First time at moderate resort

[SeaNana]

We have always stayed at the nicest Disney resorts, but the next time we have reservations at the Caribbean Beach because of the outrageous rates for the November race weekend. What are the main differences and will we be very disappointed? I know construction is going on, but we have stayed at others undergoing renovations and it didn't bother us.

 

[Smittolis]

Being a 'Deluxe Villa' family, I can understand and appreciate your position! We have stayed at most places onsite for various lengths of stay. The biggest differences that I have personally found when staying at moderates as opposed to Deluxe Villas is the proximity to things. Depending on what building you are in you can be a long old walk from the food courts! The other things from my perspective is not being on the monorail and having to work out the best bus stop to get to and what time the buses are etc... The rooms are not bad, beds are smaller in some instances and the bathrooms tend to be a little different in size, but from an amenities perspective we have always been pleasantly surprised at how comparable they have been. As stated, biggest differences tend to be based around convenience.

As my 5yr old said to us once.... it doesn't matter what hotel you stay at, you are still at Disney... ;o)

 

[VAfamily1998]

Well...our first "on site" stay was gifted to us--and it was a 2 bedroom club level suite at BWI.
My second stay was CL YC
My third stay was Polynesian (not CL)
then WL (not CL)
then my fifth--was just a standard room at POR. I LOVED POR. I didn't feel it was any "less than" the Deluxes I had stayed at. I thought the grounds were gorgeous, the staff was wonderful, etc. So in general, I don't think moderates would be much of a disappointment compared to deluxes.

However, I stayed at CBR about a year ago...and was disappointed. I just didn't like it. I thought the food court was chaotic and stressful. I'm an endurance athlete (I've done several marathons and a full Ironman) so normally walking around a large resort doesn't bother me at all--but for some reason it just DID at CBR. Mostly I was bothered by the long, confusing walk from the main check in building to my room. Just the whole feel of the resort...was not my style. I've stayed at all the moderates, and while I loved CSR and POR, I just wasn't as fond of POFQ or CBR.

Now, with the construction going on, that is an even bigger negative for CBR, imo.

 

[maxiesmom]

I like all levels of Disney resorts, but I have to tell you, CBR is my least favorite of them all. Even when there isn't construction going on.

The main difference is size. CBR is the largest of the moderates, and has the most bus stops. It is also the only resort where you check in at one building and have to bus to the main resort area. If I were you I would switch to any other moderate.

 

[wdwthanksgiving]

There is a difference in "feel" between a Deluxe and a Moderate --especially if your Deluxe has interior rooms and a beautiful lobby...the rooms are larger, the bathrooms are larger, location to parks is better (except for AKL) etc. That all said, if a Deluxe is not available in our budget, our favorite moderate is POR - landscaping is beautiful, watercraft available to Downtown Disney, nice pool and 5 quiet pools and good bus availability...food court is good and there is entertainment some nights in the lobby bar.
So - while not a Deluxe, we feel we get quite a lot for our money at POR! Good luck in making a decision!

 

[CinderellaDream]

We have stayed at about half of the deluxe resorts and I have to say that I enjoy the POR rooms and resort amenities just as much as any of those. I do prefer deluxe for location but for the room itself POR is great. I don't have experience at any of the other moderates.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

For us the biggest difference between Moderate and Deluxe was proximity to the parks. We too stayed at POR and loved it after otherwise staying Deluxe. I do think we would prefer POR over CBR due to resort size and transportation, since we enjoyed having the boats to Disney Springs. If you accept that you will have to take a bus (or your car) to parks, the moderates are fine. The next biggest difference for us was the lack of enclosed hallways. This meant that we had to walk in the rain from the Moderate to get to the buses. This is the case at some Deluxe resorts as well, but something we enjoy not having to do at WL. If the weather is nice though it really isn't an issue. Finally we also noticed the slightly smaller room size vs WL, but with a little organization it was manageable.

 

[dprincessmom]

We have always stayed at the nicest Disney resorts, but the next time we have reservations at the Caribbean Beach because of the outrageous rates for the November race weekend. What are the main differences and will we be very disappointed? I know construction is going on, but we have stayed at others undergoing renovations and it didn't bother us.

CB is my least favorite resort because of the size/layout. There are multiple bus stops and after you figure them out you will be fine. To me, it just wasn't anything special. That being said I am comparing it to other resorts we had stayed at the time (value or moderate).

Since it seems like you are probably getting a good rate, go with it. You might like it and you might not but then you can cross it off your resort list )

 

[Tar_Heels_Love_WDW]

We're primarily a deluxe villa family (thanks DVC). That being said, we've stayed in POR and POFQ. I enjoyed them both. However, the things that I missed the most were 1) the balcony that comes with a deluxe villa (along with that, the general layout of the window not facing the walkway is something I prefer); and 2) (this is gonna sound petty) but the 12-cup coffee pot. My family drinks a lot of coffee and having the full coffee pot instead of the 1-cup coffee maker in the Moderate really sets our morning on the right foot.

All in all, I think the theme/food/transportation of the moderates I've stayed at hasn't hampered my Disney vacation at all. Especially if you think of it in terms of dollars saved. If you find that you can't go below Deluxe, look into DVC.

 

[PrincessNelly]

I have to be honest, I've stay at deluxe & moderate. I prefer the moderates due to the quality you get for the price. However, we tried CBR in December and it was the first time I've ever absolutely hated our resort. I don't think I' go back for a number of reasons.
Coming from deluxes... Id recommend you try CSR, POR, or POFQ over CBR any day!

 

[Dis703]

We stayed at BC CL and BWI before trying CBR for the first time. I was pretty nervous about going down to mod. A few years prior we had tried POFQ and I wasn't thrilled with it. We were very pleasantly surprised with how much we loved CBR. And still do. We had great bus service, great CMs, loved our room and comfy beds, loved the overall quiet relaxed feel of the resorts. Loved the little beaches with hammocks. Food court was good. Pool was lots of fun for the kids (especially the pirate themed splash zone for little ones). There is really nothing negative I can say about this resort and CBR, BC, and BWI pretty much are a three way tie for our favorite Disney resort.

The only real difference for me is the location, but it wasn't an issue. Yes, I loved being able to walk right into Epcot or HS, but at CBR I feel like I'm really getting a much better value. Aside from location to the parks, I'm getting the deluxe resort feel for a fraction of the cost.

For me, there is a much bigger difference going mod to value than deluxe to mod.

 

[Dis703]

I like all levels of Disney resorts, but I have to tell you, CBR is my least favorite of them all. Even when there isn't construction going on.

The main difference is size. CBR is the largest of the moderates, and has the most bus stops. It is also the only resort where you check in at one building and have to bus to the main resort area. If I were you I would switch to any other moderate.

Just for reference for OP, I've never used the internal bus system and have never had to take a bus to get to my room from where I checked in. Our first stay they did drive us in a van with our luggage to the room. But we easily walked back to the Custom House when we checked out. The second trip, knowing the layout better, we just walked to our room. If staying in a pirate room it might have been a bit far, but the rest of the resort we find to be a reasonable distance to just about anywhere. While the size seems to be a common complaint we were pleasantly surprised that it seemed to be greatly exaggerated and we had no issues getting around.

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm not exaggerating the size. We were told at check in to wait for the shuttle bus, so that is what we did. And we did walk back to the Customs House on the way back to MCO, but it wasn't something I would wish to repeat. If anything I found many posters on the Dis under reported how big the resort is. Based on comments here I didn't book a preferred room, as I was assured standard would be fine and a quick walk from anything. It wasn't, and it wasn't. The one time I regretted following advice given on the Dis.

How small can a resort with 7 internal stops be?

 

[crazylady]

I've stayed at CBR a few times. To me the size doesn't seem any bigger than POR. If anything I feel like the bus stops are a little closer to the rooms at CBR than POR.

The custom house is off by itself which is a little strange. I took the internal shuttle once and it took forever due to loading and unloading so I never did that again. It was much faster to walk to the custom house. On our last trip we did on-line check in and went straight to our room so we only went to the custom house on the last day for Magical Express.

We went on race weekend and the race buses run on the regular bus route so they were close to our room as well.

 

[gillep]

I agree with many of the others about CBR. DH and I own DVC and usually stay on our points in the Deluxe Villas, but also stay moderate to stretch points, and have now stayed at all the moderates and CBR was our least favorite (just stayed there a couple weeks ago for the first time). The resort is huge, and we are very fit, and usually prefer larger resorts to stroll the grounds. I hated that the Customs house is completely separate, this was especially annoying when we were waiting for our ME back to the airport, and arrived nice and early at the Customs House and there is NOTHING to do there. At all the other resorts you can grab some food, browse souvenirs, get a drink, sit in a comfortable lobby, etc. not at CBR, there are benches outside and a couple chairs inside in front of the TV that plays Mickey cartoons and that is it! I took the shuttle bus from the Customs house to our room when I arrived, as DH went straight to the running expo and I couldn't walk with all that stuff, and then we walked from Aruba to the Customs house to check our luggage on the way back and neither was convenient or advisable (I realize we could have called bell services, but that just isn't how we usually roll lol). Personally I will stick to POR and CSR when we need to save points as CBR is just not the best resort for us. Positive note: the CBR bar tenders were AMAZING!!!!!

 

[Amanda999]

We're primarily a deluxe villa family (thanks DVC). That being said, we've stayed in POR and POFQ. I enjoyed them both. However, the things that I missed the most were 1) the balcony that comes with a deluxe villa (along with that, the general layout of the window not facing the walkway is something I prefer); and 2) (this is gonna sound petty) but the 12-cup coffee pot. My family drinks a lot of coffee and having the full coffee pot instead of the 1-cup coffee maker in the Moderate really sets our morning on the right foot.

Deluxe (non-villa) resorts don't have 12 cup coffee makers either. At least not BC.

Totally agree on the exterior walkways at mods/values - I don't like them because people are always staring into our room as they walk by. We take a long break mid-day, and I feel I have to close the curtains to get privacy. Which is a tragic thing to do on all those sunny FL days.

 

[bellebud]

we've stayed in all the deluxes and most of the villas several times, and in POFQ once. The resort itself is adorable, but I just hate the walkway with a window into the room. If I had to do a moderate or value, I would, but only if I HAD to. We like to relax in the room a bit, and having to have the curtains closed in the daytime is just a pain.

 

[arissavolk]

CBR is not so bad- we too normally stay deluxe but stayed at CBR for marathon week 2016 during construction and we enjoyed our stay at CBR.
The buildings themselves weren't as pretty as the deluxes but the greenery all around the grounds are beautiful. I don't remember having to EVER wait long for a bus. The only 2 (and they were very very minor) things that bugged me about CBR were that I had to call and ask for extra shampoo and stuff; they didn't automatically replenish when the bottles were empty...and the lifeguards are a little more strict about not setting drink cups anywhere near the pool except the tables. The main pool is gorgeous with 2 slides and has 2 hot tubs and there are tons of smaller quiet pools on the grounds.
We were really surprised how much we loved the cafeteria- it was our first stay using only quick service dining and we ate at old port royale food court for most meals. I can't remember everything we got there but I remember prime rib with chimichurri was tasty.

As someone going during a race week, the amount of walking probably won't be a problem for you at all- honestly the distance to OPR is still walking distance without any trouble. The inner walking loop is 0.6 miles around, so most folks would walk 0.3 miles or less to OPR (maybe 0.6 mi from the absolute farthest sections)..so it would take no more than 12 minutes to walk from the farthest section to old port royale...and if you don't want to walk, you could just take the resort loop bus there. But seriously, you'd probably be there before the resort loop bus showed up if you just walked. You can park right in front of your room if you're driving. Construction noise always depends on what is going on, but while we were there, construction crew were banging away at something metal 11am-3pm nearby a few days and we could barely hear it unless we went outside. Even napped in our room during the daytime no problem.

 

[westie55]

CBR is a big resort. There's no question. However, everything is walkable. The grounds are immaculate and so are the rooms in my experience. I've found that to be the case at all the Disney resorts I've stayed at. The bus will make multiple stops, so that is a difference. No internal hallways. No on site signature dining, although there is a table service restaurant at CBR. I like the food court there. It offers way more selection than BC, for example. The pool is nice and has a nice children's play area. I've stayed at CBR 3 times and would happily stay there again, and I've also stayed at several deluxes. CBR is often less than half the price, and that can be a huge difference. If you positively hate walking anywhere, I would stay elsewhere... but even at deluxes you can have a not so short walk to your hotel room.

 

[stratus]

I like all levels of Disney resorts, but I have to tell you, CBR is my least favorite of them all. Even when there isn't construction going on.

The main difference is size. CBR is the largest of the moderates, and has the most bus stops. It is also the only resort where you check in at one building and have to bus to the main resort area. If I were you I would switch to any other moderate.

QFT! We stayed at CBR once for 10 days and maybe it was just bad luck, but of all the places I have stayed it was pretty poor experience. It also could be personal preference, neither my wife or I enjoyed it that much. I suppose time of year can make a difference too, (we were there in Sept 2013)