CBR Tips?

[wdwcarrie]

We are staying at Caribbean Beach in August, and it's our first trip staying in a Moderate (we've had several trips to Movies and Pop). We enjoyed the Values, but are excited for something new!

Any advice on elements to enjoy at CBR? We requested a room in Jamaica, as it seemed to be right over the bridge on the map.

Our traveling group is myself, DH, and DS, age almost-four.

Thanks!

[Pirate Granny]

LI love to grab a hot tea in the morning and take a walk around the lake...so peaceful...there is a great playground on the island from Jamacia to the food court. We loved the splash pad for our DGS who was almost five. He had a blast!

[Mrs Bus Driver]

Agree with wdwcarie, love the morning walk around the lake. Used to stop on the bridges and watch the flying squirrels and other wild life. Very relaxing and a great way to start the day.

[disneylovinmom]

Don't be in a hurry to get anywhere and allow plenty of time to get where you are going. It is a very large resort and sometimes the wait for the busses take a while.

[MargaretMessler]

It's beautiful, so my most important piece of advice is allow yourself time to just explore and enjoy the scenery.

That being said, there are pros and cons.

We stayed in Martinique, I think this was closest to OPR. We also stayed in Jamaica, and it's a pleasant walk over as someone else stated. I forget which Trinidad it is (north or south), that seems VERY far from everything. I think I would probably avoid it.

The bus service, well...it can be bad. Bad in that if you get to the bus stop at the "wrong" time, you can end up waiting what seems like a lifetime. Unlike other resorts, where there is one stop, and then everyone gets off, buses coming into and going out of CBR have to cycle through the entire resort (which can be 15-20 minutes or more on its own) before even leaving for a theme park. Major con in my book.

[mom2morgan]

My husband likes the hammocks on the white sand beach..hard to get him out of their to go to the parks!

[ISLE39]

What is the closest building to the front of the resort checkin

[Mrs Bus Driver]

I believe we were in Martinique (probably spelled it wrong) across the lagoon from the front desk and restaurant. My room looked into a courtyard, beautiful and quite. We were very near a bus stop. There were always buses coming about every 5 minutes (sometimes less). I can see where you might have to wait if you wanted a specific park bus but we found the bus service to be quite good. If I didn't want to do the walk to the front/restaurant I could catch any bus as they had a stop there and do another back. Some mornings were planned some were not on those days we often took the first park bus that arrived. All in all I found the bus service and the drivers to be very good. It helped make for a very relaxing vacation.

[cdavismorgan]

CBR is my favorite resort. (OK, I really want to stay at Poly, but price is still a concern.)

I like Jamaica and Martinique. It depends on if you plan on spending a lot of time over at OPR or not. I have a tendency to walk over in the morning while husband is still grumbling and attempting to get out of bed (he says I run him ragged or something ) and get an orange juice and pastry or so. The walk over the bridge from Jamaica is really quite nice, not overly stressful, and a great way to wake up with some quiet nature.

I agree with the other poster, there are many times we decide on what park to hit first in the morning by the first bus that comes. There was once a really long wait for a MK bus -- like 50 minutes. However, what we learned is that just take whatever bus and if you really want to transfer from there, use a boat or monorail, or whatever. Epcot monorail to MK, or boat from Hollywood to Epcot, etc. Plus, it adds some spontaneity that makes our trips fun.

One of the things I truly love about Disney is watching a park or resort wake up. My favorite moments at Dland is sitting outside the La Brea bakery with a coffee before park opening and watching them wash off the ground, start opening the security gates and just generally feel the park shake off the night and wake up. I get the same lovely experience doing a little walk around CBR in the morning.