Luxury Orlando

People ask me what has been the best hotel to feature since I launched Luxe Recess in 2014. I am not saying that the Four Seasons Orlando is my favorite, because that’s like saying I have a favorite child. Although the fact that we did just return from our sixth visit may mean our family has found its magical place. There's ...

In the end, our favorite aspects of staying at the Polynesian had nothing to do with being club level The front entrance of the Polynesian resort transports you to the South Pacific. Walking into the Disney Polynesian Resort you are instantly transported into vacation mode. Tropical music plays, palm trees dance gently, and a piña colada whispers your name ...

Magic Village Resort is a newer Disney area villa option for the discriminating traveler, designed as a sophisticated option to convene, cook, and slumber. Magic Village is located just over a mile from Animal Kingdom Lodge. Extended family vacations are Disney World’s specialty. I see the families pass by sporting a dozen t-shirts in the same royal blue, adorned ...

The Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate really surprised me. I would say not only surprised me, it impressed me. The Omni Orlando's new wave pool opened in the summer of 2017. I had few expectations checking into the Omni Orlando. I don't typically stay at many Omni properties, and I associate them with their historic mountain resorts like the Omni ...

Why are the Disney Yacht and Beach Club are two of the most favorite resorts for Disney regulars? We'll help you decide if its the right choice for your Disney vacation. Disney’s Yacht Club Resort and Disney Beach Club are inspired by historic seaside resorts; nautical and beach imagery is everywhere. Joined together and within walking distance to Epcot, they share many ...

Considered the most deluxe Disney resort until the Grand Floridian came along, The Contemporary Resort boasts a guest experience few of the other Disney World Resorts can. It might be time for a rematch. Disney's Contemporary Resort The Contemporary was one of the two original resorts when Walt Disney World opened in 1971, along with the Polynesian. There are families who experienced it in the 1970's who ...

The Waldorf Astoria Orlando  is so beautiful, so sophisticated, and so family-friendly, it is just as perfect for a Disney World vacation as it is for a mom spa break or couple's getaway. The Waldorf Astoria and its adjoining Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek are within the resort area called Bonnet Creek. Although the hotels aren't officially Disney resorts, the Bonnet Creek Resort are ...

My friends smile politely at me when I tell them how much I have fallen in love with Orlando. Perhaps they imagine me wearing a custom made "We're in our magical place" tee shirt and Mickey ears instead of wandering Orlando's museums and galleries surrounded by Tiffany glass or contemporary art. The vibrant food scene is one of the many ...

Where Value and Luxury Disney World Meet     The Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort Maybe everyone is attached to the place they stayed when they visited Disney World for the first time. After learning of the Disney Swan Resort renovation of the guest rooms, I knew we had to return to see how it fares against the high-end options around the Walt Disney World Resort we ...

Luxury Orlando at the Alfond Inn If you were to converge all the things in life that I love: art, architectural preservation, design, museums, and beautiful sunny weather, I would proclaim it paradise. I found my Garden of Eden at the Alfond Inn in Winter Park, Florida. This isn't the Orlando that you thought you knew if Disney World has ...

The Grand Floridian Villas, Disney World's Most Deluxe Room The Cooler was a 2003 film starring William Macy, and he played a down-on-his-luck sad sack employed by casinos to loiter near the winning to turn their luck around. Disney World does the opposite of this casino practice. They employ garrulous midwestern seniors who weren’t really ready to retire from their sales jobs ...

When people think of Orlando vacations, it is hard to imagine anything beyond the hyper-stimulating experience of America’s favorite theme parks. But Orlando offers many more experiences, and no resort manages to define the range of Central Florida’s offerings more than Grande Lakes, home to both the Ritz Carlton as well as the JW Marriott. Grande Lakes really celebrates ...

Luxury For Less at Disney World Walking into the B Resort Orlando lobby, you feel like you are in Miami Beach; you don’t feel like you are at a Disney Springs (formerly called Downtown Disney) hotel, unless, of course, you look to your left and see the large Disney store. That’s what’s so great about the B Resort Orlando. It ...

Luxury Disney World     We found the Orlando oasis that we have been looking for, a peaceful, private, and spacious retreat from theme park stimulation, yet within minutes to Magic Kingdom via a back road. The Villas of Grand Cypress  is known throughout Florida as a premiere golfing destination, flanked by the Golf Academy run by Fred Griffin, the man who wrote ...

Luxury Disney World So the most anticipated hotel in family travel for 2014 was easily the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World. (Check your dates for rates.) As parents thought about their treks to the Disney parks, every one of them wondered what the meeting of two iconic brands would look like at the Four Seasons Orlando. I'll tell ...

Part of the reason I launched Luxe Recess is because I have been helping friends and colleagues choose where to go and where to stay for years. Call me a hotel matchmaker. The Ritz Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes is for you. Wait, I don't know who you are, right? Doesn't matter. I have never been to a resort more capable of ...