Sounds like I made the correct choice in picking SF over CBBR when I was offered the same rate for each. The water taxi was the deciding factor for me ( although I did forget that SF charges more for parking than CBBR does).
Your points are very valid
@martymcflyy85! We have not been since SF opened so any opinion we had of CBBR was made without comparison. We tend to go in less crowded times. The buses always seemed to come quick and the only time we had lines leaving the park was when we stayed at CBBR for HHN and even then, the buses can quickly, but we still needed to wait for the 4th or so bus.
Last time we were up there was for Mardi Gras and it was the first time we experienced the metal detectors at the parking hub. One day was miserable where the line extended back further than the stairs you come up from where the bus drops you off. The next day we got there with no line at all...but that first day made us feel it was not worth it to leave the park in the afternoon to chill at the hotel for a while.
I still like the walking path, even at the end of a long day, but my family does not see this the same way I do. Since the walking path is to the side of Margaritaville, it is less of a walk to there (or the water taxi) when leaving IOA....so leaving one night, they went that way, and then made me pay for a lift over to the walkway bridge....but those folks stop working earlier than the buses/water taxis so it might not always be an option.
I still love CBBR and I am sure we will stay there again, but yes, it does add some additional pressures of trying to time arrival and departure methods.
Also, I'm not sure they always had valet, so never experienced that aspect, and we only went to that Starbucks once so maybe that helped as well with our opinion of CBBR.