Caribbean Beach or Port Orleans - Family of 5?

[CupcakeJoo]

Hi all

We are currently debating whether or not to try and plan for 2 weeks on site at Disney, or stick to a villa as we have done on past trips!

My 3 children will be 10, 7 and 5 when we go and my parents are also joining us (hubby too haha).

Looking for thoughts on which of the two resorts might be suited better for us as a family of 5? I am slightly put off CBR due to the sheer size of it! But I think the kids would love the theming!

Thanks in advance for any thoughts x

[NewtoOrlando]

Caribbean beach is a lovely resort, and to be honest it's not actually that big (we didn't think anyway) The rooms are lovely and the whole resort is so bright & relaxed. There are major refurbs going on at the minute till 2018/2019 I think, there's loads of threads about it on here so maybe take a look at that.

You could maybe do a 1 bed at old key west too, that's another option! I've not stayed at Port Orleans though, sorry!

[Guest]

Hi we went to cbr last year and loved it we were booked to go back this year but have moved to POR because of all the building work going on no proper foof court just a tent, no shop just a truck the bar is also a truck. This is not what we paid for so we moved.The new food court is ment to be open june 2018 but they are also knocking down buildings and putting up a new hotel which wont be finished till 2019 some time. They have also closed the games arcade so nothing for kids to to in evenings. Hope this helps.

[Guest]

Stayed at POR a couple of years back...instantly became my favorite Disney hotel. Peaceful, relaxing, great amenities and in a great location.

[ladyofleisure]

We stayed at CBR 2015, off to POR for this year's trip. The ability to catch the boat to Disney Springs swung it for us, rooms are broadly very similar in size. To and from Disney Springs in particular we had long waits for buses and wanted a resort with other transport options when we don't feel like driving.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by ladyofleisure

We stayed at CBR 2015, off to POR for this year's trip. The ability to catch the boat to Disney Springs swung it for us, rooms are broadly very similar in size. To and from Disney Springs in particular we had long waits for buses and wanted a resort with other transport options when we don't feel like driving.

See more...

I would just add some caution on the boat to Downtown (as I will always know it )...we enjoyed the trip, but the boat does not come that often, can be very busy, and may not drop you off at the dock in Downtown that you want. If you have plenty of time, it's great...but we used it to get to Cirque du Soleil, and only just made it, after a dash from the Marketplace!

While not as atmospheric, the drive from POR to Downtown is now very straightforward...only minutes.

[CupcakeJoo]

thanks all, some helpful info.!
We are not going until 2019 so with CBR we thought much of the building works would be finished. But a big factor for us as I think we'd spend a lot of time at our resort as the kids love a swim (we are all early risers! so out to the parks, then back for a rest haha!) and we'd want the food court for breakfast
Julie x

[Tamz1983]

Originally Posted by New dib

Hi we went to cbr last year and loved it we were booked to go back this year but have moved to POR because of all the building work going on no proper foof court just a tent, no shop just a truck the bar is also a truck. This is not what we paid for so we moved.The new food court is ment to be open june 2018 but they are also knocking down buildings and putting up a new hotel which wont be finished till 2019 some time. They have also closed the games arcade so nothing for kids to to in evenings. Hope this helps.

See more...

I'm not even joking it's so bad we stayed there in May and wished we had taken Disney up on their offer off moving us to POR...it totally ruined our holiday..we have two young girls, the youngest being 4 and we ended up having to take them to Disney Springs each night to feed them the resort itself is fine..the building works didn't really affect us it was just the food court! the buffet was the same thing each and every night. The food truck wouldn't serve food if it was raining which out of the 2 weeks we were there it rained for a full week it was just a mess basically and they did look like they were unable to cope with the amount of guests using it...such a shame really but it has put us off returning to that resort now.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Tamz1983

I'm not even joking it's so bad we stayed there in May and wished we had taken Disney up on their offer off moving us to POR...it totally ruined our holiday..we have two young girls, the youngest being 4 and we ended up having to take them to Disney Springs each night to feed them the resort itself is fine..the building works didn't really affect us it was just the food court! the buffet was the same thing each and every night. The food truck wouldn't serve food if it was raining which out of the 2 weeks we were there it rained for a full week it was just a mess basically and they did look like they were unable to cope with the amount of guests using it...such a shame really but it has put us off returning to that resort now.

See more...

This was what we were worried about the food or lack of it we have three rooms booked and I knew the boys wouldn't eat the food. We also liked to sit at the bar in the evening chatting to lovely bar staff no way were we sitting by a bar truck. We moved ourselves no help from Disney or virgin, we said we were moving or going to cancel thw whole holiday so we chose Por after reading some great reviews on the dibb. Sorry you had such a bad holiday Cbr was lovely last year.

[Tamz1983]

Originally Posted by New dib

This was what we were worried about the food or lack of it we have three rooms booked and I knew the boys wouldn't eat the food. We also liked to sit at the bar in the evening chatting to lovely bar staff no way were we sitting by a bar truck. We moved ourselves no help from Disney or virgin, we said we were moving or going to cancel thw whole holiday so we chose Por after reading some great reviews on the dibb. Sorry you had such a bad holiday Cbr was lovely last year.

See more...

thanks hun we did complain whilst over there but they cast members just didn't seem interested which shocked me..also wrote an email to them once we retuned home and ddi get a reply but all it said was thanks we will pass on your concerns to the team at CBR

you will love it at POR..its stunning x