Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort Review

I am honored to introduce one of my closest Disney Friends, whom I've never actually met, on my blog!  Beth, from Pursuing the Magic and Pursuing the Travel, and I have been through a lot over the years and have become great friends.  She is currently helping me plan my WDW trip for this fall!  We will be staying at Caribbean Beach for the first time and this post has me so excited!  Welcome Beth and thanks for this post, your help with my trip and most of all being my friend!  

The Island Village of
South Trinidad

Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort is one of my family's favorite of the moderate resorts on Disney property.  From the landscape to the colorful buildings to the pools, there is something for everyone at this resort!  Of my 14 trips to Walt Disney World, I have stayed at the Caribbean seven times. As much as I love it as an adult, I will tell you my children claim this to be their favorite resort.

The Caribbean is quite a large resort.  It is made up of six island villages: Aruba, Jamaica, Martinique, Barbados, North Trinidad and South Trinidad.  Each village has its own color scheme and a quiet pool with laundry facilities.  We love the tropical, relaxed feel of this resort.  The villages circle Barefoot Bay, which has white sandy beaches, hammocks and even three separate playground areas (for you parents, these are conveniently located near the hammocks!).  You can't swim in Barefoot Bay but with seven pools and a kiddie water area at the resort, you won't be lacking opportunities to get wet!  Of course, if you just have to get out onto Barefoot Bay, you can head to Barefoot Bay Boat Yard and rent a boat to get you out on the water.  (You can also rent bikes from this same location, and with a 1.4 mile lap around Barefoot Bay, there is plenty of room to go for a nice long bike ride!).

Barefoot Bay Boat Yard

There are two types of themed rooms at the Caribbean.  In South Trinidad there are Pirates of the Caribbean themed rooms.  These cost a bit extra than the other rooms, but if you have a pirate fan in your travel party, they would love these rooms!  In all other rooms, their is a subtle Nemo theme to the wall borders and comforters.  My kids loved finding Dory and Nemo right in the room. The rooms include two double beds and can accommodate up to four guests.  Included in the price of the room is also a small refrigerator, coffee maker and high speed Internet service.  I particularly love that there are two sinks and a courtesy curtain that separates the sink area from the rest of the room.

The Main Pool at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort

The Kiddie Pool Area

 The Caribbean's main pool was a draw for my children.  It looks like a fortress with slides and pirate cannons.  Even better it had zero entry, which with three little ones, was great for us.  My children could wade into the water at their own pace.  The kiddie pool area was a lot of fun!  It is a large pirate ship that spouts water.  There is a bucket at the top and every so often, the bucket would fill and dump over the top of the kids and slides.  Honestly, the year my children were 5, 3 and 2, we could not get them out of this pool to go to the parks.  They LOVED it!  Now for the parents, the pool bar, called the Banana Cabana, is right outside the gate.  On one trip, the bar tender came around to us parents who couldn't leave our children unattended and took our order for drinks too ... that was greatly appreciated by me.  If you need a drink suggestion, the Pina Colava is amazing!

Ol' Port Royale is where you will find the food court and shops at the Caribbean.  We actually really enjoy the food court at the Caribbean.  They have a great selection of items for everyone, even the pickiest of eaters.  Even better, if you have children, their meals are served in a sand bucket with shovel.  These made for great fun when we were relaxing in the hammocks and the kids were playing in the sand.  The food court is split into sections from a deli to a broiler section to pizza and pasta and more.  We had so many options that we rarely had to eat the same thing twice (unless we wanted to!).  During certain times throughout the day, limbo music would suddenly start playing cast members would appear with the limbo bar.  Nothing like a spontaneous round of limbo to get you moving!  Shopping is another fun adventure at the Caribbean.  There is the Calypso Trading Post and the Calypso Straw Market.  Both carry some really fun Caribbean themed Disney merchandise.  You can even purchase coconut postcards!

Finally, the only transportation available at the Caribbean to get to any of the theme parks and Downtown Disney is by bus.  This resort actually is so large they also have an internal bus that just loops the resort stopping at each of the villages and Ol' Port Royale.  We personally have not had issues getting buses at the Caribbean.  It's location makes for quick rides to Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios, with the rest of the destinations taking a little bit longer.

This is my brother and I back in the 90's in my favorite
village ~ Jamaica

Overall, Disney Caribbean Beach Resort has a lot to offer its guests.  With an expansive food court, tropical themed rooms, a pirate themed pool area and just a general air of fun, the Caribbean is a great family place to create you magical Disney memories.  We happen to love the village of Jamaica, which is just across the water to Ol' Port Royale.  And a little tip, at night, if you can't make it to Epcot to see Illuminations, you can hear the pre-show music throughout the resort at night.  Then, from the beach of Martinique you can see the fireworks, as well as hear the music from the show.  We love going to Disney and the Caribbean is one of our favorite places to stay!