Orlando's spas are for the days between parks, and these four differ in size: 40 treatment rooms at The Ritz-Carlton, 18 at the Four Seasons, seven at The Alfond Inn, and The Grand Floridian Spa, a full-service spa, salon and health club. Two things decide it. The first is access: The Ritz-Carlton's spa pool and lounges need a treatment of 50 minutes or more or a day pass, and The Alfond Inn's Spa Pool a booked treatment, while the Four Seasons' Oasis is open to every guest of 21 and over. The second is the commute. The Four Seasons and the Grand Floridian are inside Walt Disney World, with Disney's early park entry; The Ritz-Carlton means a drive or a shuttle booked a day ahead, and The Alfond Inn a drive.
Choose The Ritz-Carlton for the spa itself, the Four Seasons for a spa with a kids' club, The Alfond Inn for a small spa in a walkable town, and the Grand Floridian to fit a treatment round Magic Kingdom.
The spa is the reason to book The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes. Spa and fitness centre together take up 40,000 sq ft on three storeys, with 40 treatment rooms, more than twice the Four Seasons' 18. There are an Oribe hair salon and a nail salon, men's and women's lounges with a sauna and steam room, a co-ed relaxation lounge and a spa café, Vitale. Outside, a 4,000 sq ft heated lap pool and a whirlpool are kept for adults.
The menu draws on the estate: signature treatments use honey from the resort's own bees, herbs from its organic garden and Florida citrus, and for something newer there is Aescape, a robotic massage table. The lap pool and lounges open to guests of 18 and over with a treatment of 50 minutes or more or a spa day pass, so book one long treatment rather than two short ones, on a day without a park.
The room to book
Lake View
480 sq ft (45 m²)$569 a night
The same 480 sq ft room as the entry Resort View, with a private balcony over the lake, the golf course and the Orlando skyline to come back to after a treatment.
Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort puts a full spa inside Walt Disney World: 18 treatment rooms, four of them couples' suites, with a steam room, a solarium and an al fresco whirlpool. The other half of the case is Oasis, the lakeside infinity pool for over-21s only, with its own whirlpool and cabanas, the grown-up counterpart to the lazy river and slides of Explorer Island.
What makes it work for parents is the timetable. Kids For All Seasons, free for ages 4 to 12, runs from 9am to 5pm every day, and Disney's 30-minute Early Theme Park Entry comes with every day of the stay, so a family can be at a park for opening, ride the hourly coach back after lunch and split the afternoon between the club, the spa and Oasis.
The room to book
Park View Room
500 sq ft (46 m²)$2,415 a night
On the 6th to 16th floors, one of the two categories the resort suggests for uninterrupted rest, with a deep soaking tub, a glassed-in shower and a terrace facing the nightly fireworks.
The Spa at The Alfond Inn came with the hotel's 2023 wing and is the small, calm option here: seven treatment rooms, a steam room and a sauna in each of the men's and women's locker rooms, a café of its own and the Spa Pool on the wing's second-floor amenity deck, with private cabanas. All of it is for adults of 18 and over, and the Spa Pool is for guests with a booked treatment, who can use it all day.
It suits a spa day as part of a Winter Park day rather than a resort holiday. Park Avenue is two blocks away for lunch, and the hotel's own pool terrace, one floor above the street, is open to every guest. The spa opens from 9am to 5pm from Sunday to Thursday, and to 6pm on Friday and Saturday.
The room to book
Deluxe King
630 sq ft (59 m²)$415 a night
At 630 sq ft it is the largest room below the suites, with a deep soaking tub beside the walk-in shower for the evening after a treatment.
Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa is the only one of Disney's own hotels among our ten with a full-service spa. The Grand Floridian Spa is a spa, salon and health club that Disney likens to a serene Florida garden, entered through a Victorian-style entryway. The menu runs to massages, body treatments, manicures and more, with a relaxation room serving light refreshments, a dressing room with a robe and slippers in your locker, and a 24-hour fitness centre for the resort's guests.
Its strength is position. The spa opens from 9am to 6pm and the Resort Monorail is one stop to Magic Kingdom, so a morning in the park, a midday treatment and the evening fireworks from the marina fit into one day. Spa services are for adults of 18 and over, though teenagers of 14 to 17 can have treatments with a parent or guardian there for the whole visit.
The room to book
Water View
$915 a night
The same room as the entry Resort View, with a patio or balcony over Seven Seas Lagoon, the smaller step up for a calm outlook between treatments and the parks.
The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes has 40,000 sq ft of spa and fitness centre over three floors: 40 treatment rooms, an Oribe salon, a nail salon, men's and women's lounges with sauna and steam room, a co-ed relaxation lounge and a 4,000 sq ft heated lap pool for adults. For comparison, Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort has 18 treatment rooms, four of them couples' suites, and The Alfond Inn has seven.
Can you use the spa pool without booking a treatment?
Not at two of our four. At The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes the heated lap pool, whirlpool and lounges open to guests of 18 and over with a treatment of 50 minutes or more or a spa day pass. At The Alfond Inn the Spa Pool is for guests of 18 and over with a booked treatment, who may use it all day. At the Four Seasons, Oasis, the infinity pool for over-21s by the lake, is open to resort guests without a spa booking.
Can teenagers use the spa at Orlando's hotels?
It depends on the hotel. At Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, teenagers of 14 to 17 may have treatments with a parent or guardian present for the whole visit, and children from 5 can have select salon and nail services with a parent or guardian. At The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, 16- and 17-year-olds may have facials with a parent present and children of 5 to 15 nails and hair, but the lounges and lap pool are for 18 and over. The Alfond Inn's spa is for 18 and over only.
Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, one monorail stop from Magic Kingdom, has a spa open from 9am to 6pm, so a treatment fits between a morning in the park and the evening. At the Four Seasons, Disney's 30-minute Early Theme Park Entry and the hourly coaches make a park morning and a spa afternoon easy, with Kids For All Seasons taking children of 4 to 12 from 9am to 5pm. The Ritz-Carlton's spa keeps day hours, so give it a day off from the parks.
How did you choose these hotels?
Independently, through extensive research, trusted sources and first-hand visits. Hotels cannot pay to be included, and every one of the ten has to exist for a different reason.
The spa one
