Other hotels in Orlando

Orlando is not only Walt Disney World, and many travellers work that out partway through the trip. A week that combines the Disney parks, Universal and a day at the Kennedy Space Center is not booked the same way as a week given entirely to Disney.

Four areas, four logics

Lake Buena Vista, right up against the Disney gates, is still the most practical: about ten minutes by car to the park lots, and Disney Springs within walking distance or close to it. Bonnet Creek, a private enclave surrounded by Disney property, has upscale properties and fireworks views. One caution, though: "in Bonnet Creek" does not mean "with Disney benefits", since only some hotels in the enclave appear on the official early entry list.

The Universal Orlando area suits anyone splitting the week between the two resorts. Some Universal hotels include ride access privileges that change a park day completely; your advisor will tell you which ones and on what dates. International Drive concentrates the restaurants, the shops and the convention centres, about twenty minutes' drive from Disney.

Finally, Kissimmee and Davenport, further south, are full of houses and condos with private pools. For an extended family or two families travelling together, that is often the option that holds up, provided you accept thirty-five minutes on the road morning and evening.

What to add to the calculation

Staying off property changes three things. You need a rental car, or near enough, and therefore daily parking at the Disney and Universal parks. Many Orlando hotels charge a resort fee that does not show in the price displayed online, so ask for the total. And no off-property hotel gives thirty minutes of early entry or the extended evening hours at the Disney parks.

In exchange you gain space, a kitchen, the freedom to spend an afternoon at the beach, and the option of combining several resorts in one week without moving hotels.

Flamingo Crossings, the western gate few Quebecers know

Six addresses in this area appear on our site, all Marriott and Hilton flags built around a town centre, at the western exit of the resort by Western Way. You reach Walt Disney World without crossing Lake Buena Vista or Highway 192, which changes the shape of a morning headed for Magic Kingdom Park.

Most of these hotels run a free shuttle to the Disney parks. The detail that decides: seats are limited, they are reserved twenty-four hours before the departure you want, and they go first come, first served. A family counting on one without booking it ends up driving.

Suites with a kitchenette are the rule here rather than the exception. Over a ten-day stay with two children, that is where the gap opens, not on the room rate.

Bonnet Creek: two addresses out of three have early entry

The Bonnet Creek enclave is surrounded by Disney property, yet the address alone grants nothing. Disney's official list for the thirty-minute early entry names Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek and Waldorf Astoria Orlando. Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek, their immediate neighbour, is not on it.

Three hotels side by side, two different regimes. That is the gap a booking engine never shows, and it is paid in queue time on the first morning.

The Universal hotels: the benefit that changes the day

Guests of the Universal Orlando hotels get in up to an hour before opening, at all four parks of the complex. An hour, where Disney grants thirty minutes.

Three addresses — Loews Portofino Bay, Hard Rock Hotel and Loews Royal Pacific — also include Universal Express Unlimited access for the whole stay and for everyone in the room. The operator spells out the limit: that access is valid at neither Volcano Bay nor Epic Universe. The other hotels in the complex do not include it.

Transport is included, and several hotels reach the parks on foot or by boat. A week that combines both complexes is then planned the other way around: you sleep where the benefit weighs most for the busiest part of the stay.

What your advisor checks before booking off property

Four things, always the same. Whether the hotel is truly on Disney's official list, because proximity grants nothing. What the shuttle serves, how often, and whether it must be reserved. The resort fee and the parking charge, both absent from the price shown online. And whether the room has a real kitchenette, which decides a family's food budget far more than the hotel's category does.

A hotel in the Universal Orlando Resort area.

The choice of area weighs more than the choice of hotel: it is what decides how many hours you spend in the car during the week. Tell your Magic Creator which parks you want to see and for how many days, and let them do the arithmetic.

Write to us at createursdemagie@voyagesaquaterra.com or call 450-628-6241, toll-free 1-866-628-6241. Quotes are free, and so is the advice.