone into different lines/tents for temp checks. Basically, by walking over you beat everyone arriving by bus, uber, skyliner, taxi, boat, etc so if the objective is to knockout say smugglers run, runaway railway, slinky dog, rock n roller coaster or tower of terror with likely the shortest wait of the day it helps to be the 150th person in the park and not the 1250th person in the park.

The walk from ale & compass to the same spot is closer to a mile, which still isnt that far but would would definitely put you behind the rope droppers.

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The walk from the Speedway to where they will hold you before temp checks is about .60 miles. They will normally hold you there until about 8 then move everyone into different lines/tents for temp checks. Basically, by walking over you beat everyone arriving by bus, uber, skyliner, taxi, boat, etc so if the objective is to knockout say smugglers run, runaway railway, slinky dog, rock n roller coaster or tower of terror with likely the shortest wait of the day it helps to be the 150th person in the park and not the 1250th person in the park.

The walk from ale & compass to the same spot is closer to a mile, which still isnt that far but would would definitely put you behind the rope droppers.

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WOW very detailed!! Perfect!! The gas station would be better then.
 


Just got back from a week at CBR. Here are my thoughts.

Room
We stayed in the pirate theme rooms. The kids loved the theming. They were a little more cramped that the standard room, which we expected. We had five people in the room, with a crib, and we were still able to make it work. The mattresses are not great. They were not hard, but seems rather soft to me. They are thin, but I slept fine on them. The only complaint about the room is they didn't clean the shower very well and left a glob of pink hair on the shower wall. Location was fine. We knew we were in Trinidad, so it was a bit of a hike to OPR, but it was close to skyliner.

Food
Very disappointed in the food. I don't know if they are limiting resort capacity, but it didn't seem like it. Centertown market was always crowded and difficult to find a table, and the food was ok at best. We ate there a couple times, because there was no other option. We ate at Banana Cabana once, and it took an hour to get a table. Food was a little better here, but it was frustrating to wait so long for a table. It was impossible to get drinks at the bar. There were always 5 or 6 people in line, and it would take 20-30 minutes to get a drink. They would have 2 bartenders max, for BC and the pool goers wanting drinks. We would have bought way more if it didn't take so long. It makes no sense why they would open more options if every restaurant and bar is at capacity open to close. I think it would have been a much better experience for us if spyglass grill was open.

Transportation
I loved the skyliner. That is by far the biggest attraction for this resort. We were able to get to Epcot and HS for rope drop both days. We got in line for Epcot around 9:45 and were one of the first groups on. We were able to ride Frozen and get in line for test track before 11. We got in line for HS around 7:30. We made it over and rode smuggler's run before 9. Great experience with the skyliner. On the other side, the bus system was horrible. We got to the bus stop at 7:15 for MK and the first bus didn't show up until 8:15 and could only fit three people. We had a wait another 20 for the next bus. We got on that one, but there were still many other families waiting. The buses always go to Martinique first, so they are full before they get to Trinidad. I can't imagine catching a bus in Jamaica or Aruba. They need to send empty buses to every stop in the morning, or just have everyone catch the bus at OPR. It was difficult for us to move between bus stops, due to my mother being in an ECV, and having two strollers for the three toddlers. We had the same experience trying to get to Disney Springs, waiting over and hour for a bus. Another family sitting at the stop had been waiting 1.5 hours for a bus to Animal Kingdom. They have had a year of covid to improve this and clearly don't care to improve it. Like others have said, there is no queue at the stops, so there were a few instances of arguing about who got there first, as everyone tried to run to the door when a bus showed up.

Resort
Overall, the resort was nice. If everything was open; I think our experience would have been much better. The only complaints were food options and transportation issues. The kids loved the pool area, and the pool theme is good. They liked playing on the island playground. I wouldn't recommend a pirate room, unless you really have a child that is in to pirates. The resort is large, but just know that going into it, and enjoy the walks.
 
Just got back from a week at CBR. Here are my thoughts.

Room
We stayed in the pirate theme rooms. The kids loved the theming. They were a little more cramped that the standard room, which we expected. We had five people in the room, with a crib, and we were still able to make it work. The mattresses are not great. They were not hard, but seems rather soft to me. They are thin, but I slept fine on them. The only complaint about the room is they didn't clean the shower very well and left a glob of pink hair on the shower wall. Location was fine. We knew we were in Trinidad, so it was a bit of a hike to OPR, but it was close to skyliner.

Food
Very disappointed in the food. I don't know if they are limiting resort capacity, but it didn't seem like it. Centertown market was always crowded and difficult to find a table, and the food was ok at best. We ate there a couple times, because there was no other option. We ate at Banana Cabana once, and it took an hour to get a table. Food was a little better here, but it was frustrating to wait so long for a table. It was impossible to get drinks at the bar. There were always 5 or 6 people in line, and it would take 20-30 minutes to get a drink. They would have 2 bartenders max, for BC and the pool goers wanting drinks. We would have bought way more if it didn't take so long. It makes no sense why they would open more options if every restaurant and bar is at capacity open to close. I think it would have been a much better experience for us if spyglass grill was open.

Transportation
I loved the skyliner. That is by far the biggest attraction for this resort. We were able to get to Epcot and HS for rope drop both days. We got in line for Epcot around 9:45 and were one of the first groups on. We were able to ride Frozen and get in line for test track before 11. We got in line for HS around 7:30. We made it over and rode smuggler's run before 9. Great experience with the skyliner. On the other side, the bus system was horrible. We got to the bus stop at 7:15 for MK and the first bus didn't show up until 8:15 and could only fit three people. We had a wait another 20 for the next bus. We got on that one, but there were still many other families waiting. The buses always go to Martinique first, so they are full before they get to Trinidad. I can't imagine catching a bus in Jamaica or Aruba. They need to send empty buses to every stop in the morning, or just have everyone catch the bus at OPR. It was difficult for us to move between bus stops, due to my mother being in an ECV, and having two strollers for the three toddlers. We had the same experience trying to get to Disney Springs, waiting over and hour for a bus. Another family sitting at the stop had been waiting 1.5 hours for a bus to Animal Kingdom. They have had a year of covid to improve this and clearly don't care to improve it. Like others have said, there is no queue at the stops, so there were a few instances of arguing about who got there first, as everyone tried to run to the door when a bus showed up.

Resort
Overall, the resort was nice. If everything was open; I think our experience would have been much better. The only complaints were food options and transportation issues. The kids loved the pool area, and the pool theme is good. They liked playing on the island playground. I wouldn't recommend a pirate room, unless you really have a child that is in to pirates. The resort is large, but just know that going into it, and enjoy the walks.
This was pretty much our exact experience over President’s Day weekend. Disappointed they didn’t open more dining options for spring break crowds as the resort seems to be fully booked for many dates. Did the pool shut down for capacity at any point? It probably should have when we were there, it was crowded and not a chair to be found.

Pirate rooms are cool but I’ve been trying to recommend Martinique since it’s so close to the Riviera and opens up the dining options.
 
This was pretty much our exact experience over President’s Day weekend. Disappointed they didn’t open more dining options for spring break crowds as the resort seems to be fully booked for many dates. Did the pool shut down for capacity at any point? It probably should have when we were there, it was crowded and not a chair to be found.

Pirate rooms are cool but I’ve been trying to recommend Martinique since it’s so close to the Riviera and opens up the dining options.
I think there was a line for the pool early Wednesday afternoon. I saw about 10 or so people waiting to get in. We went to lunch at DS that day and saw the line when we got back. By the time we got back to the room and changed to go back to the pool there wasn't a line. It was very busy, but we were always able to find a few chairs. We went around 5pm everyday and didn't have any problem getting in and finding chairs.
 
We're going to be driving over from Cocoa Beach on our check-in day in June and will need to return our rental before we head to the parks. If we'd bought some groceries in advance, should we plan on having a cooler to leave our food in with Bell Services? Or, given the summer-ness, would we better off not having refrigerated foods until we have access to our room?
 
Centertown market was always crowded and difficult to find a table
We had the same experience back in October, when resort capacity was definitely limited. In an effort to achieve social distancing and to allow room for the drink station set-up, its clear they've removed some inside tables. The majority of the seating is outside, but when we were there, it was quite hot and we frankly didn't want to eat outside. The birds are also a nuisance outside. Once you go out the doors, you also have to walk all the way back around to the main lobby doors to walk back inside the food court if you forget something which is nuts. We ate there twice out of convenience as well, but its not something I'd plan for in the current environment.

On the other side, the bus system was horrible. We got to the bus stop at 7:15 for MK and the first bus didn't show up until 8:15 and could only fit three people. We had a wait another 20 for the next bus. We got on that one, but there were still many other families waiting. The buses always go to Martinique first, so they are full before they get to Trinidad. I can't imagine catching a bus in Jamaica or Aruba. They need to send empty buses to every stop in the morning, or just have everyone catch the bus at OPR. It was difficult for us to move between bus stops, due to my mother being in an ECV, and having two strollers for the three toddlers. We had the same experience trying to get to Disney Springs, waiting over and hour for a bus. Another family sitting at the stop had been waiting 1.5 hours for a bus to Animal Kingdom. They have had a year of covid to improve this and clearly don't care to improve it. Like others have said, there is no queue at the stops, so there were a few instances of arguing about who got there first, as everyone tried to run to the door when a bus showed up.
We were in Jamaica and got to the bus depot around 7:15 as well. The first bus was due to show up at 8:15 according to the board. By 7:45, there were quite a few families waiting and loitering around so we knew it would be a mad dash when the buses showed up. We wanted to avoid that, so we aborted and went back by our building and called an Uber which worked out well. On a different day, I did see empty buses pulling up to Jamaica and Aruba so I'm not sure if they do sometimes send empty buses to those buildings? But again, this was in October so its possible some buildings were more populated than others.
 
Can we use a luggage cart to take our things to our room or do we have to have bell services do this?
I'm not discounting what PP says, but generally, luggage carts aren't permitted to be used by guests. Its a liability, plus it prevents them from being broken or left all over the resort when Bell Services needs them. In most cases, you'll need to be in your room and call Bell Services to have your items delivered, and you'll have to be present to receive them. If you need assistance from your car to the room, you can call from your room and they can come assist with that as well.
 
We're going to be in Trinidad. Can we catch the bus there to rope drop or will only full buses be coming by? I'd prefer to not have to go to another stop if possible
Just returned from CBR and on Saturday (3/27) we had a completely empty bus going to MK. (Jamaica Bus Stop).
 
We haven't stayed at CBR since the massive construction project, and our daughter is going next week. When we have been there in the past, we stayed in Jamaica, as that was always the first stop for the buses going to the parks (they came in the back entrance). Is that still true since the construction? With limited bus capacity, she would like to stay at or near the village that is usually the first bus stop.
 
What's the experience with the Skyliner? Seems to be the ideal is to get to the Skyliner station about an hour and a half before park opening?
 
What's the experience with the Skyliner? Seems to be the ideal is to get to the Skyliner station about an hour and a half before park opening?

We had a great experience with the skyliner if you get there early enough. When we got in line for Epcot, there was a massive line for HS around 9:30.

We haven't stayed at CBR since the massive construction project, and our daughter is going next week. When we have been there in the past, we stayed in Jamaica, as that was always the first stop for the buses going to the parks (they came in the back entrance). Is that still true since the construction? With limited bus capacity, she would like to stay at or near the village that is usually the first bus stop.
Sounds like they might get empty busses at Jamaica in the morning. When we caught a bus in the afternoon, that still had room, it still stopped at Jamaica and Aruba. The bus times often didn't show up in the app or on the screens at the stop, so it was hard to tell when or where busses were at. The first day we tried to go to MK we just watched the ETA keep slipping 10 minutes at a time for an hour before enough people complained that they send an empty bus to Trinidad. Other days it would just say bus on the screen, with no time posted.
 

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