Caribbean beach is one of the moderate resorts at Walt Disney World that transports its guests to a tropical paradise. We recently stayed at Caribbean beach resort during our wedding trip in November 2022 during our pre- and post-cruise stays. Caribbean beach was a childhood favorite of mine and brings forth a comforting wave of nostalgia every time I step onto its grounds. The colors are bright and welcoming. The grounds are lush with tropical plants and natural beauty. Its theming makes you feel as if you are at an island resort in the Caribbean and the pool is one of the best on Disney property. There have been several modifications since our last trip to CBR (back in the early 2000's), but we feel those have enhanced the resort experience for guests.
Caribbean Beach Resort’s main lobby and guest check-in is now located in Old Port Royale. While it can be quite a trek to the Old Port Royale, there is so much to see and explore within this resort that it feels more like a sightseeing adventure than a tedious walk. The main lobby is separated from the rest of the resort by Barefoot Bay, a lake that is located at the center of the resort. Running around the lake is a 1.25 mile walking path, giving guests the opportunity to go for a sunset stroll or explore the resort.
Guests are able to get from the main lobby to their rooms by walking through Caribbean Cay, an island that acts as a bridge to the other side of the resort. Caribbean Cay also includes a tropical picnic and play area for the kids. CBR grounds are lush with tropical plants, especially within Caribbean Cay. I can still remember being a young child and feeling as if we had been transported into a story involving pirates on a tropical island. In fact, CBR was the most memorable part of that vacation for me outside of fulfilling my childhood dream of meeting Ariel in her grotto. It truly gives off the vibe that you're hiking through a jungle or stepping into a tropical paradise.
Additional walkways branch off of the main walking path and lead to the guests rooms. Rooms are spread among 6 villages: Trinidad, Barbados, Martinique, Aruba, and Jamaica.
We stayed in Aruba during our pre and post cruise stay. Our pre-cruise stay was booked for ourselves, our daughter, and our nephew for one night. The rest of our wedding guests had rooms at pop century, which was a quick 5 minute skyliner ride away. We think things worked out pretty well because we were able to take advantage of the skyliner transportation.
Caribbean Beach Resort is the main hub for the skyliner, with two stations offering access to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot. The skyliner also offers easy access to Art of Animation, Pop Century, and Riviera Resorts. In terms of air travel times, its roughly 3-4 minutes from CBR to pop century/art of animation and 10-12 minutes to Epcot or Hollywood studios from the main hub. One of the main complaints of CBR used to be that the resort was too spread out, but that concern was completely eliminated by the addition of the skyliner. We are big fans of the skyliner and use it as our main Disney transportation whenever we can.
During our pre-cruise stay, we were given a fifth sleeper (room 5247) in building 52. This room was located on the second floor. We did the mobile check in and went straight to our room upon receiving our text that the room was ready. If you are given a second floor room and have little ones (we all know that one child who asks to be carried after the first five minutes of walking), we recommend having bell service help with your bags. There are no elevators.
Caribbean Beach rooms have subtle theming that seems a bit watered down compared to the rest of the resort. Even the recently renovated little mermaid rooms (previously known as the pirate rooms) seem very bare. The best part about the newly renovated rooms (shown below) is that they have definitely worked on brightening up the rooms and have done away with carpeting. We also noticed that the newer rooms have a larger wide screen tv, which is definitely an improvement to the outdated TVs seen in most of the rooms.
While there will always be someone who complains that a Disney resort is overly-themed, our personal opinion is that there are ways to theme a room properly to enhance the overall atmosphere of a resort without being obnoxious about it. Some vibrant tropical colors could also help to refresh and brighten the room up a bit. Sandy and dark brown furniture could still be used to neutralize the vibrant tropical accents (think shades of turquoise, aqua, and coral) and leafy patterns. Palm leaf patterns are totally on trend, and they fit perfectly into a Caribbean beach-style space.
The rooms are spacious enough for a family of four to fit comfortably and the fifth sleeper rooms have a small pull down bed. The pull down bed displays some beautiful Mickey artwork that gives off Caribbean vacation vibes. Our daughter loved the pull out bed and still asks if we can go back so she can sleep there again to this day.
We spent most of our pre-cruise resort day lounging by the pool with the kids before heading to Disney springs for dinner. Some of my fondest memories as a child on vacation with my parents was swimming at the Caribbean beach pool. There are several pools located on CBR property, but the main event is definitely the Fuentes del Morro pool.
The feature pool, Fuentes del Morro, is themed to resemble a colonial Spanish fortress. The main pool includes a zero-entry area and two waterslides. The larger waterslide is 102 feet long, while the other is easily accessible by walking up several steps, making it suitable for younger children. The Fuentes del Morro pool is a pirate-lovers paradise and really allows guests to let their imagination come to play. Several cannons can be seen peeking out in various spots around the fort and feature water spray elements. A hot tub is located in the back of the fort, along with a shipwreck water play area.
The kids enjoyed the Fuentes del Morro pool so much that we even headed back to the pool after dinner until the pool area closed at 10pm. We were even lucky enough to spot some of the Epcot fireworks from the pool area later in the evening. There is always something fun to see or do. If you enjoy lounging by the pool on vacation, this resort is definitely a great choice. CBR is definitely the kind of resort you could spend an entire day at.
During our post-cruise vacation, we stayed in Aruba building 55 (room 5516), which is located on the first floor. While we didn't mind the second floor location before our cruise, it was definitely more convenient to be located on the first floor. It also ended up working out well for us the day of our bridal photoshoot in Epcot because I would not have wanted to walk down that flight of steps at 5am wearing heels and worrying about the train of my dress.
Another difference we noticed between the two Aruba rooms was the noticeable transition from carpeting to hardwood floors. Our fifth sleeper room in building 52 had the older carpeting, but our room in building 55 had hardwood. Ironically, fifth sleeper rooms are typically booked by families who would probably benefit more from having hardwood flooring anyway. I know that for our family the hardwood floors would've given us more peace of mind if we had to clean up a spill of juice or had experienced one of our daughters infamous potion experiments in the bathroom. CBR could definitely benefit from transitioning all of their rooms to hardwood in the near future. We personally feel the hardwood floors also give a cleaner, more polished look.
Our post-cruise stay was definitely a different experience without having the kids with us, and we enjoyed the resort in different ways. The second half of our vacation was jam-packed with dining reservations, multiple park days, and even a mickey's very merry Christmas party at the end of our trip. Aruba 55 is located fairly close to the Riviera skyliner hub (about a 3 minute walk), which we ended up using daily during our trip. It was definitely favorable to hop on the skyliner at Riviera versus walking to the other side of the resort to the main skyliner hub. The skyliner was convenient for traveling to Hollywood studios, Epcot, and we even used it to get to our Flying Fish dining reservation (located at boardwalk resort).
Something we hadn't really known until this past trip was that Caribbean beach and Riviera resorts are considered neighboring sister resorts. We were not aware how close they were until we ended up using the Riviera skyliner hub as much as we did. A great perk that this offers is being able to access some of the Riviera resort amenities. While Caribbean Beach Resort guests cannot pool hop to Riviera (CBR pool is the better option, anyway), guests do have access to almost all other amenities. You can also take a leisurely stroll around the grounds, as the pathway that circles Barefoot Bay passes by both resorts. Riviera also has some great dining choices, including a signature character dining experience and a view that cant be beat (Topolinos, anyone?)
The main advantages to staying at CBR come down to three main factors: skyliner access, proximity to the Riviera, and its immersive theming. Our only true complaint is that the theming within the actual rooms appears watered down compared to the rest of the resort, but that is something that is easily fixable and doesn't take away from all that the resort has to offer. It reminds us of a "Polynesian lite" and is a great option if you have trouble justifying the price tag for Polynesian resort. It is a great resort for families and couples alike, and has plenty to offer in terms of transportation and theming. You could easily spend a resort day or two just lounging by the pool on your vacation or take advantage of the convenience of the skyliner transportation on your park days. Overall, Caribbean beach resort is a wonderful resort and remains one of our favorites.
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