Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort Review – Pirate Room
Although all Disney World Resort rooms come with a fun theme, the Pirate Rooms at Caribbean Beach take “living in the magic” to a whole other level! If you are looking for a special experience still in the Moderate Resort price range, then these pirate rooms may be the perfect stay for your next Walt Disney World trip. The entire Caribbean Beach Resort has actually undergone a renovation in very recent years, raising it up on the list of Best Disney Moderate Resorts.
Caribbean Beach Resort
Caribbean Beach has more sections than any other Moderate Resort, and you will feel this size immediately upon your arrival. It contains five different sections and a main house, with the pirate rooms being in the Trinidad South section. The other sections, in order:
- Customs House – Check-in
- Aruba
- Jamaica
- Martinique
- Old Port Royale – Food Court and Main Pool
- Trinidad North and South
- Pirate Rooms are in Trinidad South
Being aware of the size of the resort is really important. If you aren’t expecting to have 6 bus stops, it can be quite a surprise. It also affects your travel time fairly significantly. For example, if you are trying to get to Port Royale, which houses the food court and main pool, a round-trip to Port Royale from Trinidad South takes around 15 minutes, not including the wait time for the bus. It’s actually much quicker to walk from your room along one of the many walkways inside the resort, only taking about 10 minutes to walk around Barefoot Bay from your Caribbean beach Pirate room.
Caribbean Beach Resort Location and Transportation
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is technically an Epcot Area Resort but is just as close to Hollywood Studios. Magic Kingdom is the furthest park from the resort.
The only transportation available to the parks is via bus. As the resort has five separate sections and a main house, the buses make six total stops. The bus is even necessary just to travel between sections of the resort for many. A separate bus runs for transportation inside of the resort, although it is quicker to walk in some cases. The Pirate Rooms are in Trinidad South, which is the last stop on the way to the parks. This makes your trips to the parks quicker, but delays your trip home. You can expect bus times from Trinidad South to be approximately:
- Hollywood Studios – 10 minutes
- Epcot – 15 minutes
- Magic Kingdom – 30-40 minutes
- Animal Kingdom – 25-30 minutes
- Disney Springs – 20 minutes
If Hollywood studios or Epcot are your favorite resorts, then Caribbean Beach is an excellent choice. If traveling with Magic Kingdom fans, you may find the lengthy ride to not be ideal. Another plus was that due to the size of the resort, they run their own buses. You won’tt have to share with other resorts like you do at even some of the Deluxe Resorts. They also run double buses during the busier hours.
Caribbean Beach Resort Pirate Room
We were staying in a Pirate’s of the Caribbean themed room. The rooms are similar in size to other moderate resorts, with two queen beds. The special treat for my son is that the queen bed was inside a pirate ship! When we opened the door, he was ecstatic! Both my son and daughter spent plenty of time just playing in the bed.
There is a small table with two chairs, refrigerator and lots of storage space. The bathroom has a Pirate curtain flying the Jolly Roger to separate the sink area from the room. The bathroom itself has the toilet and bath tub in a separate room. The carpet boasts a stylish compass pattern. Overall, the details and styling of the room were excellent and our kids had a great time playing pirates!
As with all Disney resorts, the housekeeping staff do an amazing job. My favorite, by far, is the attention they pay to the kids’ stuffed animals. We always look forward to seeing how they decorated when we come back to the room. This year, my son was obsessed with Tsum Tsums, so a lot of the designed took those into account.
Caribbean Beach Resort Dining
Caribbean Beach has quick service dining in a few locations including a central food court, Old Port Royal. It is closed for refurbishment as of May 2017, but when it is open, it has several food choices. We chose it mainly for breakfast and were very happy with the selection.
Caribbean Beach Resort Pirate Room Summary
Overall, we really enjoyed the room but prefer a smaller resort. The travel times to Magic Kingdom were longer than we expected, but the short trip to Hollywood Studios was a pleasant surprise.
Caribbean Beach would be a good choice for you if:
- Hollywood Studios and Epcot are your main parks
- You are major Pirates of the Caribbean fans and enjoy a good, themed-room
- Plan on eating mostly quick-service or in-room dining
Caribbean Beach may not be the best fit if:
- Magic Kingdom is the main park you visit
- Bus transit times need to be short
- Want a table-service option in your resort
