We escaped to "paradise" at Margaritaville Resort Orlando
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We needed a break from reality and Margaritaville was the right dose of vacation medicine.
The newly-opened Margaritaville Resort Orlando, a AAA Four Diamond Award property, is only about 30 minutes from where we live in central Florida but we felt like we had stepped into a resort miles away due to the Key West-inspired decor and overall vibe of the resort.
You first walk into the bright and spacious lobby where natural light floods in. There’s fun decor like margarita glass light fixtures and a huge glass flip flop that each Margaritaville Resort is famous for. There’s plenty of socially distanced seating areas where you can relax and enjoy a cocktail. The lobby also has an attached bar with live music nightly (and two happy hours!), a restaurant, and a couple shops (one retail and one with food "to go”). There’s a hand sanitizing station as soon as you walk in and the front desk has the plastic partitions like they have at the grocery store.
Masks are currently required for all guests and staff when walking around the resort and the nearby Sunset Walk. They aren’t required when you are in the pool area. We definitely felt safe in terms of protection from Covid which was important to us (and gave us hope to traveling more soon!)
Spacious rooms with modern amenities
The 186 spacious guest rooms are located in several wings of the resort but they are all within a few minutes walk of all the resort amenities. Each room has floor-to-ceiling windows and I believe all of them have some type of pool view. We had a King bed room on the 3rd floor with a view over the smaller pool (which really wasn’t that small!) The bathroom is also spacious with a separate toilet and huge rain shower. There was a lot of attention to detail throughout the room, and the resort, which just tied into the beachy-theme. I especially loved the faucets in the bathroom (see photo below).
If you have more than a couple people traveling, you may want to consider staying at one of the on-site cottages instead. These cottages are huge with full kitchens, dining and living areas, and several bedrooms (from one to eight bedrooms!). Some even have private pools. You get access to the amenities at the hotel while also having your own home-away-from-home.
Large lagoon-type pools
The resort has two lagoon-type pools which have zero-entry - meaning you can walk straight in and it gradually gets deeper - so also good for little ones! There’s plenty of deck chairs around the pool - including many on white sand so it feels like you are at the beach. There’s drink and food service wherever you choose to sit as well as private cabanas that you can rent if you want to truly spoil yourself!
The main activities at the resort happen near the large lagoon-style pools. There’s a bar with live music, games and kid-friendly activities happening throughout the day (you get a schedule upon check-in). The spa, fitness center and kids club are also located on this side of the resort, as well as the cottages.
Please note: the kids club is currently closed due to Covid but they still had outdoor activities.
When the band isn’t playing live music, there’s always rock music playing on the speakers near the pool, and in the lobby. You can expect to hear a lot of Jimmy Buffet!
Dining and cocktails galore!
We visited in November 2020 so there were some adjustments in place due to Covid. There was no room service, and the main restaurant had limited opening times, and menu. Being a vegetarian, there wasn’t a whole lot of options for on-site dining (but plenty of options for tasty cocktails!) While the options at the resort were limited right now, I found plenty of things to eat at the nearby Sunset Walk area. Sunset Walk is their version of Disney Springs or CityWalk - with an assortment of different restaurants, bars, and shops as well as a movie theater and large arcade. It is located within a 5 minute walk from the main lobby - or if you don’t feel like walking there’s a free shuttle that’ll take you where you want to go. We enjoyed a Guinness outdoors at the English pub, Asian noodle dishes at Bento, delicious sandwiches at the Flower Cafe (best sourdough bread in town!), and refreshing fruity shaved ice at Bahama Buck’s (we will be going back often!) All restaurants and the cafe have outdoor, socially distanced seating. It was the first time we’ve dined in public in months, and we felt safe doing so.
Want some more activities and things to do? There’s also a water park and a comedy club. Both are only open on the weekends right now but I’m sure they’ll expand their hours once more people are traveling again.
Reserve Today
We are really happy we chose to do this last-minute getaway. It really gave us hope that we can travel now - and so can you!
Ready to book your escape to this resort, or perhaps one of the other Margaritaville Resorts? Contact me today to get started with planning your next escape from reality!
