One night in Sanford or Int'l Dr???

[jelo]

We are flying in to Orlando on March 3rd, picking up our rental car then staying one night off-site.
We are going our first day to the Zoo in Sanford(I know I know...but I adopted a Llama for my Llama crazy dd's birthday..)
From what I've learned, the zoo will only take 1/2 a day, so we would spend the rest of our time around the pool, or taking in some shopping.

I originally was going to stay in Sanford, but wondered if Int'l Dr. might be a better option.
I'd really like to stay around the $60 range. Has anyone stayed at a clean hotel/motel, with a nice pool in either area that they'd recommend??

I was also thinking of using Priceline/Hotwire for the first time, so any recommendations there too would be awesome!

 

[DOOM1001]

Plenty of good clean hotels on International Drive,I've stayed in probably 2/3 of the hotels in the area and obviously some are better than others,but if you're looking at using Hotwire or Priceline Name your own price you should definitely get something good for under $60.Right now you can get 2-3 star hotels on Hotwire in the $35-$60 range easily.One thing you can use to get an idea of what hotel you might get is betterbidding.com,you can click on hotwire hotel list and it will give you a list of the hotels in the different areas with the different ameneties hotwire shows,for example a 3 star hotel on International drive south/Sea World with a pool,Internet,fitness etc..might be the Radisson.Another site that's been good for me is Travelocity super secret hotel rooms,but betterbidding doesn't have info for them.As far as Sanford I know nothing about the hotels there.

 

[alice99]

We are flying in to Orlando on March 3rd, picking up our rental car then staying one night off-site.
We are going our first day to the Zoo in Sanford(I know I know...but I adopted a Llama for my Llama crazy dd's birthday..)
From what I've learned, the zoo will only take 1/2 a day, so we would spend the rest of our time around the pool, or taking in some shopping.

I originally was going to stay in Sanford, but wondered if Int'l Dr. might be a better option.
I'd really like to stay around the $60 range. Has anyone stayed at a clean hotel/motel, with a nice pool in either area that they'd recommend??

I was also thinking of using Priceline/Hotwire for the first time, so any recommendations there too would be awesome!

We use Priceline all the time for exactly what you are talking about.... a stray day here or there.

I would bid 60$ for a 3 star hotel..... I wouldn't bid on a 2 star because sometimes a 2 star can be borderline 1.5 star.
We had one bad experience with a Days Inn on 192, we bid on a 2 star for 40$, and got the Days Inn, which wasn't nearly as nice as other 2 stars we had stayed in.
I would have called it a one star.

With Priceline you can pick the specific area also, which is nice.

We got a Hilton Suite one bedroom on International Drive , near the Convention Center, when I took my kids for a short getaway. I paid 40$ for a one bedroom suite, and the lobby had an AWESOME breakfast , that probably was worth 10$ each, at least. We love Priceline!!

 

[Art 1]

Sanford for the most part is not a very nice area.

 

[Orlando Vic]

Sanford for the most part is not a very nice area.

I would say that Sanford is not an exciting area, not necessarily unsafe. You could also consider nearby Lake Mary for a "nice" area.

I-Drive would have many more hotels to choose from, but probably higher prices.

 

[jelo]

So now I'll start reading about Int'l Dr. hotels more!! I'm sure there's more to do in that area as well!
I remember on our honeymoon (25yrs ago)we shopped at a Cambridge towel outlet and I made my new hubby pack 10 white fluffy towels in our suitcases!! I still have a few of them, wonder if it's still there? LOL