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The Hotel
I had heard some things about the Gaylord Rockies hotel, but it BLEW ME AWAY! This family friendly hotel is like a cruise ship on land. They have a slew of activities included in your stay, along with several on-site restaurants (not-included) that you can eat at. You never need to leave. During the winter, there is the Christmas village and ICE! experience that cost extra, but add a really fun layer to the stay.
The Room
Our room was a 2 Queen room, which they said was upgraded buttttt….I’m not so sure about that. It was squishy with 5 people, but it was immaculately cleaned, and elegantly decorated. The bathroom was spacious and there was a double sink vanity. The shower had community shampoo, etc. so, depending on how you feel about that you may want to bring your own. They had high-quality tea in the room (yes, I’m a tea snob) and the coffee looked good, but I don’t drink coffee so, you may want to do other reconnaissance there. All in all, it was a very comfortable stay and definitely felt like an upscale family hotel room.
The Service
The service at a hotel can make or break a stay, and the service here was above and beyond expectations. The staff was consistently friendly and helpful. For example, my middle kiddo was barely tall enough for the water slides. We climbed ALL the way up to the top and the lifeguard said he was too close to call, so I had to haul an incredibly upset child down to the bottom of the slides. A Manager met us, measured him, and gave him a bracelet to wear so he would be approved all weekend. In the process he joked with my son and made him feel excited to try again. We consistently encountered this positive attitude and it was encouraging.
The one place I noticed people struggling was dining reservations. If this hotel is on your list, make those dining reservations EARLY. They were completely sold out all day and night. However, there is food close by if you opt to head off site.
The Resort.
Mini Golf.
Water Park.
Basketball.
Volleyball.
Pickleball.
Giant Chess.
Smores Pit.
The list goes on and on. This resort truly had enough to keep a family with a large range of ages occupied for several days. We loved the Indoor Water Park and my kids are already begging to come back for summer and use of the lazy river.
The ICE! Experience
WOW! WOW! WOW! I was floored when we walked in and got to interact with this frozen wonderland. It is truly incredible what they achieved. The entire place is filled with intricate and colorful ice sculptures from the chosen theme. Ours was the movie The Christmas Story. It isn’t on my list of favorite movies, but the craftsmanship was so precise and impressive that it was a delight. Even the kids who had never seen it thought it was one of the coolest things we have done.
The highlight was, of course, the ice slides in the middle of the experience. As long as you sat on your parka, you flew down these pretty quick. Most people went once or twice because they were so cold, we were bundled to the nines, and I have cold weather kids so we partied here for awhile.
*Pro Tip – you have to wear the provided parka, but come bundled up. It is 9 degrees inside, and you will get cold very quick with that thin little parka.
The Christmas Village
The only Christmas Village experience we opted into was an all-hotel scavenger hunt for Rudolph’s misfit toys. This was the cheapest option at $11 per child, and it provided an extended period of entertainment, and the kids enjoyed that they were able to turn it in for a prize at the end.
The Christmas Village also had photos with Santa, Gingerbread decorating, Mrs. Claus Storytime, Elf Training Academy, Build a Bear, and shopping.
There was also an optional Cirque show that looked to be phenomenal, but with a young one of 2, that wasn’t on the itinerary.
The Christmas Village is definitely pricey and I could see how you could easily spend a lot of money there. I would recommend looking at the options ahead of time and going in with a game plan that everyone understands.
Travel Hacking Gaylord Rockies
The Gaylord properties are in the Marriott family, and therefore can be booked with Marriott points and miles or Marriott Free Night Awards. We have a Marriott Credit Card that we pay a $95 annual fee for, that earns us one free night credit, and we consistently get at least double that in value.
This year, we booked a $450/ night room at the Gaylord Rockies with our free night credit. And it cost us nothing. And they comped the parking fee as well.
If you are thinking this is an experience you want with your family. There are several Gaylord properties across the USA.
First, I would look at the number of points per night for that location in December. You can use a tool like Maxmypoint for this.
Then, I would find a Marriott card that had a free night credit within the range I was looking to cash in for. These can be from 35,00pts/night to 85,000 pts/night.
Marriott allows you to “top off” your free night credit by adding up to 15,000 points from your account to each free night credit.
Conclusion
We were constantly in shock that we got this stay for free. I can’t recommend all of it enough. I can’t wait to see what you and your family experience here!
