Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando Review 2021 and Staying Off Site for WDW

This is my fourth trip to WDW and my first time staying off site and my first time not using the Magical Express to get to our hotel. While we were waiting for our luggage at the airport, I saw that I was able to check in on the Hyatt app. I had booked a standard room using points for this trip, but during the check in process, I was given the option to upgrade our room to a bay view for $15 per night or a pool view for $25 per night. I decided to upgrade to a pool view as I had read that this would give us a view of the fireworks at The Magic Kingdom.

After finally getting our luggage that was delayed due to thunderstorms shutting down the ramp, I chose to take a Mears taxi from the airport to our hotel. Our price was $68.76 ( this price includes a 20% tip). I knew this would be a pricey option, but it was still a little more than I was expecting. Our price taking Lyft was $31.19 ( price includes 20% tip) to go from the hotel to the airport on the way home. We didn’t have a lot of luggage and it was just for 2 people, so we didn’t have to have a larger transport. I will admit that the Mears Taxi had more room, so if you had more luggage to handle, that may be more cost effective and convenient in those cases, also prices will vary due to demand. We arrived at the hotel and it really is lovey. Here is a video of the lobby.

While waiting in line to get your room key, you can say hello to Merlot.

Then on to our room! See the video shorts of our resort room here and here

After checking out our room we went down to the pool for a bit and to checkout the other amenities. See photo at start of post for a photo with an overview of the area.

As we left the room I took this photo looking down to the lobby

Going down to the pool and lake area are two main pathways. First way is a long stairway down to the pool area. Second way has a pathway that slopes down to pool area with just a few steps at the end. There is an elevator that can be taken down though the Lakehouse for those that need an alternate way down. There are plenty of lounge chairs and several on the beach area too. This is a non-swimming beach of course. The water amenities are available for use until 6pm and children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult on watercraft. A waiver must be signed once for each room and is good for the entire stay. Also life jackets must be worn on all water craft. My son was disappointed to not be able to get on the water bikes, as it is for a single rider, and he was not old enough to use them. We had fun on the pedal boat though.

Below is a photo of the climbing wall. Next to that is where the bikes are located. We saw many families taking advantage of this amenity, as the resort grounds are large and there are plenty of areas to ride around to.

Exploring the pool area further there a two hot tubs. One is designated as an adult only area, but the entire time I was there, there were kids in that hot tub just as an FYI. The other hot tub is in the grotto area. The entrance to the fitness room is directly across from this hot tub and the only way to this area.

Further down in the grotto is the entrance to the arcade and guest laundry. Inside this area I saw the doorway to the kids club, but this area is closed for now. The tokens to play in the arcade are cash purchase only.

The splash zone is also currently closed and is a place for more lounge chairs. The water slide is open until 6pm and requires a wristband for those 17 and under that is available at the pool towel counter. There is no extra charge for the wristbands.

The pool is amazing with waterfalls, but has no gradual entry. The edges of the pool and the grotto area are 3 and 1/2 feet (1 meter) deep and there are areas in between that are over 6 feet deep. There are pool floats available for purchase, but we didn’t check them out, so I don’t know how much they are. If you usually stay at a Disney Resort then you may be use to swim vests being available, but they do not have those here.

That evening, we had dinner reservations at The Boathouse in Disney Springs. We got a Lyft to take us there and the pickup for ride shares are in front outside the main Lobby.

After dinner and exploring Disney Springs a little, we decided to see if you could walk from Disney Springs back to the hotel. Short answer is that yes you can and there is a sidewalk to walk on the whole way that is along the main road. At no time did I feel unsafe walking , however it takes a long time to walk this route. I timed our walk, at a leisurely pace, from the pedestrian bridge on the east side of Disney Springs to entering into our hotel room and it took us 52 minutes.

The next morning I explored the resort further by walking on the path around the lake. If you are a jogger, this place definitely has plenty of room to keep up your workout routine. Below are some photos I took on my walk. I took a photo of the outdoor pavilion for things like weddings, the tennis courts and even a small basketball court.

For lunch, we walked to the strip mall next to the hotel grounds entrance and ate at U & Me Revolving Hot Pot. It is a fun option for your stay that is close by. The Hyatt has limited options for dining right now. Hemingway’s is closed and The Lakehouse is open for sit down service for breakfast and lunch only, but carry out and room service is available. The Lobby bar also has food available after 4pm. There is a pool bar with food options available. The Marketplace has some grab and go items available in the deli case and a selection of snacks. If you wait too late in the morning, the selection is pretty sparse in the deli case. If you really want something, grab it the night before and stash it the in room refrigerator. The Marketplace is open until midnight. See video short of selection here.

I would definitely make reservations for dining at Disney Springs at least some of the time during your stay as the variety is not currently available on-site and restaurants are struggling with having enough staff at off-site locations. Not a complaint, just a reality as tourism struggles to get back to normal.

Since that day was a resort day, we checked out our view of the fireworks. If you are wondering if you have to get a pool view room to see the fireworks, you do not as you can watch them from the atrium windows that overlook the pool area.

The next day we took a Lyft to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The hotel doesn’t currently have a shuttle service to any of the theme parks, but does have shuttle service offered in the evenings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday to Disney Springs. We didn’t use the shuttle service, so I cannot comment on it, but I believe if you want to use it , you have to make arrangements at the front desk. We did not rope drop, so there was no line for ride share drop-offs when we arrived at the park. The ride share pickup and drop-off is at the last section of the bus stops at Disney parks. We did not stay until closing, so there was not a long line for pickup when we left.

The following day we visited EPCOT and arrived around noon at the park, and it was an easy drop-off. That evening we stayed for fireworks and to avoid the line at the park for ride share pickup, we walked through International Gateway and over to the Disney resort Beach Club for pickup there. Beach Club ride share pick up is in front outside the main lobby. I chose to do ride share for this trip as self parking at the hotel is $25 per day and to park at Disney it is also $25.

Our last trip to WDW was November of 2019 and we stayed at the Beach Club. I would compare these two resorts favorably. The pools are both very good with different attributes. The main difference it that I think that the Beach Club pool is nicer for those with younger children as the walk-in entry and sand area is amazing for the little ones. The lazy river at the Beach Club is very deep and not very large so, I don’t think that is a big draw for that pool. The water slides I think are comparable with the Beach Club being a bit longer. The Hyatt has the grotto with waterfalls that are fun. The hotel rooms over all were about the same to me and if things were all open about the same with on site dining. Location to the parks would be the main difference between the hotels. If you were looking for more to do at the resort itself, the Hyatt cannot be beat.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this hotel for a visit to WDW. Disadvantages would be ride share park pickup and drop-off lines if arriving at park opening and closing, and if you have to worry about car seats and strollers for young kids as opposed to staying on-site and using Disney transportation. Another would be that the pool is geared for older kids. Another disadvantage is that Disney resorts guests have extra hours available at the parks starting October 1, 2021. Advantages are that the resort has so much to do and has a fabulous pool for older kids, and ride share to the parks didn’t take any longer than taking Disney transportation to the parks as far as the duration of the ride itself. Lastly, the price was great using points for our stay and definitely worth the use of your points.