It’s been five years since I’ve stayed at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, and I was excited to check out all of the recent updates. I’ve always enjoyed this relaxing escape of vibrant colors and lush landscapes of this moderate resort.
The new lobby is really quite beautiful and such a huge improvement over the old Custom House. There was a decent sized line when we arrived for check-in and I was impressed at how friendly and efficient the cast members were at moving guests through. They were also walking around offering everyone in line a cupcake to enjoy while they wait and were handing out stickers to the kids.
Caribbean Beach is designed much like the other moderate and value resorts in that the central “hub” houses check-in, dining, pools, and other key amenities. From there, the resorts are sprawling with a number of smaller outer buildings containing the guest rooms. The Old Port Royale area of Caribbean Beach is fun island-inspired “port of entry”!
Guest Rooms at Caribbean Beach Resort
Like all other moderate and value resorts, Caribbean Beach rooms are motel style, meaning they open to the exterior and do not have patios or balconies.
The guest rooms were updated a few years ago to all feature two queen beds, as opposed to the original set-up with two doubles. This, of course, makes the rooms a bit tighter to move around in, but makes sleeping exponentially more comfortable. The decor is a bit bland, considering how fun and colorful you could go with this theme, but everything was neat and clean. These rooms all sleep up to four guests. There are also darling pirate themed rooms that sleep four, but those still have two double beds.
Recreation at Caribbean Beach
There are a variety of pools, recreation options and nice amenities at Caribbean Beach. You will find plenty of places to relax and lots of things to do in your time off from the parks.
Feature Pool
The feature pool at Caribbean Beach is centrally located in the Old Port Royale area. Themed as an old Spanish citadel, the captivating zero-entry pool had 2 slides, water cannons and a hot tub. There is also a separate kid’s splash area and ping pong table right next to the pool!
Quiet Pools
In addition to the feature pool, you will find quiet pools (no waterslides or dining) closer to many of the guest room areas.
Campfires
We make it a point to hit the campfire at every Disney resort once during our stay. Who doesn’t love some good old fashioned marshmallow roasting?! The marshmallows and sticks are always free and unlimited. The resorts sell smores kits if you need the full shebang. You will find the time and location in the Resort Activity Guide you get at check-in. You can also see the beach volleyball court in this same location.
Movies Under the Stars
Another one of our favorite activities at Disney resorts is the Movies Under the Stars. You will find the times, location and movie schedule in the Resort Activity Guide.
Other Recreation
Caribbean Beach Resort also has pirate adventure cruises, volleyball, bike rentals, a jogging trail and playground. We love the little beach areas and hammocks as well.
Dining at Caribbean Beach Resort
Moderate resorts all give the option of sit down (table serve) and quick serve (food court style) dining, in addition to a lounge with quick serve food.
Sebastian’s Bistro
Sebastian’s Bistro is the new sit down restaurant at Caribbean Beach. We dined here one night and had a marvelous meal and experience. Definitely allow time for this meal if you are staying here! You can read a full review HERE.
Centertown Market
Centertown Market is in the Old Port Royale area and is the food court style quick serve dining location. They also have a quick take-away section of prepared foods and drinks for eating on the run. This location does participate in mobile ordering, which can save time when in a hurry. Order from the bus, pick up when you return, head to your room or pool to dine! I always love the “themed” options at the resort quick serve restaurants like the chicken, beans and rice bowl here. It was yummy!
Spyglass Grill
Spyglass Grill is a second quick serve dining location for some of the outer reaching guest room areas. As noted, the resort is really spread out and it could be a long walk or bus ride to get food or coffee from some locations. We headed over to Spyglass Grill just to try it out. I wouldn’t make a special trip unless my room was nearby. However, they also participate in mobile ordering which is really convenient.
Banana Cabana
Banana Cabana is the darling calypso themed lounge just off of the pool area at Old Port Royale. Their quick serve menu is great, and the drinks are as well. Enjoy your libations pool side, or in one of the Adirondack chairs on the water. As always, my favorite is the pina colava.
Transportation at Caribbean Beach Resort
The key negative, in my opinion, around Caribbean Beach is transportation. The resort is sprawling and it is a long, hot walk from many guest rooms to the Old Port Royale area. There is also an internal bus system that makes multiple stops inside of the resort before it ever even leaves to head to the parks. This can easily double your transit time to and from the resort to the parks. And, oftentimes, busses fill up at one stop during peak times before they even make it to your stop. It is absolutely something to consider! We had a car so we drove to all of the parks ourselves. That, however, does take a bit of the Disney magic away and is not our general preference.
Now, this fall Caribbean Beach Resort will be at what appears to be a key location on the new Skyliner Transportation System. These gondolas in the sky will take guests to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Information is slowly leaking out, but it seems they will each seat 10 and do not have air conditioning. I will absolutely give them a try but I’m not sold just yet! The other thing I will be interested to find out is how guests will get from the guest rooms to the Skyliner station. It is quite a distance from most rooms and requires crossing a fairly busy street inside of the resort. Here’s a picture of what it looks like now. They were testing the gondolas throughout our stay.
Overall, we had a lovely stay at Caribbean Beach Resort.
Stay tuned for more Disney posts, reviews and information every Monday! That’s I how I keep them magical. :-)
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love this post! thank you soooo much for all your detailed post and all your pics and reviews for disney! i was thinking about staying at a resort this time at disney but got so overwhelmed with choices. really appreciate all your detailed posts about disney as it is soo incredibly helpful! hoping to head out there for my bday next month! keep up the great work! <3 xoxo