Thanksgiving to New Year's in WaterColor: What Stays Open, What Closes, and What's Still on the Calendar

On Christmas Day, the WaterColor Beach Club grill, Costa Chica, the Tiki Bar and the Camp WaterColor Canteen are all closed. Fish Out of Water opens at 8 AM and serves until 10 PM. Thanksgiving follows a similar pattern. Most of WaterColor's beach-side food service closes or runs a limited menu, and the Gulf-front restaurant at WaterColor Inn opens hours earlier than its usual weekday start.

The resort's posted seasonal hours treat November 1, 2026 through January 1, 2027 as a single holiday season. On the holidays themselves, food and drink move from the Gulf side to the Inn's restaurant. Activities move to Marina Park and Cerulean Park, where the WaterColor Community Association runs most of the free events through December.

Who Is Open on the Holidays

Beach Cow closed for the season on October 25 and stays closed through the holidays. The other outlets stay open through November and December but close or shorten hours on the actual holidays:

Two other services run on a different schedule. WaterColor Beach Services keeps its 9 AM to 4 PM daily hours through the season, holidays included, and beach setups can be booked online. Gather Kitchen + Bar is open daily from 8 AM to 3 PM, holidays included. According to 30A.com's current WaterColor guide, Gather no longer serves the general public and is limited to WaterColor Inn guests and Watersound Club Lifestyle members. That makes Fish Out of Water the one restaurant in the Inn's Gulf-front footprint that will seat anyone on Thanksgiving or Christmas Day.

Fish Out of Water Opens at 8 AM on Holiday Dates

On a regular Monday through Thursday this season, Fish Out of Water opens at 3 PM. Friday through Sunday it opens at 11 AM, and every day it closes at 9 PM. Thanksgiving weekend, November 27 through 29, and the week of December 24 through January 1 run from 8 AM to 10 PM. Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24, is one of those days, so the restaurant opens seven hours earlier and closes an hour later than on a regular Thursday. Thanksgiving Day itself runs from 11 AM to 10 PM, four hours earlier than the Thursday baseline.

The menu changed this year too. In April 2026, Fish Out of Water introduced separate lunch and dinner menus built around Gulf seafood and Southern-inspired cooking. 30A.com credits the change to Director of Culinary Chef Louis Martorano and notes that the restaurant takes no reservations. The no-reservations policy also applies to Christmas Day Dinner, served December 25 from 5 to 9 PM with holiday dishes alongside the à la carte and kids' menus. With Christmas Day dinner served first come, first seated, timing your arrival is the only way to plan for it.

The WaterColor Package Store, on the restaurant's lower level, carries WaterColor-branded apparel, gifts, barware, spirits, wine and beer, including rare bottles and local labels.

November Moves to the Parks

The WaterColor Community Association's calendar for the rest of November centers on two places. Marina Park is at 238 WaterColor Blvd. W., and Cerulean Park is at 45 WaterColor Blvd. W.

• Fall Festival, Sunday, November 22, 1 to 4 PM at Marina Park.
• Thanksgiving Movie Night, Tuesday, November 24 at Marina Park. Check the start time on the association's calendar before heading over.

Thanksgiving Day and the three days after it are the most crowded stretch of the season, and food, exercise and the tree lighting each take a different part of the weekend:

1. Thursday, November 26. The WaterColor Lakehouse serves a Thanksgiving buffet from 10 AM to 3 PM. The price is $95++ per adult and $35++ per child ages 6 to 12, with children five and under free, and tax plus a 24% gratuity added. The Beach Club grill runs a limited menu from 11 AM to 5 PM, and its Thursday live music moves to Friday.
2. Friday, November 27, morning. Fish Out of Water hosts a Breakfast Buffet with Santa from 8 AM to noon. It costs $68++ per adult and $24++ per child ages 6 to 12, with children five and under free and the same tax and 24% gratuity added. The regular menu follows until 10 PM.
3. Friday, November 27, all day. The Beach Club's Burn Off the Turkey challenge starts with map pickup from 8 to 9 AM at the WaterColor Inn front desk or the Beach Club, with routes for biking and for walking or running. Participants track the route on their own app, with Strava recommended, and email a screenshot of the finished route to [email protected] by 2 PM. Prizes for the top run and bike results are announced by email at sunset.
4. Saturday, November 28, 3 to 9 PM. The Old Florida Holiday Winter Market fills Town Center and Cerulean Park with horse-drawn carriage rides, local artists and vendors, photos with Santa, and the lighting of the WaterColor Christmas tree. The WaterColor Community Association presents it, and the WaterColor Store stays open until 9 PM.

The tree lighting on Saturday falls on the same weekend that Fish Out of Water opens at 8 AM. The busiest restaurant hours and the busiest community event of the season both land in the three days after Thanksgiving.

December Gets Quieter Before the Last Week Fills Up

The first change in December is a closure. The retail area at the Camp WaterColor Canteen closes on December 1 and stays closed through February 28, 2027. The Canteen's food counter keeps its Wednesday through Sunday hours, from 11 AM until the Camp WaterColor gate closes. 30A.com describes Camp WaterColor as a private amenity for residents and eligible guests, not a public attraction.

The Reindeer Fun Run 5K starts at Marina Park on Saturday, December 19, from 8 to 10 AM.

The last week before Christmas is for shopping. The WaterColor Store and WaterColor Kids take 15% off storewide December 21 through 23 and 25% off on December 24, in store and online, with the discount applied automatically at checkout. The best discount comes on December 24, the same day most of the beach-side outlets close early.

From December 26 through January 1, hours run long again. The Beach Club grill extends to 9 PM, Costa Chica stays open until sunset, and Fish Out of Water keeps its 8 AM to 10 PM schedule. On Sunday, December 27, the resort's events calendar lists a bubble tasting with complimentary truffles, 25% off bottles of wine and champagne, and a set by Weston Hines from 3 to 6 PM.

Getting between Marina Park, Cerulean Park, the Inn and the Beach Club is free on the WaterColor Trolley. The on-demand service runs daily from 9 AM to 7 PM through the WC Trolley app, and its hours may change by season.

The holiday schedule ends on January 1. Winter hours begin January 2, and WaterColor Beach Services moves its daily closing time from 4 PM to 3 PM through February 24, 2027.

If you own in WaterColor and expect to host family here over the holidays, or are deciding what your home's December weeks are worth, Tom Fitzpatrick and The Fitzpatrick Group can walk you through it with the same local detail. Request a Complimentary Market Valuation.