Exploring Old Port Royale at Disney Caribbean Beach Resort: Food, Fun & More
Old Port Royale at Disney Caribbean Beach Resort was one of our favorite places to hang out when we weren’t running around Disney World. We loved our dinner at Sebastian’s Bistro, spent plenty of time at the amazing Fuentes del Morro Pool, wandered through Calypso Trading Post and made more than a few trips over to refill our mugs. It’s just a fun place to spend some time, especially when you want a break from the parks but aren’t ready to call it a night.
Grab some food, get a drink, do a little Disney shopping or head to the pool and enjoy being on vacation. There’s a lot packed into Old Port Royale, and it ended up being a big part of what we enjoyed about our stay in Disney World. I think my favorite part was the character meet-n-greets in the lobby area, where I got to be a kid again. Let’s talk more about why this is the ideal stop during your vacation.
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This trip was the first time we stayed on a Walt Disney World property for our vacation. I think I am completely hooked on staying on property and this resort is one I will come back to for a future stay. While I may not visit Disney World as often as some people, knowing how amazing this resort is just made it a whole lot simpler on where to stay. Old Port Royale is only one piece of your stay, but very important part of the resort vibe.
Sometimes it can be intimidating to try to figure out whether or not you should stay at a certain resort or not, having everything you need in one place certainly helps. I know you have questions(I know I did before I stayed here), so let me help you by answering some of the most popular ones people may ask.
More Things to Know About Old Port Royale at Disney Caribbean Beach Resort
Once you know where to eat, where to shop and just how good that pool is, there are still a few little things about Old Port Royale that are helpful to know before your stay. These are the kinds of questions that may not make or break your Disney vacation, but knowing the answers ahead of time makes Old Port Royale a whole lot easier to use once you’re there.
Old Port Royale itself doesn’t have one single opening and closing time because there are several different restaurants, shops and services inside and around it. Hours can also change, so I always check the My Disney Experience app during our trip rather than relying on hours I saw before we left home. This is especially important if you’re planning an early breakfast or coming back late and hoping to grab something before heading to your room.
Yes. Old Port Royale is home to the main lobby and Front Desk for Disney Caribbean Beach Resort. Even with so much handled through the My Disney Experience app these days, sometimes you just need to talk to an actual Cast Member. If there’s a question with your room, MagicBand, account or something else during your stay, this is where you’ll want to go.
Yes. Bell Services at Disney Caribbean Beach Resort can hold your luggage on arrival and departure days. This is especially nice when you arrive hours before your room is ready and don’t want to waste part of your first Disney day sitting around with your suitcases. The same goes for departure day if you have a later flight and want to squeeze a little more Disney time out of your vacation.
Yes, there are restrooms around Old Port Royale, including facilities near the Fuentes del Morro Pool area. This comes in handy on arrival or departure day, especially if you’re planning to enjoy the resort before your room is ready or after you’ve checked out. It’s also nice when you’re spending an afternoon around Old Port Royale and don’t want to trek all the way back to your room.
You can visit Old Port Royale without staying at Disney Caribbean Beach Resort, which is worth knowing if Sebastian’s Bistro is on your Disney dining list or you simply want to check out the resort. Disney transportation is usually the easiest way to visit, especially with the Skyliner making Disney Caribbean Beach Resort fun to work into an EPCOT or Hollywood Studios day.
There’s a lot packed into Old Port Royale, and that’s what makes it worth knowing about before your trip. It isn’t just the place where you check into Disney Caribbean Beach Resort and then forget about for the rest of the week. Between the food, that fantastic Fuentes del Morro Pool, shopping and all those little practical things you inevitably need during a Disney vacation, we found ourselves back here again and again. Now let’s get into what you’ll actually find at Old Port Royale and what we enjoyed most.
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Added bonus is you can meet favorite Disney characters in a much lower key atmosphere than at the parks. So if you are unsure if your little ones are going to like the characters, it’s a great way to introduce them while still have an avenue for a quick exit.
And, I truly enjoyed acting like a kid again with the characters.
What Is Old Port Royale at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort?
Old Port Royale is basically the heart of Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, and chances are you’ll end up here quite a few times during your stay. This is where you’ll find the main lobby and Front Desk, along with Centertown Market, Calypso Trading Post and several places to grab food or a drink. It’s also home to the main Fuentes del Morro Pool. Even on a Disney trip where you swear you’re going to spend all day in the parks, somehow you still end up making plenty of trips through Old Port Royale.
This is where you’re going when you want coffee in the morning, need to refill your mug, realize you forgot sunscreen or decide that sitting by the pool with a drink sounds a whole lot better than heading back into a crowded park. We definitely made our share of trips over here during our stay, especially for food and refillable mugs. It’s nice having so much in one place, but Caribbean Beach is a BIG resort, and that becomes very noticeable when you’re walking over just because you wanted something to drink.
That’s also why I think it’s worth understanding where Old Port Royale is before choosing your room. Depending on your village, getting here can be an easy walk or one of those Disney walks where you start questioning how badly you really wanted that cup of coffee or refill your mug. On our stay in the Jamaica village, we loved being convenient to the Skyliner, but Old Port Royale wasn’t nearly as convenient. There really is a tradeoff at Disney Caribbean Beach Resort between being close to the Skyliner and being close to the resort’s main hub, and after staying here, I think that’s something worth considering when you choose your room location.
Dining at Old Port Royale: Centertown Market, Sebastian’s Bistro and More
Old Port Royale is where you’ll find most of the main dining options at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, and there’s a pretty good mix depending on whether you want something quick or an actual sit-down dinner. Centertown Market is the main quick-service restaurant and the place we used when we wanted something easy without making a whole event out of eating. There’s also Centertown Market Grab & Go for those mornings when you just want to get moving. And, of course, this is where you can refill those Disney resort mugs, which sounds like a small thing until your room is on the other side of Barefoot Bay and you really want another Vanilla Cherry Coke.
Sebastian’s Bistro was easily the highlight of the dining at Caribbean Beach for us. We really loved our dinner here, and I think it’s one of those Disney restaurants that sometimes gets overlooked because it’s tucked away at a Moderate Resort instead of inside a park or one of the Deluxe Resorts. Dinner is served family-style with Caribbean and Latin-inspired dishes brought to the table to share. It was a fun, relaxed dinner after a busy Disney day, and one I would absolutely make time for again. If you’re staying at Caribbean Beach, I wouldn’t automatically assume you need to leave the resort every night for a good dinner.
Then there’s Banana Cabana, the open-air pool bar right by Fuentes del Morro Pool. It’s an easy choice when you’re having a resort afternoon and don’t want to change clothes and go anywhere for lunch or a drink. One thing to keep straight when looking at dining options is Spyglass Grill. It’s another quick-service option at Caribbean Beach, but it’s over in Trinidad, not at Old Port Royale. That can actually be a plus if your room is on that side of the resort. With Caribbean Beach being as spread out as it is, where you’re staying can make almost as much difference as what you’re in the mood to eat.
Fuentes del Morro Pool and Recreation at Old Port Royale
The Fuentes del Morro Pool at Old Port Royale is honestly one of the best resort pools I’ve ever encountered. Disney did such a good job with this one because it feels like more than just a place to cool off between park days. The whole area is themed around an old Spanish fortress, complete with stone walls, cannons and towers, but it still feels like a pool you actually want to spend an afternoon at rather than something that’s themed just for the sake of being themed. We really enjoyed having some downtime here, and I could easily plan a full resort afternoon around this pool.
One of the things I appreciated most was simply how much space there is. Disney resort feature pools can get busy, especially in the afternoon, but Fuentes del Morro has a large pool deck and plenty of room to spread out. It never felt like we were all crammed into one small area. There’s space to actually swim, hang out in the water or find a spot on the deck and relax for a while. After spending hours walking through the parks with thousands of your closest Disney friends, having a little breathing room at the pool is very welcome.
There’s plenty here for families too. The pool has two waterslides, including one that runs through the fortress, plus a nearby shipwreck-themed water play area for younger kids. There are also hot tubs, which I’m always happy to see after putting in Disney-level miles for the day. Pool activities add some energy during the day, but the size of the entire area helps keep it from feeling like you have to be in the middle of everything if you’d rather just relax. They even had steel pan drums one night for entertainment.
And then there’s Banana Cabana right next to the pool, which makes a resort afternoon even easier. Being able to grab some food or a tropical drink without wandering all the way through the resort is definitely a win. Disney Caribbean Beach Resort also has quieter leisure pools throughout the different villages, and those are great when you simply want a quick swim. But if I’m setting aside actual pool time during a stay, I’m heading to Fuentes del Morro. This is one Disney resort pool that I think is worth taking a little time away from the parks to enjoy.
Shopping at Old Port Royale and Calypso Trading Post
No Disney resort stay is complete without at least a little wandering through the gift shop, and Calypso Trading Post is the main shopping spot at Disney Caribbean Beach Resort. You’ll find plenty of the Disney merchandise you expect, along with Caribbean Beach Resort-specific items that are always fun to look for. I’m a sucker for resort merchandise because it’s a little more personal than grabbing something you can find in every park gift shop. Of course, it’s also dangerously convenient when you’re walking through Old Port Royale and think you’re just going to look. We all know how that usually ends at Disney.
Calypso Trading Post is useful for the less exciting vacation purchases too. They carry snacks, drinks, toiletries, basic medicine, sunscreen, pool necessities and some of those random things you inevitably realize you forgot after you’ve already unpacked. I wouldn’t treat it like a full grocery store, but it’s nice knowing you can grab the basics without leaving Disney property.
Whether you’re hunting for a Caribbean Beach souvenir or replacing the sunscreen you somehow managed to leave sitting on the bathroom counter at home, it’s definitely worth popping in while you’re at Old Port Royale. Gifts shops are always one of my favorite stops, and I took advantage of it by getting a Disney Skyliner Christmas ornament and a t-shirt, among other things!
Transportation From Old Port Royale at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
Transportation ended up being one of the things I liked most about staying at Caribbean Beach. We’re usually pretty good at figuring out the easiest way to get around Disney World, and having both buses and the Skyliner gave us options depending on where we were headed. Old Port Royale has its own bus stop, which we used for Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Disney Springs. There are several bus stops around Caribbean Beach, though, and that can be either really convenient or mildly annoying depending on where you are in the resort and how many stops that particular bus is making.
But the Skyliner? That was a completely different story. I loved it. Being able to walk over, hop into a gondola and head to EPCOT or Hollywood Studios without dealing with a bus was one of those things I got used to very quickly. There’s also something about riding the Skyliner that still feels like part of the Disney day instead of simply transportation. And if EPCOT is on the agenda for the evening, it’s pretty hard to beat knowing you can enjoy dinner, wander around World Showcase and then float your way back toward the resort when you’re done.
This is also where room location at Caribbean Beach gets interesting. The main Skyliner hub isn’t at Old Port Royale, and our room in Jamaica put us in a great spot for using it. I would gladly take that convenience again, even though it meant Old Port Royale wasn’t nearly as close. The walk for food or a mug refill sometimes felt considerably longer than it did earlier in the day, especially after coming back from the parks. Disney has a funny way of making a ten-minute walk at 8:00 in the morning feel completely different from that same ten-minute walk at 10:00 at night.
There is an internal bus if you really don’t feel like walking across the resort, and I like knowing it’s there, even if walking often makes more sense depending on where you’re headed. That’s really the tradeoff with Disney Caribbean Beach Resort. You probably aren’t going to be perfectly positioned for everything, so I’d rather choose what matters most to me. Give me easy Skyliner access to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, and I’m perfectly willing to walk a little farther when I want to get over to Old Port Royale.
How Close Are the Rooms to Old Port Royale at Disney Caribbean Beach Resort?
Where your room is located at Caribbean Beach really does make a difference, mostly because this resort is huge! Barbados, Martinique, Aruba, Jamaica and Trinidad are all spread around Barefoot Bay, and what looks like a quick walk on the resort map can feel very different after a long park day. I actually love the whole setup around the lake because it gives Disney Caribbean Beach Resort so much personality, but this is definitely a resort where I want to know where my room is before I arrive.
If you want to be close to Old Port Royale, the Preferred room locations are worth looking at. Being able to easily wander over to Centertown Market for breakfast, refill your mug, stop in Calypso Trading Post or head to Fuentes del Morro Pool is a pretty nice perk. And after our time at that pool, I completely understand wanting to be close to it! If I were planning a trip with more resort days and lazy afternoons by the pool, having Old Port Royale nearby would move way up my wish list.
That’s what makes the different villages fun to compare because everyone is going to have a favorite for a completely different reason. Martinique and Barbados put you closer to Old Port Royale, while Jamaica was such a great fit for us because of the Skyliner. Trinidad has Spyglass Grill nearby, and Aruba has its own advantages when it comes to Skyliner access. I could easily see choosing a different village for a future trip depending on what kind of Disney vacation we had planned.
That’s really what I loved about Disney Caribbean Beach Resort. There are several great locations to choose from, and where you stay really comes down to what you’re most excited to have nearby during your Disney vacation.
Old Port Royale is such a fun part of staying at Disney Caribbean Beach Resort, and it’s worth making time to enjoy it instead of only passing through on the way somewhere else. Between our dinner at Sebastian’s Bistro, that fantastic pool, shopping, grabbing drinks and just hanging out around the resort, we loved having a place to slow down and enjoy a different side of Disney World. It’s one more reason Disney Caribbean Beach Resort has so much more to offer than simply being a place to sleep between park days.
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