Tell me why/why not to stay at Carribean Beach

[spoiledraf]

Looking at a Family trip in the fall to celebrate my retirement. A couple empty nester, my son and his family of four with a 5 and 8 year ald and my daughter and her family with a 4 year old. We'll be in three rooms and the kids love the pools. I've never been to the CB but I here it's spread out a bit.

So how are the rooms? We only stayed at deluxe when we went by ourselves but this time I cant afford three rooms for five nights plus tickets and food! We are looking at the last weekend of September to avoid crowds and hopefully get the free dining.

Hows the dining for the kids as well. Lets hear it folks!

[fatboy]

First off, Happy Thanksgiving!!

As a 5 time veteran of CBR, I can give you this info.
I would absolutly pay for and stay in a "preffered location". With a group it can be a chore to get to the foodcourt or main pool. I always pay the extra$$nand we are always glad we did,

CBR is really spread out but it works to the resorts advantage. I think it is one of the largest Hotels in the country. Being spread out keeps the resort from being overcrowded (it never does)

The rooms are the largest of any moderate. If you have ever stayed at Wilderness Lodge they are similar to that. Nothing super fancy, but more than adequate and functional.

The Food Court is pretty good! It gives plenty of choices. Everyone should be able to find something that will satisfy them. CBR also offers a full service restaraunt. Shutters , while not a premium sit down rest. offers a nice option for a quiet resort day.

The "Main Pool" is great, great theming and the Cabana Bar is poolside for an adult beverage to end a busy day as the kids swim!! The quiet pools are great as well, as you often have them to yourself!

The Pirate rooms are an option if theming is important to you. Just be aware they are at at the farthest point of the resort. Disney was smart in this capacity as they took the most undesirable location in the resort and figured out how to charge extra for it. I personally would not stay there at a discount rate.

The grounds themselves are beautiful and really give off an Island or Tropical vibe, no worries there.

Overall the place is great. I am sure there are folks that think otherwise, but that is usually because they where unhappy with their location. (Hence the prefeered tip). I have never had an issue.

Good luck and enjoy your stay if you choose to go there!!:thumbsup:

[Wrigley]

We love CBR! We have stayed here several times and have always enjoyed our visits. We love the themed pool-the kids will love it! I really like that it is zero entry. We love the food court-something for everyone, and the kids meals come in sand buckets! The overall feel of the resort is fun and colorful-a true Caribbean feel. It is spread out, but we have never had a problem with it. There is a bus stop at each "island". Have a great time!:mickey:

[spoiledraf]

Valuable info from both of you. First off, I did not know it was a zero entry pool and I love that for the kids. Second it's important for the kids parents to have an adult refreshment area close by! The sand bottom at the beach club is great but I doubt the kids will even notice the difference. Most people that have posted have mentioned getting a preferred room to cut the walking distance to the main pool and food court. That will definately have to be entered into the game plan. Do they sell out those rooms early?? We have some scheduling problems as my daughter may be getting a different job and her schedule will be changing and we're not sure she can go late September. Guess I could reserve and cancel if things fall through. We aren't telling the kids until we get on the plane and give them some mouse ears! Thanks for the help.

[jillluvsdisney]

I just booked a 5 night stay there for Feb 2012. It will be my first time there. All of the info previous posters have given has been very helpful.

[Dopey's Girl]

I love CBR. It's big, but the food court is great, and you can't beat a nap in a hammock on the beach. My favorite island group is Martinique, it's close to everything. My family (12 of us) stayed there together in 2004, and it was so much fun. We did our own thing during the day, then would meet at the quiet pool at night to talk about our days. Enjoy your trip!

[disneyfan328]

we are staying at CBR for 2 nights at the begining of our stay in January. I can't wait to check out the resort, the food court, the awesome pool & hot tub, and to just chill in a hammock on the beach!!! 40 days!!!!!! :cloud9::mickey:

[Hull-onian]

CBR is a very large resort. I recommend preferred location. The food court is pretty good, and they keep it really clean. The bus service is very frequent. Sometimes we took a taxi depending on where we needed to be. I did not like shutters restaurant at all. So I wouldn't even make a ressie for there. The pool is great. We loved it. The rooms were pretty good too. So just pay extra for the preferred location......:mickey:

[debbymc4]

My only stay there was in a Pirate room. Although it was fun for my son, I won't go again because it was SOOO far away from everything. It was even overwhelming to have to drive so far to the building after entering the resort itself. Because of that, I have to support the others on saying get a preferred room. I did like the main building and pool, though.

[garymacd]

The resort is beautiful and actually the first resort we stayed in atWDW.

But it's just too darn big for our liking.

[mickeyman42]

I would only go back there if I had a preferred room. we booked a pirate room to try it out, knowing where they were located, but it was way too far away from everything. The pool was ok, not awesome, according to the kids and we did not like to food court. something about the setup just bugged us. we had only ever stayed at ASMu before and much preferred that food court experience. finally we did not enjoy the bus stop setup. I know that this is how most places do it, with multiple stops around the resort, but we didn't like how the first people at the shelter would inevitibly be the last ones to get on, as people would run out to the stop at the last second and get on first. didnt like that so much so that we will always rent a car now. overall if you get a preferred room or don't mind walking you may love it. if you rent a car or arn't in a hurry you may love it. the resort is beautiful, but isn't for our needs at this time.

[Patricia]

I used to enjoy staying in Trinidad South (farthest away) as it was always quiet, with the Pirate rooms that is no longer the case. I don't mind walking though (it's very pretty here), I even walk to Disney Studios and Epcot from this resort. If you want to be close to the main pool and food, don't forget there are some buildings in Aruba and Jamaica that are just over the bridge and I don't think they are preferred.

Often at the end of our busy day we'd hop off the bus at Port Royal, grab a bite to eat and hop back on the bus to our island bus stop.

We enjoyed our stay here and had no complaints. The main pool is great, the beach hammocks are comfy and there are quiet pools that are most often quiet. :)

[RedSoxFan]

We were in the Aruba section when we stayed at CBR. Love the resort; but I would pay the preferred rates should we stay there again. My kids loved the pool. Food court was good and the buses were great. Only downside is that the beds are doubles and not queens.

[spoiledraf]

I used to enjoy staying in Trinidad South (farthest away) as it was always quiet, with the Pirate rooms that is no longer the case. I don't mind walking though (it's very pretty here), I even walk to Disney Studios and Epcot from this resort. . :)

You can actually walk to these parks??? How long does it take?

[AmandaChan]

To be perfectly honest I had high hopes for CBR. I am being honest here, the housekeeping was terrible :( I called and complained to the manager about a particular staff member who was out of line over the phone. One day we had like 10 towels in a huge pile by the door, they made our beds, didn't replace anything, and took the trash and left the towels. I know that not every experience is perfect but dang I spent a lot of $$$$$ on that room and trip and I really wasn't impressed. We stayed in Aruba across the lake which a lot of people don't mind staying that far (apparently it's considered one of the closest because of how you just cross the bridge and you're at the pool) but with a 1 year old and 7 other family members it was really difficult and I would not want to do that again.

Just do your research on what building you want to stay in and make sure you make it known your preferences!! Also I will say this... the food court and the food was great. I loved the Caribbean section. The baked goods were awesome. Plenty of drink stands to get to. And my favorite part by far was the bus service. The best we have experienced. We were running after the bus on numerous occasions and it seemed like there were very minimal stops. And that was the thing I was most worried about... however there are people that have complete different experiences I am just letting you know of ours :)

[vicster]

Stayed there once - that resort is just too big. We had to take an internal bus just to get to the good court. That's my only complaint - the size of the resort.

[Patricia]

You can actually walk to these parks??? How long does it take?

It's slighty less than a mile to each park. 15-20 minutes?

There is a foot path on E Buena Vista from Victory Way intersection (right behind Aruba across the parking lot) to get to Epcot in a mile, you can turn onto Epcot Resort Blv and pass through the Boardwalk entering through the Internatonal Gateway. To get to DS you walk till you come to the Epcot Resorts - DS connector path, this takes you to Epcot as well if you missed the short cut. :) If you like to walk, it can be faster and more relaxing than the bus.

When planning to walk anywhere on property, I use Google earth to map my course and be sure there are foot paths and pedestrian crossings to get us there safely.

[MNNHFLTX]

Personally, CBR is my least favorite moderate resort. It is big, and the layout seems awkward to me. For example, the Customs House (for check-in) is totally separate from the other pulic buildings, such as the restaurant, food court and gift shop. One time at the end of a stay there I wanted to drop our luggage off at bell services and then grab a bite to eat and shop a little before catching our Magical Express bus back to the airport. To do this I had to catch a shuttle over to the other buildings after dropping the luggage off. I could have walked too, but it's quite a distance away. In any case, I much prefer all the main buildings to be located in the same area.

I think another reason it doesn't appeal to me as much as the other resorts is the tropical theme. Having lived in sub-tropical areas like Florida for many years, pastel buildings and palm trees have lost their novelty for me.

[sbwillie]

It's slighty less than a mile to each park. 15-20 minutes?

There is a foot path on E Buena Vista from Victory Way intersection (right behind Aruba across the parking lot) to get to Epcot in a mile, you can turn onto Epcot Resort Blv and pass through the Boardwalk entering through the Internatonal Gateway. To get to DS you walk till you come to the Epcot Resorts - DS connector path, this takes you to Epcot as well if you missed the short cut. :) If you like to walk, it can be faster and more relaxing than the bus.

When planning to walk anywhere on property, I use Google earth to map my course and be sure there are foot paths and pedestrian crossings to get us there safely.

Thanks for that info on walking to Epcot and DHS. We'll try it next time we are there. Sounds fun

[Lakin]

I agree with MNNHFLTX on the awkward resort layout. Honestly, it makes no sense whatsoever. It's actually pretty aggravating. And the resort is too big. It's not like it's big because it has a bunch of activities it needs to fit in, it just makes for more area you have to walk. It doesn't seem like much when you go to make the reservation, but when it comes to going to the parks and back, checking in and out, and going to get food and other things, it can become aggravating.

And this is a very weird complaint for my family, because my mom and I go on walks all the time.

Also, my mom had a really tough time checking in. It's a long story, but my mom had to miss about four hours of park time so she could go back to the resort and get everything sorted out just so we could have a room for the night. I felt really bad for her. :( I mean, missing precious park time.......

Also.....the buses for CBR were AWFUL. Well, when I was there, they were. Three buses would come for EPCOT in a ten minute period, and it would take 45 minutes for an Animal Kingdom bus to show up. It was ridiculous. I mean, one day my family just got so tired of waiting for the bus of the park we wanted that we hopped on the next one we saw just so we could do something.

My mom, my dad, and I all agree that CBR was the least favorite resort we've stayed at so far. It's not like it was absolutely horrible, but we wouldn't call it a delight either.

We're gonna go back to a Value resort our next trip.

Off Topic: 600th post. Woohoo! :)

[Lillabelle00]

I absolutely love CBR. It has a relaxing atmosphere and always feels homey to me! I really do not find it to be too confusing. The buses are hit or miss just like other resorts. I have had great bus service there and a few times, not so great bus service. I enjoy the food court but I really enjoy the beach theme. My kids love it. It is so relaxing after a long day at the parks. I do believe the big pool is geared more toward kids under 10 but is still enjoyable. Over all, it has never let me down. I can't wait to go back. I am planning my next trip there as I type this. Enjoy whatever your choice is. It's Disney..and to me that means fun wherever you end up!! :mickey:

[GoofyforFun]

We and others we have gone there with have love staying there. You can also stay at Aruba #51 , 52 or Jamaica 44,45 these are just over the bridge --a short walk if you can't get a preferred room. I think you will enjoy it there.

[Katzateer]

We stayed a few times when the girls were younger and they enjoyed but I would not stay there again- too spread out.

Have you considered POP? The kids would love the theme and the transportation is great. The food court is good and with the $$$ you save, you can get extra connecting rooms for the kids or adults that makes up for not having a deluxe or mod room. Plus I love the extra bathroom when everyone is getting really.

I remember what I didn't like about the CBR besides the size. There was ALWAYS sand in our room! No matter where the kids rinsed off or cleaned their flip flops we always had sand in the carpet. I have stayed at the Poly and been on a Disney cruise and never had that problem. We have stayed at hotels on the Jersey shore too. I hated after taking a shower having sand still in the carpet and on the tile.

[Jillirose]

We loved the theming, and pool at CBR. The only complaint we had was the number of bus stops. It seemed to take forever to get out of there and to the parks!!

[CanadaLovesDisney]

We have stayed other places but we love CBR best! The whole tropical theme is a big draw for us being from cold and snowy canada.
When you walk to the food court and the speakers are playing island themed music it just gets me!!! Ahhhh wish I was there now!

Enjoy your trip!:mickey:

[RAIDER]

Ive been there 3 times and visted it a few other occasions.
In my opinion ,i actually like the size of the place as you can pool hop within the complex :D
Port Royale food hall is varied and i just love the ambiance of the place .Everytime i have been there i have always felt relaxed with its theming .Another plus is its location as its near DTD .
I would reccommend this place whole heartedly :thumbsup::mickey: