Hotel Choices around Sea World???

[dsnycrzy]

Our 1st few days in Florida will be for my sons love of whales. We are going to Sea World for at least one day so I wanted to know if anyone has stayed at a cost efficient hotel very close to Sea World.
Thanks

 

[squirrel]

Last year I stayed at the Springhill Suites by Marriott at SW. I enjoyed my 5 night stay so I booked again for this year. It's a Good Neighbour Hotel so you get Quick Queue each day for SW. We were able to take advantage of the free tour that is offered on select days. They offer a free breakfast each morning and also have a Starbucks. There is a little fast food place by the pool and a few other restaurants within a quick walk of the hotel. The hotel has a great view of the back of SW.

There is another hotel Fairfield Inn that is right next door and it shares the pool and busses. Not sure if they also share the same breakfast area. It is a bit cheaper in price and I did consider switching but I really love the room layout of the Springhill Suites.

 

[dsnycrzy]

Last year I stayed at the Springhill Suites by Marriott at SW. I enjoyed my 5 night stay so I booked again for this year. It's a Good Neighbour Hotel so you get Quick Queue each day for SW. We were able to take advantage of the free tour that is offered on select days. They offer a free breakfast each morning and also have a Starbucks. There is a little fast food place by the pool and a few other restaurants within a quick walk of the hotel. The hotel has a great view of the back of SW.

There is another hotel Fairfield Inn that is right next door and it shares the pool and busses. Not sure if they also share the same breakfast area. It is a bit cheaper in price and I did consider switching but I really love the room layout of the Springhill Suites.

Thanks! I'll look into those. Especially with the view of sea world.

 

[okeydokey]

Is there a list of the hotels that give front of the line passes for staying? We will have Florida resident tickets so we don't need to book a package.

 

[StitchyPoo81]

Is there a list of the hotels that give front of the line passes for staying? We will have Florida resident tickets so we don't need to book a package.

If you go onto the Seaworld website it will tell you what Hotels give out specials passes and other things for Seaworld

 

[andyw715]

Back in Nov we stayed at the Holiday Inn Resort - Waterpark. It was a partner hotel of Discovery Cove at that time. Now I think its going to be Official Partner status in the summer.

When we went, we booked through Discovery Cove (Sea world's day spa). Note: you didn't need to buy Discovery Cove tickets to just book a room.

anyway....it used to be the Nickelodeon Hotel and Water Park. Holiday Inn bought it and refurbed the entire thing. Really nice rooms for a family.
Ours was a 2 bedroom suite (king in one room and bunks inthe other).

We did 5 days (5th was free) and it came to $350....that included priority seating to SW and the other things as well.

Might be worthwhile to take a look.


2 negatives -
1) kitchenette area is small....no stove/oven so cooking is limited to microwave.
2) shuttle to SW was limited (once or twice in the morn, 3? times at night) - this might change once the partner status is upgraded.

 

[dsnycrzy]

Back in Nov we stayed at the Holiday Inn Resort - Waterpark. It was a partner hotel of Discovery Cove at that time. Now I think its going to be Official Partner status in the summer.

When we went, we booked through Discovery Cove (Sea world's day spa). Note: you didn't need to buy Discovery Cove tickets to just book a room.

anyway....it used to be the Nickelodeon Hotel and Water Park. Holiday Inn bought it and refurbed the entire thing. Really nice rooms for a family.
Ours was a 2 bedroom suite (king in one room and bunks inthe other).

We did 5 days (5th was free) and it came to $350....that included priority seating to SW and the other things as well.

Might be worthwhile to take a look.


2 negatives -
1) kitchenette area is small....no stove/oven so cooking is limited to microwave.
2) shuttle to SW was limited (once or twice in the morn, 3? times at night) - this might change once the partner status is upgraded.

We used to stay at the Nick Hotel so I'm aware of the layout but thats a little aways from Sea World isn't it?

 

[andyw715]

We used to stay at the Nick Hotel so I'm aware of the layout but thats a little aways from Sea World isn't it?

It was a short shuttle bus ride.

 

[mjhtvchick]

Is there a list of the hotels that give front of the line passes for staying? We will have Florida resident tickets so we don't need to book a package.

Hotel Partners
Blue Heron Beach Resort
Coco Key Hotel & Water Resort
Hilton Orlando
LaQuinta Inn & Suites

Official Hotel Partners
DoubleTree by Hilton Orlando at SeaWorld
Fairfield Inn & Suites Orlando at SeaWorld
Hampton Inn & Suites Orlando at SeaWorld
Hilton Garden Inn at SeaWorld
Hilton Grand Vacations at SeaWorld
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Orlando at SeaWorld
Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
Residence Inn Orlando at SeaWorld
Springhill Suites Orlando at SeaWorld
Staybridge Suites Orlando at SeaWorld
TownePlace Suites Orlando at SeaWorld

You would have to check with the individual hotels to see what you would get as a benefit for booking directly through the hotel vs. as part of a SeaWorld package.

 

[keishashadow]

I enjoyed our stay @ the doubletree. Very cost efficient, clean & complimentary breakfast was good.

Note that @ many of the properties the non-package SW passes are limited...ask for them upon checkin even if you are not visiting the park until the next day.

I asked for when booking and received a partial SW view when booking a standard room.

 

[kathy884]

Are any of the properties besides the Renaissance, Hilton Garden Inn SeaWorld, Hilton Grand Vacation Club Sea World less than a 15 minute walk to the main entrance? It looks like the Fairfield Inn and Springhill Suites border the park, but on the opposite side of the parking lot. When I did google map walking directions it said 24 minutes and showed crossing I drive and then walking around the outside of the park all the way over to the parking lot. I didn't know if there was a back entrance perhaps?? I printed the map below from google.

I think I'm going to go ahead and book the Hilton Garden Inn with a breakfast package, as I can get a pretty good rate for my dates and really like that place (have stayed there before), but I wondered about other walking distance properties.

I see that the DoubleTree appears to be walking distance too about the same distance as the Hilton Garden Inn. How is that walk in terms of ease?

 

[FLOIR]

I would not walk on the solid line on your map - you run out of sidewalk just past Discovery Cove and have to walk on the street and/or the grass.

The blue dotted line would not be a bad walk. There is a sidewalk all the way down now, and 2 crosswalks with lights to cross I Drive. You then come up into the parking lot on the far end from where the toll booths are and you basically walk through the parking lot to get to the entrance. This brings you into what is normally employee parking although on busy days they do open the lot for guests and make the employees park somewhere else.

There is a back entrance from the Double Tree that, depending on where your room is, might be a very short walk. You come out that back entrance, have a short walk up the road, use a crosswalk to cross the main street (Sea Harbor) and from there you follow the same dotted blue line as on your map. The road you come up on does not seem to have a name but if you look at Google maps and zoom in a little you will see the Double Tree and also Visit Orlando (with Visit Orlando between the Double Tree and SeaWorld). The little road to the left of Visit Orlando is the one you need to walk up. And this is less of a road and more of an entrance to several parking lots. If you do a satellite view and really zoom in you can just make out the back gate at the Double Tree (there is a small walkway leading from the DT parking lot towards that road with no name). This is a very easy walk and you see people walking it all the time (again the total distance depends on where your room is, since the DT property is so huge)

 

[kathy884]

Thanks so much for the info FLOIR. Think we'll go with HGI again this time. So great to have choices, though.

 

[kathy884]

Found out there is a new Hampton Inn and a new Homewood Suites hotel right near the Hilton Garden Inn too. Showed DS all of the choices that were close in price and let him pick. Hilton Grand Vacation Clubs for a studio had a special rate without a resort fee too (the resort fee of $25 otherwise would have put that out of the running). In the end DS ended up picking the studio at Hilton Grand Vacation Clubs. Being September and week days, rates were quite reasonable everywhere.

 

[squirrel]

I dislike resort fees. I would rather pay for a taxi or uber to get me to the park if the shuttles didn't work for me. I found the shuttles good. They got us there when we wanted before park open on the days we wanted the earliest shuttle.

 

[FLOIR]

I finally remembered to take a picture of the sign on the Double Tree back gate that makes it an easier walk to Sea World (no promises on if they actually follow the sign or just leave the gate open all the time, or worse lock it when they want) -

 

[Disneyfan754321]

We stayed at Sheraton vistana right down the road. but anywhere on idrive (International) is close enough.
Are you staying somewhere else for the rest of the trip. Try http://www.skyauction.com
It was like 279 for a week at the resort we stayed at