Last weekend, we had planned to spend just one night at the JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes. We ended up staying two nights and we very seriously considered spending $500 to push our flights a day later to squeeze in a third night. We had originally planned to go to a theme park for a day in Orlando, but our kids were having so much fun at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes that we didn’t bother. My family has long loved the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, and I might still stay there in high season (when Marriott award pricing increases substantially), but I am sure that we will be back at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes again during shoulder season. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes an annual long weekend for us for the next few years.
JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes: Bottom Line Review
There are two JW Marriott properties in Orlando. We stayed at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes, not to be confused with the JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek.
The Grande Lakes property features a large conference center, water slides, a huge pool and lazy river area, and it is connected to the next-door Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes. The JW Marriott Grand Lakes and the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes are connected by a very large conference center that surely hosts large conferences during busier times, but during the final weekdays of August, the hotel didn’t feel crowded at all.
I was impressed with the groundskeeping. I sometimes don’t notice a big difference between a Marriott property and a JW Marriott property, but this resort felt a noticeably step above a standard Marriott resort. I was up late working one night and I saw many workers putting in the effort to scrub down walls, repaint things in common spaces, etc — the effort to keep the place up seemed higher than what I typically see at resorts in the US.
The star of the show for families are the three water slides: a larger tube slide that can accommodate single or double tubes (with a minimum rider height of 40″), a medium-speed slide with a couple of dark twists and turns that made it fun (with a minimum height of 42″) and a slide for bigger kids and adults that starts with a steep drop and runs very fast (with a minimum height of 48″). My wife counted 88 stairs to the top of the slides (all three slides start on the same platform, but staff controls the flow of people into each slide with a couple of lifeguards at the top and another on the bottom signaling when each slide is ready for the next rider). My kids went on the slides again and again and again and again. I have to admit, they were a lot of fun!
There is also a very large lazy river and extensive pool area. The lazy river was a bit too lazy for my taste (I think it could use a slightly faster current), but we spent a lot of time swimming in the pool as well.
Away from the pool, there were plenty of other things to do: we found two separate spaces with foosball & table tennis tables and there were billiards along with long chess, bocce ball, and tennis/pickleball courts. There was an “Aquaventure360” area that was like a low ropes course with water sprayed all over it and the Ritz Kids club had a nice playground and a little splash pad (guests of either hotel have access to both sides of the property). There was a magician in one of the conference rooms at night, though the show did require tickets and I didn’t get a chance to check on pricing.
The “continental” version of the buffet was plenty for my wife and me to be satisfied with breakfast and my kids loved the waffle station.
Overall, we left wishing we could have another day or two to relax by the pool and go down the water slides a few more times. As it was, we were at the slides when they opened on checkout day to get in a few more runs before we had to go back to the room to change and go to the airport.
My family has loved the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress over the past few years. Service at that hotel is outstanding and I love that there is no resort fee on an award stay (and that parking is free for Globalists on an award stay). During high season, when award rates at the JW Marriott soar to upwards of 70K points per night (or possibly more), I’d probably consider going back to the Hyatt Regency as that property does have a lot going for it as well. However, during a shoulder season like last week, I’d have a hard time picking the Regency over this JW Marriott. That is especially true for Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders since this property is available via The Edit. That means that if we had booked via The Edit with my wife’s Sapphire Reserve card, we’d have paid around 22K Chase Ultimate Rewards points (since the nightly room rate was around $440) and we’d have gotten the same breakfast for two that I otherwise got because of my elite status and also a $100 property/dining credit. That’s a strong value that I’d be happy to come back for in the future.
Bullet points
- Price: 46,000 Marriott points per night.
- Value: The standard room price was $442 on our dates. We were upgraded to a Lakefront room with balcony that was otherwise going for $550 per night during the dates of our stay. At about 0.96c per Marriott point (compared against the $442 room we booked), this wasn’t outstanding value, though it beat out our Reasonable Redemption Value for Marriott points, which is 0.76c per point. I’d have been happier still to have been using a 35K Free Night Certificate plus points. The flip side of value is that you still pay the resort fee and we were also on the hook for $40 per night in parking fees.
- Location: Not bad. This hotel is about 15 minutes from the airport, 10 minutes from Universal, and ~20 minutes from the Disney parks. They offer a free shuttle to Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld. That said, the resort feels kind of isolated in the sense that you come up a pretty long driveway to it, so you may want a rental car. We actually got a full-size car from Hertz for 3 days for $88 through Autoslash, so that wasn’t bad.
- Room: We booked a standard room with 2 Queen beds and got upgraded to a Lakefront 2 Queens with balcony. The room was a pretty standard room with 2 queen beds, but everything was in excellent condition, showing no signs of wear.
- Parking: $40 per night for self-parking / $52 for valet.
- Resort/Destination Fee: $55+ tax. Includes mostly stuff you’d expect to be included in the cost of reserving a room at a resort. One inclusion was a free Aquaventure round for 2 people. In our experience, I did this with my 2 kids and there was no charge for any of us.
- Internet: Fast and reliable around much of the resort, though I worked late one night in the conference center area (which is a huge building connecting the JW Marriott and the Ritz) and there was no hotel guest WiFi in that area. There was conference attendee WiFi, but it required an access code. WiFi worked great in the room and at the pool.
- Service: Above average for a Marriott. We arrived well ahead of check-in time and were able to check in right away. Almost every staff member with whom we interacted referred to us as “family” and seemed genuinely warm and welcoming. I overheard a teenage girl and her mom thanking one of the pool lifeguards by name and saying how nice it was seeing her each day, which is saying something about the friendliness of the staff.
- Turndown service: None.
- Dining:
- Citron (breakfast): Both the cold and hot buffets were very tasty and included plenty of variety. We didn’t order any individual dishes.
- Knife Burger: This is the poolside restaurant. Food was overpriced, but surprisingly good.
- Other options: This resort has a bunch of dining options that we didn’t try. There is a farm-to-table themed restaurant called Kitchen, there is an Italian restaurant called Primo, there’s a Starbucks, and I imagine there are a few options in the attached Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes.
- Spa: We didn’t get a chance to check this out.
- Marriott Platinum Benefits:
- Room Upgrade: We got a slight upgrade to a lakefront room with balcony.
- Free Breakfast: Marriott provides a complimentary continental breakfast for up to 2 adults. That meant we could have the “continental” buffet, which included breads/pastries, fruits/yoghurt/granola, cold meats & cheeses, and avocado toast from half the buffet (which is otherwise $32) or pay a $10 upcharge for the full hot buffet, which included biscuits with sausage gravy, bacon, potatoes, french toast, and an omelet/pancake/waffle station. The buffet is $22 per child for the full buffet (there is no child continental option).
- Club Lounge: None.
- Late Checkout: Offered 4pm late checkout, probably because this was shoulder season (it otherwise isn’t guaranteed at resorts).
- Welcome Amenity: We had to choose between 1,000 bonus points or a complimentary continental breakfast for up to 2 adults. We chose breakfast (a $64 value per morning here).
- Would I stay again? Absolutely. I really hate that Marriott charges a resort fee on award stays, I don’t like the parking fee (particularly with the lot mostly empty during our dates), and breakfast gets a little pricey even with status…..and yet I’d still stay again. The hotel was just really well-maintained / nice, service was good, and the activities were plentiful. I wasn’t sure I’d find it worthwhile over a cheap night at a Hyatt Place (there were numerous options for around $100 per night in the area), but I was pleasantly surprised.
Pros
- 3 fun water slides, plenty of fun things to do (swimming, ropes course, foosball, playground, sporting courts, etc)
- Breakfast was very tasty & fresh, with plenty of variety
- Service and facilities felt noticeably above average
Cons
- Marriott charges a resort fee on award stays, making your “free” stay feel less free
- Breakfast gets a little pricey even for a Marriott Platinum member ($22 per kid for my two kids, plus one morning my wife and I paid the $10 upcharge for the hot buffet. The next day we stuck with the continental and would do that again in the future).
- Kids Club was also pricey. We went during an open house to see it and the facility itself was very nice. They have a number of animals, plenty of toys and games, etc, but I believe guests had to pay $85 for 4 hours or north of $100 for a full day for kids to use the kids club. That’s probably in line with what some other resorts charge, but having been to a number of places overseas with complimentary kids clubs, the price felt a bit steep.
Image Gallery
The Room
The water slides / pool
Playground area at Ritz Kids (kids club)
Aquaventure360
Other fun stuff
Breakfast
The continental buffet area follows:
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Nick’s kids must be the envy of the neighborhood + school with all the fun places they travel to.
When my daughter was younger, the JW was our go to place each year for a volunteer trip to work at give kids the world village. But as she has become older we have moved over to the Conrad for a more adult location. The Conrad might be one of my favorite hotels anywhere.
Marriott Lakeshore Reserve next door is a vacation club. I haven’t been in years, but they usually let you go next door to the JW and the Ritz unless there are blackout days. It wouldn’t give you the breakfast, but it does give you more space since you can get a 1 bedroom suite that has a sofa bed in the other room for the boys or a 2 bedroom. Plus, they have kitchens. They have lazy river, but you have to bring or buy your own tubes. They will blow them up for you in the store though. They have two smaller water slides and a kids club.