As the world reopens and humankind begins to return to some semblance of normalcy following nearly three years in limbo due to the Covid-19 pandemic, travel seems to be on everyone’s mind. Turn on the news these days and you’ll invariably catch reports of crowded airports, overbooked flights and unexpected delays as people rush to embark upon long overdue holidays. Not ready to deal with the very real headaches 2022 travel brings? Head over to Peacock, where you can virtually vacation via the streamer’s new original series “The Resort.” As the name suggests, the time-bending mystery/comedy is set at a tropical destination, against the picturesque backdrop of not one but two dreamy hotels, and is sure to satiate even the most discerning viewers’ cinematic wanderlust!
While purported to take place just outside Cancun, Mexico, the two lodgings that figure at the show’s center can actually be found about 2,100 miles east in Puerto Rico. Standing in for the doomed Oceana Vista, where two young tourists go missing in 2007 hours before a hurricane strikes, is The Ritz-Carlton, San Juan, which, sadly, isn’t currently open to the public. The five-star lodging was ravaged by Hurricane María in 2017 and has been shuttered ever since.
But fans can check out – and check into – the Dorado Beach Resort & Club, the spot that plays the Bahía del Paraíso (translation – Paradise Bay), where Noah (William Jackson Harper) and Emma Reed (Cristin Milioti) head for a weeklong, all-inclusive getaway to celebrate their 10th anniversary in the present-day portion of the storyline. Spanning a stunning 1,900 acres, the exclusive master-planned community/resort/golf club sits nestled against the sands of East and West Beach at 500 Plantation Dr. in Dorado, about 15 miles west of San Juan.
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Image Credit: Peacock The history of the Dorado Beach Resort dates back to 1905 when New York physician Dr. Alfred Livingston purchased an undeveloped coastal plot measuring 1,700 acres, built a large residence there and began cultivating and exporting coconuts and citrus fruit on the premises. The enterprise grew quickly. Per the arte_FITS Foundation, “For years, Livingston’s effect on the economic aspect of the town revolved around his hacienda,” with the doctor “providing housing for all his workers and their families,” as well as setting up a complimentary medical facility and the first local school for area denizens.
When Alfred passed away in 1923, his daughter, Clara, a licensed pilot, acquired the expansive site. She constructed a house of her own on the vast acreage (it still stands today) and continued to operate the farm through the 1950s before eventually selling to Laurance Rockefeller, the only son of financier John D. Rockefeller Jr., who proceeded to build an ecologically-conscious resort on the premises. The first of its kind in the area, Laurance hoped the 136-room lodging would “capitalize on the frontiers of natural beauty, making sure never to damage them” as well as serve as an “agreement between man and nature.”
Completed at a cost of $10 million, the Dorado Beach Hotel celebrated its grand opening on December 1, 1958, with many of Rockefeller’s famous friends in attendance. It quickly became a haven for the movers and shakers of the day, with the likes of Joan Crawford, Ava Gardner, Joe DiMaggio and John F. Kennedy all welcomed onto its lush grounds.
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Image Credit: Peacock The resort has grown substantially in the years since and currently comprises a massive 1,900 acres loaded with four championship golf courses, several housing communities, numerous restaurants and pools, a clubhouse, a fitness center, eleven miles of nature trails, five tennis courts, a basketball court, a volleyball court, two miles of beaches, a five-acre spa, a water park and a fitness/wellness center.
The site also boasts two luxe hotels – the Plantation Resort Residences and Dorado Beach, A Ritz-Carlton Reserve, the former consisting of three and four-bedroom condos complete with full kitchens, dining areas and livings rooms, and the latter largely considered one of the finest Ritz properties in the company’s portfolio.
Offering amenities and activities galore, as well as countless spots to sit and do absolutely nothing, the Dorado Beach Resort and Club represents the best of both vacation worlds, as is depicted onscreen in “The Resort.”
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Image Credit: Peacock Virtually all of the scenes involving the Bahía del Paraíso were captured at The Watermill, the Dorado’s staggeringly large “aquatic playground.” Built at a cost of $12 million, the massive water park encompasses several pools, two 30-foot waterslides, a lazy river, a wave machine and a bar and grill. Designed to resemble a traditional Puerto Rican sugar mill, the site boasts a strikingly cinematic urban design vaguely reminiscent of Seattle’s Gas Works Park, complete with crumbling cement walls, a massive wooden watermill and an above-ground concrete cistern.
It is in front of The Watermill’s main pool that Emma and Noah pose for a commemorative photo upon first arriving at their hotel at the beginning of episode one. Though the towering Bahía del Paraíso sign visible in the scene perfectly complements the park’s uniquely modern aesthetic, it is not a real element of the Dorado but a prop brought in by production designer Bret August Tanzer and set decorator Jenn McLaren strictly for the filming.
Only accessible to Dorado Beach Resort residents, guests and club members, The Watermill also operates as a special event/wedding venue for soirees with up to 500 patrons.
Additional “Resort” scenes were also captured on the Dorado Beach Resort’s expansive tree-lined driveway, in front of the Clubhouse and at Barlovento Beach Bar & Grill, the onsite Caribbean restaurant that overlooks East Beach.
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Image Credit: Peacock Emma and Noah’s double queen room, however, cannot be found on the premises. To create that space, Tanzer, McLaren and their teams refashioned a suite at the Fairmont El San Juan Hotel, an upscale resort situated just steps away from Oceana Vista stand-in The Ritz-Carlton, San Juan. To accomplish the redesign, new artwork and furnishings were brought in, the mirrored headboards were covered with fabric and canopies were draped over the beds. The result is a truly inviting retreat accented with tropical blues. As Noah espouses when he first sets foot in the space, “There are few greater pleasures in life than a good hotel bed.” The Fairmont, San Juan teamed with Tanzer and McLean certainly deliver on that front!