Orlando recommendations

DJT75

Villa & Car, without a doubt. I'm the last person to want to stay in, ever, but having your own place is a god send at the end of the day, and kids your age would appreciate the space too.

Best trick we did last August was stay 1 night at a Universal hotel halfway through the holiday. It cost £50 per head, but rooms sleep up to 5 and gets you fast passes for 2 entire days (with the exception of 2 Harry Potter rides & King Kong). Get there early, check in, hit Universal with no queuing all day, then have a good drink & meal. Sleep, up early, hit Islands of Adventure all day, no queues, head home. Expensive on top of tickets but worth every penny.

Also, buy Disney passes early & start booking fast passes for rides months before going. There's websites to help you plan days when most quiet periods/days etc. Well worth learning how it all works & to avoid spending all day queuing.

Drive out to Busch Gardens is a good day away from Orlando.

And don't try to walk anywhere, the Disney resort has motorways inside it, everywhere is huge.

And August is hot, I was spending up to $30 a day on ice cold water in the parks for a family of 4

Sebastalona

We went in October '14 and '16, both times arranging a villa through owners direct and getting flights and car hire separately.

I honestly couldn't imagine doing it any other way, so much stuff to see and do. Shopping, eating out etc.

Also, after a long, hot day at the parks, there is nothing like getting back to the villa for a dip in the pool.

We did Universal and all Disney parks the first trip, but we did things a little differently last trip.

We had the villa for two weeks, but we also stayed at one of the Universal resorts hotels which included park tickets and fast passes for duration of stay.

We also drove over to St. Petes on the west coast just outside Tampa and stayed at Tradewinds hotel for two nights for a wee beach break, taking in Busch Gardens in the process.

DJT75

The most important thing said in this thread was to go in the October break. I agree !
For people tied to school holidays this is the smart time to go. Far nicer weather, including better skies to look at ( photography ) , less crowded in the parks, cheaper airfare. To go to Orlando in the summer would be absolutely horrible.

LV426

... hurricanes.

The best time to go is actually February/March. Perfect weather & no risk of hurricanes.

We did 3 weeks last summer in late July/August. It was fine. Very hot but then so is Spain at that time of year. It's summer. Plenty of a/c all over the place to enjoy

Greg Hook

Each to their own, of course.  But I would be unlikely to choose a villa.
IMO, Suite-type hotels do it better; you have some personal space, but you also have common facilities and get to meet others.  
Most importantly though - no one has to bother about any housekeeping.  No beds to make, vacuuming, bathroom cleaning etc..... Just go out and come back later to find it all nice and tidy.  And, in many of them - no breakfast to make either.

rustybin

It's interesting the different viewpoints here.

Personally after spending all day meeting other people, I much prefer going back to your own villa, having a dip in the pool with just a few of you, no other people and relaxing. Also, breakfast in the villa is great, a relaxing breakfast looking out at the pool in the sun before a crazy day in a park with thousands of other people.

You must also be a bit cleaner than me, last time we went to Orlando we did no cleaning or vacuuming during our stay in the villa, just on the very last day to make it a bit tidier.

And making beds during a holiday? No way!

rustybin

Depends on how tough you are I suppose. As I said, I was out there for a month with a 16 month old baby and a 7 month pregnant wife and we had an amazing summer. Doing the same this summer with a 21 month old and 3 year old. Can't wait.

rustybin

You couldn't pay me to do it.

Well maybe you could ........ how much we talkin' 'bout ?

Abbeygoo

The Villa / hotel argument... We tend to do half and half.

We're doing the first 2 weeks in a condo-type holiday complex this year because there are 19 of us going so a big, shared swimming pool seemed like a better idea than getting 3 villas.

bigdan676

Are you any further along with your planning @Abbeygoo?

I bought the wife a $50 Bahama Breeze voucher this morning for Mother's Day. Such a good idea... I'll be eating / drinking at least half of that and I don't need to bother buying her a proper gift.