Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center

“A trip we will never forget!”

We didn’t travel to Orlando for the theme parks, we traveled for the Gaylord. We were lucky enough to find a reasonable price during our travel dates, and it exceeded every single expectation. From the moment we arrived, this place felt different. The awe of walking into the building and seeing th… more

We didn’t travel to Orlando for the theme parks, we traveled for the Gaylord. We were lucky enough to find a reasonable price during our travel dates, and it exceeded every single expectation. From the moment we arrived, this place felt different. The awe of walking into the building and seeing the giant indoor atrium is unlike anything my kids (or myself for that matter) had ever seen or expected. That really set the tone for everything that followed. The Gaylord is one of those places that is really hard to describe to someone who hasn’t gone before. The design is grand and awe inspiring, what feels like a perfect village secluded from the hot Florida sun. It’s full of fun and unexpected little details in every corner, the kind you keep discovering the longer you stay. It doesn’t feel like a hotel. It feels like the perfect prelude to a weekend away at Disney. A little community you can return to at the end of every day and one that just happens to have a stunning pool. I did just tell a bit of a lie there though, pool is an understatement. The look on the kids faces when we stepped outside and what they thought was just going to be another small hotel pool turned out to be a full scale waterslide having waterpark (we didn’t tell them before hand!) is something I’ll never forget. The Gaylord Palms is an excellent base for exploring the Orlando theme parks and a destination in it’s own right as well, a true oasis you’ll be genuinely sad to leave. We will absolutely be back.

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“Great family vaca!”

Lovely staff, clean and comfortable rooms, fun pool area, delicious food options.

“Checkout was disappointing, nice hotel with average service”

I stayed here for four nights with my daughter. We were placed in the Key West building at the far end of the property. It was quiet, which was nice, but the view was nothing special and partly blocked by a boat sail. One good thing was the covered parking close to the entrance, though for this typ… more

I stayed here for four nights with my daughter. We were placed in the Key West building at the far end of the property. It was quiet, which was nice, but the view was nothing special and partly blocked by a boat sail. One good thing was the covered parking close to the entrance, though for this type of hotel, the self-parking fee still felt quite expensive. The property is nice overall. During the week it felt more like a business hotel, while on the weekend it became very family-oriented, especially around the pool and water slides. We tried a few places to eat—the pool bar food was good, and the Mediterranean restaurant by the sailboat was also enjoyable. I did notice that some restaurants automatically added an 18% service charge to the bill. The room was comfortable, but the bed was a bit too soft for me. Checkout was disappointing. The elevator in our building was out of order, and we weren’t informed. We had to take a long walk around through the main entrance to get to our car, which was frustrating. If the hotel grounds and food weren’t so good, I would have given it three stars. As a Platinum Elite member, I expect a higher level of service at a Marriott property, and I didn’t feel especially valued here—especially compared to my stay at the Gaylord in Nashville.

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“Beautiful hotel”

Our stay started off on the wrong foot when we got to our room and realized we were downgraded, but it was fixed quickly and we moved to the correct room. We stayed in an emerald Bay main atrium balcony room. It had a gorgeous view of the atrium but it was noisy on our first night. There had been a… more

Our stay started off on the wrong foot when we got to our room and realized we were downgraded, but it was fixed quickly and we moved to the correct room. We stayed in an emerald Bay main atrium balcony room. It had a gorgeous view of the atrium but it was noisy on our first night. There had been a wedding and a few obnoxiously loud guests were near the waterfall well past 1am. My family slept through it but I didn't get very much sleep that night (even with a white noise machine). The next night was quiet. The sound echoes through the atrium so that's something keep in mind if you're a light sleeper. The waterpark was fun but the chair fee was a bit ridiculous because the only way to get a chair under an umbrella was, as far as I could tell, by paying for it. As a fair-skinned person who doesn't tolerate the sun as well as most, the chair/umbrella rental felt like extortion. 0/10 for that scam. Other than that our stay was pleasant. The kids enjoyed the waterpark, gnome scavenger hunt and exploring the atrium. The breakfast buffet was great and staff were very friendly throughout the property. Housekeeping was 10/10. Room service was hot and fast. The lobby bar was closed on Sunday - not sure if that is normal for this hotel or not but it was a bit of a bummer. Overall we enjoyed this hotel and we would go back. I took one star away for the initial room downgrade, loud atrium (hotel staff should have kicked them out) and the waterpark chair/umbrella fees.

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