nkereina
Last chance to lose your keys.
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2009
DH and I (no kids) just returned from our very first stay at Cabana Bay. We were there four nights and it was a somewhat last minute and budget conscious trip. In all of our past trips, we have only ever stayed at Hard Rock or Royal Pacific. However, by the time we booked for this trip, none of the three premier resorts had availability. Plus, we were traveling with others who were staying off-site and would not have EPs, so it wasn't important to us to have EPs. We thought this made for a good opportunity to finally try CBBR. I booked a standard room with two double beds, I think that's all that was available.
We arrived around 12:30pm last Wednesday. I had done mobile/online check-in advance, which I highly recommend. There was only one other person in line compared to the 20-30 in the regular line. There were maybe 5 front desk agents working, but it seems the check in process for each party is LONG. I think this attributes to the long waits at check-in, which we experienced and I've seen other reports of as well. We waited about 15 minutes before we were called up. Fortunately our room was ready at this time. The front desk agent took her time with us giving us detailed directions and times for the various places on property, since it was our first stay. I appreciated the detail, but it did take some time.
We were assigned room 71006 in Bayside - the tower at the furthest point of the resort closest to Volcano Bay. On the 10th floor, but close to the elevator with only one room adjacent to us before the end of the hall. The room appeared to be larger in configuration than some other rooms I noticed through windows while walking back there. I assume this is due to the curvature of the tower or perhaps the room location. Everything was clean, in order, and well appointed. We found the beds to be very comfortable. Loved the walk in shower. My only gripe is that the walk to Bayside was LONG from everything And needing the room key to get in and out of the gate and in and out of the building felt unnecessary.
We ate at Bayliner Diner several times - once for lunch and three times for breakfast. We found the sweet spot for breakfast to be around 9am. Earlier and later was noticeably busier in our experience. We really liked the options and thought all the food we had was very good. I was pleasantly surprised by this. We found it comparable in set up to the food court at POR at WDW.
We had drinks at the Swizzle Lounge in the lobby and at Hideaway Bar near the pool. Both were good experiences. We had a pool day at the lazy river pool on Saturday and really enjoyed that. The pool area is large and didn't feel overly busy, and there were ample chairs around. We had lunch at Hideaway Grille and found that to be very good. We didn't check out the pool with the water slide until we left and wished we had more time to enjoy that side, we liked the layout a little better. We did walk through the lazy river, but decided not to spend the money on floats. Next time we'll bring our own.
We found the buses to the parks to be very fast. There were always lines at the resort when we approached, but only once did we have to wait for the second bus which came in less than 10 minutes. Upon leaving the parks and HHN, there was always a bus waiting there, sometimes two. I was impressed with how easy it was to get a bus. We did opt to take the water taxi to Sapphire Falls one night. I thought we could cross the road at the driveway since its directly across the street, but the sidewalk directs you down a path and across a bridge which takes you to the far end of CBBR - we were on the opposite end. It took us too far out of our way to make that option more efficient, so we used the buses after that.
We checked out the Jack'd Up experience they were advertising as part of HHN. Not sure what I was expecting, but I would say its not worth going out of your way for. Same for the HHN props that are in the lounge.
I've seen reports of weed smell - we did smell weed once near the bus stop where there was a group of young adults. I imagine that will become more commonplace anywhere you go with the legality changes. We didn't smell anything in our room/building. We also heard no noise in our room either.
Overall, we had a really great stay and I was pleasantly surprised given the very mixed reports I've seen here recently. I'm a huge proponent of trying things for yourself, so I would suggest giving it a chance. We would definitely stay again, but it would have to be a scenario where we don't want/need EPs. Not having EPs and having to use the bus are two big negatives for us that are remedied by staying at a premier resort, so the premier resorts will continue to be our first choice. Happy to answer any questions!
We arrived around 12:30pm last Wednesday. I had done mobile/online check-in advance, which I highly recommend. There was only one other person in line compared to the 20-30 in the regular line. There were maybe 5 front desk agents working, but it seems the check in process for each party is LONG. I think this attributes to the long waits at check-in, which we experienced and I've seen other reports of as well. We waited about 15 minutes before we were called up. Fortunately our room was ready at this time. The front desk agent took her time with us giving us detailed directions and times for the various places on property, since it was our first stay. I appreciated the detail, but it did take some time.
We were assigned room 71006 in Bayside - the tower at the furthest point of the resort closest to Volcano Bay. On the 10th floor, but close to the elevator with only one room adjacent to us before the end of the hall. The room appeared to be larger in configuration than some other rooms I noticed through windows while walking back there. I assume this is due to the curvature of the tower or perhaps the room location. Everything was clean, in order, and well appointed. We found the beds to be very comfortable. Loved the walk in shower. My only gripe is that the walk to Bayside was LONG from everything And needing the room key to get in and out of the gate and in and out of the building felt unnecessary.
We ate at Bayliner Diner several times - once for lunch and three times for breakfast. We found the sweet spot for breakfast to be around 9am. Earlier and later was noticeably busier in our experience. We really liked the options and thought all the food we had was very good. I was pleasantly surprised by this. We found it comparable in set up to the food court at POR at WDW.
We had drinks at the Swizzle Lounge in the lobby and at Hideaway Bar near the pool. Both were good experiences. We had a pool day at the lazy river pool on Saturday and really enjoyed that. The pool area is large and didn't feel overly busy, and there were ample chairs around. We had lunch at Hideaway Grille and found that to be very good. We didn't check out the pool with the water slide until we left and wished we had more time to enjoy that side, we liked the layout a little better. We did walk through the lazy river, but decided not to spend the money on floats. Next time we'll bring our own.
We found the buses to the parks to be very fast. There were always lines at the resort when we approached, but only once did we have to wait for the second bus which came in less than 10 minutes. Upon leaving the parks and HHN, there was always a bus waiting there, sometimes two. I was impressed with how easy it was to get a bus. We did opt to take the water taxi to Sapphire Falls one night. I thought we could cross the road at the driveway since its directly across the street, but the sidewalk directs you down a path and across a bridge which takes you to the far end of CBBR - we were on the opposite end. It took us too far out of our way to make that option more efficient, so we used the buses after that.
We checked out the Jack'd Up experience they were advertising as part of HHN. Not sure what I was expecting, but I would say its not worth going out of your way for. Same for the HHN props that are in the lounge.
I've seen reports of weed smell - we did smell weed once near the bus stop where there was a group of young adults. I imagine that will become more commonplace anywhere you go with the legality changes. We didn't smell anything in our room/building. We also heard no noise in our room either.
Overall, we had a really great stay and I was pleasantly surprised given the very mixed reports I've seen here recently. I'm a huge proponent of trying things for yourself, so I would suggest giving it a chance. We would definitely stay again, but it would have to be a scenario where we don't want/need EPs. Not having EPs and having to use the bus are two big negatives for us that are remedied by staying at a premier resort, so the premier resorts will continue to be our first choice. Happy to answer any questions!
