Cheap hotel for family of five before and after Disney?

[MusicManD]

Hey, all,

We're road-tripping down to Florida in June/July, and are trying to work out where we'll stay the night before our WDW check-in (Saturday night) and the night after we check out (Friday night). Our kids are younger, so we really want one room, and budget is always nice (we're pulling out the stops on some areas of the vacation, so we're trying to save in others). All we really need is a clean place to shower and sleep, but a complimentary breakfast would be welcome.

A few other considerations:

The first Saturday we'll be driving from Pensacola to Cocoa Beach, spend a few hours at the beach, then head back to Orlando in the evening. The next morning we'll want to rope drop Universal and try to do both parks before checking in at Disney, so Universal area hotels would be awesome.

The last day, after checking out, we'll be doing Animal Kingdom (probably) and our next stop on the way home will be Atlanta. A hotel to the north would certainly be welcome, though I expect I'll be exhausted at that point, so maybe no farther than an hour or two north of WDW.

I can do the legwork, but I can't tell you how many times I've found a hotel that looked great online but ended up being dirtier than the reviews or website indicated. Thanks in advance!

 

[Upatnoon]

For the first leg, I would stay at Drury Inn, which is very close to Universal. In the evening they have a "kickback" with free food that can serve as your dinner.

The next morning they have a free breakfast.

If you are trying to cram in both Universal parks in one day, you would benefit from having a free Express Pass that comes with staying at a Universal deluxe resort. That will be more expensive, of course.

Cabana Bay is a great property at Universal with plenty of room for five, but no Express Pass or free breakfast there. All the Universal hotels are great.

On the way back I would suggest staying by the airport on the south end of Atlanta. The drive through the city can be rather grueling. There are two Hyatt Place hotels I have stayed at and like. They have a great free breakfast, or they did pre-COVID anyway.

You could wait to book the return hotel until you see how tired you are after leaving.

 

[HopperFan]

The last day, after checking out, we'll be doing Animal Kingdom (probably) and our next stop on the way home will be Atlanta. A hotel to the north would certainly be welcome, though I expect I'll be exhausted at that point, so maybe no farther than an hour or two north of WDW.

I can do the legwork, but I can't tell you how many times I've found a hotel that looked great online but ended up being dirtier than the reviews or website indicated. Thanks in advance!

I would go out the back of AK to 192 and then head up 27 towards the turnpike. You could hit the Holiday Inn Express in Clermont or go further to Wildwood where there are several fairly new hotels. Wildwood would be an hour.

I'm in Atlanta and honestly at the end of a week and all day in AK summer time. I would likely book right there at Flamingo Crossing so that we could take a brief swim or shower, go to bed and then make the drive to Atlanta in one swoop. Be much less stressful, less tiring than stopping along the way somewhere strange just to gain an hour.