PHOTOS - Tour the brand new Margaritaville Resort Orlando

Jan 23, 2019 in "Margaritaville Resort Orlando"

Margaritaville Resort Orlando tour
Posted: Wednesday January 23, 2019 3:48pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Earlier today, the brand new $800 million Margaritaville Resort Orlando officially opened its doors and welcomed guests to the latest resort destination in Central Florida.

Located just a few minutes away from Disney's Animal Kingdom along Route 192, the resort destination spans over 300-acres and includes four main components: Margaritaville Hotel, Margaritaville Cottages, Sunset Walk shopping, dining and entertainment district and Island H2O Live! Waterpark.

“Margaritaville Resort Orlando will be the first resort destination in this area where guests and owners can equally enjoy a personalized, premium experience and a robust offering of amenities, all within easy walking distance from their guest room or cottage home,” said Alyssa Bushey, head of marketing for the resort. “More than 35 dining, recreation and relaxation options, shopping, spas, entertainment, a dine-in movie theatre and an exhilarating water park are all just a short stroll or trolley ride away.”

Margaritaville Hotel

The centerprice of the resort is the 184 room hotel, with rates beginning at $199 per night.

An inviting main lobby features floor-to-ceiling views of the lagoon pools, the sounds of the tropics, and even a welcome cocktail.

Island style continues in the guest rooms, which feature a cool and tranquil color palette with pops of color. Each room includes plush white bedding, a flat-screen TV, a coffee-maker, a mini-bar and a workstation.

Suites are also available, including the 2,500 sq. ft. Jimmy Buffett Suite, which includes its own private kitchen and sprawling terrace on the top floor.

All rooms have balconies that overlook Fins Up Beach Club, which all hotel guests have access to, including its beach entry lagoon pools.

The resort also offers shuttle transportation to all area theme parks, including Walt Disney World.

Margaritaville Resort Orlando Dining

On Vacation Cafe - This casual eatery serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner inspired by Florida and international cuisines and flavors.

Euphoria - This upscale-dining dinner option features an open-air kitchen, fresh seafood and grilled fare.

Provisions - This fast-casual restaurant provides various grab-and-go bites.

Salty Rim Bar & Grill - This poolside bar and grill serves island-inspired comfort-foods and grilled favorites. (This restaurant is exclusive to registered hotel and cottage guests and owners.)

Margaritaville Resort Orlando Spa and Fitness

With eight treatment rooms, a sauna, steam room and salt room, St. Somewhere Spa is the spot to relax and rejuvenate the mind, body, and soul. 

Sunset Walk at Margaritaville Resort Orlando

The open-air promenade comprises almost 200,000 square feet of retail space, including Studio Movie Grill, a dine-in theater with 12 screens and more than 1,000 luxury recliners; and Rock & Brews, a craft brewery that will book live concerts and will be opened by former KISS bandmates Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Other tenants at Sunset Walk: Avalon Day Spa, Bahama Bucks, BurgerFi, Capone’s, Cold Stone Creamery, Ford’s Garage, GameTime and Sketchers.

Island H2O LIVE!

Opening Spring 2019, Island H2O Live! will feature 20 slides and experiences, including a lazy river, a wave pool, a kids’ area, and a river raft ride for the whole family. Designed to enable guests to customize their experience and share it with the world, the park uses a new RFID wristband system that will enable guests to personalize the music and lighting they experience on select rides, making every time very unique.

“Water parks are known for exhilarating rides and attractions, but Island H2O Live! will let guests be playful in interactive ways that have never been seen before,” said Albo Antenucci Jr., Executive in Charge, Horizon Waterpark, LLC. “These incredible opportunities for engagement will be what Island H20 Live! is all about.”

The wristband system at Island H20 Live! is called Vantage and is the latest offering from water slide manufacturer WhiteWater West.
The Vantage system works through an app that guests download either before or when they arrive. Once they arrive at the park, guests sync the app to their wristbands. A scanner on certain slides will read their wristband and automatically play songs and lighting effects from the previously established selections.

On some slides, the technology will enable cameras to snap pictures and video and share the content directly to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or other social media sites. Guests can also use their creativity and personal style to produce their own slide experience by choosing music playlists, lighting preferences and tagging their social media handles for easy sharing.

Another high-tech feature: “Be Live” invites guests to sing karaoke or star in other audio/visual experiences with clips from these sessions shared through the app.

The app also allows guests to earn loyalty points with every ride. Guests can win prizes such as free food and beverage items, skip-the-line passes, and more.

“These features speak to the ‘Live’ part of our name,” Albo Antenucci Jr. “Customization offers guests the creative space to develop their own adventures, to be in the moment, but then capture those moments and share them in real-time.”

Both Annual Passes and Single Day Passes will be available for admission.

Margaritaville Resort Orlando Cottages

The second phase of homes to be built in the island-inspired vacation cottage neighborhood is Paradise Cay. Recently selling all homes in Sunset Cove neighborhood, Paradise Cay will include187 custom cottages located on Margaritaville’s 300-acre resort. Homes will start from the low $300,000.

“Our first community of cottage owners are moving in, and we are thrilled to open up new opportunities for those wishing to buy in this special destination,” said Tad Serbin, Director of Sales at the Cottages at Margaritaville Resort Orlando. “The cottage neighborhood is within walking distance of the entire resort, allowing owners and renters to be in the hub of the action and excitement, yet also have their own retreat away from it all.”

More Information and Reservations

Click the gallery for more pictures of our tour around the new Margaritaville Resort Orlando.

To make hotel or cottage reservations for stays beginning January 2019, visit www.MargaritavilleResortOrlando.com or call 855-995-9099. For information on purchasing a vacation cottage, call 407-702-9067.

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wdwmagicJun 29, 2019

Simple answer to that one. I have my hands full with WDW, and don't want to do a second rate job of trying to do everything. Things like Margaritaville are one-offs that don't require years of experience to cover. And no, I was not paid a penny to cover it. Infact, they are not even an advertiser here.

No NameJun 29, 2019

Still curious as to why you don’t cover even the biggest news at Universal or SeaWorld but chose to cover this. It looks like you were paid to cover this. I think you misread what I said. If it stays as you describe that’s not a failure by Disney.

Jim ChandlerJun 27, 2019

Can’t see how it is a failure by Disney. mV is a smaller version of the WDW water parks. Currently the uniqueness is drawing people. I suspect the people who stay there will use the WP. However if you look at the additional cost to add on the WDW water park to a ticket it is a wash IMO

Club CooloholicJun 27, 2019

Price is right, looks generic in theme and HOT

No NameMay 30, 2019

Michael Eisner made a point of building up Walt Disney World to capture the markets of other nearby attractions so guests wouldn’t feel compelled to leave property. TPFKADMGMS (now DHS) was built to rival Universal, DAK was built to give people their animal fix to keep them from Busch Gardens and maybe SeaWorld, stuff like the WDW Speedway and Test Track captured the car and racing interest, Mission Space makes your head hurt more than the Kennedy Space Center, but hey, considering Disney’s overwhelming market share back then I’d say it worked quite well. Point being, if a significant new market emerges and Disney does not become the leader in it, assuming it wouldn’t undercut their current business, I would likely consider that a failure on Disney’s part. Nothing wrong with it in my opinion, it’s just surprising because you don’t do articles for even the biggest Universal and SeaWorld news, so why this?

FlynnwriterMay 29, 2019

Ok. It’s just me then. I hate going off property.

wdwmagicMay 29, 2019

You may have noticed we have sections on the forum such as "Universal Orlando" "Sea World" "Off-site Hotels, Dining, Shopping." The four is not exclusively Disney.

SirwalterraleighMay 29, 2019

I’m gonna go out on a limb and say because it doesn’t have fuzzy characters and an automatic 300% upcharge for everything? The “comforts of home”

xdan0920May 29, 2019

Why so salt salt salty?

SirwalterraleighMay 29, 2019

Well...there’s no such thing as “magic”...so that negates 50% of your argument

FlynnwriterMay 29, 2019

The water is replaced by beer. Why is this on wdwmagic. There isn’t anything Disney or magical here.

SirwalterraleighMay 29, 2019

I nominate this one for “post of the day” ...don’t choke on those pearls 😉

SirwalterraleighMay 29, 2019

But you don’t get the climate at home...and it’s far less exotic in Indiana or Ohio. Are you sure the war on those that aren’t kinda DBags isn’t creating a “new” market? Just a theory... Margaritaville vibe doesn’t seem to be what bob is selling...is there a $120 “evening magic” waterpass?