We are staying at the CBR and it will be our first time staying at a Disney Resort in June ! We usually stay at Shades of Green because its been the cheapest option and we like it . But we got a great deal ($1320) for a stardard room for the week, almost as cheap as SOG . Totally aware of the construction, and I really don't think it will bother us much since we don't really sit and eat much . We did switch from preferred to standard because of the price difference, hope that won't put us directly into the the construction mess. Any tips for a Disney resort noobie . Any room recommendations ( we're a family of 5)
Not going to lie, there is construction all around the resort. By area:
Martinique is right between the Riviera and Old Port Royale construction. I didn't wander over there, but had a friend saying there this week. They seemed to be enjoying it.
North & South Trinidad. Probably the least affected areas right now. Though your water views come with gondola construction across the lake. I think North Trinidad is the only section of Preferred rooms right now. I might go for that just to cut down walking for my wimpy children and to be closer to Spyglass Grill.
Jamaica. Fairly unaffected except for the tower construction between it and Aruba.
Aruba. This is where we were. Again, tower construction between Jamaica and Aruba, another one going up next to the Aruba Pool that puts the beach right in the middle of construction.
Plus the roads are all messed up because of all of it (Google doesn't know you can't turn left out of Aruba, FYI).
Now, that all sounds terrible, right? Nah. The only thing I missed was a full gift shop. I didn't even realize there was a tower going in Aruba for a couple days. (We were in 54.)
Because the islands are clusters of buildings with a lot of foliage, unless your room faces a construction area, I think you're hard pressed to know what's happening. I enjoyed walking out of our room every day, was completely relaxed, and would book CBR again in a heartbeat even with the construction.
The pool is amazing and I think the kids would have been fine if we only hit MK and the pool.
Breakfast and lunch options were fine for a few meals, pizza delivery wasn't bad (except for the breadsticks), and our dinner was usually in park.
The island markets were convenient and I think it would serve them well to expand those a bit and make them permanent fixtures.
Happy to answer anything I might have left out. But in short, we absolutely loved our stay at CBR.