Orlando-Best Family Hotel`
 

Im looking for a family friendly hotel. We'll be going to Epcot and Animal Kingdom.
I have a 6 yr old daughter.

Thanks!

I am not sure what your budget is. Or how long you will be staying. Or what time of year. Or if you are renting a car. Or.......I can ask a million questions.

I have been to WDW 5 times and for me I
will only stay on Disney properties. I just perfer it. I have had excellent service at all of their price points and they are definitely kid and family friendly. I like it because you are right in the 47 square miles of WDW and can take their transport everywhere. It has always been reliable for us. We do not rent a car when we go because we are only doing WDW stuff. Last year I guess we did rent a car for one day and went to Universal, but we were disappointed there.

We have stayed at the Contemporary (very expensive) and Disney's Port Orlean's French Quarter. We liked that because my husband and I could jump right on the Sassagula River boat and hop right over to Pleasure Isle. And for buses it is pretty centrally located.

My boss and family as well as our office manager have stayed at the All star resorts. Definitely very kid and family oriented. They always go there, we will try it next trip. You can get rates there around $90 a night maybe less if you get a special.

Also if you stay on property you can get into the parks a little earlier and stay a little later on certain days. I think the whole thing is very convienent for us and we like that.

Fodors has an Orlando book with all kinds of info on Hotels and all the parks that I have found indespensible while I planned my trips and made my decisions. Also Birnbaums has a good book on WDW. They complimented eachother. You can probably get a copy used or check it out in the library if you do not want to purchase them. Not sure if it's a first time there for you or not you didn't say.

Okay so I should stop babbling maybe until I get some feedback from you???
Have fun. We are jealous!! I would go every year if we could. :D

Staying at a Disney property is a great option.

If you stay elsewhere, I like the Homewood Suites on International.

www.wdwinfo.com and www.mousesavers.com will both have discount codes for Orlando area resorts.

We love Disney's All-Star Movies for kids. Great theming. We've also stayed at the Holiday Inn Maingate East and liked that.

Have you been to these parks before? The Epcot World showcase offers a "Kidcot" program at each country's area. The kids get a paper mask (free) at the first nation they stop at and they can add a decoration to it at each country as they go around. You can also have them stamp a notebook (or you can buy a special "passport" there for about $11)at each country pavillion. My daughter thought it was fun.

A neat and inexpensive souvenir at Epcot is available at the China pavillion. You can buy an inexpensive fan in the gift shop (around $5) and they'll write your daughter's name on it in Chinese for free. My daughters loved this. My daughters also loved seeing the Chinese acrobats which are also children.

Animal Kingdom has a kids Discovery club stations throughout the park where the kids do an activity or craft.

We're going early June around June11 week. We'll be there for 7 days. I am looking for a hotel within $100-$150/night. I thought it would be nice to stay in a hotel with slides, etc. Thanks for your reply.

I think I'd feel trapped in Disney hell if I stayed on-site after roaming the place all day. Plus, most of their hotels are a further shuttle ride away than some of the off-site properties, with long waiting lines. The La Quinta is a good family choice, you could even afford 2 rooms there and fall within your budget. Great play area, displayed on their website I believe. (This used to be the Sheraton Lakeside, so if you search for reviews you might find more under its old name.)

I am not sure how expensive the Port Orleans at Disney is, but this was a great family hotel and has a neat pool with a slide that you come down the dragon's tongue...Something like that. They have a food court right on property which is great for the morning coffee or afternoon mac and cheese! We also liked the Hilton WDW resort. It does not have a pool with a slide, but a nice pool. All the Disney hotels and the Downtown Disney hotels are close to the parks. You can be at any one of them in a few minutes. My girls also did that Epcot tour where they had a mask. They enjoyed that very much.

Port Orleans, French Quarter and River
Side are about $149 a night. I believe that, oh geepers, the name just went right out of my head....the hotel with the Mayan Ptramid a the pool. That one is also in the same price range. It more caters to business travels I believe. Not a popular spot for kids I heard. It starts with a "C". Coronodo Springs??? I could be wrong about that name. It dives me nuts when I can't remember stuff like that.

I forgot about the masks, yes that was very cute. We liked the "passports"

I have gone in June before, definitely crowded. We have been going down in October, nice weather not to hot and less crowds. As for the long lines for transportation we did not really have that problem. And the couple of times there was a long line they moved quickly. If I couldn't get on the first coach another came along quickly. If you are traveling from resort to resort though you should allow an hour and a half to travel. We always followed that rule, and we only needed that amount of time once. We were going from our hotel (Port Orleans) to the Polynesian.

If you want all you can get out of your vacation, make it easy on yourself and stay on Disney property. Many resorts fit in your budget. It is not Disney Hell as someone else stated. The hell is the rest of the traffic in Orlando. Go to Disney, stay at Disney and enjoy. Just plan plenty of spending money. $100/day for cheap eats minimum. Its the DISNEY way! You'll enjoy it so much more if you are prepared with how much money you are going to spend. I heard the average family of 4 goes to Disney once every four years and spends $4300. Wow!

You may find it cheaper to stay off of Disney property, and you can still enjoy the whole Disney experience. Kissimmee which is right next to Orlando and only about 3 miles from the Disney area, offers some really good priced hotels. The Sleep Inn Maingate is one that comes to mind. They even offer free shuttle service to the Disney parks so that you don't have to rent a car, or have to deal with traffic. Oh, and they offer complimentary continental breakfast which has phenomenal homemade waffles...yummy!

I forgot to post their website:
http://www.sleepinnorlando.com