How to Use the Internal Bus to Save a Few Steps at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort

Now, if you’ve stayed at Caribbean Beach, you might be completely aware of the internal shuttle and extra Skyliner stop. But I’m willing to bet the average guest is unaware that either exists, especially going into their stay. Let’s face it: the Skyliner bus stop is practically hidden from view. (It’s behind the station.) Plus, if you were to walk up to any of the resort’s bus stops and look at the wait times sign, you wouldn’t see the internal bus listed.

The only place I’ve noticed significant signs for the internal bus is at the Old Port Royale bus stop, where there’s a dedicated waiting area for each destination.

Other than Old Port Royale, which is home to the main lobby and recreation area, the rest of the bus stops look like the image below. You could easily overlook the small sign on the back wall that mentions the internal shuttle.

Why do you need to know this? Well, say you’re staying in Trinidad and it’s pouring rain. You planned to visit Old Port Royale for dinner and promised the kids they could do a little shopping in Calypso Trading Post. But with all the rain, you’ll be completely soaked by the time you reach the lobby. It’s a 10-minute walk.

However, your room is only a few steps from the Trinidad bus stop. You could use the overhangs around the building to get close and probably make it to the covered bus stop practically unscathed. From there, you can take the internal bus to Old Port Royale. The internal bus stops in the following order:

• Old Port Royale
• Barbados
• Trinidad
• Skyliner Bus Stop*
• Jamaica
• Aruba
• Martinique

*The internal bus is the only bus that stops at the Skyliner station.

Of course, that is just one of many reasons you could come up with to use the internal shuttle. As another example, on our last stay, we took the internal shuttle from Trinidad to Aruba. We then exited at Aruba and walked the rest of the way to Disney’s Riviera Resort for breakfast.

You might also want to use the internal bus stop when coming back and forth from the Skyliner. For example, if you’re staying in Martinique and visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios, you might take the internal bus to the Skyliner and board for Hollywood Studios.

As a side note, depending on your room assignment, it might be closer for you to use Riviera’s station. You can check out our transportation map for Caribbean Beach to locate the options nearest your room. The route from the Riviera to Epcot is direct. For Hollywood Studios, however, you will have to exit at Caribbean Beach and transfer.

One last example: say you’re returning to the resort from Epcot or Hollywood Studios via the Skyliner and want to pick up dinner or visit Old Port Royale before going back to the room. Maybe it’s been a long day, and you just don’t feel like making the 0.45-mile walk from the Skyliner to the lobby area. You can take the internal bus from the Skyliner to Old Port Royale. Then, when you’re finished, you can hop on the internal bus again and take it back to your village.

On our last stay, I intentionally used the internal bus and talked with the cast member while we were waiting at one of the stops. She shared with me that during busier seasons, the resort often had two internal shuttles circling the resort. She also noted that they were on a 20-minute loop schedule, meaning they paced the route to come full circle every 20 minutes. Therefore, the driver will typically wait at each stop for a couple of minutes. They do, however, continue to the next stop when other buses arrive to allow room where needed.

Final Thoughts

As always, we hope this information was helpful and provided a few tips for getting around the resort more efficiently. If you are curious about some of the walking distances mentioned, you might enjoy our article about the size of Disney’s Caribbean Beach and how much you can expect to walk. For more on the resort, you might like the following:

• Disney’s Caribbean Beach Transportation Guide
• The Bus Schedule at Disney’s Caribbean Beach (With Stops)
• Not All Disney Hotels Have Elevators (Here’s Where You’ll Have to Take the Stairs)
• Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort Review

Or you can view our entire coverage of the resort in our guide to Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort.

More Planning

Resorts Gal specializes in Disney World Resorts, Characters, and Dining. Explore our resources, including our Disney World Resorts Guide. It provides an overview of everything you need to know about the Disney Resort Hotels. For dining, our Disney World Dining Guide is an excellent place to start. Our Disney World Transportation Guide is a wonderful resource for planning your routes. It’s one of our most popular resources. If you plan to meet characters in the parks, we have an updated list of Disney World Characters. It includes every available character meet-and-greet in the parks and where to find rare characters throughout the year. Lastly, our Disney Parks Guide provides a complete overview of all four theme parks and water parks.