Cabana bay Room/block preference

Ball81 · 16 Jul 19, 01:44 PM

Does any 1 have any recommendations for room or block preference here. we have a standard room booked but if it was worth the upgrade dont mind doing so on arrival?

Thanks]

orlandoamber · 16 Jul 19, 01:55 PM

We were in the Americana with a pool side view. This was great as being in the Americana you also get a slight volcano view if you�re at the right angle. 😊 we liked the Americana and the other block, I think it�s called Continental, as they all had enclosed corridors and felt a bit more luxurious (in our opinion) overlooking the lazy river/beach section. The other side of the hotel overlooks the kids area I believe, but we didn�t venture there much as we loved our side so much. It�s also closer to volcano bay so you could be in there in the morning within a matter of a couple of minutes from your room.

chmurf · 16 Jul 19, 01:59 PM

As you have booked a standard, you won't have much choice

you'll either be in the americana or continental building (have a look at a hotel map online) where the lazy river is

those are 7 storey buildings, all with interior corridors
if you don't have standard poolview booked, you'll be facing out, (poolview faces in, towards the pool)

upgrading to a family suite will most probably be less expensive if done before going. But it doesn't hurt to ask

family suites also come in poolview, and non poolview.

note that poolview does not guarantee a pool or water view, it's just that the rool will face the interior courtyard, without the poolview mention, you'll face a parking lot

family suites are located in either the tower courtyard (lazy river side) also noted as "interor corridor" (as universal changed their denomination recently) and the "courtyard" section (pool slide) or "exterior corridor"

the denomination is self explainatory

for suites, exterior corridor means the door opens in the living area, and bedroom section does not have a window, the window on the living area side is much smaller, since this side also has to accomodate the door.
interior corridor, door also opens on the living area, but the window (floor to ceiling) is located in the bedroom part of the suite

with a family suite, you can choose between americana, continental, and the 3 sections on the courtyard side

with a standard, you only have the interior corridor options, at continental and americana
there are standard rooms at the new towers (bayside and beachside) but most will be labelled "volcano view" and come at a premium price. But you may also be in one of those 2 builings (even though it's mostly 2 bedroom suites there)

Ball81 · 16 Jul 19, 02:42 PM

thnik we would prefer to be at the Lazy river end as the kids will enjoy it and good for Volcano Bay.

whats peoples thoughts on getting into Universal

1)Walk
2)Walk to Saphire Falls
3) Bus

orlandoamber · 16 Jul 19, 03:46 PM

Originally Posted by Ball81

thnik we would prefer to be at the Lazy river end as the kids will enjoy it and good for Volcano Bay.

whats peoples thoughts on getting into Universal

1)Walk
2)Walk to Saphire Falls
3) Bus

1) We walked back from universal once and for us it was a bit long. We always hopped on the bus or sapphire water taxi.

2) There�s a busy road in between the two hotels. There is a crossing to use a bit further down the road - we were silly and ran across a few times but with kids I wouldn�t do that!

3) They were good. One was almost always waiting and the bus stop was about 2 mins from our room. There was usually always a bus waiting at universal to take us back to the hotel too. No complaints. 😊

chmurf · 16 Jul 19, 03:53 PM

first of all I need to say I have an extensive experience of CBBR (over 2 months of actual stay time, of course that's not in one single visit, lol) and tested every means of transportation

walking is a pain, especially on the way back from the parks. It's long and as we go in august, that's hot, too hot, and the afternoon/evening storms are a big no-no to walk back ... If I want to get soaked I go to volcano bay, see what I mean ?

So I would rule out walking

Boat from Sapphire is a nice option, as it drops you out next the the big universal rotating ball in citywalk. That's steps away from the studios, and a bit father to IoA
there are 2 ways to get to the boat dock at Sapphire.
the first one is to cross the road, like savages (lol) between both hotels. There is no crosswalk, unless they have put one in place since last year (going in 2 weeks, we'll see then) and the road can be busy. There is a sign advising to not cross, and use the garden walk instead

then there is the garden walk. Entrance to that pedestrain bridge is located opposite the section you'll probably be in (americana or continental) so you'd need to cross the whole hotel, to the backtrack to where you started from (on the other side of the road)
this will add 10 minutes to the time you'd need to cross the road at the entrance to CBBR

Now, the boat is currently not restricted to onsite Sapphire guests, but it might be when there is a special event.
Same goes at night, when the dock is full. And if it is, you don't want to wait for the boats that are very limited in capacity (they accomodate many guests, but not as much and as often as a convoy of CBBR buses ...

the bus is very efficient. They run so often than in all the visits we made (the reason I mentionned in my opening paragraph) we never had to wait for more than 5 minutes at the CBBR stop
the bus stop is located closer to the section where continental et americana are.

the thing is that the bus will drop you off at the transportation hub
when you exit the bus, you'll need to take an escalator up and you'll be at the security checkpoint
if you've ever been at universal by car, that's where you exit from the garage right at the very long moving walkway (cue in the spiel "the moving walkway exit is approching ... ")

this means you'll need to take those walkways, and arrive at where the minigolfs are, next to Bubba Gump's and walk all the way down citywalk
at night there is also a fairly long line to board the buses, but they often come in numbers, and regularly. I think the most we had to wait there was 10 to 15 minutes, and the reason was that we opted to wait one bus out, so we could get a seat on the next one (I'm disabled, no wheelchair, but seat is important)

so, what do we do ? I'd say we do a combination of both boat from sapphire and bus

if the bus is at the stop when we exit the lobby, we board it
if it's not, we look around the corner, and usually we'll see one coming, and it's gonna be the bus
if none in sight, we cross and use Sapphire's boat

at night, it depends, if the dock is full, then we walk to the bus stop at the transportation hub.
if the boat is there and waiting, we'll take it.

see ... there is no definitive answer. It willd epend on your mood, and on what's going on at the time you're there

just know your options
buses are reliable and frequent. (5 minutes to citywalk) but you'll need to walk from CW to the parks
boats gets you closer but may not run as often, will not sail under the storms, and may come upon restriction to residents if demand is too high

which one will you use the most ? come tell us when you come back

Ball81 · 16 Jul 19, 04:11 PM

Cheers for all that, Fairly Familiar with universal itself but only done one night on sight last yr at RPR and walked once and used boat other times.

Cant wait now

Cheers

Hannah · 16 Jul 19, 04:16 PM

I am debating the same thing! I believe there are standard rooms in the towers too, but they are quite a trot to the food court etc so I have discounted them. I think I am going to try and request the Americana building, close to the food court.

asmidir · 18 Jul 19, 02:25 PM

We've stayed three times and always in Continental building. It's the closest to both the back entrance car park (so quick to exit car and get to your room quicker) and the dining area.

We prefer the suite for the extra space and also it gives our eldest his own space (there's a sliding divider between the lounge area and the bedroom. Also you get a mini kitchen with decent size fridge, microwave and coffee maker.

Hope you have a great time!

And as they say at Cabana Bay, have a swell day!

16 Jul 19, 01:59 PM	#3
	16 Jul 19, 01:59 PM chmurf Imagineer
chmurf Imagineer Join Date: Dec 12	As you have booked a standard, you won't have much choice you'll either be in the americana or continental building (have a look at a hotel map online) where the lazy river is those are 7 storey buildings, all with interior corridors if you don't have standard poolview booked, you'll be facing out, (poolview faces in, towards the pool) upgrading to a family suite will most probably be less expensive if done before going. But it doesn't hurt to ask family suites also come in poolview, and non poolview. note that poolview does not guarantee a pool or water view, it's just that the rool will face the interior courtyard, without the poolview mention, you'll face a parking lot family suites are located in either the tower courtyard (lazy river side) also noted as "interor corridor" (as universal changed their denomination recently) and the "courtyard" section (pool slide) or "exterior corridor" the denomination is self explainatory for suites, exterior corridor means the door opens in the living area, and bedroom section does not have a window, the window on the living area side is much smaller, since this side also has to accomodate the door. interior corridor, door also opens on the living area, but the window (floor to ceiling) is located in the bedroom part of the suite with a family suite, you can choose between americana, continental, and the 3 sections on the courtyard side with a standard, you only have the interior corridor options, at continental and americana there are standard rooms at the new towers (bayside and beachside) but most will be labelled "volcano view" and come at a premium price. But you may also be in one of those 2 builings (even though it's mostly 2 bedroom suites there) Edited at 02:01 PM.

16 Jul 19, 03:53 PM	#6
	16 Jul 19, 03:53 PM chmurf Imagineer
chmurf Imagineer Join Date: Dec 12	first of all I need to say I have an extensive experience of CBBR (over 2 months of actual stay time, of course that's not in one single visit, lol) and tested every means of transportation walking is a pain, especially on the way back from the parks. It's long and as we go in august, that's hot, too hot, and the afternoon/evening storms are a big no-no to walk back ... If I want to get soaked I go to volcano bay, see what I mean ? So I would rule out walking Boat from Sapphire is a nice option, as it drops you out next the the big universal rotating ball in citywalk. That's steps away from the studios, and a bit father to IoA there are 2 ways to get to the boat dock at Sapphire. the first one is to cross the road, like savages (lol) between both hotels. There is no crosswalk, unless they have put one in place since last year (going in 2 weeks, we'll see then) and the road can be busy. There is a sign advising to not cross, and use the garden walk instead then there is the garden walk. Entrance to that pedestrain bridge is located opposite the section you'll probably be in (americana or continental) so you'd need to cross the whole hotel, to the backtrack to where you started from (on the other side of the road) this will add 10 minutes to the time you'd need to cross the road at the entrance to CBBR Now, the boat is currently not restricted to onsite Sapphire guests, but it might be when there is a special event. Same goes at night, when the dock is full. And if it is, you don't want to wait for the boats that are very limited in capacity (they accomodate many guests, but not as much and as often as a convoy of CBBR buses ... the bus is very efficient. They run so often than in all the visits we made (the reason I mentionned in my opening paragraph) we never had to wait for more than 5 minutes at the CBBR stop the bus stop is located closer to the section where continental et americana are. the thing is that the bus will drop you off at the transportation hub when you exit the bus, you'll need to take an escalator up and you'll be at the security checkpoint if you've ever been at universal by car, that's where you exit from the garage right at the very long moving walkway (cue in the spiel "the moving walkway exit is approching ... ") this means you'll need to take those walkways, and arrive at where the minigolfs are, next to Bubba Gump's and walk all the way down citywalk at night there is also a fairly long line to board the buses, but they often come in numbers, and regularly. I think the most we had to wait there was 10 to 15 minutes, and the reason was that we opted to wait one bus out, so we could get a seat on the next one (I'm disabled, no wheelchair, but seat is important) so, what do we do ? I'd say we do a combination of both boat from sapphire and bus if the bus is at the stop when we exit the lobby, we board it if it's not, we look around the corner, and usually we'll see one coming, and it's gonna be the bus if none in sight, we cross and use Sapphire's boat at night, it depends, if the dock is full, then we walk to the bus stop at the transportation hub. if the boat is there and waiting, we'll take it. see ... there is no definitive answer. It willd epend on your mood, and on what's going on at the time you're there just know your options buses are reliable and frequent. (5 minutes to citywalk) but you'll need to walk from CW to the parks boats gets you closer but may not run as often, will not sail under the storms, and may come upon restriction to residents if demand is too high which one will you use the most ? come tell us when you come back

18 Jul 19, 02:25 PM	#9
	18 Jul 19, 02:25 PM asmidir Excited about Disney
asmidir Excited about Disney Join Date: Jun 15	We've stayed three times and always in Continental building. It's the closest to both the back entrance car park (so quick to exit car and get to your room quicker) and the dining area. We prefer the suite for the extra space and also it gives our eldest his own space (there's a sliding divider between the lounge area and the bedroom. Also you get a mini kitchen with decent size fridge, microwave and coffee maker. Hope you have a great time! And as they say at Cabana Bay, have a swell day!