Disney's CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT Information & Questions

[IrishNYC]

I actually came here to ask a question, then answered some instead! Doh!

Do the parks buses stop at Customs House regularly? We're spending our first night at All Star Sports, then having Disney transfer our luggage after checkout to CBR. I think we have to physically check out of Sports, and physically check in the CBR to activate the dining plan, and I'm hoping to have an 8am ADR that day. I'm thinking of Uber/Lyft from Sports to CBR while DD and DH take the bus to MK. Wondering if it will be better to have the car service wait on me, or if I should just give myself a lot of time and then bus to MK.

 

[dansdad]

I'd like to know more about the Calypso Trading Post at OPR, specifically regarding food items. DH and I will be there in a month. We're driving down from PA, and will bring a few small groceries like cereal and small snacks for the week. DH is diabetic, and we plan to have a small quick breakfast in our room before heading to the park. Would the Trading Post have items like milk and fruit? We had been thinking that we'd need to make a stop at a local grocery store for those perishable items, but I'm wondering if the Trading Post would do the trick. (I know about the Garden Grocer, but won't need to be purchasing that much for an order). Thanks!

Pages 1 and 2 of this thread have a bunch of pictures of the offerings in the Calypso Trading post. But to answer your questions, yes there is Milk, fresh fruit and tons of other stuff.

 

[dansdad]

I actually came here to ask a question, then answered some instead! Doh!

Do the parks buses stop at Customs House regularly?

Park buses never stop at The Custom House.

We're spending our first night at All Star Sports, then having Disney transfer our luggage after checkout to CBR. I think we have to physically check out of Sports, and physically check in the CBR to activate the dining plan, and I'm hoping to have an 8am ADR that day. I'm thinking of Uber/Lyft from Sports to CBR while DD and DH take the bus to MK. Wondering if it will be better to have the car service wait on me, or if I should just give myself a lot of time and then bus to MK.

You do have to physically check out at Sports but you don't have to physically Check In at CBR to activate your tickets, dining, etc. If you do Online Check In for CBR and state your expected arrival time for say 7:00AM then once you check out of Sports you'll be ready to go.

But if you want to 100% sure, as we all know how WDW IT can be sometimes, you Check In at CBR. Then once you check in, the Barbados bus stop is directly behind the Custom House. Like maybe 30 yards away. So that's an option if you don't want to have to pay for the Car Service to wait for you. And the Car Service won't be able to drop you off in front of MK. You would have to be dropped off at the Ticket and Transportation Center then boat or monorail over to MK. Or be dropped off at the Contemporary and walk over to MK.

 

[IrishNYC]

Thanks, @dansdad I didn't think so, but the maps all show it. I can just walk to Barbados if I go by bus.

I know I supposedly don't have to physically check in, but I don't really trust Disney IT. I'd rather spend a few bucks and physically check in to be sure, especially since I'm hoping for that first ADR to be a BOG PPO, and I don't want to pay OOP for it.

 

[dansdad]

Thanks, @dansdad I didn't think so, but the maps all show it. I can just walk to Barbados if I go by bus.

I know I supposedly don't have to physically check in, but I don't really trust Disney IT. I'd rather spend a few bucks and physically check in to be sure, especially since I'm hoping for that first ADR to be a BOG PPO, and I don't want to pay OOP for it.

You're welcome! The Internal Bus stops there every round so that's why the bus stop symbol is there. I can see how it's confusing though. I hope you have a Magical Trip!!

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

I find this statement to be true for EVERY WDW resort on Trip Advisor.

I also find that there's a lot of completely WRONG info on TripAdvisor! At least on the Dis if someone mistakenly gives incorrect information, another Diser will step up and politely set the record straight!
Because of my experiences on the Orlando/Disney forums there, I pretty much don't trust anything that is written there about any hotel/resort in any city!
@dansdad, @Allie B, and @Kevin355, totally agree about Shutters! Excellent food and wait staff!

 

[Dug720]

I also find that there's a lot of completely WRONG info on TripAdvisor! At least on the Dis if someone mistakenly gives incorrect information, another Diser will step up and politely set the record straight!
Because of my experiences on the Orlando/Disney forums there, I pretty much don't trust anything that is written there about any hotel/resort in any city!
@dansdad, @Allie B, and @Kevin355, totally agree about Shutters! Excellent food and wait staff!

I always take TripAdvisor reviews with a grain of salt - and if one is really bad I will look at that person's other reviews and find that 9 times out of 10 they whine about almost every place they have stayed.

 

[Dis703]

I always take TripAdvisor reviews with a grain of salt - and if one is really bad I will look at that person's other reviews and find that 9 times out of 10 they whine about almost every place they have stayed.

I see that a lot too. Between the false information and the people who are obviously just completely unhappy with life they seems to make up a lot of the bad reviews.

I almost never tried CBR after reading those reviews. Thank goodness I didn't listen because I fell in love with this resort.

 

[Kevin355]

I see that a lot too. Between the false information and the people who are obviously just completely unhappy with life they seems to make up a lot of the bad reviews.

I almost never tried CBR after reading those reviews. Thank goodness I didn't listen because I fell in love with this resort.

Yup. And reading some of the posts on this board, I'd assume that CBR is twice as large as Central Park, NYC, it takes 2 hours to get from CBR to any park, and that there are 20 bus stops before you ever leave CBR.

 

[Dis703]

Yup. And reading some of the posts on this board, I'd assume that CBR is twice as large as Central Park, NYC, it takes 2 hours to get from CBR to any park, and that there are 20 bus stops before you ever leave CBR.

The funny thing is some of the CMs there even seem to think it's on the larger side. Maybe from complaints, but we had to get from Custom House to Aruba this recent trip, and they were telling me how to get to the bus stop. I said, but if I use the bus they are going to go all the way around right? Wouldn't it just be faster to walk there? And he seemed a little dumbfounded that I would consider walking. It wasn't more than a 10 minute walk on a gorgeous day.

I can't count the number of times I've read "The resort is so huge that you have to take an internal bus just to get around the resort." Umm, nope I've never once stepped foot on the internal bus and I've been all over the resort minus maybe Trinidad South.

 

[Dug720]

The funny thing is some of the CMs there even seem to think it's on the larger side. Maybe from complaints, but we had to get from Custom House to Aruba this recent trip, and they were telling me how to get to the bus stop. I said, but if I use the bus they are going to go all the way around right? Wouldn't it just be faster to walk there? And he seemed a little dumbfounded that I would consider walking. It wasn't more than a 10 minute walk on a gorgeous day.

I can't count the number of times I've read "The resort is so huge that you have to take an internal bus just to get around the resort." Umm, nope I've never once stepped foot on the internal bus and I've been all over the resort minus maybe Trinidad South.

I suspect the CMs are so used to people whining about how big it is when they don't get randomly upgraded into a preferred location it floors them when they get someone like you or me who are accustomed to walking a lot and don't think it's all that massive.

 

[IrishNYC]

The funny thing is some of the CMs there even seem to think it's on the larger side. Maybe from complaints, but we had to get from Custom House to Aruba this recent trip, and they were telling me how to get to the bus stop. I said, but if I use the bus they are going to go all the way around right? Wouldn't it just be faster to walk there? And he seemed a little dumbfounded that I would consider walking. It wasn't more than a 10 minute walk on a gorgeous day.

I can't count the number of times I've read "The resort is so huge that you have to take an internal bus just to get around the resort." Umm, nope I've never once stepped foot on the internal bus and I've been all over the resort minus maybe Trinidad South.

We definitely got the side-eye when we said we were happy to walk from Customs House to Trinidad North.

 

[dansdad]

I can't count the number of times I've read "The resort is so huge that you have to take an internal bus just to get around the resort." Umm, nope I've never once stepped foot on the internal bus and I've been all over the resort minus maybe Trinidad South.

I know when I see that phrase, and I see it a lot, it makes me cringe.

They only time we have ever used the Internal Shuttle was our first trip. We got off Magical Express, checked in and was pointed to the Internal bus stop to get to Jamaica. Once we got our bearings and realized we just went 75% around the resort we realized that was crazy. On that first trip before we realized there was a Concierge Desk at OPR I walked from our room in Jamaica to the Front Desk for a Birthday Button and it took about half the time it took to ride the Internal Bus when we checked in. Never stepped foot on it again.

 

[MamaJessie]

When I first read about the internal buses I had Ft. Wilderness flashbacks and was a little concerned - but just checking maps it seems like not such a bad walk? Love reading reviews that confirm that

 

[Dis703]

I know when I see that phrase, and I see it a lot, it makes me cringe.

They only time we have ever used the Internal Shuttle was our first trip. We got off Magical Express, checked in and was pointed to the Internal bus stop to get to Jamaica. Once we got our bearings and realized we just went 75% around the resort we realized that was crazy. On that first trip before we realized there was a Concierge Desk at OPR I walked from our room in Jamaica to the Front Desk for a Birthday Button and it took about half the time it took to ride the Internal Bus when we checked in. Never stepped foot on it again.

Ha ha,exactly. I feel like I've become a CBR fact checker on some of the forums I'm on. As soon as I see someone ask about CBR I fully expect to see at least half dozen completely inaccurate statements and I can't help myself I have to pop on and respond with corrections. No idea why I feel so defensive of this resort. I suppose I should let them all think it's awful so they won't book it and it will keep it from being too popular and hard to book for myself.

And yes, the misconception of the only "front desk" being in Custom House is another one. It seemed relatively easy to figure that one out after one trip to the food court and gift shop, but it could be worth a mention when people check in since it seems to be missed quite a bit.

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

Ha ha,exactly. I feel like I've become a CBR fact checker on some of the forums I'm on. As soon as I see someone ask about CBR I fully expect to see at least half dozen completely inaccurate statements and I can't help myself I have to pop on and respond with corrections. No idea why I feel so defensive of this resort. I suppose I should let them all think it's awful so they won't book it and it will keep it from being too popular and hard to book for myself.

And yes, the misconception of the only "front desk" being in Custom House is another one. It seemed relatively easy to figure that one out after one trip to the food court and gift shop, but it could be worth a mention when people check in since it seems to be missed quite a bit.

Omygoodness,
I feel the EXACT SAME WAY! I totally feel like I need to defend CBR against "them"
also I'm not a fan of either POFQ or POR, perfectly nice resorts, but one and done for me. So when I see people bashing CBR in favor of POFQ or POR, I go nuts...
I should be happy that CBR is usually less expensive, quieter, has a much nicer pool area, and that no one wants to stay there!
LOL

 

[Dug720]

I know when I see that phrase, and I see it a lot, it makes me cringe.

They only time we have ever used the Internal Shuttle was our first trip. We got off Magical Express, checked in and was pointed to the Internal bus stop to get to Jamaica. Once we got our bearings and realized we just went 75% around the resort we realized that was crazy. On that first trip before we realized there was a Concierge Desk at OPR I walked from our room in Jamaica to the Front Desk for a Birthday Button and it took about half the time it took to ride the Internal Bus when we checked in. Never stepped foot on it again.

Yep! Whenever I see someone fussing about how "huge" it is, I kind of imagine the space vessel in Wall-E and that the whiners about the "hugeness" are the people who haven't used their feet in years. Since I don't have a car and use the subway in NYC - where the closest stop to my apartment is about 1/4 mile away, and there are times when a stop is even further from where I need to go - my sense of "far" has expanded tremendously.

 

[megs1313]

Just placed my grocery order and my prime order.....I'm so ready to be there! the waiting is getting harder and harder!!!

 

[Eswift]

I'm here now and I love the resort, but the hot tub closes at 9. The same time as the parks. The hot tub is a big draw for me and I've never been to a hotel that closes this early, particularly a resort. This is such a chincy move by disney. The trip is great but this leaves sour taste in my mouth.

 

[sunflare]

Just got back from a llloooonnnngggg marathon weekend and stay at CBR. We were in Barbados 15, which is actually closer to the Martinique bus stop than the Barbados stop. This worked out really well for us, since Martinique was almost always the first stop in the mornings for the buses, and also was the staging area for the race buses!