We currently have a reservation for Pop Century for 3/15-3/21. I’m considering changing to CBR as the price difference is not that big. We will be in the parks for most of the time, but will be spending some time at the resort as well. We’ve never been to CBR before. Would the difference in price be worth it?
Also, we will be utilizing the Skyliner for 3 out of the 5 days we are in the parks. What would be a good standard room to request to be close to the Skyliner?
What is the make up of your group, and how many will be in the room?
For me, I would choose Pop. I’ve stayed at both in the past year, and prefer Pop (in fact, we only ended up at CBR because we couldn’t get a room at Pop). It just feels more “Disney” to me. And even though our room at Pop was standard and our room at CBR was preferred, Pop seemed easier/faster to get around.
Skyliner wasn’t open when we stayed at Pop, but it was at CBR. I think we were in building 44 or 45? It was the most central between skyliner/food court/pool, but felt like quite a haul in either direction.
I know there are a lot of people who love CBR, but we just weren’t wow’d by it and likely wouldn’t stay there again unless it was our only option.
I’ve stayed at both. I, too, am a “in the parks” all day person. A room is mostly a place for my bags to stay and for me to “wait” until WDW let’s me back into the parks!
I like CBR a little bit more because, IME, it’s quieter. The rooms all open to outdoors and while you have neighbors you don’t have 12 of them running up and down a hall. (I believe it’s 4 rooms to a section) I tend to stay in Trinidad.
To be close to the Skyliner you’ll want to be in the Jamaica Section
There will only be two of us; myself and my 8 year old son. I will add that quiet is important as I am a very light sleeper. We stayed at Pop the week before Thanksgiving & made the mistake of reserving a preferred poolside room. It was close to everything, but so noisy that both of us had trouble sleeping at night. My son is a loud kind of kid and he even complained about the resort blaring movie soundtrack by the pool at 10pm at night.
Then I highly recommend CBR. I’m the same and it’s the entire reason I stay there. I haven’t taken the skyliner yet. I know my favorite rooms are going to be a bit of a walk to the boarding station. However, I’d rather have to walk 10 - 15 minutes after a good sleep than be awake most of the night. 
I am also the same way (I even travel with ear plugs AND a white noise machine) and I think room location definitely plays a huge part in that – at CBR, we had rooms facing a pool as you did at Pop, and it was much noisier than our room at Pop, which just faced a wooded area with lots of paths.
FWIW, the room we had at CBR was just under the CA in Jamaica on the map @darkmite2 posted, facing the pool/lagoon. Here’s the location of our room at Pop (red X by building 6) if that helps!
edited to add: If you’ve never stayed at CBR, but have stayed at Pop and the $ difference isn’t significant for you, I’d say try it out! At least then you’ll know which works best for you!
I’ve stayed at both recently. For just two people I would definitely go with Pop. We were in building 6 on 6th floor facing toward the lake-it was very quiet and we never heard and rarely saw anybody else up there. (My toddler DD screaming periodically in the night when she was sick may have prompted our neighbors to request room changes…). Pop as a resort is more compact so it is much easier to access amenities and services there.
Looking at the TP map, it looks like the Aruba section is closer to the Riviera Skyliner station. Is it possible to walk to that station, or is it too far?
Also, how is the bus service at CBR? I see there are multiple stops. Are there any drawbacks to that?
We stayed at CBR over Thanksgiving 2019, Jamaica 43, second floor. Quiet, 5 min to Skyliner, relaxed beachy feel, we really liked it. Yes, you can walk to Riviera station from Aruba.
We were in Aruba at CBR which was the last bus stop. Buses would be full before arriving. We had a car but the few times we tried to bus it never worked out, we ended up driving. Aruba is however very close to the Riviera station. At Pop there was only one bus stop and bus experience was much better.
We just stayed one night at both resorts (Pop Feb 26, CBR Mar 7). We were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed Pop. We were underwhelmed by CBR. The scenery is beautiful, but the resort is so large. We were in Aruba and it was a ridiculous long walk to Old Port Royale (I know there is a bus, but when I set out to walk I didn’t think it could be that far). Aside from the extra space we thought the room was nicer at Pop. We also though the food court is better laid out at Pop.
