Best area to stay during Orlando visit (Disney, Universal, downtown) (Kissimmee: to rent, hotels)

[Frank from Belgium]

We'll (family of 2 adults and 2 kids 13-15years) be visiting Orlando this July but we don't know were to find the best area to find a hotel or resort.
Can anyone assist or advise on the difference between :
International Drive - Lake Buena Vista - Kissimmee?

We are planning on visiting the Disney Resort (Epcot, Magical Kingdom), Universal Studio and dwontown Orlando.

Thanks and hope to get some interesting information.
Frank from Belgium

[infiri]

If you are going to Orlando just to visit disney, why not stay in disney resorts.

Originally Posted by Frank from Belgium

We'll (family of 2 adults and 2 kids 13-15years) be visiting Orlando this July but we don't know were to find the best area to find a hotel or resort.
Can anyone assist or advise on the difference between :
International Drive - Lake Buena Vista - Kissimmee?

We are planning on visiting the Disney Resort (Epcot, Magical Kingdom), Universal Studio and dwontown Orlando.

Thanks and hope to get some interesting information.
Frank from Belgium

[FLABoyJ]

Disney Resorts Most Def

[MotleyCrew]

Originally Posted by Frank from Belgium

We'll (family of 2 adults and 2 kids 13-15years) be visiting Orlando this July but we don't know were to find the best area to find a hotel or resort.
Can anyone assist or advise on the difference between :
International Drive - Lake Buena Vista - Kissimmee?

We are planning on visiting the Disney Resort (Epcot, Magical Kingdom), Universal Studio and dwontown Orlando.

Thanks and hope to get some interesting information.
Frank from Belgium

If you are not staying at the Disney hotels I can throw our hotel in the hat. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn on Westwood Blvd, which is next to Sea World. It is about a 10 min drive to Downtown Disney. We loved it. We saved a chunk of money by staying there and I have to say it was one of the cleanest hotels we stayed at. If you want to do the Disney hotels, the one I enjoyed the most, but not the cheapest, would be the cabins at Ft. Wilderness. My dream vacation is to stay at the Animal Kingdom lodge. It is worth the drive to the lodge just to eat at Jiko's or the other newer restaurant. The food was so different and very good. We watched the African animals graze while we grazed.
For a family visiting the parks the bonus of staying at the Disneyworld resorts would be the shuttle service back and forth and between the different hotels. You can stay at one and go eat at another. Side note: We loved the new Nemo ride and the aquariums they have rival Sea World. Have a good time.

[Crane's Rooster]

As a local, although having never experienced any of the hotels, I would say the best bang for the buck would I-Drive south of Sandlake. The area is very nice, walkable with many amenities, reasonably priced and centrally located. Of course if money is not an issue go for a Disney property for sheer wow factor.

[yohynot]

Universal Resorts are very nice also and less expensive than comparable Disney resorts. If you intend to spend most of your time at the Disney Parks then I agree with other posters that the Disney Resorts are your best bet. Disney does have different levels of resorts but that is all explained on their web site. Also, if you aren't planning to rent a car, Disney has taxis available to hire right at the front entrance of most of their resorts.
I personally would stay far away from Kissimmee because of the traffic congestion. And it is at the west end of all those attractions you mentioned. The furthest from downtown Orlando.
There are nice 'looking' resorts in Lake Buena Vista (non-Disney) too; Bonnet Creek and Cypress Pointe. I've never stayed at those but they look nice and are convenient to all your desired activities.
Have a great holiday!

[annerk]

What are you planning on doing in downtown Orlando?

[Pete C]

I love the Disney resort experience, and if you can afford it my recommendation is Port Orleans French Quarter. It is by far the classiest of the "Moderate" level resorts and compares even to some of the "Deluxe" resorts. Of the Deluxe, they are all very nice, but some are extremely expensive...something like the Polynesian is just so expensive I don't know how people afford it. Anyway, French Quarter is the best bang for the buck and most of the people on Disney forums would agree with either that or the adjoining resort...Port Orleans Riverside. If you want to go with the "Value" level resorts, I would go with Pop Century since it is the newest and was recently refurbished.

I will have to say, Downtown Orlando is a lot of fun, but it is not for kids or teenagers. It is more of a place for adults to party. Church St back in the 80s and 90s was a tourist hot spot with places that catered to all ages, but those days are over. They are opening a new restaurant there with a New Orleans flare that will be something of a throwback to a Church St venue, but the upscale tapas bar Ceviche next door, a swanky nightclub in Bliss, scores of scantily clad drunk 20-somethings walking around, and a cross-dressing hamburger joint across the street...this is probably a spot to avoid with the kids.

There is one place downtown that the family would probably love though, and that is the SAK Comedy Lab downtown at the CityArts Factory. I heard this is a great show for all ages. For a day or evening stroll, try Lake Eola if you want to see a nice part of downtown, but again downtown is more or less a locals spot and caters to people that want to drink, listen to live music, or dance.

[GLS2010]

in Downtown Orlando with teens you could stroll Lake eola park, eat, maybe see something at the bob carr theater or Amway arena, science center, art museum or watch live local music, the night life is for the adults, they have teen night life at Universals city walk.. Another substitution for downtown Orlando could be park ave in winter park. It's a nice quaint place to stroll, shop, eat and sight see (museums, boat tour, etc) Or of course downtown Disney.

Since your going to more places than just Disney, a good place to stay would be International drive, esp south of Sand Lake road. It's centrally located to all the Parks. and has MANY attractions of it's own all along it's corridor.

[FLABoyJ]

GLS makes sense. But question what is your method for traveling around the city? I would say stay downtown that way you get a real excitement of the tourist corridor when you visit.