Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort Review
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Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is a fun, bright, colorful, busy and festive hotel for families with great pools that are always bustling with excitement.
These articles share more reviews on our family fun trips and activities.
The Caribbean Beach Resort at Disney World
One of the things that impresses us so much about Disney is the distinct theme and service that you experience in different areas. The Caribbean Beach Resort definitely feels fun and bright like the Caribbean. The rooms, food, pools, gift shop and entire resort has a unique Caribbean feeling.
Our family had a positive experience at the resort and we would return again. Just like the value resorts (Pop Century & the All-Stars) we’ve stayed at this moderate or mid-level resort is geared for families that want to go to the parks.
The best parts of the Caribbean Beach resort for our family are the main pool with water slides and a pirate themed water park for smaller kids as well as easy access to the skyliner. We left our room in Jamaica on the second floor, walked to the skyliner and landed at the gates of Hollywood Studios in about 11 minutes. This makes an afternoon rest break SO EASY!
There is also very easy access to EPCOT on the sky liner, it is just a bit further, more like 20 minutes from room to the gate at the side of the park in the World Showcase.
Map of Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
There are four different country areas around the lake that each feature a different color. Jamaica, Trinidad, Aruba, Barbados & Martinique. Also on the water is Disney’s newest resort The Riveria. Take a look at the map to determine which features of the resort are most important to you when choosing a class of room to stay in.
Reasons to Stay at Caribbean Beach:
- Every room and every areas has easy access to a pool
- There are water slides and features for smaller kids where there is likely to be other small children to play with
- Super easy access to sky liner to Hollywood Studios & EPCOT saving precious time in your day at Disney
- Sky liner makes afternoon breaks very easy and efficient (we left our room in building 43 in Jamaica and we’re at the entry way at Hollywood Studios in 11 minutes, compared to an hour of traveling and walking to and from buses at value resorts)
- Fun and lively environment that gives you energy
- Playground and beach area that small kids enjoy
- Multiple bus stops as opposed to the value resorts where you may have to walk half a mile to get to the single bus stop
- Dinner at Sebastians restaurant was one of our favorite sit down restaurant meals.
- Had a fold down sleeper bed from the wall that creates a separate sleeping space for a fifth person
- The map makes the resort look much larger than it is, however it doesn’t not actually take a long time to walk around. We could be from the front desk to the center of Jamaica in just over five to ten minutes.
Reasons to Consider Other Resort Options:
- Rooms are older and some equipment may not work well, for example I heard our toilet running a lot and our air conditioner leaked all over the carpet and never really got the room very cool
- Above issues as well as carpet in the rooms and more wear make the rooms feel less clean
- Stayed 3 nights and never got room service although a large blower was installed in our room one day without asking
- In a late afternoon down pour we got soaked walking to the restaurant because most buildings are separated.
- Had to carry stroller up to second floor as there are no elevators, but first floor rooms are available
- Just like Port Orleans Riverside, there is no private outdoor seating area with your room
- Not much space to put luggage so most of it went on the kind of gross feeling carpet. No luggage rack or closet.
- We slept okay but there were several inconveniences that prevented the nights from being as restful as the nights at Wilderness Lodge during a split stay on the same trip.
- Some people feel the motel style resort with out doors access to each room is not preferable
Pools
In the entrance to the hotel lobby is a map showing all of the six pools at the Caribbean Beach Resort.
We could see the pool for the Jamaica village outside the door of our room. There are washers and dryers for use with a credit card inside of each village pool area that are open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Rooms at the Resort:
Our room served as a place to store our belongings, shower, watch tv while going to sleep and sleeping. It served its purpose fine, but is not a place I would go to for the sole purpose of hanging out.
Our air conditioner leaked all over the carpet, but it was late at night right before we had two park days scheduled, so we didn’t want to deal with the hassle of moving.
Somehow room service found out because there was a large blower placed in our room, but we still never got room service during our 3 night stay in August of 2021.
The fold down bed with the cute Mickey Mouse picture has a thin mattress that works well for a kid.
I appreciate the double sinks have sliding doors on the outside and there’s another door to the shower and toilet allowing for multiple people to change clothes or clean-up at once.
We packed a cooler that we checked at the airport with lots of food and drinks. We put as much perishable food in the refrigerator as we could and then put bottles of water on ice inside our cooler for additional space.
The mini refrigerator holds half gallons of milk and several water bottles as well as other food. I believe the shelves are adjustable.
Food Options at the Caribbean Beach Hotel:
The Centertown Market is the main food court and food may be eaten at tables inside or packaged to-go. There is also a Grab N Go separate area where food is packaged to purchase quickly and keep going.
Some food options that work fine for a few days but Instacart, Uber eats and others are a thing now unlike when I visited as a kid and may be a better choice for a longer stay where people are concerned about budget and or variety of choices.
One of the unique selections on the menu is this family meal that feeds 3 to 4 people and costs $79.99. The Disney Family Night Dinner comes with a meal, cookies to decorate on your own and a unique game to play.
Review of Sebastians Bistro at the Caribbean Beach Hotel:
Sebastian’s Bistro is the best meal we have eaten at a resort restaurant. The all you can eat family style features three courses plus rolls and a drink at a price of $29 per adult age 10 and over and $17 per child under age 9.
The food has a Caribbean flair with flavor, but not too much spice to prevent my mild palate kids from enjoying the dinner. My four year old daughter who doesn’t recall eating in too many restaurants kept saying how fancy it was inside.
The meal begins with the pull apart rolls with onion jam and guava butter.
The rolls are available as an appetizer along with frozen drinks right next door at the outdoor Banana Cabana pool bar where you may dine in a swimsuit. 4 rolls cost $12 plus a tip and we’re fine, but pricey in our opinion.
The fancy salad with edible flowers called a Spice Necklace Salad is delicious and fun. But don’t totally fill up on salad and sides because the dessert is worth saving room for!
We all enjoyed the main course called the Taste of the Caribbean which featured citrus chicken, mojo shredded pork and grilled flank steak with cilantro rice and beans, vegetable curry and grilled broccolini.
The entire family might have to jockey for position to be the first one to pour caramel sauce over the vanilla ice cream and bread pudding. Our teenager ended up scraping the small cup with his spoon the get every last drop of additional flavor and I don’t blame him one bit.
Recreation at Disney Hotels
There are a lot of things to do at the hotels including learning what a recreation team has planned. Since plans change monthly be sure to for signs with current information or ask the front desk for a current itinerary.
Is Caribbean Beach Resort Worth It?
We think the value resorts are the place to go for first time visitors that may question if Disney is worth the money. Caribbean Beach is the next step for a second or third stay when you want to explore other options and spend a bit more money.
Our family’s review of Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is that we would stay again because of the easy access to parks as well as great pools!
More Articles on Planning a Disney Trip:
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Here are some of our cruise tips and tricks as well as a review of our 3 day Bahamas Cruise.
Our family shares our Dos and Don’ts for visiting Be Our Guest Restaurant.