Amerisuite- Orlando Convention vs. Lake Buena Vista?
 

Which one is the better to stay at? <BR><BR>The Lake Buena Vista Merisuite is located at 4991 Calypso Cay Way in Kissemmee. Closer to Disney but heard there is not much around. But it's newer. <BR><BR>The Orlando Amerisuite is located right next to the Orlando convention Center on Intl Drive. <BR><BR>I plan to have a car and will be in Orlando for 4 days. Visiting Magic Kingdom Epcot and Isle of Adventure.<BR><BR>Which hotel would you recommend?<BR><BR>Thanks. Mickey bound

The Amerisuite on International Drive is in a MUCH, MUCH better location that the one in Kissimmee. This is the south end of Int'l Drive, the GOOD end, and you can walk to everything - shopping, restaurants, etc. It's a very nice area.<BR><BR>I stayed at an Amerisuites in Fort Lauderdale that was simply horrible; hopefully the ones here are better!

Mickey Bound- I can only guess by your name that you are planning to make Disney the focal point of your trip. I would then suggest the LBV Amerisuite for you to stay in. It is practically at Disney property's doorstep. Kissimmee/LBV area is not without much to do. There are restaurants, dinner shows, shopping. Not as bustling as I-Drive perhaps, but not lacking in ambience either. Staying near the mouse is in my opinion the biggest concern. It appears since you are just focused on Amerisuites that you either really like that particular hotel branch or are getting a good room price, because there are far nicer hotels in both LBV and I-Drive that are comparable in price. If you will be going to Disney primarily, stay closer. The distance from I-Drive is small, but I-4 can be a terrible road at all times of the day (bumper-to-bumper, accidents, exits off both the right and left hand sides of the road can also be confusing).

I used to like Amerisuites but it seems that over the past few years they have deteriorated quickly. In the past month Ive stayed at the properties at Houston Hobby (twice) and Tampa. Both had stained carpets, stains of unknown origin on the bedspreads and sofa, etc. Yuck!

International Drive now continues south to Kissimmee so there is no need to get on I-4 to travel from there to Disney, you just head south on I Drive.<BR><BR>Hotel rooms are going really cheap now down here in the Orlando area - I see people getting $35 rates at great hotels on Priceline. If money is an option and you'd like to stay at a better place than Amerisuites, I would check out biddingfortravel.com, the information website for Priceline prices and "awards."

Not that I am trying to be arguementative Celeste, but it can take forever on I-Drive. Most places in Orlando and the surrounding communities are conected without having to travel major highways but you have to factor in time and traffic. It is true that you can take I-Drive all the way south to 536 and take that directly into WDW, but how many traffic lights will you hit on the way? Not to mention all of the drivers on the road (none of which ever seem to know where they are going), and there are also bus stops along this road and pedestrian crosswalk areas, all of which can add a lot of time to the drive. I-4 is the quickest route from I-Drive to WDW, but like I said before, it can be a hassel as well. Another example of the connectivity of Orlando area roads: I go to the University of Central Florida located on Alafaya trail (434), now I can take state road 50 all the way to its intersection with I-4 in downtown Orlando near the TD Waterhouse and proceed down I-4 to WDW. At around 4:00 pm on a friday afternoon this will take me about 1:15 minutes (without any major accident or other disaster to halt my progress). On the other hand I could take the East-West Expressway (408) to the Central Florida Greenway (417) to WDW in about 30 min. The only problem being that I would have to pay $6.00 in tolls to make this trip. It is all a matter of perogative. Would you rather spend more time driving? Or more time having fun at WDW?