Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point – Our Opinion And Review

We just got off the third cruise to Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point as the Disney Magic docked there for the day, and we figured we would want to do something different as many people have already given reviews. We are going to give you our thoughts on the island in easy to digest bullet points, with a little bit of fun thrown in there as well. To make note, this was our first time to the island, we did not read up about the island at all before we went, and we did not do any excursions. Also some of the complaints that we had may be due to the island only opening recently, we understand that, but still feel like we should be telling you about them.

• The walk from the boat is not that bad, yes we know people are complaining about it, and anyone that cannot make the walk can opt for a drive on one of the scooters. So here is how I thought about it. The walk there and back makes for some great picture opportunities that you could not get otherwise. Also, the walk there allows you to discuss your plans for the day with your family (or group) and the walk back allows you to discuss the fun things that happened that day.
• Once you walk to the island there is a still a tram ride to get to the beach area, the trams were running so quickly even if you missed one you were not waiting at all
• The tram will drop you off in the beach area, and there is a bunch of shopping in that area as well. You can find some really cool Disney items and art items at the shops. The shops also felt like they really blended in with the theme of the island and didn’t feel out of place at all.
• The signage on the island is pretty sparse and while we can understand the decision for the look and the natural feel, it did make navigating the island pretty bad. We still don’t know if there is a specific snorkel area or not as we saw people snorkeling off the beach or if they had a dedicated area like on Castaway. We had flip-flopped back and forth about renting snorkel gear and my guess is if we picked this gear up they would have told us, but we were trying to decide if we wanted to rent while on the island and couldn’t figure it out. This leads right into the next issue.
• Currently, the Cast Members really are not of that much help navigating the island from our experience. Everyone was super nice, but when we asked them questions about where things were, they just could not point us in the right direction. We asked about the snorkeling area and no one really knew. We asked about the pavilion and no one could really direct us there, same on the parade area. We figured most of them out and this might just come with time as it seemed they were learning the island as well.
• The sand is pinkish, it does not have any shells on the beach that we could find, but it does have very cool crabs that you will see. We had one under our beach chair that was a pleasant surprise. See the picture below and think Sebastian, these crabs are just cooler looking (cuter) than the kind you might find on the beaches in the US. The water is super clear and in June it was still refreshing, took a few minutes to get adjusted to the temperature of the water before we dunked our head under



• We did not have any issue finding beach chairs and setting up camp, the island is set up where it almost doesn’t matter too much where you sit for the day. We heard from people that had been to the island already with the nice weather and the boat being more crowded that this was the most people they had seen on the island, and we still had no issues. This is an improvement from Castaway Cay.
• The food situation is much better with two places to get food and with multiple covered table areas, and each table had a fan on it, which we wonder is to deal with the flies. We also felt that the food itself was better than Castaway. Again, this is a huge improvement from Castaway, the island in terms of food and beach access is really well done.
• Multiple drink machines were down throughout the day, this did make getting a drink a bit of a line at times. Hopefully this is just a quirk of the day that we went.
• Our one son (18) said that the island felt like Typhoon Lagoon without the rides. This may have been due to the music that was playing that had a similar vibe, but we can understand how the island kind of felt that way as well.
• The Rush Out Gush Out Water Play area does look good, but it is for the younger crowd, and we just walked by it. Also, the Disney site says there is a volleyball court on the island, it could be there but when we asked multiple Cast Members we could not find it. We think maybe two courts and a basketball court would be great addition with signs pointing to them. If they could put up a water slide or two outside the Rush Out Gush Out area that catered to older teens, that would be a win. We do understand this island will grow and things will be added, it is just at this point the older teen crowd is underrepresented in terms of activities.
• The day we were there, bike rentals were closed for some reason. This would have gone a long way in having something to do for the older crowd and while we do understand things going down, if there were a few more things to do this wouldn’t have felt like such a big deal.
• We did not see one fly on the island our whole day, honestly, not a single one. We didn’t even realize that this was a thing until we got back and people asked us how the fly situation was. Not sure if there was some Disney magic that day, or the weather kept them away or Disney was able to do something from the earlier sailings, but we don’t have a complaint about them at all.
• It is worth bringing your own refillable water bottle to the island, in general this is a needed item for the cruise in general, especially if you drink water. For us, we filled up the water bottles and then kept them by our beach chairs which was nice
• The cultural parade was a good time, but it was pretty short. You can find a picture we took below as we got to see some Disney characters as well



• The seaweed situation was interesting, with the type of seaweed being there was kinda cool. It almost felt like some of the fact plants you would put in an aquarium, and it was not slimy at all. There was not a ton of it, but you could pick it up and my one son was wearing it as a necklace before the tossed it back in. The seaweed also had these spheres on them, you could pop like bubble wrap
• When we first arrived at the beach, there were these interesting dark spots in the water. When we finally ventured up the courage to swim out to them (our 6’1 son could barely stand next to them) we found out they were mounds of coral. Well, at least that is what we think they were. Now the problem is my son cut his foot on the coral, and they were within the boundaries of the swimming area, this led to him trying to go to Cabanas the next day without shoes because his foot hurt, but that is a whole other story. We feel like there should have been some sort of signage or warning about these areas might have been helpful or even something in the story you get from the tram.
• The story and characters that you get while riding on the tram area fun and very well done, not sure if those characters were represented in the stores at all, but if they aren’t, they should be

Overall we felt like the island was good if you wanted a relaxing day at the beach, the seating, food and water were all stunning and well situated for this. If you were looking for a little more though, this island did not provide as much to do as Castaway did for our family and the bikes being unavailable and us not being able to find the snorkeling area we were a little bored. This was only the third visit to the island for the public, so we are sure that Disney will figure it out, or maybe this is just exactly what they wanted. Our biggest issue with the cast members not knowing where things are will surely be better after more trips. There is also a lot of room on this island for expansion and fun things to do, so we think it will grow. Again, we did not do the excursions since we wanted to just check out what the island had to offer, but we can see ourselves doing something excursion wise in the future if we return. For us though, Castaway is probably our go-to Disney island for the foreseeable future.

You can comment on this post over at our Facebook page here: Comment about Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point

This is our personal opinion from our trip to Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point while on board of the Disney Magic June 19 – 22, 2024, our family group consisted of the following ages: 51, 50, 20, 18, 14 years old and we are known to miss things so check all the above with a cast member or a Disney representative to confirm.