Coming to Orlando? Learn how to choose the BEST resort for you!
Whether you plan on soaring through the air on a Nimbus 2000 at Universal parks, exploring the unique sights of Orlando, hanging with the big cheese himself and maybe seeing some princesses, or a little of each, choosing your accommodations can play quite a crucial part in your vacation planning!
First step in deciding your accommodations is deciding what your Orlando trip itinerary will include: Disney only, Universal only, Seaworld and other parks only, exploring I Drive, or a combination of things. This is vital because each of these fun awesome attractions are not right next door to each other and traveling to each of them is something you have to consider.
That brings us to step #2, how will you be getting around Orlando? Are you just going to Disney World? If so you can stay on property at any one of their amazing hotels and get shuttled for free to all of their parks, water parks, and even Disney Springs! Doing Disney and Universal? You can either stay on Disney property and rent a car to go to Universal, stay on Universal property and rent a car to go to Disney, or stay at a resort or hotel that offers shuttle buses to both, or you could rent a car, stay anywhere, and travel to all places that you want to go. (If you decide to go with the last option, make sure to plan for the parking fees at the parks, around $17 a day)
Step 3 involves a little research, once you decided what you want to do during your vacation and what transportation you need in a hotel, now you choose your hotel with your budget in mind! For On Property Disney Hotels, they are categorized by price, value, moderate, and deluxe. Value resorts, depending the time of year you plan on visiting, can range between $90-$130 a night, and they are perfect for families spending most of their time out at the parks as their transportation buses are often and plenty of rather than few and far in between. At Universal, Cabana Bay, their newest hotel is very sffoable, around $120 a night, and is uniquely themed for a retro fun time! Off property hotels, like my favorite, Star Island Resort, is a very nice hotel with all the amenities and apartment style features and offers some shuttles to the parks. Each off property hotel is very different with their shuttle schedule as well as if you need to pay extra for the shuttle or is it is free. Thats when researching begins.
Step Four is the easiest one, book your Orlando stay! No matter where you stay, as long as you have your transportation covered to the parks, as well as airport, you will have such a great time in Orlando, Fl, you’ll never wanna board your plane home! Theres so much to do here, and doing everything in one trip is near impossible, but you can always come back! And now that you know the ins and out of hotels here, booking is easy!
See Ya Real Soon!
-Monica L. Gillis
Monica Gillis
I've been writing for Orlando Fun and Food since December 2014 and i love spending most of my days at the happiest place on earth and universal. I love photography and dining, and of course thrill rides! If you ever see me around I'd love to meet you!