Accommodation recommendations for Florida

[Iwaswatchingthat]

We would like to go next year - please can anyone recommend a fab place to stay with a 9 and 8 yo (as they will be then). We will be doing the parks, but also want days in between to rest and have fun.

I am open to either Disney hotels or international drive, but don't fancy a villa.

Thanks very much.

why not a villa? we have stayed in 2 great ones with lovely pool etc and saved a fortune on these in comparison to Disney hotels. sunset lakes was lovely and I can send you details of the other one if you like.

We have stayed in Disney's Polynesian Resort a few times, and are going back in August! It's wonderful, you just take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom or Epcot, and the bus or car to the other parks. It feels like a real tropical holiday. You can watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks every night from the beach.

Also, if you book at the right time you can also get the Disney Dining Plan free, which is a fantastic offer.

Thanks that place sounds fab - I will look into.

Mummymeister - just not keen on a villa as do not want to cook, clean, keep tidy etc. on holiday. I love it when the maid makes the bed etc. thanks for offer of info though.

We stayed in port Orleans French quarter. It's one of Disneys moderate hotels. For two weeks in August (minus flights) which included park tickets and upgrade to dining plan, free shuttle to parks was just over 3k. It is nearer downtown Disney which is a boat ride away.
It was fab, very clean and have not heard a bad report about it. Lots of friends have been.

Thanks millie that sounds more in our price range tbh.

If you want the advantages of a villa (kitchen for breakfast stuff and separate bedrooms) but also the advantages of staying on property, I'd look into renting DVC points from a DVC owner. DVC is Disney's timeshare operation and there have studios, one bedroom apartments and two bedroom apartments at various locations like the Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas, Wilderness Lodge Villas (where we own!), Boardwalk Villas next to Epcot, Old Key West and a number of others. You don't get the perks of free dining though you can still buy the Disney Dining Plan, but you can often get a really nice apartment at a deluxe resort for the price of a moderate Disney resort.

If you look on the Dibb you'll find lots of British owners looking to rent their points or if you want the security of going through an established company, there's David's Disney Vacation Club (he rents owners points for them- has a great reputation).

The drawback is that you need to rent points way in advance- as close to 11 months before your trip as possible because they get booked up very quickly, and once you have booked, most owners won't let you make any changes to dates. You also don't get housekeeping, just a change of towels on the third or fourth day and a full clean after 7 days.

We spent our honeymoon at the Wilderness Lodge and loved it so much that we went back every couple of years. Our kids are 8 & 11 now and it's getting to be a bit of a squash so we've moved onto DVC- absolutely love the DVC resorts!

We stayed in disneyland Animal Kingdom lodge which was great. As already said, included was the free dining plan and transport and early/ late park entry. The lodge has a massive pool/ beach area and is based in a safari park so you can watch the animals from your room.
It is further away from most of the Disney parks but they still only took 20 mins on the bus.

We stayed in a condo at a complex when we went - best of both worlds as you have your own space to relax but also facilities and entertainment on site. I'm not going to recommend the one we stayed at as the apartment was rather basic, but some friends stayed at the Blue heron complex and highly recommended it - close to Disney as well but not as pricey as the Disney accommodation.

I feel international drive isn't as good as staying in a villa
We stayed on this housing estate in a friends villa not this actual one but same as
www.homeaway.co.uk/p158138
Its 20-40 mins to Disney depending on which park
We found it good to see some of the real America locally nice small town of Claremont has a hospital with A&E and resturants etc also has a national park with lake nearby, Massive Walmart is 3 miles away, oh you must drive to have a Villa

Check out Lake Buena Vista resort and spa. Have stayed there twice now - 10 min drive from Disney and huge suites, fully fitted kitchen etc. main problem with Florida is that the food is rubbish. At least with self catering, you can make some healthy meals and take a picnic to the parks. You don't need to stay at a Disney resort to get the best out of the parks. They key is to get to the parks early, as they open preferably.

We've stayed at Port orleans French quarter and Animal kingdom lodge. They're both great. Definitely try to get the free dining plan if you can, it'll save you loads. There are lots of perks of staying onsite- free transport (love the boat from POFQ to downtown disney), free dining plan, free refillable mug, being able to send any purchases in the parks to the hotel for free so you don't have to carry them around, extra magic hours etc.

Thanks for all the advice.