I have been a little nervous about the construction at CBR during our upcoming (first time trip) in October. We are getting a great room rate however and the updated rooms and cool pool have made it seem very appealing. A similarly priced room (using enchanted escapes deal) for CS just came up. Which one would be better? We have tween boys and DS 6 and 2 grandmas coming along! Thanks for any input!
Sorry for this somewhat harried post. We are about a month away from our trip and I have recently been having moments of panic leading to major rethinking of plans that I have made. I never realized the planning involved for a trip to wdw until I started planning fairly late in the game for this upcoming trip in October. We had never been before and decided in May to make the commitment and bought our plane tickets. I thought that the big planning was done since we had our dates and plane tickets. Then I realized that should have happened AFTER I booked our resort! The first time I went on the Disney website to see that there were no rooms available for a party of 7 during our needed dates, I thought that is funny. How could a major resort be booked 5 months in advance?! Hmm, the website must be experiencing a glitch. So I waited a few weeks and checked again. Then when eventually a month later, I still didn’t see any openings I finally called Disney. I then felt lucky to book 2 suits at AoA. Later however the rooms opened up for us at CBR at about half of the price that we were going to pay. I also felt like to queen beds and resort in general better suited our group. As first timers we will not be spending much time or really eating at the resort, so I don’t think the construction will be a big deal for us. I do continually worry however if I have made the right choice for us. When I saw the opening for Coronado Springs, I almost jumped on it but I didn’t get the same feeling of excitement for that resort as I have for CBR. So unless WL opens (would be my top choice) we will stick with CBR!
I think you’re right to stick with CBR if you feel it’s a good fit for your family. As you pointed out, you probably won’t spend a lot of time at the resort, so shouldn’t be too bothered by the construction.
We just got back from our first trip too and stayed at YC. We were gone by 9am (or earlier) every day except one planned resort day. And all of our evenings were in the parks or at other resorts we wanted to check out. So, for a first time visit, I agree that hotel time is minimal.
Good luck with the final planning and enjoy your trip!
Oh, we stayed at CBR for a week at the beginning of August and loved it.
Construction was really not a problem (grass cutter people made more noise) - The resort is beautiful (especially on sunrise walks for coffee), the pool is great. They even had Goofy, Donald & Minnie at our pool for the pool parties.
Only issue is the main food court is down, so there is a large tent with buffet in it, plus food trucks and merch truck. But, I should say it is really is non-issue overall - had a nice selection. (Coffee could have been hotter, though.)
We drove to all parks except MK - but buses we took on those 2 days (including a back to resort pool break) were fairly quick, always got a seat, even at end of line in Jamaica.
Love it at CBR.