As Disney moderate resorts go, Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is one of the more popular. We’ve always been big fans of Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter as our go to moderate resort, but with that resort being closed in summer 2021, we decided to give Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort a try instead.
We opted to try the pirate rooms at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort; with two pirate-obsessed little boys, I knew they’d love these rooms and sure enough, they thought they were amazing! I thought I’d post a review of the pirate rooms at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort for other families looking to try the resort out for themselves.
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort overview
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is one of Disney’s moderate resorts, and is one of largest resort properties at Walt Disney World. The theme is – not surprisingly – Caribbean themed, with lots of tropical accents and pastel colors; the resort went through a much needed refurbishment a couple of years ago, leaving the rooms much more modern.
The resort is broken up into “villages”: Aruba, Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, and Martinique. Depending on where you want to be in the resort, you might want to look at a map to request a certain village ahead of time.
The main building at the resort is called Old Port Royale; this is where you’ll check in and find the quick service location and the gift shop. This is also where the pool and interactive water play feature is. No rooms are actually linked to this building, but there are rooms nearby and you can request to be close to this building if you like.
The resort features a table service dining location, Sebastian’s Bistro, as well as two quick service locations, Centertown Market and Spyglass Grill, and a pool bar, Banana Cabana. There is a main pool themed to an old Spanish fort featuring two water slides (the only pool on property to do so), an interactive water feature in the shape of a pirate ship, as well as several quiet pools around the resort. There is also a playground and several beaches.
One of the biggest draws to the resort is that it is the only moderate resort located on the Disney Skyliner, which transports guests to both Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Bus transportation is provided to the other theme parks, water parks, and Disney Springs.
Pirate rooms at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
The pirate rooms at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort are located in the Trinidad village of the resort, which obviously means that if you want a pirate room, you’re limited in choosing where you want to be.
Trinidad isn’t the best village in my opinion, but it’s not the worst. It’s close to the Disney Skyliner (about a 5 minute walk) and has it’s own quiet pool, as well as Spyglass Grill, the smaller quick service location. There is plenty of parking in this area since it’s not near the main building, it has it’s own bus stop, and there are water view rooms available.
On the downside, it’s the furthest village from Old Port Royale, about a 10 minute walk. This wasn’t a huge deal most of the time, but when the kids were exhausted from the parks or wet from the pool, the walk did feel quite long. If we hadn’t been in the pirate rooms, this definitely wouldn’t have been my village of choice; I would have requested Aruba or Jamaica instead.
The rooms are very cute, and really well themed. From the pirate ship beds (complete with a mast, rigging, and ship’s wheels), to the wooden crates and pirate chest used as storage, to the skull and crossbones bathroom curtains, the detail was fantastic.
Rooms are average size for the moderate resorts, with two double beds and a bathroom. The shower and toilet are in a separate room from the sink and dressing area, something that I always think is handy when multiple people are trying to get ready at a time.
The bathroom has the larger shower products that are attached to the wall (shampoo, conditioner, and body wash); I know some people miss the small products but I like these so much better! You can still request the individual toiletries if you like.
We declined housekeeping on this trip, and will probably continue to do so in the future. You can still call housekeeping to ask for trash to be emptied, clean towels, etc, but otherwise no one is coming in and out of the room.
These rooms suit us just fine since the boys are still so young; my eldest son gets his own bed since the little guy still sleeps with me, and there’s enough space for us. I think four adults would feel quite cramped in here though, and storage might be tight.
But if your kids like pirates, I would 100% recommend these rooms. We’ve stayed in some really luxurious hotels over the years, but it’s always fun rooms like this that my kids remember staying in. One day they probably won’t want to stay in elaborately themed hotel rooms, but while they’re young it’s a fun treat.
Dining at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
As previously mentioned, Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort has a few options when it comes to dining. Sebastian’s Grill is a table service location serving Caribbean-inspired food in a casual setting. Centertown Market and Spyglass Grill are quick service locations featuring Caribbean cuisine, as well as more traditional American food like burgers and chicken tenders. Banana Cabana is a pool bar that also offers a small seating section with drinks and appetizer plates.
We ate at Centertown Market for most of our meals at the resort, and really enjoyed the food. I have one child who is a very adventurous eater, and one who likes his food very plain, so it can sometimes be a challenge to find a location that offers both.
Luckily, Centertown Market did! The above picture is the kids fish tacos, which my adventurous eater devoured, while my other son stuck with chicken tenders and fruit. I tried the tacos too and they were delicious.
We also ate Mickey waffles for breakfast every day, with a beautiful view over the water. There was plenty of indoor and outdoor seating, as well as to go boxes available if you wanted to eat elsewhere.
Banana Cabana was utilized a lot while we were at the pool! The bar had some great cocktails on the menu but the bartenders could pretty much make anything, including non-alcoholic drinks for the kids. The line could get quite long, so I tried to keep an eye on it to jump in when it got a little shorter.
Another option at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is to get food from Disney’s Riviera Resort. This resort is a short walk (or an even shorter skyliner ride) from Caribbean Beach, and offers a wider variety of food options. We got coffee and a chocolate tart from Le Petit Café and it was delicious.
We used Mobile Order every time we got food, and it worked out beautifully. The food was always ready quickly once we told the app we were there, and it meant no waiting in long lines with the kids.
The pool and other amenities at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
The pool at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is one of our favorite pools at Walt Disney World. It’s incredibly well themed, with cannons and tunnels and even a pirate flag, plus it has two pretty great water slides.
There is also an interactive water play area for kids under 48 inches, featuring two slides, and a giant bucket that tips water over everyone every few minutes. This was the first trip where one of my kids was taller than 48 inches and so couldn’t go in; this meant I had to stand in between the play area and the main pool to keep an eye on both of them. Not ideal, but it was doable!
The pool itself is a good size and never seemed crowded, but the pool deck itself was very small. Within an hour of opening each day, all of the chairs seemed to be taken, with those in the shade going especially quickly. My advice is to be there early, or keep your eyes peeled for people who might be leaving.
Also, don’t take more chairs than you need – we only took one for the three of us since it were really just to hold our things while we were in the water.
One of the slides in an enclosed tube slide with a queue that winds up inside one of the towers of the fort. This slide was always more popular, and often had long lines. The other slide is shorter and almost never had a wait.
As well as the main pool, there are quiet pools in each of the sections. We rarely saw anyone at these pools so if the main pool gets too crowded or too noisy, these pools would be a great option.
Other amenities at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort include several beaches with chairs and hammocks, as well as kids playground. Not all of the resorts have playgrounds, and I’ll never understand why – my kids love them, and they’re always busy! The playground is in an area called Caribbean Cay, where you can also find the nighttime movie being shown.
There are kids activity programs at the resort, including Mickey tie-dye t-shirts, which my kids loved making (and made for a quite reasonably priced souvenir).
Using the Disney Skyliner from Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
One of the best things about Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is that it is on the Disney Skyliner route. Not only that, but it is actually the main hub for the skyliner, meaning you don’t need to transition anywhere else to get to where you’re going. It’s a short ride to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and not much longer to Epcot (you pass through Disney’s Riviera Resort, but don’t need to get off).
From our room, it was a very short walk to the skyliner. The lines do get long early in the day, so either get there early if you want to make rope drop at the parks (especially Hollywood Studios) or wait until later in the morning to ride.
If you’re a smaller party, be prepared to ride with another family. I’ll be honest and say I really don’t like this; the space inside the skyliner car is quite small and I’m not a huge fan of being in that small space with another party. But this does make the lines move faster, and ultimately the rides are not long.
Would I recommend the pirate rooms at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort?
So after a few days staying at the resort, would I recommend these rooms? The answer: yes…but with a few words of caution.
As I said, the pirate rooms do limit where you can stay at the resort and there’s nothing that can be done about that. So if you know you absolutely must be close to Old Port Royale, these rooms won’t be for you.
The rooms are also very heavily themed – great for kids (and some adults!) but they won’t be to everyone’s taste. Moderate resort rooms are also smaller and all of that pirate décor does make them feel a bit more dark and cramped. If you’re looking for a bright, airy, modern room – these are not them!
But if you have kids (again, or adults!) who love pirates and want to be immersed in a fun environment, these rooms are fantastic. The whole resort really seemed to fit the pirate theme, even that’s not technically how it is themed, and my pirate-loving boys absolutely loved them. While they’re still young, we’ll definitely be back.
