If you asked my children their favorite resort to stay at while visiting Walt Disney World, they would all tell you the same thing: Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort! This really is a favorite resort of my whole family (including in-laws and siblings and parents, oh my)! We love the colorful buildings, Caribbean music, easy-flow, beautiful lake beaches, themed beach entry pool, and of course Disney’s Skyliner! I want to give you a walkthrough of our favorite resort including pros and cons to help you decide if this is the best resort for you.
Old Port Royale
This is the “port of entry” for in-person check-in, questions for the concierge and dining. This is where you can pick up your refillable mugs, grab your celebration pin and drop off your luggage to be sent to your room or the airport. The multiple dining options make this a great stop when you’re wanting to grab something quick before heading out, needing a bite on a restful day, or a late night snack after returning from the parks (my husband may or may not have done this every single night on our last trip while I stayed with the sleeping children… don’t worry, he
brought me back something too). One of our favorite early morning stops is the Centertown Market for breakfast. It has the usual faire you can find at Walt Disney World, plus many allergy-friendly options to meet everyone’s needs. We like to stop by and grab a Mickey Waffle to-go, refill our mugs or grab some fruit to give us the energy we need for an early day. This is where we learned how to do Mobile Orders and just how easy and quick they can be! Don’t forget Centertown Market Grab & Go where you can get sandwiches, bakery goods, and bottled drinks ready to go.
Dining
While I’ve already talked about Centertown Market, there are other great places to eat or drink. Here is a small summary of each place:
Banana Cabana: a walk-up bar located near Fuentes del Morro Pool where you can get tropical drinks, cold beer and some nonalcoholic beverages.
Spyglass Grill: a walk-up quick service option found in Trinidad for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Sabastian’s Bistro: a casual dining restaurant serving surf and turf meals featuring Latin and Caribbean flavors.
Rooms
This resort is laid out into villages. Each village has a white sandy beach leading to the lake. There are lounge chairs and even hammocks. You cannot swim in the lake, but there are pools located at each village as well as small playgrounds. Please note that the resort buildings are all only two stories which means there are no available elevators. This can be a problem for some guests, so please keep this in mind. I’ve had clients go and request a ground floor for health reasons. Disney does everything they can to meet those needs. We went as a family of 6 with a double stroller, water bottles, jackets and a backpack diaper bag. It really wasn’t that difficult for us to go up and down, especially when we worked together. Don’t forget there are many different room types to get as well. You can have a standard room, view of the water and beaches and even a pirate-themed room!
Pools
As stated above, each village has a pool that is close proximity for all the rooms in that village. There is also the feature pool, Fuentes del Morro. We loved this pool because they had a wonderful beach entry that was perfect for our kids of multiple ages and swimming abilities. The pool is heated like other pools at Walt Disney World, which makes for a great swim anytime of the year. If you have little ones, don’t forget to check out the shipwreck play area with mini slides and crow’s nest. There is also a 12-person spa to enjoy and relax after a long day at the parks.
Recreation
Aside from the pools and dining, Caribbean Beach also has activities you can find throughout the resort. Our favorite location is Caribbean Cay, where you can find a large playground, watch a movie under the stars or even enjoy some complimentary s’mores. You can also sign up for a guided fishing excursion, rent a bike, play sand volleyball or take a scenic jog (walk in my case) along a 0.6 mile course. All of these things found at the resort can make a day off from the parks filled with fun activities all day long.
Transportation
Finally, this is one of my favorite and least favorite parts of the resort. My family was fortunate enough to be in Jamaica, the village closest to the Skyliner. It wasn’t difficult at all for us to walk over and join the line. Caribbean Beach Resort is the main hub for all the resorts tied to the Skyliner. It makes it easy to get on and go to any of the resorts or parks attached to the Skyliner. It’s not always open early enough for you to get to rope drop, so if you want to get there right on time, you’ll want to go by bus. This brings me to my least favorite part and something to consider when choosing your resort. Because this resort is sprawled out so much, it has multiple bus stops. This is great so you don’t have to walk far away to get to the bus. However, this can be difficult as the busses do fill up and you’re never sure if your village is last on the pick-up stops. If they come to you last, it may be too full for you to get on. We learned early on, that one of the best ways to get to Hollywood Studios in particular was, to go to the Old Port Royale bus stop to get picked up. We got to stay with the free transportation offered with our stay on property but still made it in time to get a spot for Rise of the Resistance. This won’t be much of a problem with the new way to join the ride’s queue, but it can be an issue for those that want to be at certain parks for rope drop.
Coming back from the parks at night was not difficult to ride the Skyliner. Even when the line is long, it goes faster than it looks. The best part is Caribbean Beach Resort is the main hub, so it’s easy to get back home.
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Email: janie@mickeyworldtravel.com
