Just wanted to give a quick trip report . We ( family of 5 traveling with another family of 5 ... all kids teens except one 7 yr old) . We stayed June 22nd-June 29th. We faxed and called a request for Jamaica and connecting rooms. Unfortunately our requests ( besides having rooms next to each other, but not connecting) we not granted. We even asked when we got there if there was anything they could do , and they said the best they could do is have us call back the next day. We were put in Aruba 55 . I'll admit at first we were really put off since its directly next to the construction. But knowing requests were just that we decided to roll with it, and I'm glad we did. We were in the same building as the island market ( which was awesome for morning coffee) and also the freestyle machine.
Buses: We were also fairly close to the bus stop. Aruba bus stop was the LAST , which was nice if you wanted to not wait to circle the hotel , but made it impossible to actually get a seat in the morning . There was usually a CM in the morning , on our MK day I flat out asked if a bus would actually arrive and he made sure it did , so we never walked to Port Royale to get a bus.
Construction:Those complaining about the construction at CBR must driving into the Disney area with their eyes closed... construction at Disney is EVERYWHERE.. seriously ... all over the place. But even being smack next to the construction didn't bother us. You can hardly hear it outside , and definitely can't hear it from your room. Never really noticed it in the big pool area. The only thing that put me off was the beach at Aruba had that ugly orange fence, otherwise it was completely fine.
Food : We only ate at spyglass grille but it was yummy !! We weren't on the dining plan, so with 5 teens we ordered Dominos and Papa Johns once , and also made a grocery store run when we got there ( lots microwave foods which we cooked in the island market )
Crowds: I cannot imagine what it must be like for those who show up without some sort of plan and scheduled FP. We luckily scheduled all of FP for the morning , took a mid day break to get out of the heat, then went back at night. We never waited more than 35 min but we really planned and worked the FP system.
MDE app was HORRIBLE and would crash half the time. I just felt bad for those who waited 80-160 min for rides! I'd never do it !
Pool: We actually preferred and spent most of our time in the Aruba quiet pool. The main pool seemed so crowded most days. We enjoyed the shaded umbrellas by the quiet pool too
Tip: We had a 9:40 pm flight out of MCO , with a ME pick up time of 6:40. Well it rained our last day and we were done hanging out in the rain so we went to the custom house and asked to jump on the 4:10 bus ( which they let us) THANK GOD we did !Our bus took much longer to get to MCO due to the rain and traffic. Lines at the airport were horrible! We spend an hour just waiting in line to check our bags , then another 45 min to get through security ! I would have been so stressed out if we didn't have that extra time!
Housekeeping: We weren't offered the GC offer but we didnt intend to take it so that worked. They weren't overly friendly , but they did a good job. They usually came around 1-3pm most days, and didn't knock early on our checkout day like some have said. In fact we saw her making up the room next to us around 11 when we left.
What we loved and what we didn't: Disclaimer.. We usually stay at SOG since its cheaper for us military people. Most people say they don't like SOG because theres not much "Disney" aspect to it. But with the refurb of CBR rooms, I'm not sure there was much "Disney " in the rooms besides the Murphy bed. We loved the Disney tv though ! The wakeup call was mr incredible every morning, would have been nice if it switched by day . We loved charging stuff to our MB, it was especially fun for teens who got to go off on their own. I didn't get any Disney pixie dust or warm fuzzy feelings from any CM , but they weren't rude either. I have pretty normal ,easy care hair, but the shampoo and conditioner was HORRIBLE. Our hair was straw by the end of the trip. Next time I'll bring my own.
Happy to answer any questions! I wouldn't hesitate to book CBR again !