Questions about Orlando area hotels/condos

[rnorwo1]

Hi All,
We are going to be taking a non-Disney (Kennedy Space Center, Universal, SeaWorld, etc) Orlando trip in November... we always stay onsite when we go to WDW, so I'm clueless about other options. I searched and read a few threads about off site hotels (looks like most people recommend Bonnet Creek and Windsor Hills), but all of the threads were from people going to WDW.

So can anyone recommend a place that would be a good central location to get to all of these different parks? I don't want to throw good money away, but it doesn't have to be dirt cheap either. There will be 6 adults and 4 kids... we can either do one condo big enough for all (at least 3 BR), 3 separate hotel rooms, or a 1 BR and a 2 BR. Breakfast included is wonderful, but no biggie if not. Oh, and for the two Universal days, we definitely want to stay on-site there one night, so we can get the front of the line passes. If we get a good enough deal, we may be able to stay there all week, but is that convenient for the other parks?

Also, we were wanting to go to Gaylord for the Snow/ICE activities (and staying there is an option too, I guess, depending on cost.) But I don't see any info on their website for this year, just 2010. Is it just too early for it to be up or are they not going to do it this year?
Thanks so much for any suggestions/info!!

 

[jgreco]

I believe they only do the ice exhibit in the winter.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

The ice show starts a week before Thanksgiving and runs through the first week of Jan each year.

 

[rnorwo1]

THanks! I guess they'll put info on their website up later this year then.

Any advice on hotels/condos that would be nice and convenient for all of those different parks?

 

[Darcy03231]

Well, SeaWorld and Universal are fairly close to each other. Kennedy Space Center is in Port Canaveral which is 45 min to an hour away from Orlando.

I would stay in Orlando and just drive over to the Kennedy Space Center for the day. We stayed at the Sheraton Studio City on I-Drive which was nice. I got it on Hotwire for $52/night.

With the size of your group I would look into renting a private pool home. We did it a couple of years ago and it worked out great! There were nine of us and we got a 5 bedroom/3 bath home. We ended up staying in Clermont because we were doing Busch Gardens and WDW too (we were there for 16 days). We rented using www.vacationrentals.com. I've also used www.vbro.com too.