Caribbean Beach Resort Construction Update: Summer 2018
The re-imagining of Caribbean Beach Resort continues at Walt Disney World, as construction continues on Old Port Royale/Centertown, the Skyliner gondola stations and support poles, and other areas of the hotel. The resort-wide enhancements have now been in progress for over one year, with at least another 6 months before everything is finished.
In this post, we’ll share construction photos, thoughts on the new restaurant, and offer our insight as to whether it’s “safe” to book a stay at Caribbean Beach in late 2018 or 2019. As of today, Caribbean Beach Resort is still very much an active construction site, with multiple projects being worked on simultaneously.
The bad news is that construction today at and around Caribbean Beach Resort is more noticeable than at any point since this project started. The good news is that within the next few months, Caribbean Beach should start to turn the corner, with projects starting to wrap up (or at least be better concealed) with the fruits of this long project available for Walt Disney World guest consumption. There is light at the end of the tunnel…
Before we get to that, let’s provide context and a bit of background about the project. It started last spring and was originally supposed to be done by the end of last year. Then by July 2018. Now? Who knows. (More on that later.)
If you’ve missed our past progress reports, you might want to read our Spring 2018 Caribbean Beach Resort Construction Update as we won’t be retreading ground we covered there (such as the current pizza delivery “situation”). For a basic primer on CBR, read our comprehensive Caribbean Beach Resort Review.
We actually scheduled our visit strategically so we could do both breakfast and lunch at Spyglass Grill. We often joke about eating delicious meals ‘for the sake of research’ but that was really the intent here. While we could’ve been gliding around on the PeopleMover or watching Carousel of Progress, we were taking construction photos and eating at a glorified pool bar.
Actually, calling Spyglass Grill a glorified pool bar is a disservice. We were prepared for the worst from this new quick service restaurant adjacent to the quiet pool in Trinidad South. As we wrote in our full Spyglass Grill Review, we were pleasantly surprised by this restaurant and consider it a huge addition to Caribbean Beach. No joke–if you’re considering a stay at CBR soon, you should definitely read that review. This is one such “fruit” of the Caribbean Beach project that’s now available.
Our meal at Spyglass Grill–coupled with work observed elsewhere around the resort–underscores our current belief that the best area of Caribbean Beach Resort during construction is Trinidad. (Unfortunately, we dislike the Pirate Rooms and don’t think it’s worth paying ~$75/night extra to stay in this area, so that may not be a practical option.)
If you’re going to stay at Caribbean Beach between now and when the Centertown project finishes, being close to Spyglass Grill will give you access to the best food currently available at the resort. Plus, the only construction impact you’ll have is the Skyliner station across the water (pictured above), which is minimal as compared to the rest of the resort.
Previously, we advised those staying at Caribbean Beach Resort to skip the parking lot food tent, and have food and alcohol delivered following our Tips for Grocery Delivery at Walt Disney World post. We always think grocery delivery is a good money-saving option, but we enjoyed our breakfast at Spyglass Grill so much that we’d consider just eating there if your budget allows. That’s a rare Walt Disney World breakfast endorsement from us!
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) were supposed to be done this month.
Unless more hours are suddenly added to the day, there’s no chance of that happening. Even if a day does become 72-hours, it’s still highly unlikely.
You can see many of these buildings taking their final shape but the overall project seems to be moving slowly with a lot still to finish.
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?”
The pace of construction has been pretty consistent throughout this project, and if things continue along the same trajectory, we’ll be lucky to see the Old Port Royale/Centertown projects finish at the end of the year. Even that might be ambitious. Progress is being made, but it’s really slow going.
The cynic in me questions whether the pace is currently going slowly to spread the project out over 3 fiscal years, in which case we could see work slow to a crawl towards September, and the pace pick up again once the new fiscal year begins on October 1. If that occurs (and that’s certainly an “if”), I wouldn’t be surprised to see Old Port Royale/Centertown not reopen until February 2019 or later.
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 Summer 2019. We really don’t have a concrete date for either of those projects.
Both of those projects are moving fairly quickly, but it’s unlikely that there’s any sense of urgency to debut the Skyliner before Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which will open in November or December 2019. Unless the Skyliner figures into next summer’s promotional campaign (which would be sort of odd given that it’s transportation), we think a logical time for it to debut is October 2019. That’s just a guess, though.
As previously shown in concept art the Skyliner gondolas will travel directly over guest rooms at Caribbean Beach Resort. What wasn’t so clear from the art was just how large and close the Skyliner support pillars would be to guest rooms.
In some cases, these are only feet away from buildings in Jamaica. It seems unlikely that they’ll be painted ‘go away green’ as that probably would’ve happened before they were erected. Ultimately, there’s no hiding them. They’re right there.
Prior to seeing them in person, I was hoping the pillars would be spaced farther from guest buildings. I assumed palm trees and other foliage would be planted around the support columns to blend them in a bit, but it’s highly doubtful that can occur given where they’re located.
The Skyliner going over guest rooms doesn’t bother me–it should be quiet and not intrusive. I think it’s a bit unfortunate the placement of the pillars wasn’t done with more regard to how it would look from around the resort (the monorail support beams are better-integrated at those resorts, but those were also built simultaneously with the monorail). Still, it’s a net positive.
The work around each of these Skyliner pillars is why we noted at the top of this post that construction is more pronounced right now than at any other point during this construction project. Areas that were previously quieter, such as some parts of Aruba, now have work being done around the Skyliner support pillars. This makes room requests tricky, save for Trinidad, which is away from everything (and has Spyglass Grill).
This is what the beach looks like presently in Aruba.
Ahead to the left is another Skyliner Station and to the right is Disney’s Riviera Resort.
Here’s a closer look at the Skyliner Station.
We’ll have another update that covers progress of all the Skyliner stations.
One cool detail we noticed while wandering around Caribbean Beach is that the boat rental lighthouse is currently being repainted.
It looks ‘distinctly patriotic’ in isolation, which is kind of peculiar at Caribbean Beach Resort, but pretty nice in the larger context of the resort.
That brings us to the question of whether you should stay at Caribbean Beach Resort? As we’ve said before in this space of other updates, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Presumably, if you’re reading now, you’re not planning a trip for August or September. You’re looking further out, maybe to November, December, or January.
Right now, the construction work is at its peak. Skyliner, Riviera, and Centertown are all very obvious projects with visible exterior work, noise, etc. As in Gotham City, “it’s always darkest before dawn.” This is to say, work on all three of these things will be turning a corner within the next few months, and the amount of visual blight and noise each will produce will go down considerably.
Between that and the introduction of Spyglass Grill, which provides a bona fide dining option even if the new dining options at Centertown don’t debut until sometime in Spring 2019, would make me far less hesitant about booking at Caribbean Beach Resort. Spyglass Grill alone really moves the needle for us, as silly as that might sound.
Dining at Spyglass Grill yesterday and then making a point to walk around some of the few areas that aren’t blighted by construction made me excited and eager to see this all finished and some sense of normalcy restored. As evident in the photos above and below, this is still a vibrant, beautiful resort. It’s not all construction.
Still, 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.
Personally, we still won’t book Caribbean Beach Resort until this is all done. We love the “Polynesian Lite” rooms and relaxed tropical ambiance (although a little bit of that will be gone forever due to this project), but we want to wait until all of the new stuff at Centertown and Old Port Royale is open so that we can review that.
With the Port Orleans Resorts both looking great, we don’t see much of a reason to book Caribbean Beach Resort until work is totally finished, especially given that no special discount is being offered. However, if you’re dead-set on it for one reason or another, construction will probably be minimally intrusive from November and beyond. We remain cautiously optimistic about the Centertown project and are unequivocally excited about having improved, non-bus transportation at the resort. We’re not so optimistic about Caribbean Beach Resort’s ambiance, which was once so serene and tropical, but we hope Disney finds a way to mostly restore that, too.
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Your Thoughts
Do you agree or disagree with our take on 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 before the end of 2018, 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!
Planning on CBR for end of October 2019 in hopes gondolas are up and running…unless I can rent DVC points for Boardwalk for that time. But I really hope (and I know this sounds crazy)…”Star Wars land” is NOT open yet at that time
Hello! We have been to Disney several times but have previously stayed at Deluxe resorts. This spring will be our first stay at a Moderate (CB). We don’t use the pools or the resort restaurants. We are at the parks literally all day. Our primary concern is how quickly we can get to/from the parks. Which area of CB is best for transportation?!
We stayed at the CBR this summer and transportation was not a problem. Bus stops at four or five different locations throughout the resort.
That’s a bummer. I’m accustomed to bus stop at each ‘island’. It’s the food locations /options that are forcing me to stay elsewhere in spring 2019.
Staying over Halloween week. Not worried about it, because it’s just a mini vacation to check out the Halloween festivities, and we will only be sleeping there 3 nights. We aren’t light sleepers, either so that helps. I will post back if I see any crazy transformation!
We are less then 2 weeks from our stay at CBR, I will post how it goes when I get back. From the reviews on Tripadivisor it appears things are okay there. We love the resort, and with free dining it was a deal we couldn’t pass up.
We are staying here Oct 29th. Please report back any recommendations!
Extremely concerned as this is our very first trip to Disney in March 2019 and it appears that any magic will be ruined by construction work – the idea is to stay at CBR and go in early a.m. and then back for time by the pool during the afternoon. Evenings will be back in the parks I guess.
Disney for me was the last place I ever wanted to go on holiday but the kids persuaded me – if this becomes a huge disappointment because of the work it’ll be awful.
I really have no idea what to expect so any updates will be gratefully accepted.
We will have another update in the next week or so, but things should be mostly fine by March 2019.
Hi Tom! I see ya’ll are there now…how’s it looking at Caribbean Beach Resort? We will be there November 23.
We just got back and had a great time despite construction. We didn’t hear any noise from it, and the pool was fully functional and we had a blast there. The tent food was fine, we had free quick service and dinner was a buffet with something for everyone. But it’s the same thing every night so we did Disney springs twice for dinner. And you can take the bus back but a Lyft only cost $5. Which was better than additional walking and waiting to us. Breakfast was buffet too and again they had everything but nothing fancy which was fine for us. Mickey waffles, bacon, eggs, etc. We stayed at Martinique and it was a short walk to the pool and food tent. We will definitely stay here again and are excited to see the updates complete. In the past we stayed at Art of animation & port Orleans. The bus stop to Martinique was close and it was the first stop at Caribbean so always plenty of room in the bus to get to parks.
We are staying at CBR last of March in 2019. How will construction be at that time or will the resort construction be done? Also how is bus service to parks at that time? Thank you.
I will be at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort first week in November. What building/area should I stay in?
We stayed in building 52 and loved it, Wright across the island to the pool, close to a drink station too. The breakfast buffet is good, we would get it to go and honestlyvwe only had to use one meal credit to feed the family of 4. They had bacon waffles fruit pastries and bagels it worked out great for us plus they had a drink carrier so I could get to go cups of Orange juice. The staff was wonderful. No issues with the buses and no construction noise. The pool was wonderful we came back from the parks at 9 every night to swim. We always had a snack for in the room and we ate dinner and lunch in the parks so there was no issue for food for us.
Conspiracy theory: With the Riviera being so out of theme with Caribbean Beach, and with the thoughtless placement of the sky gondola supports so close to buildings, I’m wondering if the long-range plan is to demolish Caribbean Beach entirely and replace it with a higher capacity resort more in line w/ the Riviera. I know this seems crazy given all the work at Centertown, so I’ll wait to see exactly how Caribbeany the final structures are – if they seem to be easily re-themable, my suspicions will skyrocket.
A couple of days ago I was told by a cast member that the new restaurant is expected to open “late fall 2018”. She thought it’d be up and running by mid-December. We shall see.
We are going in September 2018, I am a little worried as time comes closer and less is done. We have an option to move to the Cabins at wilderness resort, we also have free dining and I am wondering if it is worth it or should we move to Port Orleans. Any advice would be great, there is 4 of us but we need the drop down kid bed as one kid can’t sleep with others.
I have reservations for mid-April 2019. Is there a usual “first bus stop” in terms of pick up and drop off? Wondering which areas I should try and request. Do we need to be near the front desk for things other than checking in? This will be my family’s first Disney trip; my daughter is 6. I’m hoping to make the bus situation less stressful, but we are also thinking of using Uber.
We’ve stayed in several villages based on the ages of the kids and what was most convenient for them (i.e., pool, food, travel, etc.). My recollection is Trinidad South was the best site for getting a seat on the bus but it was really far from the food court. However there’s an internal bus taking you around property. Can’t recall the name of the building but it was near the bridge. That area was close to food and the big pool. We’re never disappointed in this resort having also stayed at Jamaica, Aruba and one other. Our last 5-6 trips have been in May and hope to go May 2019 but only if work completed. Enjoy!
We are planning to visit in mid-September. We booked the CBR as it was available for the free dining plan and one of few resorts that could accommodate accommodate our party of 5. The savings was quite substantial versus the Port Orleans Riverside that was excluded from the free dining plan promo. I’m a newbie so know relatively little about either place. With the construction at CBR would you recommend foregoing the discount and staying at Port Orleans? It sounds like the construction is quite invasive and I might be better off to pay the extra money and have a better experience. Thoughts?
We have a trip planned for the last week in September 2018 and have booked CBR. What area would you recommend staying in?
buildings 44 and 45 are good it puts you by the bridge to go over to the main pool
Hola.
Voy en Septiembre, desde Chile, y no sabia de las remodelaciones. Vamos con Plan de Comidas incluido.
Somos un grupo de 5, con 3 niños pequeños y una de mis hijas tiene Sindrome Cri du Chat, a la cual los ruidos la perturban y tampoco puede caminar distancias muy largas.
Cual seria el mejor sector para alojarse con estas condiciones?
Cercano a piscina / restaurant y buses?
Estare muy agradecido de sus respuestas.
Gracias.
Hola,
Mi español fue lo suficientemente bueno para hacer el 80% de su pregunta, con Google Translate ayudándome a comprender el resto de sus preguntas, y que estoy usando para responderle.
El lugar más tranquilo serÃa Trinidad Sur, el siguiente lugar más tranquilo serÃa Trinidad Norte. Hay una parada central de autobuses en Centertown, pero los autobuses también se detienen en las otras “islas” del complejo.
Le sugiero que llame por teléfono con quién hizo sus reservas, o que Disney solicite diferentes arreglos. Port Orleans Riverside tiene muchas áreas más tranquilas en este momento.
Buena suerte, y que tengas un gran viaje!
Tom,
We are looking into either renting points at Old Key West or booking at Caribbean Beach Resort June 2019. By that time, do you think the new amenities would be totally complete at CBR? We already bought tickets through ParkSaver based on your awesome recommendation and promo code, so we’re not going to need a package. Currently, DVC points are just a bit cheaper than Disney price at CBR, but any sort of room discount there would probably make CBR the cheaper option. After doing some research,we are not big fans of the dining options at OKW, but if the new stuff at CBR isn’t done, maybe it’s still better than that? What do you think? Thanks! I love your blog!
Not Tom, but the new entrance is complete on Victory Way (traffic signals are also up, but not illuminated), just waiting for the final signage, and that was finished June 1st. They would not have set that up for opening in one year, same with the repainting of the lighthouse. These are not the finishing touches you put in 1 year from the end of a construction project. The Riviera might or might not be finished by June. It could be, but it might depend on the internal scheduling Disney has for rolling out the sales for that DVC.
Do you think the new amenities push it up past OKW if cost is relatively equal? The quick service at OKW seems pretty lacking, and Olivia’s doesn’t really wow me either.
IIRC, OKW is in the midst of renovating its rooms, with a work permit that expires in March, 2019, so, in fairness, it is likely that OKW will have upgraded TVs, electrical and USB outlets by the time you go, although I really haven’t found much in the way of updated photos for any of the studios. As for dining, all I can say is that Spyglass Grill is big step up for quick service at the Caribbean, but how good the new food court and Shutters Restaurant are going to be remain big unknowns (and Tom is correct in pointing out that the Spyglass menu might not be the permanent menu, although one can hope).
I have a love for the Caribbean Beach Resort. It was my first WDW Resort stay 27 years ago.
But whether the renovation is complete or not, it’s not & won’t be in the same league as Old Key West.
I’m kicking myself, because I only just remembered this: October 1, 2018, will mark the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Caribbean Beach Resort. My gut feeling is that’s what they’re aiming for, but they don’t yet know if the weather will cooperate. By that point, I’d expect most of the Skyliner station construction to be done, and the big cranes will be down at the Riviera. The Riviera will continue to be a construction zone into 2019, but the worst of the exterior work and the bulk of the Skyliner work should be done by that point, and I think that’s one reason construction has lagged on at the CBR: They don’t want their “grand-re-opening” to be in the middle of the worst of the construction. Tie that in with the anniversary, which is also the 47th anniversary of the opening of WDW, and it screams “target date!” Weather permitting, of course.
I’m praying that you’re right. I FINALLY talked my mother in law into doing a Disney trip and I will never hear the end of it if it’s not finished. I could care less about the progress of the Riveria (although the cranes being gone would be a plus) but I just want CBR to be complete by December first.
First, thanks for the review! However, I think this will be finished, not the Riviera Resort, but the Caribbean Beach Resort, in approximately 3 months or less if the weather is good, prior to November 1st, if the weather is bad, and I’m being conservative. My reason for this:
“Wow, they’re really making progress!” That’s my reaction on seeing this review after getting back from staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort 5/29-6/7. So many more floors have walls at the Riviera; The waterfront buildings now have fronts at Old Port Royale, and are they finally working on the deck out to the waterfront? The Riviera Skyliner Station now has the cable guides for the turn, and so much more work has been done on the main station.
We stayed in Aruba, Building 55, in 2 different rooms. Noise wasn’t a problem for us. While we were there, they started putting the roof on the main Skyliner station, and they put up, over 2 days, the pylon on the beach next to building 55 and the Riviera Station, started work on another (a 5th pylon) at the back of the parking lot for Jamaica, across from the main Skyliner station, asphalted and roadway striped the future main entrance to the Caribbean Beach Resort (which has all the light signals needed on Victory Way), and opened that entrance up for the use of buses and guests with cars to exit.
An amazing amount of work has been done at the CBR in less than 3 weeks after we left (review published on 6/28, based on walkthrough on 6/27, IIRC). It was nice to see the shot of the beach at Aruba; the pylon in the distance is the one that was put up while we were there on May 31st-June 1st. The police barricades are for the temporary cart/pathway that goes around the permanent cart/pathway that needed to be detoured due to the pylon put in place between Aruba Building 52 and Aruba’s quiet pool. The beach has matting on it leading from that construction site to the Riviera Skyliner station construction site. There is orange construction plastic fencing separating this from the rest of Aruba’s beach. Seriously, it’s not as bad as it looks further down, looking across at the water. Ironically, the rocks, posts and ropes resulting from the alligator tragedy are more noticeable than the orange plastic fencing.
The big noise maker while we were there was the Riviera. Construction was at reasonable times throughout. We noticed that Caribbean Cay, the pool and Centertown formed a pretty decent noise barrier to the construction from the Riviera for Trinidad North, Trinidad South, and also Jamaica (though Jamaica has it’s own issues with the Skyliner Station). Spyglass Grill is a really good counter service restaurant. We only had lunch at Centertown, and it was decent, but not as good as Spyglass Grill. We didn’t get to try the breakfast and dinner buffets due to scheduling conflicts. They’re they cost only a quick service meal on the dining plan, or if paying cash, are substantial savings over typical WDW buffets, and the dinner buffet looked tempting with some interesting Caribbean twists on a few things. Also, there are village markets for snacks, and in place of some ice machines, there are Coke freestyle machines which give you hundreds of drink options and are available for your resort mug 24/7, which is not the case at all resorts.
So, even with the construction, I have no problem recommending the CBR based on my experience. You will stumble across construction all over WDW right now.
To answer my own question, Tom’s Riviera Resort Construction Update had a picture taken on the walkway by the Caribbean’s pool, that shows that, yes, they are finally working on the deck on the waterfront of Old Port Royale. They were not doing any work on that area when we left on June 7, 2018.
Is the central pool is a great place to swim and watch fireworks at night?
Great place to swim, yes, depending on your definition of swim. I can’t say about the fireworks, as we never got back there to watch the fireworks at night. I’m almost 6’2″, and the pool doesn’t get to 5 feet deep at any point, so “swimming” isn’t what I do there. However, there are 2 water slides, especially the one in the “fort”, and it’s a very fun place to splash around and chill in the water, plus for the little kids, there’s a great aqua play area.
We’re going in December. I can’t change my resort without a huge upgrade charge as we’re on the free dining plan. I had no idea the construction was this extensive until after I booked. The only thing I care about is that Old Port Royale is finished. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
We stayed at CBR in April in Jamaica. We had no issue with construction noise, and did not have much construction around our room impacting our view. We walked to Centertown when we ate at the resort, and it was meh at best. The kids loved the pool, so the food did not bother them. We will not stay there again though. The resort is TOO BIG. The bus ride is long. When we had to go to the front desk, it took us 20 minutes to get there between the bus and the wait for the bus, then it took us another 20 minutes to get back. The construction was not a problem for us, but be prepared for a lot of time on buses.