Margaritaville Resort Orlando

By James | Last updated December 29, 2023

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A new $750 million vacation resort called Margaritaville Resort Orlando is being built along US 192 close to the junction with State Road 429, on the site of the former Splendid China attraction which closed in 2003. Originally the resort was expected to open in phases starting in early 2017 but it was early 2019 before the first phase opened. The whole project is expected to be completed by 2022.

In July 2017 construction officially broke ground on the new Margaritaville Hotel Kissimmee and it opened in January 2019.

The Jimmy Buffet inspired resort is around 320 acres and features:

  • 4-star Margaritaville hotel with 187 rooms
  • around 900 permanent and vacation rental homes, villas, cottages and condos with prices from $250,000 up to $1 million each
  • 328 luxury timeshares units
  • Sunset Walk — dining and entertainment district with 30,000 square feet of function space
  • 190,00 square feet of dining/retail space
  • wellness centre
  • St. Somewhere Spa
  • planetarium
  • wedding pavilion
  • Fin City amusement arcade
  • Son of a Sailor fishing school
  • wooded fitness trails
  • 3 acre chlorinated freshwater swimming lagoon
  • 45 acre lake
  • Fins Up Beach Club
  • paddle boarding, kayaking and snorkelling
  • Island H2O Live! —12 acre themed water park with over 15 attractions and a beach, located next door to Margaritaville

The resort is so large, you will be able to catch water taxis to get around.

The vacation cottages reflect the architecture of tropical locations like the Florida keys, the Caribbean islands of the Bahamas and Jamaica as well at coastal towns in the Carolinas. The designs offer one, two or three story properties painted in pastel shades with balconies, Adirondack chairs, window shutters and landscaped palm trees.

The themed Island H2O water park opened in July 2019 and is available to the public as well as residents and features:

  • Candy Stripe Cove with rides and slides
  • Chat Creek 1,300 foot lazy river
  • Drop Down vertical drop slide
  • Follow Me Falls raft ride for 1 or 2 people
  • Hashtag Heights raft ride for 3 to 6 people
  • Level Up water play area with basketball hoops and a lily pad obstacle course
  • Live Streaming 360 degree loop slide
  • Live! Lagoon dual beach wave pool for boogie boarding and surfing
  • Pelican’s Paradise for kids with slides, climbing frames and a giant water bucket
  • Private Domain pool and relaxation area for adults only
  • Profile Plunge raft ride for 3 to 6 people
  • Reload Rapids tube slide for 2 people
  • Reply Racers mat racing slide against your friends
  • The Downloader for 1 to 2 riders

Island H2O is a seasonal water park and in 2021 it re-opens on March 13.

Whilst there are already other Jimmy Buffett-branded Margaritaville hotels, this is the first destination resort of its kind. In Florida, there are Margaritaville hotels in Key West, Pensacola Beach and another at Hollywood Beach, north of Miami that opened in November 2016.

At this time there are no plans for a Margaritaville restaurant like the one at Universal CityWalk.

The adjacent Shoppes at Rolling Oaks have been rebranded as “SunsetWalk at Margaritaville Resort Orlando” offering 190,000 square feet of retail and dining space. The first phase opened in 2018.

Tenants include:

  • Avalon Nails & Spa — nail, skin and spa services
  • Bahama Buck’s Original Shaved Ice Company — shaved ice, smoothies and frostalattes
  • Bento Asian Kitchen & Sushi — sushi rolls, rice and noodle bowls and bento boxes
  • BurgerFi — Angus beef burgers, grilled chicken and frozen custard desserts
  • Capone’s Coal Fire Pizza — traditional and speciality pizzas, sandwiches and pasta
  • Cold Stone Creamery — ice creams, shakes, cakes and smoothies
  • El Jeffe Tequilas Taco Cantina — over 250 brands of tequila plus speciality tacos, fajitas and Lave Rock Molcajete dinners
  • Estefan Kitchen Orlando — Latin and Cuban inspired restaurant
  • Flower Café — artisan all day café
  • Ford’s Garage — Prime Burgers & Craft Beer restaurant themed on a 1920 service station and prohibition bar
  • GameTime — family entertainment centre with arcade games, simulators, a restaurant and sports bar with 60 TVs
  • Lizzie’s Memphis Style BBQ — smoked and barbecued meats and southern sides
  • Paradise Spirits — selection of beer, wine and spirits
  • River Street Sweets — Savannah’s Candy Kitchen with handmade Southern sweets
  • Rock & Brews — restaurant owned by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley from the rock group KISS with a scratch kitchen and hundreds of craft beers on tap
  • Skechers — casual footwear
  • Studio Movie Grill — a state-of-the-art 40,000 square foot cinema with 12 screens and over 1,000 luxury recliners. You can relax at the bar in the lobby before the show and order and enjoy American Grill food and drinks served at your seat at any time during the film
  • The Wharf at Sunset Wharf — seafood restaurant and oytser bar
  • Yeoman Cask & Lion — British themed pub and restaurant

A Rascal Flatts restaurant featuring country music live entertainment, retails space and full-service bar from the country music group Rascal Flatts was planned but it was never built.

In total there are nine Margaritaville hotels and timeshare resorts across the southern United States and the Caribbean plus 67 restaurants. The first restaurant opened in Key West in 1987.

There are also plans to build a 6,900 home retirement community in Daytona Beach to be known as Latitude Margaritaville, Daytona Beach.

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