Best Sea World Hotel with kids (9 and 7)

[DisneyToddlers]

Hi, we will be staying near Sea World for the first time for 2-3 nights and are looking for a nice Hotel that has a fun water play area/pool. Our kids are 9 and 7. Ideally, we would like to stay somewhere that offers the quick que benefit for Sea World. A suite would be nice, although not totally necessary. We will not have a car. Any advice? Thanks in advance.

 

[kathy884]

I'm just going to comment on partner hotels that I'm familiar with.

My 19 year old recommends the Residence Inn at SeaWorld. He has stayed there several times when going to the High School career camp there. It's his number one choice for a mini trip for us if we don't have a condo. There you would get suite like accommodations with kitchenette, a nice breakfast included, etc. And they are a partner hotel. Take a look at website pictures, read review, and see what you think. // I haven't stayed here before, but it's my next choice for an Orlando mini trip and on my radar.

There is always the Hilton Grand Vacation club at SeaWorld too if you want condo rather than hotel. Doing it retail, though, which is what you would do for quick queue with the SeaWorld package is a little pricey. It's certainly a nice option you might want to consider, though. We usually when we do a condo get one for the whole week and rent from an owner to get a really good deal (Use sites like TUG2.net classified ads section and Redweek.com). But that leaves out SeaWorld perks. For the price savings, though, you could buy the perks.

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I don't think you'd be interested in these next two and think the ones above would fit your needs better for the suite. At these you just get a hotel room. But other great hotel properties I've tried by SeaWorld are (1) the lovely Hilton Garden Inn SeaWorld. Cute little pool area // clean // wonderful friendly staff // reasonably priced food for dinner and room service // free parking and internet // walk to SeaWorld // breakfast is pricey like $15 a person and not included normally unless you get a special breakfast rate (2) If you want a four star hotel -- the Renaissance right across the way from SeaWorld, so you can walk over // prices very good for the room with the package // a lobby area that you just say wow too -- really impressive // impressive kids water area with water park like amenities, cushy lounge chairs that are just lovely -- all kinds of configurations, heated towels for drying off, etc. // But with a four star hotel you're talking like $20 a night for parking and high prices for food at their restaurants, and a daily charge for wifi. -- I find most four star hotels anywhere are like this, and as someone who is quite value conscious with my vacation budget, I'm more of a three star hotel person.

I did though really enjoy stays at both of these and have actually stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn twice.

 

[cmsb]

We stayed at Springhill Suites. The hotel is across the street from SeaWorld and very convenient from the highway. My kids are 5 and 7 and they enjoyed our time there. The hotel shares a zero entry pool with the Fairfield, but it was never crowded. They offer a free breakfast, which was good, and have a Starbucks on site. The suite had two bathrooms - one for the toilet and one for the tub/shower. There were two beds, plus a pull out sofa. My only complaint was the limited storage space. We had our car (parking was free) and we were able to get to SeaWorld, LEGOLAND, and Downtown Disney without issue. There were plenty of restaurants and stores within walking and driving distance. We booked our stay through a package on the SeaWorld site, which was a better deal than booking everything separately.

 

[DisneyToddlers]

Thank you both for your input. I will research the info you gave me.

 

[rottiemom]

There is always the Hilton Grand Vacation club at SeaWorld too if you want condo rather than hotel.

We just got back from our vacation here. We stayed here last year because of it's proximity to SW and enjoyed it so much that we returned. This is a resort, with resort activities going on as well as an activity center for the kids. Kids get a "passport" and can earn stamps for activities which they can later trade in for "prizes". I think that your kids are at the perfect age to enjoy this resort and the activities. Some cost money (and that's clearly indicated) but many are free, they show both indoor & outdoor movies & have shuttles to the parks (but we walked to SW from the hotel). The resort is big but there are golf cart shuttles for the guests. Also shuttles to SW, AQ, Universal and Epcot. We stayed in a gorgeous 1 BR suite with kitchen, DW and screened in balcony. Oh, and make sure to take a walk down the dock to see the turtles (and the gator...don't worry, the dock is way above the water). There are several pools, a pool table, ping pong, giant checkers, a playground, shuffleboard, and bunches of other kids to play with. My son was 9 the first time that we stayed here and he just loved it.

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Hi,
We recently stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacation SeaWorld. If I were to visit SeaWorld again, I would choose a different hotel. My experience with this hotel wasn't as positive as rottiemom's was.

Pros:
Room was very clean and plenty big.
The beds were very comfortable with plenty of nice linens.
There was a washer and dryer in the room, which was great. They even included soap for one load.
It is about a 20 minute walk from hotel to SeaWorld (which is great because the shuttle service leaves a lot to be desired).
Generous supply of towels, soap, shampoo, etc.

Cons and other notes:
We found the grounds, specifically the walkways outside the rooms and the walking paths dirty, in need of a good hosing off. Guests left small amounts of trash out in those areas and threw things on the ground that were there for two days.

There is no indoor restaurant or food court in the entire large complex, only an outdoor bar/cafe with the typical high hotel prices. This makes the SeaWorld dining plan worth it's weight in gold, as far as I'm concerned.

There is a small market place inside the hotel which has snacks, sandwiches, and a small counter section for Starbucks drinks, but again, you must eat outside, as far as I can tell.

Many of the workers there were not friendly and some just plain indifferent. Luckily, a few were very nice.

Our shuttle service experiences were pretty bad. Our first trip on the bus to SeaWorld, we encountered an extremely rude hotel shuttle bus driver. Not a good start.

One evening on the way back from SeaWorld to our hotel on the shuttle bus, a shady character hopped on the bus at Wet N Wild. He appeared to be a local and he was not even staying at one of the partner hotels. I wouldn't let your teenagers ride the shuttle alone.

The last shuttle of the day leaves the hotel at 3 PM, even though SeaWorld stays open until 9 pm. Not too convenient.

After one day using the shuttle, my family refused to use it again. We chose to walk the 20 min walk to SeaWorld in the heat and rain, dodging cars in the SeaWorld parking lot, (they really need a safe walking path) rather than ride the shuttle again (which took 30 minutes to get back from SeaWorld one night to our hotel). We actually felt very lucky to be able to walk to/from SeaWorld, despite the heat, rain, and traffic, lol.

I just didn't feel as safe at that hotel as I have at others at night. Maybe it was just me. Our room was far from the lobby.

I could go on and on, it seemed to be a comedy of errors, but suffice it to say, this hotel was not for us.

Thanks for reading. Despite these minor setbacks, we had a wonderful time at SeaWorld.