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!
I just wish the phrase “improvements for future enjoyment” can be re-imagined to read “sorry, the place is a wreck, pay the price and move on”…next.
Having stayed at the Caribbean roughly 18 times in the past and seeing the destruction as it exists today, I have to believe pitching a tent on whatever is left of the Caribbean will be represented as a “moderate price hotel” situated amongst a fleet of food trucks and port-o potties.
Food outlets carved from what once was a room…a tent that represents a place to dine..food trucks situated amongst the villages, or whats left, The Banana Cabana looks like a rest stop on I-95…a tropical lushness is replaced by boom cranes and bulldozers but still, people will pay the price because it’s Disney..
I think I’ll stay close to home for awhile until the dust settles…
Food for thought, can you imagine those gondolas zipping overhead as you lay by the pool?
I would agree with Rob
We stayed there from 12/22/17 – 1/4/18
I wish I would have followed my gut and when we had the chance change hotels a few months before hand.
We have stayed there in the past and all visits were great. I know you don’t spend a lot of time at the hotel but there were days I wished it was not a train wreck.
They should give steep discounted rates to people that stay here.
I would pass on this until complete or suggests people move if they can.
We only at there twice for breakfast 1st time great 2nd not so great.
We stayed here at the tail end of our Disney trip from 9/19/17 to 9/22/17. We also stayed at Art Of Animation and Pop Century. We actually really liked it, even with the construction! The crowds were low and you get a buffet at the cost of quick service! We loved the pools. We had 2 rooms and tickets for our family of 9 for 4 days comped at a moderate resort. We liked it so much we are choosing to go back there in March even with the construction! My opinion was they were going above and beyond to add extra magic.
Which section did you stay in? We are booked for May and now I’m nervous. I want to be close to the main pool and I’m
Not sure the best section to request should we stay there
Whew…after 4-ish months of checking [ever since the winter FD/passholder rooms were announced], I *finally* scored a passholder discount room for next week. Maybe they just wanted me to quit overloading their servers…”This guy is worse than the dining reservation Bots!!”
Anyway, thanks again for all the info, Tom. Hopefully construction isn’t too bad out there. I don’t think it’s an issue for us, but who knows?
What buildings/ area are good to request in the next month? We have kids so we will be going to the pool but would also like to be in a quiet area.
We stayed in Jamaica in Block 42 in late September and loved it… We did not hear construction and it was a quick walk over the bridge to the Activity Pool and the food tent.
We stayed in Aruba and enjoyed our stay a lot.
Quick access to food and transportation?
Do you think Jamacia is the best place to stay with the construction?
I agree with your article. We stayed in Bldg. 46 in Jamaica this past October. We did have the $75 per night gift card. While there was a lot of construction all over the place, we were far enough away that our room location was not impacted. We like CBR but we will not return until all the construction is completed unless we get a huge discount. The dining options were really poor.
Do you think Jamacia is the best place to stay with the construction?
Yes, we stayed in late September and never heard construction during our stay of a week. We were in block 42 and it was a quick walk over the bridge to the food area.
Thank you. Other than Jamacia being good are their other areas to request or avoid?
I would avoid Martinique and Aruba… South Trinidad is close to the food area and Activity pool, it also has a small pool in it’s section… North Trinidad is far from the construction but also far from the Food Area and the Activity pool. It does have a small pool in the area.
HOw did you get the $75.00 per night gift Card?
You had to have booked before March 19th 2017…which was before they announced the extent of the construction.
It is heartbreaking to see such a beautifully themed resort destroyed by the addition of a high end (i.e. costly) hotel for DVC. Although the gondola will be a perk as will the re-imagining of Centertown and the relocation of the Customs House (that was always an oddity), was it really necessary? The bus ride to DHS was 5 minutes! There is so much property unused through WDW that surely they could have placed the Riviera somewhere else, made some needed renovations to Caribbean Beach and left the beauty of this resort alone. It was one of our favorites which I fear will never be the same. Sad.
Whilst there is a lot of land, they are converting hotel rooms to DVC left right and centre, rather than building from scratch. It’s seems they purposely wish to reduce capacity for cash, so they can bang the prices up. Also it’s usually a lot cheaper
Also if a DVC shares a resort, they get DVC to contribute to the upkeep. The profits on DVC are huge but it also means the customer keeps coming in a recession.
This is a bit of a strange one on the face of it. They needed another Epcot resort and calculated it would sell well. So where put it? Is there any suitable land to build on? Maybe it’s a lot cheaper building on the footprint of another building? They are actually trying to distance it from CBR as they don’t want it classes as a moderate DVC so they are adding in a further body of water as a separation.
I am due to the resort in May 18, we got a good deal for this through our uk travel agent so I was aware of construction at time of booking . I travel as the only adult with my 3 under 10s so for me as long as we have a pool , a clean room and some kind of edible goods/ refreshments available at a hotel we are good to go. However those with grown up children or couples travelling that want to enjoy the atmosphere of their chosen resort (strolling from riverside to French quarter taking in scenery etc) I would imagine this wouldn’t be a great choice right now, I know my parents wouldn’t do it . My plan is to eat as much as possible at the parks / DS and make this base for pool and sleep . Would love to return one day and see the outcome of the construction etc .
On the other hand do you think Coronado Renovation will look nice and be good resort in December 2018 I stayed their in May of 2017 and was awful. Had outdated room and some many problems with the room. But I do love the resort concept.