Ahoy, mates! Today, I’m sharing insight from our recent stay in a Disney Caribbean Beach Resort pirate room. I will also talk about our thoughts on the entire property – like the Disney Caribbean Beach Resort pool situation, Sebastians Bistro menu, our favorites at the Spyglass Grill, and fun activities for the kiddos.
The Overall Vibe of Disney Caribbean Beach Resort
As you would imagine, the overall vibe of Caribbean Beach Resort is Caribbean-y, beach-y, and pirate-y. Oh, you guessed that much already?
The property is divided into Caribbean Resort Villas which each have different Island names – kind of like little islands themselves. We stayed in Trinidad. But there is also Aruba, Barbados, Jamaica, and Martinique.
MOM TIP: At the beginning of your trip, if you have soda drinkers in your family, purchase the $20 resort mugs. We saw tons of people carrying the mugs around the property and didn’t think much of it until day three. An employee explained to the Hubs that the mugs are $20 each but they get you free refills the entire stay and you take the mug home as a souvenir. So that is what we did. Sodas are expensive if you buy them one by one – even from the machines. You cannot take the mugs to the Disney parks, but they will get used often while at the pool, in your room, etc. There was a special little drink closet just a few doors down from our resort room. It has one of the touch-screen drink machines. You just put your mug under it and click around for the drink you want. My husband happened to go for a refill while a maintenance man was working on the machine. He told my Hubs the mugs and machine work via smart chip and timer so that only those with the proper mugs can receive the refills. Makes sense!
Getting Around with Transportation at Disney Caribbean Beach Resort
Walking
The general vibe once you get to the villas is calm and peaceful. Our villa was less than a 10 minute walk to the Port Au Prince, the main hub of the property. I find the walks around the well-manicured resort quite nice.
MOM TIP: Time your evening walks for around 9:20ish p.m. so you can see the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. This resort is a great spot to see the large fireworks! You won’t see the projections on the castle (meaing you should still see the fireworks in person at Magic Kingdom), but the fireworks at a distance are a definite bright spot in the night (see what I did there?!).
Bell Service
You can also take bell service transportation – a shuttle system – on the property. The Port Au Prince area is a busier area as this is where guests check in. It is also where the main pool and food court areas are located – more on all of this later in the post. The bell service is located right outside the Port Au Prince lobby area.
The Skyliner
To go to EPCOT or Hollywood Studios from Caribbean Beach Resort, you simply take a short walk to the Skyliner, which is a new gondola system. In fact, this Skyliner system is what sold me on this particular resort. Originally, my sweet Disney travel agent, Kristen, suggested several options – staying in a pirate room at Disney Caribbean Beach Resort and a few other choices. She mentioned that the Caribbean Beach Resort utilizes the gondola system whereas some of the others don’t. The Skyliner system sounded so intriguing and cool. And it is!
My youngest was actually a bit scared to ride in it until we reminded her of what a big girl she had been riding the Tower of Terror, Mt. Everest, etc.
Complimentary Bus Service
To get to Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Disney Springs, the water parks, or some of the other Disney resorts, you can take the complimentary shuttle bus. To wait for a bus, you just walk to the Old Port Royale bus stop and wait – the earlier the better. Sometimes, the buses fill up fast with some people having to stand. A bus schedule is posted there so you have an estimate of the wait time.
We Stayed in the Disney Caribbean Beach Resort Pirate Room
At first, I wasn’t sure how well my girls would really enjoy staying in the Pirate Room at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort. They’ve never expressed much interest in pirate things. To my delight, they squealed with glee when they saw the pirate ship beds.
For a family of four, the room was a bit tight. However, the section behind the Pirate curtain allows for an extra room in a way. The toilet and shower space is separated by a door so you can have one person showering while another person dresses and brushes teeth behind the curtain, etc. So it’s kind of like the room can have three separate rooms (including bathroom).
The barrel you see in the picture below has a nice modern fridge on the inside. There is no microwave in the room. However, the Spyglass Grill which was a short walk away from our room has a microwave in its help-yourself-station. We warmed up some of the girls’ leftovers there a few times for lunch.
The dresser to the left and the dark chest to the right of the fridge barrel have drawers to store clothing or snacks or whatever you need.
My only complaint would be there was not a true comfy lounge chair to sit on anywhere in the room. The dining table has two heavy kitchen style chairs which were nice when we did bring food back to the room. However, I often stay up late at night blogging after everyone goes to sleep. I had a hard time getting a comfy enough spot to do my work for long periods of time. But I figure this is a me problem and probably not something that would matter to most people. Most people are going to spend most of their time outside of the room and mostly use the room to sleep.
Things to Know About Disney Caribbean Resort Pirate Room
- Fridge is included but not a microwave
- Dressing/sink area can be separated with curtain for privacy
- Small separate bathroom with toilet and shower
- Trunk and dresser with storage
- Hair dryer, iron, and ironing board included
- Disney resort soap, shampoo, and conditioner provided (will bring my own products next time as my girls and I all had tangled hair throughout our trip as if the conditioner was not strong enough)
- TV has helpful screensaver with all the important information you need for the resort
- Trash and towels were changed every other day during our stay
- There are several pay-to-use laundry mats located in the villas. One was not far from our room in Trinidad
- The door lock works with the My Disney Experience app, Magic Bands, or a key card from the front desk
- Coffee station is included in the room
MOM TIP: If your in-room coffee station runs out of supplies, you can take the short walk over to Spyglass Grill or the Port of Royale for more creamer, sugar, etc. Of course, you can also call the front desk.
The Leisure Pools at Caribbean Beach Resort
If you had asked me the first few days how many pools are at Caribbean Beach Resort, I would have said three since we passed by them walking each day. But by the end of our stay, I realized there are five leisure pools at Caribbean Beach Resort – one in each of the five Caribbean Beach Resort Villas. The leisure pools are super nice to simply chill without a ton of people around. These are the more relaxing pools.
The Feature Caribbean Beach Resort Pool – Fuentes del Morro Pool
You know any pool that actually has a proper name is going to be special. The Fuentes del Morro pool is the main pool at Caribbean Beach Resort. This pool has several slides, a separate hot tub area, a separate water play area (with a surrounding safety fence) for younger children, music, a water cannon system, lots of lounge chairs, tables with umbrellas, and a ton of people! It is a happening place!
Banana Cabana Poolside Bar
Right off the main pool, there is the Banana Cabana poolside bar that you can walk up to for drinks. Again, the refillable mugs are important here if you wish to enjoy sodas. Don’t forget to bring pack them in your pool bag!
Weekly Activities at the Feature Pool
Disney Caribbean Beach Resort offers several pool activities for the kids throughout the week. On one Sunday afternoon, we attended the afternoon pool party and scavenger hunt. The girls had a blast!
Mom Tip: Do not bring pool floats and inflatables for the feature pool. We brought a small ring float to the feature pool (since I always keep one in our travel suitcase), and a lifeguard told me we were not allowed to have those. I figure it was probably a safety issue since inflatables may limit the lifeguard’s viewing ability and so on. However, we did take the ring float to our leisure pool since it was much less crowded and we were often some of the only ones in the pool.
Recreational Activities for Kids
The resort does a nice job of hosting organized activities for the kids. On the TV screen in the rooms and in signage around the property, you will find days and times listed for specific activities. Some of these include the pool activities I mentioned above and movie nights at Caribbean Cay Island.
Caribbean Cay Island, located right on the property, has a beautiful walking area and a playground area for kids.
We even ran into Goofy one afternoon while walking from the Skyliner to our room!
We never made it over, but at night the Caribbean Beach resort hosts a s’mores and campfire type of kids activity over at the beautiful lighthouse area. I regret we missed this, but at night we were zonked!
Restaurants at Caribbean Beach Resort
At the time that I am writing this post, there are no dining plans at the Disney resorts. That went away with the pandemic and has yet to return as of this publishing. All meals are out-of-pocket.
Spyglass Grill Restaurant at Caribbean Beach Resort
This little off-the-pool cafe was a lifesaver for us during our week at the resort. This is a walk-up service open-air cafe. You can eat at a table in the covered dining area overlooking the lake, or you can take your food to the pool area or back to your room. Grab drinks for the pool. We did all of it.
The bacon cheeseburgers and fish tacos are both really good. (The presentation of the fish tacos doesn’t look as nice in the to-go-box in my photo below. Just know they are still delicious!) And the yuca and plantain chips that come on the side are a nice change from fries! You can check out the Spyglass Grill menu for other options.
In the mornings, we picked up blueberry muffins so we could eat them on the way to the shuttle bus or Skyliner to head to the Disney parks.
MOM TIP: Buy some blueberry muffins the night before from Spyglass Grill or the indoor food court so you can have them already in the morning. The mornings are hectic when you are trying to get out the door by 7:00ish to head to the parks!
Sebastian’s Bistro at Caribbean Beach Resort
For a nicer table-service dinner, you should try Sebastian’s Bistro. It is located on the property and requires a reservation.
The food is served family style. We had five courses served – bread, with guava butter on the side, a tropical salad, three meats, three sides, and a dessert to share. The food is amazing. The citrus chicken, pulled mojo pork, and grilled flank steak were melt-in-your-mouth good! And our dessert at Sebastian’s Grill was a pineapple coconut bread pudding topped with ice cream. You can find more details and pricing information on the Sebastian’s Bistro menu.
Indoor Food Court – Centertown Market
Inside the Old Port Royale lobby, there is a food court area with Centertown Market with breakfast, lunch, or dinner. You can order pizza, sandwiches, and more off of the Centertown Market menu.
You can stand in line and pay or you can use the QR Code posted on signs in the lobby to place your order. Our pepperoni pizza was ready in minutes, and it was actually really good pizza with a flavorful sauce! The Hubs picked it up, rode the internal shuttle service to our Disney Caribbean Beach Resort pirate room, and dinner was ready!
There are several eating areas around the indoor food court. Or you can take your food to the pool or to your room.
The staff members were entertaining diners with a version of YMCA on this particular night.
Old Port Royale Lobby of Caribbean Beach Resort
When we were first dropped off by Uber, we were dropped off at the Old Port Royale for check in. The lobby is big and grand – would we expect anything less at a Disney property? – and seems to be a bustling place. In the evening when we arrived, I saw children gathered around a TV watching a Disney program.
Gift Shop at Caribbean Beach Resort
There is a nice gift shop that carries souvenirs, Disney clothing and pajamas, Disney kitchenware (dishes, cookie cutters, dish towels, serving bowls, etc.), sunscreen, diapers, toys, snacks, bread, peanut butter, hygiene products, collectable pins, etc. I bought an adorable Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort Christmas ornament there (since that is what I collect when we travel – ornaments from the places we visit). The shop even had safety pins and a little sewing kit which is exactly what I went in there to look for!
And there you have it, mates! I tried to put as much thought and helpful information into this post as I could. I’m sure things will jump out at me later that I missed about our stay in the Disney Caribbean Beach Resort pirate room and property! If so, I will update.
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