Folks:
I’m helping a friend with a trip to Orlando, Florida this coming weekend. We would like to find a good hotel with the following characteristics:
- within a 25-minute drive of MCO
- in a neighborhood where it is possible to walk to restaurants, shops, entertainment, etc.
The last time we visited Orlando we stayed near International Drive and were forced to use the rental car all the time.
Separately, is there a good place to take tennis lessons near the recommended hotel?
Thanks in advance for the advice.
I don’t know anything about hotels in Florida, but you can always just plug addresses for ones you are considering into http://www.walkscore.com/.
I’ve heard good things about the Celebration Hotel in Celebration, FL but have never stayed there.
Again a plug for my site… you can check this map http://www.seeyourhotel.com?long=-81.45401000976562&lat=28.45948577120821&zoom=14&locale=en and you can use the search at the bottom left to see what is around the hotel you want. I centered there because there is a tennis place on international drive.
You can also use Google Maps to look for hotels, they have started to show prices and availability for hotels in a limited beta (you may get lucky and have access).
Sorry for pushing my site, I thought it might help.
Downtown Disney sounds like it fits the bill. A consumerist’s wet dream, filled with shops and overpriced restaurants all in walking distance. Google Maps says it’s 20 minutes to MCO.
approximate address: 1780 East Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista, FL
Hi Philip,
Most of Orlando is not conducive to walking. Stay at a hotel downtown near Church Street and Orange Avenue, such as the Grand Bohemian Hotel. Church Street offers a variety of ethnic restaurants and small theatres. You’ll be a mile away from the Orlando Tennis Center on Livingston Street.
Alternatively, if you don’t mind the tourists, stay at any of the many hotels right on International Drive south of Sand Lake Road. The Peabody Orlando is a nice place at the southern end of this stretch; it has four tennis courts on the premises. You’ll be within walking distance of camera shops, an IMAX cinema, and your pick of chain restaurants.
For a still less organic experience, your criteria could also be met by staying on Disney property. They have all manner of restaurants, shops, and entertainment accessible by foot and via their private transportation system. If you do this, stay at the Contemporary Resort.
Phil —
the only humane part of Orlando is Winter Park, really. visitors who only know about I-Drive are pretty shocked to discover it, actually. It’s the ‘oldest’ part of Orlando, and it shows. Very walkable, lots of food options… it’s all very much ‘for the locals’ as its not convenient in any way to all the Disney crap. there’s definitely trendy and gentrified stuff all over, but also lots of good eats, and a whole drag of fantastic Vietnamese joints along Colonial Dr. about three miles off. I eat at Anh Hong every time I’m down from Gainesville.
Anyhow, it’s not the most luxurious sort of hotel, but the location is tremendous, and unlike anything else in Orlando: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=park+plaza+hotel+orlando . you can definitely get to MCO in 25, excepting some weird peak-hours traffic, but that’s certainly true of anything on I-Drive, except from that direction, you can’t find alternate routes. From Winter Park, you have plenty of options. Of course, if your friend can’t navigate, he might get lost easier. But i doubt that.
Also nearby: http://www.leugardens.org/ — outstanding historical botanical gardens. and, 2 miles off, Baldwin Park, a planned new-urbanist community getting built on top of an old USAF training center. It’s a good place, if a bit rough still.
fraid i can’t speak to the tennis, but knowing that part of Orlando, it’s gotta be somewhere nearby.
This suggestion may be near to Downtown Disney, but you can search this location in Google Earth:
S Apopka Vineland Rd and Hotel Plaza Blvd, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32836
East of that intersection, you will see a shopping center near an off-ramp from Interstate 4. There are various chain restaurants in the shopping center, and also a supermarket. There are a couple hotels right there on Apopka-Vineland Road (state highway 535), and other hotels along Hotel Plaza Boulevard. There are sidewalks and I think some provision for pedestrians to cross that route 535.
I think the first hotel along Hotel Plaza Boulevard is the Doubletree, then there are more and more as you walk farther from the shopping center. As you go north from that intersection, it looks less suitable for walking, but you wouldn’t need to wander that far.
Jim W.
If you want to stay downtown, the EO Inn & Spa is on the south side of Lake Eola. Close to lots of great restaurants and shopping. A five minute hike to church street. and 10 minutes from Winter Park.
Hi Phil-
I have been traveling to Orlando about 6 times per year for the past few years. If you want something typical, the Embassy Suites on pine avenue is a fine place. It usually runs about $180 per night.
If you want something different, there is a bed and breakfast called the Courtyards of Lake Lucern that I’ve stayed at 3 times now and it’s where I’ll likely keep going.
It’s not fancy at all, and it’s old school and antique like. One of the rooms has a claw-foot bathtub right next to a queen bed. But, they have comfortable beds and great water pressure in the shower, which is about the only thing I care about. It’s a small family owned place, they give out a carafe of wine each night, have free wifi, and have a business travelers rate of $89/night.
If you just need a place to sleep and shower, it’s the place I’d go with.