In Orlando and Central Florida, a number of significant event and meeting venues opened this year. Here's our picks for the best restaurants, party rooms, hotels, corporate event venues, conference centers, private rooms, and cultural spaces that debuted in 2018. These new and renovated Orlando/Central Florida venues serve groups of all sizes for private and corporate events, business dinners, cocktail parties, conferences, weddings, and more.
Isolé Villas, a new 15-suite villa, is available for corporate retreats, meetings, or events south of Orlando. Within its 25,000 sleek, contemporary square feet, the property includes a 14-seat boardroom and a Grand Dining Room that seats 40 guests for plated meals at a custom-made black Italian marble table. As many as 75 can attend buffet or reception-style events in the same space. Other amenities include a multi-level saltwater pool, an indoor sports court for teambuilding programs, a 19-seat high-tech movie theater, a piano salon, a spa, and a cigar lounge. Additionally, a sommelier is available to help choose wines. The venue is located inside the gated Reunion golf resort community.
Situated along the boardwalk, Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resort has long been a destination for events. Now, on the heels of renovations to the guest rooms and dining facilities, the 1,190-room hotel has finished a convention center expansion that includes the spacious Newport Ballroom. Measuring 16,000 square feet, the ballroom is part of an expansion that adds 28,000 square feet to the convention center, bringing the total square footage to nearly 100,000. The ballroom, like the resort itself, has a subtle nautical theme reminiscent of Newport and Nantucket in the late 1800s with blue undertones as well as gold and white accents. The 4,600-square-foot Newport Lobby & Gallery gives way to the addition that includes three pre-function areas, two networking rotundas, eight breakout spaces, state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment, and other amenities. The ballroom has 22-foot ceilings with moldings and holds 2,300 people for receptions, 1,584 for theater-style events, and nearly 1,300 for banquets.
In the center of Disney World’s busy Disney Springs dining, shopping, and entertainment complex, Wine Bar George is a den of civility. Within its warm interior with brick and wood details, the two-story, 6,000-square-foot wine bar—run by namesake master sommelier George Miliotes—features six event-space options. Groups can buy out the entire restaurant to fit 200 seated or 300 standing guests, including multi-course dinners with wine pairings. Smaller groups can opt for the second floor interior (80 seated or 190 for receptions), bar (30 seated or 50 for receptions), or barrel room (as many as 190 seated). The glass-enclosed library holds 10 guests, and the patio seats 26 or holds 35 reception style. Miliotes himself can host wine-pairing sessions for private events.
Bringing a splash of rock ‘n’ roll energy to this beach community, the new Hard Rock Hotel Daytona Beach offers 20,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space, along with 200 guest rooms, a spa, and more. Taking a cue from the Atlantic Ocean, the waterfront Avalon Ballroom sets blues and greens against hand-crafted wood panels, plus both pillars and domed chandeliers are dotted with bubble-like crystal beads. With 6,204 square feet that can be divided in half, the Avalon accommodates 300 banquet style, 300 classroom style, 450 theater style, or 500 for cocktails. It has state-of-the-art sound and audiovisual systems. The adjacent terrace adds 10,000 square feet, as well as ocean views.
Tampa’s Julian B. Lane Park sits along the Hillsborough River, and now its River Center is available for indoor-outdoor events with water views. Sporting an urban, contemporary look, the 2,800-square-foot interior has floor-to-ceiling windows, a wooden floor, and an industrial ceiling with simple hanging lights. There's also a 2,000-square-foot covered terrace. The venue holds 190 guests for a seated dinner or 300 theater style or for receptions. Rates include as many as 300 Chiavari chairs, two bars, a green room, and round, rectangle, or bistro tables.
Maria & Enzo’s is an Italian restaurant that is heavily themed to look like a 1930s airplane terminal. The two-level lakeside space, operated by the Patina Restaurant Group, opened in January with 50-foot ceilings, an Art Deco feel, one expansive 400-seat dining room with additional balcony seating, and windows sporting views of Lake Buena Vista. Buyouts for 400 are available for lunch and dinner. Small groups might meet instead in the First Class Lounge, a quieter dining room with recessed ceiling lighting and travel posters on the wall, serving 64 seated or 75 for a reception.
With 90 hitting bays, arcade games, and food and drink facilities within its three stories and 60,000 feet, the high-tech indoor-outdoor golf facility Drive Shack Orlando accommodates as many as 1,000 people for a reception-style gathering. In addition to buyouts that provide access to all public areas, the venue has two meeting rooms on the main floor; they are equipped with audiovisual technology and accommodate 150 people combined for banquets or receptions. In addition, an outdoor lounge holds 150 for a reception-style event. The 200-seat restaurant and bar is another possible venue. Drive Shack opened in April.
Located in a two-story building downtown, the entertainment venue Celine Orlando debuted in January. The gray-blue space, filled with flowers and plants, features several areas for events: A first-floor ballroom measures 5,212 square feet and has a stage at one end and a four-sided bar at the other; a mezzanine overlooking the stage has a private bar. A speakeasy area and a rooftop lounge each hold about 100 guests. With design details like crystal chandeliers, the space has a chic vibe, and audiovisual equipment such as lighting rigs and a 15-foot LED video wall make it suited for private events. Overall, the space holds about 1,000 people for reception-style events.
The Four Seasons Resort Orlando on Disney World property added a $2.5 million, 16-acre practice facility to its Tranquilo Golf Club in January, and the greens are an outdoor option for group activities or catered events. The expanse, which includes a chipping green and an 18-hole putting course, can hold 200 guests for receptions or banquets. Alternatively, groups of 60 might first play a round of golf—even a glow-in-the-dark version after sunset—then proceed to the putting course’s sidewalk perimeter for food and beverage or to the indoor Tranquilo Clubhouse for a cocktail reception or meal in the banquet room. The club's Plancha restaurant, serving Cuban fare, is another option.
When the Orlando World Center Marriott, a massive convention hotel near Disney World, revamped its all-day restaurant, it built the modern, light-woods-adorned concept around locally sourced foods and an outdoor hydroponic garden. The restaurant, which opened in March, seats 500 for breakfast and lunch, but at dinner seating is removed to create a more intimate setting for 200 guests. Overall, using the four private dining rooms and terrace space that surrounds the garden, the venue can accommodate events of 700 guests. Elsewhere in the hotel, the 39,500-square-foot Crystal Ballroom debuted in January, part of the property’s 450,000 square feet of event space. It has innovative lighting via an Art Deco-like chandelier, an airwall, and muted warm colors.
