Margaritaville Resort Orlando
Margaritaville Resort Orlando is a large, Jimmy Buffett-branded resort in Kissimmee, Florida, on the western side of Walt Disney World. It’s really four linked businesses on one site. There’s a 265-room hotel, a neighbourhood of self-catering cottages and villas, the Island H2O water park and the Sunset Walk dining strip next door. Families come for the space and kitchen of a villa near Disney, with a water park included in the months it’s open.
On this page
Is it worth it?
It works best if you want the space and kitchen of a villa and don’t mind driving, and less well if you’re set on supervised childcare.
This is a beach-themed resort a few miles from Walt Disney World. The draw for families is the same one that fills the Kissimmee villa belt, a whole home with a kitchen, often with a private pool, within driving distance of the parks, but here it’s wrapped inside a resort with restaurants, a spa and a water park rather than a standalone gated estate. The water park is included if you pay the full resort fee, which is a real saving in season, and the shuttles reach Disney, Universal and SeaWorld.
There’s no kids’ club or crèche at this resort, so the family strength is roomy cottages with kitchens and private pools, and the water park when it’s open, rather than organised activities. Island H2O only runs from March to the end of October, so a winter trip has no water park at all.
Best for
You want the space and kitchen of a cottage or villa near Disney, ideally with a private pool, and you’re happy to drive.
Maybe not for
You want supervised childcare, a beach or a winter-sun trip.
Best ages
Works across the ages. Older children who clear the 42 and 48 inch slide heights get most from Island H2O; younger ones have the lazy river, the wave pool and the children’s areas.
What stands out
A water park next door, included with the resort fee in season, and cottages up to eight bedrooms with full kitchens and, in some tiers, a private pool.
What to check
That your booking actually includes water park access.
Where is it?
Kissimmee, in the Four Corners area west of Walt Disney World, about 4 miles (6 km) from Disney’s Animal Kingdom and 30 to 35 minutes from Orlando airport.
Quick facts for families
Three linked sites west of Disney
Hotel, cottages, water park and dining strip all sit within a few minutes’ walk of each other, but getting to the parks means a car or a booked shuttle.
The resort sits off US-192 in Kissimmee, in the Four Corners area on the western side of Walt Disney World, the same belt of family accommodation UK tour operators already sell for Kissimmee villa holidays. The wider practicalities of a stay here, hire cars, tolls, supermarkets and hurricane season, are in our Orlando guide rather than repeated on this page.
Three linked pieces sit on adjoining land. The hotel and its pools sit at the centre; the cottages and villas form their own neighbourhood around canals and lagoon pools, with a manned security gate; and Island H2O and the Promenade at Sunset Walk are immediately alongside, each about a few minutes’ walk from the hotel lobby. Getting around the site is walkable, and a shuttle also runs within the resort. Getting to the theme parks means the resort’s free scheduled shuttle, which needs booking in advance through the concierge, or your own car. There’s no airport shuttle, so you arrive by hire car or rideshare.
Who runs whatFour businesses under one name
This is the part worth understanding before you book, because “Margaritaville Resort Orlando” is really four separate businesses that happen to share a site. The hotel is run under the Margaritaville brand. The cottages and villas are Margaritaville Cottages Orlando, run by a separate company, Rentyl Resorts, and booked through its own site, though check-in for both hotel and cottage guests is at the main hotel lobby. Island H2O is a standalone water park next door. The Promenade at Sunset Walk is a separately owned dining and entertainment strip that also holds other hotels that aren’t part of this stay.
The practical upshot is booking route matters. Water park access comes with a stay booked through the resort, the cottages’ own site or a named partner; most third-party and holiday-rental bookings lose it. So if you book a cottage through a rental site rather than direct, that’s the thing to confirm first.
Check water park access before you book
Island H2O entry is included only when the full resort fee is paid, and only for stays booked through the resort, the cottages’ own site or one of Island H2O’s named partner hotels. Most holiday-rental bookings, including most made through general rental sites, don’t carry it, and neither does every discounted rate that waives or reduces the resort fee. If the water park is part of why you’re coming, ask in writing that your specific booking includes Island H2O access before you pay.
The hotel rooms and the cottages
You can book a conventional hotel room here or a whole cottage with its own kitchen, and the two are run by different companies.
There’s no single kind of room. The hotel suits a family who wants a normal hotel stay with the pools on the doorstep. The cottages and villas are the classic Kissimmee villa format, a whole home with a full kitchen, several with a private pool and closer to what UK families already book around Disney. Everything is room-only; there’s no meal plan.
The hotelHotel rooms and suites
Every hotel room has a balcony, and the standard rooms are a roomy 470 sq ft (about 44 m²), larger than a typical hotel room. For a family of four the Two Queen Pool View Room is the natural fit. The suites add a separate living area rather than only more floor space, which helps if a toddler goes to bed while the adults stay up. The Presidential Suite is by far the largest at 2,426 sq ft (about 225 m²), but it has a single bedroom, so it suits a couple wanting space and a kitchen more than a family needing separate rooms to sleep in.
| Room | Size | Beds and space |
|---|---|---|
| One King Pool View Room | 470 sq ft | One king and a pool-facing balcony; sleeps 2 |
| Two Queen Pool View Room | 470 sq ft | Two queens and a pool-facing balcony; sleeps 4, the natural fit for a family of four |
| King or Queen Resort View | 470 sq ft | The standard room away from the pool; sleeps 2 |
| King Suite Studio | 675 sq ft | One king with a kitchenette; sleeps 2 |
| One Bedroom King Pool View Suite | 940 sq ft | One king and a sofa bed, with a separate living area; sleeps 4 |
| One Bedroom Two Queen Pool View Suite | 940 sq ft | Two queens and a living area; sleeps up to four or five |
| Hospitality Suite | 940 sq ft | One king with a separate living area |
| Deluxe One Bedroom King Pool View Suite | 1,210 sq ft | One king and a sofa bed, with three balconies, all pool-view; sleeps 4 |
| The Presidential (Jimmy Buffett) Suite | 2,426 sq ft | One bedroom, a full kitchen and formal dining, built for space rather than extra beds |
Mobility-accessible versions exist across most room types, with wider door openings, grab bars and lowered switches, and visual alerts for hearing-impaired guests can be requested.
The cottagesCottages, one to eight bedrooms
Every cottage has a full kitchen, a living and dining area and separate bedrooms, so you can cook, do a wash and put children to bed behind a door. That’s the practical draw with a baby. You can make up bottles, sterilise and cook plain food in your own kitchen instead of eating out for every meal. A private pool comes with the Elite, Superior and Water’s Edge with pool tiers rather than every cottage, and no hotel room has one, so if a private pool matters those are the tiers to look at. Families have noted that some cottages run over two or three floors with several flights of internal stairs, worth checking at booking if you’re travelling with a pushchair or a child who isn’t steady on stairs. Cottages and villas carry a two-night minimum stay.
| Cottage | Sleeps | Size | Private pool |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Bedroom Premium | 4 | From 775 sq ft | No |
| 2 Bedroom Premium | 6 | From 1,186 sq ft | No |
| 2 Bedroom Elite | 6 | From 1,131 sq ft | Yes |
| 3 Bedroom Premium | 8 | From 1,494 sq ft | No |
| 3 Bedroom Water’s Edge | 8 | From 1,746 sq ft | No |
| 3 Bedroom Water’s Edge with pool | 8 | From 1,746 sq ft | Yes |
| 3 Bedroom Elite | 8 | From 1,539 sq ft | Yes |
| 4 Bedroom Premium | 10 | From 2,025 sq ft | No |
| 4 Bedroom Elite | 10 | From 2,048 sq ft | Yes |
| 5 Bedroom Premium | 12 | From 1,848 sq ft | No |
| 5 Bedroom Elite | 12 | From 1,848 sq ft | Yes |
| 5 Bedroom Superior | 12 | From 2,511 sq ft | Yes |
| 6 Bedroom Elite | 14 | From 3,557 sq ft | Yes |
| 7 Bedroom Standard | 16 | From 4,319 sq ft | No |
| 7 Bedroom Superior | 16 | From 4,218 sq ft | Yes |
| 7 Bedroom Elite | 16 | From 4,131 sq ft | Yes |
| 8 Bedroom Elite | 18 | From 4,689 sq ft | Yes |
Villas, two to four bedrooms
The villas are a smaller set of two to four bedroom homes, also self-catering with full kitchens, sitting between the smaller cottages and the larger multi-bedroom homes. They’re a fit for a single family wanting a whole home without the size, or the group headcount, of the bigger cottages.
| Villa | Sleeps | Size |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Bedroom Villa | 6 | From 1,394 sq ft |
| 3 Bedroom Villa | 8 | From 1,545 sq ft |
| 4 Bedroom Villa | 10 | From 1,724 sq ft |
The water park and pools
Island H2O is the reason a lot of families book here, and it’s shut for roughly four months of the year.
The hotel and cottage pools
The hotel’s pools are the Fins Up Beach Club, heated lagoon-style pools with sun loungers and cabanas you can hire, each cabana coming with seating, food and drink service, a fridge and a fan. The cottages neighbourhood has its own lagoon pools too, on top of any private pool that comes with a specific home. The dedicated splash-and-play areas for small children are inside Island H2O rather than at the hotel pools, so with a baby or a toddler who isn’t swimming yet you’re relying on the shallow ends of the lagoon pools and the cabana shade, or a cottage’s own private pool.
Island H2O water park
Island H2O is a few minutes’ walk from the hotel. If you pay the full resort fee, entry is included, with one admission voucher per guest per day handed over at check-in, including your arrival and departure days, and swapped for entry at the park gate. The park only runs from 6 March to 31 October 2026 and is closed the rest of the year, so a stay outside that window has no water park at all. Tickets can also be bought separately, priced on the park’s own site.
The bigger slides split into two height groups. The 48-inch (about 122 cm) slides are The Downloader, Reload Rapids, Follow Me Falls, Live Streaming and Drop Down, a mix of tube and body slides with tight turns and steep drops. The 42-inch (about 107 cm) slides are the head-to-head Reply Racers and the boomerang Hashtag Heights. Profile Plunge is a gentler family tube ride. Away from the slides there’s the Chat Creek lazy river, which has no height limit and suits a young child with a parent and a float, the Live! Lagoon wave pool, and two children’s areas, Candy Stripe Cove for little ones and Level Up for older children. Private Domain is an adults-only pool for over-21s, so it isn’t part of the family circuit.
With a child under 42 inches, most of the named slides are out of reach, so the realistic day is the lazy river, the wave pool and the children’s areas rather than the slide roster. Slides and the youngest children’s area do close for maintenance from time to time, so it’s worth checking the park’s site for what’s running before you travel. Tubes and life jackets are free on a first-come basis, and you can bring your own approved life jacket. Outside food and drink aren’t allowed beyond baby, allergy or medical needs, though a sealed small water bottle each and a soft cooler are fine. Lockers and the water park’s own parking are extra, separate from the resort’s parking.
Every restaurant and bar
There’s enough on-site to eat well without a car, and a strip of more than twenty more restaurants a few minutes’ walk away.
Because the cottages are self-catering there’s no dining plan and nothing all-inclusive, so you pay for meals as you go and cook the rest in the kitchen. The on-site restaurants cluster around the hotel and its pool.
Euphoria is the resort’s sit-down restaurant, seafood with a show kitchen; reviewers single out its seafood and its breakfast, which is served buffet-style rather than as table service, so don’t expect an à la carte morning. Tapas by Euphoria alongside it does Spanish-style shared plates, sweet bites and cocktails. Salty Rim Bar & Grill is the poolside spot for burgers, hot dogs and frozen margaritas, with live music on afternoons from Wednesday to Sunday, casual enough for children though the menu is short. Provisions is a grab-and-go for sandwiches, wraps, salads and cold drinks. In the lobby the Cotton Candy ATM spins made-to-order candy floss, a small-child pleaser rather than a meal.
A few minutes’ walk away, the Promenade at Sunset Walk is a proper second option, with more than twenty restaurants of its own. Among them are Rock & Brews for ribs and wings, The Wharf for seafood, Estefan Kitchen for Latin cooking, El Jefe Tequilas for tacos, Cowboy Chicken for wood-fired rotisserie, Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi, Ford’s Garage for burgers, SoFresh for bowls and salads, BR77 Brazilian Steakhouse, KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot and Lizzie’s BBQ, plus treats like 7 Brew Coffee, Cold Stone Creamery and Bahama Buck’s shaved ice. Sunset Walk restaurants take their own bookings, not through the resort, so reserve with each place directly.
Babies and toddlers
Margaritaville is set up for family space rather than family childcare, so it helps to know what’s here before you book. There’s no kids’ club and no crèche at this resort, unlike some other Margaritaville resorts, so with a baby or a younger child you’re watching your own throughout, the pools and the water park included. Cots and extra beds can be arranged for a small charge, so ask when you book.
The strongest thing this resort offers a baby is a cottage kitchen, for making up bottles, sterilising and cooking plain food rather than depending on a restaurant. The check-in age is 21, which only matters for an unusual booking, such as a single parent under 21 travelling without an older companion. The spa is an adults’ facility, with no children’s treatments.
On and around the resortThings to do
St. Somewhere Spa runs massages, facials and body treatments, including couples’ massages, with a salt room and chromotherapy beds in its relaxation area. The Fins Up Fitness Center is a 24-hour gym included in the resort fee. There’s a poolside activity calendar that changes by the day rather than a fixed weekly programme, plus the Margaritaville Store and the lobby Cotton Candy ATM.
A few minutes’ walk away, Sunset Walk adds more to do in the evening. There’s Studio Movie Grill, a cinema with reclining seats and food brought to your seat, a large GameTime arcade, Escapology escape rooms and the Sunset Walk Slingshot thrill ride, with live entertainment most nights. Height and age limits for the Slingshot aren’t published, so check on the day if an older child wants to ride.
The parksThe parks and days out
Most families base themselves here for the parks. The resort sits closer to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, about 4 miles (6 km), than to Magic Kingdom, about 8 miles (13 km), with the other Disney parks in between. How Walt Disney World works with young children is in our Disney parks section, and the wider Florida practicalities are in the Orlando guide. Universal Orlando is further out at about 16 miles (26 km) and SeaWorld about 13 miles (20 km), so a Universal-focused trip would mean a longer daily drive.
A free shuttle runs to Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld, but it needs booking in advance through the concierge rather than turning up on the morning, so plan the day before. On the doorstep, the Promenade at Sunset Walk gives an evening out, dinner, a film or the arcade, without getting back in the car after a park day.
Loves and gripes
Families rate the space and the water park, and flag the fees stacked on top of the room rate.
What families love
- The space of a cottage or villa, several with a private pool, over splitting a group across hotel rooms.
- Euphoria’s food, the seafood and breakfast especially.
- The location near Disney and the free park shuttle.
- The pool scene, and Sunset Walk’s restaurants a short walk away.
- The island theming without it feeling forced.
Common gripes
- The resort fee and parking charged on top of the room rate, felt as a running total of extras.
- Valet parking waits, even when a car is requested ahead.
- The quieter of the hotel pools has no bar, food or music of its own, so drinks mean a walk.
- Cottages can have a lot of internal stairs, worth checking with a pushchair or young children.
- The odd complaint of noise between hotel rooms.
The fee complaint comes up most, so it’s worth being plain about. The resort fee is an add-on on top of the room rate, but it’s also what pays for the Island H2O access in season, so it isn’t a charge for nothing. Parking is separate again. Reading a specific cottage’s layout and reviews matters more here than the overall name, since they vary in size, in how many floors they have and in whether they come with a private pool.
Against a hotel and a plain villaHow it compares
Against a standalone Kissimmee villa community, this is the same core idea, a multi-bedroom home with a kitchen and often a private pool within driving distance of Disney, wrapped inside a resort with restaurants, a spa and a water park rather than a gated estate on its own. Against a Walt Disney World hotel, you give up Disney’s early park entry and on-site transport, and in return you’re likely to pay less a night, get more space per pound in a cottage and have your own water park instead of paying for Disney’s. A plain villa rental costs less but has none of the resort’s facilities, and with a Disney hotel you don’t have to drive, but it costs more and gives less room.
The car, the fees and when to goGetting there and around
There’s no airport shuttle, so you arrive by hire car or rideshare from Orlando International Airport (MCO), about 30 to 35 minutes and 25 miles (40 km) away. A hire car is close to essential even with the free park shuttle, since the shuttle runs on a booked schedule and a car gives you the flexibility it can’t. Two costs sit on top of the room rate. There’s the resort fee, per room per night, and parking, where self-parking is cheaper than valet and cottage guests get two spaces included. Cottages and villas have a two-night minimum stay; the hotel rooms don’t state one. Central Florida has toll roads, and how to handle them in a hire car is covered in the Orlando guide.
When to goWeather
Kissimmee sits inland in Central Florida, in the same climate as Orlando, with hot, wet summers and mild, drier winters, so it’s a year-round destination and the table below shows the Orlando pattern. The easiest weather with young children is the cooler, drier half of the year, roughly late February to April and late October to November, which also lands in term time. Island H2O only opens from 6 March to 31 October, which brackets the warmer, wetter months, so it’s shut through the coolest, driest weeks of winter when the weather is otherwise most comfortable for young children. If the water park is a big part of why you’re coming, that pins your dates to its season; if it isn’t, the winter months are pleasant and quieter.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22° | 10.5° | 55 mm | 5 |
| February | 24° | 12.5° | 43 mm | 5 |
| March | 26.5° | 14.5° | 64 mm | 5 |
| April | 29° | 17.5° | 64 mm | 5 |
| May | 31.5° | 20.5° | 98 mm | 7 |
| June | 33° | 23° | 205 mm | 14 |
| July | 33.5° | 24° | 201 mm | 14 |
| August | 33.5° | 24.5° | 206 mm | 15 |
| September | 32° | 23.5° | 185 mm | 12 |
| October | 29.5° | 20° | 70 mm | 6 |
| November | 25.5° | 15.5° | 51 mm | 5 |
| December | 23° | 13° | 55 mm | 5 |
Typical monthly averages from weather-station records.
Questions
Is the water park included, or does it cost extra?
It’s included if you pay the resort’s full resort fee, as one entry voucher per guest per day, for stays inside the 6 March to 31 October 2026 season. Outside those dates the park is closed, and some rate types that waive or reduce the resort fee may not carry the access, so check it against your specific booking rather than assuming. Tickets can also be bought separately, priced on the park’s own site.
Is there a kids’ club?
No, there’s no kids’ club or crèche here. If a supervised club is a dealbreaker, this is the wrong resort for you, and one that runs a club would suit better. If it isn’t, you’re with your children yourself, as you’d be in any villa.
What’s the difference between the hotel and the cottages?
The hotel has 265 conventional balconied rooms and suites, run by Margaritaville. The cottages and villas are separate self-catering homes of one to eight bedrooms with full kitchens, run by a different company, Rentyl Resorts, several with a private pool and closer to a Kissimmee villa holiday. Check-in for both is at the hotel lobby, and the cottages and villas carry a two-night minimum.
Do we need a hire car?
In practice yes. There’s no airport transfer, and while a free shuttle covers the Disney, Universal and SeaWorld parks it has to be booked ahead through the concierge, so a car is what lets you come and go on your own timing.
Will our booking definitely include water park access?
Not always. It depends on how you book and on the full resort fee being charged. Access comes with a stay booked through the resort, the cottages’ own site or a named partner hotel, but most holiday-rental and third-party bookings lose it, so if you book a cottage through a rental site, ask in writing that Island H2O access is part of it before you pay.
Is there anything for a toddler who isn’t swimming yet?
A cottage with its own private pool is the shallowest, quietest option, giving a pre-swimmer somewhere to paddle away from the busy main pools. Otherwise it’s the shallow ends of the lagoon pools with the cabana shade, or the water park’s lazy river with a float, since the dedicated splash areas sit inside Island H2O rather than at the hotel.
See more Margaritaville Resort Orlando photos
Open the Margaritaville Resort Orlando photo gallery →Useful links
- Margaritaville Resort Orlando: the hotel’s own site for rooms, dining, the resort fee and the shuttle.
- Margaritaville Cottages Orlando: the cottages and villas, run by Rentyl Resorts, with sizes and private-pool options.
- Island H2O Water Park: park hours, the season, tickets and the ride height limits.
- GOV.UK USA travel advice: entry rules, ESTA guidance and safety updates before you travel.
- Florida with little ones: our guide to villas, the parks, hire cars, the ESTA and the Gulf beaches.
- The Disney parks: how Walt Disney World works with young children.
Last updated 30 July 2026.
