Orlando!

Font22

Hi everyone!

Need some urgent advice! Just booked flights to Orlando with 4 of my friends and now we are on the hunt for accommodation! Any suggestions? Should we go for a villa/house or a hotel? Anyone know the best place to stay if you want to be near restaurants, nightclubs etc?

Thanks in advance,

Font22!

rossie1977

international drive has lots of restaurants and some bars, it is also home to most of the attractions outside of disney e.g seaworld, wet and wild, universal (which is about 1 mile west), shopping malls, convention center etc

for the best bars and clubs you would want to head downtown but thats about 10 miles from I-Drive and about 25 miles from Disney and also not very safe in parts especially at night. universal has a area with bars and clubs that gets very busy on friday/sat and sunday nights but its quiet during the week, disney has a similiar setup

the cheaper hotels on i-drive e.g rodeway international http://www.rodewayinnorlando.com/ and http://www.orlandoqualityinn.com/ often have rooms for about $40 (which sleep 2-4 people)

Berty

I can tell you where we stayed which was a nice suites hotel. I earn miles in these hotels so its really why I selected it.

I booked through American holidays so you dont have to pay the surcharged like other guests.

It was the Staybridge suites on I-Drive. I personally did not like I-drive. It was long and spread out with little bars or clubs to speak of. One welsh pub, one Irish pub and one English pub(overpriced).

We always said we would stay in a Disney Luxury Villa in a gated community next time because we dont drink much anyway so needing to be near those places means nothing to us. Take a trip to Wallmart or the local licquor store and stock up.

Restaurant recommendation in I-drive. A must is Cafe Tu Tu Tango down by the upside down building. They have a chocolate calzone desert which will make you want to go back again and again. Valet is nice as well and always a bonus for us paddys.

archer9

Was quite happy with the Holiday Inn Express at Buena Vista (it's their property closest to Disney World). The biggest benefit was that they had a (hearty!) breakfast buffet. Nothing like waffles, muffins, and has browns to start the day.

But remember you should pick a hotel that's close to the places you want to visit because transportation is somewhat inconvenient... there isn't even an airport shuttle going into the city!

Berty

On the transportation.

Disney does have coachs which travel to hotels on I-drive shuttling people to the parks and are fairly frequent.

There is also an I-drive shuttle bus which is running constantly up and down International drive which BTW is an expansive area.

We saw many many people waiting for bus's when holiday companies strongly recommened you hire a car because everything is spread out.

My brother tried to do Orlando and the surrounding areas without a car. 4 days into the holiday he was in a Hertz office handing over the credit card.

greenman09

We are going in june. Stayin in int drive hotel and spa. Seems nice from pics we see on net. Not sure of price. Will they take deposit on arrival (damages charge or somethin)? And can anyone recommend any cheap car hire agencies

Berty

Greenman.

Like most hotels they will ask for a credit card to take a pre authorisation. They put a hold for a few hundred dollars and when you check out and everything is ok then they release the hold(which can take up to 7 working days).

I hired my car from US Car Hire which is a UK company. You will have to pay in £'s but the benefit is the exchange rate and you will save money. They book you car either through Dollar or Alamo. http://www.uscarhire.co.uk/

I booked a Mondeo/Vectra sized car but when I got there I was given a Chrysler 300c which is their most expensive luxury vehicle for the money of the Mondeo. You can be lucky. I was then upgraded to a suite in our hotel. NICE!

You might also peruse http://www.arguscarhire.ie

BUT You should Phone Avis in Cork as their website said my upcoming car rental in Australia would be €300+ and they got me the same car over the phone for €176

1890 40 50 60 Make sure you ring during office hours because outside office hours you get Dublin Airport and they will not give you the same rates as Corks head office reservations team.

Font22

Thanks for all the advice guys! I think we've decided on a condo in a gated resort on International Drive. Am I correct in saying that you think we should still get a car? Hopefully the place isnt too expensive!

Berty

Font22 wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice guys! I think we've decided on a condo in a gated resort on International Drive. Am I correct in saying that you think we should still get a car? Hopefully the place isnt too expensive!

You MUST get a car unless you want to be stranded. As you are in a self catering condo you will have to make trips to the local Walmart. Im am SOOOO Jealous as they sell Cherry Coca Cola and Cherry Pepsi and amongst other things Lays Crisps.

Use a good booking agent or like mentioned above call Avis direct.

Avis direct or http://www.arguscarhire.ie or http://wwwuscarhire.co.uk are the only ones I would consider.

It sounds like you will be down the end of I-Drive right down past Wet N Wild and near the Outlet Mall which we managed to spend a LOT of money.

Font22

Thanks Berty! Yeah thats where we will be, going to check out Avis now and pick a car! I am sooooooooo excited! Have exams before we go so this is something to look forward to!!

Berty

Too right you should be. People on Tripadvisor forums have been arguing lately about people putting up their countdowns as threads but its all because they are truly excited.

The OH and myself were going through our holidays snaps for days behind us and the 2006 pictures came up. This picture is a scanned picture before we invested in a digital camera. It shows Hurricane Alberto when it slammed into Florida. We were in Universal Studios at the time.



Lets hope you have better weather than us in 2006. I was on I-Drive a few weeks ago for "Nafem", an exhibition in the convention centre and the weather was glorious and I managed to get the boss into Cafe Tu Tu Tango. A must in my opinion.

Dont just browse Avis because the prices the online site give you are higher than what you get when you phone up because the office based staff will put on AWD Codes and Promotion rates that you will not have.

Ring them in the morning. With Avis you pay on arrival and not in advance so if you turn up and some other have signs up advertising amazing deals then you simply dont show up at the desk.

Im an Avis Preffered member so I have preferential rates due to the amount of times I use them so I wouldnt go to anybody else.


Check out my ticker for my excitement. 23 days 11 hours 43 minutes to my flight to Australia

Ms Inquisitive

Trying to chose a vila to rent (5 bedrooms), any recommendations of location or websites?

Thanks!

Berty

5 Bedroom Disney Area Home is €109 per night per home(not per person) in the highest season.

I have used American Holidays many times as their hotel/condo/home rates are very competitive and they do not charge a commission or payment for booking your flights.

They are a Dublin based company.

http://edition2a.intellimag.com/?id=amholsflorida09

http://www.americanholidays.com

Ms Inquisitive

Thanks was working in Google for a while but way too many options out there. I suppose I need to figure what location we might like to be near in Orlando first!

niamh4626

Check out www.xfactorvilla.com It is literally 10 minutes from Disney, Plus, if your getting a car, it doesnt really matter where you stay............

Ms Inquisitive

Looks great.

Kissimmee, is this close to Universal Studios? In time?

Also, what is the nightlife like around Orlando?

risteard85

Ms Inquisitive wrote: »

Looks great.

Kissimmee, is this close to Universal Studios? In time?

Also, what is the nightlife like around Orlando?

Kissimme is about 10-15 minutes from Universal, straight down the I-4. I lived in Kissimmee and found it best as it was so near everything. Orlando itself is not great about 30-40 minutes from Kissimmee. Nightlife wise the clubs are scattered and mostly in the side streets, none really in the 'middle' of orlando. Kissimmee is also about 15 minutes from the airport which is great. I rented a car from EZcar which was excellent and had just come straight from the dealer(08):D They were quite cheap too! I have their number if anyone is interested!

Nightwish

I've booked a villa in Kissimmee for my holiday in 3 weeks time. We've taken on board the advice and hired a car too. I found the site http://www.carrental8.com to be very useful.

tannytantans

Hiya

Juat to say I've been to Orlando 8 times and I'm going back this December and I've never rented a car. Always relied on the free shuttle buses from hotels and the i-ride trollies and I've never had a problem. We've gotten the occassional taxi but not too expensive. My family have always been very nervous about driving in the US and my dad gets very stressed from driving!!So a car isn't totally necessary.

Also IMO International Drive is the best location to stay. There are so many other attractions nearby and it has excellent restaurants as well.

niamh4626

Ms Inquisitive wrote: »

Looks great.

Kissimmee, is this close to Universal Studios? In time?

Also, what is the nightlife like around Orlando?

Yeah, it is a fab house if I do say so myself.

It has been used until last month as the showhome (model-home as the americans call it) for the development by the developers which shows the standard of furniture and finish of it.

Now its available all year round for holiday rentals, I'm going over there myself in September and I cant wait!!!!

Dont hesitate to contact the details on the website or PM me if you require further details

risteard85

niamh4626 wrote: »

Yeah, it is a fab house if I do say so myself.

It has been used until last month as the showhome (model-home as the americans call it) for the development by the developers which shows the standard of furniture and finish of it.

Now its available all year round for holiday rentals, I'm going over there myself in September and I cant wait!!!!

Dont hesitate to contact the details on the website or PM me if you require further details

Been looking at this villa as I am heading over for 3 weeks in August and I know the area really well. I lived about 5 minutes from the actual villa at TRC another gated community. I dont think I fancy paying $4,179 just on accomodation though!:eek: but its magnificent - fab pool and in a nice quiet area.

niamh4626

Well as stated in the advert on the bottom of all my posts, boards.ie members can get special discounts.

For instance, if you are interested in taking it in August for three weeks, I will do a three for two offer - Three weeks for the price of two - I cant get much fairer than that!!!!

Just PM me if you have any other questions or need further information!!!:)