I know GUI is for the weak but unfortunately strictly using the terminal isn't an option for me. I have an instance of the Amazon Linux AMI and I have it all set up but I can't find a guide on how to get a GUI on Amazon and how to remote desktop/ VNC into it. I have seen stuff on how to do this for the Ubuntu instance but that is different from Amazon Linux AMI and I don't want to mess up my system or something like that.
So if anyone could point me to where I can find how to do this or tell me how I'd appreciate it
No, you can't. Amazon Linux does not have a Repo for X-server packages. Also, It was meant to be used for Server side roles and hence all he X related stuff is not available.
Consider using Ubuntu OR RHEL ami where you can configure X environment manually by following this and this.
You can set up VNC server for your EC2 Linux boxes. There are tutorials for ubuntu (xrdp) and RHEL (VNC server) in the following websites.
http://devopscube.com/setup-gui-for-amazon-ec2-linux/
http://www.comtechies.com/2013/02/how-to-set-up-gui-on-amazon-ec2-ubuntu.html
Hope it helps!
You can install a GUI just using one command
sudo amazon-linux-extras install mate-desktop1.x