We are going to Orlando in a few months. I wanted to know if you can recommend a good place to stay, we have teenaged boys if that makes a difference. There are so many places!! We also have considered a lake resort which would give lake activities as well, but haven't found anything as of yet. What advice can you offer? We would like something close to Disney if possible.
We were just there (visiting DW) in early June. We stayed at the Residence Inn. It was wonderful, close to DW and had a phenominal free breakfast every morning.
We were in Orlando this past June. We stayed at a superb place called Orange Lake.
Try this place, we stayed here a few years back, your kids will love it:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g34515-d144437-Re...
we spent a week in a private home with a heated pool and game room about 10 miles from disney and a week in the hawthorne suites on international drive. what month are you going?
if not at a peak time, both these locations were about 10 minutes from disney. there were specials, including 40 per night on I drive.
we found restaurants on exit 68 off I4 and ate outside the park usually.
We stayed at the Ginn Reunion Resort. It was soo nice.
We stay at Liki Tiki Village Resorts every time. They are condos. They have a small putt putt golf, paddle boats, 3 pools (one of which has slides, water volleyball games, and a restaurant). It sits just behind the Disney complex so it took about 10 minutes (if that!) to get to Disney's parks.
It's also close to Universal Studios, SeaWorld and about a 1 1/2 hour drive to a coastal shoreline if you're wanting to hit the beach for a day. We rented a car and drove to St. Petersburg's beaches.
We rented a house through www.vrbo.com & loved it. We've done this a few different times. The costs are generally a bit lower because you're renting directly from the owners. There will be pictures on the site as well as a place for people to rate & leave comments who've stayed there previously. You can also haggle a bit with the owners if you are so inclined.
The reason we went this route instead of a hotel is because it was my parents, my sister, BIL, nephew, my husband, our 2 kids & me. It made the most sense to rent a 5 bedroom place so that we could split the costs, have our own pool, our own game room, our own fully stocked kitchen, gas grill, etc. to simplify breakfasts, and hang out time. It also worked well because the kids were all fairly small at the time so once they were in bed all the adults could hang out without having to figure out whose hotel room to go to!
We just got back and we stayed at Westgate Lake Resort and Spa - many pools, game room, spa for mom :), full kitchen and laundry - it is like renting an apartment they have 2,3 & 4 bedrooms.
We normally stay at the Marriott World Center and stay in the Time Shares so we get the multiple bedrooms, full kitchen, 2 bathrooms, etc. We are supposed to be going in September (waiting on job info for my husband and I) but we have already paid for a week at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek - it has a lazy river! It is also the time share thing where it's got bedrooms, kitchen, etc.
