Hotwire Hotel: Honeymoon in Orlando - where to stay

[estella85]

Hi,

 

Orlando will be our first stop for our honeymoon trip and we are planning to visit disney and universal during our stay. Does tourist generally change hotel if visiting both theme parks? Disney hotel is a must on those days where we are heading disney. If traveling from disney hotel to universal studios is too far or inconvenient, then we are open to switch hotel after our stay at a disney hotel. 

 

Here's our current plans:

 

28Sep - Evening arrive MCO

29Sep - Disney theme park

30Sep - Disney theme park

01Oct  - Universal studios

02Oct  - Universal studios

03Oct  - Premium outlet/shopping

04Oct  - Premium outlet/shopping

05Oct  - Morning flight to NYC

 

location is quite important to us and we prefer somewhere that's accessible. Hotel rating with 4* will be good. Our budget is around USD150 with taxes. Any tips and recommendation please?

 

Thanks! :) 

[thereuare]

I assume you will rent a car? If so, you can easily stay in one location and visit both parks.

I would recommend breaking up your park days with shopping, such as:

Disney

Universal

Shopping

Disney

Shopping

Universal

Shopping

or if you must be at Disney the first two days then something like:

Disney

Disney

Shopping

Universal

Shopping

Universal

Ideally you want to get to the parks early (and stay late) and back-to-back days can be exhausting.

As for your hotel stay in this area, HOTWIRE has what appears to be the Caribe Royale Resorts Suites and Villa for $77/nite and gets good reviews... would this work for your needs?

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[estella85]

is it advisable to rent a car there since some of the hotels offer shuttle service to the theme parks. we are considering renting a car for the shopping trips. Yes you are right about back-to-back trip to the parks which didnt come across our mind. We will be so exhausted after flying for more than 24 hours to Orlando right after our wedding with the jet lags. lol.. Our original plan is to visit the parks during weekdays to avoid the crowds during weekends.

 

I might consider this sequence then:

 

Disney
Disney
Shopping
Universal
Universal 

Shopping

 

Caribe Royale Resorts Suites and Villa looks not bad. Is the price $77/night subject to the hotel fee of $19.95/night? Besides this, any chance of getting a deal at disney resorts? 

 

Thanks!

[thereuare]

I would recommend renting a car as rates in Orlando are usually cheap, likely cheaper renting from the airport, you'll benefit from one week pricing, it will allow you to come/go on your own schedule, you won't need to stop at multiple hotels via the Shuttle (which can take awhile), and you'll save the expensive of a taxi to/from the airport (which i'm guessing would somewhere near $50-$60 each way). Having a car does often bring additional expense such as parking at the parks (and/or at the hotel if the hotel charges for parking), but when looking at total costs (including taxi if getting to/from the airport, more (and less expensive) dining options then only eating meals at your hotel, etc, etc. it's usually not that much more expensive and gives you added convenience/flexibility)

If the hotel you win thru PRICELINE / HOTWIRE charges a resort fee, this will be payable directly to the hotel... but for the hotel above the $77/nite rate plus $20 resort fee still brings you well under your $150 budget (for a hotel that gets very good reviews)

The on-site Disney properties are won very rarely (and usually at a higher price point then we're talking above).

One more thing to be aware of is that Disney has a few holloween parades around this time of year, which require a special/additional ticket, so if you don't intend to attend (or don't want to pay extra) you may want to research to confirm that this won't be taking place on any of the days you intend to visit (or you park visit will be cut short).

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

Let us know what you decide and how you'd like to proceed and we will take it from there.

[estella85]

coming back to this topic after settling my new york hotel. 

 

my husband is not too keen in renting a car/driving in orlando. partly it's due to the left hand driving direction which he's not really comfortable with. if that's the case, getting a convenient location is very important.

 

we kinda shortlist disney downtown lake buena vista area to stay. is this advisable? Holiday Inn Orlando - Downtown Disney Area seems not bad with lots of raves. 

 

 

[AaronJB]

In terms of areas, you have to be willing to stay anywhere within the shaded area of a zone. Given the activities that you've planned, is there an area where you'd be comfortable potentially anywhere in the zone?

 

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[thereuare]

If you search 'Orlando, FL' using our BiddingHelper.com tool and look at the PRICELINE tab, you can see the location of Disney (in the Downtown-Lake Buean Vista zone) and the location of Universal Studios (in the Universal Orlando Resort Area - Intl. Drive North zone)... these are about 10 miles apart from each other, and given your plans include visiting both locations, i'm not sure if you want to stay in one location and have a longer commute to the other, stay between the two, or your thoughts as to how you'd like to play this.

Also, i'm sure there are other Outlets in the area, but the one i am familiar with is at 4951 International Drive,

Orlando, FL 32819 (the northern tip of the Universal Orlando Resort zone, which is further away from Disney)

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

Let us know your thoughts and how you'd like to proceed.

[estella85]

hi there,

 

thanks for the advice. 

 

i think it will be better to stick to 1 hotel throughout the stay considering time wasted to check out and check in hotel which is probably equivalent to the extra traveling time. 

 

we prefer to visit orlando vineland premium outlet which is closer to lbv. 

 

are you able to ID this hotel please?

 

Lake Buena Vista - Downtown Disney

FULL AMENITIES: Free parking, Resort, Suite, Fitness center, Pool(s), Restaurant(s), Business center, Self-service laundry, Internet access, Golf nearby, Tennis nearby, Spa services, Accessible for visually impaired, Accessible for hearing impaired, Accessible path of travel, In-room accessibility, Accessible bathroom, Accessible parking, Roll-in shower

$75/night

 

28sep-5oct

 

what is the average bid amount for 4.5 or 5 star in priceline for lbv?

 

thanks

 

 

[thereuare]

The LBV hotel above for $75/nite is 4 star rated by HOTWIRE? If so, my guess for this one would be the Caribe Royale Resorts Suites and Villas.

I think a 4.5* or 5* will cost substantially more (more than double)

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

Let us know how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[estella85]

How's holiday inn downtown disney lbv compared to caribe royale resorts suites?

[Romelle]

How's holiday inn downtown disney lbv compared to caribe royale resorts suites?

 

You might look at the very end of this web site for the Hotel Reviews area.  Hopefully some members have been kind enough to provide reviews.  The reviews on this site have the added perspective of someone receiving a bargain rate.  The reviews are organized alphabetically by state (and foreign city), with the very first thread letting you jump to the "F" area for Florida and any foreign city beginning with an F (Florence, Italy is the only one that comes to mind right now).

 

For a more general look, www.tripadvisor.com is also very useful.  Anybody can report there.  You can go to Orlando hotels, and then either scroll down until you find the ones in which you are interested, or search by name.

 

Romelle