Sooo we were originally thinking of staying the Endless Summer but I feel like Cabana Bay is calling my name. Pros/Cons?
Best room location? Exterior or interior entrance? Priority would be proximity to busses, pool, food court but not so close that it is crazy noisy, we are light sleepers. We would be getting a family room for 5.
Thanks!!
I’m a big fan of Cabana Bay. We’ve stayed twice in poolside family suites w/exterior entry which is by the pool with the water slide and near the walking path to USF/IOA. Interior entry family suites are the other section of the hotel, near the pool with the lazy river and closer to the bus, Volcano Bay, and main diner. Edit: attaching more recent map of Cabana Bay
One additional advantage of Cabana Bay vs Endless Summer is you can pool hop to the other resorts.
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I know very little - but we just stayed there one night earlier this week.
We were in the furthest building to the right - Thunderbird - and it was still a super short walk to the main lobby and food. Even over to the pool on the far side was not daunting.
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I did both Endless Summer and Cabana Bay in the same trip. For me the extra room at Endless Summer in the 2 bedroom suite was what pulled me to Endless Summer and why I initially booked it. When I had to add nights to beat a hurricane in my path only Cabana Bay had availability. It’s definitely the better resort comparing the two bedroom suite to the family suite in my case. Yes I like to be able to shut a real door but both my kids still slept on the couch in the living area so we could still get some minor privacy and yes it sucks that if they have to use the restroom they have to come thru the bedroom but it’s a much better restroom than endless summer and really the resort is much much better. The pool at ES is meh and there is so much more food and entertainment at Cabana Bay and it feels less “cheap”. We also walked as we were there before vaccines and didn’t want to take buses so from Endless Summer we drove which meant paying for parking.
And if you’re planning on going to VB you can’t beat Cabana Bay for the back entrance which we used and is lovely
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Good info. I’ve stayed in Castaway and Starlight and agree it’s not too far to the main lobby, but it’s a bit of a shlep to the lazy river when carrying an inner tube. I know of 2 shortcuts to the other side of the hotel: from Castaway you can cut through the parking area, or from Starlight there is an elevated walkway to the 2nd floor of the main building which saves some steps.
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You can see the family suites in the Continental. They are the wide rooms, circled.
But the Americana, I don’t think has any family suites.
Most of the interior entry family suites are in the 2 Towers to the far left of the property.
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We stayed in the circled area of Castaways that is closest to the center. On the first floor. We had the first two rooms on the inner side. These were the family suites. I would totally request those same rooms again.
If you go with family suites there are too versions whether they are interior or exterior. The exterior ones have the living area as you walk in and the interior have the bedroom first. I preferred having the exterior with the bedroom in the back. I was a little worried about noise but it was fine.
CB is so big that there isn’t one spot that is close to everything. For example, we had a hike to the lazy river. But we were super close to the slide pool and the central building.
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We had a poolside exterior family suite and got a bit of music noise from the pool DJ intruding in the living room area but it didn’t bother DD that much (who slept on the sofabed). In the BR area you couldn’t hear it.
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Haven’t stayed at CB, but when I compared the suites there to Endless Summer (where we did stay) it seemed a no brainer. I can’t stand the layout of the CB suite.
Having said that, the resort amenities (particularly the pool area) at CB are definitely superior. And keep in mind that you are not allowed to pool hop from Endless Summer to the other resort pools, but you ARE allowed to at CB.
If we didn’t need the suite, I would pick CB over ES…but if you need space with family, I would pick ES. We are staying 7 nights at ES next May.
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I should add that we were 3 (me, DD, DW) when we stayed. With 5 it’d be a tighter fit.
Depends on what you want. The exterior entry rooms are closer to the walkway to citywalk but some people HATE exterior entry rooms.
We’re going to stay in the two bedroom suites, which have two bathrooms and the tub is in its own room. I’m so looking forward to staying there!
ETA: Cabana Bay
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