Just got back from my first two week stay at CBBR. I'll keep it hopefully short, but sweet. This was a proper holiday with my whole family including my parents, sister, her partner, and my partner. So it was a, how do you say it, final "traditional family vacation" as we live so far away these days it'll probably never happen again.
The hotel was absolutely excellent. I've been to Orlando seven times now and stayed in a plethora of hotels in the area. But this definitely was the best by far. I don't want this to be a review praising the convenience of being on-site, so I'll get that out the way now. Being right next to the parks is ridiculously convenient. Previously we've done a full day at Universal, a full day at Islands of Adventure, grind, grind grind, then exhausted by the end of the day. But with on-site, it was a case of: get up, maybe hit the parks in the AM for a bit, pool for a bit, Citywalk for dinner or parks then Citywalk or the opposite or both etc... So much freedom being on-site and it was brilliant to experience. The bus was amazing, every 10 minutes if not less, straight to the parks and sometimes with a bit of commentary by the driver. Didn't expect the driver to go the extra mile but they did. One particular guy recommended Toothsome as it was open for preview and warned us about long waits, but told us it would be worth it as they had an upstairs bar. Then he went on to recommend a dish for us and ultimately swayed us to go and actually wait over an hour for the table, this was late in the stay so we knew the drivers didn't have to do it, but the fact he did was a brilliant touch. Didn't get his name, but hats off sir. Back to the hotel...
The rooms were fantastic, the beds were so comfortable and the layout of the room was perfect. I've read a few reviews about rooms being too far a walk to the diner etc and can't speak as we were quite close but it was absolutely perfect. Plenty of space everywhere and an amazing view of the Orlando, the front area of the hotel and highway (Honestly it was excellent, I'm a tourist, sue me).
Housekeeping was great! (bit angry at them cause we bought a cuddly toy penguin at Seaworld and they kept putting it in different locations throughout the trip after servicing the room. It was a fun game!). However note, if you don't put the privacy sign on the door, they will chap! They want to get the job done! It was amazing to see how quick the housekeeping team worked, very polite and quick.
Spent most of our time when at the hotel at the lazy river pool and even caught a movie in the pool (Twister, Bill Paxton never fails to disappoint). The drinks in the pool made the night worth it. One of my few criticisms is the ID policy, I understand they have to ID anyone who looks under x years old but can't they have something on the room key to show this like Discovery Cove? We had one experience where one of our party had to go back to the room for ID at 9:15pm at night all because they didn't have their ID but had their room key. This isn't a harsh criticism, but just an observation. But other than that, nothing's better than floating in your ring watching a movie with a drink.
Here's the important part, I'm assuming this is why CBBR separates itself from other Universal on-site hotels. The concept is buy-what-you-want. Simple as that. Couple of different menus from the areas in the diner. One sells waffles, one sells pancakes, one sells omelettes, one sells croissants etc. This is a limited description, the menus in these areas go further than that, but that's the basic gist. Other than that, they have areas in the food area which sell loads of different things: snacks, smores packs (to roast at the fire pit in the hotel), ready made sandwiches, chips, cereal, an extensive as f**k salad bar (for morning and night) and so much more. I have to emphasise on the salad bar, I work for a company in the UK and they don't offer as wide a salad bar as CBBR and even though it was massive, when the staff where working on it (changing it over to new tubs etc), they looked happy to be doing so as it struck home with me as I could relate to them. Made the experience 100x better as the conversation was brilliant (met an British person who was having a ball!).
Overall it was an excellent experience. Nothing is better than getting up in the morning and deciding you're only feeling cereal and some fruit, CBBR has you sorted. Definitely full marks for the the diner. Apparently this is supposed to make CBBR different from others, but I feel it only helps them as any family looking to book will love this option.
Pools were both excellent, can't speak from massive experience but the slide pool was busiest, but still great, as opposed to the lazy river pool which were closest to. Hideaway Bar was absolutely perfect, food was excellent when we wanted it and I hope it keeps up the standards we saw when Volcano Bay opens as it is right beside it!
To summarise, Cabana Bay is an excellent choice for anyone thinking of going for it. You sacrifice the "breakfast buffet" option, but you get a eat what you want option. Absolutely excellent pick in my opinion. I would definitely pick CBBR next time.