what is the best area to stay in orlando! disney area or universal area?
i am going to florida with my wife and 2 children aged 8 and 5 and have found 2 great places to stay 1 in the disney area and 1 in the seaworld/universal area. we want to do all the parks and both locations are fine for this, but i just want to know which is the nicest area, and which has the most thing close by!!!
I can thoroughly recommend this villa http://www.hiremyfloridavilla.co.uk (it’s not mine!) £500 for 2 weeks and sleeps 8!
If you specifically want to use a Hotel I have used http://www.findorlandorooms.com several times, but you don’t get much in a hotel room and they are all the same. You will probably save the extra cost of the villa by being able to cook your own food rather than eat out all the time??
I would not be bothered as to where I stayed to be honest as you will probably have a car and will have to drive around a reasonable bit anyway. Free shuttle buses are offered by most hotels, but you do lose a bit of independence and you can’t leave ‘supplies’, particularly for the children, in the car!,
Advice for the cheapest tickets – trust me here and read on…
Most of the shopping malls and Hotel receptions run a time share visitation system where you can save HUNDREDS of $$’s on tickets for everything. You can do ones with different companies too! You get a free breakfast if you start at 7:15 ,a tour and chat for no more then 90 mins, get your tickets and go! I saved nearly $1000 in September
These ‘tours’ are tightly regulated in the US by FEDERAL law, so nothing like the Spanish horrors of years ago. Just say the maintenance charges are too high (which they are) and that will suffice.
Another scam if you are really tight is you will have to pay to park at all the attractions now (a rip off I know). If you get a Flex ticket you pay one parking for the day and go to any participating park for free, the same day! The tip here is that Wet n’ Wild offers the cheapest parking and is only half a mile from Universal! So, drive into Wet n’ wild, pay to park drive straight out again and down to universal, show them the ticket and get in without paying any more!
You WILL have fun, Orlando is THE place to go, I’ve been 7 times now!
I’d pick the Disney Area
kissimee best place cheaper and right smack in the middle of everything besides just disney there is a ton of dinner theaters and activities as well.
they arent very far apart. I think international drive is the most central point, but is a bit busy for me. so i would go for disney area. I would avoid the centre of orlando and kissimee though.
i would say the either area, im sure your hotel will do a bus service to all the parks.but after being to florida twice, we stayed on international drive which is better than staying near either area as there is loads of shops and places to eat down there, loads to do! and a shuttle bus that ran up and down it all day! Hope this helps!
Gaylord Palms if you can afford it. BEAUTIFUL!!
done both & found universal area better, got back to uk 12/12/07 had a great time again. hope you have fun
Days Inn Suites (It’s on Irlo Bronson Highway) It is about a mile from all the parks. I have stayed there 3 times and found it by accident. You get a 3 room suite with full kitchen for under $100 a night. The rooms are nice and they have 3 or 4 pools.
It is also right next door to a place called "Old town" which is an attraction with food, rides & games and they usually have a classic car show come through every weekend. It’s kinda nice to just be able to walk over there at night to give you something to do when you are done with the main parks.
Sea world is just a 5 – 10 minute drive from there also. I will not stay anywhere else when I go there.
Hope this helps
Kissimee is best as I live in Florida and by far the cheapest rates for motels. Even have parks besides ones you mentioned. Some of the larger motels have themed arcades and recreational activities indoors for foul weather. You can easily reach all destinations from here. Some of these hotels have shuttle buss to theme parks also, so leave your car at motel.
Stay in Kissimmee/International Drive area. Universal is (fantastic and) relatively compact – just one main multi-storey car part servers Studios and Islands of Adventure, and is only 5 mins drive from the International Drive (Wet ‘n’ Wild end).
Disney (also great) is very spread out – you either need to drive between parks or use Disney transportation, so you’ll probably drive a few miles for Disney anyway (all is well signposted).
It depends, are you hiring out a car? If you are then either but if not then Disney because there are more parks and you can get the Disney mono rails everywhere.
If it is possible for you, stay in one of the Disney hotels. They are expensive but your children will love it + you get to stay in the parks later at night. When its closed.
I went in October, stayed in The Grand Floridian. It was the best holiday ever. If you like Golf there is a Disney golf course right opposite the hotel.
I hope you have a fantastic time.
I think that universal being close to I drive and many shops is the better place to stay if you are doing both parks anyway. Its very vaste and you would benifit from a hire car but if you are not having one make sure the hotel offers free transfers to all parks. Mostly in disney they would drop you at say epcot and you would have to then use disney internal transport. Remember if you are driving you will need to pay parking at most parks.
The Disney area, hands down. Disney is all about family fun, you can’t go wrong with anything in or around Disney. My only question is, the "Disney area" place to stay you have found, is it a Disney resort or off site. If it is off site I would reconsider and choose one of the value or moderate resorts on Disney property. Disney has a resort to fit any budget plus two things that the off site hotels don’t; the famous Disney service and PERKS! Disney takes great care of their resort guests.
Just as an example, Disney offers Extra Magic Hours, where one park is open early and one late for resort guest only. They offer free shuttle service to and from Orlando Int’l airport, complete with luggage service. They will deliver your bags directly to your room. There is also the unlimited use of the Disney transportation system. Now, that does not seem like much at first, until you take into account that the off site resorts have limited shuttle service to and from the Disney parks, and in many cases it costs extra. Or you have to drive to the parks every day. That is tons of fun with two kids who are tired, or two parents that want to head back to the room for a midday break.
I hope this helps. If you want more info I suggest two places. First, go to the Disney website direct. They have a resort comparison tool you can use to choose the resort that is right for you. Second, check out the disboards. The disboards is a message board type website all about going to Disney, but there is also a section on what else is going on in Orlando, namely Sea World, Universal, and other attractions. On the disboards you can get opinions and advice, resort reviews, restaurant reviews, tips and tricks and much more. I put both links below.
Hope this helps, have a great trip!!
Probably the disney area, here a coule of links to hotels in the area too. http://orlando.nyctourist.com/orlando-hotels.php or http://www.123world.com/orlando/orlando-moderate-hotels.php good luck.
It depends on what you want. If you want to be closer to both, then stay near the northern end of Disney, because there are a lot of good resturaunts, plus Downtown Disney in the immediate area. If you want to be close to Disney but out of the way of the heaviest tourist traffic, stay on the US 192 end of Disney. If you want to be closer to Orlando itself, then Universal is your best bet, and there are plenty of attractions nearby. Shopping is good in all three locations, as is dining, with lots of fine resturaunts and outlet malls near each location.
I like the universal area. if im going for fun and attractions i book hotels on international drive theres a mall on that street, waterpark, universal is literally down the street, some other sidewalk attractions and stores. also florida mall and mall of milenia are close by too.
I would always stay in a villa rather than a hotel.
Check out http://www.homefromhomeflorida.com to see the sort of villa that is available.