My New Favorite Disney Moderate Resort is Caribbean Beach - October 2005
Written: Oct 23 '05 (Updated Oct 23 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful grounds, excellent maintenance, friendly staff, efficient bus service, quiet food court
Cons: Annoying internet hook-up
The Bottom Line: Can't wait to go back!
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| chelledun's Full Review: Disneys Caribbean Beach |
My recent Orlando vacation was extra-nostalgic for me as my family stayed at the Caribbean Beach for our first ever Walt Disney World vacation when I was about ten years old. Since then I have made 12 additional trips to Walt Disney World and one to Disneyland Paris but for some reason hadn’t made it back to this particular hotel. My mom and I decided this tropical theme was just what we needed for our fall break girls-only vacation and the resort far exceeded our memories.
The hotel was wonderfully clean and much more attractive than our visit thirteen years ago. The beaches looked great and trees and plants had grown significantly, giving the whole facility a lusher feel. Although I had heard a few negative reviews about the resort a few years ago, there was not a speck of paint out of place when we visited. After a wonderful vacation I can guarantee I won’t wait another thirteen years before visiting the Caribbean Beach Resort again.
Checking In
Guests are first greeted at the large, airy Custom House. Sadly, the parrots of my youth are no longer there but there is plenty of friendly staff and palm frond fans. We were surprised and pleased to be able to check in at 11:00 a.m. The employee who checked us in was glad to take our Jamaica building request. We received our park entrance passes and plenty of information about Disney attractions is available. Custom House was very quiet when we arrived but I would imagine it gets pretty bustly if you try to check in at the official check-in time of 3:00. There is parking at the custom house if you drove a rental car or transportation from the airport will drop you off there directly. When we checked in Hurricane Wilma was looking pretty threatening toward the end of our stay and the employee who waited on us did her best to reassure us. She informed us the resort offers special hurricane rates in the event people get stranded, and that Disney would work it out if the hurricane forced us out early. Fortunately for us, Wilma moved sloooowly and didn’t make her appearance while we were visiting.
Resort Layout
This is a huge resort, large enough to have its own transportation system. Caribbean Beach is divided into seven different “Islands”, each consisting of a cluster of brightly colored buildings. Other island choices include Aruba, Barbados, or Martinique. The Islands are situated around a large lake with the main Center Town building in the back center of the resort. We stayed in the Jamaica buildings which I highly recommend. The buildings were attractively painted in yellow and blue and our room was only a one minute walk to our bus station. We had a scenic seven minute walk to the main building and food court. Although the resort is large, I found the layout better than the sprawling Coronado Springs hotel because of the bridges criss-crossing the lake to cut walk time.
Many of the Islands have their own quiet pools, playgrounds, and beaches. If you have small children you may want to request one of the buildings closest to the main building and food court. The resort is accommodating about requests as much as possible but it is good to have a couple of buildings in mind particularly during the busy times of the year. For more information about the resort and room availability check out http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/resorts/resortLanding?id=CaribbeanBeachResortLandingPage&count=1.
Rooms:
The rooms are very brightly colored in a tropical theme and had a brand-new feel to me. We had two full beds, a large wooden dresser/TV stand, bench, nightstand, table, and two chairs. The bedspreads and curtains have a bright tropical print and the carpet is patterned with palm branches. A tropical border circles the ceiling of the room. The overall feel is fresh and cozy. I wouldn’t call the room elegant but it is very homey and a lot of fun. Children would enjoy these guest rooms a lot. A coffee pot is included and high speed internet access is available for $10.00 per day. My only complaint is that the access point for the high speed Internet is near the nightstand, not the table. This means one can only type while connected to the Internet by sitting on the bed. I think a business traveler would be less than pleased with this set-up.
The bathroom has a large vanity in the main part of the room. There are two sinks under a huge mirror which my mother and I appreciated when we were getting ready at the same time. The toilet and bathtub/shower are in a separate smaller room. We had no problem with the toilet or shower and the pressure was very nice. I enjoyed the fact that the shower was easy to use by simply turning the temperature dial from ‘cold’ to ‘warm’ or ‘hot.’ Toiletries include Mickey Mouse shampoo and soap.
Public Areas
Caribbean Beach has several pools including a few smaller pools and one large main pool. The main pool has a pirate fortress theme complete with cannons and a slide. One complaint some people have about this resort is the smaller size of the pool compared with other Disney resort hotels. If you don’t have small children or your touring schedule doesn’t allow much down time this probably won’t affect you much but it is something to consider if your kids are practically fish on vacation. However, it is still much larger and well-themed than your typical chain hotel pool and there were lots of activities for children going on when we were there. Free towels are available at the main pool and frequently restocked.
Center Town provides a few additional amusements including a pretty decent arcade. I remember going through plenty of quarters during my childhood stay at the hotel. The usual games video games, air hockey tables, and basketball hoops are accounted for. There is also a large gift shop with a great selection of merchandise. My mom and I were able to purchase our Mickey chocolate covered pretzels, postcards, forgotten toiletries, and beach towels all in one place. Seasonal Halloween merchandise was available when we visited. Because of the tropical theme of the hotel there is a good amount of Pirates of the Caribbean and Peter Pan merchandise. I loved hanging out in this main building because of the constant playing of reggae music in the background and the bright colors.
Laundry facilities are available as well as exorbitantly priced detergent and fabric softener, but I try to avoid doing laundry on vacation.
There are also plenty of places to walk around the resort and enjoy the “Caribbean” ambiance. I saw a lot of people enjoying the hammocks near the lake there are plenty of lawnchairs for sunbathing by the lake. Guests cannot swim in the lake which seems to be an advantage to me as it keeps the noise level down! There are watercraft available for rental if paddling around is your thing. There are also multiple playgrounds located around the resort.
Eating and Drinking
Market Street Food Court is located in Center Town building. The building can be reached by a short walk, drive, or use of the resort’s internal transportation buses. I had heard some negative comments about crowed restaurants before my trip but the three times we visited it was very quiet with virtually no lines. By comparison, we ate lunch one day at the Pop Century resort and found it to be a freaking madhouse with fifteen minute lines to check out. The room is brightly colored with wooden tables and chairs and wooden palm fans circulating overhead. There are several food shops each in their own brightly colored storefront. Lanterns are strung in front of the row of counters so the overall effect is kind of like a Caribbean city street.
Each of the food court shops serves a different type of food. You can order what you want at each one and pay for all your food at the central check-out location. The choices are Pizza and Pasta, Hamburger Shop, Deli, Broiler, and a Grab n’ Go mart with pre-packaged food. On the day we ate lunch here I tried the pizza and my mom had a chef salad. The food was sufficiently good and reasonably priced, although we were on the meal plan so cost didn’t really matter. The desserts are especially yummy. Do not miss the red velvet cake because it is good stuff! I had two large pieces. My mom enjoyed the key lime pie and chocolate covered Mickey rice krispy treats. If you are a big coffee or soda drinker be sure to purchase a refillable mug for around $12 allowing you to unlimited beverages at the food court. The close proximity to the main pool makes this feature convenient for hot days.
Caribbean Beach also has a new full service restaurant called Shutters. It is located in the main building and serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We didn’t dine here because of our busy schedule but we did peek in. The décor is nothing too exciting as the restaurant uses the same wooden tables and chairs as the rest of the food court dining area. The menu has a Caribbean influence and the atmosphere is casual. Shutters is pretty small and reservations are strongly recommended. Just a warning, from the dining reports I’ve heard I don’t think Shutters would be my first choice. There are many excellent restaurants in the parks and resorts only a short bus ride away.
Park Transportation
The main reason my family always stays on Disney property is to take advantage of the wonderful transportation. Busses are available from Caribbean Beach Resort to Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney Studios, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon Water Parks, and Disney Marketplace/Pleasure Island. There is a bus stop at each of the islands so no one will have to walk more than a couple of minutes to reach one.
Bus service at the Caribbean Beach was very, very, good. One reason we selected this hotel for our trip instead of the Port Orleans where we used to stay was that the Caribbean Beach has its own bus system and is more centrally located. Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter share buses, as do some of the luxury resorts. Although the parks were a bit crowded this month we never had to wait more than ten minutes for a bus and usually only a minute or two. Often a bus was pulling up right when we arrived at a stop. The ride to Epcot was the shortest which was nice because it is our favorite park. Buses for each park run from an hour before park opening to a couple of hours after. The buses are always clean and the drivers reasonably friendly. If you stay at a Disney resort you can also take advantage of park-to-park monorails and boats as well as buses to other resorts. Of course, I love staying on monorail line or walking-distance resorts but those resorts come with a price tag almost double that of the moderate hotels.
Overall…
I’ve long been a devotee of Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter resort, but after this trip Caribbean Beach has passed it up as my favorite moderate resort. The tropical setting was just perfect for a relaxing getaway. This isn’t an extremely elegant hotel, but I loved the casual vibe of the resort and the beautiful scenery. I’m going to go with a five star rating because Caribbean Beach provided us with a lovely facility for a great value.
*Deciding where to stay? Check out my other Disney hotel reviews!
Grand Floridian - February 2005 (4 Stars)
Beach Club Resort - July 2004 (5 Stars)
Coronado Springs - May 2003 (2 Stars)
Recommended:
Yes
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