Live fire cooking, a revamped championship golf course, and a multi-week holiday market headline Grande Lakes Orlando's fall programming slate, positioning the 500-acre luxury resort as a year-end destination for both leisure guests and group business. The lineup spans September through December across the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes and JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes, with culinary experiences anchoring each activation.
September Dining Beats
The season opens with a pair of foodservice-forward events in September. Both Highball & Harvest and Primo are participating in Orlando's Magical Dining program, with a portion of proceeds directed to local philanthropic organizations. From September 21–27, Primo will host Negroni Week, pouring handcrafted cocktails in support of Slow Food's sustainability mission. Meanwhile, the Sun & Spritz Cabana operates throughout the month, drawing on the Italian aperitivo tradition for golden-hour service — a format that has grown steadily in popularity at upscale resort properties looking to extend beverage revenue beyond the dinner hour. For hospitality operators tracking beverage program trends, the aperitivo daypart represents an increasingly viable revenue layer between lunch and dinner service.
Fall Festival and the Live Fire Turn
The resort's Fall Festival on October 10–11 introduces a notable culinary addition: acclaimed chef Jack Arnold will headline an immersive outdoor live fire dinner on October 10, with a menu built around post oak smoked brisket, rosemary and charred citrus roasted chicken, poblano creamed corn, cornbread with on-property Whisper Creek Farm honey butter, and an interactive s'mores station. A new beer garden will also debut at the festival, which already draws guests with smoked turkey legs, loaded waffle fries, pumpkin decorating, falconry, and archery during the day before transitioning to live music and line dancing after dark. The farm-to-event sourcing model — leaning on Grande Lakes' own 18,000-square-foot on-property Whisper Creek Farm — reflects a broader hospitality industry push toward provenance-forward menus that resonate with today's experience-driven guests. This approach mirrors strategies that leading hotel restaurant operators have deployed to differentiate their food and beverage offerings from standalone competitors.
Holiday Season and Golf Reopening
Thanksgiving programming across Citron, Highball & Harvest, Primo, and Knife & Spoon includes holiday buffets featuring citrus brined roasted turkey, slow roasted prime rib with rosemary red wine jus, maple glazed Faroe Islands salmon, butternut squash ricotta ravioli, and herb stuffing sourced from Whisper Creek Farm. A seafood raw bar and an extensive dessert spread round out the offer. Pre-meal wellness programming — the Ritz-Carlton Gobbler 5K and a Master Yoga Class — gives the resort a full-day revenue and engagement structure around the holiday.
Beginning November 25, the Christmas Market and open-air ice skating rink return, bringing festive entertainment, fireside gatherings, gingerbread decorating, and Santa visits through the holiday season. The resort's Festive Escape Package bundles seasonal savings with on-property benefits for guests booking multi-night stays.
November also marks the reopening of the Greg Norman-designed championship golf course following an extensive renovation — a significant draw for group planners and golf-travel operators heading into Q4. The course hosts the PNC Championship in December, one of professional golf's most-watched family team tournaments, which amplifies the resort's visibility at a competitive point in the holiday booking calendar.
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.
