Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort 2018 Construction Update
It’s been a few months since our last visit to Walt Disney World’s biggest hotel construction project, so we headed over to Caribbean Beach Resort to check in on the re-imagining of Old Port Royale, and the construction of the Skyliners and Disney’s Riviera Resort. In this post, we’ll share photos of the construction, and offer some thoughts on staying whether you should stay here in 2018.
Right now, Caribbean Beach Resort is very much an active construction site, with multiple projects being worked on simultaneously. This began last May, and was originally scheduled to be completed by late last year. At some point, the project became more ambitious in scope, and around Christmas, offered a revised completion timeframe of Late Summer 2018.
April 7, 2018 Update: Spyglass Grill, a quick service dining spot adjacent to the quiet pool in Trinidad South, is now opened. While normally a quiet pool dining option (we’d stop short of calling it a restaurant) wouldn’t merit coverage on the blog, this is the first phase of Caribbean Beach’s refurbishment to open, and the food is reportedly pretty good. It reinforces our recommendation to request a room in Trinidad if you’re going to stay at Caribbean Beach in the next few months, too.
Note that this anticipated Summer 2018 timeframe for completion still applies to the Old Port Royale “port of entry” and Centertown projects (consisting of the all-new waterfront dining for Shutters, counter service dining, shopping, and pool bar). If current progress is any indication, it’ll be more like late summer or early fall that the work is done.
Those completion dates most definitely do not apply to the adjacent Disney’s Riviera Resort or the Skyliner projects, neither of which will be finished before 2019. After walking through some of the work, we’ll assess whether guests planning late 2018 vacations should book stays at Caribbean Beach.
Before we get to that, let’s provide context for what you’re going to be viewing, for those of you unfamiliar with the layout of Caribbean Beach Resort or who haven’t seen the construction in person. For a basic primer on CBR, read our comprehensive Caribbean Beach Resort Review.
Note that you should start by reading our last Caribbean Beach Resort Construction Update if you have not already. That covers a lot of the temporary shopping and dining areas at the hotel, and we don’t revisit any of those because nothing has changed.
One thing we do have to add about dining at Caribbean Beach Resort right now is in-room pizza delivery. Prior to our visit, a friend had told us this was an ongoing “issue” at CBR because they didn’t have the kitchen facilities on-site to prepare pizza.
Instead, all pizzas ordered were being driven over from Pop Century, and in some cases, took over 2 hours to arrive. During our visit to Caribbean Beach, sure enough, we saw a golf cart with the Pop Century logo on it. Knowing that, I’d probably skip in-room pizza delivery, but that’s just me.
Actually, I’d probably go a step further and skip eating at Caribbean Beach Resort entirely. The temporary buffet and food trucks look like they leave a lot to be desired. If you’re planning a Walt Disney World vacation in the near future, the temporary dining set-up is something you should look at, to see if it’s serviceable for you.
We’d skip the parking lot food tent, and have food and alcohol delivered for a much cheaper price—see our Tips for Grocery Delivery at Walt Disney World post for more info.
Above is a 2018 map of Caribbean Beach Resort from DisneyWorld.com, with my notes about current projects added. If you look at an older map, you’ll notice the Barbados section and part of Martinique of Caribbean Beach Resort have vanished, as has part of Old Port Royale.
Pardon my rudimentary Photoshop work here, but in blue above is the work being done on Old Port Royale and Centertown, which stretches from the parking lot to waterfront, and abuts Martinique. In green is the former Customs House check-in area for Caribbean Beach Resort, which is being demolished.
In yellow is (roughly) one of the Disney Skyliner gondola station plots. There will also be another Skyliner station down by Jamaica, in the bottom left corner of the map. Work has also now started on this second plot, and it’s a surprisingly large area.
Finally, there’s the Disney Vacation Club component, Disney’s Riviera Resort in red. The work on this project is visible throughout Caribbean Beach Resort, and is especially bad from Martinique, the Old Port Royale area, and Aruba. You can hear this construction from literally anywhere in the resort.
Here’s a quick video of progress on Disney’s Riviera Resort as of early 2018:
We already know that Disney’s Riviera Resort won’t open until Fall 2019, because Disney has announced that. Since our last visit, Disney’s Riviera Resort has progressed quite a bit. It’s now gone vertical and is several stories tall, with huge crews actively working on it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney’s Riviera Resort is actually ahead of schedule, ready to debut by late Summer 2019 to start filling rooms for the busy fall and Christmas seasons. This makes sense–with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge scheduled to open in late 2019, having these hotel projects wrapped up well before then is going to be essential to meet increased hotel demand.
By contrast, not much progress is apparent on the work occurring at the Centertown and Old Port Royale complex since our last visit in September.
It’s certainly possible that some of the biggest strides have been made in areas that are not visible, but my reaction to seeing this was, “that’s it?”
Given that Centertown and Old Port Royale are integral amenities to the resort that is currently operating, finishing those projects in an expeditious manner should be Disney’s priority–not getting the new DVC resort built. Of course, new DVC means new membership dollars, and Caribbean Beach doesn’t seem to be having problems filling its rooms, so there’s that.
This is not to say that the Centertown and Old Port Royale project won’t wrap up by late Summer 2018. I’d hazard a guess that this work could be finished in the span of a few months if there was a sense of urgency about it, so finishing in ~7-8 months (still technically summer) by moving at a snail’s pace is entirely possible.
That brings us to the question of whether you should stay at Caribbean Beach Resort in 2018? I’ll start by giving you my personal answer, as to what we’d do (and will be doing), and then follow with some factors to take into consideration since there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.
There is no way we’d book a stay at Caribbean Beach Resort between now and August 2018. The negative impact of the work is too high for us, there aren’t currently enough incentives to get us to stay in an active construction site, and the likelihood of things getting dramatically better between now and then seems pretty low.
There is very little chance we’d book between August and October, as even if the Centertown and Old Port Royale project finishes in that time (and it probably will), the Skyliner and Riviera Resort projects will still be noisy and visible. However, a good promotion–Free Dining availability here but not elsewhere, for instance–could sway us.
We will likely stay at Caribbean Beach Resort for a few nights during our Christmas 2018 trip, in part because we want to review all of this new stuff at Centertown and Old Port Royale. Also, in part because we anticipate the Skyliner and Riviera Resort projects being far enough along that they will no longer negatively impact the guest experience at Caribbean Beach.
All of those ‘answers’ are specific to us, and obviously, your mileage may vary. With that said, here are some things to consider if you’re planning a trip to Walt Disney World in 2018 and are on the fence about Caribbean Beach Resort.
First, a big selling point of Caribbean Beach Resort is its “Polynesian Lite” rooms and relaxed tropical ambiance, and scenery to explore. During this construction project, that tropical scenery is impacted and the previously relaxed ambiance is filled with the sounds of bulldozers and cranes.
We expect this significant negative impact on the resort’s ambiance until late 2018. It will get better once Centertown and Old Port Royale reopens, but the big offenders in this regard are the Riviera and Skyliner work. If you want a Moderate with ‘resort’ ambiance right now, I’d recommend Port Orleans Riverside.
If you like to enjoy meals at your resort, steer clear of Caribbean Beach right now, and until at least “late summer.” The makeshift dining options are literally a giant tent and several food trucks in a parking lot. It all feels a bit like something that might pop-up on the far corner of a Wal-Mart parking lot for the Fourth of July. Definitely not what you’d expect from Walt Disney World.
Without question, the impact on the resort’s tropical serenity and the dining options are the biggest downsides of staying at Caribbean Beach Resort right now. If for some reason these things don’t matter to you, by all means, book a stay…at Pop Century, and save some money. (Because if dining and ambiance don’t matter, what’s the difference between a Value and a Moderate?)
If you’re a Caribbean Beach Resort fan, the downside of postponing a stay here for too long is that the nightly rates will undoubtedly increase once all of this work is done. We doubt this will occur once the Centertown and Old Port Royale ‘up-scale’ waterfront areas open, but it certainly will once the Skyliner debuts and offers non-bus transportation to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot.
This basically leaves a window of Fall 2018 until Late 2019 as the sweet spot for enjoying improved amenities at current prices. If you can swing it, that’s what we’d recommend doing, and requesting a room in Trinidad, buildings 44-46, or buildings 51-53. I just hope that once the dust settles, Caribbean Beach Resort once again has the heart and tranquility of the resort I fell in love with when we first stayed there.
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Your Thoughts
Do you agree or disagree with our assessment of the construction impact on Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort? Have you stayed here since the work began? How did it affect your stay? Planning on staying at Caribbean Beach anytime soon, or will you wait until work is done? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Love the Caribbean Beach Resort, but was so disappointed Feb 2018. I have booked to arrive there on the 23rd Feb, this year – will the dining area be restored, is the new Check-in open now – I do not arrive until really late – likely around 11:30 p.m.
We are finishing a stay CRB today- stayed in Jamaica bldg 41, garden view room
No construction visible or audible from our room or quiet pool in Jamaica.
Overall, while construction still actively ongoing and can be heard from feature pool
Sometimes, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay
Bus service leaves much room for improvement, food buffet in the ‘tent’ was serviceable for a meal or two
What is a good section/building to request where the rooms have been updated, AND close to the main pool? This Willie be our first stay at CBR! Don’t necessarily mind the construction but would at least like an updated room close to main pool 🙂
what about October 2019 how is it looking?
I stayed at this resort in June 2017. I was one of the ones that received a $75 gift card per room, per night. We had two rooms, so we received a $900 gift card. We did get the dining plan last year, and did not plan on eating at Caribbean Beach Resort at all.
However, once we realized how good their breakfast and dinner buffet’s looked (especially for only a quick-service credit!) we ended up eating at the resort at least 3 times! Unlimited Mickey Waffles, bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits & gravy, fruit, grits, potato casserole, pastries, etc… for only a QUICK SERVICE credit!!! Yes, it’s in a tent, but the tent is a quality tent. It has doors, air conditioner, fountain drinks, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, etc. Last year was a really good deal because of the food options and the gift cards.
I applied my $900 gift cards to this years trip where will we will be going to Caribbean Beach Resort again in July 2018. The rooms were cheap, it’s guaranteed there will be no construction noise from dusk to dawn. We NEVER spend a whole lot of time at the resorts. We’re always on the go. For the food choices, we’ve decided to only do quick service DP this year, pay for O’hana OOP and get our buffet fix for a QS credit at the resort before or after the kids swim.
I can deal with the eye sores… still many photo ops with no construction in your background.
If you’re not uptight about how everything looks around you, and you would like to save $60-90/night compared to other moderate resorts, this is the place for you! I’d choose Caribbean Beach Resort any day over an All-Star resort!! Even over a refurbished room at Pop Century. The rooms are much larger at CBR!
Why were you given gift cards? If we were to stay in January of 2019 what construction do you think would be going on that would affect us?
We are heading down to Disney early November. Made reservations a year ago and never expected that Disney could not have this done by now. I chatted with a Disney rep the other day who was totally useless. They are all like puppets that get wound up and just keep saying the same thing over and over. But she did allude to the place not be ready until the fall of 2019. I’m not sure if she misunderstood me or I misunderstood her but has anyone heard anything similar?
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We are thinking about a CBR stay in late March 2019, any thoughts on where construction will be at that time?
We are pondering at the moment for May 2019.
We were in Disney 2 weeks ago and we had a guided tour round the resort. We had got friendly with a manager last year and we bumped into her so she went to great lengths to assure us that we would be fine next year. She wants all guests to return and though the Centretown is due to be finished this year she could not give us dates. The same for the skyline and riviera resort, but having stayed at Disney springs CBR does for us have more pros than cons. We will take a chance and coming from the UK we always have 2 weeks. I just wish I knew more, at my age I need reassurance as it is a lot of money for it not to be perfect.
We got a free dinning reservation for early August. Going to take our chances. We do plan on requesting building 44. For the price, we couldn’t pass it up. We weren’t even planning another trip until August of 19, but free dinning sucked us right in.
We just returned less than 2 weeks ago. We stayed in building 24 in Martinique, water view room. Even though we were near construction, it wasn’t at all bothersome and we were in and out all day long. It was a bit of a hike to Spyglass Grill, but a pleasant walk and the food was worth it! The walk to the main pool was inconvenient because the normal walking path is closed, so it involved walking through the new bus shelters. The internal buses ran frequently, so you could easily avoid the walks, if you wanted to. Buses to the parks were hit or miss- same as most Disney resorts.
The food truck was about what you’d expect- good, but nothing to write home about. We grabbed burgers from there and drinks from the bar truck and ate on the little boardwalk area near the pool and beach. The Sunset Festival and character pool party were lots of fun- definitely check them out if you have a chance!
Tom, I’m confused by the building numbers that you recommend for Trinidad. Trinidad North has 3 buildings, 31-33, right? Just want to get it right for making a room request! Thanks!!
I had the same question as Tracy. Looking at the numbers you gave, it doesn’t match up with the Trinidad building numbers. Just want to double check as well
Hi, this is a bit long so I apologize, but I need to pick your brain! I’m planning on going to Disney with a Homeschooling group Nov.10-17. This is the first time going with them. Their latest trip was staying at POR, so I was really excited, since that’s where we wanted to stay. When I found out that are choices are All Star Music or Caribbean Beach, my heart sank. This is the “once in a lifetime” trip with my parents, and I don’t want to stay in an All Star resort. When I found out about the refurbishment & construction, my heart sank even more. We do not have to lodge with the homeschooling group, so I looked into other options. Port Orleans Riverside & French Quarter, Pop Century and Art of Animations are all booked (except $300 rooms at POR which we cannot do) and even the Campsites at Fort Wilderness are booked. If I thought I was discouraged before, this was scaring me. For a comparison, I checked the week of September 15th and there isn’t a single Value or Mod resort booked full. Should I be scared? I chose this week because I thought it would be less crowded (it coincidentally landed on the homeschoolers dates.) Our last trip was in Feb. 2015 at POR. The crowds were great, POR, of course, was great and we had nice weather. It was fabulous. Now I’m panicking! Construction, noise, eating under a circus tent, large crowds & possibly getting stuck in one of the older rooms. What are your thoughts? What would you do? There are 6 of us – me, my hubby, 8 & 9 year old and my 2 “young” parents. Should I wait & shell out the extra bucks to go in January or February and book at POR? I would greatly appreciate your advice & thanks for your blog!
I need some help please!
We have booked to stay for 14 nights at Caribbean Beach Club from Nov 15 onwards this year. When we booked we were told
Everything would be completed. I am taking a 70 & 73 yr old & a 2 and 4 yr old. Days laying about the resort, eating at resort are a must for us. Should I cancel this hotel? I’m really getting worried!
Hi Claire!
You didn’t mention if either 70 or 73 year old has any mobility issues. You have a wide range in ages I can see. For the children, you are probably bringing a stroller (a double one would work great. There is the Spyglass (I’m going to call it an eatery) located near the pool in Trinadad South. It would be good for lunch. At Centertown, they have the breakfast buffet which my husband and I really like. Not sure if Shutters Restaurant will be completed as the time frame of late of Late Fall, 2018 to Early 2019 has been given. We just went the end of April into the first part of May. We stay at Caribbean Beach twice a year as long as funds allow. I am 69 and he is 70. You can go anywhere by taking a bus at the bus stop. Lots of places in Disney Springs to have dinner and I would suggest making some dinner reservations in advance going on Disney site. You can go to any of the other resorts for dinner as well by taking the bus to any of the parks or Disney Springs and then finding the quque for that resort. You can get anywhere in Disney World by doing this. It’s limitless. We spent our days on the resort beach. Our room was in Aruba and we weren’t bothered by the construction at all. I hope I have been of help to you!
My family and I are staying at CBR mainly because it’s an affordable option for our larger family (5) right now. We decided that since our boys will probably not want to take a vacay with their parents (they are 14, 12 and 9) too much longer, that it’s best to have a Disney vacation while they are small enough still to want to hang out. The rates are lower because of the construction. My only concern was if there was a hangup on food being available and I received an email regarding the restaurants that are going to be open, and we are ok with that.
Oh, boy. I’m beginning to sense a certain method to Disney’s madness on the construction and refurbishments at the Caribbean Beach, and I’m getting very antsy about it, since I’m at 11 days out from the CBR, and I’ve entered an absolute desert for recent updates on the construction status at the resort, save one.
And that one update area I’ve seen is pictures of the construction underway at the Riviera Resort’s Skyliner terminal, which is right next to Aruba.
And therein lies the clue to what I think Disney is up to with why Centertown/Port Royale has been taking so long: Disney is aiming for a convergence of construction to be over before moving the Caribbean Beach to the upgraded version. While construction on the Riviera will continue, and ditto the Skyliner, had Disney gone forward, as they could have, and finished Centertown/Port Royale by Memorial Day, you’d have everyone talking about the newly remodeled resort…while half of it would still be impacted by construction.
I think Disney plans to role out the new and improved(?) Caribbean Beach Resort with proper fanfare, and at a point when the major construction projects will be done. By fall, the heavy construction work on the Skyliner hub south of Jamaica and the station between Aruba and Riviera will be mostly done. By fall I’d expect that the massive construction cranes will be gone at Riviera. Construction will be ongoing there, but it will be more to the internal structure of the building, and less to the exterior areas, though obviously things like the resorts pool and ground areas will be ongoing, as well as other important, but not as obtrusive, exterior work.
So that’s my theory: Timing the Centertown/Old Port Royale project to finish at a point when the “worst” of the other construction projects are done.
Hi we have booked for Oct 19 and wondering if the will still impact on us at this time please ?
I too would like to know what the expected look of the place will be in Oct 19. Any informed opinion to give?
We are booked for Oct 19 do you beleige there will be much better map to us at this time please ?
We are planning on doing a Disney World trip this fall. The first week of September and we are debating on which resort of caribbean beach or coronado springs. Anyone have suggestions on which one would be best due to construction? We will have an almost 2 year old with us. Thanks for the advice in advance.
We’re going to the Caribbean Beach, with much trepidation, at the end of May (less than 3 weeks now!) A big factor for us was that, despite the construction taking place literally next door, the wonderful pool at the CBR is open. Starting September 4th, the entire Digsite area at Coronado Springs will be closed. This includes the theme pool and playground. There are other quiet pools that will be open at CSR, I’m not sure about other playgrounds. So, you should keep that in mind when making your decision.
I haven’t seen a completion date yet for CBR’s Port Royale/Centertown construction, so it’s possible that it will be finished by the time you arrive, but also quite possible that it will be another month or so left to go. However, the pool area should still be open, and is open now. There’s a great themed children’s play area for the pool at CBR. There’s an excellent playground on Caribbean Cay, the island in the middle of Barefoot Bay, the lake at CBR.
I’m not sure what the status will be of the beach area at that time at CSR, but IIRC, there’s really only one area, while there remain beach areas for each “island” at CBR, so if your little one wants to play in the sand, there’ll be more, and more convenient options, at CBR than CSR.
There have also been some of the Disney characters at CBR around the pool area, transferred from the Beach Club. Whether they’ll still be there by the time you arrive, I don’t know, but it is worth checking out.
In CSR’s favor, the food court and restaurants should all be open there. Ditto shopping options.
Construction will still be impacting both resorts by the time you arrive. Port Royale/Centertown will have either just completed or be in the final lap of construction, but the Rivera Resort and Skyliner construction projects will still be ongoing. By the time you arrive, the Gondola pylons will likely be up going through Jamaica and Aruba, but construction will likely be still ongoing at the Skyliner station next to Jamaica and the new entrance area. They still haven’t started construction on the station which will be between Aruba and the Rivera Resort.
You may have a better chance to avoid construction impact at CSR, as you can get rooms across the lake in the casitas part of CSR, although construction on the over-the-water restaurant and bar will continue.
It’s a real balancing act. CSR will have less kiddie-friendly activities during at least a portion of your stay, but will likely have less construction noise.
We have stayed at CBR for the past 4 years and TBH the construction hasn’t bothered us one bit. You are in the parks for most of the day and even when at the pool we heard no noise, we actually liked the fact that you can see the progression of the build.
We have just come back from All stars Sports this Easter (2018) and have just booked to come back to CBR this summer. We love it that much and also love the main pool area……plus if you time it right and you are on a rest day you can see the fireworks from in the pool! We can’t wait to return!!!
My husband and I just stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort from 4/29/18 to 5/3/18. We stayed in Aruba in building 53. We have been doing trips to Disney in May or October but now try to do both trips annually as long as funds allow and all at Caribbean Beach Resort. When the construction first started, it threw us because we would go to Custom House and then be able to walk over to where we would be staying. You can no longer do that because they have blocked it off due to the construction. There is an internal bus running at the Custom House to take you over to Aruba or other. The food court demolition was disconcerting at first, but we find the breakfast buffet fine. We spend our days relaxing on the resort beach. Yes there is construction which starts a bit earlier at the Riviera Hotel site and later at the site of towers for new Skyliner. All is screened off and in no way impacted our stay. They have set up a place in Jamaica (I believe it is room 4308) where you can grab sandwiches, salads, cold drinks for lunch which we did and went back to the beach until about 3:00 pm. Then we went back to the room to start getting ready for the evening. I am 69 and my husband is 70. We aren’t bothered by the construction and always look forward to seeing the progress. I’d say it’s really a personal choice ….to stay or not to stay knowing about the work going on. We choose to stay and have always enjoyed our stays and are hoping to go again in October, 2018 and stay at Caribbean Beach Resort.
We’re going later this month. How is access to the new bus stop area?
Hi Paul!
My husband and I were a little confused by your email about the bus stop. We stayed in building 53 in Aruba. The bus stop was a little walk from that building out through the parking lot but it is the same bus stop that was always there. We will say the new configuration for the bus queque’s at Disney Springs is a bit challenging. The bus now drops off on the side where the new shopping area is in the Springs. Going back to Caribbean Beach Resort, there is a board that lists what number the queque is for the resort and it is quite a walk to get to that line.that is something we won’t deny. On the other hand, what we have experienced is great food and my husband and I look forward to walking as part of our Disney vacation as well as relaxing on the resort beach. We love it all and are already looking and planning for October which is our anniversary month.