My girlfriend and I stayed at the Caribbean beach resort between April 25th and May 9th for the first time having previously stayed at other disney resorts incl French Quarter as the Skyliner was ideal for access to our two favourite parks.
Upon arrival be aware if you use a satnav as we did then it will take you to the Riviera Resort entrance which isn't an issue as they will allow you access, however it would be good if magic bands/room cards worked there also once checked in (especially for those staying in Jamaica and Aruba) as it's a lot closer.
Checking in:
Upon check-in we were pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness and layout of the reception. The queue for checking in was very short and the guy who checked us in was very polite, professional and friendly.
We were given a great room and location (Aruba 5444) which is right by the Riviera skyliner to Epcot and there was not only ample parking but the grounds around us and the small pool near our block were both well maintained.
The room was a great size with more storage and hanging space than we had previously as French Quarter, but the aircon unit the same, very loud, inconsistent and it seemed to have a mind of its own.
In the end we learned to not really mess with it much and just leave it set and running as they it doesn't have the sporadic loud spikes in its cooling to bring temperatures down as it seemed to really struggle at times. This is one thing I feel these buildings could benefit from, new and updated aircon units.
The block was huge, and the closest drinksachine for us and the Disney mugs was on 55, again not too far and so block 54 really was great.
The room:
The bed and pillows were very comfy, the TV huge, although I found it very odd that there was hardly anything ever on and Disney doesn't even have the basic Disney+ setup for all its paying customers to enjoy when on property...
We had an iron and ironing board, hairdryer and plenty of power outlets incl USB and USB-C, however these were very inconsistent in their output and you could not use more than one at a time we so generally reverted back to using the good old plugs which worked fine.
The bath/shower had plenty of pressure, the sinks (duel) were very spacious and overall the room was great.
One other thing to note is the walls are pretty thin, and with the noise of the aircon you'll find you have the TV up very loud. We could regularly hear everything next door was saying and/or watching...
To get to the reception, main pool and breakfast was not far at all, I've seen some moan about the size of the property and getting around it, but honestly there is nothing moan about and everything is easily within walking distance (imo).
The main pool:
We only visited this once, far too many kid focussed loud games going on all the time and loungers were a pain to get. This pool is very well themed and 100% aimed at families only imo
The small pool:
The smaller pool located by our block was superb, plenty of loungers, regularly quiet, however I do feel the smaller pools need some fixed or removable umbrellas for putting up and down around the loungers as the only shade is via a few linked to a few tables, whereas loungers also could benefit from these.
The food:
Average at best imo, the Caribbean pancakes, not that good at all, I'm a if pancake lover and was excited for these but they were far from enjoyable, cheap generic pancakes with next to no taste at all. Once and done...
The Mickey waffles were the same, which again was a shame.
Aside from this we don't eat here again as it was a bit disappointing...
The house keeping:
This was very questionable and imo below average. If I could score the hotel a 3.5 I would based solely on this.
Although they came each time they were meant too our room was far from clean each time, loads of dust left, sometimes rubbish was left, other times no coffee or cups or stirrers were supplied to the point we kept having to go and ask for them.
It was a shame as the housekeeping really was a big letdown for the hotel in our opinion and so with a few things listed below being addressed it would make it far better value for money.
1) better consistent house keeping where the rooms are cleaned better, bins and rubbish emptied each time, coffee, cups and stirrers replaced every time.
2) Improved fresher and better tasting foods especially the breakfasts. Pancakes and waffles are not hard to get right, so for both to be so average is shocking for this property.
3) Umbrella/shades for loungers at the smaller pools.
Overall thoughts:
Would we stay here again? - Yes
Why would we? - Location and Skyliner
Final scores:
Parking - 4/5
Location - 4/5
Skyliner - 5/5
Busses - 4/5
Room - 3.5/5
Large pool - 3.5/5
Small pool - 4/5
Food - 3/5
House keeping - 3/5
