Spring Break 2019 Cabana Bay Resort 6day/5nights 2-Park

bfrosty

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jul 27, 2006
Good day all,

We recently got back from CBR for 5-nights and wanted to report for you.

The trip consisted of myself and DD14. A Daddy/Daughter trip! We stayed every night at CBR and visited IOA and US only, no Volcano bay. April 18th - 23rd 2019

Hotel Experience:
CBR is geting a bit old and showing its age a bit. We went within a year of it opening and of course everything was very new and fresh. The carpet shows the most wear, all other parts seem to be kept up very well. We had a standard room #6619 in the Continental Building. This building is close to the bus stops, but non-pool rooms face the Aventura and Highway (A bit noisy). Room was 2-queens, clean and met our needs. We do miss a microwave though!, but they have them in the Bayliner diner areas. TV Channel 23 (TruTv) and watch "Impractical Jokers". Those guys are so funny.

Hotel Staff: Excellent, friendly and helpful as always. Amber at Bayliner Diner was fantastic! Our bus drivers were very nice and helpful each day.

Each day we took the bus over to the parks and they were clean, on-time and made going back and forth very easy and convienent.

IOA Experience:
Great time here everyday with park hops to US each day almost. Tip#1 It only takes about 10-15min to walk back and forth to each park. If the HP Train is more than that...walking is faster and really easy.

All rides were working and wait time varied from 60-20min. We did a lot of single rider lines, that saved us time at each ride.

US Experience:
We had about the same experience as IOA above, again same thing. All cast members were very nice and pleasant. We did attend the Pet Show and Horror MakeUp show quite a few times and really enjoyed it. We wished they had more live shows in settings like the makeup show especially. It's a very intimate 500 seat theater and really nice to experience it with the actors and audience participation.

Food:
We did both Leaky Cauldron and 3 Broomsticks
for breakfast and lunch. Recommend the pancakes for breakfast and fish/chips for lunch and/or dinner. Butterbeer (frozen) is a must do. At IOA, we love Mythos. We had the Pad Thai and Lamb burger, very good and recommend both, plus they have a lot more good food too.

CBR Food: We eat mostly at Bayliner diner and we've never had anything bad there. Our fav's are from the deli: Cuban Sandwich and Brisket Grilled Cheese. Pizza: Cheese pizza Dessert: Frozen Yogurt with toppings (Blueberries, Raspberries, Mango Pearls, Chocolate Chips)

Dislikes: Rooms at CBR have thin walls, lots of noise from neighbors can be heard. The walk from security to the parks. I like Citywalk, but not every day do I want to walk thru it. A lot of "Single Rider" line closures for no reason?!? or was there a reason? A few rides broke down, but were back up and running within 5-10min.

Fun Stuff:
Look for "Steve" at the front of the parks, at the turnstiles. He looks like Jeff Goldblum. Steve says he hears that a lot!
The Horror MakeUp show is great and a bit different each time. We love the small theater atmosphere, audience participation and more. We really liked the "Movie" store at the exit.

Stuff that could probably be replaced: After going to US for the last 6yrs, there are some things that could be replaced. In no particular order here we go...Poseidens Fury (Walkthrough Tour). It seems like you wait a lot, then you walk and wait a lot. I would like to see this transformed into a Fantastic Beasts area some day. The whole toon area, even though I really like Bildge Rat Barges and Ripsaw falls...not sure if many know what those old comics are about anymore. Over at US, The Simpsons area, love it, but would like to see something different, I wouldn't mind Back to the Future ride returning!!! Men in Black and Fear Factor, Shrek, Jimmy Fallon ride thru NY.
 
Last edited:
Good day all,

We recently got back from CBR for 5-nights and wanted to report for you.

The trip consisted of myself and DD14. A Daddy/Daughter trip! We stayed every night at CBR and visited IOA and US only, no Volcano bay. April 18th - 23rd 2019

Hotel Experience:
CBR is geting a bit old and showing its age a bit. We went within a year of it opening and of course everything was very new and fresh. The carpet shows the most wear, all other parts seem to be kept up very well. We had a standard room #6619 in the Continental Building. This building is close to the bus stops, but non-pool rooms face the Aventura and Highway (A bit noisy). Room was 2-queens, clean and met our needs. We do miss a microwave though!, but they have them in the Bayliner diner areas. TV Channel 23 (TruTv) and watch "Impractical Jokers". Those guys are so funny.

Hotel Staff: Excellent, friendly and helpful as always. Amber at Bayliner Diner was fantastic! Our bus drivers were very nice and helpful each day.

Each day we took the bus over to the parks and they were clean, on-time and made going back and forth very easy and convienent.

IOA Experience:
Great time here everyday with park hops to US each day almost. Tip#1 It only takes about 10-15min to walk back and forth to each park. If the HP Train is more than that...walking is faster and really easy.

All rides were working and wait time varied from 60-20min. We did a lot of single rider lines, that saved us time at each ride.

US Experience:
We had about the same experience as IOA above, again same thing. All cast members were very nice and pleasant. We did attend the Pet Show and Horror MakeUp show quite a few times and really enjoyed it. We wished they had more live shows in settings like the makeup show especially. It's a very intimate 500 seat theater and really nice to experience it with the actors and audience participation.

Food:
We did both Leaky Cauldron and 3 Broomsticks
for breakfast and lunch. Recommend the pancakes for breakfast and fish/chips for lunch and/or dinner. Butterbeer (frozen) is a must do. At IOA, we love Mythos. We had the Pad Thai and Lamb burger, very good and recommend both, plus they have a lot more good food too.

CBR Food: We eat mostly at Bayliner diner and we've never had anything bad there. Our fav's are from the deli: Cuban Sandwich and Brisket Grilled Cheese. Pizza: Cheese pizza Dessert: Frozen Yogurt with toppings (Blueberries, Raspberries, Mango Pearls, Chocolate Chips)

Dislikes: Rooms at CBR have thin walls, lots of noise from neighbors can be heard. The walk from security to the parks. I like Citywalk, but not every day do I want to walk thru it. A lot of "Single Rider" line closures for no reason?!? or was there a reason? A few rides broke down, but were back up and running within 5-10min.

Fun Stuff:
Look for "Steve" at the front of the parks, at the turnstiles. He looks like Jeff Goldblum. Steve says he hears that a lot!
The Horror MakeUp show is great and a bit different each time. We love the small theater atmosphere, audience participation and more. We really liked the "Movie" store at the exit.

Stuff that could probably be replaced: After going to US for the last 6yrs, there are some things that could be replaced. In no particular order here we go...Poseidens Fury (Walkthrough Tour). It seems like you wait a lot, then you walk and wait a lot. I would like to see this transformed into a Fantastic Beasts area some day. The whole toon area, even though I really like Bildge Rat Barges and Ripsaw falls...not sure if many know what those old comics are about anymore. Over at US, The Simpsons area, love it, but would like to see something different, I wouldn't mind Back to the Future ride returning!!! Men in Black and Fear Factor, Shrek, Jimmy Fallon ride thru NY.


Staying at Cabana Bay for the first time this August with my DD14 and her friend so I was excited to read your review! We have a interior family suite booked for the kitchenette and extra sleeping space so I am hoping it is worth the little bit extra $. As we are going in the August heat, we plan to spend a fair bit of time poolside and at Volcano Bay, in addition to our park time.

Thanks for the great report!
 
You're all very welcome, sorry it was kinda short trip report, but please ask any questions I didn't cover! The interior suites are nice, we've stayed in them before. The pool side rooms I think are all outside corridor (Motel-Like)...thought those would be busy/noisy too. I heard the Volcano Bay rooms facing the water park are noisy too. They start prepping at 6am and work till midnight to close it all down. They blare the music loud during this time I heard.

The extra space is nice, you will have plenty of room. A living room and separate space with two queen beds. It's not expansive though, they do have to squeeze in a kitchnette too. Plenty of pics online and videos on youtube to watch.

I'm not a big water park fan, was when I was younger...but Volcano Bay is rockin' They put all they've learned into running a water park and themed it so well, it rivals Disney!!! No doubt about that. You will love it. Be sure to venture inside the Volcano and talk with the Tiki God inside!!!

Enjoy!
Bfrosty
 
Glad you had such a good trip.......short report or not I enjoyed reading your perspectives......

I agree with Poseidon’s Fury.......time for a change! Think we’ll have to wait a while though.....and yes, I think some don’t realise how quick it is to walk to the opposite park......even if you’re at the back of the park, it doesn’t take that long........

Thanks for reporting back........
 



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