We've stayed at the CBR 8 times in the last seven years and absolutely love the resort. (obviously or we wouldn't keep going back
) The resort is, as others have said, large but that's part of the appeal to us. We've been at the resort when it was booked to full capacity and it didn't feel like it.
The rooms are slightly larger than the other moderates. Right now, there are double beds in the rooms but I've heard rumblings that they will be replaced with queens. No official word but talk with castmembers say that it's going to happen. We are used to sleeping on a queen size bed at home and the double beds weren't that bad.
There are nightly outdoor movies and a marshmallow roast just outside of Old Port Royale. At the resort marina, you can rent surrey bikes, bicycles and all sort of watercraft and the prices are reasonable. There's also a pool table (free of charge each time we've visited) at the marina.
Each resort village has a quiet pool, laundry room, beach and bus stop. It's nice to be able to either visit the beach or swim while doing laundry. Many evenings, we would go to the beach and sit for a while and unwind from a day in the parks. The sand on our feet felt like a foot massage.
Speaking of bus stops, like I said, there's one in each village so you won't have far to walk to catch the bus. Because the resort is centrally located, it doesn't take long to get to any Disney destination. The buses do stop at each village before leaving the resort but it doesn't take long to make the loop. We've been to the resort during Memorial Day week, second week in May, first week of August and second week of August and the buses always ran efficiently. I actually timed our bus rides and, from the time we sat down on the bus in Jamaica and made our way around to the other stops, our times were: 10 and 11 minutes to Epcot (went two times), 11 minutes to Hollywood Studios, 13-16 minutes to Magic Kingdom (went multiple times) and about 15 minutes to Animal Kingdom (I can't find my notes on the exact time.) Of course, if the bus driver has to help a
scooter load, it will take longer but that's the case at every resort.
The island in the middle of the resort has a playground for the kids and hammocks for the adults. There are several seating areas on the island as well.
The main pool is zero entry and has two slides. For the younger kids, there's a separate play area which has a pirate theme. Also near the main pool are two hot tubs. If the girls in the group want to have their hair wrapped, there's a station right outside Old Port Royale.
The food court has several different food stations. You'll find a variety of foods to choose from at breakfast, lunch and dinner and we've never had a problem finding a table in the large seating area. Just outside of Old Port Royale are quite a few umbrella tables and picnic tables. If you want to eat outside, just ask the castmembers for covers for your food items. The kids' chicken nugget meals come in a plastic sand pail with shovel that they can use when playing on the beach.
At night, you can see the higher EPCOT fireworks from many areas in the resort. We've watched them from Old Port Royale, Martinique and Barbados.
Hum, I am sure that I've left something out but that's all I can think of right now. I have pictures of our most recent stay in my trip report. The link is in my signature below if you want to join in.
Oh wait, you asked about room recommendations. We've stayed in Jamaica 41 and 42, Barbados 11, Aruba 51 and Martinique 23, all of which are standard rooms. Our longest walk was from our room in Barbados and it was a 7 1/2 minute walk to Old Port Royale. All others were about a 5 minute walk. The walks are very easy. My 77 year old mother had no issues with walking from Jamaica to Old Port Royale.