Our Staycation at Gaylord Palms Resort

*All thoughts and opinions are my own.

We spent the past weekend at Gaylord Palms Resort here in Kissimmee, Florida and it was absolutely magical! We have been numerous time to Gaylord over the years for their ICE display during Christmastime but never to stay so the kid in me was very excited! My actual kids were also equally excited. Any excuse to get into a pool for my older two and they are there!

The check in process was very easy and quick as well as sanitary. There is glass between you and the hotel front desk as well as its a county ordinance to wear masks inside. They do have the option to check in and to through their app if you feel more comfortable with it being contactless. There are multiple and sanitizing stations throughout the entire resort and before you get on the elevator.

We stayed in the Emerald Bay side inside the Atrium and the view was just beautiful. I made the comment to Robert multiple times that the air just smelt so clean. It definitely had to do with the beautiful greenery and waterfalls. The first night, we left the balcony doors open in our room so that we could hear the water. It was such a beautiful sound to wake up to in the morning.

Our room was a King bed and then we had a conjoining room for the kids with two Queen beds. It was more than enough space for our family!

While the adults were fascinated by the inside, the kids were itching to get down to the pool! We dropped everything in the room, changed and headed downstairs to the Cypress Springs pool where there is a little water park area for the kids, slides for adults, a beach walk up style pool, and a Flowrider stimulator. There is also another a pool called South Beach that you can visit too. Its a simple walk through a gate that you can access from the Cypress Springs pool area.

The pool area can tend to get a bit crowded even with everyone doing their absolute best to social distance and many people did. There were groups together and everyone stayed within their group but sometimes, it would just get tad crowded so wed head over to the waterpark area with the kids or go sit down and enjoy some relaxing time out of the sun. I do have to say, we had premium seating at the pool the entire time we were there and it was an absolute blessing. We didn’t have to rush down at pool opening on Saturday to pick a good spot because we already had seating picked out. I highly suggest doing this if you are planning an upcoming trip to Gaylord.

The kids were in absolute heaven with the waterpark and all the slides that were in the waterpark area. Both days at the pool, we played until we couldn’t anymore and then ordered food from Wreckers Bar & Grill that’s onsite and headed up to the room to turn in early so that we could spend the entire day tomorrow at the pool.

The food at both Wreckers and Sandbar (located at the Cypress Springs pool) was absolutely to die for! You can absolutely head just a couple miles out of the resort and grab your typical McDonalds, Wendys, etc. but we opted to just stay on site the entire weekend because there are so many different options for you to chose from when it comes to eating. There is even a Starbucks and if you know me, you know I had that every morning we were there!

Our last day at Gaylord we decided to just walk around and take in all the scenery that the atrium has to offer. Theres even a fun scavenger hunt that you and the kids can do that will take you all around the area! The beauty inside is just something that will mesmerize you for sure. They do weddings underneath the pavilion and they actually had one set up while we were leaving on Sunday.

This is one family vacation that we absolutely needed and are so grateful to Gaylord Palms for hosting us. We had such a great time and the kids are already asking when they will be able to go back!

To touch on how Gaylord is keeping everyone safe:

• Multiple hand sanitizing stations around the entire Resort
• Markers all over to safely distance from other parties. Including a sign on the elevator that states only 1 party at a time
• Face masks are required inside but, they were not forcing anyone to wear them. However, many did and very few did not.
• There is no made service available however, if you need anything you can call down and they will bring it to your door for you but will not enter the actual room until you have safely checked out.
• In the room, there are hand sanitizer bottles as well as sanitizing wipes for you to use during your stay.
• They were only allowing a certain number of people inside the pool area at a time. So once you eft, your wrist bands were cut off and it would be a bit before you were allowed back in to ensure that everyone got a turn at the pool.

All in all, we felt extremely safe even with the pool area sometimes being a bit crowded. Everyone kept their distance and we felt as if it was as normal of a stay as you can get in these uncertain times. Even with having to wear masks and constantly making sure the kids were social distancing, we had an absolutely amazing getaway for the weekend. Enjoy some more photos below from our trip!