The Best Stay-cation (or School-cation) at Margaritaville Lake Conroe!

This year is messy. And I’d like to make the most of it.

I don’t love the way work and school and life have been put on hold… but it does give my family the unique opportunity to try some new things.

Most school years we would be busy with school and sports and homework and have little time for anything else. This year, we can work and learn from anywhere… so we’re taking advantage of it.

And this is what led us to Margaritaville Lake Resort on Lake Conroe.

Our host, Margaritaville, is on 186 waterfront acres on the shores of Lake Conroe. It is a beautiful, family friendly resort with a three acre waterpark, boat rentals, restaurants, mini golf, tennis, pickleball, big fitness center, spa, golf course and 80 boat slips (for anyone bringing their own boat).

As you might expect from the name, everything about this resort will transport you to Key West… from the colors, to the music to the laid-back attitudes.

Right now, Margaritaville is sticking to capacity limitations, they are requiring masks, staff is not entering guest rooms during the stay and they have handwashing stations everywhere. And it just so happens we visited during a tropical storm, so we had the place to ourselves.

When we booked our trip, we knew we were gambling with the tropical storm… and the tropical storm ALMOST won. But there is no way Jimmy Buffett would let a little rain get him down.

We floated down the lazy river, played in the splashpads, raced down the slides and had the pools mostly to ourselves. We played minigolf, visited the restaurants, fitness center and arcade… and then retreated to our suite for school work and Mathnasium. Rain or no rain, Margaritaville certainly made our school day more exciting!

We did push out our boat rental out by a couple of weeks, so we get to go back and cruise Lake Conroe soon! (UPDATE: We went baaaaaack and it was awesome! Read about the pontoon boat rental HERE!)

If you are considering a visit the resort, here are some tips to help you plan your trip:

• Margaritaville is family friendly. The restaurants have kids meals and the resort has a lot of amenities and activities meant for families.
• The staff is very very friendly. We did not pass one employee that did not smile (under a mask) and speak to us.
• Margaritaville has 303 suites and 32 waterfront cottages. (There are no non-suite rooms.)
• The suites are in the tower and have a bedroom, living room and really nice bathroom. The suites have a minifridge and coffee maker (but no microwave). The cottages have a living room, bedroom, nice bathroom and kitchenette with minifridge, coffee maker and microwave. Some cottages have lofts with more beds.
• The suites are a little closer to the pools and most of the restaurants.
• The cottages give you your own little house… which is great for a noisy family like mine. The cottages also have their own assigned parking spot and boat slip, right outside (so you don’t haul everything up the elevators).
• The suites and the cottages have the same fixtures and furniture… so you’re not roughing it in either spot!
• Free self parking is available (as well as paid valet).
• You can read Margaritaville’s health and safety guide HERE.
• Some of the resort restaurants are open to the public, but everything else requires a guest wristband to access.
• The waterpark includes a lazy river (with tubes included), splash zone, two waterslides (with 48″ requirement), hot tub and one heated pool.
• Pool towels are provided.
• The resort will close the pools for very severe weather… but will stay open in the rain.
• There are no lifeguards on duty, except by the big slides.
• One pool is for adults-only. Everything else is open to all.
• In addition to the pools, there is a small beach with lake access.
• Weekends are the busiest time… so if you can do a weekday trip, you will probably have more space.
• The fitness center is really great. You know how some places call one broken elliptical machine a fitness center? Not Margaritaville. They have three studio rooms, free weights (dumbbells and Smith machine), resistance machines, lots of cardio equipment, spin room, racquetball courts and locker rooms.
• At the resort you can rent equipment for the lake. They have 22’ Tritoon boats, 19’ Runabouts, electric paddleboats, stand up paddleboards, kayaks, fishing poles and bait. The rain canceled our boating plans… but we’ll be back in a couple weeks to enjoy Lake Conroe!
• Check the Margaritaville website for discounts. They have some for Texas residents and a Work Here, Learn Here, Play Here, Save Here package.

Find more pictures below (and just imagine how it would be even more beautiful with some Texas sun)… and if you go to Margaritaville, tell us about it! 

See the video below (or HERE):