Help! Need advice on Holiday Inn/Crowne Plaza locations May trip without the kids!

[elsabear]

My BF and I will be going to Orlando in May (free airline due to credits). I have enough points for 5 nights hotel at an IHG through Priority Club. I have stayed onsite in the past. We plan on doing two days at Disney and one day at SeaWorld. We will have a rental car. Any suggestions as to which ones to consider - or which ones to avoid? Since I have a car I would prefer one that doesn't charge a large daily fee for parking (I know I want everything lol). Thanks everyone! I get such great advice on these boards!

 

[Ed J]

I have stayed at the CP that is close to Universal a few times and the HI that is next to DTD once. These stays we're also on points.

The CP is a much nicer hotel, and they have honored my VIP floor request every time (1 time we had 3 rooms for 3 days) and if I was only going to Universal your question is a no brainier.

The HI near DTD is a typical HI and you can walk to DTD and get a DTD view room (another request honored).

I don't know if being a platinum member makes any difference, but I have never has any parking charges at either hotel. We have had bar bills that hit highs of $400 and the lowest being $150 so I don't know if they waved the parking fee because we spent money on other stuff.

I recommend the CP if you are looking for a better hotel with better food. If location and or walking to DTD is to your liking the HI DTD is a good choice.

I don't think You'll do bad with either of those 2.

 

[VMouse]

We stayed at The Castle last year which was really nice and did not charge for parking. My little one thought she was staying in a real Disney Castle. It was much nicer than the typical HI. It is on International Drive so it will take 10-15 minutes to get to Disney. This year my husband really wants transportation so we are staying at the DTD HI which charges $10 a day for parking. If I was going to stay off Disney property I would definitely choose the Castle again.

 

[VMouse]

I forgot to add that my sister works for IHG and a lot of people at her office like the HI Orange Lake Resort. I have not seen it but I think it is by AK. It is a timeshare property. It gets good reviews but there are lots of warnings in the reviews to be aware that they will offer you a free ticket/time share presentation. You do get a lot of space though. The hotel is huge. You should read the tripadvisor reviews before booking to make sure you are well informed.

The Crown Plaza is very close to Universal so I would not recommend based on location unless you are planning to go to Universal. In my opinion the extra Universal traffic would not be worth the extra time for a Disney only trip.

The Castle is on International Drive but it is on the opposite side from Universal so it will have less traffic. Here is the link:

I know you dont want to pay for parking but the DTD HI gets really good ratings on trip advisor and it has great transportation according to the reviews so you would not have to pay for Disney parking if you used the transportation. This hotel is ranked #13 in Orlando by guest review.

I apologize I was going to post links but I do not have enough posts to do that.

 

[elsabear]

Thanks for the input! After reading these posts and talking it over we decided to go with the DTD Lake Buena Vista location - I contacted them about the parking/resort fee and received a reply that because I am a platinum member they will issue me a food/drink credit in the amount I would pay for parking which we found acceptable. I just can't wait!