Hi, we are staying at Caribbean Beach Resort next week. Just received an email from Disney saying the bridge connecting aruba and Jamaica to old port royale will be closed for refurbishment while we are there. There will be a shuttle and boat transportation to make up for this. I don't see this refurbishment listed anywhere. Does anyone know anything about this? How long it will be closed for? We requested aruba but may change now since this will be a pain. Thank you for any help. Karen
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CBR bridge to old port royale
- Thread starter KCKAS
- Start date
Tuvalu
Premium Member
Paging @Tony the Tigger
Disneydreamer23
Well-Known Member
when are you staying>? I arrive Saturday and didn't get any thing!
Tony the Tigger
Well-Known Member
Thanks, @Tuvalu !
So the long, meandering answer can be found in my trip report here: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/totally-over-wearing-pants.904448/page-5#post-6893698
But the short version is, we just got home from CBR last night. We stayed in Aruba. (Loved it, and specifically requested Aruba, btw.)
The bridge connects Aruba and Jamaica to Port Royale. You can avoid all of this by staying elsewhere, but you may not want or need to, it all depends on what is most important to you.
Have you stayed at CBR before? Some people think the walk from Aruba to PR via the bridge is a long walk. We didn't think that at all when we stayed there the first time in January of this year.
Either way, Disney's messaging on this is not really complete. When you arrive, there's a note in the room about the bridge being out. But they don't mention the alternatives, the easiest one being to simply walk around the lake in the opposite direction (past Barbados instead of past Jamaica) and you will get to PR in just a little more time than it used to take via the bridge. (It was 10 minutes on my morning "fast walk" and 12 minutes on our evening walk home from the Banana Cabana pool bar lol.)
I assume you can also walk from the "outside" of the resort (where you would normally park and drive) but I think that would take longer.
They are also running extra shuttles that pick you up right at the sidewalk of Aruba (as opposed to having to walk to the bus stop) to take you right to PR. But we never saw it. Timing is everything. (We also weren't looking for it. We had a car, and like to walk.)
The best option in the morning by far was the boat. They were running a little boat back and forth across the lake from Aruba to PR. Later in the day, you didn't see it as often. But in the morning, when a lot of people want to pop over there for breakfast or coffee, the boat was virtually non-stop. I walked out of my room, and there it was, pulling up onto the sand. Hopped on, it holds maybe 8 people or so but never saw more than 4 on it, and quickly bop across the lake to PR. By the time I got in there, got breakfast to-go, and came back out, they'd probably gone back and forth one or two more times. When I walked out, the boat was docking back at PR again, so I had no wait to go back to my room. It was very convenient, very fast, and an enjoyable ride.
I did not see any of this as a hardship at all, with the slight exception of having a few minutes longer walk to the pool bar vs. walking over the bridge.
And I assumed it's why the price of the room dropped suddenly on the WDW site from around $145 with annual passholder discount, to $119. Hey, I'll take it! (And I did.) No regrets.
If you want to avoid it altogether, I would go with either Martinique or Barbados. Barbados would be a shorter walk than Aruba, and I think Martinique would be the shortest of all(?) Just make sure whether or not those rooms have been refurbished yet. That makes a big difference in how much you will enjoy the room, from what I understand.
So the long, meandering answer can be found in my trip report here: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/totally-over-wearing-pants.904448/page-5#post-6893698
But the short version is, we just got home from CBR last night. We stayed in Aruba. (Loved it, and specifically requested Aruba, btw.)
The bridge connects Aruba and Jamaica to Port Royale. You can avoid all of this by staying elsewhere, but you may not want or need to, it all depends on what is most important to you.
Have you stayed at CBR before? Some people think the walk from Aruba to PR via the bridge is a long walk. We didn't think that at all when we stayed there the first time in January of this year.
Either way, Disney's messaging on this is not really complete. When you arrive, there's a note in the room about the bridge being out. But they don't mention the alternatives, the easiest one being to simply walk around the lake in the opposite direction (past Barbados instead of past Jamaica) and you will get to PR in just a little more time than it used to take via the bridge. (It was 10 minutes on my morning "fast walk" and 12 minutes on our evening walk home from the Banana Cabana pool bar lol.)
I assume you can also walk from the "outside" of the resort (where you would normally park and drive) but I think that would take longer.
They are also running extra shuttles that pick you up right at the sidewalk of Aruba (as opposed to having to walk to the bus stop) to take you right to PR. But we never saw it. Timing is everything. (We also weren't looking for it. We had a car, and like to walk.)
The best option in the morning by far was the boat. They were running a little boat back and forth across the lake from Aruba to PR. Later in the day, you didn't see it as often. But in the morning, when a lot of people want to pop over there for breakfast or coffee, the boat was virtually non-stop. I walked out of my room, and there it was, pulling up onto the sand. Hopped on, it holds maybe 8 people or so but never saw more than 4 on it, and quickly bop across the lake to PR. By the time I got in there, got breakfast to-go, and came back out, they'd probably gone back and forth one or two more times. When I walked out, the boat was docking back at PR again, so I had no wait to go back to my room. It was very convenient, very fast, and an enjoyable ride.
I did not see any of this as a hardship at all, with the slight exception of having a few minutes longer walk to the pool bar vs. walking over the bridge.
And I assumed it's why the price of the room dropped suddenly on the WDW site from around $145 with annual passholder discount, to $119. Hey, I'll take it! (And I did.) No regrets.
If you want to avoid it altogether, I would go with either Martinique or Barbados. Barbados would be a shorter walk than Aruba, and I think Martinique would be the shortest of all(?) Just make sure whether or not those rooms have been refurbished yet. That makes a big difference in how much you will enjoy the room, from what I understand.
Tony the Tigger
Well-Known Member
And I think it's supposed to be this way until around the 25th of this month.
Dear tony the tigger, Thank you for taking the time with your very thorough reply. I do appreciate it.
Dear Disneydreamer23, we are going Tuesday, September 15th. We received the email this evening from Disney about the bridge being closed and the 2 alternatives of shuttle bus and boat.
Dear Disneydreamer23, we are going Tuesday, September 15th. We received the email this evening from Disney about the bridge being closed and the 2 alternatives of shuttle bus and boat.
Tony the Tigger
Well-Known Member
FWIW, we were not notified in advance by email, either.
BillyBuff
Active Member
Same here. I just got back a few days ago and found out about the bridge via the forums. We stayed at Aruba Building 53. It was a pain in the butt to wait for the shuttle vans. The way they had it set up was waaaay to inconvenient. They dropped off guests at my Aruba stop, then dropped off the rest of the guests at the other Aruba stop, then picked up the guests there and finally back to my stop. But if the van is full from the second Aruba stop, we can't get on and will have to wait for the returning trip...that is if it isn't full from the second stop! Arggh! Finally gave up and drove ourselves over to Old Port Royale!
The shuttle vans run from 6:30am to 12:30am and the boats are from 9:00am to 7:00pm.
The shuttle vans run from 6:30am to 12:30am and the boats are from 9:00am to 7:00pm.
Tony the Tigger
Well-Known Member
We were in 52. Never saw a van. That would have sucked if we didn't have a car LOL.
We're staying there 24th of October and we recieved an email so must be closed till at least then.
The Mighty Tim
Well-Known Member
I'm at CBR right now and I never heard of this refurbishment in advance. However, I'm staying in Martinique. Presumably, since I'm not affected by this change, I wasn't informed.
WDW_Firefighter
Active Member
Wow, this is a bummer and the first I've heard about it. We are arriving Oct. 2 and have requested the Jamaica building. I haven't received an email or anything about the bridge being out. We've never stayed at CBR before, what other building should we request? We were wanting a refurbed room that is easy to get to Old Port Royale and we didn't pay for a preferred room. Any recommendations?
englanddg
One Little Spark...
Martinique 22/23.
Tony the Tigger
Well-Known Member
Change it to Martinique, assuming it has been refurbished
disneygirl1
Well-Known Member
We were originally booked at CBR for our trip this Saturday, but once I found out via the forums that the bridge was out and the children's splash area at the pool was closed, we jumped ship and transferred our reservation over the POR.
englanddg
One Little Spark...
did they uprate you?
WDW_Firefighter
Active Member
Any word of when the splash pad will reopen? When I called Disney today the lady said she didn't see anything telling her that it was due for a refurb or anything.
WDW_Firefighter
Active Member
I believe it's closed until the 25th of December. I saw that somewhere else today and when I called Disney today I was talking to the lady and she said she thought that was right.