We are traveling to Orlando in the near future for a couple of days. Any advice on places to stay? In particular we want to go to Universal Studios.

Wanted accomodations where there would be a shuttle so we wouldn't need to drive from park-to-park.

Taking 8 (well-behaved) kids, 6 in high school and 2 in middle school. Looking for activities or ammeneties at the hotels to suit them (play-station, shopping, pool, etc.)

As we won't be spending much time in the rooms, wanted something reasonably priced, however wanted something safe and secure (no outside entrances)

Thanks for the input.

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wanted something reasonably priced, however wanted something safe and secure (no outside entrances)

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In Orlando? hahahahahhhahahaahahahaha

Universal has two resort type properties onsite. We stayed at the Pacific, which had a water taxi to Universal. It also included the tickets to the park that allowed you to move to the head of the line. We have stayed offsite as well a few years back for a trip to Disney, it was in a high rise condo. Booked it through internet offers, it was less expensive but had a few drawbacks. With as many people as you have, I would suggest you look into the homes near the park that are leased by the week. You might save some money that way. They can be found on the intranet also.

We recently went to Kauai and rented a vacation home thru Kauai vacation rentals. Maybe Fl. has something similar. We got a beautiful 2 bedroom, 2 full bath, 2 story place for under $1000.00 for 7 nights. Or buy a Sunday Florida paper, like the Tampa Tribune, and look for hotel bargains in the travel section. We did that once and got a hotel just outside of Disney World for $20.00 per night. The hotel had advertised the deal in the paper. Like you we didn't expect to spend much time at the hotel.

I've been to Universal Studios three times . . . twice in Orlando and once in L.A. It is a lot of fun. As far as hotels, we stayed offsite .. nothing fancy. I also booked mine over the internet.

If we go back, we plan to stay at the Doubletree Club LVB that is at the entrance to Downtown Disney, an entertainment area with all sorts of shops, restaurants, and things to do like movies and a virtual reality center. I think it would be especially good for older kids.

The hotel has a pool, game room, and free shuttles to all Disney parks. The prices looked very affordable especially for the area. Here is a website: http://www.doubletreeclublbv.com/

Also if you belong to AAA auto club, they have a good guide book for Orlando Hotels.

Stay anywhere on International Drive. That way, you can either walk or catch the trolly to many, many points of interest throughout Orlando.

The Portafino at Disney. It has a shuttle to Universal and the hotel is beautiful. Wouldn't stay anywhere else. We absolutely loved it. And the ride over in the boat is great too? Also, the walk isn't bad either!

I've been to Disney five times. Each time we stayed at the Day's Suites just outside the main gate. They have a "super saver" rate that requires you to book 21 days in advance and pre-pay the first three days. The last time we were there (about 4 years ago) the published rate for the suite was $139.00 per night and we got it for $59.00. When I tried to book through the Day's Inn 800 number they quoted me about $99 per night so I called the hotel directly. I told them I would not pay more than $60.00 per night and, after a couple minutes of "discussion" I got the $59 rate I wanted.

It was a three room suite with a kitchenette and room to sleep 6.

Good Luck,

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I stayed at a resort.. dang.. I wish I could remember the name .. anyways, what I'm tryin to say is make sure they don't try to book you into a room that is already occupied.. that happened to us.. thank God.. the people in the room had the security latch on the door.. then after explainin to the man at the desk he refused to believe us so he called the room..and the man on the other end was highly upset...needless to say the front desk man soon realized he was wrong..it was 4am in the morin' ... what a way to start vacation.. LOL.. I would recommend goin to the Arabian Knights. It was wonderful.. it's a dinner and show. If the kids like horses.. they will like this event. Good luck.

We went in 2001 with 5 kids/young adults ages 17-21. We stayed in a vacation home with 4 bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room and private pool for about $1,000 for a week. (Sat - Sat) We had a blast. Orlanda/Kissimee is a very easy area to navigate by vehicle. We rented a full size van for the week, it costed about $500. The main hotel at Universal is the Hard Rock. We enjoyed the vacation home because we could hang out, play games, watch TV, talk, laugh, etc as a group in a home versus all shoved into motel rooms. It worked great and I would recommend it for any larger group. We booked the home with our travel agent.

The suggestions for short-term rentals are ideal as there are lots of fairly local subdivisions that have homes for rent by the week. You could probably use the money you save for a rental car. Be careful with some of the posts shown above - everyone's heart is in the right place, but they're a little confused with some of the hotel names and locations, i.e. Portofino is a Universal hotel not a Disney property. International Drive has a lot of hotels and level II attractions (Disney & Universal being Level I), but depending on where you stay it may not be all that convenient to both Disney and Universal, without a rental car. Florida is a great place to visit - but even better place to live!! Enjoy your vacation here!