Has anyone been to the Gaylord Texan Resort in Dallas?

[Pooh_Friend#1]

My SO won a sales contest at work and his company is flying us out to Dallas, TX to stay at the Gaylord Texan. The resort looks beautiful and we were wondering what we should do while we are out there. Any ideas on what we should do and what are the not miss things to do out there. We will be arriving March 2nd and staying through the weekend.

 

[3princesses4us]

I used to live in a suburb of Dallas. There are some fantastic malls out there!
Some fun things to do: Go to the Galleria Mall (you can ice skate there too)
Weather permitting, the Ft. Worth Zoo is one of the
best!
Go to the West End (Downtown Dallas) at night-
shops & restaurants & clubs stay open late.
The Ft. Worth Stockyards are interesting to see
once and if you like Mexican food, go to Joe T.
Garcia's while in Ft. Worth!
For a really cheesy experience, you can tour the
real Ewing house from the TV show "Dallas".
Other great malls in the area are in Frisco &
Grapevine. I think Grapevine even has a Rainforest
Cafe if you like that WDW restaurant...
North of Dallas, the town of Allen has a pretty good
outlet mall.
That's all I can think of for now. You'll love it there. It's a great place to visit. We go several times a year.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

If you head to Frisco you can shop at Stonebriar Mall, tons of shops surrounding the mall, as well as the new IKEA store, if you are into that.

Gaylord is really in Grapevine, not really Dallas. It is a beautiful place.
It is near Grapevine Mall (outlet mall) and Bass Pro Shops. The mall has the "Rainforest Cafe" (I personally do not care for it.)
There is a area near there where there are some little shops in "Historic Grapevine". Not really large amt of shops, but interesting.

I am a recent transplant so I don't know too much. I know Dallas is known for restaurants and shopping.
The JFK museum is something worth seeing once if you are interested. It is sad, but a piece of history.

 

[Ava83]

The second is when my DH leaves the Gaylord! He will be there next week for his national sales meeting! Its his second time out there. He likes the hotel, says it very nice, really enjoyed his stay.

He did complain about the walking involved with the meeting set up but It does not sound like you will be doing that!

Enjoy your stay there.

 

[missypie]

I live in Grapevine. I still haven't decided if the Gaylord is enormously cool or enormously tacky.

Take some time to walk around the place. There is a lot to see.
They have a spa. Make an appointment for some cool treatment. Sit by the roaring fire in the lobby and read a magazine.
There is an indoor pool and an outdoor pool. You'll probably need to stick with the indoor pool.

Very near the Gaylord is Grapevine Mills Mall. It is sort of an outlet mall (some stores are, some aren't.) They do have outlet stores for Abercrombie, Gap, Chicos, Ann Taylor, etc. There is a Virgin Megastore. There is a Rainforest Cafe if you're interested.

Next to Grapevine Mills is the Bass Pro shop. The decor is pretty over the top. The restaurant that is connected is not so good, but I've heard that the microbrew beer is good.

Historic Downtown Grapevine is cute...worth taking a few hours to walk up and down the streets. If the weather is nice, sit outside at a school desk and have a terrific sandwich at Nero's Heros, on the corner of Main and Northwest Highway. If you want a nice dinner at a locally owned restaurant, try Cafe Italia, just a little further down on Northwest Highway. Call and reserve in advance for Saturday night. If you want expensive steak, try Silver Fox in Grapevine.

If you're just in town for a weekend, I think you could stay plenty busy just enjoying the Gaylord, shopping at Grapevine Mills and Bass Pro and exploring downtown Grapevine.

If you want "upscale" shopping, don't go all the way to Frisco...head to Southlake Town Center, which is close and cuter. If you're there, don't miss Milwaukee Joe's for ice cream.

If you need more restaurant recommendations, let me know.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

If you want "upscale" shopping, don't go all the way to Frisco...head to Southlake Town Center, which is close and cuter. If you're there, don't miss Milwaukee Joe's for ice cream.

Cool, I will have to check it out!

 

[m&m's mom]

We have had DIS Meets there before. A lot of fun!
Beautiful hotel. You could be happy never leaving the grounds over a weekend.
I live pretty close to the Gaylord and it is on a pretty lake and very close to a Bass Pro Shop.
Have fun!

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Great ideas, I really appreciate them. To get to the outlet mall in grapevine, can you walk or do you have to drive?

 

[malibuconlee]

If you like country music you could drive into Ft. Worth and go to Billybob's

3 George Thorogood & The Destroyers $25 $11
4 Sammy Kershaw $14 $9

The first price is for reserved, the latter for general admission

You could also go to Cowboy's Red River in Dallas. I miss going there and dancing. I could sit all night and watch people dance.

Further away is Pocket Sandwich Theater. Pocket Sandwich Theater

It's a fun little hole in the wall place with some nutty shows, simple food, amd decent sangria.

If I remember right they have an ice rink at Grapevine Mills. You could check into open skating there.

Want to take a train ride? You can catch the Tarantula Train in Grapevine and ride it into the Ft. Worth Stockyards. Have lunch and a look around, then ride it back. We did that several years ago with DH's parents. My FIL is a train buff.

Have a fun trip!!

 

[dngrmys]

I live in Grapevine as well. Spend an afternoon walking down Main Street. There is a great French Bakery to stop and get something to eat.

There is always Grapevine Mills Mall, nothing great, but it's close. I would 2nd the recommendation for the Southlake Town Center (Square) It's about 10 minutes away and has a bunch of nice shops.

Have fun!

 

[arminnie]

We stayed at the Gaylord Palms at Christmas. We have relatives in Flower Mound. Me, my dad and my sister in two adjoining rooms. The place is kind of "over the top" with Texana, but it is interesting.

Pay attention to the stuff in the lobby and ask someone to explain what the different things represent - everything from the Alamo to San Jacinto Monument.

Our room with 2 beds was pretty cramped. Dad's room with the king bed had room for a nice leather chair and ottoman which was great for him. We were in the Lone Star section on the 6th floor looking out over the atrium. Great view.

At this hotel it is usually better to have a room overlooking the atrium than outside the hotel.

One of my complaints at Christmas was that there were SO MANY people that you could barely get through the lobby, but that was because of everyone coming to see the Christmas lights.

Be prepared to walk a lot. This was a little bit of a problem with my 85 year old dad, but we were able to borrow a wheelchair when he ran out of steam one day.

There are some fabulous museums in downtown Dallas and Fort Worth.

I lived in Dallas (Park Cities area) for several years.

 

[TxJasmine]

If you have time and want to do some sightseeing - then I highly recommend going to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Ft. Worth. It's one of the only 2 places in the country where paper money is made. They have excellent free tours on weekdays. You will also get to see the new $10 bill which is very colorful.

Ft. Worth also has the Stockyards, the zoo, and the Kimball and Amon Carter art museums which are both excellent. If you go to the Stockyards then you must eat at Joe T. Garcia's which has the best Mexican food anywhere.

Downtown Grapevine is very nice and has a lot of history. Southlake Town Square is an upscale shopping area, but it's also very nice for walking around. I agree with the other poster who said to eat ice cream at Milwaukee Joe's. They have the best!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Bureau of Engraving is going on our "Spring Break" list! Thank You!!!

 

[dhcoffey]

My aunt and uncle live in Grapevine and we were actually out there this past October and had a great time. We did many of the things listed above and my DH loved going to the Bass Pro Shop. You'll have a great time, I'm sure.

 

[TxJasmine]

Here's the website for the Bureau of Engraving -

http://www.moneyfactory.gov/locations/section.cfm/25

It's a great tour and very interesting. Kids love it!

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

My SO would LOVE to go to the Bureau of Engraving, I'm sure of it!!!

How about the nightlife? My SO is not into clubbing, but we love a good bar to hang out at.

 

[malibuconlee]

My SO would LOVE to go to the Bureau of Engraving, I'm sure of it!!!

How about the nightlife? My SO is not into clubbing, but we love a good bar to hang out at.

I'm not familiar with bars in that area, but if you'll see my earlier post I wrote about Billy Bob's and Cowboys Red River. THey are "clubs", but if you've never seen couples country dancing, it's so neat to watch.

It's quite a hike, and I'm not sure how much a cab would be to get back there after a night at a bar, but Deep Ellum has a lot of bars. I'm not getting the pages to load right now, but do a google search and you'll get a few hits about the area. It's just out of downtown Dallas.

Look up Dick's Last Resort in Downtown Dallas. It's a restaurant/bar and it's a funny place where they'll give you all kinds of heck. I only went once, but had a good time. They have a website too if I remember right.

If you've never been, I think you'll be surprised about how spread out the DFW area is. I really do miss it sometimes.

 

[jajuan]

Grapevine Mills may not seem all that great to those of us that live here...but I remember enjoying my first few trips. Now, I just take it for granted.

For fun nightlife without dancing, you can try Pete's piano bar. There is one in Addison (near Dallas) and one in Ft Worth near Sundance Square. Both are really great. The Ft Worth one seems to host a little older croud, but I enjoy either.

I agree about Joe T Garcias. I would go on a nice evening so you can sit outside. It is beautiful. Beware that they only take cash or checks.

I agree about Southlake as well. A nice area to walk around and shop.

I believe the Gaylord has a shuttle to Grapevine Mills and Main Street in Grapevine as well. Have fun...the hotel is beautiful. The tapas restaurant there is wonderful but very pricey.

 

[karenTX]

If you go to the Stockyards then you must eat at Joe T. Garcia's which has the best Mexican food anywhere.

Downtown Grapevine is very nice and has a lot of history. Southlake Town Square is an upscale shopping area, but it's also very nice for walking around. I agree with the other poster who said to eat ice cream at Milwaukee Joe's. They have the best!

Just know that Joe T's has the best margaritas but they take CASH ONLY!!!!

Also, there's another great Italian place on Grapevine's Main St. called Napoli's. Very yummy!