I am so happy we finally found a perfect place to stay on our trip to Florida. The Grove Resort & Waterpark Orlando is the perfect place for any family to stay. In this article you will find out all of the reasons why.
You would think if you are a stay-at-home mom, you could pretty much do what you want to do when you want to do it, right? Nope, that’s not the case in this family; we still have to get approval from the “Big guy.”
I usually run it by my other half for all trips that involve an overnight stay. I’m not sure if I do it for permission; I think it’s more because I don’t want the embarrassment of a missing person’s report. Kind of like when I’m in the store and my children can’t find me. They go to the front desk and ask if someone can page their mom over the intercom system.
Where’s the face-over-hand emoji when I need it?
Like all my other trips, this trip was a last-minute planned event. At the time, an IAAPA Expo was happening in Florida, and we were sent tickets from a vendor to attend. I believe we received the tickets about 3 weeks before the event.
This has nothing to do with the review.
Sidebar: I mentioned the IAAPA Expo at least 5 months before this, but the big guy said, “No.”
I knew as soon as “The big guy” mentioned anything about this expo there was a short window of time I had to book the flights to seal the deal.
There was a race against the time it took between him realizing the permission I was granted to book (a vacation), a flight to Florida, and how fast I could find the best prices on flights.
I won!!!
After the flights were booked the fun part began. I knew our trip would be a business trip, so we did not have time to visit the theme parks Florida had to offer. It was time to find the perfect place to fit my family’s needs.
When looking for a place to stay, I always like to plan our hotel based on what we will do while we are away. Since we were not visiting any theme parks, I had to pick something that included kid-friendly activities. In Florida, there are so many kid-friendly resorts.
I also keep in mind the space the resort has to offer at a reasonable price. My little ones are now at the age where the traditional-sized hotel rooms will no longer work for them or my sanity.
Hotels.com
So I hopped on Hotels.com and began my search. When I am looking for a place to stay, the first thing I look at are the pictures, and the second on my list is the reviews. I do not solely rely on the number of stars a place has anymore. I swear they are paying for some of those reviews.
This isn’t very nice to say, but I browse the reviews to look for the low-star reviews to see what they had to say about the hotel. If the people with low-star reviews complain about the same or similar situations and their unbearable conditions, then I will not book with that hotel.
However, if the people with the low-star reviews are saying different things that are bearable or things that I don’t feel are that bad, then I might give the hotel a chance. Either way, it’s all a gamble we have to take.
I hope all of that makes sense.
Rooms at The Grove Resort
The Grove Resort & Waterpark Orlando had everything we were looking for and more.
The resort offers 1-3 spacious bedroom suites. Our family chose the 2 bedroom suite, which included two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, a laundry room, and a balcony. Talk about a home away from home.
Room size
When I looked at the rooms’ pictures online, it said the floorplan was about 1265 – 1375 square feet. That’s the size of my condo, so my approval of the space was a no-brainer.
Each room has a nice size tv and a bathroom, another plus in my book. I loved that the rooms were not side-by-side and were separated by the living room. My children love to stay up late, especially when they are on vacation. With the rooms on opposite sides of one another, it was easy for me to close my bedroom door and not hear them for the rest of the night.
I forgot to mention the screened balconies to enjoy the quiet nights.
Food
A kitchen is great when you’re away so you can have close access to food. The great thing about this resort is you can have your refrigerator stocked with food before you arrive. Contact the resort before booking to learn more about this service.
My family usually does breakfast in the room when we are on vacation, so the children can sleep in if they want. Later, throughout the day, we pick up lunch and dinner while exploring the world.
Restaurants
The Grove Resort & Water Park Orlando makes it so convenient never to have to leave the property. They have the Valencia restaurant, the Springs Bar & Grille, and Longboard Bar & Grill. There’s also Alfresco Marketplace if you’re on the go and need to pick up something quick.
Our family couldn’t dine in any of the restaurants because we were at the expo, which I did enjoy… But we were able to order food from the restaurants and have it sent to our room.
Water Park
However, we had a chance to squeeze in a half-day at the pool and water park. Summer and Quasar would not let us leave Florida without going to the water park this hotel had to offer.
The water park was beautiful; it included a lazy river (my favorite), water slides, a kids’ activity pool, and a zero-entry pool. LOL, I had no idea what a zero-entry pool was. I thought we could not go into that area. I thought, “Why would they make a freaking pool that doesn’t allow anyone to get in?” OMG. Clearly, I need to get out more.
A zero-entry pool is like going to the beach. This is a pool where you can just walk in, and it slowly gets deeper. I don’t know who made this name, but we need to find a new one, something like “A walk-in pool.”
FlowRider
There’s also a FlowRider, another one of my favorites. There is an additional fee to ride the FlowRider, but let me tell you, it is so much fun. I can’t stand on the surfboard like I used to, but when I get my groove back, that’s where I’ll be.
Although we usually get cabanas on this trip, we did not because there were not many people at the pool, and we could not stay long at the resort due to the expo’s schedule.
By the pool
The atmosphere of the pool area was great. I believe there was a DJ by the pool playing music. I’m not sure, but if there wasn’t one, If they don’t have one, then The Grove Resort & Water Park has a good playlist on their MP3 player. Am I aging myself? Do they even use those anymore?
During our time by the pool area, I noticed employees walking the grounds checking to see if anyone needed anything, which I appreciated.
Things to do
When you’re done with the pool area, there are many more things to explore.
There’s Lake Austin Pier- where you can go fishing or float in the swan boats.
Kids’ Activity Center- Where your child can do arts and crafts, sand art, or Built-a-buddy.
Flip Flop’s Family Center- is The Grove Resort & Waterpark arcade. It’s the perfect size for your family to have fun. The games in this place were clean, bright, and colorful, which is a plus. The arcade also has a glow-in-the-dark miniature golf section.
Walking paths
I’m not sure if they mention this on the site, but there are walking and jogging paths along the property. Our family took a night stroll along the lite path one night, which was so beautiful and peaceful. If you’re not in the walking mood, you can hang out on the hammocks, which you can find in certain sections along the paths.
Savings
If you go directly to The Grove Resorts & Waterpark Orlando website, there are so many ways you can save on your stay here. There are discounts for booking early, extended stays, first responders, and military discounts.
With so many options in Florida, this is a place I would love to come back to.
The funny thing, though, was that it was pretty dark as we were driving on the road to get to the property. At first, I was afraid because I thought there was no way a nice place would be.
I started to get nervous because it seemed like we had passed all the nice resorts. Lo and behold, my anxiety immediately melted away when we reached the property road.
As for the lobby, that was beautiful in its way. The “Big guy” looked at me and said, “How much is this place?”
How far is The Grove Resort from Disney?
Disney is about 10 minutes from the resort. You can either drive your car, take an Uber, or The Grove Resort has a shuttle service that can take you to the nearby parks.
The Grove Resort Shuttle
In order to take the shuttle you have to make a reservation with the property. For reservations contact the concierge or call 407-545-7500 ext. 1508
Summary
Everything that The Grove Resort & Water Park Orlando offers, you would think you will end up paying a lot of money. In all honesty, it’s very reasonably priced. I can’t wait for us to return so we can take advantage of the other amenities we did not get a chance to do on our last trip.
Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to hear about our family’s adventure. If you have an idea of a place you think my family would enjoy visiting, please mention it in the comments below.
For other great places to stay, check out my review about Kalahari Resort.
As always,
Thank you again for coming along on this journey with my family and me. If there’s any place, you feel my family would enjoy visiting, please tell us in the comments below. You can also put any questions in the comments if there are any questions I have not answered about The Grove Resort & Waterpark Orlando.
The Grove Resort and waterpark
14501 Grove Resort Ave.
Winter Garden, FL 34787
