International Drive Hotel advice

[tsaress]

I'm very over whelmed with all the information about and need a bit of advice from people.

I've started to make my plans very early as I want to have a once in life time holiday. It's for my 40th Birthday which is 5th July 2015
So very little room on dates to be moved about. I last went for my 13th Birthday.

So far plans are 14 days going to WDW and Universal and staying on International Drive.

The people in the party with me my parents who will be 70 at the time and me and a few friends of around the same age. So we don't really want anywhere aimed at kids. We don't have a huge budget for the hotel it self so middle of the road is best.
Now I need to narrow down the hotel a bit more. It's needs to have a shuttle to go back and forth and I'm getting a little confused with a lot of hotels some say shuttle but then I'm not sure if it's free or not. Perfer to be free or very low cost.
Would quite like one with a kitchen or fridge/mircowave although seems some ask for you to pay extra.

We can't really do the bus/itrolley changing buses and taking a long time might be a bit too much for my Dad.

Thanks in advance

 

[kokomos]

If you are looking for a hotel with a free shuttle to both Disney and Universal I'm pretty sure there isn't one

 

[Serrina89]

Have you thought about renting a car? That's about the only way to reduce the walking/changing buses.

I have stayed several places on and offsite in Orlando. Champs World Resort has shuttle service that goes to Disney and universal; however, you still are brought to a hub that you will need to take another bus to reach the destination. Also be careful of hotels that offer free "shuttles". The shuttles go to neighboring hotels as well and only make 1-2 stops to and from your hotel a day. That means if you miss the bus by 1 minute, you are out of luck. You are expected to tip them as well (so it's not truly free or complimentary.)

I did a split stay and stayed within walking distance (for a young person-1.5 mile) to universal and onsite at disney. Changing hotels might also be an option to save money transportation wise.

Do you plan on going to Disney and Universal equally or interchangeably or spend just a few days a one place? There is probably a more ideal solution based on your park plans.

 

[tsaress]

Sadly I can't drive and with me traveling from the UK need to get a package that includes airfare so would not be able to do a spilit stay.

At the moment we looking at spiliting time over different days to the different parks.

 

[Serrina89]

That is a difficult situation. Maybe try posting on the UK trip planning board? As I'm sure someone over there has had the same problem. I'd assume that you would spend more days at disney--given your parents age...and the sheer amount of thrill rides at universal/less gentler rides. If I were in that situation I would suggest staying at a hotel across the street from disney downtown. You can walk to the bus stop very quickly and The buses run to all disney areas frequently. For the days for universal, maybe look into doing a mears shuttle. Its fourteen dollars (if they haven't gone up) per person to go to universal and back to disney (roundtrip) and better priced than a taxi which ran me about 50 + tip for a one way trip.

You could find a hotel (like Champs World Resort) that offers shuttles to both disney and universal..but remember about the 1-2 stops. When i went I hated the fact that the shuttles came so sparingly. We missed the shuttle by 2 minutes and were stranded at the transportation center bus depot until the last shuttle came two hours later. Hope you find some better answers and I hope you enjoy your Birthday trip!!!!!!!

 

[tsaress]

Thank you very much for your advice

 

[Serrina89]

no problem!

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

I'm very over whelmed with all the information about and need a bit of advice from people.

I've started to make my plans very early as I want to have a once in life time holiday. It's for my 40th Birthday which is 5th July 2015
So very little room on dates to be moved about. I last went for my 13th Birthday.

So far plans are 14 days going to WDW and Universal and staying on International Drive.

The people in the party with me my parents who will be 70 at the time and me and a few friends of around the same age. So we don't really want anywhere aimed at kids. We don't have a huge budget for the hotel it self so middle of the road is best.
Now I need to narrow down the hotel a bit more. It's needs to have a shuttle to go back and forth and I'm getting a little confused with a lot of hotels some say shuttle but then I'm not sure if it's free or not. Perfer to be free or very low cost.
Would quite like one with a kitchen or fridge/mircowave although seems some ask for you to pay extra.

We can't really do the bus/itrolley changing buses and taking a long time might be a bit too much for my Dad.

Thanks in advance

Hope you have a great trip! I took my mom for her 70th birthday some years back.

I have lived the better part of a year in Orlando during a time of transition after living overseas and was at an extended stay hotel in the Seaworld / South I drive area. I frequently took lynx buses and the i-ride trolley as I had no car of my own. Unfortunately public transportation in the US is often not very convenient. (I say this from an expat's perspective).

Though some hotels offer shuttles to both WDW and Universal, as others have mentioned they are not very convenient and I wouldn't recommend them. Often they share with many hotels, may have several stops and sometimes they are extremely crowded at the end of the day and you may not even get a seat. (This happened to me often and I ended up taking the lynx 50 from WDW anyway).

A rental car would give you more freedom if someone in your party would be willing to drive.

Otherwise I would look into something that would give you an onsite Disney hotel for your Disney days and an onsite Universal hotel for your Universal days. IMO the onsite benefits are worth it for both. Also check the taxi fares on the website for mears taxi and the shuttle prices for a shuttle booked through mears which I have heard is much more convenient than free shuttles often provided by hotels.

 

[fictual]

Hi there!
Last year I stayed at the Ramada Plaza Resort and Suites on i-drive and as long as you get a suite they are lovely. The standard rooms are in the old south tower and all the negative reviews seem to be from that tower but the north tower was just built like a year or so ago and it houses the suites and the club level suites. We stayed in a club suite but the normal suites are just the same minus the access to the rooftop amenities. All the suites have a separate bedroom and kitchen/lounge area which has a stove top, microwave, fridge and cupboard space. This hotel also offers free breakfast daily and has free shuttles to disney and universal and like others have said they do only come at select times of the day but we didn't ever find that to be a problem. The bus only stopped at one more hotel after ours so we were pretty much on our way straight away. Its also close to universal so we didn't use the shuttle to go there as it was cheap to just split the price of a taxi or only took 15mins max to walk there. I personally loved this hotel but I wouldn't recommend booking a standard room.