The Conrad - Orlando
- Nick, Editor
- Sep 21
- 9 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
a crystalline escape inside the Disney bubble (that still feels gloriously grown-up)
Article summary
First impressions
The look
Rooms & suites
Editors notes
Spa & amenities
Food & drink
Service & vibe
Location
Price
Verdict
Pro's & Cons
Tours & activities
Orlando is a city of spectacle, theme parks, fireworks, and sensory overload at every turn. But just beyond the turnstiles, the Conrad Orlando offers a different kind of theatre: one of refined luxury, shimmering water, and a landscape that feels more Caribbean hideaway than Central Florida. Opened in 2024 as part of the ambitious Evermore Orlando Resort, this 433-room property has quickly redefined what it means to stay in the shadow of Walt Disney World.
Check-in was a gentle exhale: citrus in the air, cool marble underfoot, a front-desk smile that clocked my lidded eyes and quietly upgraded “early arrival” to “here, let’s get you upstairs.” This is the promise of Conrad’s brand in one gesture: contemporary polish, delivered without fuss. And in Orlando, of all places, that combination lands like a small miracle.
The headline here is location, but not in the traditional “steps from Main Street” sense. The Evermore Orlando Resort, a 1,100-acre private complex with its own white-sand beach and an 8-acre swimmable lagoon, is three miles from Walt Disney World, and shuttles, actual motorcoaches, not glorified golf carts, run hotel guests to all four Disney parks on a predictable loop. It’s inside the bubble, just not swallowed by it, and the distinction matters, close enough for ease, far enough to detach. For more information, offers, and bookings, click here.
The Look: lagoons meet quiet glamour
Conrad Orlando opened in January 2024, and the design brief reads “Florida springs reimagined.” Surfaces keep to cream and sand with flashes of verdigris and lagoon blue; curves soften corners as if water had the final say. Sunlight slices into double-height spaces and glints off art glass; at night, the mood slips toward low-lit, Riviera-lounge.
The building’s massing steps toward Evermore Bay, so sightlines are water-hungry at every turn, and the lobby connects to a promenade that runs straight to the private beach. Suddenly, you understand why they call it Orlando’s “only beach paradise.”
The AAA Five Diamond badge is the quiet mic-drop: Conrad Orlando earned the designation in 2025, the brand’s first property to reach that tier, putting it in a very small club for North America. You can feel the standard in the materials and the way service anticipates what you’ll want before your brain catches up.
Rooms & suites at the Conrad Orlando
There are 433 rooms, including 61 suites. Entry categories are generous in terms of footprint, and most rooms feature either a balcony or terrace to catch the morning light over the lagoon. The palette stays calm, plush linens, stone and pale woods, bathrooms that actually invite a soak rather than just signalling one.
Family Suites add welcome sanity (a private bedroom, a living room with a pull-out and twin bunks that slide behind pocket doors), and upper-tier Premium and Presidential Suites angle for sky and spectacle, yes, the theme-park fireworks are the nightly punctuation if you’re facing the right way.
In-room details are Conrad-correct: quiet A/C, blackout curtains that blackout, streaming that doesn’t make you negotiate error codes, and minibars that feel like a considered invitation rather than a dare. If you’re deep in the wellness lane, a subset of “Wellness Rooms” folds in exclusive access to the spa’s Water Garden, more on that little indulgence in a moment.
Editor’s notes:
Lagoon-view rooms are the mood-setters; you’ll actually use the balcony.
Family Suites are built for sanity (and strollers). Those pocket-door bunks? Magic.
If fireworks matter, ask; the hotel can steer you to the right exposures.
Evermore Bay and the pools:
The gravitational centre of this resort is Evermore Bay, a crystal-clear 8-acre lagoon wrapped in 20 acres of beach, cabana-lined, hammock-hung, and staffed with a don’t-lift-a-finger energy. This is not a chlorinated showpiece. You can swim, paddleboard, or kayak across it, race kids down a family waterslide, queue up for the rope swing, or sink into a private cabana with a book you pretend to read.
After a morning in the parks, the lagoon becomes both antidote and reward. Access is for overnight guests of Evermore and Conrad; it’s part of what you’re paying for, and it does, in fact, feel like a Maldives daydream dialled for families.
Conrad layers its own resort pool and a constellation of beach and poolside cabanas onto that scene; staff waft in and out with iced waters and sunscreen the way good service should. A kids’ splash pad keeps smaller travellers in their own orbit, and as the sun eases, fire pits flicker to life along the sand. It’s relaxed, photogenic, and, crucially, well-timed to the Disney day.
Spa: the Water Garden
Ask me what surprised me most and I’ll point you upstairs, where Conrad Spa perches above a Water Garden that borrows its mood, and its mineral palette, from the region’s natural springs. Here, the heat-cold-soak choreography works as travel alchemy: a vitality pool, warm whirlpool, private soaking tubs, and a brisk cold plunge that resets your circadian clock better than a lecture on sleep hygiene.
The spa partners with Noble Panacea for an exclusive facial and runs a full menu of massage, salon, and nail services. It’s an 18+ sanctuary (16+ with a registered adult), so book that couples slot, then drift to Apéro for a spritz; this is Orlando doing adult.
If movement means more than floating, the fitness studio is bright and well-equipped, and the hotel’s golf privileges are not a footnote: guests get preferential access to the two Jack Nicklaus-designed courses at neighbouring Grand Cypress, Links and Cypress, plus on-site pros and a practice complex. Casual golfers, bring patience for those greens; design fans, bring a camera.
Eating & drinking: five venues, five distinct moods
Conrad Orlando is a culinary house with five clear voices.
Ceiba (rooftop): A love letter to regional Mexican cooking with the kind of detail that turns dinner into a memory, corn perfumed with smoke, moles that speak in paragraphs, aguachiles that reset the Florida heat. Open Wednesday-Sunday, 5-10 pm, and angled to catch the parks’ fireworks, book the terrace if the forecast is kind. It is, without exaggeration, one of the most transporting rooms in Orlando right now.
Sophia’s Trattoria (ground floor): Southern Italy refracted through sunny Floridian produce. Breakfast is civilised (espresso that respects your morning), lunch drifts into 12–2 pm on weekdays, and dinner service leans convivial. Weekends stretch breakfast till 1 pm, a mercy after late nights.
Papaya Club (on the beach): Polynesian-tinted plates, grilled fish, bright salads, proper poke, served a few barefoot steps from the Evermore Bay shoreline. Hours flex with daylight; bar service lingers later than the kitchen. It’s the place you swore you’d just “snack” and somehow stayed until sunset.
Apéro (lobby): A Mediterranean Riviera lounge that pivots from afternoon spritz bar to night-owl last stop. The Italian-leaning wine list is tight and smart; the staff will happily steer you toward a glass that kisses your plate. Open daily; Fri–Sun starts early (1 pm).
Little Spoon (market café): 6:30 am–8 pm daily for the essentials, pastries that actually flake, gelato that becomes a habit, and grab-and-go that plays nicely with shuttles and naps.
Is the food scene actually good? Yes. But more importantly, it’s well-timed to how you’ll live: early caffeine before the parks; something breezy and bright between lagoon laps; and a proper dinner that earns an evening on the roof terrace.
Disney, distilled (and de-stressed)
Here’s the hook: you can do Disney as hard or as lightly as you like from here. The hotel is a Walt Disney World Good Neighbour Hotel and runs complimentary motorcoach shuttles to all four parks; the team will help map park reservations and strategy without ever making you feel like you’re cramming for an exam. When you return, the theatre recedes, beach, pool, Water Garden, repeat, and you wake the next day remembering why you travelled in the first place. If you’ve ever wanted to straddle the line between theme-park thrill and actual vacation, Conrad makes that balance feel natural.
Service & scene: polished, friendly, and quietly savvy
Conrad service is engineered, not scripted: pool attendants clock a family’s sun pattern and re-angle the umbrella before the meltdown; Little Spoon slides a kids’ gelato across the counter with the speed of a lifesaver; the concierge triages multigenerational ambitions as if it were a sport (because it is). The crowd mixes design-curious couples, multigenerational families, and conference-adjacent travellers escaping to a real resort between sessions. It’s social, but not shouty; family-forward, but never juvenile; and, by dusk, the Ceiba terrace feels like the city’s most quietly glamorous room.
Meetings & moments:
Don’t let the beachy energy fool you: with 65,000+ square feet of indoor-outdoor event space, a ballroom that opens to water and palms, and terraces that beg for golden-hour clinking, this is a serious meetings and weddings address. I peeked at a ceremony set-up that drifted into the blue on one side and torches on the other; it read less “banquet hall” and more “Cinemascope.”
Where you are: (and why that’s useful)
Conrad Orlando sits at 1500 Eastbeach Way, about 20 miles from MCO and under three miles from Disney, wedged neatly between Orlando’s best-known parks. Universal Orlando and SeaWorld are roughly a 10-mile radius. It’s a practical base if your itinerary is an argument between wands and Star Wars, roller coasters and character breakfasts. And when the day ends, your front yard is a beach. That never stops being pleasing.
What you’ll pay (and why the math can make sense)
It’s luxury inside the Disney orbit; the rates reflect that. Prices range from £600/night to around £1200 for standard rooms, depending on the week and season (conventions, holidays, and school breaks will do their thing), suites from around £1200/night and rise to the Presidential Suite. There’s a nightly resort fee (around £50), common in Orlando, but it does cover meaningful pieces like watersport rentals and the Disney shuttle. Do the calculus, if you plan lagoon days and on-site dinners, the convenience has a way of paying itself back in less quantifiable currencies (sanity; smiles).
A quick 3-day itinerary:
Day 1 - Swim, sip, exhale. Land, drop bags, and beeline to Evermore Bay. Rent a cabana if you’re in a group, or claim a hammock in Hammock Grove and watch the afternoon drift. Late lunch at Papaya Club (ceviche, a salad, something from the grill), then an unapologetic nap. Dress up for Ceiba; book the terrace if clouds behave. Let the servers steer you through a mole; time dessert to the fireworks. Stroll the beach under string lights and pretend you live here.
Day 2 - Rope-drop, Water Garden, Riviera night. Rope-drop your chosen park, a complimentary motorcoach makes the logistics painless, then retreat before noon when the lines swell. An hour in the Water Garden will remove three hours of queue from your shoulders; follow it with a quick float in the resort pool. Dress down for Apéro (spritz, crudo, olives), or wander to Sophia’s Trattoria for southern Italian comfort and a glass of something Sicilian. Gelato from Little Spoon is a “yes” you’ll never regret.
Day 3 - Coffee, kayaks, and next-time plans. Early Little Spoon run (the pastries are worth it), then a paddle across the lagoon thinking “I can’t believe this is Orlando.” Check out, stash bags with the Tipu Lounge (shower and store), and take one last loop of the beach before the airport.
The verdict:
Conrad Orlando is the rare new-build resort that already knows what it wants to be: a lagoon-front, design-forward escape that lets you do the parks without becoming the parks. The service is quietly expert; the food is worth staying in for; the spa feels like an actual reset rather than a brochure; and the setting, that gorgeous blue lagoon, changes the emotional register of an Orlando trip in the first ten minutes.
If your wishlist reads “Disney joy, adult calm, actual sleep”, this is the address you were hoping someone would finally build. Bottom line: Conrad Orlando reframes the classic Orlando week as beach mornings, park sprints, rooftop nights, and the kind of sleep only quiet air-con and plush sheets can buy. If you’ve been waiting for a grown-up counterpoint to the parks, one that still delights the kids, this lagoon-front five-diamond delivers big.
Pros & Cons:
Pros
Inside Evermore with access to 8-acre Evermore Bay and 20 acres of private beach, a genuine swim-and-sand day in landlocked Orlando.
Complimentary motorcoach shuttles to all four Disney parks; Good Neighbour Hotel perks without the frenzy.
Five dining venues with real personality: Ceiba (rooftop, fireworks views), Sophia’s, Papaya Club, Apéro, Little Spoon.
Conrad Spa with an immersive Water Garden (vitality pool, cold plunge, hot soaking) and Wellness Rooms.
AAA Five Diamond standard; the first Conrad to reach it.
Cons:
Rates swing high on peak calendars.
The lagoon and beach are guest-only; friends not staying on the property can’t join you for a bay day.
You’re not walkable to parks; everything is shuttle or rideshare (easy, but plan your timing).
Key facts at a glance:
Location: 1500 Eastbeach Way, Orlando (32836), inside Evermore Orlando Resort; 3 miles from Walt Disney World.
Hotel rating: Luxury five-star; AAA Five Diamond (2025); Walt Disney World Good Neighbour Hotel.
Hotel vibe: Modern-luxury urban-beach resort, Riviera flourishes, Florida-springs calm, rooftop evenings with fireworks on the horizon.
Food & drink: Ceiba (rooftop, regional Mexican; Wed–Sun 5–10 pm), Sophia’s Trattoria (Southern Italian; breakfast/lunch/dinner with weekend brunch hours), Papaya Club (Polynesian-inspired, beachside), Apéro (spritz bar and Riviera lounge), Little Spoon (6:30 am–8 pm, grab-and-go).
Hotel amenities: Evermore Bay lagoon with kayaks/paddleboards/rope swing, private beach, resort pool, cabana service, Conrad Spa & Water Garden, fitness studio, kids’ splash pad, Conrad Kids Club, Tipu Lounge for early/late guests, 65,000sq. ft. of event space, access to Grand Cypress golf (2 Jack Nicklaus courses).
How many rooms: 433 total; 61 suites (including Family Suites with bunk alcoves).
Pricing: Widely variable; from £600/night, depending on season and events; resort fee £50/night includes Disney shuttle and watersports.
Location recommendations & attractions: Walt Disney World (via shuttle); Universal Orlando and SeaWorld (10 miles); Grand Cypress golf; Disney Springs shopping/dining; on-property Evermore Bay for no-car beach days. See below for more tours & activities in Orlando or click here.
All hotels & resorts on The Five Star Edit are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive a small commission from advertisers when using our affiliate links.
Conrad Orlando (Florida) Review 2025
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