Where to Stay?
Nicole Simon has asked where should she stay? Downtown Orlando or at one of the Disney hotels? For those not familiar with the area, Disney is not Orlando :-) Walt Disney World is about a 15-20 minute drive from downtown Orlando (depending on traffic).
The events on Thursday and Friday will be taking place in the downtown/Winter Park area, while Saturday and Sunday are at Disney. Perhaps poor planning on my part, but finding a cool meeting location that offers free wifi like Rollins and is close to the parks is difficult.
One option is to pick a location and stay there the entire time, the other is to switch hotels for the weekend. Switching hotels might be tough to do though. Here are the pros/cons:
Downtown
Pro - close to the action on Thursday/Friday
Pro - cheaper hotel rates
Pro - Might be able to car-pool to Disney
Pro/Con - You have to drive to Disney on Sat/Sun but it's weekend traffic
Con - You miss some 'on property' Disney benefits
Con - driving anywhere after a long day at the the parks
Disney
Pro - close to the parks for the weekend
Pro - 'on property' benefits
Con - you have to drive to downtown during rush hour for event
Those that are coming in with family might want to coordinate hotel stays that way you can benefit from car-pooling and shared baby-sitting resources :-)
What else am I missing? Feel free to comment away.
Comments
Favorite hotels for me are the Grand Bohemian in downtown or Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. The former is good is you have no kids, the latter if so. But both are pricey. Less expensive options are any of the Disney All-Star hotels, or possibly the Rosen Plaza or Centre hotels on I-Drive. For something a little different, try the EO Inn in downtown Orlando or the Thurston House in Maitland.
Posted by: Bob | July 26, 2006 08:07 AM
How about the 'in case you don't have a car, you can take ...' option? I know, not a favorite with Americans. ;) ;)
But are there at least possibilities towards disney?
That would make it easier to arrive there (there must be some?!)
I expect to be switching hotels anyhow, so I probably would be leaning towards a saturday morning switch to a hotel nearer disney with shuttle service.
[The reason why I favorizing Holiday Inns is simply because I do have status with them - and by the time of Orlando even Platinum. I might be able to check in early and then go to the park or such. ]
Posted by: Nicole Simon | July 26, 2006 11:01 AM