Caribbean Beach Construction Update – Spring 2019
Another Caribbean Beach construction update? Aside from the Skyliner station and Riviera Resort, wasn’t that totally done?! We thought so, but apparently not. Nevertheless, we continue our Walt Disney World progress reports, with a look at what seems to be an unexpected project at Caribbean Beach Resort.
Before we get to that, the good news here is that Caribbean Beach’s reimagining is finished. We covered the good and bad of the changes in our Photos & Thoughts: Re-Imagined Caribbean Beach Resort post. Suffice to say, the redesigned Old Port Royale lobby area is open, as are Centertown Market, Banana Cabana, and Sebastian’s Bistro.
Even after that major piece of the puzzle was completed and before the latest work started, construction wasn’t entirely finished around Caribbean Beach Resort, with an emphasis on around. Along the northern perimeter of Caribbean Beach Resort, construction continues for Disney’s Riviera Resort, the newest Disney Vacation Club property. Over there and on the other side of the resort, there are two Skyliner gondola stations also under construction.
Both of these projects are either outside the current boundaries of Caribbean Beach Resort, or on the far perimeter of the resort’s boundaries. Which is to say, you’re not going to actively encounter construction walls for these projects while strolling around Caribbean Beach Resort. Nevertheless, sound does carry and that’s especially true across the large bodies of water at Caribbean Beach. Additionally, there’s visual blight resulting from this work.
To keep tabs on the Riviera Resort and Skyliner projects (and because we enjoy eating at the restaurants in Old Port Royale), we’ve still been visiting Caribbean Beach on a fairly regular basis. On our most recent visit, we noticed some quite unexpected construction all around Aruba and Jamaica…
The only reason I came over to these sections was for a different vantage on construction photos of Riviera Resort.
I was quite taken aback when I saw so much pavement torn up and construction fencing all over the place.
For those who haven’t followed the work at Caribbean Beach Resort, the Skyliner pillars were installed last summer, a process that was completed by September.
Looking back at our construction update from that month, the beaches had been largely restored, grass had been replanted, and the area around the pillars was once again looking good.
Now, for reasons totally unbeknownst to me, it looks like these areas have reverted to how they looked around July and August of last summer. In comparing photos from those months, this is arguably worse.
When seeing this in person, my initial inclination was that something must’ve been done incorrectly with the initial installation of the Skyliner pillars. I don’t purport to be a construction expert, but this actually looks worse than how Aruba looked during the installation. Maybe there’s more to whatever’s going on than that?
One thing I did note is that there are Skyliner signs up on various sections of the fencing that state: “Pardon our pixie dust as we enhance this area for Disney’s Innovative Transportation System.”
Taking those signs at face value, this work does seem related to the Skyliner. So why do all of this months after the initial install and restoration of these areas?
While there’s no construction notice on the Caribbean Beach page of DisneyWorld.com, we have heard of guests with upcoming stays this month and in April receiving email notices of construction.
As with all Walt Disney World email correspondence, these are incredibly hit or miss. Not everyone (and maybe not even 50%) of guests will receive them. If you have received such a notice and you’re staying at Caribbean Beach Resort after April, we’d love to hear from you in the comments.
At this point, that’s about all we have to go on regarding the scope and duration of this work. (It’s also entirely possible that Disney doesn’t know how long it’ll last.)
This is all really a bummer, as certain buildings in Aruba and Jamaica were previously the best options for avoiding the noise and visual blight of construction on the Skyliner stations and Disney’s Riviera Resort.
With all of this in mind, we need to revise our answer to the common question of which building(s) we recommend at Caribbean Beach Resort right now. At present, that’s a tough question because many of our favorite non-preferred buildings are eliminated by this work.
For the remainder of the time that the Skyliner and Riviera are under construction, our new answer is simply going to be Barbados. This location benefits from being far enough away from the construction on the stations and Riviera to not notice any of that, and there aren’t any Skyliner pillars over there, so the likelihood of “surprise” construction is (hopefully) minimal.
Moreover, Barbados is roughly equidistance from the Fuentes del Morro Pool, Centertown, and Spyglass Grill. As we noted in our full Spyglass Grill Review, that restaurant is a far better dining option than it has any business being (many of you will prefer it to Centertown Market).
Building 26 is another good option if you want a room in Martinique. With this new work being a wildcard, I personally would err on the side of caution and avoid Jamaica and Aruba until the Skyliner is scheduled to open. I also am not a fan of the Pirate Rooms in Trinidad, but that’s largely a matter of personal preference.
With work once again occurring at Caribbean Beach Resort, the best option honestly might be just to look elsewhere. If you want minimal ‘construction blight’ during your Walt Disney World vacation, there are plenty of good options. On the Moderate Resort level, our top alternative recommendation is Port Orleans Riverside. It’s thematically quite different, but the approach is similar with sprawling, beautiful grounds and a charming atmosphere. (Port Orleans French Quarter is great if you want something more compact.)
Anyway, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that’s how Caribbean Beach Resort is looking right now. To be honest, this does make us more hesitant to stay here, as there’s no guarantee of a Barbados room request being granted. If you’re a frequent Walt Disney World guest, you might consider waiting until the Skyliner debuts, but the downside of that is it’s also likely to increase room rates at Caribbean Beach Resort once it does open. Booking strategically for a Late 2019 stay (after the Skyliner is done but before rates increase) might be the best course of action.
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Your Thoughts
Any idea what’s up with this new work? If you have an upcoming stay here, have you received a notice about the construction? Do you agree or disagree with our Caribbean Beach Resort building recommendations? Have a favorite area of CBR? Least favorite room location at the resort? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Tom,
Do you have plans to revisit CB in the near future? We were so excited for our stay and received an excellent rate. This post has me concerned though. I called about spoke with Disney but they definitely downplayed what was going on there (your pictures tell a different story!) Considering moving to Port Orleans even though we wanted to try a new moderate resort and love the vibe of CBR!
Thanks for any insight!
We are booked there 9.18-9.22 for an Anniversary trip. No email yet!!
I’m booked for the end of May and I booked it in Feb – haven’t received any construction emails so it should be interesting to see what we end up with. As long as they don’t wake me up in the middle of the night I won’t be annoyed but still would be nice to get switched to a different resort or a better area!
My family was scheduled to stay at CBR Feb 13-19. I arrived first was told we would be in Jamaica 45, which is a great location. THen I saw the building itself, surrounded by fencing. We got no warning. Since we booked 8 months out, this was very disappointing. The construction looks to have gotten much worse.
Reserved for 10/19-10/26. No email regarding construction yet.
I will be here in July and I received a construction email a few weeks ago!
We’ll be there 7/5-7/14 and we received the construction email about a month ago.
Talk about irony…
I just booked CB for 9/11/19 – 9/15/19 for my 50th birthday trip.
I splurged for waterfront requesting Aruba 1512. Now I need to watch this daily to see if this construction has any impact on our reservation.
I’m hoping to hear what’s going on and the expected completion dates.
Please keep us informed. Thank you.
Booked our stay at CB in December for June 7th-13th. We’ve stayed here before and loved it and wanted to check out the new refurbishments this time around and the new pool slides. Requested a pool view or water view. Not sure where that is in relation to the construction. It sucks it’s still going on but we’ll be at the pool all day or the parks all day and won’t be around much so it’s okay. It’s just sore on the eyes for Disney.
We are staying June 1st and I got an email Feb. 4th. I also assumed it was just referring to the Skyliner construction. Does this current construction impact the areas with preferred locations?
Question for those that have been there with the current round of construction. How would building 42 be in relation to the construction? It is where most of the king rooms are. While it’s hopefully wrapped up by the week of July 4th I am just curious how it’s currently impacted.
I was supposed to stay at CB 2/8-2/16. Had no clue about the construction. Our room was first floor Aruba, all out construction going on in front of us. We requested a change to a different area of the resort but they were sold out. Sooooo they moved us to Poly!!!! I’m not kidding. That’s our dream resort but could never afford it. Simply amazing and bravo to the amazing people at Disney for taking care of us and going above and beyond.
As long as you stay on the side where the main pool area is you will be ok, but if you stay in Jamaica or Aruba there is a ton of blight and construction.
We are staying 7/20-7/28 and we received the construction e-mail. I assumed it was just the gondola construction so I didn’t consider changing the reservations, but now after reading this I might look into it. Thanks for the updates!
Staying Father’s Day weekend mid-June. Booked mid February through a TA, haven’t received any notice. We initially chose a preferred room, hoping that saves us for the most part. Too short a stay to worry about it anyways. Thanks for the heads-up!
Hi,
We stayed in Aruba at the end of January. On day 3 of our stay, the construction fences went up and then workers commenced cutting down most of the trees within the fenced area. We spoke with 2 management staff about this issue, and the visual and auditory disturbance as we has paid for a water view room. We were told that they need to remove the “obstructions” i.e., trees! and re-landscape so that there would be a clear evacuation path in the event of a problem with the skyliner that required a mass evacuation and bringing in heavy equipment. That’s reassuring!
We are staying in May and received a construction email quickly after we booked back in Jan. No new updated emails since.
We are at Caribbean Beach 7/26-8/3. We received an email a few weeks ago about construction. I just figured it was referring to the Riveria and Skyliner station construction…but it looks like they are doing more. When we originally booked this trip, we were really hoping the Skyliner would be done ahead of schedule and we would get there just after all the construction finished.
Andy, my family will be at Caribbean Beach the same days!! 7/26-8/1. We booked here believing most everything was done at the resort. As long as the pool and restaurants are finished we’ll likely be okay since we won’t be at the resort too much. Fingers crossed!
Am I right in thinking Barbados used to be called Trinidad North?
We were there 2/16-2/19 and there were construction fences everywhere! We arrived and were told they overbooked so tried to downgrade us to a value since there were no rooms on property available. We refused the downgrade and after 2 hours were put in Aruba 5538 facing all of the gondola/ riviera resort construction!!! The construction noise woke us up very early every morning! Have been to Disney over 20 times and will never stay here again
We will be there the last week of September/early October – hoping to avoid all the construction and keeping my fingers crossed the gondolas will be up by then!
Us too! Hoping that the gondolas will be up and running.