Caribbean Beach is a Dump!

[Disneylover99]

Most of deluxe resorts do not have food courts and there was construction going on the last two times I stayed at the Boardwalk Villas - did this impact my vacation? Not for one minute - I knew going in there was no food court, and that there was on-going construction - as did the OP....if you know this going in, you cannot be surprised when you get there. I don't think it is an ideal solution, but Disney did put in food tents/trucks, etc., they didn't have to do this. I rarely eat at a food court regardless - an occasional breakfast, so when I head there in November I won't mind if there is a food tent instead of a food court.

To keep CBR open during the renovations? Yeah, they did have to do this. Aren't the counter service, table service, bar, and shops closed? Can you imagine staying there with no access to food?

Closing a foodcourt at BWV when there are lots of other places to eat within walking distance is not a fair comparison.

 

[AngiTN]

To keep CBR open during the renovations? Yeah, they did have to do this. Aren't the counter service, table service, bar, and shops closed? Can you imagine staying there with no access to food?.

I guess it's different at Disney but yeah, I've stayed at lots of hotels without food at the hotel. And did just fine. We are headed to Gatlinburg on Friday and our hotel will not have food at it in any way. We'll have to leave it to eat. We'll manage to not starve. I get that it's not the norm at Disney but it would be manageable, if you want to get real technical about it. There is food to be found nearby. Folks wouldn't starve. Still think the options they put in are preferable to most people over nothing. And they've continued to add to the options by adding more food truck choices to other areas of the resort. So you aren't limited to the choices in the tent. They are trying to do their best. Even their best isn't going to make some folks happy.

 

[penjen]

We are staying at CBR in 30 days. Our vacation is for 14 nights. I would never have stayed here for rack rate. We have free regular dining from bounceback and $75 at night gift card. That is the only reason we are trying out the resort! We have been to disney about 20 times for extended vacations and have always stayed away from CBR. We did visit (to see if we wanted to book it)once 2 years ago and I agree the centerville building was in horrible condition. Glad it was knocked down. We are hoping CBR will be better than expected but we will be at the parks most of the time or site seeing other areas. Never would stay here as a first visit!!

 

[AngiTN]

We are staying at CBR in 30 days. Our vacation is for 14 nights. I would never have stayed here for rack rate. We have free regular dining from bounceback and $75 at night gift card. That is the only reason we are trying out the resort! We have been to disney about 20 times for extended vacations and have always stayed away from CBR. We did visit (to see if we wanted to book it)once 2 years ago and I agree the centerville building was in horrible condition. Glad it was knocked down. We are hoping CBR will be better than expected but we will be at the parks most of the time or site seeing other areas. Never would stay here as a first visit!!

Actually, it wasn't knocked down. They left Old Port Royal building standing. They've only torn down the Barbados resort room buildings. They are renovating inside of Old Port Royal.

 

[DaisyJ]

Has anyone with food allergies had experience with the food set-up as it is now? I'd almost consider this for a pre-cruise one-night stay, but I am gluten-free and would need to have something for breakfast before as I won't have a car and would likely not have time to get to another resort and back for a sit-down breakfast before being picked up by Disney Cruise transportation.

Pack something with you in your suitcase.

 

[Dug720]

Pack something with you in your suitcase.

I'll just stay elsewhere.

 

[Disneylover99]

I guess it's different at Disney but yeah, I've stayed at lots of hotels without food at the hotel. And did just fine. We are headed to Gatlinburg on Friday and our hotel will not have food at it in any way. We'll have to leave it to eat. We'll manage to not starve. I get that it's not the norm at Disney but it would be manageable, if you want to get real technical about it. There is food to be found nearby. Folks wouldn't starve. Still think the options they put in are preferable to most people over nothing. And they've continued to add to the options by adding more food truck choices to other areas of the resort. So you aren't limited to the choices in the tent. They are trying to do their best. Even their best isn't going to make some folks happy.

I get staying at non Disney resorts without access to food. But Disney, particularly CBR is a different beast altogether due to it's size and the fact that you cannot walk anywhere. Many people take the ME and have no access to a car during their stay and not everyone goes to the parks daily.

 

[Colleen27]

Most of deluxe resorts do not have food courts and there was construction going on the last two times I stayed at the Boardwalk Villas - did this impact my vacation? Not for one minute - I knew going in there was no food court, and that there was on-going construction - as did the OP....if you know this going in, you cannot be surprised when you get there. I don't think it is an ideal solution, but Disney did put in food tents/trucks, etc., they didn't have to do this. I rarely eat at a food court regardless - an occasional breakfast, so when I head there in November I won't mind if there is a food tent instead of a food court.

IIRC, during one of our deluxe stays the quick-service/grab-and-go was closed. And I think the "solution" Disney offered was the pool bar's lunch/dinner offerings and the option to go across the lake to the Boardwalk Bakery for breakfast. But I really don't remember details, other than thinking mug refills were rather inconvenient and not using them as much as we typically do, because we so seldom use the food courts anyway.

Comparing the two, though... I'd rather have CBR's ugly but climate controlled seating area for their temporary dining options than the hot, sunny walk over to a neighboring resort for food! And I love what they're doing with the Freestyle machines. As someone who only drinks diet sodas, they're a vast improvement in the number of choices over a standard machine, and having them in the villages makes the refillable mugs that much more attractive.

I guess it's different at Disney but yeah, I've stayed at lots of hotels without food at the hotel. And did just fine. We are headed to Gatlinburg on Friday and our hotel will not have food at it in any way. We'll have to leave it to eat. We'll manage to not starve. I get that it's not the norm at Disney but it would be manageable, if you want to get real technical about it. There is food to be found nearby. Folks wouldn't starve. Still think the options they put in are preferable to most people over nothing. And they've continued to add to the options by adding more food truck choices to other areas of the resort. So you aren't limited to the choices in the tent. They are trying to do their best. Even their best isn't going to make some folks happy.

I think it is somewhat different at Disney because such a high percentage of their guests are a "captive audience" without access to their own transportation. If I stay at a hotel or resort without its own dining options in the "real world", I either have a car or am in a major city with many, many nearby options. At Disney, though, it isn't really viable for the guests who take Magical Express and rely strictly on Disney transportation to just go to a different resort for food/drinks.

 

[AngiTN]

I think it is somewhat different at Disney because such a high percentage of their guests are a "captive audience" without access to their own transportation. If I stay at a hotel or resort without its own dining options in the "real world", I either have a car or am in a major city with many, many nearby options. At Disney, though, it isn't really viable for the guests who take Magical Express and rely strictly on Disney transportation to just go to a different resort for food/drinks.

True but I was comparing Gatlinburg because we don't drive once there either. It's a park and never move the car destination due to traffic issues. We use their free trolley/bus or walk. The bottom line was between the 2 options of having to leave to get dining and having a tent/food trucks the tent/food trucks are better than having to take a bus.

 

[terri33inne]

I stayed for 9 nights last month... first time staying or seeing CBR. I admit I booked there to get the GC which covered 90% of our food bill (as well as a room discount). I'm pretty hard to please, and I have no construction related complaints with our stay. Our pool was great, I loved our room location. I found the island markets & freestyle machines super convenient. The only time I noticed the construction was on the bus. I also knew what we were facing going in so I probably lowered my expectations, and ended up being pleasantly surprised. OP can use whatever language they feel... however, dump is not a word I would use to describe it. Inconvenient perhaps if the food court & gift shop are important to you.

Now, I'm not in a hurry to go back to CBR but that has nothing to do with the construction, it's just not my style/feel of a resort, and the size (again not construction related) bothered me. So far for moderates POR (mansions) is my favorite.

We ventured over to the food tent one time for breakfast, and it was fine... Actually I'll take their buffet over the QS at BeachClub anyday.

 

[kandb]

I guess it's different at Disney but yeah, I've stayed at lots of hotels without food at the hotel. And did just fine. We are headed to Gatlinburg on Friday and our hotel will not have food at it in any way. We'll have to leave it to eat. We'll manage to not starve. I get that it's not the norm at Disney but it would be manageable, if you want to get real technical about it. There is food to be found nearby. Folks wouldn't starve. Still think the options they put in are preferable to most people over nothing. And they've continued to add to the options by adding more food truck choices to other areas of the resort. So you aren't limited to the choices in the tent. They are trying to do their best. Even their best isn't going to make some folks happy.

I think a major difference is that many people who stay on property at WDW, don't have a car and easy access to drive a few miles to a Wendy's etc.

 

[kandb]

I stayed for 9 nights last month... first time staying or seeing CBR. I admit I booked there to get the GC which covered 90% of our food bill (as well as a room discount). I'm pretty hard to please, and I have no construction related complaints with our stay. Our pool was great, I loved our room location. I found the island markets & freestyle machines super convenient. The only time I noticed the construction was on the bus. I also knew what we were facing going in so I probably lowered my expectations, and ended up being pleasantly surprised. OP can use whatever language they feel... however, dump is not a word I would use to describe it. Inconvenient perhaps if the food court & gift shop are important to you.

Now, I'm not in a hurry to go back to CBR but that has nothing to do with the construction, it's just not my style/feel of a resort, and the size (again not construction related) bothered me. So far for moderates POR (mansions) is my favorite.

We ventured over to the food tent one time for breakfast, and it was fine... Actually I'll take their buffet over the QS at BeachClub anyday.

Well Disney did the right thing and gave you a $75 gift card per night which as you said, covered almost all of your food. That is not the case for many and I wonder if you did not get all that extra $$$ would you still feel the same way?

 

[AngiTN]

Well Disney did the right thing and gave you a $75 gift card per night which as you said, covered almost all of your food. That is not the case for many and I wonder if you did not get all that extra $$$ would you still feel the same way?

can't speak for others but I booked again and won't be getting the gift card
The rate and gift card got me to try last month. Well, as PP said, it turned out to not impact me at all. I really enjoyed the resort overall. And one perk to the construction is the resort is way less crowded. That is worth a lot to me. More than a tent for food I'm not going to eat or a trailer I'm not going to shop at anyway. So yeah, I'm returning with no gift card incentive. I got a promo code of course. We don't stay anywhere on site without one of those. Can't imagine why anyone would though.

 

[Statefan17]

AngiTN - enjoy your trip to Gatlinburg (one of our favorite places). We were there last month and did exactly what you said - parked the car and did not get in it again until we headed back home.

 

[AngiTN]

AngiTN - enjoy your trip to Gatlinburg (one of our favorite places). We were there last month and did exactly what you said - parked the car and did not get in it again until we headed back home.

We will, thanks! We live nearby, go every month or so. Making it a habit ever since the wildfires. Trying to do our part to help the economy

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

They don't treat"the masses" differently at moderate and value resorts. I can't think of a time where Disney has totally shut down the whole front end of any resort. They are doing construction at CSR too and I haven't heard anyone call it a dump. In fact, a few family members just got back from a stay at CSR and had nothing but good things to say.

Truly, how many people would be happy if CBR was shut down? You can't tell me there wouldn't be complaining because A-people still wanted to stay there and B-some people would be upset if people who had booked CBR were walked to more expensive resorts at the moderate rate. This was truly a lose-lose for the most part. I guess they should have just not tried to do anything to the main areas of CBR and left them as is. So people could complain about that too.

If Disney closed CBR during the construction, people would be outraged saying they could have left it open and set up food tents
Can't please everyone...

 

[Ghostridethedolewhip]

We have stayed at CBR a number of times but would rather stay at POR or POFQ. We had a split stay in June with POR then Poly. Originally we had CBR since POR didn't have availability for our rates (AP/FR) at time of booking. I kept looking and switched to POR last minute when it was available. If we had the $75 GC option that would have been worth it, but overall CBR is a little too spread out and the construction made our choice easier for the $10 a night difference.

 

[dosekies]

I actually switched to CBR when the gift card offer was announced. It is just DH and I staying for 6 nights and were originally booked at Pop. We were able to switch to CBR and, with the gift cards, pay the same amount as we were at Pop. I was also able to snag free dining when it came out, so that made it an even better deal for us! We don't eat at the resorts, so for us it is just a room to sleep in and maybe use the pool. Personally, I am excited for the little bit bigger of a room with a guaranteed bigger bed and the coke freestyle machines!

 

[goofy4tink]

To keep CBR open during the renovations? Yeah, they did have to do this. Aren't the counter service, table service, bar, and shops closed? Can you imagine staying there with no access to food?

Closing a foodcourt at BWV when there are lots of other places to eat within walking distance is not a fair comparison.

Just to be clear? The YC/BC and BW don't have food courts. BC does have a grab and go spot, similar to Boardwalk Bakery, but no food courts.

I stayed at CBR, in January. I had wanted to give it a shot, so figured I would book my last two nights there. I was glad it was only two nights! I won't be back. I was a long walk to the food court and main pool. I was actually closer to Pop! I'm not sure what all the angst is....don't those that have booked at CBR know, beforehand, about the construction? Many were given exceedingly good room rates or credits. How many guests showed up with absolutely no idea what was going on? There is food provided. No, not in a food court, but in a tent. I don't see the big issue. Would it be my favorite stay? Nope. But, if I had known there was going to be that much construction, I doubt I would have stayed there.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I'll just stay elsewhere.

When they shut down the Floridian's quick service, they had a grab and go available. They had yogurt, hard boiled eggs, fruit and a couple of other cold items. Plus juices. They didn't have bread items that I could find.

They were cooking eggs, potatoes plus whatever is on a breakfast platter, but didn't offer any bread/waffle with it.

I don't remember what else there was that was gluten free.

I just know that I didn't starve.