My wife and I spent our ten day Honeymoon at the Caribbean Beach Resort in Walt Disney World. I was placed in charge of planning and booking the Honeymoon so the first thing I searched for was a wonderful Caribbean cruise. When I could not book a cruise that matched up with our dates and schedule I quickly searched for a way to still experience the Caribbean without actually going there. The Caribbean Beach Resort was the best option and it did not disapoint!

I had taken my wife (then fiance') to Disney World for a Christmas present back in 2005. It was my third time experiencing "The World" and her first. We stayed in a great three bedroom condo in Kissimmee for seven days and had a spectacular time! When the cruise option would not work I automatically thought of Disney World. Even though my wife loved our last trip she was hoping to do something different for the Honeymoon, something that would be new for both of us and not just for her. I sold her on the CBR/Disney idea because neither one of us had ever staying inside of the Walt Disney World Resort Complex and our experience would have a Caribbean flavor. I went to this website and others with her to do some research and we liked what we saw and read about the resort.

Let's start out with the positives! The Caribbean Beach Resort was a well maintained resort that looked beautiful each and everyday that we were there. The resort really does have a tropical feel and when you are there it really does take you away from the hussle and bussle of the Disney Theme Park experience. The plants are gorgeous and all the resort room complexes are sprawled out around a really nice looking lake. I read some reviews on this site about the resort being "TOO BIG" and that you really need to be ready for the long walks from your room complex to Centertown/Old Port Royale, which has the food court, gift shops, and main themed pool. Many reviews stated that your best bet would be to stay in the Martinique or Trinidad complexes. When I booked the trip over a year ago I took this advice and asked to stay in Martinique. When we arrived at check-in, which did not take long at all:) I was told that Martinique was booked up and that we were going to be placed in Aruba. I looked on the resort map and was a little bummed because it was on the opposite side of the resort from Centertown/Old Port Royale, but my wife and I decided to see just how far a walk we would be in store for. Right after we got settled we set out across the lake for Old Port Royale. IT ONLY TOOK 4 MINUTES TO GET THERE! We were both laughing and contemplating how bad of shape some of the other reviewers must have been in to state that their walk was long and made the trip less enjoyable. My wife and really enjoyed the walk everyday because it gave up a chance to see more of the resort. We thought the walk was relaxing. It is really cool when you walk over the bridge to Old Port Royale...right when you get over the bridge you can hear Caribbean flavored tunes and the music of Jimmy Buffett playing from speakers hidden in the plants. We both agreed however that the walk might be a problem if you were taking small children back and forth every trip.

Everytime I go to Disney World I marvel at the way they are able to move large amounts of people. This time was no exception. The internal resort/Theme Park bus service was spectacular. We only had to wait between 3-5 minutes for busses when we waited at our complex's bus stop. The only bus that took more time was the bus going to and from Downtown Disney/Pleasure Island. One night we waited 45 minutes for a bus, but this was not typical. We did rent a car for a couple of days to drive down to Clearwater Beach and Universal Studios (Both destinations were a MUST on our list), but you would not need to rent a car when staying in a Disney Resort, that is one of the best perks about the experience! We also utilized the Magical Express option where you board a shuttle bus from Orlando MCO to your Disney Resort. We loved this option! We did however opt to grab our own luggage and bring it with us instead of having Disney magically deliver it to our room. I would say that this was a good option for us because we wanted to be in control of our bags and did not want to wait for them to arrive at our room later in the evening, which I heard can take up to 3-6 hours after your check-in.

Now the negatives...THERE WERE NONE. Our Honeymoon was definately a "Magical" experience in every sense of the word. If I had it my way I would return yearly for more Disney, but the wife wants some different travel experiences:) We will return someday with our kids and I am sure we will stay at the CBR. Everything about this resort was great. Our room was clean, the resort pools were great and relaxing, the food court was decent, and our maid even made us little animals out of our and towels. The folks at Disney and the CBR really made us feel welcome and at home away from home. I would recommend this resort to anyone who wishes to stay within Disney World for a affordable price! Make sure that if you are a Honeymoon couple to make it known when you make your resort and dining reservations. Disney will give you some great special perks.

Oh, here are some of the great restaurants we were able to visit during our stay:

Narcoosee's at the Grand Floridian: Great window view of MK fireworks, good food, but a bit pricey. They gave us personalized menus to celebrate our Honeymoon, which was a really cool suprise!

Teppanyaki Dining Room of Japan at Epcot: Awesome and fun atmosphere with entertaining chefs and great food. Prices were really reasonable.

The Original Rome Italian Restaurant of Italy at Epcot: I am Italian and this original Italian cuisine was fantastic. One of our favorite dining experiences during the trip. Prices were also really reasonable.

This was our 6th trip to DisneyWorld and our first stay in the park. Picked this resort by the reviews and comments from this site and word of mouth (although none had been there in a few years). Was told this was the best of the moderate Disney hotels. All I can say is if this is what the best of the moderate hotels looks like, what the heck can the value resorts be like.
We had previously stayed outside the park in two bedroom condos. Always beautiful, tons of room, full kitchen, balcony, the works. We knew it was more money to stay on Disney property and only get a hotel room. But this was to be our last trip to Disney for a while since our two boys are getting older and we wanted to enjoy the perks of being a Disney resort guest this one time. After staying in the Caribbean Beach one night of our 5 days and 4 nights, we could not wait to get out of there and into any place else. We stayed in a $50 a night hotel (we generally stay at a Marriott, Hyatt or Sheraton, but wanted to save a few bucks) for one night at the beginning of our trip because of how our flight was and no availablity to get into resort any earlier. Truthfully, we didn't see much difference in the rooms between the $50 hotel and the Caribbean Beach, which was more than 3x that amount. Luckily, we were able to work with our booking agent who worked with Disney and we were credited for the remainder of our stay and able to move to another resort outside of Disney. Unfortunatley, it took 3 and half hours to get everything resolved but at least we able to enjoy the rest of our vacation.
The problems with the resort: Starting with check in, the lobby, nothing impressive at all. Very large resort, we were in Martinique, not too far from Port Royal but drove there anyway. A bit of a hike in the heat and humidity. The units are two story with no elevator. So you have to schlep your bags, all 5 of ours, up the steps. Or pay and wait for a bellman to do it. We schelped. We noticed that the grounds were not as well kept as we thought they would be. The foliage was nothing special. Kind of thought it would be with all of the topiary and beautiful plants in the parks. Lots of dead leaves and flowers laying around.
The room, first impression, nice. Didn't take too long to change that. Size was ok, what we expected. But the two cloth seats of the chairs at the table had a lot of large stains on them. The sink vanity had many scrapes and gouges with white showing through the green paint (not supposed to be the destressed look). We only had three drawers in the dresser/tv cabinet to put our things. There was no closet, instead off the room was the double sink counter, with a bar along side of the sink to hang our clothes on. We had to use the left sink otherwise you would splatter your clothes using the sink on the right. There was no where to put our empty luggage. Even though we put them inside of each other, we had to have them side next to the bed by the door. The clothes hung too low to sit it under them. The bedspreads and curtains and colors were cute till we went to bed. The only beds offered for families are two full beds. Come on Disney, get with the program, most hotels have queen size now. The worst part of the very firm beds with very small floppy pillows was the sheeting. They are small 4 post frame beds,open underneath. There is no dust ruffle which means the boxspring is exposed,first eew. Then, like many hotels, they use a top sheet to cover the mattress. Luckily the did use a very thin, only covers the top, mattress pad. But the top sheet was only a full, possibly a twin, sheet. It did not tuck under on the sides of the mattress. So if you moved at all, you were exposing the mattress. All I could think was we would wake up with our faces on a bare mattress...ewww. I knew then and there we were not going to stay. The bathroom was a toilet and shower, very small. Ugly, dirty looking floor tile, which went in the sink area also. The tv was small and had really bad reception. Not that we watched it that much. The drawers in the dresser were bare wood and had large stains in each drawer. Luckily we had plenty of plastic bags to line the drawers with.
The pros: Port Royal is very nice. Lots of eating choices, shopping and very nice employees. We really did not get to partake of any of this since the next morning I woke up at 6:30 and was on the phone making arrangements to move. The lady at the front desk was very nice checking us out. Did not have a clue as to why and that was fine. We just wanted to get out of there. Moved to another hotel and had a wonderful vacation after that.
I would recommend to spend less staying at a nicer resort outside of Disney, with much more amenities. Even though a big draw is the inter-resort/parks transportation, not worth it. We rented a full sized car for $205 total for the week. Came and went when we wanted, instead of waiting at a bus stop in the heat and humidity for up to 25 minutes. The Disney meal plan is convienient but really quite expensive. And you have to get so many meals and snacks or you lose out. Talked to more than one person who said they ate just because they had the coupon and ended up on the last day getting a dozen snacks or more to pack because they didn't use the coupons for them and didn't want to lose them. Some days it is too hot to go to a full meal restaurant. It is very easy to eat at the parks when you want, where you want. And much more cost affective.

Please dont fear any negitive reviews about this resort. We stayed here with our two 11 year olds and the service at this place was outstanding. The only negative at this resort is Shutters Rest......Save your money. Transportation was no worse than any other resort off the monorail. Check in and check out was a dream. Get the refillable mugs and your off. Rooms were clean and cleaned on a daily basis basis. If you needed them to clean later on in the day it was not a problem. We stayed in martinique and if you can get a room here this is the way to go. If your looking for a family destination this is going to work for you. If your looking for total elegance and to spend a fortune then try another place. But if your looking for your basic breakfast, lunch, dinner and to go park hopping you cant ask for more. The many pools open till midnight was a big plus for not only the kids but us. I have stayed at the the Poly and at the Contemp. which are beautiful resorts but for the money and what we were looking to do we were Verry pleased. Do not worry about any bad reviews anyone gives here this it what it is all about. Just a small hint stay in martinique or as close you can get to the Port Royale dose definitely helps...............As we all know it wouldn't matter to people if their trip was free they would still complain. So dont worry your pretty little heads if your going here cuz I know I did and I was totaly wrong...

We stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort last year, July 16-23rd, and it was our first time at Disney and of course at the Resort. We booked our trip with the Magical Express and got the meal plans, that was the way to go especially with traveling with our 3 yr old and 7 yr old boys. The food plan absolutely saved alot of money, there were a few meals that we paid for on our own, and it was pricey. We had a very pleasant experience at the Resort, the Magical Express met us at the airport and our luggage was handled all the way until we got to our room. It was so nice not having to deal with luggage at all. Check in was very crowded, but once we got checked in everything went smoothly. The resort is overwhelmingly big, and we felt like we'd never find our way around, but after two nights, we began to find our way around. Our room was nice, things were clean and cozy. The maid service was always happy to help out if we needed anything. There was always a special "surprise" for the boys when we'd come back from a very tiring day,,,they would always line up the boys stuffed animals along with a few cute animals they made out of washcloths for them, they loved that! We are looking forward to coming back next year to Disney and would absolutely stay at the Resort again!!! The kids can't wait to return! We were very happy first timers!