We love CBR. For us it's like 2 vacations in one....Disney plus the feeling of being in a tropical destination. We loved the main pool and water slides and the beach areas with hammocks. We thought the food court had a great selection and most of the food was pretty good. CBR generally has a bad reputation for transportation, but we had a great experience. Yes, there are a lot of bus stops. But we never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus and they were rarely crowded.
It helps to know a little about your party and your travel preferences....
Will you have 4 in the room? any children?
Do you view your resort as just a place to sleep after visiting the parks?
Will you have a car with you?
Will you be using the dining plan?
I had heard people say not to stay at CSR because of it being a convention hotel. Thanks for all your information... now I'll have to consider CSR too! Hmmmm....Out of curiosity, why not CSR? I've stayed at all the moderates, and CSR is my favorite. The grounds are beautiful and the pool is great--my kids had a blast on the water slide and it has the largest hot tub for the grownups I also liked that we had a fabulous view of the HS fireworks!
Following CSR is POR. I didn't go to the pool that visit, but it looked great, and I enjoyed walking around the grounds--so pretty! The boat ride to Disney Springs can be relaxing.
I didn't really care for CBR or POFQ. I'm a distance runner and normally don't mind walking around a huge resort--but for some reason the size of CBR did bother me. I think it was more that I found walking from the main check in area (customs house?) to my building in Martinique to be confusing. And the bus transportation--stopping at all those stops, seemed to take forever. I didn't like the food court there, though I ate a meal at their table service restaurant, Shutters, and it was excellent.
POFQ--they only have the one pool and it seems specifically geared towards young kids (I'd say under age 7 or so.) You can still walk over to POR to use their pools. For some reason, POFQ just seemed way more "motel like" than the other moderates to me.
Okay, so there will be 3, my 9 year old, my dad and myself. Generally it is just a place to sleep, but this time we're looking for something a little nicer. No car. Yes, we will probably be using the dining plan. I wasn't figuring on eating at the hotel very much but when I was talking to my dad yesterday he likes the idea of a table service restaurant in the hotel.
Thanks, for your input! I have read quite a bit about the resorts and seen some You tube videos, but it's nice to hear what people have personally experienced. I'm from Oregon, so the CBR is about as different for us as it comes! So I do really like the themeing there.You are going to get a different response from everyone on here. We have stayed at POR and CBR in past trips. I would choose CBR over POR as we enjoyed it more. Nothing against POR as we really enjoyed it too. We just liked the theming better, we enjoyed the pool more, and found that the transportation was better at CBR. Either would be a great choice, and you will have a good time no matter where you choose. Check the threads on both, and check their dedicated web pages. Find what will work best for your family. Happy planning!
That's great information! I'll talk it over with my dad. That's cool that you can see some fireworks from CBR! We probably won't stay at CSR just because we are from Oregon so we have made several trips to California, Arizona and Texas so it would be fun to see a different theme like at the Port Orleans or CBR resorts.Caribbean Beach has newly renovated rooms and a very cool pirate fort main pool. My 9 year old LOVED the pool and the pool slide. I found the bus situation annoying at Caribbean Beach but my child would tell you that it was his favorite resort(we've stayed at Riverside and French Quarter). CBR has a great playground, views of Epcot and Hollywood Studios fireworks from the resort, a great food court.
We also LOVE French Quarter but it tends to cost more than Caribbean Beach. FQ has one bus stop and is smaller than the other moderates so walks are never far to get someplace. The main pool is fun, although the slide is short. There is a boat to Disney Springs and you can walk to Riverside and use all their amenities (pools, food court etc)
Riverside is fun, great food court, beautiful grounds, not as many bus stops as Caribbean Beach, nice boat ride to Disney Springs-we loved it there too! The arcade at Riverside is huge as is the gift shop!
Really, choose whichever appeals most to you.
We've always eaten in the food courts at the moderates, and found plenty of options. We really liked that CBR and FQ have outdoor seating to bring your food outside and eat.
Coronado is in need of room renovations and those are starting now and will take 2 years or so to complete. Their main pool looks amazing but we are waiting until the rooms are updated to try that resort!