Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort Review
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is a Moderate Resort at Walt Disney World with a, you guessed it, tropical theme. Located near Epcot, Caribbean Beach Resort has decent proximity to the theme parks, although Guests of this resort must rely upon bus transportation or their own vehicles. There is no boat or monorail transportation from Caribbean Beach Resort to any of the theme parks or Downtown Disney.
Caribbean Beach is the oldest of the Moderate Resorts, and there have been some complaints that its facilities are beginning to show their age. During our stay, we couldn’t find any evidence of this. In fact, quite the contrary. The rooms have been recently refurbished and now include a tasteful and subtle Finding Nemo motif, although the “tasteful and subtle” description is relative to other Disney theming, not real world hotels. If you’re used to refined and elegant hotels, you’re probably well-advised to avoid all Disney resort-hotels.
In fact, the resort itself likely benefits from its age, as its twenty plus years in existence have given the greenery at the resort a chance to become quite lush and mature. Within this tropical paradise, rooms are spread among 6 villages: Trinidad North, Trinidad South, Martinique, Barbados, Aruba and Jamaica. When we say spread, we mean spread. With the exception of perhaps Saratoga Springs or Old Key West, this seems to be one of the most sprawling resorts at Walt Disney World. This could be an issue if you’re averse to walking, but we really enjoyed it. It gave us more to explore, and more distance to cover in peaceful morning walks. In the middle of it all is the white-sand beaches of Barefoot Bay, with a bridge crossing from most of the villages over Barefoot Bay to Old Port Royale, where the resort’s dining, shopping, and main pool are located.
Speaking of pool, the pool at Old Port Royale is pretty awesome. You might as well call it Old Fort Royale, as it is reminiscent of the Spanish forts under seize at the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean. It’s a really cool pool, and I imagine kids would really enjoy “playing pirate” in its many forts, complete with authentic (eh, probably) cannons.
The Resort’s Main Lobby is called the Custom House. It’s located a bit out-of-the-way, although you probably won’t head here except for check-in and Disney’s Magical Express pick-up. It’s actually quite a hike from many rooms, but a shuttle is available to take you from the Custom House to your room.
We were quite pleased with the rooms at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort. They were noticeably larger than the Value Resorts, although not substantially nicer. Given the difference in price (at some times, a Moderate Resort can be roughly $75 more per night than a Value Resort, we don’t think the rooms were necessarily “worth it” in comparison, but given all of the amenities, it seems like Caribbean Beach Resort was a reasonable value.
Overall, Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is a very nice place to stay. Don’t believe anything you’ve read about it being dated, as that simply is not (or at least no longer is) true. The rooms are nice and modern, and the resort is beautiful. While it may not be as nice as its tropical cousin, Disney’s Polynesian Resort, it is overall a great place to stay. I still believe that if you’re taking a commando-style trip a Value Resort is your best-bet, and if you’re taking a relaxed trip where you’ll be spending a lot of time at your resort, a Deluxe Resort is your best bet. If your trip is somewhere in the middle, Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort might be a great option for you!
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Your Thoughts…
Caribbean Beach Resort seems to be polarizing; do you love it or hate it? Share your thoughts in the comments!
17 Responses to “Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort Review”
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Agreed about CBR being “very nice”, though my stay was several years ago, and we made the mistake of doing the Deluxe (the Poly) before the Moderate on a split-resort trip. Love the pool.
I agree Tom on the CBR being a nice resort. My first stay there was back in 1998 and stayed 5 more times. My last stay was 2007. Staying again this Dec-. I always found the resort very nice. Buy the way nice photos.
Hope you enjoyed your stay at CBR!
I’ve stayed at CBR twice: once in late ’90s and again in mid-2000s. I had great experiences both times: no sign of aging, comfortable beds, et al. Pool is fabulous! My only complaint was the size of the resort; I prefer a more compact Moderate.
nice images good description , get good overview of disney , that make me curious to visit, good write up, keep it up.
Great review! The pictures take me back to a lot of great memories. My wife and I stayed there for our WDW honeymoon trip back in Jan 2008. The main pool was still under construction at the time. It’s a great resort and we definitely enjoyed our stay. We plan to stay there again when we get a chance to go back to WDW.
The main pool is really cool. Definitely has a pirate-fort feel to it. I would’ve loved it as a kid!
Amazing effects of photography. Among other Disney’s theme hotels that I have visited Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is the best stay.
Where else have you stayed?
My husband and I are staying here in July for an anniversary trip. We stayed at All Star Music in March and had to find a way to go back. Thanks to the summer room discount we get to try a moderate this time!! Can’t wait! Love reading your articles!
And if I remember correctly, they’re the only moderate pool with zero entry, which is a big plus for ones with little kids.
Have to admit that I was rather nervous after reading the reviews online after we booked.
glad to see that there was someone else who enjoyed the things that we looked at as perks to going there. 38 days until we get to experience it ourselves! Thanks For posting the review Tom.
Hope you enjoy your stay!
We stayed at this resort earlier this year. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The playground in the middle of the resort is great for younger kids, the food court offered a few non-traditional items to try, the pool and the activities that were offered for kids there were great. The theming is spectacular, the white sands and hammocks really give the feeling of being in the Caribbean.
The only negative about this resort is that the Customs House is so far away, and not walkable (with luggage). This is not an issue if you drive or have a rental car. However, when checking out and relying on Magical Express, you have the required wait time for the Magical Express pick-up, but you also have to plan an extra hour ahead of time for an internal resort van to come get you to take you to the Customs House. Between waiting for the internal resort pick-up, waiting at the Customs House, waiting for Magical Express… well it’s just a lot of waiting
Otherwise, great resort. Highly recommended.
I walked SEVERAL times from the Customs House to our room because I was trying to locate two lost packages at the Customs House. Once they finally found them…and I had to carry the packages back to our room…it was BRUTAL!
I used to love staying at Caribbean Beach, stayed there at least 10 times when I was a teenager, however I won’t stay there now that we have kids because whenever we used to stay there, it a long from the time you got on the bus to get out of the resort and on the way to a park because it made so many stops to all of the bus stops within the resort. We started requesting to stay in “Martinique” because it was the 1st bus stop and it ensured that we got a seat. When we stayed in “Barbados” (the last stop at the time) there were many times that the bus was already full by the time it got to us and we’d have to wait till the next one. But even making it onto the bus but making lots of stops after before you even get to the park can be confusing to young kids who think the next stop is the park haha, but bigger issue would be the bus being already full if you are a later stop. I don’t know if they’ve changed this by adding more buses there now but until I know that that changed I could never stay there again because of it but I LOVE the hotel and the theme, I think it would be one of the best ones if they could take care of that. We prefer a monorail resort now for ease with young kids, but would pick Port Orleans if we had to choose a moderate resort because of the bus issue I used to experience there. It wouldn’t be as big of a deal I guess if you know you are going at an off peak time, but over the summer and during April vacation (New Englanders don’t have a spring break and have a Feb. & April vacation instead) but it would be a hassle with our kids at least
I do so love the theme though and it always made me feel like being in the Caribbean for real. I enjoy going to Disney countries better than the real things!!! (I have visited many countries and I enjoy the Epcot ones better than the real ones haha, nothing better than getting a taste of the country and being in Disney at the same time) Love love love your blog, keep up the good work!
I would have to say that I agree with your review. We stayed there last week and the hotel is gorgeous and the theme is done very well. Having said that, we were all the way in the back of the resort and walking to the main pool and food areas was a bit of a haul. I would much rather have been closer to the front so we could more easily get to the food areas and to the bus system. I’m glad we went in the “off season” because I’m not sure I would have been happy paying full price for our room. I don’t feel like it was any bigger than the Art of Animation rooms and the bathroom actually felt smaller. But still, we enjoyed our time there!