A Guide To Margaritaville Orlando Resort and Cottages

Margaritaville Orlando Resort is a large Jimmy Buffet and tropical themed resort complex located in Orlando, Florida. Margaritaville Orlando consists of a traditional hotel, rental cottages, and privately owned cottages.

Margaritaville is a chain of hotels and resorts around North America.

The overall theming is tropical with touches of Jimmy Buffet fandom. Most of the names of things are Jimmy Buffet references. You will find some artwork in the cottages that are Buffet references, the accent pillows have song lyrics on them, and there are lots of parrots everywhere. You’ll find a ton of general margarita theming as well throughout the resort. I know very little about Jimmy Buffet and his music and I found I knew enough to get most of the references and appreciated the theming. You absolutely don’t have to be a Jimmy Buffet fan to enjoy this resort even if you get none of the references the tropical theming is great on it’s own.

This is not a Disney owned hotel but you can book a Disney World package with a stay at Margaritaville.

For a deep look at the resort check out my video review.

Layout

Margaritaville Orlando is located 15-25 minutes from the Disney World parks and 30 minutes from Universal Orlando and Sea World.

The resort is right next to a shopping center with a grocery store, Target, and several chain restaurants, the H2O water park, and the Sunset Walk shopping center that features lots of dining opportunities, including some really fun themed locations, plus a movie theatre and some retail locations.

The resort itself is rather large. The central area is where the hotel towers and lobby are. Here you will find all of the hotel rooms, lobby, pools, resort store, fitness center, spa, and dining. There is a large parking lot in this area. Nearby is also the resorts dog park.

The rest of the grounds consist of neighborhoods of cottages. These neighborhoods are split up between privately owned cottages and rental cottages that you can book as you would a hotel room.

Each neighborhood has ample parking in front of all the houses. Lots of paved sidewalks throughout the area as well.

Rooms

The hotel rooms have a lovely elevated tropical feel. Several styles of hotel rooms are available including king bed, two queen beds, and larger suites that can accommodate more people. All the rooms are pool view and have balconies. Accessible rooms available. Rooms have in-room coffee and mini-fridge.

Cottages

The cottages are detached self contained homes. The homes are all done in a tropical style on the exterior and are adorable. The homes range from one bedroom to eight bedrooms. There are additional sub-options within each category of bedroom number. All of the homes have exterior patio space and once you reach four bedroom size you have the option of a private pools and hot tub. Many of the homes have balconies. All of the homes have full kitchens complete with all the things you will need to utilize the kitchen. Each cottage’s kitchen also has a margarita maker.

Staying in the cottages you have full access to all of the resort amenities and areas such as the pool and fitness center etc.

The cottages have daily refresh housekeeping services, including bathroom amenities. You can also empty your trash throughout the house and place it in collection bins outside and it will be removed for you.

Margaritaville even offers extra paid services like grocery delivery and equipment rental such a wheelchairs, strollers, and baby monitors.

Transportation

If you are coming to Orlando to visit the theme parks and are choosing to stay at Margaritaville I would recommend renting a car to give yourself the most flexibility.

Margaritaville does offer complimentary bus transportation to all the theme parks. You have to sign up in advance and the departure and return times have limited options.

Airport transfers are not offered.

Pools

The resort has two pools. Firstly the quiet pool, tucked away to the side with beach chairs and a sizable pool to enjoy some quiet time.

The larger second pool is the Fin’s Up Beach Club. This huge pool features zero entry options and is surrounded by sandy areas with beach chairs and available for rent cabanas of several styles. Here you will also find the pool bar which has a sizable food and drink menu and umbrella covered tables to sit at. You can also bring your food to your beach chair or delivered to your cabana.

You can purchase pool items like floats, sunscreen, and goggles at a merchandise booth. You can also bring your own floats but not your own food. This is also where you can rent bikes, and surrey bikes to ride around the resort.

You’ll find games around the pool like a giant checker board, corn hole, ping pong table, and giant connect four. There is also a kids club that will lead activities throughout the day for kids.

There is almost constant entertainment going on including live music, trivia games, corn hole tournament, water balloon toss, tie-dye (this had an extra cost involved) and more. For events like trivia the winning team even got a prize. My family won a Thanksgiving themed trivia game and were given the choice of a voucher for drinks, surrey bike rental, or tie-dye each to accommodate every member of our party. We choose drinks and received a voucher for 6 drinks. Pretty good deal!

Fun

In addition to all the fun happening at the pool there are even more events going on throughout the resort. Several nights a week live comedy takes place at the resort. The fitness center hosts events like yoga classes or fun runs. There is a Lost Shaker of Salt scavenger hunt you can participate in at your leisure. We visited during the holidays and in the lobby there was an opportunity to meet Santa or see Christmas carolers. Be sure to check out what is going on at the resort during your stay. There is also an arcade in the lobby and a playground my the fitness center. Some of these things come at an extra cost but many are included.

Shopping

The lobby gift shop has a classic gift shop mix. Themed t-shirts, toys, branded mugs and glassware, home goods and nicer clothing options. As well as bath and body products and Christmas ornaments.

Food

In addition to the pool bar, the Salty Rim Bar and Grill, there are two other dining options.

Provisions – Located in the lobby it offers pre-packed grab and go food items as well as bottled drinks including alcohol. Also here you will find a coffee and smoothie bar and a quick service grill that serves pizza, burger and sandwiches as well as all day breakfast options. There is a good variety of food offerings here. There is also a seating area if you want to dine there.

Euphoria – This upscale sit down dining location with full bar offers a menu heavy in seafood but has other options as well. With breakfast, lunch, happy hour, and dinner options. Some nights live music is offered here as well. The restaurant is located in the lobby and does offer reservations.

Additionally the On Vacation room offers dinging for special events like holiday brunches or weekly comedy shows.

Recommendations / Review

I recently stayed at Margaritaville Orlando in a 3-bedroom plus cottage and I was a huge fan of the experience. The cottage itself was great with a lot of space for the cost and a full kitchen which is a huge plus. I was staying with 5 adults and 2 toddlers and it was plenty of room for us. We really enjoyed having the communal family space to eat, watch TV and hang out. At the same time every couple had their own bedroom and bathroom. The ability to stay in a full home and also have the perks of a resort really took this up a level for us from a rental home or Airbnb. The biggest resort perk that we used was the pool we absolutely loved it.

I think that the cottages are a good option for anyone looking to get a whole kitchen and extra space at a lower price point then you would find on Disney World property. I think the cottages are also great for larger groups that want to stay together under one roof.

My only complaints were that check-in took about a half hour, there was no tea kettle in the kitchen, the trash pick-up system was not made clear to us, and the utility closet did not have a lock on it so the kids could easily open the door. None of these were major issues.

I think the resort as a whole is good for anyone planning to visit Orlando and split their time between Disney, Universal, and more. Or travelers who want to have several rest days during their trip.

I would caution those looking to visit Orlando without a car. Margaritaville is not going to be the most convenient location for those without a car to get to the theme parks.

I would not recommend Margaritaville for smaller groups who want to really focus on either Disney World or Universal Studios. In those cases I think keeping to the on-property resorts is a better bet.

I chose the cottages for this recent stay because we had a large group that wanted to stay together and needed a full kitchen, and the price point here for a 3 bedroom unit is significantly less than staying in a Disney 3 bedroom villa. We had a car with us. We visited three Disney theme parks and had two rest days at the resort and the cottage worked out perfectly for us.

I would absolutely stay there again.