Gaylord Palms Resort Atrium (Everglades, Key West and St. Augustine)

The Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center opened on 2 February 2002 in Kissimmee, Florida; Wikipedia credits its architecture to Hnedak Bobo Group. The hotel was to be called Opryland Hotel Florida: when Gaylord Entertainment rebranded its hotel division as Gaylord Hotels on 26 October 2001, the Gaylord Palms name was given to it. Owned by Ryman Hospitality Properties, formerly Gaylord Entertainment, and operated by Marriott, it belongs to a series of convention hotels built around covered gardens, among them Gaylord Opryland in Nashville and Gaylord Texan in Grapevine. Wikipedia describes it as the de facto convention centre of Osceola County.

The dated landmarks concern the hotel: a 158-million-dollar expansion in 2021, which added more than 100,000 square feet of convention space and 306 rooms and suites according to the hotel's release, then, in 2025, a 134-million-dollar renovation of the main lobby, 1,418 rooms and two restaurants. Each winter the hotel runs a Christmas programme, including the ICE attraction held at 9 °F (about −13 °C).

The hotel is built around a glass-covered atrium of 4.6 acres according to Wikipedia, 4.5 acres according to the hotel group, divided into several quarters. St. Augustine, with a Spanish colonial theme, holds a replica of the Castillo de San Marcos, a wedding gazebo and an alligator habitat. Key West, inspired by Mallory Square, is organised around a 161,000-gallon lagoon where a 65-foot sailboat is moored, designed around a seafood restaurant. The Everglades, themed on the "river of grass", have a wooden walkway and cypress vegetation. Balcony rooms overlook this central void, where the temperature stays at 72 °F (about 22 °C) all year.

The cover is glazed: the Commons photograph "Gaylord-palms-2" shows a steel frame with many nodes carrying glazing above a palm garden. Satellite imagery shows a large octagonal glass roof with radiating ribs at the centre, with two smaller glass roofs to the north and south; OpenStreetMap maps those roofs as "Everglades" and "Key West", about 2,100 m² each. In the evening, LED light curtains hung from the atrium ceiling run a show of light and music.

The hotel announces more than 500,000 plants, trees and flowers in the atrium, set off by waterfalls and streams; a family guide mentions cypress in the Everglades. Commons photographs also show an orchid and leaves their author titles "BetelLeaf" (betel). In spring the "Once Upon a Spring" event puts the blooms in the atrium forward.

Gator Springs, in St. Augustine, holds alligators and turtles; in the Everglades, young alligators live in a glass enclosure, with non-venomous snakes; the 161,000-gallon Key West lagoon holds tarpon, snook and redfish, and, according to a 2026 family guide, rays. One family guide counts about twenty alligators, shown in partnership with Wild Florida. The hotel offers its guests free wildlife encounters that include feedings of alligators, young alligators and fish.

The lobby opens straight onto the atrium, which guests cross to reach rooms, restaurants and shops. The hotel is a private property in operation and sells no separate ticket for the atrium. A family guide (April 2026) says non-guests can reach the lobby, the restaurants and part of the atrium, that activities such as feedings are designed for guests, and that parking, charged per entry to day guests according to the hotel, weighs on the visit. Check with the hotel about the rules for non-guests.

A light show animates the atrium every evening, and from mid-November to early January the ICE attraction is sold separately. The Disney parks are, according to the same guide, ten to fifteen minutes away by road.