Review of Grand Beach Resort in Orlando, Florida

Grand Beach Resort located on Lake Bryan in Orlando, Florida is a wonderful alternative to staying at one of the Disney World resorts. Grand Beach is less than 10 minutes from the Disney World Complex and attractions. This made it easy to get up in the morning, get ready and head over to Disney World, Animal Kingdom or Sea World. It's also closely located to some wonderful restaurants and Interstate 4.

The resort itself is not the nicest one I have stayed in but it was good enough. When we first arrived, we were greeted by the staff at the front desk and given our room. I asked if we had a lake view or a pool view because when I booked the room online it had said that you get one of those two views. The women told me I had the parking lot view. I immediately mentioned what I had read online and she said that that was all that was available. I was then directed to the "Welcome Desk" which was really the timeshare pusher's desk. Fortunately, they took my "no" response well and did not bother me for the rest of my stay.

Once we got our room, we realized that our parking lot view was also the dumpster view. Our room was located right above the dumpster. So when we sat out on the nice balcony with Adirondack chairs we had a nice view of some trash. Thankfully, we weren't able to smell the trash. Actually, if we looked to our left we could see Lake Bryon through the trees, so I guess we did get a "lake view".

The condo was spacious with three bedrooms and three full bathrooms. It had two masters with king size beds and one bedroom with two twin beds. The sofa in the living room also folded out into a full size bed. The kitchen was a full kitchen and had a huge dining room table. The bathrooms were good size and one of the master bedrooms had a jetted tub. The condo also had a washer and dryer which made washing clothes very convenient. The condo was clean and decorated like any hotel room. All in all, the condo was definitely a nice retreat after a long day at the parks.

The resort has a nice size pool but it is not heated. They have a beach area which is pretty small and you can rent canoes, kayaks, paddle boats and fishing poles for a fee. The landscaping is pretty nice and kept up so taking walks in the evenings are very nice and scenic looking over Lake Bryan.

The view definitely disappointed me but that was probably the only complaint I really have about the resort. The price wasn't too high and it was centrally located to everything that we wanted to do during our vacation in Disney. So if you are looking for a resort outside of Disney that is close to everything, big enough to accommodate 8 guests and won't pressure you over and over again to take one of their timeshares, this is the place to stay.