HELP! Going in June, never stayed off-site, want to visit WDW/Cape Canaveral/SeaWorld

[triplefigs]

It would be a surprise trip for my triplets' birthday (they will turn 7). We always stay on-site at a monorail hotel, but we're trying to do a cheaper trip this time. We want to include Cape Canaveral for the Space Shuttle lift-off (barring any delays), Sea World, and a few days at WDW.

I'm looking for a nice hotel/condo that would have 1 or 2 bdr and comfortably hold 5 people. A great pool is very important too!

Any suggestions on where to stay, things to do off-site? Do I need a touring plan for Sea World in June? Where can I find out about visiting Cape Canaveral?

thanks so much!

 

[karibritt01]

I have heard Fairfield at Bonnet Creek is very reasonable. They are one of the DTD hotels. I think they provide transportation, but you do not get WDW resort benefits. I thought about doing Kennedy Space Center last year, but decided against it. I doubt that you will be able to do the tour/museum and such if they have a launch. When we were there last June, it was a massive downpour on launch day, so we were glad we skipped it! As for Sea World, I know you can get discount tickets through AAA, if you have them. I don't know what else you would schedule in advance for them, though.

 

[Kuffam]

The only place we're stayed off-site is the Tropical Palms FunResort. They have some nice cottages for cheap. They sleep 4 adults and 4 children. Not too far from WDW and convient to expressway for the Space Coast.

http://www.tropicalpalms.com/

 

[huey duey & luey]

Hi Denise
hope all is well. Can't believe the kids will be 7 already
WE are going in MArch for the kids 5th bday and will be going to Seaworld for the first time. I will let you knoe how it goes.
I have a few friends who have stayed at Orange Lake (it is a timeshare), and have been really happy with it
Tara

here's a link
http://www.orangelake.com/

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Have you thought about the Nick Hotel? They have the family suites. We stayed in them two years ago and thought they were just the right size for the five of us. Had a small kitchenette, living room, nice bathroom and two bedrooms. One bedroom had a king size bed the other had twins and a small "pull out" day bed. Living room had a pull out sleeper couch. My kids loved the Nick Hotel activities. You could easily spend a day or two there and never even leave the hotel, they have so many activities for the kids even at night. I know they have a shuttle to Sea World. Have fun deciding.

 

[Brown Family]

We are going first week of March, and we are renting a house with a pool.
We have always stayed on site every other time, but so many people have told us it is cheaper to rent a house then to stay on site. It is about $400.00 dollors cheaper for us to stay off site, (4 bedroom house) and to rent a car(one thing we never do). So we are very excited about our trip, we to are going to Sea World for the 1st time. This is the web site for the house we are renting. (www.vacationears.com) Hope you find what your looking for. HAVE A GREAT TRIP!!!

 

[SharonLowe]

Another "vote" for the Nick hotel - the kids will love it and the suites are good for families. I took my DD down there for a "girls weekend" and she would have been happy to spend all day at the pools. We had a Sponge Bob suite because he's her favorite. A tip if you do go - we had a room facing the road (not a busy road). At first I was upset but then I realized that the rooms facing the pool would be very noisy so I was happy to not have a good view. We drove everywhere we went but they did have buses to the various parks.

Sea World is great - make reservations for the character breakfast - great fun. We also did the dine with Shamu dinner and weren't that impressed. We were there in October and they had lots of fun stuff for Halloween.

 

[SharonLowe]

Forgot to add - the Nick hotel has lots of other activities for kids - they have a kids spa - my DD got a manicure and had Sponge Bob painted on one nail plus got her hair braided. They do evening shows - if you want to go, you have to make a reservation for them early. Ditto with the free photo they include.

Sea World in June - I would definitely plan to go early and find out ahead of time when the shows are - you will have to plan so that you can see them all. Our favorites are Seamore and of course Shamu (although they weren't doing the regular Shamu show when we were there because a baby orca had just been born.) I find it a hard park to do in one day - if you do all the shows, it leaves little time for the other stuff. And, it is quite large so there is a lot of walking involved. We did the character breakfast and then snacks instead of lunch because dining with Shamu was pretty early. If we had it to do over, I would skip dining with Shamu and instead have a nice lunch at one of the sit-down restaurants that accepts reservations. We tried to get something at Seafire Inn and the lines were miserable.