Choosing the right hotel is an important part of vacation planning. So, when you visit the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, you’ll want to choose a hotel that offers comfortable accommodation, great facilities, and easy access to the Disney theme parks.
In January 2025, I visited Florida with my husband and kids. We visited many of the nearby attractions and enjoyed a VIP private tour of Walt Disney World.
During our visit, we stayed at the Caribe Royal Orlando resort, which is just a couple of miles from Walt Disney World and offers a very family-friendly experience.
Read on to discover what I loved about our Caribe Royal Orlando, what I felt could be better about the hotel, and whether I’d recommend it for your Disney vacation.
Where is the Caribe Royale Orlando?
The Caribe Royale Orlando hotel is located in the heart of Orlando, 16 miles from Orlando International Airport (MCO).
Caribe Royale Orlando is a Walt Disney World Good Neighbor Hotel, and just a five-minute drive from the Walt Disney World Resort. You can purchase tickets for the Disney World theme parks from the hotel’s concierge desk, and Disney shuttle services run to all four Disney parks and Disney Springs, making Caribe Royale Orlando one of the most convenient hotels for your Disney vacation.
A Villa at the Caribe Royale Orlando
The Caribe Royale Orlando resort offers 1,215 one-bedroom suites sleeping up to 4 or 5 guests and 120 two-bedroom villas that sleep up to 6 people.
All of the guest accommodation at the Caribe Royale Orlando has recently been refreshed as part of a $127 million renovation. The hotel carries the coveted AAA Four-Diamond award, which rewards hotels with excellent amenities and high standards of style and comfort. It’s also designated as AAA Inspected Clean, which means the hotel’s housekeeping and cleaning standards passed a rigorous cleanliness test.
We stayed in one of the Caribe Royale Orlando’s two-bedroom villas, which provide a generous 1,260 square feet of living space. We stayed here as my husband was attending a convention at the hotel and the family decided to join along for some Disney fun.
Bedrooms
Each villa has a main bedroom with a King-size bed, a large bathroom en-suite with complimentary toiletries and a hair dryer, and a separate bath in the bedroom.
There’s also a second two queen bedroom, which is where our kids slept. There was plenty of space in here for my sons, but the blackout curtains didn’t cover the whole window, which meant that it was quite light in their room.
This room connects to a second bathroom that you can also access from the main living area.
I much prefer having separate living areas and bedrooms for a family trip because it allows us to continue using the living room after our sons have gone to bed. In some hotel suites we’ve stayed in, such as the Four Seasons Las Vegas, our sons have had pull-out beds in the living area, which is less convenient.
Living space
Our Caribe Royale Orlando villa had plenty of space for our family to relax in. The living room has a queen-size sofa bed, an HD TV with streaming services, and a dining area with a table that seats six.
Caribe Royale Orlando villas all have fully equipped kitchens with all the equipment you could need, including full-size refrigerators, ovens, microwaves, and coffee makers.
There’s also a separate laundry room with a washer, dryer and ironing board, which makes the villa a really convenient option for a family vacation.
There’s also a small balcony which is screened for greater privacy, and we really appreciated having that outdoor space to relax in.
The hotel’s suites also have a living area with a pull-out sofa bed. There’s less living space than in the villas, but a suite would still be a good option for a family vacation.
Overall, our villa was clean, spacious, and well-equipped, but I felt that the decor looks slightly dated and didn’t have the luxury hotel feel that I expected.
Food and Drink at the Caribe Royale Orlando
The Caribe Royale Orlando offers ample dining options, including the Venetian Chop House, which serves signature steaks and Italian classics. This fine dining restaurant also carries the AAA Four-Diamond award, which recognizes top-class food and excellent service. We didn’t eat there on this trip because we had a packed schedule of activities, but it gets excellent reviews online.
Tropicale is the main restaurant for breakfast. It’s an American Diner that offers an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet alongside options like avocado toast, French toast, and Eggs Benedict. The food there wasn’t anything particularly special, but we all enjoyed our meals.
The Stadium Club is a sports bar with a virtual reality suite where you can play virtual golf and other games. Families can dine in the Stadium Club until a certain point in the evening, but after that it’s open to over-21s only.
Calypso’s Pool Bar & Grille is a poolside bar and restaurant with a relaxed sports bar atmosphere. This is a great place to hang out with a drink, and you can also order light snacks and drinks from the pool attendants to enjoy poolside.
Calypso’s features live music performances, and the pool area also hosts family-friendly films as part of the seasonal “Movies under the Stars” program.
Java’s Coffee Cafe near the pool is a good place to grab a coffee and light snack, and you can enjoy handcrafted cocktails and tiki drinks in the Rum Bar. There’s also a Starbucks in the main building, and 24-hour room service is available in Caribe Royale Orlando suites and villas.
Facilities at the Caribe Royale Orlando
The Caribe Royale Orlando is a very large hotel, and its convention center caters for conferences and group events. In fact, the property is so large that they offer a complimentary shuttle service to take you from the main building to the villas.
So, as you’d expect, the hotel offers a fantastic range of facilities and entertainment options that appeal to business travelers and large groups.
There are three outdoor swimming pools, including a tropical pool with hot tubs, a 75-foot waterslide and a waterfall cascading over a rock feature. My kids loved spending time playing on the water slide and under the waterfall.
As well as the main pool, there’s also a smaller kiddie pool and splash pad that would be perfect for smaller kids.
The third pool is reserved for villa guests and offers private cabanas with lounge chairs and free WiFi.
In addition to the pools, The Caribe Royale Orlando offers a wide variety of recreational activities to keep you entertained during your stay.
This includes a two-story fitness centre, a jogging trail, an outdoor kids’ playground, and a large sports court with padel, pickleball, and basketball courts.
If you want to escape the hot Florida sun for a while, there are ping pong and pool tables as well as a game room with a small range of arcade games, which my sons loved.
And for the ultimate relaxation at the end of a busy day, the hotel’s on-site spa offers a range of relaxing massages and beauty treatments.
The Downsides of the Caribe Royale Orlando
Although we had a wonderful time overall, there were a few points where I felt the service at Caribe Royale Orlando fell short of the luxury hotel experience.
The shuttle services that take you from the main building to the villas often ran late, and the drivers sometimes seemed unsure of where the buildings were.
The hotel doesn’t offer a complimentary airport shuttle, but it has plenty of parking, so you might want to bring a rental car to Caribe Royale Orlando. There is plenty of parking available onsite.
One of my main complaints was that the hotel was very noisy. A group in one of the villas was holding an all-out party on their patio, and we could hear the noise even when they were inside their villa. That’s not ideal when your kids are trying to go to sleep!
I called the front desk and asked them to figure out which villa it was and ask them to keep the noise down, but I had to call twice before they dealt with it. I really appreciated their assistance, and I was eventually able to get to sleep.
The concierge text service is meant to be the best way to communicate with the front desk, but I found that they didn’t really respond to texts. Calling seemed to be the best way to get a response to questions or requests, which was a little confusing because they hyped up the texting program but couldn’t really follow through on it.
Would I recommend the Caribe Royale Orlando?
I wouldn’t describe the Caribe Royale Orlando as a luxury hotel, and the overall appearance and service aren’t what you’d expect from an upscale hotel. The furnishings and slightly dowdy decor aren’t as luxurious as those of other hotels I’ve stayed in, and the communication has some kinks that still need resolving. But…keep in mind that the price point matches what you get, and when I travel, I’m looking for value for my money and not necessarily the dollar amount that I spend.
The location is excellent for visiting Walt Disney World, and the spacious villa and facilities were perfect for my family. We paid around $400 per night for our villa, and the amount of space you get represents great value for a hotel within minutes of the Disney resorts.
If you’re willing to give up some luxury for the extra space, the Caribe Royale Orlando is an excellent hotel, especially for budget-minded families planning a Disney vacation. Personally, I was happy to make that trade-off, and we enjoyed a wonderful stay at the Caribe Royale Orlando.
I would happily recommend the Caribe Royale Orlando as the perfect place to stay for your next Disney Orlando vacation.
