I have seen similar rates for the Crowne Plaza Universal and the Radisson Universal for September.

I understand the Radisson is opposite Universal and the Crowne Plaza about a mile away just off I-Drive.

Is one hotel much better than another in terms of location and facilities nearby? We will have a car for use in the day if necessary but would like to be near bars, restaurants etc for the evenings.

Any advice gratefully received.

Dave, Last fall I went to Orlando to check out nine hotels to have a ship's reunion in. The Crowne Plaza Universal suited our needs the best and we will be there in September. It is in a good location, it's new, and the staff was very friendly. If you don't wan't to drive in the immediate area you can use the "I Ride" trolley that goes by the hotel and travels along Universal and International drives. Restaurants and a dinner theater are in walking distance.

If you are planning to go to the Universal Theme Parks, you might want to consider staying on-site at Universal. The on-site hotels offer Front of the Line access to the rides at both Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. This is a great perk!

We had a very nice room at the Royal Pacific Hotel at the Entertainment rate of $110 per night. Beautiful hotel, front of the line access and walkable to the theme parks and Citywalk.

Just my two cents.

I also agree with staying onsite if you are going to spend most of your time at the citywalk/universal areas. Look up citywalk on line, there is clubs/bars/restaurants there for some nightlife. http://themeparks.universalstudios.c...alk/index.html

there is the link....

I stayed at the Radisson once, took about 15 min to walk there...depending on the redlight there at intersection. (big 6 lane hwy)... its safe during day but if u go out at night, u may not want to chance it going back a lil tipsy...

thats my 2 cents

Thank you for the info.

I have considered the on-site hotels and tried to justify spending three times as much for a room compared to the off-site ones. It's part of a two-week Florida fly-drive holiday and the costs mount up rapidly as it is.

The Radisson sounds very convenient if it's only 15 mins away from Universal. How does it's location compare to the things that are near to the Crowne Plaza in terms of eats, drinks etc?

I dont know exactly where the crown plaza is located or whats near there. Also, I think the raddison has some charter buses that run from the hotel to the main gate of universal/citywalk...most hotels do down there. umm, there is a bennigans/fridays in the shopping centre where the radisson towers are located....Radisson is actually two indentical 20 something stories building.

Dave,
have you looked into PriceLine?

I noticed that The Radisson (3*)has had rates on PL for less than $30

Maybe this way you could save some money and be able to stay a few nights on grounds

Look at www.biddingfortravel.com

They also have a resort level hotel that uses PL