Need reassurance about CBR

[aubriee]

It's not secret on here that I love the moderates but have a very strong preference for POFQ and CSR, over the other two. When I was there last Dec I booked three bounceback deals for 2012--May 5th-12th at CSR, Sept 1st-8th at POFQ (switched this one to an AP room at AKL though), and Oct 27th-Nov 4th at POFQ. I was also there solo at CSR last Dec and my husband and I took our grandson down there Feb 4th-11 and stayed at POFQ. I am also not a fan of the DDP and have been using the TiW this year for my trips (except did do the DxDDP for the Feb trip with my GS). Anyway out of the blue, this weekend my husband decided he wanted to use the DDP, for our trip later this month. With the bounceback deal I had booked we would have had to by one day park tickets we don't need (we're both AP holders), so I checked to see if we could get an AP rate, but one's not available at either POFQ or PORS for our dates, but CSR and CBR were. I assumed my husband would want to go with CSR, but he surprised me by saying we hadn't been at CBR in awhile and he wanted to give it another try.

It's no secret CBR is probably my least favorite moderate. I've only stayed there twice, but both times we were blessed with loud neighbors, bad bus service, packed main pool and hot tubs, poor mousekeeping, and were not fond of either the food court or TS restaurant (granted I only ate at Shutters once--but got violently ill that night, so haven't forgotten it).

However, my husband said he really wants something different, so wants to give CBR another try. I gave in and now with 27 days before we are due to arrive, cancelled the bounceback deal I had booked, and booked a preferred room at CBR. I requested Martinique 26 or 25. Since I booked a preferred room, I was not able to book a King bed or waterview, but did have the CM add a request for both. Knowing we don't care for the bus service there, we plan on renting a car and we'll not be eating any meals there, so that takes care of two of the things we didn't like about CBR. How crowded will the main pool and hot tubs be the last week of October? We just want to get away and relax, so I'm thinking I'll be happy anywhere at WDW. I just need someone to reassure me that I didn't make a mistake switching from POFQ to CBR.

Adding the DDP changed the ressie from a room only to a pkg, so since we are within the 45 day range, it's too late to change our minds now anyway. Because the other ressie was a room only, the CM had to just cancel it, will refund my credit card, and then I had to pay the CBR ressie in full. I just hope I didn't make a mistake switching from POFQ to CBR or not choosing CSR over CBR. Any good reviews of CBR lately? One part of me is looking forward to it, but the other side of me is thinking I may have goofed in not talking him out of it. I just changed my sigature and it looks so odd, after seeing the countdown to POFQ down there all these months. lol

 

[TJDisneymama]

IDK how the crowds will be (I think it will be a fairly low week won't it?) but when I was there in April I had NO bus issues whatsoever. Most days we waited less than 5 minutes for a bus. Only once did we wait like 15 minutes.

I didn't eat in Shutters but I tought the food in the food court was fine (only got burgers and other sandwiches). We stayed in Martinique 25 and I also requested water view and got it.

We had no problems with mousekeeping either.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised this time?!?!

My family did not like CBR, however, our dislike for CBR did not ruin our trip. We just have no desire to return. We weren't miserable there, and there were some good parts. It's really pretty there. I liked the view of SSE. Housekeeping was decent. Ugh, I'm not sure I'm helping.

Honestly though, you'll be fine. Even I would still rather be at CBR than at work!!

 

[DreamingofCastles]

DH and I were there in mid-September and we had no complaints. We had booked a water view room and were placed in Trinidad North. (We did not do on-line check in or have any other requests.) It was VERY quiet in the room and in fact, in the whole resort. We did not find the main pool to be very crowded and virtually no one was using the quiet pools. The hot tubs were always in use, but guests were very considerate about the time spent in the tub if they knew people were waiting.
We did not eat at Shutters, but used the food court numerous times. The breakfast was good as was the whole pizza we ordered one evening.
I do hope that you do not have any regrets with your decision. I read numerous negative comments about CBR before we left and I was a little apprehensive, but I have no regrets about our decision to stay at CBR and would book it again!

 

[Magalex]

We have stayed at CBR in June 2007 & most recent June 2012. Both times were wonderful. We stay in the Jamaica buildings. Never had issues with our rooms or getting a bus. No complaints. We really enjoy the colors & landscape of CBR. I think they do a very nice job with the landscaping. I love the tropical flowers(we live in Pittsburgh so don't see those too often). We have a 12 yr old DS & likes the main pool. We rented a watercraft at the marina & CMs there were so nice to talk to. The food court is not my favorite but we eat off-site or at the parks.

 

[ladyfoundhertramp]

We stayed at CBR this past January and liked it a lot-- it was clean, very friendly staff, very quiet. The main pool and quiet pools were wonderful and not overly crowded. Busses were great-- the most we waited was 10-15mins give or take. We wouldn't stay there again only because they don't have queen beds and my girls are growing up and need a little more space when sharing a bed. Hope
You like it!!

 

[pooh2001]

Thank you for the positive response about CBR.
If we stay at a moderate, it will be less than a deluxe, since next time we go to WDW we will have 'adult' DS & DD.

CBR has double sinks and has a room as large (340 sq ft) at the WL , both pluses for our family
That means less fights at the sink in the AM and space for a twin blown up bed.

For the room we would only pay an extra $30 a night for our DS & DD, $20 less per night than a deluxe. For 10 nights - that would be a nice TS dinner for us ($200).

For our family 'play time' you can rent boats and bikes at CBR and there is a nice path to walk (or run) around.

Plus it is located very close to EPCOT - our favorite Park, MK is #2 for our family.
DH said he does not want to go back to AK and only spend 1 day in DHS.
We will see about AK - maybe we could do a 1/2 day there and then do some shopping in DTD.

Meals - we eat mostly in the Parks and the Deluxe resorts. So the food court would only be for a few items.

Pool - we have one at home - for a 10 day vacation we use it once or twice, so the pool is not a deal breaker. We go to WDW for the Parks, tours and nice TS.

 

[twinboysmom]

We stayed at cbr in April and we really liked it. We stayed in the Trinidad south section and we had great bus service. Our room was probably the cleanest we have had on WDW property (we go multiple times a year). We did have a very noisy neighbor (by far our worst experience with this) but I can say that that can happen at any WDW resort or any other hotel for that matter. We complained after the second night and it was handled appropriately. The pool was not overly crowded (and this was during a peak time in April) and we had no problems with the food court (which I consider average). Didn't try shutters. We would definitely pick this resort again.

Now on another angle, we travelled with friends to WDW a couple of weeks ago who stayed at cbr (we stayed elsewhere). They had multiple problems with bus service (stayed in Trinidad south) but no complaints about anything else. Immaculate room, no problems at pool or food court. Honestly, with WDW buses you just don't know. We had some problems during our stay as well at CR.