Disney World, Travel Day | Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort and Blizzard Beach Water Park
After 373 days of planning, it’s finally time for us to go to DISNEY WORLD! If you’re new to this blog and YouTube series, I have been documenting my families planning and travel experience as Disney first-timers. Today, i’m jumping into our Disney travel day, but first…
Make sure to catch up on the Disney World prep content here:
Check Out my Travel Day vlog HERE!
We hit the road around 6:00am and had about a 6 hour drive ahead of us. The first part of our drive is mostly back roads, so I had to suffer without coffee for the first hour and half of the trip. We finally stopped for Starbucks and Chick Fil A around 7:45am.
Sunshine & Iced Coffee t-shirt - United Monograms
A few hours, a few frustrating cross word puzzles, and a few gas station stops later the glorious moment finally arrived… we started seeing Disney road signs! We officially entered the Disney Bubble around 2:00pm and the feeling was absolutely unreal!
Entering the Disney Bubble! Watch my Day 1 Disney Vlog HERE!
As you know, we stayed at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort. As soon as you pull into the resort, you feel like you have been transported to the Caribbean islands! From the vibrantly colored buildings, the skyliners humming overhead, the tropical plants, and the subtle Caribbean music around the resort, the immersive vibes are unmatched and so relaxing!
{TIPS} Checking In:
App vs. In-person: Before our arrival I heard a lot about checking in on the app to streamline the process of getting to your room. However, since we specifically wanted to request the Aruba section, I wanted to go to the desk to check in. If you don’t have a specific room request, then I’m sure the app would make things quicker, but our desk check in experience was a breeze!
Celebration Buttons: Another benefit of visiting the desk to check in… You can ask for your celebration buttons! There are tons of places to get celebration buttons around the Disney bubble, but why not start the trip off strong by getting them at check in?!
Touring the Resort: Make time to tour your resort. I was planning to spend our check in evening walking around and exploring our resort and its offerings, but weather changed that plan and we never had another opportunity to do it. We pretty much only saw the lobby, Centertown Market (lobby restaurant), Calypsos Trading Post (gift shop), Banana Cabana (main pool bar), Caribbean Cay (Island in the middle of CBR), and our section of Aruba.
Plan a Resort Day: I’m not sure if this tip fits here, but I’m going to add it anyway… I wanted to see every park on my first trip to Disney World, and we did exactly that. However, I will definitely be planning a resort day (or two) on my next trip to Disney World. There are two reasons for this… One, back-to-back park days are exhausting (in the best way possible, but still exhausting). Two, the resorts have so much to offer too! My plan for next time is to do a little resort hopping as some point. :)
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort - Entrance & Old Port Royale
We had the smoothest check in process with a CBR cast member named Becky. We requested a room in the Aruba section and she was able to fulfill that request for us! Check in time is technically 3pm, and we were totally fine with waiting to get into our room, but we were lucky enough to have a room ready for us when we arrived. Becky gave us our (long awaited) first-timer celebration buttons, and we were off to our room!
Walt Disney World 1st Visit Celebration Button
5th Sleeper Room in the Aruba Section of Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
Our room was on the second floor of building 52 in the Aruba section. If you didn’t know, Caribbean Beach Resort does not have elevators, so if you are not able or do not want to climb stairs after a long park day make sure to request a ground floor room. We were asked if 2nd floor was ok when we checked in, and it was fine with us —I honestly preferred it because of the gorgeous views, but to be fair there isn’t really a bad view anywhere at CBR!!!
This room was also a 5th sleeper, which wasn’t needed for our party of three, but it just happened to be the type of room available in the section we wanted. In my opinion, the 5th sleeper is really only beneficial if you have a child that can fit on the bed. I don’t think an adult could comfortable fit on the fold out bed.
Overall, the appearance and size of this room was great for us! The rooms has received soft updates in the form of fresh paint and new flooring, but hasn’t been updated to with the “Under the Sea” theme that has been added to some sections of the resort. This room was spacious enough that we were able to move around comfortably. We also had plenty of space for our luggage and the pile of Disney shopping bags that accumulated throughout the week —haha!
{TIP} Would we request Aruba again?
Did I love the Aruba section? Yes. Would I request it again? No. We initially selected it because of its close proximity to the Riviera (for their Skyliner station and Le Petite Cafe). Not to spoil future blog posts, but we actually didn’t use the Skyliner at all, and we only visited Le Petite Cafe once (and I didn’t love it as much as I wanted to 🥲). I also chose Aruba because I love pink and wanted pictures with the pink buildings —and only took one picture by the buildings for the whole trip, haha! Next time I would select Barbados or Martinique for the close proximity to the lobby and the Old Port Royal bus stop, we walked to those places a lot.
We quickly dropped our bags in our room, changed into our swimsuits, and caught our first Disney bus to go to the water park!
If you’re staying at any Disney resort, you get access to the Disney water parks for free on your arrival day. Disney has two waterparks: Blizzard Beach & Typhoon Lagoon. Typically, only one waterpark is open at a time, but this year Disney opened both parks on May 21st (after our stay). We arrived on April 28th, so Blizzard Beach was the water park that was available to us.
Transportation to Blizzard Beach from Caribbean Beach Resort isn’t as intimidating as it seems, but it isn’t direct like most other Disney transportation destinations. To get to Blizzard Beach, you have to take a bus to Animal Kingdom first and then transfer to a Blizzard Beach bus. As always with Disney transportation, it’s best to have ample time to get from one place to another. We got to the Jamaica bus stop at 3:04 pm and got to Blizzard Beach at 3:47 pm.
{TIP} Transportation:
Caribbean Beach Transportation: There is a lot of chatter about having difficulty getting a bus if you are one of the last stops of the CBR bus loop. In our experience, we never had difficulty getting on a bus at Jamaica or Aruba, but we only used those bus stops two or three times. If we were leaving the resort at a busier time we typically would walk to the Old Port Royal bus stop just to be safe. To be honest, I think the walk to the lobby is only a few minutes longer than the walk to the Aruba/Jamaica bus stops so it didn’t feel much different to us.
Disney transportation is a bit more complex than our experience at Universal Studios last year. Disney transportation can be a longer wait and ride time, and can be unpredictable at times, which means that you have to schedule extra time in your day especially if you have a dining reservation or lightning lane. In Disney World, time is money and sometimes you don’t want to waste your time waiting on unpredictable transportation. Also, some destinations have limited options for Disney transportation (examples: Skyliner is the only transportation from Caribbean Beach to Epcot; To get from one resort to another you have to go to a park for transfer). It’s nice to have a back up plan sometimes…
Drive Yourself: Free parking is included with your resort stay, so if you have a personal vehicle, you can definitely drive yourself to the parks. The only “catch” to this, is that parking might fill up or be busy on certain days/locations. For instance, we were advised against driving ourselves to Blizzard Beach because parking would probably already be full for the day. Personally, we don’t like to drive once we arrive at our vacation destination so once we park the car, we only use free transportation, ride share, or our feet.
Ride Share: I downloaded Uber and Lyft and set up my accounts before we went to Orlando just in case we needed them in a crunch. I’m glad that I did, because we actually used ride share just as much or more than the free Disney transportation. Rides were usually $5-7 each way, but were worth it for us. I know this option isn’t for everyone, but it definitely took some headache out of our trip and I would definitely do it again.
The Skyliner: I’ll talk about this more in my Hollywood Studios blog post… {coming July 19th}
Disney’s Blizzard Beach water park - April 2025
Disney’s Blizzard Beach water park - April 2025
The theme-ing of Blizzard Beach is so cute —blending tropical with winter time and cartoons with reality, it was perfect! I braved my fears and rode one raft ride with my husband. We climbed the mountain and rode Team Boat Springs, because I thought that one would be calm enough for me. I still wasn’t a fan, and may have screamed most of the way down. But at least I tried!
Lazy rivers are much more my style —which is exactly where I went next while Brian zoomed all of the rides and slides that he could find. I’m not sure if this is typical of the lazy river, but there seemed to be too many floats which made it hard to get through at times. Also (this may just be a pet peeve of mine), if you’re in the lazy river please be in a raft. There was a family right in front of me for my whole ride around the park. There were about 5 adults, and I think 3 kids ranging from elementary school to high school aged. The kids were chasing each other and splashing each other, and while I am totally understanding of kids being kids and having a good time in a water park, I do think the splashing and chasing was disruptive to others trying to float down the lazy river.
What are your thoughts on lazy rivers? Are you team float or team splash?
I enjoyed a full lap around the lazy river, which took about 20-30 minutes, before the rides were shut down due to a weather warning. Oddly enough, this same exact thing happened to me at Universal’s Volcano Bay last year —haha!
In typical Florida fashion the sun was shining with a few rumbles of thunder in the distance, which gave us a false sense of hope. While some people headed for the exits, we decided to wait it out a bit to see if the storm would pass, which was the perfect opportunity to grab a Mickey pretzel with cheese!
Unfortunately, the sunshine was quickly replaced with heavy, cold rain drops. Thinking that the bus stops would be flooded with both rain and people, we decided to browse the gift shop and stay put for a few more minutes —not like we could get any wetter anyway, haha!
{TIP} Arrival Day Water Park —Would We Do It Again?
If you love water parks —yes! My husband loves water parks so this was a “must” for him and he really enjoyed it. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of water parks so I wouldn’t do it just for me, but if you have kids or a water park junkie in your group then yes. Even though the park was busy, I don’t feel like it was an overwhelming amount of people so it could be a good transition into park chaos, haha! Even without the water rides, the park is pretty and there are Mickey shaped snacks, so you can’t go wrong! Plus it’s free!
Centertown Market - Caribbean Beach, April 2025
Centertown Market - Caribbean Beach, April 2025
The sun came back just long enough to give us a beautiful Caribbean Beach sunset, but then the rain clouds started moving in again on our way to Centertown Market for dinner.
There is just something about a resort food court dinner on your check in day! Every bite of food comes with a side of excitement for the week that lies ahead of you.
Since the menu is inspired by the Caribbean, there are several dishes that contain mango, which was a concern for me since I am allergic to mangos. I decided to order the fish tacos, and while mango is not a listed ingredient I still wanted to mention it in case of cross contamination. The cast member that took our order was super kind and helpful and asked the chef to come out and clarify the ingredients. They put in my order and noted that I had a mango allergy. When our buzzer alerted that our order was ready, my food was on a purple tray with a sticker for my allergy. The cast member confirmed that I had the allergy so that I could be the one to pick up the tray to further reduce the risk of cross contamination. I truly felt like they took my concerns very seriously and thought of everything to make sure that my meal was safe.
I ordered the fish tacos, which were delicious and flavorful, and paired them with Disney fries which were the perfect amount of salt and golden crispiness. Brian ordered the Arroz Mamposteao, and while he thought it was good in terms of flavor, he did mention that the meat was overcooked and a little tough.
{TIP} Resort Mugs:
Disney offers refillable resort mugs for $22.99 that can be refilled at any Disney resort for free for the length of your stay (up to 14 days). The eligible drinks include fountain drinks, coffee, and tea. This mug basically pays for itself if you get 5 or more drinks at your resort. However, this mug does not work at the parks. If you plan to eat or drink at any Disney resort during your stay, or you like to drink fountain drinks every day, I would say that this purchase is worth it.
Vacation dinner isn’t complete without a stroll through the gift shop with your resort mug in hand. I picked up two packs of Pixie Plush mystery pins, and a pin lanyard to start Pin Trading in the parks. If you want to see which pins we got in our first packs, check out the vlog!
{TIP} Disney Gift Cards:
If you didn’t know, you can pay for your trip and pay for purchases during you trip using Disney gift cards. If you purchase giftcards from places like Sam’s club ($500 gift card for $484) or Target (purchase with Red Card and save 5%), you basically get free money… #girlmath! Even if you’re not saving money with your gift cards, this can also be a great tool for budgeting during your trip. I brought a $500 giftcard with us and used it mostly for food purchases and a few merch purchases. No, this did not last us all week, but it was helpful for keeping some sort of a budget because the balance was printed on each receipt. And yes, you can use them on the app for mobile order —you just can’t load it ahead of time, you have to type it in during the check out phase.
{TIP} After Dinner Entertainment:
Movie Under the Stars: At every Disney resort you can find a “Movie Under the Stars” area in the evenings (weather permitting). At Caribbean Beach Resort the movie viewing area is set up on Caribbean Cay (the island in the middle of the resort). We didn’t stop to watch the movie on any of the nights we were there, but it did puts a smile on my face when we walked by and heard it playing.
Watch the Fireworks: Some resorts have clear firework views and specific viewing areas, or firework view rooms. I don’t think Caribbean Beach Resort technically qualifies as a firework view resort, but you can see the EPCOT fireworks in the distance over the Aruba buildings. This seems like such a “duh” thing, but I totally didn’t realize that we would be able to see Epcot fireworks from our resort. Even with all of my planning, I still wasn’t prepared for how close we really were to Epcot!
We walked out of Old Port Royale after dinner and heard a few booms in the distance. My jaw dropped as I screamed “it’s the fireworks!” and ran to the boardwalk so we could see them across the water. We stood there for the rest of the show and took in our first Disney fireworks experience before heading back to the room to unpack, open mystery pins, and get ready for our first full park day!
Thank you so much for reading Day 1, of our 2025 Disney trip! I can’t wait to share the rest of our Disney adventures with you. Make sure to check back soon because in day two of this blog and YouTube series, we’re heading to Magic Kingdom!
With Love,
Sami
