When word came yesterday of the impending Hyatt category changes, I cringed and turned half away from the screen as I searched the list for the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. I was sure that this gem of a property would finally increase out of reach for Hyatt Category 1-4 free night certificates. And so, before I had time to fully process the hit of the latest category changes, I breathed a sigh of relief. After my second stay here in the past couple of months (and the second time I’ve extended a stay longer than originally planned!), I can’t wait to come back again and I am thrilled that it is staying in Category 4. While this property won’t be for those looking for a small boutique hotel experience, it is a great spot for families, particularly if you’re looking to visit the Disney parks but certainly also if you just want a really nice full-service Hyatt for fun in the sun.
Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress (Orlando) Bottom Line
Not to be confused with the Hyatt Regency Orlando, which Tim reviewed just a couple of weeks ago, the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress is the other Hyatt Regency in Orlando. Like that Hyatt Regency Orlando, the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress is a large convention center property, but not quite as large as the Hyatt Regency Orlando and without a club lounge (which is certainly a great feature that the Hyatt Regency Orlando has over the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress).
However, if you are traveling to Orlando with a family and you’re looking to visit the Disney parks, the location of the Grand Cypress is better, full restaurant breakfast is very good, and in addition to a sprawling pool area with a water slide, the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress has a climbing wall, free bike rentals, mini golf, pitch-n-putt, and paddle boats. Overall, the hotel is clean, modern, has very good facilities, and some of the warmest staff I’ve encountered at a domestic Hyatt (and that’s a bold statement).
Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Key Details
- Price: As a Category 4 property, a standard award is 15K points per night. On my most recent stay, several nights of my stay were peak-priced at 18K. We used two of my wife’s Category 1-4 free night certificates (which are valid for use even when peak pricing is in effect) and we booked several nights on points. We were upgraded to a “junior” suite at check-in (in quotation marks because there really wasn’t anything “junior” about it – this was a full suite). On my previous stay, I booked a premium suite award (for 30K points per night) for several nights (the VIP suite). Both are pictured separately.
- Value: During this stay, the value was very good. Standard rooms during our stay were $320-$350 per night before taxes and fees (I looked up a night next week and the daily rate for a standard room is $599 or 18K points). The junior suite to which we were upgraded on this most recent stay was selling for around $475 per night plus taxes and fees.
- Location: Very good if your primary aim is to visit Disney parks. The hotel has free shuttle service to Disney World, Disney Springs, and Universal Studios. Note: The shuttle service runs on a set schedule that may not be convenient for you depending on your needs. This isn’t near downtown Orlando and the immediate surrounding area is mostly chains, but Uber Eats and DoorDash have plenty of options nearby and there is a Publix and Target within an easy drive.
- Room: I’ve now seen several different rooms here. All have been very clean and spacious. A/C blows cold. On our previous stay, we had a VIP suite for most of the stay and a standard room for the last night. On this stay, we had a junior suite. Furniture and fixtures were in excellent condition in every room I’ve seen.
- Parking: Free for Globalists on an award stay, otherwise $30 per night for self-parking or $45 per night for valet (plus tax).
- Resort/Destination Fee: $45+ tax per room per night (waived on award stays). This fee includes: Four Round-Trip transportations to Disney, Daily Scheduled Daily Transportation to Disney Springs, 24 Hour Access to Stay-Fit Fitness Center, 7 Hole Pitch n’ Putt Course, Walk-in Court Times at Racquet Club (Racquet and Balls included) or Access to Pickleball Courts, Bike Rentals, Rock Climbing Wall, Sailboats, paddle boards, kayaks and paddle boat rentals, Daily scheduled activities, 5 Miniature Golf Course alongside Pitch n Putt., 10% Discount on 50 Minute or longer Spa/Salon Services and Retail at Marilyn Monroe Spa, Nightly Movie at the Pool (weather pending), Access to basketball courts, 1 Mile & 3 Mile Mapped Outdoor Jogging Courses, 10% Discount on Recreation Retail & Cabanas (not to include F&B), 10% Discount on Recreation Retail & Cabanas (not to include F&B), Kids (12 and under) Eat Free at Dinner in LakeHouse with paid Adult Entrée, One Round Trip Transportation to Universal Studios Orlando Daily
- Internet: Strong signal in our room and around the resort grounds. I had no trouble with most regular tasks, though when I ran speed tests I was surprised that it wasn’t nearly as fast as my signal tethered to my T-Mobile 5G phone. I did a zoom meeting from the pool and it was mostly fine, but I hit a little lag a few times.
- Service: Excellent. From the reception staff to the waitstaff at breakfast to the valet employees to housekeeping staff, poolside waiters, etc — every employee I’ve encountered has been genuinely friendly. It is impressive how well that culture seems to permeate all departments at what is a large property.
- Turndown service: None.
- Dining:
- Lakehouse restaurant: Serves breakfast (buffet or a la carte) from 7am-11:30am, lunch 11:30am-2pm, and dinner (6pm-10pm). During dinner time, this restaurant also has a sushi bar. One kid under 12 eats for free with each adult entrée.
- Four Flamingos: Fancy dinner joint serving some sort of “Florida cuisine” from 5pm-10pm. Ironically, since we’ve had great suites on both stays, we’ve not yet eaten here (it’s been so convenient getting Uber Eats and eating dinner in the room!).
- On the Rocks Poolside Restaurant: Open 11am-6pm during the week or 7pm on weekends. The menu consists of stuff like burgers, chicken avocado salad sliders, tostones, and that sort of thing. Kids menu includes grilled cheese, chicken fingers, and PB&J (and maybe a couple other options). The chicken avocado sliders are surprisingly good, everything else is fine (except the “salsa” they serve with the tostones, which is like ketchup with a little green pepper of some sort mixed in).
- The lobby bar: Seems like a fine place to get a drink and on some nights the convention crowd runs deep here, so it can be lively (but no loud music).
- Cafe / Marketplace: Off the lobby, there is a cafe / marketplace serving Starbucks coffee and selling a pretty wide range of snacks and microwavable food like mac & cheese, ramen noodles, etc.
- Spa: There is a full-service spa but we didn’t visit it.
- Fitness Room: There is a very good fitness center near the pool if not the largest I’ve seen. It has about a half-dozen Peloton bikes, about a dozen treadmills, a bunch of LifeFitness machines, and free weights. The hotel hack of getting free bottled water in the gym doesn’t work here as they just have a water cooler with paper cups.
- Hyatt Globalist Benefits:
- Suite Upgrade: On my most recent stay, I booked a standard room (a couple of nights on certificates and then I extended using points for a standard room). At check-in, I asked about an upgrade to a junior suite (I saw they were available in the app) and we were upgraded.
- Free Breakfast: Served in the restaurant. You can choose between the buffet and ordering a la carte. Picture of the menu is included in photos.
- Late Checkout: Automatically given 4pm on both stays.
- Parking: Valet parking was free on award stays. Service from the valet is surprisingly speedy considering how busy they seem to get
- Would I stay again? Absolutely. I extended my stay the first time back in late November and then I originally booked two nights for this stay and ended up staying for 5. We will definitely be back — my wife said that she thinks it is her favorite domestic hotel. It’s not that it’s fancy, but it’s perfect if you’ve got young kids, the rooms are very clean, service is excellent, and there’s plenty to do.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- If you’re here for the parks or a convention, this is a great location.
- Plenty of activities included with the resort fee for a family to have a great time without spending additional money (keep in mind that with Hyatt, resort fees are waived on award stays regardless of status). Our kids would have been happy to play mini golf, pitch & putt, play in the sand, and go to the pool / down the water slide / into the waterfalls all day every day.
- Great service from everyone. The guy cleaning the lobby who moved a chair at a table near me as I was typing this and he apologized for the noise that I hadn’t even noticed.
- Great pools with plenty of space. The pool never felt crowded.
- Very fast elevators (might seem like a weird thing to call out, but multiple people commented on how quick they were)
Cons
- The location doesn’t make for easy walking anywhere.
- No microwaves in rooms. I often find that hotels will bring you a microwave if you ask, but this property will not. They have public machines on some guest floors and one in the cafe. This is kind of weird given the size of the kitchenette in the suites — they have plates, glassware, silverware, and a bunch of cabinet space, but nothing to heat food.
- Cafe / marketplace is really pricey on some items. My wife got a large bottle of water and it was $8.
- They charge a fee for accepting packages if you have something delivered. We extended our stay, so we needed some more diapers. We placed a Walmart order for one box of diapers and they charged us $10 (apparently that’s the fee for a package over 2lbs). We would have just driven to a store if we had realized how much it would cost.
Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Rooms
Junior suite
Note: Our “junior suite” had a massive terrace. Most junior suites won’t have this.
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VIP Suite
On our previous stay, I had paid 30K points per night for a VIP suite. It was much larger than the junior suite, but not worth the additional points if you can use a Hyatt suite upgrade to the junior suite (which is a “standard” suite). However, if you need a lot of space and/or only premium suites are available, this could be a good use of points.
Our VIP suite was a “pool view” room, which also featured a view out to the Disney parks. That meant the ability to see fireworks shows nightly during the holiday season.
Restaurants / breakfast menu
Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Grounds and activities
Pools & water slide
Beach, splash pad, bikes, and climbing wall
Mini golf and pitch & putt
Fitness Center
Guest laundry & arcade
Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Disney and Universal shuttle schedule and other activities
The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress features daily shuttles to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World, Universal Studios, and Disney Springs. Note that the shuttle schedule runs limited drop-off and pick-ups as shown in the image below. We had a rental car (we needed one for a number of reasons), so this was a non-issue for us, but the limited drop-off and pick-up times might not make the shuttle useful for those who want to go without a car.
Fire pits, landscaping, other property pics
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Thanks Nick for the great review! I am interested in booking a VIP suite for an upcoming Disney trip and can figure out how many they sleep? Nothing on Hyatt except that the dinning room seats 12. That can’t be how many it sleeps though right? Thanks for any insight!
One oversight on this review: the spa is not full service. There are no saunas, steam rooms, or lockers (let alone a plunge pool like the JW Marriott Grande Lakes) at the spa. This makes it tough for conference goers looking to sweat out the night before. It also takes away a major rainy day or adult (get away for a couple hrs to relax) amenity. I’m not surprised if the overall spa revenue at the resort is much lower because of this. The fitness center is also below the level of its peers in Orlando. Given it’s such a nice hotel, it’s a sad oversight and one that makes you want to book a Marriott property instead when visiting Orlando.
The problem with JW grande lakes is a “free” award stay is about $100 extra per night for resort fee and parking.
Excellent review. We have a 4 day stay coming up mid April. One item you may be able to clarify… are either of the pools heated? I received conflicting answers when I called, so any clarification is appeciated.
Thanks!
Thanks for the review. Possibly a better choice if intending to visit Universal and Disney.
When it comes to using/earning points properties at DisneyWorld, I still think the Dolphin and the Swan are the best choices. A little more expensive, but far more convenient to the theme parks. While the upgrade perks with Marriott are not as good as Hyatt, the benefits of staying with an on-site hotel cannot be beat.
I stayed here pre-Covid for a conference and enjoyed the outstanding tennis facility (all or mostly clay courts IIRC) they have. I even took a lesson from a solid pro who said she will also match guests with locals of their level to play. I believe it makes the list for top tennis US destinations/resorts.
For the night light at the end of the bed, a bit of duct tape could be used to block the motion sensor. I’d guess a bandaid could be used too.
Do they still have reciprocal amenity privileges at the neighboring Villas of Grand Cypress? We actually stayed at the VoGCypress first and was told about the reciprocal privileges with this Hyatt. They had a VoGC shuttle bus that ran between the two properties as needed (call placed to VoGC front desk).
When it came time to extend our stay, we did so at this Hyatt. They served champagne at check-in that time.
Was back here again last week. I do miss the club lounge, eliminating it is a real loss for elites.
A few small notes.
Definitely a great hotel for off-property Disney stays. And much more convenient and nicer than the Hyatt Regency Orlando.
The breakfast was ok? But I did love that the breakfast vouchers spell out explicitly that you have a choice of buffet or one entree + coffee/tea + juice and that this includes tax and gratuity (as it is supposed to, but hotels aren’t always compliant). This hotel goes above and beyond with elites, at breakfast offering entrees OR the buffet since the buffet alone satisfies the requirement, but generally. They’re good with upgrades, responsive with service especially via text, and just overall helpful.
All good points. Regarding the water, it wasn’t me who walked into the cafe and bought the bottle of water :-). In my wife’s defense, I think she figured “I have a thirsty toddler and this will be two or three bucks and I don’t need to make an extra stop to ask for it”. We didn’t buy water twice. But I used it as an example to say that some things were wildly overpriced (others seemed reasonablish for being in a hotel market). On the flip side, someone noticed I was in the lobby until very late working on my laptop and proactively asked if they could get me some water — paying eight bucks was obviously our mistake.
The elevator certainly does move quickly — we’ve been splitting up since there are four of us to play zone defense. I think it didn’t occur to me though because, before the last stay, we stayed at the Hyatt Regency at Orlando airport, and the elevators there open and close so quickly that we missed them multiple times despite there being fewer I think?).
Merlot in the lobby is definitely a draw. When we told the kids that we were going back to the hotel will Merlot, they were on board. I mentioned that at the front desk and they gave me some Merlot stickers. The bird apparently recently turned 25 years old (so I’m told).
I initially said the breakfast was OK. Then my wife reminded me that for a buffet at a property in the continental US, it is above average with the quality of the fresh fruit and the chance to get freshly made pancakes, omelets, and then French toast off of the buffet. As she said to me (and I agree), it’s no Asian hotel breakfast, but there wasn’t much more I’d want. And I should have noted that not only do they explicitly include the tip, waitstaff has circled the service charge on the bill to make sure that we don’t miss the fact that it’s already there.
I haven’t texted for service, but that’s a great tip.
No club lounge certainly is a disappointment. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay a couple of weeks ago and their lounge is also closed, but they provided a $30 coupon for each day that could be used at their dining venues — and they let us use two of them at once on lunch. Though their breakfast buffet was significantly smaller.
They used to have a fantastic regency club lounge with superb food and drinks. The fireworks view was a bonus!
Like many of the other hotels, I am guessing they are no longer open.
Correct. They’ve removed the signage and everything. I don’t think it’s likely to reopen.
Thorough review. We’ve had good stays here in the past as well. I have to ask though since you called it out multiple times, why are you buying bottled water at a Hyatt as a globalist? I mean, $30 for the breakfast buffet is a little ridiculous too but I don’t really care since it’s free.
A drawback for me on a recent trip was that since it’s not a Disney property, you don’t get early Park admission. That can make the difference in wait times for Park attractions (rides). That extra half hour of Park time every morning got us into 1 or 2 rides before the Parks opened to all ticket holders.
Solid review Ihave stayed here many times all business trips never disappointed. Price for goods and serviced are all in line with where you are. It’s sad but many people don’t realize what it truly cost to visit Disney orally resort for that matter.
Spot on review. We started an annual daddy/daughter trip back in 2019. We’ve stayed there 4 times, with our 5th stay booked for later this year. Our daughter prefers this hotel to any Disney resort. Easy to get Uber/Lyft from the property. I agree that if you stay until the park closes, getting Uber back to the property can be a challenge. We have discovered that if you go to the closest Disney hotel, you can get Uber much cheaper and quicker. We discovered you could walk to the Grand Floridian quicker than returning to the transportation center. One thing that I love about it is there is a Walgreens and Subway that you can walk to.
I stayed there in Dec and while overall a nice stay I think the shuttle schedule to the parks was a con. Was my first trip to WDW in 20+ years so maybe this is standard for non-Disney hotels. No shuttle back to hotel mid-day to relax/nap (travelled with an almost 3 year old). Not an issue for us (see: travelling with 3 year old), but if with older children or adults only and you want to stay until near park closing, no shuttle back that late either. Ended up spending a lot more on Uber during our stay than I anticipated
That’s a solid point. I added a note to the post about that. We rented a car for both trips because I just don’t find Ubering to be convenient with kids in car seats, so I didn’t give that schedule enough thought when writing the post because we didn’t use it. I appreciate you pointing that out.