Planning help please

[Teresa60]

Hi, I'm new to these boards trying to trawl through all the threads. We have just decided to go to Florida this August (2006). We went about 3 years ago and stayed in a Best Western Hotel on International Drive.

This time round we just want to stay for one week in Orlando for the theme parks and then go to one of the coastal resorts.

Firstly can anyone recommend a hotel in Orlando? Then where would anyone recommend coast wise? We would like to stay in a villa, would this be best or a condo?

We have three children: 17, 10 and 4.

Any ideas or recommendations would be great.

Thanks

 

[clive@nireland.com]

If you want a quiet relaxing holiday I recommended St Pete Beach. It`s about 1 1/2 hours drive from Orlando. We stay at the Gulf Gate resort It is a small condo resort right on the beach.

 

[Teresa60]

Thanks clive, thats a start!

 

[Boo Boo Too]

I think that doing an Orlando and Coast combination sounds fantastic

Firstly can anyone recommend a hotel in Orlando? Then where would anyone recommend coast wise? We would like to stay in a villa, would this be best or a condo?

Orlando there are probably four main choices:
- hotel on-site at Disney
- hotel on-site at Universal Studios
- hotel off-site
- villa (off-site).

Depends what you fancy and how much you are looking to pay.

Would definitely do West Coast. There are lots of lovely places down the coast. I loved Naples (although don't know how long it takes to get there from Disney) - very laid back. Sarasota and that area is nice. But would guess that there is more "going on" in the St Pete's/Clearwater area.

Boo

 

[AndRu]

As long as the kids didn't mind sharing you could get two hotel rooms but I'd go for a villas at both Orlando & the coast. You'd probably get a 4 bedroom villa with a pool for around £500 for a week. It'll be easier to get the younger children to sleep if they had their own rooms rather than sleeping in a hotel. As you'll need multiple rooms anyway, a villa would almost certainly be cheaper than staying in on-site accomodation.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

As already said there are so many different options for your Orlando week and it usually comes to down to personal preference.
On-site has it's appeal for the whole experience, especially if you are spending a lot of time either at WDW or Universal.

Personally a villa works best for us, and we find the extra room/privacy/having cooking facilities and being able to relax a big plus.
If you choose a home with good access to all the attractions, supermarkets and restuarants it is also close to everything you need, you would definitely need to rent a car though.

I have been lucky enough to travel around most of the Florida coast, Naples is very nice but a bit quiet and possibly not enough going on to justify a week long stay, the same could be said of Sarasota also.
Clearwater and St.Pete's have a fabulous beach and possibly more suited for a longer stay.

Miami/Fort Lauderdale are livelier but not to everybody's taste.

Of the above Clearwater is the closest to Orlando and about a 2 hours drive, Naples and the Miami areas would be closer to 4 hours.

Although villas are plentiful in the Orlando area , you may have to shop around more for one on the coast as they tend to be more condo's and apartments.

 

[minnie29uk]

Villas are great(but Im biased)
What I would say - August this year!!Book a.s.a.p.
This is busiest time of year and villas get booked up pretty quickly.
You could try http://www.lastminutevillas.net
Happy hunting,
Lynn