villas or hotels

[babalicious]

going to orlando next year and we cant decide whether to go with a villa and a car or hotel and no car? and is there much price difference? there is 4 adults, 2 teens and a 2 year old going!

[vehelpfulguy]

I would say it depends on what theme parks you plan to visit.

If you restrict yourself to Disney only parks then stay at a Disney hotal and take advantage of their transportation.

If you plan to visit non-Disney parks (Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Sea World, West and Wild are the main ones) then you will need a car.

If you want a combination of both then you will also need a car.

Also if you want to go to other places like Busch Gardens, NASA, or some shopping malls, you will also need a car.

Being the USA public transport is not great, although there are buses that travel up international drive, so overall I would go for the car.

[vehelpfulguy]

As you are in the planning stage, think about if you want to do mainly Disney, or the other parks.

Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure are two great parks and are next to each other. There are some great deals for tickets which make them much cheaper than Disney.

Universal also have a link up deal with Sea World and Wet and Wild for joint tickets and you can get a 7 day or 14 day ticket for these 4 parks at a much cheaper rate than the Disney tickets.

Universal also have a deal for 5 parks that also includes Busch Gardens but this is quite a way from Orlando so you may want to give it a miss.

http://www.universalorlando.com/uk/tickets.html

Having said all that Disney's Epcot is a great park and you must go there. It does need 2 days though to see it all.

[vehelpfulguy]

I may get flamed for this, but I would think seriously about taking a 2 year old to Orlando.

They tend to be long hot days in the theme parks, and a 2 year old will not appreciate it all.

There is not much for a 2 year old to do and they can easily get upset and grumpy.

If you want a "disney" type holiday without the hassle go to Port Aventura in Spain.

http://www.portaventura.es/home.asp?pIdi=uk

There is a great, huge theme park, as good as anything in Orlando, plus a great water park, and three really nice hotels.

Plus it is only about a 2 hour flight from the UK.

We have been to Orlando in the past, and Port Aventura last year, and we are going back to Port Aventura again this year.