Orlando Hotels?

Question

Can anyone help, i am looking to take my daughter to Orlando in late April. I have looked at various Hotels close to WDW but the reviews are a little varied, can anyone offer any first hand experiences. Thanks

Answer 1

I agree with ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


If you plan to spend a lot of time at Disney, it is well worth staying onsite. You have so many benefits of staying onsite, plus you get Disney's great service, clean rooms, all the extra benefits, transportation, etc. You are going to spend about the same price to stay at Disney as you would for a somewhat nice hotel offsite, but you won't have all the benefits.

Here are some of the benefits of staying onsite:

1). Better transportation- Especially if you are travelling with younger kids or older adults that need to rest in the middle of the day. Many offsite hotels, if they offer a shuttle (if they don't that is an additional cost you will have to pay) only run in the morning and in evening. You usually need to schedule the shuttle, etc. It can also be a long ride and take away a good portion of your time at the park. Onsite transportation is fast and easy, and it runs all day. Depending on where you would stay you have different transportation options, all resorts offer buses, some of them offer boat transportation and three offer a monorail for transportation.

2). You can take advantage of the Disney dining plan. This plan can save you 40% off of your food and you get to eat at the nicer restaurants that you may not eat at otherwise. It is a great deal.

3). I'm not sure when you are going, but Disney offers promotions for just about every date of the year. Unless you are going in the next few weeks, you should still be able to get a promotion for your dates. Currently they are offering free ticket upgrades, but they often offer free dining, especially during value season. So if you add up the saving there, you will more than likely be spending less, or possibly a little more than an offsite hotel, but you get all of the extra benefits and probably a lot more included.

4) The Disney touch- When you stay at Disney you know you are going to be staying at a nice place. I've gone past some of hotels that offer lower rates, and in some cases the same rates as Disney's hotels, and I think I would be afraid to go inside. Most of them aren't very clean, they can be a few miles away, etc. Also, you get the Disney service. If there is a problem, Disney will go above and beyond to try and fix the problem and do everything they can to make up for it. Even in cases where it isn't even their problem, they try their best to compensate in some way.

5). You can charge purchases to a room card so you don't have to bring your credit cards and cash with you everywhere you go.

6). Parking is free at your resort and you will also get free parking for the theme parks and some of the other places on property.

7). You packages can be delivered to your room. I know this doesn't sound like much now. But when you are in the parks, it is hot, you've been there all day, your tired and you have a ton of purchases to carry around, put on the bus, take back to the room (especially if you have kids that have purchases and/or diaper bags, strollers, etc.) it is nice to be able to make your purchase and then let Disney deliver it to your room.

8). Disney also offers Magical Express. Now, this isn't the best service and it does have some room for improvement, but it is also free. So that is another $100 or so dollars that you can save just for your transfer to and from the airport.

These are just a few of the benefits. I think that if you actually figure out your costs, everything that is included, etc. you will probably find that an offsite hotel actually ends up being more and you don't get all of the benefits. Most people think they are saving a ton of money by staying offsite, but they don't figure in the costs for everything else, or consider other benefits. After everything is said and done, I can almost guarentee you can save money by staying onsite, and you know you have a good room and things like that.



The problem with offsite is that you really don't know what you are getting into until you get there. With Disney hotels, you know they are going to be a good quality hotel. Reviews can be very hard to go by, a nice hotel may get a lot of bad reviews, but a bad hotel may get good reviews, it all depends who stays there, how they review it and what their experience was. Sometimes, no matter what the hotel does, one little thing can turn a review into a really bad one.

The best thing to do is go to a site like Trip Advisor, they are pretty good for reviews and find some of the better ones in Orlando. Also, look for higher star resorts in books from places like AAA. Even the Disney good neighbor resorts are not all fantastic, so be sure to do your research first if you stay offsite.


Hope this helps!

Answer 2

I have been to Disney many times in the last few years with my two kids and have stayed at different hotels. Last year when we traveled to Orlando we stayed at the Dixies Landings Resort-French Quarter which is on Disney property. The benefits of this were that we could take the free shuttle to and from the parks, we were in a very safe, controlled area and we were given wristbands to stay in the park extra hours due to the fact that we had stayed onsite at a Disney hotel. This was a big benefit for the kids because they were able to have complete access to most of the rides without waiting. At most Disney hotels they also have restaurants on the premises in the event that you don't want to travel off site for food. This was a moderate hotel, not elaborate or fancy. It was moderately priced as well. Although I have not stayed at the Wilderness Lodge I have a close friend who gives it five stars and I plan to stay there on my next trip.

Answer 3

If you plan on doing a primarily Disney trip, I suggest staying at one of the Disney owned resorts...they are clean, safe, offer free transportation to all the Disney theme parks, water parks, downtown disney and it is just worth it convenience-wise. If you are planning to do other things in the Orlando area my second choice option that I would do is try to find out what hotel benefits you - for example which one has amenities you need/want or which one may offer you free transportation or even which might offer frequent flier miles with an airline if you stay there...

Answer 4

Absolutely! I recommend the following 3 nearby hotels:

1. Best Western Lakeside - located in Kissimmee off Hwy 192. This resort is only 3 minutes from Animal Kingdom and they have decent rooms, 3 pretty pools, a good buffet style restaurant, bar & grill, arcade, min. golf course, etc... Rooms start at $59 a night in the off peak season.
http://www.bestwesternlakeside.com/

2. Lake Suites - also in Kissimmee off Hwy 192. This resort has rooms which are condo style to accomodate larger parties. They also come complete with a full kitchen! They offer complimentary shuttle service to all Disney parks, Universal and Sea World which leave every 30 minutes. Rooms start around $69 a night on up.
http://lakesuiteshotel.net/

3. Sheraton Safari Resort: Located on Apolpka Vineland Rd. in Lake Buena Vista - just across from Downtown Disney. This is a very nice hotel with free shuttle service. The pool is gorgeous and kids love the jungle theme!
http://www.sheratonsafari.com/

If you would like help planning for your next trip or if you would just like to read up on some fun tips and money-saving ideas that are updated monthly, visit my official website Easy Breezy Planning at: www.easybreezyplanning.com
Or feel free to check out our myspace page as well at: http://www.myspace.com/disneymickeyvacation

Have a great time!

Answer 5

If you are interested in Disney I recommend you consider planning a Disney Vacation. Disney offers a great variety of resorts all with different unique themes, locations, and price ranges. Staying on-site at Disney also gives you many excellent benefits and amenities such as free transportation to all the parks and resorts, free transportation and luggage valet services to and from the airport just to name a few. I recommend you take browse through the official Walt Disney World website, here is a direct link:
http://www.disneyworld.com

If your instead interested in primarily in all of Orlando then here is a link to the Orlando Visitors Bureau website which is filled with tons of great information on Orlando:
http://www.orlandoinfo.com

Have Fun!

Answer 6

If you are not worried about price then stay at the Marriott at the entrance to disneyworld or the Radisson, these hotels are very nice and extravagant, if you are looking to stay at a hotel that your daughter will love then stay at one of the hotels on site at Disney, they have amazing water slides and themed rooms. The Radisson and Marriott have amazing reviews and so do the hotels at Disney.

Enjoy and have fun on your vacation.

Answer 7

The Hilton is valuable. Theres one on Disney belongings and that's somewhat huge. that's have been given a gaggle of eating places on the backside floor too. it certainly relies upon on what an prolonged time those human beings on your group are and the place you propose on going. purely google orlando motels. seek ORBITZ and Travelocity. they have great costs!

Answer 8

We love Disney and have been there many times. I generally book on vacationpapa.com. Helps me find the best hotels near disney, universal and other attractions.

http://www.vacationpapa.com/theme/disney-orlando.jsp