Our recent Disney trip was so fun, even with the twists and turns and illness that hit us while we were away. I had been looking forward to taking our kids to Disney for a while. The last time we went our oldest was just 19 months (and was our only)! Now we have a 6 year old, 3 year old, and 9 month old. We had big plans for our 6 days in Orlando, including a few pool days baked in at our resort of choice, the Omni Orlando Hotel at Championsgate. We knew that the park days would include driving about 20-30 minutes each way and were excited to have a few days that were designated resort days to spend at the Omni pools.
The short story: We liked this resort! We would definitely consider staying here again if we wanted to do just one or two park days and more resort days; but if we planned to do more Disney and less on-site, we would look closer to the park.
Why we chose Omni Orlando
We looked at literally every Disney hotel and other hotels in the area, and decided on the Omni at Championsgate for two key reasons:
- Suite-style rooms were available for a reasonable price
- Zero entry pools on site
Now when I say “reasonable price,” of course that’s going to be subjective. But when we looked at hotels on Disney property, getting a hotel room for a family of 5 meant either spending a LOT more for a larger, suite-style room, or piling into one room. Neither option was what we wanted. When we found the Omni we booked a 2-bedroom suite which gave us two adjoining hotel rooms, one of which had two queen beds and the other with two queen beds, a kitchen table, and a couch. One room had a bathroom with a tub and the other just a stand up shower.
One of my non-negotiables was a zero entry pool. We learned between our trips to Clearwater and Hawaii that if there’s a zero entry pool available, it makes life a LOT easier. Our 6 year old can swim but our 3 year old doesn’t swim independently yet, so if there’s a pool that is not zero entry, an adult has to be in the water at all times with our 3 year old. And he’s a water bug, so that means there’s an adult in the pool at all times.
With a zero entry pool, which we had at our Hawaii resort, everyone is able to go in and out as they please. The Omni Orlando is set up perfectly for little kids. The kids pool is 2 feet at its deepest, with zero entry, water features, and water slides too. This is the pool where we spent most of our time. The family pool gets a bit deeper (I think it was 4 feet at its deepest), but it also has a zero entry area with a large water feature.
The pools at Omni Orlando Championsgate
One of the main reasons we chose this hotel was because of the pools. There are SO many to choose from! My favorites were the kids pool and the lazy river. There’s also an adults-only pool (which seemed to be the most packed during the trip due to the conventions), a family pool, a wave pool, a hot tub, and the Sunset Lodge and Villas have their own smaller pool with hot tub. I met a lovely family who was just there for the day, as Omni Orlando is on Resort Pass. Through the service you can actually just visit for the day and use the pool amenities. They were visiting family in the area so it was a really cool option. It’s also a nice option if you’re staying at a smaller hotel and want to experience the pools at another place.
Were the pools packed? Not at all. The Championsgate Omni is a convention center, so there were a lot of adults there for various conventions. It also has a golf course, so we saw some golf buddies traveling together. But lots of families? Nope. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad place for families by any means. What it meant was that a lot of times we were the only people at the pool! No rushing to get pool chairs here. But that also meant very sparse poolside service, which I didn’t expect.
One night we decided to bring back take out pizza and let the kids swim, even though it was 7pm and about 55 degrees. The pools are heated to 85 degrees, so for us New Englanders it felt like summer! Kind of. But we were literally the only people out at the pools at that time. (The pools at Omni Championsgate are open until 10pm.) That’s when I decided to take a float down the lazy river, which I would highly recommend.
The food at Omni Orlando
This is one area where I was disappointed. We ended up eating on-site quite a bit, and the food was just okay. Our first night we had dinner at Trevi’s, the Italian restaurant in the main building. I thought the food was just okay. We ordered pizzas to the room one night and the kids enjoyed those. There is also a steakhouse on the property, and the food there was pretty good.
The food at the pool comes from Croc’s, the pool bar, which I believe cooks everything indoors at Trevi’s. It’s standard fare: chicken fingers, quesadillas, etc. My quesadilla came with spicy chicken inside so the kids wouldn’t eat it. The chicken fingers and fries were pretty standard. And the frozen drinks were exactly what you would expect: strawberry daiquiri and pina colada, for example. The poolside service was slow and didn’t seem like a priority, since the pools were not very busy.
Other amenities at Omni Orlando Hotel
Like I mentioned above, we ended up having to stay on site two days when one of the kids came down with a fever. I was glad that the Omni had a few things to keep the rest of the group entertained. The mini golf course is small but perfect for kids, we took out one of the surrey bikes one day (I’m sure the golfers loved my kids dinging the bell every chance they got), and there is also an arcade for kids on the property.
We have been traveling with a grandparent lately, and this trip we were lucky to have two grandparents with us who fully enjoyed the pickleball court. We didn’t make too much use of the basketball courts, but those are on site too! And for anyone who loves to golf, there is a new Top Golf at the Omni. It looks fun but wasn’t on our radar for this trip.
There is a small bakery/coffee shop in the main building, too, which also sells snacks and drinks. It has a very small supply of necessities like Advil or Tylenol. If you need something else, though, there’s a Walgreens about a 2 minute drive down the road. (If you want to read what other people thought, here are the Tripadvisor reviews of the Omni.)
Overall thoughts on the Omni Orlando
We liked the Omni resort overall, and we would consider returning if we were only doing a day or two in the parks and needed a large pool complex for the other days. But if we were doing a Disney trip again, meaning mainly spending time in the Disney parks, we probably would look to stay closer to the parks.
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