Orlando World Center Marriott is converting its 2,010-room resort into a revenue-generating holiday destination for the 12 nights spanning Dec. 20 through Dec. 31, 2026, anchoring the activation on three separately ticketed dining events and a nightly outdoor village built around the Falls Pool area.
The Numbers
The property's signature restaurant, Latitude & Longitude, will host a Thanksgiving Day Buffet on Nov. 26 priced at $80 per adult and $32 per child ages 4 to 12, a Christmas Day Brunch Buffet on Dec. 25 at $55 per adult and $20 per child, and a New Year's Eve Buffet on Dec. 31 priced at $80 per adult and $32 per child. Children ages 3 and under dine free at all three events. Reservations open immediately through OpenTable. The multi-event dining calendar is a direct play for incremental food-and-beverage revenue from the resort's captive holiday guests, a segment that large convention hotels have increasingly prioritized as group-meeting calendars compress around year-end.
Menu & Culinary Positioning
Each buffet carries a locally and seasonally framed menu developed by the resort's culinary team. The Thanksgiving spread features a Crown Roast of Turkey, mustard-rubbed ham, and whole roasted Mahi Mahi — a nod to Florida's coastal sourcing. The Christmas brunch offers custom omelet and waffle stations alongside coffee-crusted beef tenderloin. New Year's Eve scales up protein intensity with smoked prime rib, rack of lamb, lobster-crusted grouper, and a premium sushi selection — a menu architecture typical of high-check NYE covers at full-service resort properties. The resort's pastry team will operate Mrs. Sugarplum's Sweets, a dedicated chalet in the outdoor Winter Wonderland Village running 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. nightly, offering hand-crafted seasonal confections. A dedicated bar chalet, Mingo's Ice Bar, will serve specialty signature cocktails and mocktails during the same window, adding a second F&B revenue layer to the evening programming.
Why It Matters for Operators
The Twelve Nights of Wonder model is instructive for full-service hotel and resort operators weighing how to monetize the holiday shoulder period between Christmas and New Year's, a stretch that typically sees leisure demand spike but conference-driven F&B revenue fall away. By tiering cover prices across three distinct meal occasions — a family-focused brunch at $55, flanked by two $80 dinner-format events — Latitude & Longitude can capture different guest segments without cannibalizing the same check pool. The outdoor village concept, which adds a new carousel this year, functions as a dwell-time extender that keeps guests on property and in proximity to additional F&B touchpoints, a strategy covered in depth in F&B Industry News's analysis of resort dining programming trends and holiday F&B revenue strategies.
Robert Bray, general manager of Orlando World Center Marriott, said the team first built the immersive holiday program several years ago and has continued expanding it. "By combining Orlando's sunshine with classic winter charm, we look forward to helping our guests build lasting traditions and celebrate the season together," Bray said. The property is owned by Host Hotels & Resorts and sits on more than 200 acres roughly 1.5 miles from Walt Disney World, a competitive positioning that places it directly in the orbit of families already committing multi-night leisure spend to the region.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
