Our night with Shrek and Friends at Gaylord Palms Orlando

Things have been a bit crazy around here lately with both of the twins coming down with a cold, ear infections, and pink eye all at the same time. I recently posted that were going to have the opportunity to spend an all inclusive night at Gaylord Palms Orlando thanks to Klout. They were holding a special night with Shrek and Friends where you could spend an evening with your favorite characters from the Shrek movies, and enjoy other Shrek themed activities. We took the girls' and had a WONDERFUL time. I thought I would share some of the pictures from the event with you.

When we arrived at the hotel we checked into our amazing room on the 9th floor. All of the rooms in our section had recently been remodeled, and they are gorgeous! Willow wanted to make sure we got a picture of her bed to share with everyone. She was so excited about those flower pillows.

If you've never been to the Gaylord Palms, it's built to look like a city, but everything is indoors. This was the view from our window.

We got everything settled in and headed downstairs to have dinner at Villa de Flora, the Mediterranean Buffet in the St. Augustine section of the atrium. We could see it from our window above and you could actually smell the food. There we had some of the best food we've ever tasted. Willow fell in love with the pizza, even though it was topped in goat cheese, and she tried taramisu. So yummy! It was nice to be able to let her try different "fancy" foods that she normally wouldn't get a chance to try.

 

 After dinner we went back up to our room for diaper changes and to prepare for our night with Shrek! We we arrived we were greeted with a cart full of treats and drinks to welcome us to the hotel. Gaylord Palms really nows how to make a girl feel special! 

 

Shrek Fingers with green slime! These were the best tasting treats, no Ogre fingers don't look very appetizing, but trust me they were great. The green slime was chocolate syrup dyed with green food coloring. What's in an Ogre finger?

They're chocolate chip cookies with frosting, wrapped in green fondant icing!
Once we were able to pry Willow away from the cookies we went down to see Shrek. The entire day she kept saying how much she wanted to meet donkey, but unfortunately Donkey was busy taking care of his little half dragon babies so he wasn't able to make it. Shrek, Fiona, and Puss in Boots came instead. No pictures of any of them because Willow was all talk, she is not a brave girl. In fact when she saw Shrek in the exhibit hall she took off running screaming "No Willow's scared!" (He's a big guy, at least 6'4 so I don't really blame her!) We settled down and watch Shrek the 3rd on the law with the rest of the kids, while the daddy man went to the resort gym.

Shrek in the field

A not so lovely picture of us watching Shrek. 

The next morning Willow, the girls and I took some tie to explore all of the things the hotel had to offer while the Daddy Man went to work (he actually works at another resort down the street). Did I mention that Gaylord Palms normal check out time is 11am and Zach had to work until 3:30. I asked about a late checkout and they made it happen no questions asked! Of course your results may vary based on room availability.

Here are some of the cool things we found around the hotel. A waterfall in the St. Augustine atrium. Willow went to visit the waterfall at least 15 times.

  Koi fish, also in the St. Augustine atrium. These were Willow's favorite thing about our trip. (Notice "banky" had to come along for the adventure)

That yellow fish was her favorite. She even gave him a name - "lellow fish". I mean what else could you possibly name him?

Hanging out on that rock are alligators! At special times during the week a specialist comes to feed them and you can watch. The rest of the time they chill out in the middle of the hotel.

 How beautiful is the Key West Area?! There's actually a boat docked in the middle where you can eat dinner. Willow kept asking why we didn't eat on the boat. Next time we will!

We had such a great time at the Gaylord Palms, and even though we live in the area we'd defiantly consider taking the girls to stay again just for the gorgeous scenery and amazing customer service we received. If you're coming to Orlando anytime soon stay at Gaylord Palms, you won't be disappointed!

I received an all inclusive night at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando free of charge through Klout Perks. I was not required to post an review of our stay at all, but chose to share details of our stay with my readers. All opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way. Please see our disclosure policy for details.