My best friends from high school days (we are now early 50 somethings ladies)...are planning a quick weekend in Orlando, next weekend. We would like a nice hotel within walking distance of City Walk. We do not plan to visit attractions at Disneyland.

We hope to do a day trips possibly to Sarasota and maybe somewhere else. Need suggestions of where to stay in Orlando (one of the ladies just moved to Melbourne)this is why we chose Orlando as our base...we want some fun nightlife for our age group and walking distance to the hotel in the evenings instead of driving..

Please help with our weekend trip. Suggestions from all.

Patrick, if you see this you seem to know Florida pretty well.

Thanks so much

http://www.orlandocity.com/orlando-hotels.php
Try this site, Ive used it to resesearch
orlando hotels in the past

If you want to be within walking distance of Citywalk, you need to stay at one of the on-site Universal Orlando hotels. Your choices are Portofino Bay, Hard Rock Hotel and Royal Pacific Resort. I have stayed at all three and you cannot make a mistake. They are all great. The Hard Rock is the shortest walk to Citywalk. However, all of the hotels are walkable (less than 10 minutes on a lovely, landscaped path) to Citywalk and there are "water taxis" to take you there as well.

I would go to hotelkingdom.com and see if there are any good rates for these hotels next weekend. Rates next weekend might be high because of Martin Luther King Holiday on Monday, January 19th. You can also call 1-800-23-loews and ask about any specials. They offer AAA rates, as well as Entertainment Rates (you need to show an Entertainment Card - does not have to Orlando. You local Entertainment Book is fine.)

There is a lot of good information at disboards.com. Click on Universal Resorts - tons of info there.

Good luck and have fun!

I just checked hotelkingdom.com for you for next weekend. There are some pretty good rates available:

Royal Pacific $151
Hard Rock Hotel $175
Portofino Bay $199

To Antmaril....thank you so much. I know nothing about Orlando. Should we stay in that area since most of the day we will be driving to other areas, i.e. Sarasot or Bradenton Beach. We want to stay in a nice area, use the pool in the morning and a fun lounge at night.

Any other thoughts before we book?

Thanks so much again.

Floridabound:

Yes, I think you will like this area. The hotels are beautiful. Lots of good restaurants and nightlife. We stayed at the Royal Pacific in July and we are going again in February. This hotel is the least expensive of the three, but it is really a beautiful resort. There is an Emeril's restaurant (Tschop Chop) which is great. By the way, there is another Emeril's at Citywalk. The hotel has a tropical feel and the pool area is very nice. The Portofino Bay Hotel is another favorite. The deluxe rooms here are really something. The bathrooms are huge. There are two pools - the Beach pool (with slide) and the Villa Pool (quiet and more adult oriented). The Portofino Bay hotel is very quiet and relaxed. The hotel can be very busy, but yet, it's calm. It could be perfect for your group.

With regard to going to Sarasota or Bradenton from Orlando - I think that is quite a drive - at least two hours. I'm not sure I would stay in Orlando, if my plan was to go back and forth to Sarasota.

However, if you are looking for a nice area to spend a couple of days, this would definitely fit the bill.

If you want to do some upscale shopping, the new Mall at Millenia is less than 10 minutes from the Universal area. We enjoyed exploring this new mall and had a great lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.

If you have more questions, I will try to answer.

Enjoy!

To Antmaril:

Well, I tried calling the 3 resorts you mentioned and they were booked or the price was very high. We ended up choosing the Crowne Plaza a couple of miles away. Have you seen that hotel? It's only a couple of years old and looks nice enough for the couple of days we'll be intown.

Maybe your right and we should just stick to staying around the Orlando area. I've been to Sarasota and although, I love that area, it may be too far to drive for the day and back. I'm sure there is plenty to keep us busy right in Orlando.

Thanks again to all for all your advice.