Caribbean Beach Resort Construction Update – Fall 2017
More than any hotel at Walt Disney World, Caribbean Beach Resort is an active construction site right now. With the re-imagining of Old Port Royale, Skyliners, and the construction of Disney’s Riviera Resort, the newest DVC addition, there is a lot going on. In this post, we’ll share a photo tour of the resort, and offer some thoughts on staying here this year or next.
The Old Port Royale/Centertown project were announced this spring, and initially, Walt Disney World offered $75/night gift cards to guests booking the resort. This meant many guests were able to double-dip for the Free Disney Dining Plan promo, but alas, both deals have ended and currently there are no incentives to book CBR during its heavy construction. Caribbean Beach Resort simply has a warning concerning the construction on DisneyWorld.com and its normal prices.
Originally, this notice stated that construction work would be completed in Late 2017. Now, no end date is provided. Based upon our observations, it’s safe to say Late 2018 would be an ambitious end date for the projects. More likely, this will be finished sometime in 2019. These are some really extensive projects. To be perfectly honest, the construction impact on Caribbean Beach Resort was far worse than even I anticipated…
First of all, let’s provide some context for all of this work, as these Caribbean Beach Resort construction photos won’t make a ton of sense if you’re not already familiar with the resort, or where this work is occurring. For a primer on CBR, read our comprehensive Caribbean Beach Resort Review.
Below is a 2017 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…
Okay, now let’s make some sense of my rudimentary Photoshop creation. In blue is the work being done on Old Port Royale and Centertown, which stretches from the parking lot to waterfront, and abuts what remains of Martinique. 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.
In red, there’s the Disney Vacation Club component, Disney’s Riviera Resort. Right now, the work on this project is very noticeable throughout Caribbean Beach Resort, and is especially bad from Martinique, the Old Port Royale area, and Aruba.
Finally, in green is the Customs House check-in area for Caribbean Beach Resort. This will undoubtedly be demolished at some point to further demarcate between Caribbean Beach Resort and Riviera Resort.
Many Disney Vacation Club members were apprehensive about the idea of a “Moderate” DVC resort back when this project was rumored to be an extension of Caribbean Beach Resort, but the name makes clear that Disney wants to draw a distinction between the resorts.
Here’s hoping this occurs by concealing Disney’s Riviera Resort. Even if it’s technically nicer, it looks dull as dishwater, with no real theme to speak of. It’d be a shame if the thematically-charming Caribbean Beach Resort were blighted by an “upscale” resort towering over its edge.
We already know that Disney’s Riviera Resort won’t open until Fall 2019, because Disney has announced as much. Progress here is very much in the early stages, and in walking around, I found this project to be very visible and noisy.
This was especially the case from the “quiet” pool at the edge of Martinique (above).
Within Caribbean Beach Resort, there’s also a ton of work occurring at the Centertown and Old Port Royale complex. The above walk-through video should give you an idea of how this all looks. You might want to watch it on mute, as my babbling like someone who has spent too much time out in the Florida humidity adds literally nothing to the video.
It’s difficult to tell from my attempts at photos, but a ton of land has been cleared in this area, and the existing buildings have been pretty much gutted (see below). This is definitely going to be an expansion of Old Port Royale, but it’s unclear what will be added beyond the waterfront dining and shopping.
It’s possible that the Customs House check-in will be relocated here, which would definitely make sense. It is interesting that the Old Port Royale area is poised to expand its footprint as Caribbean Beach as a whole is contracting in size.
It makes me wonder if Disney’s Riviera Resort will be slightly under-built in terms of amenities (we already know it’s getting at least rooftop dining), with the expectation of some sharing occurring. Having DVC maintenance fees pay for some of the upkeep of this area and the Fuentes del Morro Pool is probably attractive to Walt Disney World.
The Old Port Royale Food Court, Shutters at Old Port Royale, Banana Cabana Pool Bar, and Calypso Trading Post permanent locations have all now closed.
Some of these, like Banana Cabana and Calypso Trading Post, have been replaced with temporary locations in trailers or trucks.
Then there are the food court and table service locations, which have been replaced (I guess?) by food trucks and a large tent that now houses a makeshift buffet.
Our tip: skip the lovely “ambiance” of the parking lot and have food and alcohol brought to you for a much cheaper price—see our Tips for Grocery Delivery at Walt Disney World post for more info.
In addition to these dining options, three guest rooms have been converted to Island Markets: Martinique 2509, Jamaica 4308, and Aruba 5524.
These sell various grab and go items and have refillable mug stations.
Substantively, the collective menus of the temporary dining options are not much worse than Caribbean Beach’s standard dining options.
However, it’s worth pointing out that the island atmosphere of the permanent locations went a long way in carrying these restaurants.
As mentioned above, the construction at Caribbean Beach Resort is a lot more noticeable and intrusive than I anticipated. Just look above at the view of construction above from the pool area.
Previously, Caribbean Beach Resort scored highly in our rankings due to its “Polynesian Lite” rooms and large tropical scenery to explore and enjoy.
During this construction project, that tropical scenery is heavily impacted. A walk around Caribbean Beach is not particularly enjoyable from an escapist perspective, and definitely not serene. If you want a Moderate with ‘resort’ ambiance right now, I’d recommend Port Orleans Riverside.
This will remain the case until at least mid to late 2018, if not 2019. If you care about ambiance and theme, now is not a good time to experience Caribbean Beach Resort. That is, by far, the biggest way Caribbean Beach is impacted.
If you’re concerned with dining options or resort amenities, it’s also difficult to recommend CBR right now. The makeshift dining options are definitely less-pleasant atmospherically, but they do a decent-enough job with adequate alternatives.
I wouldn’t want to eat every meal in that giant tent, but chances are, you’ll do a couple of meals here and/or from the food trucks at most. In that scenario, I could see Caribbean Beach being an okay choice. But I probably still wouldn’t risk it.
If the Poly-lite rooms are the biggest/only selling point of Caribbean Beach for you, and you request a room in Jamaica or Trinidad, I could see Caribbean Beach Resort still being a viable option for you.
The main pool is still there (and with added entertainment), and the far end of the resort is not as noticeably impacted as the rest of it. Even if this is your perspective, I probably still would be hesitant to book Caribbean Beach unless I could score a great discount, or really didn’t like the style of the other Moderates.
Actually, without any special incentives to book Caribbean Beach Resort, we have a hard time fathoming why anyone would want to book it right CBR between now and 2019.
(To be clear, by incentive, we’re talking more than a standard discount that’s also available at other Moderates. It would take a return of the $75/night gift card to convince us to stay here at this point.)
If you’re a Caribbean Beach Resort fan (as I am), the downside of postponing a stay here is that the nightly rates will undoubtedly increase once all of this work is done. The first indicator of this is the upscale waterfront dining and shopping.
The bigger selling point will be the Skyliner access to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Any time a Walt Disney World resort has non-bus transportation to one of the parks, that’s at least a 25% premium. While we wouldn’t expect the ‘Skyliner surcharge’ to be significant, we would be surprised if Caribbean Beach didn’t eclipse $300/night (rack rate) for certain dates once the Skyliner debuts.
Personally, after seeing this construction, we will not book a stay at Caribbean Beach until at least later in Summer 2018. (Probably more like Fall 2018 just to play it safe.) That’s the earliest I can foresee the re-imagined Old Port Royale opening, and we think that will be the turning point on this project. While Disney’s Riviera Resort will still be under construction at that point, it should be far enough along that the bulk of the exterior work is not loud and intrusive. And, if it is, we’d simply request a room in Trinidad. My biggest concern is that thematically, the current resort reminds me nothing of the Caribbean Beach Resort I fell in love with years ago, and that won’t totally be the case again until sometime in 2019.
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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 CBR 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!
Thanks for your write up! We are staying there in December with Bounceback Free Dining from our trip last September and the $75 credit. Is the arcade still available? You recommend Jamaica or Trinidad. Where are both of those in relation to a bus stop and the big pool?
We just got back from our stay at the Carribean and there is a bridge in Jamaica that goes to the Big Pool. I did not see an arcade and there is a bus stop in each Country.
Sadly – other than camping, CBR was our cheapest option when I booked about 3 weeks ago for end of October. We have a very rushed 3 days planned anyway, so we will literally only be here to sleep.
This is incredibly helpful, so thank you for posting! We are planning our “mini-moon” for November/December of 2018 because I’ve convinced my fiancée that he absolutely needs to see the Christmas decorations and he didn’t even hesitate. Yes! We really spend more time in the parks for me to be able to justify splurging to say in one of the Deluxe resorts, especially since this will just be our “mini-moon”. I have been going back and forth between staying at CBR & POR, but after this post I am now heavily favoring POR. Depending on the progress by that time next year, and pricing, POR might just be the winner over CBR.
I am currently waiting (impatiently!) for Disney to announce its Military Salute hotel discounts for 2018, so I can book our April trip. Originally I was planning on staying at CBR, as it’s the only moderate we haven’t stayed at, but after your review and the few others I’ve looked at, I’ve changed my mind. I’ll wait till our next, next trip to stay there maybe. I am really looking forward to trying the gondolas.
Thanks!
Thank you so much for this update! My family of five is planning a February 2018 trip, and we were planning on staying at Caribbean Beach Resort. I have not made the reservation yet, as I am waiting for a discount that should be appearing shortly. Now that I’ve read your post, I will have to find another hotel option for us!
We were at CB August 14-21 & the construction didn’t impact our trip. We ate in the parks so dining wasn’t an issue. We were upstairs in Aruba, with a view of construction. Didn’t phase us, as we didn’t spend much time by our room door. We swim in the pool closest to our room since it’s less crowded. We didn’t hear construction work inside our room. We did think that transportation was much slower, but we expect to wait at Disney. One plus was that the drink station was closer than our last trip so that was nice! And the final perk was a message on our room phone that I had a package to pick up. I didn’t think I had booked in time to get the gift card, but I had. I hope the prices don’t go up too much, but I guess that would be motivation to try another resort.
We have a trip booked for early June 2018. Do you think at least the dining hall and whatever other restaurants as well as the gift will be open by then??
My guess would be no, but it’s a possibility. If I had to predict a time at this point, I’d go for August 2018. Even that’s just a guess, though.
Booked Caribbean Beach in November ’16, requested Jamaica for our August 28-Sept. 4 stay. Got the $75 credit, and free dining and thank goodness for that. Was disappointed. We did not get Jamaica. I requested every time I called–and making the reservation for my party of 6 in 2 rooms was a nightmare. Hours upon hours on the phone over several months. Got there and they didn’t have 2 adjoining rooms in Jamaica so we were put in Martinique, far from everything but the construction. We went in the pool once, no reason for us to spend any time at the hotel during our trip.
Only plus was that we gave each kid some spending money from our Disney credit and used the rest of the gift card for tips and booze. Tips alone were almost $100 a day with our dining plan–definitely didn’t budget for that so the gift card came in very handy there.
Good luck to upcoming visitors, my kids are big so we’re done here until I can stay at the Yacht Club! 🙂
Tom
Leaving Monday for CBR. Got the $74.00 credit
After watching your video, it’s not my idea of a magical vacation . I’m concerned I won’t enjoy the area, after all the landscapes and resorts are all part of the stay/ vacation. Question, is it worth the $75? Or should o move to another location ? Please advise
Signed: Worried Mouseketeer
It really depends upon how much you’ll be at the resort. $75/night can pay for a nice meal, or allow you to enhance another area of your vacation.
I think that’s a close call. I’d probably stay here with a $75 incentive.
I am leaving this Thursday for our Disney trip and we are staying st the carribean beach resort. After seeing this video I was shocked how much construction. What did you do to receive that $75 credit per day? I’m worried I am not going to enjoy it there.
We stayed there from Aug 21 till 31 2017. We had a wonderful stay at Caribbean Beach. I cannot say enough about how they were handling the construction during our time there. I felt all accommodations to make your stay as comfortable as possible had been met. The $75 for the inconvenience was yes an extra added bonus. We were gone during most of the day to the parks and if we did come back to the resort during the day the noise of construction was low. The whole time we were there I think I heard a jackhammer one time. We enjoyed our stay and would not hesitate to go back in a heartbeat. Construction or no construction. The staff went out of their way to make sure your stay was comfortable as possible.
We are staying there next week. Why was it that caused you to change resorts? A bit nervous now.
If you’re asking me, we didn’t change resorts away from Caribbean Beach Resort. We resort-hop for the sake of keeping things fresh on the blog, so aside from Hurricane Irma extending our stay (and adding 2 more hotels to our itinerary), we didn’t change any plans.
I booked last year for November/December 2018 when works were due to end early 2018. Based on what you have seen, should I:
1. Proceed as planned as it should be fine/minimal by then
2. Request my agent rebooks us elsewhere
3. Proceed as planned under the assumption that the delayed end of works is covered by incentives e.g. Gift cards
4. Proceed as planned with confidence that if I do have an issue with the construction when I get there that Disney would either move us or incentivise us?
I would wait it out, not doing anything yet. There’s a good chance most of the work will be done by your stay, and we’ll have a much better idea of that by next spring.
Spring is also around the time new discount offers will be released, so if you do need to change, you can take advantage of one of those at the same time.
Basically, I think it’s way to early for anyone who is staying at CBR in Fall 2018 or later to start worrying about this. Hope that helps! 🙂
Actually booked from the UK for end of November/beginning of December 2018. Really hope Port Royale is done by then.
Good to know. We are booked for December. I would think about moving but we have the $75 /night gift card and a free dining plan. We will have to get our ambiance at the parks and resort hopping because I don’t think I can give up those perks.
If it makes you feel any better, if I had Free Dining + the $75/night gift cards, there’s no way I’d give that up. Even if they were actively demolishing my building, I’d probably still keep it.
That’s the best discount Walt Disney World has done in my memory, and even with the construction, it’s absolutely worth it.
Thank you for this update on CBR construction. We’re staying there next week. I just called and updated my check-in request to indicate that I want to stay in Jamaica. Hopefully they are able to fulfill the request. We’re all day park people so I’m not too worried about the construction, but I’d prefer to keep some of the ambiance as we use the pools at night.
Is the main pool still open? That was always a highlight for us.
Yes, it is.
We have a stay at CBR booked for January 2018 for Marathon weekend but have been thinking about switching to POR (interesting timing that you posted this because I was literally looking into it today). We did get the $75 credit, though–otherwise I would definitely switch.
Thanks for the update. We have rooms at CBR booked for November and I am a little nervous about it. But, the main reason we booked was to take advantage of the $75 a night gift cards (and are using them to pay for a couple of nice dining experiences) and to introduce our kids to the pool before the price point goes up. My husband and stayed there in February, my kids have never seen it. Not to mention a $15 breakfast buffet that I am hoping will satisfy some very picky eaters. While I did enjoy the ambiance of the resort, it was not the main reason for staying there. Hopefully it will still be a great trip. Fingers crossed!
I’m really glad we got to stay at CBR one last time last November. It’s always been one of my favorites, but it looks unlikely that we’ll return…….it just won’t be the same! My daughter had a trip booked for January 2018 but has switched to Coronado after seeing these pictures!
We have a trip booked at CBR for this December with free dining. I have 3 small children and am now concerned about the noise/atmosphere there. Do you think Disney will allow for a change of resorts at check-in if the accommodations are unsatisfactory?
Assuming there’s availability elsewhere, they will move you. I don’t think construction is bad to the point that it’d wake your kids (even if they’re sleeping during the day), it’s more disruptive as you walk around the resort, trying to enjoy the ambiance. In-room, you should be fine.
I agree Tom….We didn’t hear the construction at all in Jamaica…our only sad spot was the buses….took a long time to get anywhere….We got back on the 18th of September and enjoyed the resort just not the transportation part.
We recently stayed at the Carribean. It was absolutely awful. We changed resorts and got to change to a deluxe resort free of charge. I’m sure this is the exception.
It took literally an hour one evening for the bus to make its way at all the pick up spots within the resort!
Lesson learned – $75 a day isn’t worth it! =)