Back from my three-night stay at Cabana Bay. Here's a litle info from my experience there:
The room - Very clean and bright, comfortable, nicer than expected. The room had a funky smell, wasn't sure if it was related to cleaning chemicals, or plastic/carpet/new furniture smell, but I noticed it every time I came in the room, but then I would get used to it pretty quickly and it didn't bother me. It was weird and kind of annoying but I never tried to switch rooms or anything. It was definitely a BAD smell though. I just creeped myself out by thinking I should have looked under the beds!
The overall hotel - I was not excited by the retro theme at all when I first heard they were building it. It really does look good in person though, and I would stay there again. They picked the best elements to make it fit that retro theme, good mixture of the past and present. Everything felt spacious and unique/custom. Not like any other hotel in the world.
Walk to the parks - The pedestrian bridges are now complete. It takes about 20 minutes to walk there (room to park gates), and I'm tall and walk fast so it may be longer for some people. The walk is not bad, and they did nice landscaping on both sides of the walkway. I found myself taking shuttles most of the time, simply because there was never a wait for one and they picked up by my wing of the hotel. Seriously, at all times of day when I wanted to take a shuttle, there was either a shuttle already at the stop or less than a 1 minute wait. It worked out great. They start at 7am and go to 2am.
Pool area - I love the fact that they have a lazy river. It's nice and was never crowded. An adult will pay $8 for a large inner tube. After you're done using it, you return it to them and they give you a brand new one still in the package to take home. So it's kind of like renting/buying and it's kind of a cool idea. You don't have to inflate or deflate them yourself this way, and it keeps costs down for them while allowing you to get something for your money by taking a tube home.
There were two big hot tubs which was nice but I wish they stayed open later than 5:30pm. The pools were great. I didn't do the waterslide but kids seemed to love it. I liked the music, they played lots of modern pop/hit music, it wasn't retro stuff all the time. The big pool with the waterslide gets more sun than the pool by the lazy river. Because the pool areas are in the middle/courtyard area of the hotel buildings, they don't get full sun all day because of the building shadows.
Favorite things - I loved the fire pits outside, and the fact that you can buy s'more kits to roast marshmallows and make s'mores. It was only $7.99 for two food kits and four sticks (so enough for 4 people to each roast/build their own s'more). That's not bad, I don't know why people say that's overpriced. The fire is free! If you want to roast dozens and dozens of marshmallows, just bring a bag from Walmart and go to town.
The gym was very large and great looking, but I was too busy eating and drinking to try it out. Oops maybe next time! It looked far better than most hotel gyms.
The lobby would occasionally have a minion in it greeting kids. Everybody seemed to be surprised by this and loved it.
VALUE - I liked everything here enough to warrant another stay, but the value is what makes it impossible to pass up. If you travel during non-peak times, there is no need for express passes anyways. If you are mainly going to see Harry Potter attractions, save the extra money by staying here and still get in the park early. However, if money is no object for you and you want express passes, I would highly recommend staying at the RP or Portofino instead.
Cons - I didn't love the dining options at this hotel. I think that is the only flaw with this hotel. The Bayliner Diner was the main dining hall, the other 2 small cafes serve a limited menu that's basically the same food. It did the job, and the 1 meal I had in the Bayliner Diner was GREAT (it was a 3-layered BBQ brisket grilled cheese with homemade potato chips), but I found that I was never really excited to eat there, and I always wanted to go to Citywalk, Leaky, or 3B instead. At Cabana Bay they have pizza-only room service, but I saw two different groups of people bringing back Red Oven pizza from Citywalk so maybe that tells you something about the hotel pizza? Starbucks was nice to have there, but there was always either a long line, or no line but only 2 employees that were very slow to make drinks. Also, it just doesn't have quite the same appeal as the other onsite hotels. Cabana Bay is on the fringe of the property, so if you have a room view that doesn't face inward towards the large courtyart/pool area, you will be looking at some not so pretty sites around the edge of Uni property. All things considered, it was better than I expected and I would happily return. I saved hundreds of dollars by staying here, and the RP and Hard Rock were sold out due to the One Direction concert.
