Honestly, I didn't like
Lookout Cay. I won't say hate, because a day on the beach always beats a day at the office, but it was definitely the worst beach I've had in my life.
I was really worried about the long walk with my kids, one who is special needs so gets overstimulated on long hot walks, but I asked if we could take the tram and was refused because neurodivergence is not a "mobility impairment"--it had to be something like a hip replacement or a back injury. We were even sailing concierge and had a cabana, which I did in the hopes it would help with the golf carts situation, but nope. And maybe for some people, or some cruises when the weather is nice, it is not a big deal. But we were there on a hot sunny day with no cover, and we were all miserable, and to this day it's the only thing my kids will talk about when we think of lookout cay--how horrible the long, hot walk was. To their credit, they did allow guests to take trams back whether or not they had mobility issues. The line was pretty ridiculous, because they didn't have nearly enough golf carts for the guests that wanted them, and there was no shade in line either so not sure that's any better than the walk, but that is an option.
The cabana beach was also a disappointment. Half the cabanas are on a rocky ledge where you are not permitted to enter into the water, so you have to walk down and enter the water with no lounger (there are a few "shared" loungers on the sandy/swimming part, but we witnessed a really ugly fight between two guests over the loungers).
Given we had a cabana which is on its own beach, we were a long tram ride away from the slides/splash pad, nature trail, and shops. We had planned to visit it, but talked to several other cabana guests who went there and said not to bother--according to them there was hardly any shade, no loungers available on the beach, and they waited over an hour in line for food and couldn't find a table so had to eat on the floor.
We were in the fall and water was choppy at our beach (and from what we heard, at both beaches). We've seen photos of calm waters others days so YMMV. But there is no sheltered lagoon like castaway, so if the water is rough, it is really unpleasant. Also the sand got churned up by the waves making it impossible to see anything when snorkeling.
Overall, we will never actively seek out going to Lookout Cay again; I won't rule it out, but only will go if it's on an itinerary that has both castaway and lookout.
I did leave my thoughts in the guest experience survey but was never contacted about it, so either Disney didn't care, or had too many complaints to respond to them all.
