Our family recently made the trek to Disney World, where we typically stay on Disney property, but in the Downtown Disney hotels. However, earlier this year when Disney offered a 30% discount on rooms, the price to stay at a Moderate Resort was the same as it would have cost to stay outside the system. Plus with the addition of the Magic Band system, we elected to “splurge” and stay with the mouse.

My wife did all the Disney planning for the trip and elected to go with the Caribbean Beach Resort. When it came to rooms, we had two choices. Either stay in a standard room or pay an up-charge to stay in a Pirate themed room.

We opted not to pay for the Pirate rooms, even though our boys would have loved it, because based on reviews, those rooms are the farthest away from everything such as the pools and central hub of the resort.

We were assigned to building 14 in the Barbados area. We had adjacent rooms with my in-laws on the second floor.

The rooms came with two full size beds, a table and chairs, and an dresser with fridge and flat screen television. The bathroom area was separated by a curtain with double sinks, and a separate shower/toilet room.

Each section/island of the resort had their own swimming pool, and a large pirate themed pool with slides and play areas was located at the Old Port Royale Centertown.

The Pros

– The location of Caribbean Beach was nicely located in relation to the parks. Our bus rides allowed for fairly quick access to and from with out any issues. At nights, we often found ourselves letting everyone go around us to fill the bus, leaving the second bus for us and several strollers and often fewer people.

– The swimming pools were all very nice. The kids loved the pirate themed area and slides, and the smaller pools at each section of the resort provided for some nice quieter time.

– Since we drove our own vehicle, one of the major cost factors was the price of parking both at a hotel and then at the parks. Staying at a non-Disney resort meant nightly parking fees, plus the daily fee to park at a park if we did not take the transportation systems. However, staying on property meant we never had to pay a parking fee anywhere. Simply show our vehicle pass, and we got free access anywhere we wanted.

The Cons

– The resort felt like a cheap hotel, such as a curtain to separate the bathroom from the room. While the resort grounds were nicely landscaped and felt tropical, the rooms them self did not impress at all.

– Each building did not have its own vending machines. Instead you had to walk either to the central hub or next to the pools there was a laundry with a beverage machine.

– We never saw any characters, which I would have at least expected at the pools.

– Full beds

Everyone always said you have to stay at a Disney hotel for the magical experience. Ok, this time the numbers aligned and we tried it out. However, I saw nothing special and worthy of the often hefty price difference to warrant the charge. We left our kids stuffed animals and stuff out in the room several times, and never really had those special magical touches others talked about.

The housekeeping staff did do a good job though of cleaning the room and providing adequate towels and toiletries. My wife even made it a point to leave tips in envelopes for the maids during the early part of the trip.

The other thing that drives me nuts is if you are going to charge me a premium to stay in your Disney rooms, the least you could do is offer a queen size beds. Come on Disney, people travel with families. Fortunately, our boys are little and we could fit easily in the room with them. However, things could get fairly constrained for older families.

I had visions of being able to come back and write a grand review, how even I, the skeptic could be convinced that staying on Disney property was worth the cost. However, I was not impressed to say the least. Was it a room to spend the night? Yes, absolutely, and that is all I typically look at and do not like paying a premium for a room you are never in.

However, this is Disney we are talking about. I expect a stellar room with little details that make it worth the experience. Especially at a moderate resort. I saw nothing worthy of me ever returning to a Disney property. All of the hotels we stayed in on the trip there and back were way better appointed and accommodating then those at Disney.

Save Money, Travel More!

Source: InACents