Should The Carribean Beach Resort be avoided during construction.

[Just People]

Ni hao!

We just returned from Disney last month, stayed at Coronado Springs. There was a lot of construction going on, but it never really affected us much. All of the restaurants were opens, bars available to get drinks. Now the quality of our room, or lack there of, is a different story. Anyways, from everything I’ve been reading, CBR is a whole other monster. With having to go to FEMA’s hand me down disaster tents, to the awful bus service, I’m trying to see if it’s really worth the price to stay there. We currently have a king room reserved for the beginning of March 2018. We were able to get an annual passholder rate of $186 per night for 7 days, which at first seemed like a good deal... That and there is no other room available on property without spending $300+. Anyone recently stayed at CBR with any advice to share? With everything going on at CBR, does it still have that Disney Difference?

Gracias!

 

[AngiTN]

We stayed there during construction and didn't have any problems. Would stay there again without hesitation. Bus service was excellent. We don't eat at the resort so we don't care about that. We did 1 meal just to try it and it was fine. More than fine, it was good. Not a enough variety for eating numerous times but tasted good. We did have drinks out on the beach many nights, watching fireworks. That was a lot of fun. Live musicians were out too.

 

[stace1214]

It didn't affect our trip at all. We found that the CM's went above and beyond what we typically see at resorts to make our trip magical. We had just one meal planned at the resort during a pool afternoon. It was absolutely horrible. So if you're someone who likes to eat at the resort, you might want to steer clear. We found that the buses weren't early enough for us to get to PPO breakfasts and ended up using Lyft on those days. Leaving the parks both mid-day and at night we had very short waits. I would definitely stay there again, construction or no construction. It's my favorite moderate so far.

 

[momto4obkids]

We just went Nov.25 to Dec.2 and had a great stay. We were Martinique 26. The construction didn't bother us at all. The only time we saw it was when we were driving in and when we walked over to the pool and food tent. We had a view of the courtyard so we didn't even see any construction from our room or when we walked over to the Island Market and freestyle machine for drinks. We didn't hear any noise from our rooms and we would come back mid day, most days, for a nap.

 

[figmentedfollies]

The Dreams Unlimited Podcast discussed this exact topic this past July. You can find it on YouTube here. Tracey Heinrichs goes into great deal on her experience at CBR and if she would do it again.

 

[missbrooke06]

We got home two weeks ago and stayed in Aruba, which is pretty close to the construction. It was visible but... that was pretty much it. Bus service was fine and certainly better than our nightmare at ASMu the first two days. Those Freestyle machines are mad convenient. I'd stay again but I'd hope to not be in Aruba - just because it's farther out from most things.

 

[Just People]

Thanks for the advice! Definitely feel better about staying at CBR now. We’ve gotten into the habit of staying in resorts with construction as of late. First Wilderness Lodge, then Coronado Springs, and now Carribean Beach. We are really building up our “pardon our dust” trading pins, haha!

 

[CrankyDad]

If you want to eat there then pass on staying. If you plan on relaxing at the resort then pass

If just a place to sleep it will be ok

We changed our Jan 2018 trip from there to cars AoA suite due to all the negative posts. Plus we do like to use the resort dining and the tent thing at crb is being flamed for how bad it is

 

[missbrooke06]

My other warning is that Illuminations is now less obstructed and MUCH louder because so many trees have come down. Not a big deal but we were surprised!

 

[focusondisney]

We just got back yesterday. We were in Aruba 54. We stayed on a free dining bounceback, ended up with a $75 per night credit in the confusion after construction was announced & also got the gift card. So we got a great deal & that made the inconvenience worth it. If we had paid full price, not so much.

While the buffet was adequate for one night, there really is no comparison to the food options at other moderate resorts. The markets had a very limited selection in the morning. I would have liked at least a toaster with bread & bagels. Not everyone wants sweets like danish & muffins every morning. It was convenient for coffee however. The coke freestyle machine was very popular with a long line in the evening as everyone got back to the resort.

We did not hear any construction noise, but we were only at the resort 2 afternoons. And the construction at the gondola site is just getting started, so not sure if that will get worse. It was cold & we were not at the main pool, but you could certainly see the construction right next to it . And looking across the lake area from the beach or quiet pool at Aruba you can see the construction but the noise was very faint. We did not have very good luck with the buses from Aruba and I did not like that you need to take the internal shuttle to get to the main lobby. The bus stop was full every morning & several times not everyone could get on. I know this can happen at any resort, but it did seem to happen regularly this week.

The check in area is really small & busy. And the bell services was chaotic & unorganized. But I don't think,that is related to the construction, but more the size of the resort. I was on hold for about 10 minutes just to reach bell services for luggage pick up. And then we were told to just leave our luggage in the room to be picked up later & we should go on our way to the park. And yes, people were taking their luggage on the internal shuttle. What else can you do when bell services can't keep up?

And yes, the fireworks are really loud from Aruba. Really, really loud.

The cast members we had contact with were all very nice, the room was clean & the grounds were pretty, when you couldn't see the construction. All in all, we thought the resort was OK, but we would not stay here again.

 

[TwinkleKS]

We stayed during construction this summer and will be back there on Thursday. It never bothered us. We don't normally eat more than one meal at the resort, we don't sleep during the day (so construction noise wouldn't be an issues), there have been reported bus issues at pretty much every resort at one time or another (and we rent a car and use it most of the time).