Waldorf Boca Raton Resort
This is not normally a resort that would land on my radar. However, I was attending a work conference there in May 2017 and decided to take a chance and have the family join me for the weekend. I should also add that due to the work conference we were able to get the hotel room at a group discounted price. We loved the trip so much that we came back again in May 2019. I was also surprised to find that this is a family friendly resort!
Rooms
In May 2017 we stayed in the Yacht Club. The room was very spacious with a sofa, big flat screen TV, and large bathroom. It also had a balcony which with a nice view oh the yachts in the harbor. The kids could even see barracuda down below in the water! The rooms were nice back then and I have heard they have remodeled so I imagine they must be pretty amazing now.
In May 2019 we stayed in a Tower Suite. The room had a separate living area with a sofa, chairs, coffee table, and TV. Then there was a little dining area with a table and 4 chairs. Then the sleeping area had 2 beds and a TV. There was no balcony but there were windows everywhere that offered tremendous views of the harbour and even the ocean.
Pools/Beach
The main hotel has one pool. This might not seem like much, but in the mornings we were often the first ones there. It was rarely crowded on week days. The beach club has 3 additional pools that hotel guests can access. The hotel offers a short shuttle or water taxi ride to get over to the beach club. There are also additional restaurants there, a kids club, and beach access as well. I will warn you that the beach club gets extremely busy on the weekends. By mid-day on Saturday it is hard to find an open chair. Needless to say, service was hard to come by at that time as well. We would spend a week day playing at the beach and the pools at the beach club but most of the time we preferred to stay at the main resort.
Probably the kids favorite activity was the Flowrider. This was a surf simulator machine where they could do some bodyboarding. We paid a flat rate and the kids could go as many times as they wanted between a certain timeframe during the day. The line was never too long and they just did it over and over and over again.
Food
This is always a tricky situation. I prefer not to leave the resort so I always end up paying for it (literally). However, there are plenty of restaurant options in the area that would help cut costs. The restaurants onsite are mediocre. I was happy to find that all of them offered a kids menu. Even the fancy one at the top of the tower with the delightful views (Blue). I think the kids favorite was 501 East because they offered a kids steak or Lucca which had spaghetti and chocolate ice cream. Serendipity was a good place to pick up sandwiches, pastries, coffee, ice cream, and snacks.
I seem to have an affinity for breakfast buffets. We were in luck to find one here. As I walked around drooling in anticipation of the sugar overload I was about to indulge in I was stopped in my tracks when I saw what appeared to be raw fish. I realized this was unfortunately not my kind of breakfast buffet. However, my husband was happy as a clam enjoying some seaweed juices.
Summary
I am not sure why we enjoy this place so much. We are comfortable here. It has some historic charm that draws us in. There are not a million activities. We spend all day by the pool, go back to the room for some down time and then go to dinner. After dinner like to walk around the grounds and the harbor looking at the yachts as we eat some ice cream. Then we are usually ready to call it a night. It is always a fun relaxing trip that feels like a vacation….even with our circus!
However, I am pretty sure we won’t be allowed back after this stunt Bear pulled:
Checkout our most recent stay here!
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