Disney's CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT Information & Questions

[jen7233]

I am at CBR right now. Having a great week. Was a bit nervous of the crowd reports lately before arrival but all move along quick, people are keeping their distance and have seen very very few mask issues. I had been an avid stalker of this thread and kept wondering when we should leave for the parks to get there by or around rope drop especially with post covid and the new skyliner (or at least new to us) so I made a note to share in case this was helpful to others:

Hollywood Studio Day:
10:00am posted park open time. Thurs. 10/1/2020

7:25: arrived at CBR skyliner station and lined up at the gate. Wasn’t exactly sure what time we should line up and had seen recommendations for as early as 7-8am. We were first in line, only ones in line for about 15 minutes. By 8:00, the line was really starting to get long. If I did it again, I think 7:40am would be a good target time. I’m not aiming to be first, just maybe towards the front. There is a coffee and muffin stand right there. We sat and ate breakfast while waiting. Wasn’t bad wait at all.
8:50am: Skyliners began running. We could see all the cars being held at the entrance of DHS as our skyliner went right over the lot. (One family per skyliner)
9:15am: Park opened, Walked straight on to MMRT, off by 9:30, MMRT was then saying 100 minute wait. Glad we got up early. Went straight to slinky after.


Animal Kingdom Park Day:
8:00 posted park open time. Friday 10/2/2020

6:45 am: arrived at bus stop at resort (old port royale stop by lobby). Bus already there. We weren’t sure what to expect but surprised the bus was there already. Took off right after we boarded with just us on the bus.
7:00 am: arrived at park
7:15 am: gates to the park opened (probably 5/6th person/group in to the entire park and only waited 15 min, was a mad dash tho of fast speed walkers behind us to Flight of passage)
7:35 am: already off flights of passage and on to something else. Great day!

Epcot Day: 11:00 posted park open. Sun,10/4/20
We got to the CBR skyliner at 9:45 and we’re pretty far back in line, took about 25 minutes to get on and it was drizzling. Would get there earlier next time.

MK Day- 9 am posted park open. Mon,10/5/2020
Arrived at 8:30, park had already opened, easy to to get in, went straight to 7 Dwarfs Mine Ride, maybe a 20 minute wait at that time. Easy. No need to get there earlier for this park on this day at least.

Hope this helps someone should they need it.

Thank you for posting that. I didn't know the parks are opening and you can get on rides prior to the posted time. Considering staying at the CBR, so the skyliner information was very useful.

 

[GlowTheWeird]

Hello!! So. I’ve only stayed at CBR once and that was several years ago. It was not my cup of tea but I have decided to give it another try on my trip in December just because of the Skyliner and just wanting to give it another chance because it is a beautiful resort.
Here is my dilemma- deciding between a preferred or standard room. I want to be close to the skyliner. Right now, I am booked preferred but if I went to standard it would save me around 250 bucks for my trip. Any suggestions or advice would be very appreciated.

So, I feel you on the ‘not your cup of tea’ with the resort. Very pretty, but tooooo expansive. We also picked this resort for the skyliner as well. We stayed in the Barbados building 31, and while the skyliner station wasn’t right there, I would stay in this building again. The walk to the skyliner was hardly anything, maybe 5-6 minutes but I really liked building 31 being close proximity to pick up quick service. I kept looking at the buildings that were further out and kept thinking how do people do the hike just to pick up an ice cream haha In the future we won’t stay here again because of of how large the property is, but very glad we did just for the Skyliner experience.

 

[nkereina]

Anyone know if there are separate buses servicing Aruba and Jamaica currently? I believe that’s how it was pre-covid. We requested a room in Jamaica or Aruba, but now wondering if we’d be better off walking to Martinique to be at the first bus stop on our MK and AK days. Thanks!

 

[esjay51]

Anyone know if there are separate buses servicing Aruba and Jamaica currently? I believe that’s how it was pre-covid. We requested a room in Jamaica or Aruba, but now wondering if we’d be better off walking to Martinique to be at the first bus stop on our MK and AK days. Thanks!

Along the same lines. We are there on 11-5-20. Has anyone heard any news about Sebastian s opening ? Hoping to try it since reviews have been good.

 

[Sue M]

Anyone know if there are separate buses servicing Aruba and Jamaica currently? I believe that’s how it was pre-covid. We requested a room in Jamaica or Aruba, but now wondering if we’d be better off walking to Martinique to be at the first bus stop on our MK and AK days. Thanks!

While it’s been many years since we stayed here, and there was no separate bus, we stayed in Jamaica next to the quiet pool. It was a quick walk over the bridge to main building/food and we were close to the Jamaica bus stop too.
I requested Jamaica again for next Aug. loved that location.

 

[Sue M]

I am at CBR right now. Having a great week. Was a bit nervous of the crowd reports lately before arrival but all move along quick, people are keeping their distance and have seen very very few mask issues. I had been an avid stalker of this thread and kept wondering when we should leave for the parks to get there by or around rope drop especially with post covid and the new skyliner (or at least new to us) so I made a note to share in case this was helpful to others:

Hollywood Studio Day:
10:00am posted park open time. Thurs. 10/1/2020

7:25: arrived at CBR skyliner station and lined up at the gate. Wasn’t exactly sure what time we should line up and had seen recommendations for as early as 7-8am. We were first in line, only ones in line for about 15 minutes. By 8:00, the line was really starting to get long. If I did it again, I think 7:40am would be a good target time. I’m not aiming to be first, just maybe towards the front. There is a coffee and muffin stand right there. We sat and ate breakfast while waiting. Wasn’t bad wait at all.
8:50am: Skyliners began running. We could see all the cars being held at the entrance of DHS as our skyliner went right over the lot. (One family per skyliner)
9:15am: Park opened, Walked straight on to MMRT, off by 9:30, MMRT was then saying 100 minute wait. Glad we got up early. Went straight to slinky after.


Animal Kingdom Park Day:
8:00 posted park open time. Friday 10/2/2020

6:45 am: arrived at bus stop at resort (old port royale stop by lobby). Bus already there. We weren’t sure what to expect but surprised the bus was there already. Took off right after we boarded with just us on the bus.
7:00 am: arrived at park
7:15 am: gates to the park opened (probably 5/6th person/group in to the entire park and only waited 15 min, was a mad dash tho of fast speed walkers behind us to Flight of passage)
7:35 am: already off flights of passage and on to something else. Great day!

Epcot Day: 11:00 posted park open. Sun,10/4/20
We got to the CBR skyliner at 9:45 and we’re pretty far back in line, took about 25 minutes to get on and it was drizzling. Would get there earlier next time.

MK Day- 9 am posted park open. Mon,10/5/2020
Arrived at 8:30, park had already opened, easy to to get in, went straight to 7 Dwarfs Mine Ride, maybe a 20 minute wait at that time. Easy. No need to get there earlier for this park on this day at least.

Hope this helps someone should they need it.

Were you able to get Rise of the Resistance?

 

[GlowTheWeird]

Were you able to get Rise of the Resistance?

We were!! Boarding group 5. We had already ridden Mickey and Minnie Runaway, and we were in line for Slinky dog. I had practiced at home a few times, but really had the app ready and the last 10 seconds before the boarding group window opened I kept pulling the screen down to reload and when it said join, I quickly clicked through.

 

[dachsie]

If anyone has been recently here, can you remember if they have a resort pin In gift shop?

 

[GlowTheWeird]

If anyone has been recently here, can you remember if they have a resort pin In gift shop?

So fun fact (at least for me haha) I always get a resort pin each time we stay at one to remember the stay. Got this one last week

 

[nkereina]

While it’s been many years since we stayed here, and there was no separate bus, we stayed in Jamaica next to the quiet pool. It was a quick walk over the bridge to main building/food and we were close to the Jamaica bus stop too.
I requested Jamaica again for next Aug. loved that location.

It’s my understanding that around the time of the resort re-configuration, they changed the buses so that all buses were no longer servicing all 7 bus stops. They had one set of buses servicing the first 4, and another set of buses servicing the last 3. That’s much more efficient IMO, so I’m just curious if this is continuing now during covid with all the bus restrictions in place.

 

[Spazz2k]

We are staying at CBR at the end of the month for the first time in several years. Can anyone tell me what bus stop order the buses pick up in? Last time we were there, the buses still circled all 7 stops but I know that's changed.

Also, are the bus depots at the resort the same or do they have queues now? Just trying to picture how people line up and if there's separate lines depending on where you're going?

Related to buses, what has the overall consensus been for MK, AK, and Disney Springs bus availability and frequency? Are we better off just using Uber or are they frequent enough where the limited capacity has not been an issue? I've read horror stories about the bus situation at Pop, but haven't seen much about it at CBR.

Thanks!

We have found that we typically see where our room is when we get the text that it is ready, if we don't like the location, we just goto the front desk and ask to change to wherever we would like to stay. This past weekend and a couple of weekends ago we asked to be in Martinique building 25 and both times it was no problem. We always book a standard room as paying more for preferred is silly to us, because as we have stayed so many times....so I would say book a standard, save the money, and if you don't like your location, goto the lobby and ask them if you can switch.

 

[Lsdolphin]

We have found that we typically see where our room is when we get the text that it is ready, if we don't like the location, we just goto the front desk and ask to change to wherever we would like to stay. This past weekend and a couple of weekends ago we asked to be in Martinique building 25 and both times it was no problem. We always book a standard room as paying more for preferred is silly to us, because as we have stayed so many times....so I would say book a standard, save the money, and if you don't like your location, goto the lobby and ask them if you can switch.

I thought that Martinique was the “preferred” building...

 

[nkereina]

We have found that we typically see where our room is when we get the text that it is ready, if we don't like the location, we just goto the front desk and ask to change to wherever we would like to stay. This past weekend and a couple of weekends ago we asked to be in Martinique building 25 and both times it was no problem. We always book a standard room as paying more for preferred is silly to us, because as we have stayed so many times....so I would say book a standard, save the money, and if you don't like your location, goto the lobby and ask them if you can switch.

I'm not interested in changing rooms, we requested Aruba or Jamaica and would still like to stay there. I'm just trying to confirm whether there are still separate buses servicing those buildings or if the buses that also service Centertown and Martinique come around to those now as well.

 

[Dug720]

We have found that we typically see where our room is when we get the text that it is ready, if we don't like the location, we just goto the front desk and ask to change to wherever we would like to stay. This past weekend and a couple of weekends ago we asked to be in Martinique building 25 and both times it was no problem. We always book a standard room as paying more for preferred is silly to us, because as we have stayed so many times....so I would say book a standard, save the money, and if you don't like your location, goto the lobby and ask them if you can switch.

You have gotten very lucky to not have been charged to upgrade when you booked Standard but ask for Preferred. At some point that luck is going to run out.

 

[tinabina919]

@GlowTheWeird thanks for the report! A few questions since we will be traveling to Epcot while at CBR next month, how was your experience once at the Epcot gates? Were you waiting there long/was it crowded at the gates prior to opening? And do they let you in any earlier or is it a strict 11am opening?

 

[Spazz2k]

I thought that Martinique was the “preferred” building...

It is the preferred building, what I was saying is we always book a standard room but we will ask if we can have a room in Martinique building 25 and usually it is not a problem. We don't ask every time we go, but if we are with our godson...we always ask

 

[Spazz2k]

You have gotten very lucky to not have been charged to upgrade when you booked Standard but ask for Preferred. At some point that luck is going to run out.

I agree to an extent, we don't ask all the time, but so far it hasn't been an issue....and it never hurts to ask. We do stay on Disney property very often and spend a lot of time there, so I am not sure if that has anything to do with it, but we do get upgraded without asking I would say 8 out of 10 times we stay.

 

[GlowTheWeird]

Thank you for posting that. I didn't know the parks are opening and you can get on rides prior to the posted time. Considering staying at the CBR, so the skyliner information was very useful.

Yes!!!!! The parks seem to be opening earlier than posted so get there early. I had learned this reading the boards like a crazy person leading up to the trip. 45 min early often. Will they continue this? Not sure but... worst case, you have a snack while waiting. No one likes to wake up earlier but it’s worth it. Much better feeling to be ahead of the crowds than behind to start the day.

 

[Dug720]

I agree to an extent, we don't ask all the time, but so far it hasn't been an issue....and it never hurts to ask. We do stay on Disney property very often and spend a lot of time there, so I am not sure if that has anything to do with it, but we do get upgraded without asking I would say 8 out of 10 times we stay.

Yes, getting upgraded without asking can happen to anyone. It's not as common as reports on here would lead people to believe, but it does happen.

BUT in your post you specifically mentioned booking standard and then "if we don't like the location, we just goto the front desk and ask to change to wherever we would like to stay". Big difference between them upgrading you without your asking for anything and you asking for "wherever you would like to stay" - especially if you always book standard and then that "wherever you would like to stay" is always in a preferred location. Eventually you will run into a CM who says "Yes, we do have rooms in that area for x-amount more" and not do it for free.

 

[disneydreamer781]

Just booked a water view here for May 2021. Partly because there isn't much in the way of moderate accommodations available. What I really want is a Tower room at CSR and I'm still hoping to snag one. We did stay at CBR last October and I enjoyed it. The room was okay but I really liked the new lobby and the additions of the restaurant and lounge even though we didn't get the chance to try them. I'm hoping to do so next trip.