Holiday Inn Orange Lake Resort vs Sheraton Vistana Villages

[omniscientmommy]

Hello,

We have a 4 night stay coming up and the price point on Holiday Inn Orange Lake Resort and Sheraton Vistana Villages is $100 difference. We will have 2 adults, a 12 yr old, and an 20 month old. We will have our own car and have APs to Disney. I'm trying to determine which is better for us. We want to maximize park time but have to balance this with a 2-3 hour nap in the middle of the day. Currently she's a late riser so we won't be doing any rope dropping. My husband doesn't have an issue with taking Uber separate if the 12 yr old wants to stay longer at the park. We enjoy the pool but aren't heavy on waterslides. Splash pads would be the most I anticipate us needing for the little one. Also we all have food allergies so we utilize the kitchen pretty heavily and need good mattresses. Normally we'd stay at Windsor Hills but decided to give a resort stay a go. Any advice?

 

[Upatnoon]

Both are fine, but I would lean toward Orange Lake for location, which is a little closer.

Orange Lake is a sprawling resort that now has a road to Disney via Western Way that can help avoid traffic on 192.

You can use any of the amenities at Orange Lake, so you should be able to find an area that meets your needs.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Vistana is going to be a little more upscale/nicer than Orange Lake though.

 

[BostonEd]

Did you check Sheraton Vistana Resort? That would be better than Villages or Orange. Much closer.

EDIT: I don't know the specifics of the new road from Orange Lake. That may actually give it the edge. I know the last time I looked there, I ruled it out because while it is very close as the crow flies, it used to be a pain to get to WDW. But that was like 8 years ago.

 

[Mikey15]

So there’s now a “back entrance”/exit to Orange Lake by the area known as Flamingo Crossings.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1995975756200247559

This aerial is facing south (top of photo is south, bottom is north) the green golf course areas both on the left (east) side of the highway (429 Toll Road) and right (west) are parts of Orange Lake resort. There’s now a road called “Traveler’s Parkway” you can see running up/down in the photo with a gate onto the Orange Lake property.

For getting to/from Disney, the left-right road that crosses and interchanges with the highway is called Western Way, and is the western entrance to the WDW property, complete with a big ol’ “Most Magical Place on Earth” entry sign. Western Way ends at Buena Vista Dr, at the Coronado Springs Resort.

 

[2EVacations]

I can't speak on the Sheraton, but we love Orange Lake. Plenty to do on-site, and found commuting to the parks very easy. I'm not sure how many bedrooms you're looking at renting but if you get a 2bedroom villa in the West Village at orange lake, they have driveways so you can park right in front of the door, which might be very convenient with your 20 m/o old.