resort or international drive?

[mark&sue]

I love Blackpool and Benidorm and even Southend but if I want that kind of atmospheare it is cheaper and quicker to stay there than travelling to Orlando. I have also stayed in Las Vegas, L.A. and New York all of which have their merits, but when I go to Disney (WDW) I love the feeling of being in another world, feeling safe and for that two weeks of the year I really feel like I am in an alternative universe and forget about everything. I do not know of anywhere other theme park location in the world that is like it.

We stayed at Holiday Inn Internation Drive with four families in May two of them thought it was great (they had never stayed on site or been to USA before). Our family and another really hated it. I couldn't believe how different the holiday was staying off site compared to on site. I felt that we missed so much of the evening shows and resturants that I love so much at WDW. We even missed Fantasmic.

I know we will have to agree to differ on this and the world is made up of different people. I admit I may be a Disney snob but I honestly like tacky rowdy places as well.


Susan

 

[nicknsara]

WE LIKE doing both.try one week idrive and i week disney.

we are doing akl lodge and castle doubletree best of both worlds.

use a cheaper carrier TCD then you can do both we found

nick n sara

 

[jen_uk]

Ive never stayed on I drive but have been there and I also thought it looked cheap and tacky and I would never want to stay there! Ive always stayed onsite and find it so convenient, you dont have to drive to the parks, park the car and so on, you can just jump on a bus and you are there! If you want to come back midday day for a swim etc its very quick and easy to get back to your hotel, Ive heard some people moan about huge queues just to get back to their car and then they have to drive back sometimes hitting queues there as well. I know some hotels on I drive do the free shuttle but its busier and takes longer, I would rather stay in Disney if I could afford it.

 

[Andrew Bichard]

I like the idea of the disney themed hotel with the advantages of the transport to the parks and extra hours for residents etc. and as I don't want to drive everything is ideally located...
I would not get a flavour of Floridan life. I mean I could be anywhere in the world.
Do you know what I mean?
If I did stay at the resort I would definetly plan a day or 2 away if the bus service is good.

If you are only staying seven days, you are not going to get a flavour of Floridian life wherever you stay. Whether you stay onsite at Disney, or on International Drive you will be a tourist first & foremost.

I say this, because my wife is american and for many years we have stayed with her father in Florida and her sister in New York. That meant living as locals- going to the supermarket, shopping, visiting his friends, going to temple with him visiting the local museums, talking to locals at the shared pool at his development.

Whenever we visit, we also spend some time touring around, or staying on-site at Disney. It's totally different as a tourist. You will be staying at a hotel, you will be a tourist. You will be meeting other tourists. You won't get a real flavour of Florida.

Every trip, I spend time staying on-site at a Disney hotel and use Disney transport exclusively. I love the 'total immersion in Disney' feel. I know its not real life, but I'm on holiday! I would save the rest of Florida for another year when you can take a longer fly-drive holiday touring the whole of Florida including the Everglades and Keys. We have never had a problem finding accomodation by just showing up late afternoon at a motel with no reservation.

If you stat at POP, you have easy free transport to all Disney parks and to Downtown Disney. There are cheap local bus services from a central pick up point in Disney (called the Ticket & Transportation Center), though for destinations other than Sea World you will have to change buses part way. You can also get to other places like Universal by taxi or shuttle bus (non-disney private bus services that will collect you from your hotel if you book in advance).

My vote is for staying on-site.

Andrew

 

[Laurafoster]

If you are only staying seven days, you are not going to get a flavour of Floridian life wherever you stay. Whether you stay onsite at Disney, or on International Drive you will be a tourist first & foremost.

I say this, because my wife is american and for many years we have stayed with her father in Florida and her sister in New York. That meant living as locals- going to the supermarket, shopping, visiting his friends, going to temple with him visiting the local museums, talking to locals at the shared pool at his development.

Whenever we visit, we also spend some time touring around, or staying on-site at Disney. It's totally different as a tourist. You will be staying at a hotel, you will be a tourist. You will be meeting other tourists. You won't get a real flavour of Florida.

Every trip, I spend time staying on-site at a Disney hotel and use Disney transport exclusively. I love the 'total immersion in Disney' feel. I know its not real life, but I'm on holiday! I would save the rest of Florida for another year when you can take a longer fly-drive holiday touring the whole of Florida including the Everglades and Keys. We have never had a problem finding accomodation by just showing up late afternoon at a motel with no reservation.

If you stat at POP, you have easy free transport to all Disney parks and to Downtown Disney. There are cheap local bus services from a central pick up point in Disney (called the Ticket & Transportation Center), though for destinations other than Sea World you will have to change buses part way. You can also get to other places like Universal by taxi or shuttle bus (non-disney private bus services that will collect you from your hotel if you book in advance).

My vote is for staying on-site.

Andrew

i totally agree with this, whether you stay in I Drive or Disney you will get a tourist exerience, i would totally go for stsying on site, the transport is so convienient and it is really easy to go anywhere outside of disney if thats what you wanted but with only 7 days, i really think on site is the way to go!

 

[jonkatony]

Kevin, I work in east London, and have spent most of my life in North London, I am certainly not a snob and see enough of the real world thanks every day. I go somewhere else for a holiday.
You go on holiday to enjoy yourself if i drive is your thing fine. You calling people snobs for stating they enjoyed staying on disney property is not fair as would saying you must be a low life for enjoying i drive?

 

[lacazio]

I think that after reading all your kind replies it is fairly obvious I should spend my first trip onsite. This is clearly due to the short amount of time I will be there. Ideally I would spend 2 weeks there with the second week somewhere like Kissimmee (in villa with car). This would mean I could do all the other touristy things like swim with dolphins, boat ride in everglades and visit the beach. Unfortunatley my funds are not going to stretch that far so one week it is.

 

[disneyholic family]

staying on I-drive doesn't exactly give you a flavor of floridian life either, rather the tacky tourist part of florida...

there are beautiful sections of metropolitan orlando, but I-drive is definitely not one of them...

we happened over into the metrowest section last week (unfortunately needed a root canal - how fun).....it was really lovely over there and we kept saying it was so nice to see real people and real stores and real houses, rather than the heavily touristy areas....

so i guess what i'm saying is no matter where you stay, if you want to see non-tourist life you'll have to get in your car and drive a bit...

 

[kevin harrison]

You calling people snobs for stating they enjoyed staying on disney property is not fair as would saying you must be a low life for enjoying i drive?

Show me where I said people staying on Disney property are snobs?

I simply feel that people saying I-Drive is like Blackpool were being rather snobby. The fact that people are looking down on Blackpool or Spain is snobby. Me, I hate Blackpool and Spain, doesn't mean other people can't enjoy them though, does it?

 

[jonkatony]

Kevin, do you dislike Blackpool & Spain because your a snob?
Or having experienced both Spain & Blackpool have you come up with a reasoned & thoughtful conclusion as to why you dislike these places?

This is the point of a discussion forum for people to share with others their experiences and not dismissed as snobbery because they have a different opinion to you.

 

[kevin harrison]

Kevin, do you dislike Blackpool & Spain because your a snob?
Or having experienced both Spain & Blackpool have you come up with a reasoned & thoughtful conclusion as to why you dislike these places?

This is the point of a discussion forum for people to share with others their experiences and not dismissed as snobbery because they have a different opinion to you.

I dislike Spain and Blackpool because I hate rowdiness and am completely teetotal and can't stand being around people drinking, I have nothing against these places or the people that visit them, just that they are not for me.

You calling people snobs for stating they enjoyed staying on disney property is not fair as would saying you must be a low life for enjoying i drive?

I'll ask again, where have I said people staying on Disney property are snobs?

 

[jonkatony]

Kevin I have re read your post and it still appears to me you mention snobbery conclusion to all what you are saying?
If I am wrong so be it.

 

[maggs]

My ideal solution to the I Drive/on site dilemma is to stay 7 nights on I Drive and then the remaining 10 on site. As a non driver, this allows me to do all the attractions near I Drive for the first week and then complete the Disney holiday on site. I like the southern end of the Drive. It really is quite nice. Having stayed once at QII further north, we found that too busy.......and well, not nearly as nice. We stay at Homewood - fab hotel, close to many restaurants and attractions, yet back from the road and very quiet. As a single parent with 4 children I havent found it a problem at all making that move after a week. Now, I wouldnt do my holiday without doing the split.

Maggs

 

[edinburghlass]

When I started planning our first trip to Florida this July past I originally looked at a hotel on ID but then on weighing up the pros and cons decided that we would go for POP Century and the whole Disney experience as I too didn't want to be driving.

As we had the "ultimate" tickets there wasn't a day when we didn't pop into a Park at least for a couple of hours because it was so easy to jump on a Disney bus at 9.00 pm and just go to catch the fireworks at MK for instance after spending the day at Seaworld.

I realised that eating onsite would be dearer than offsite but weighed that up against the time spent travelling which could be considerable as we discovered one day when we made the mistake of busing it down ID at 7.00pm and much to the driver's annoyance it took more than an hour in the traffic and she said it was like that every day And yes I too thought it was very touristy although I am sure the hotels are very nice and probably more luxurious than POP.

However, POP suited us well, the food court was great and plenty of choice, we requested and got 50's building with a lake view which was lovely and quiet but no distance from the pool. Never had any problems with allowing my daughter to go to and from the pool or food court on her own or with friends as we felt very safe. Buses to and from the parks were plentiful only two nights when we waited some time, first was 4th July from Epcot but that was to be expected as everywhere was busy that day.

Our last night in order to cram in all those last things, we went to Epcot and after the fireworks were able to jump on the mono rail to MK to see our last Wishes to stretch the magic out

Thanks to loads of tips read on here I felt we knew a lot before we got to Disney and that helped enormously. So yes, I would definately suggest go for the week onsite at POP and enjoy!

 

[wicket2005]

I realised that eating onsite would be dearer than offsite but weighed that up against the time spent travelling which could be considerable as we discovered one day when we made the mistake of busing it down ID at 7.00pm and much to the driver's annoyance it took more than an hour in the traffic and she said it was like that every day And yes I too thought it was very touristy although I am sure the hotels are very nice and probably more luxurious than POP

Time travelling about is only about 10 minutes from park entrance to park entrance when you are using your own car. ID can be an extremely busy road.

However, we stayed at the South end of IDrive and only touched ID slightly going up to Universal we just used Universal Boulevard (a back road) and encountered no traffic problems. Going to Sea World was only 5 minutes away. Disney was only 10 minutes going slightly south on IDrive then across the Beeline to the I4. So it really depends on where you stay on IDrive.

Our hotel was actually more expensive than POP and was a proper hotel as opposed to blocks of rooms with outdoor corridors. I think Disney is ideal for those with young children who like all the Disney references. My own children (17 and 15) are not really into the Disney stuff any more, they like it but not as much as when they were kiddies. Disney onsite is also ideal if that is all you want to see, venturing out seems to take a long time if you rely on buses compared to 10 minute drives in your own car.

 

[kevin harrison]

It's surprising how few people use Universal Boulevard, it's always empty.

 

[arieliwish]

Yes, we stayed at the Clarion Universal (you've been there too!) last year and regularly used Universal Boulevard, only using I Drive if we were going there to eat. We even used it to go to the shops near the Mercado, while we were shopping for hurricane supplies!!

 

[SeattleRedBear]

One of the things that I haven't seen mentioned yet is that as a single parent, you would probably get more services (and support) directly aimed at you and your children at WDW. Besides the pool, there are services (for a fee, of course, but still reasonable) such as babysitting, special programs for kids, etc. If you need a break from the kids (or vice versa) WDW is set up to provide it (unlike many, if not most, hotels along I-Drive). I'd also like to second the idea of convenience and a safer environment. As an adult, I'm not saying that I-Drive is unsafe, but if your 9-year-old gets separated from you, I personally would much rather that happen somewhere at WDW (where there are responsible CMs and other families that will more likely provide help) then someplace on I-Drive.

And I also agree with others, that you won't even come close to getting a sense of "Florida" by staying on I-Drive. Just as I'm always chagrined when foreigners say they've 'seen' the U.S. when they've been to New York & Florida, I think staying on I-Drive gives you a rather distorted view of Florida. Just my opinion.

 

[gilld]

We stayed on I Drive the first time we went to Florida - we didn't know where to stay really. I'm afraid you will condemn me as a snob too, but we thought it was ghastly. I agree that it reminded me of the nastier of the Costa's - I've never been to Blackpool so I can't comment of there! I fully expected to see a "Kiss Me Quick" hat or two and did in fact see the "Union Jack shorts!"

After that stay, we vowed we'd always stay on site in the future, which we have done and ensured this by buying into DVC. But this is how WE view I Drive...if you like it - fine, it doesn't make you a bad person, OR make me a snob!

 

[Hilary]

this is how WE view I Drive...if you like it - fine, it doesn't make you a bad person, OR make me a snob!

I absolutely agree.

And wouldn't life be boring if we all liked exactly the same things all the time?