CBR and AKL review

[Mitzie]

We were at Disney from 12/5-12/11. Started out at AKL, club level. It was very nice. Our only request was connecting rooms since our little ones were staying with the in-laws in their room. Don at IPO really came throughWe were given rooms right off the lobby so not a long walk, and the twins even got bunk beds. The view was of the central savanna and DH was in heaven. The room was immaculant. Towel animals every day. We just loved it and I don't know if I will ever get DH anywhere else. We ate at Boma one night for diner, would recommend it to all. Pool area was very nicely laid out and we took advantage of that one night. My DMI felt the resort was alittle dark but I felt it just added to the atmosphere. Cast members were all friendly and helpful.
Ok...CRB. First time here and we have stayed at POR and CSR in the past. We got there and they had honored our request for Jamaica and connecting rooms. We loved the location, looked out into a beautiful courtyard. Only one room was ready so we moved everything in there. When they notified us that the connecting one was ready we open the door and WOW. Someone had been partying in there the night before hand and the room smelled strongly on marijana(sp?). As a teacher of at-risk high school kids who have made the bad choice of smoking this before coming to school, I know that smell. It was very evasive. I called down to the front desk and they got me in contact with the head of maintance. The gentleman was very nice and sent someone to change out bedding, shampoo the carpets and change the air conditioning filters. This didn't help. After all that they had to find us another set of rooms. So we packed everything up and they moved us to Barbados, water view. The room numbers were 1412 and 1413. These rooms also had an order problem...musty I guess would describe it. We didn't complain again, I didn't want to come across as super picky or anything. It just wasn't our best stay at Disney. It is a large resort but the walking didn't bother us. We liked the food court and pool area. Cast members were nice and tried everything to help us. We had one bad experience with the buses. That Tuesday we got there after all the room problems, we waited an hour for a bus to MK. All the other destinations came through multiple times but nothing for MK. There was a phone there and the two other people with us called on it but it still took 1/2 hour till a bus got there. After that though there were cast members standing at that bus stop checking the bus situation. Overall, it would be our last choice for a moderate resort.

[mom2morgan]

OH dear. We are planning a split stay with exactly those two resorts. But maybe it was a real let down coming from a deluxe to a moderate - I might feel more satisfied if I do CBR first and then move "up" to AK. Sorry to hear about the pot smell - I'm also a high school teacher and familiar with that smell and it makes me really sick. How bizarre to come to Disney to get high!

[JenniferS.]

We stayed at CBR this past May and we didn't really like it either. We had the same exact experience w/ the bus to MK and it made us late for our ADR's. We had an odor in our room, but it was more of a flamingo/tropical smell that I think was meant to be there. The main pool was awesome though. The resort is nice and quiet, but too large. We were in the Aruba building. I got spoiled by the Contemporary and if money allows, i'd rather stay there.

[Mitzie]

To note, our very first room they let us in over in Jamaica was fine. When I spoke with cast members about the pot smell they said it happens more than you might think.
As for the deluxe coming first. Last year we did a split for POR, AB section, then moved over to BC. We found ourselves missing POR!