As I mentioned previously, my DH and I stayed 3 nights at Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee. The resort is huge and the holiday decorations were over the top. There were many spots set up for photo ops (decorated trees in front of a screen with the resort's name, for example.) Our room was located in the Key West section (far removed from the main areas: lobby, pools, etc.) but it was lovely and we had a balcony. By the way, I think that all the balconies face the indoor atrium so you can leave the sliding doors open without worrying about insects. Christmas music was often playing over the loudspeakers unless one of their paid Christmas shows was operating. They advertised their "So.Much.Christmas" featuring "acres of twinkling lights, dozens of exciting activities, shows, and events." Almost all the offerings cost $. They had a Market Square where we could walk around and see the decorations and there was all kinds of holiday merchandise available for purchase. They market all the activities to folks who can just visit for the shows, etc. (although folks need to pre-purchase their activities tickets and pay for their parking.) It appeared that many chose to do this on the weekend since we didn't notice large crowds on the weekdays. Anyway, back to our stay . . . our room was large and had the usual things (mini-fridge, coffeemaker, Smart TV, desk) often found in a hotel room. Beds were comfortable. There were many dining choices available but we only had a dinner at the Sports Bar restaurant. (I ordered a turkey panini that I sent back because it was not what I expected and didn't taste great. It was replaced with a burger which was delicious.) We checked the menus at some of the other restaurants but the prices were expensive and nothing special appealed to us to spend so much. Overall, the service was horrible. Our room was never serviced although a housekeeper knocked on our door at 5:15 one evening to ask us if we wanted service. We were relaxing and settled in for the evening so we declined. The info sheet we received at check in indicated that they were providing daily housekeeping services but you could opt out. When we needed toilet tissue, towels or coffee, we called and they were delivered to us. Ironically, housekeeping opened our door (without knocking) at 10:20 AM on the day we were due to check out (at 11 AM). The room rates were similar to WDW's deluxe resorts ($500+ nightly) and the resort and parking fees are additional. Frankly, we felt that the resort nickel and dimed us to an extreme. For example, guests could reserve front row ("premium") seating at the pools. I think it was $25 pp for 5 hours (but don't quote me.) We guffawed when we saw this. The water park is large and includes a couple of slides (you need to walk up a zillion stairs to reach the top), whirlpool areas, a quiet, lap pool and a lazy river (although there aren't any tubes. One is simply pushed along by the current.) There is also a FlowRider, The Wake Zone, where you can body board or surf (also for an addl. fee starting at $25.) The resort fee was ridiculous. It included wi-fi (which we already receive as a benefit due to our loyalty level), 2 bottles of water in our room daily (we had to call for them each day since we never had housekeeping), fitness room access, water park access and 2 items of dry cleaning daily (WHAT? We had no need for this since nothing we brought with us required dry cleaning.) The atrium grounds are gorgeous: bridges, flowers, lily pond, a gator viewing area (where guests can watch the feeding 2 days a week; we missed the days.) We felt compelled to visit the fitness room since we were paying for it. We went one afternoon and were the only ones there. While I am not a regular, my husband is (he studied human performance and fitness in college and is a member of our YMCA.) He said that the equipment was top-notch and walked me through the use of several machines. It was fun. Disposable earphones were available for guests to use since some of the machines featured screens an You Tube videos. Oh! the room key is supposed to control your access to the parking areas. The first day, it didn't work so an attendant opened the gate for us and said that the key would probably work tmrw. It didn't. On our last night, we'd gone out to eat and, when we returned, the key still didn't work. The attendant told us to go back to the lobby and have them fix it. I told the attendant that we were checking out in the morning and would not be going all the way to the lobby to fix our access. We were being charged for parking each day (it was noted on the daily bill we got) but we didn't receive a key that worked. SMH. He opened the gate for us. The resort is definitely geared toward business travelers attending conventions and with a big expense account, not for average people on a vacation. Overall, I would not recommend staying there (it is not within walking distance of anything else) unless you don't mind spending big bucks for a room to sleep in. However, if you like holiday decorations and activities, you may want to visit at that time but be prepared to spend a lot more on top of your room, resort and parking fees.
Until then, I'm living vicariously through social media to see what others are doing at WDW!
