News Pirate rooms at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort to be replaced with 'under the sea' theme

[GimpYancIent]

oh absolutely its nicer than the CBR rooms, but still looks very...generic. You'd easily mistake it for the BE Resort, or a generic Marriot down the road.

Yep. Generic but clean and it does look fresh. Barely a touch of sort of theming with a plastic feel to it. Economy motel-ish.

 

[Horizons '83]

You can get the same type of room with the same subtles nods to another theme in Pop for less. For Little Mermaid rooms that cost extra, there should be something more. Is the only LM theming a painting? That's it? I get that AoA rooms are mostly family suites but can you really justify the extra cost that is no different from other AoA rooms?

Point taken. I think that's up to the guest to decide. Some might like having multiple pools to choose from plus a very well themed feature pool. Some might like the family suites better with more room and opt for AoA. I wasn't really comparing to other resorts however, just pirate rooms vs. the new look, and to me based on that comparison alone, its a win.

 

[Dr.GrantSeeker]

But I would have doubled down on the pirate and/or add a mermaid theme. It’s so few rooms, why not, for that kid’s special bday trip, etc. New beds would have happened in either case, lighten the colors up a bit. I feel like for that specific customer, it’s a loss rather than a gain.

My guess is that Disney may have had problems keeping the Pirate rooms booked becuase of the level of themeing. So obviously the only thing Disney could think of was to make them super generic. Still an upgrade over current CBR rooms though.

 

[Ayla]

Yes, same for this photo: if you look at the shelves in the corner (which are a great idea, as far as good use of space goes), it doesn't even look like the shelf at the top level is joined tight and flush to the vertical piece, like the one below it. The impression is that of your average Ikea or Sauder self-assembled chipboard furniture, where some of the joining holes aren't lined up properly, or at the correct depth.
View attachment 681952

Let's hope the murphy beds don't fall off the walls.

 

[retr0gate]

I agree with others about the furniture being a matter of personal taste, but as far as the theming goes, I think it's perfectly executed. For months now, people (myself included) have been complaining about over the top IP integration in the hotel rooms. I'd say the worst offender is that horrid edna mode room at the Contemporary. This is the perfect use of IP in a hotel room, no tacky decals or characters and instead focusing on the environment / art style of the little mermaid. The fish are cute, subtle additions. Don't think some coral props or slapping Ariel all over the place would have made this room much better.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

It actually reminds me a little of the love child of the Wyndham Lake Buena Vista and Endless Summer. Though I would argue the finish quality on those (especially the Wyndham) is noticeably higher - even in photos.

 

[TwilightZone]

Ah yes, because this is obviously just so much better than the new refurb.View attachment 681959
View attachment 681960
Huge upgrade. Super well done like the new Grand Floridian rooms!

Top is themed, but very garish and ugly. Hate to say it, but its really has shown its age. I look at that photo and I am transported to the early 2000s, and not in a good way.

Bottom is better, but it has some things that need work, can't point at what exactly though.

 

[correcaminos]

Let's hope the murphy beds don't fall off the walls.

They seem to have been fine since RR. They've been installed in quite a few other resorts without incident at least.

I like the way these rooms look. Much better than other CBR rooms. Some refurbs have been total misses (absolutely CR comes to mind) but they've done great with others (GF, PVB, SSR). Hopefully they'll have more hits than misses in the future.

 

[thomas998]

That's exactly the reason. These rooms don't sell. Pirate rooms at CBR and Standard rooms at Coronado Springs are the last to go in all the WDW inventory.

If they fail to sell, it is mostly because for the price increase they simply aren't worth it. Very small kids might be taken in by the cheesy boat beds but then I always thought the Pirates movies were aimed at a slightly older audience where boat beds really seem kind of lame.

If they had theme the rooms more like the royal rooms at Port Orleans but with a slight pirate slant, then they might have had more appeal... but honestly the pirate room were probably one step above the race car beds that were popular a long time ago with 6 year kids.

As a parent I might have thought my kids would like the boat bed when they were really small, and I might have done it for them but I would not have been as happy as I would if it had been one boat bed for the kids and a regular bed for the parents... they were just a bad concept.

 

[SplashJacket]

If they fail to sell, it is mostly because for the price increase they simply aren't worth it. Very small kids might be taken in by the cheesy boat beds but then I always thought the Pirates movies were aimed at a slightly older audience where boat beds really seem kind of lame.

That’s the whole point of redoing them. It increases the value, increasing satisfaction at all price points, enabling a higher price

 

[thomas998]

That’s the whole point of redoing them. It increases the value, increasing satisfaction at all price points, enabling a higher price

Clearly that is the goal.. but I don't know if a little mermaid theme is going to be much better. It won't be as lame as the boat beds, but if it is like the AOA rooms then I can't see people thinking a few decor items makes the room worth 100 more a night.

 

[JD80]

I'm pretty sure more than half of you have no idea what you'd want in a hotel room from a design perspective.

 

[Ayla]

I'm pretty sure more than half of you have no idea what you'd want in a hotel room from a design perspective.

My wants/needs for a hotel room at Disney are totally different from what I want in a hotel room elsewhere.

 

[WorldExplorer]

I'd rather the specially themed rooms be over the top. I don't hate how it looks, in fact I actually like the colors, but it mostly just seems like a normal room (the "window" is cool). Especially since all of them have some kind of character forced in there now.

A chunk of the fun of the themed rooms (princess and pirate), for my group anyway, was running around in the first few minutes going "look at that!", but it doesn't look like that would happen here.

It's not like normal, tasteful rooms aren't available elsewhere. Having the option for something a little nuts at the moderates is nice.

(And just to be clear: I would want more ocean, not more Ariel.)

 

[mightynine]

As I said in another thread, rather restrained compared to recent Disney refreshes. Wonder if they’re going to redo the entire resort like this.

I do wish the theming was a bit more than “The Little Mermaid was in water/a beach is next to water” but that’s modern Disney’s infatuation with IP everywhere.

 

[SplashJacket]

Clearly that is the goal.. but I don't know if a little mermaid theme is going to be much better. It won't be as lame as the boat beds, but if it is like the AOA rooms then I can't see people thinking a few decor items makes the room worth 100 more a night.

We can see that the theming isn’t over the top, we can see the rooms aren’t like AoA. We can see that.

They were selling the rooms for ridiculous prices while being tacky, having a respectable room is an argument for, not against the current price, doesn’t mean it needs to fully match the current price.

 

[_caleb]

I'm pretty sure more than half of you have no idea what you'd want in a hotel room from a design perspective.

Half of me does

 

[Obobru]

I think a lot of people don't understand what theme is and what decoration is.

The theme is meant to be Caribbean Beach as that's the hotel but that's a very loose theme as hotels in the Caribbean don't have an overriding theme really. So these new rooms are also fairly generic which is fine if it wasn't for the poor quality fittings.

Now the rooms don't have a theme but they have some basic decoration with mermaid, that's not a theme its the same as putting a picture of New York on the wall and claiming it's a New York themed hotel.

The pirate rooms were themed but not in a good way, it wasn't subtle it was shouting THIS IS A PIRATE ROOM that's lazy theming which becomes tacky and ends up looking like a kids bedroom not a space for all the family. The Contemporary is a mix between bad theme and decoration to hammer home the point of poor theme, it's tacky and lazy.

 

[GimpYancIent]

The Pirate Rooms were themed properly. The idea was with Kids in mind or adults that want to act like kids. Most of the resort was not themed that way for the all the rest.

 

[_caleb]

The Pirate Rooms were themed properly. The idea was with Kids in mind or adults that want to act like kids. Most of the resort was not themed that way for the all the rest.

Wouldn’t a properly themed pirate room look like a pirate’s room rather than a room with pirate decorations? Seems to me a pirate-themed room would be all wood, maybe beds suspended from the ceiling with manila rope, something like this?