As a family who has taken annual vacations to Walt Disney World for the past decade, this weekend I actually asked myself: “Why go to Walt Disney World when I can just stay at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Hotel in Orlando, Florida?” The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort is the vacation. It’s worth repeating: The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort is not the place you stay when you go on vacation, it is the vacation.
► Ranking: #cleandiaper
Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress
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1 Grand Cypress Blvd
Orlando, FL 32836
Phone: (407) 239-1234
We knew this place was grand the second we turned down the road to the hotel named: Grand Cypress. I don’t know if the hotel or the road was named first, but this hotel definitely deserves a street named after it. The resort is so large, you are encouraged to bring your suitcases and belongings to the front desk to check in before parking your car. We tag teamed it with Gabriel checking in with the twins while I parked the car with the baby girls.
We had no idea what we were in for until Eclair, Molasses and I began our journey back from the parking lot and we got a sublime preview of everything this resort had to offer. We walked past the golf course and the putt putt holes before viewing the bridge that hangs over one section of the pool and leads into the rock waterfalls that empty into another section of the pool. We saw the rock climbing walls, the bike rentals, and the splash pads before our eyes ventured to the horizon and glanced upon the lake and all the water toys that were ripe for the picking. All of these toys and activities were included in our paltry $39 resort fee!
Turns out while the little girls and I were hatching plans for how to spend our time the following morning, and getting so excited to tell the twins and Daddy about all the fun activities we had in store, they could actually see us walking through the complex enthusiastically pointing out activity after activity from our room! The view from our room offered a bird’s eye view of the entire property.
Daddy and Widmore played a special boys only round of golf.
Even the baby enjoyed some time sleeping in her swim sling while we played putt putt.
The kids never tired of rock climbing with multiple walls to choose from based on age and weight.
The pool at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort is ranked one of the top three hotel pools in the Orlando area! There are three pools to choose from. One of the pools is set directly in the sun on a quiet end of the property.
The other pool is located near the hotel entrance and both of these pools are linked together through a series of tunnels that carve their way through a faux tunnel system complete with waterfalls.
The third pool is where the water slide empties into and little guests must be a minimum of 44” to ride the super twisty water slide.
We loved the hot tub set inside the rock caverns and taking turns jumping from the cold water pool and then warming back up by soaking in the tub. The second hot tub, located at the bottom of a waterfall near the hanging pool bridge, was just as fun.
The kids braved many adventures crossing the precarious hanging bridge set over the water as they dared journey from island to island.
Eclair rode her first bike with training wheels here at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort!
The entire family hopped on a surrey family bike!
Mommy relaxed with Miss Molasses in the hammocks every chance she could get.
We tried out every single water vehicle available on the property from the oversized water tricycle to the stairmaster kayak.
Even the baby got to go on a water excursion.
The hotel itself is gorgeous. All the rooms are accessed from the lobby leading straight up 18 floors by way of the glass elevator.
There are 3 restaurants onsite, a convenience store, 1 toucan and a sprawling complex that covers over 21 acres.
Our room came with 1 king, a sleeper sofa, and the beautiful view mentioned before with a balcony. Each night we watched an unobstructed view of the fireworks over Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios!
► For Kids: Kids will be plotting how fast they can wake up, eat their food and escape from the room to play outside with everything there is to do at this resort. Our kids favorite thing to do was go rock climbing, even though all they had to wear were rain boots. They had no problem jumping from activity to activity to activity. We spent 6 to 8 hours down at the pool each day and only came back to the hotel room because it was February and the days ended with a sharp chill to them and the toys closed at 5:30 p.m.
All our time in Orlando up to now has been spent at Walt Disney World, but we are starting to discover this fun little city has a lot more to offer – like say the largest entertainment McDonalds in the world (the chocolate peanut butter cake wasn’t half bad)! What else have you discovered in Orlando?
► Nap-Time Version: Our family holiday spent at the The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando, Florida where the resort is the vacation.
Once the sun went down we ventured over to Whispering Canyon Cafe to eat some BBQ at the Lodge with all the ketchup we could eat, and reminisced about the time we stayed at the Wilderness Lodge at Walt Disney World (coming soon).
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