Area recommendations?

[JuneWhitfieldshandbag]

Trip planning for Florida next year, early July. Still in the very early stages.
We are two mid 50 adults, never been before.

Will do 10 nights in Orlando and then 4/5 nights over in/near Clearwater. Possibly just Disney parks as not huge thrill ride fans but not discounted Universal altogether yet.

I’ve already priced up staying onsite at Disney and doing the dining plan.

But want to compare it to staying offsite in an Airbnb apartment, factoring in Ubers/shopping/eating out.

Can anyone recommend which zones/areas/resorts would be good to stay. Walking distance to a few restaurants/shops for supplies. Also ones close enough to say Disney/Epcot that the uber prices won’t be too much (literally have no idea what to expect on that!)

I’m looking on Airbnb and there’s so many to choose from I feel I need help narrowing it down a bit.

We only want a room/studio with some basic cooking/fridge facilities. A pool for downtime would be nice if available.

We stayed at the Vista Cay apartments (the new side). Lovely apartments. Pools. 5 minute walk from
a Publix supermarket, Chipotle, Burger place, Pizza place.

Ubers to both Disney and Universal were between 10-20 dollars depending on the time of day. That was for XL size as we are family of 5.

I highly recommend Universal, unless you are a Disney Adult, I think the universal parks have much more to offer!

How exciting.

We have a DVC (Disney Vacation Club) contract so we always stay on site. These offer hotel rooms, studio, 1/2/3 bed villas. If you want to stay in "the bubble" and are fairly open on expense then these may be a good option. You can rent these properties at different places, but we use (to rent out our points)

https://dvcrequest.com/dvc-guests/cost-calculator#how-much-does-it-cost-section

We stay at OKW because it is more relaxed (and also the cheapest and biggest rooms and villas). You'd get the benefit of staying at a luxury resort so early entry (30 mins) at all parks and late evenings (2 hours) typically once a week at MK and Epcot, and of course free transportation within WDW. Ubers to Publix are cheap.

Staying at a villa onsite or offsite allows us to travel with carry on luggage only. We pack a minimum of clothes and use the washing facilities in the villa. Cooking a large lunch in our villa helps us save a lot of money eating and drinking in the parks. For your first trip you may like to experience all the restaurants in WDW.

Other suites outside of WDW are also available (search suites Orlando) and will be cheaper, closer to USO/Sea World/Discover Cove, etc.

Enjoy.