Family Holidays to Orlando

Lake Buena Vista sits to the west of Orlando Airport and it’s where you’ll find all Disney’s resort hotels, Disney theme parks and waterparks. There are a few other attractions and the area likes to say it’s, ‘more than Disney’, but could just as easily claim, ‘not much more than Disney’. If you’re up for immersion in the brand but want to be within easy reach of other Orlando behemoths like SeaWorld and Universal Studios, Lake Buena Vista should be your first choice.

• Home to Walt Disney World Resort, Disney Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, Disney Coronado Springs Resort, Disney Yacht Club Resort, Disney Contemporary Resort, Disney All-Star Movie Resort and Disney all-Star Music Resort.
• Area for Disney Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, Hollywood Studios and Epcot.
• If you’re immersing yourself in the Disney experience, multi-park family tickets are best value.
• You don’t have to stay at a Disney resort to enjoy Disney, several other brands including Wyndham and Radisson have resorts in Lake Buena Vista. It’s also a good area for self-catering holiday villas and apartments.

Just 25 minutes from Orlando Airport, Kissimmee is a small, friendly city and the best place to base a family holiday if you want to be close to theme parks but not surrounded by them. The choice of accommodation here’s vast and covers everything from five-star resorts to budget apartments and hotels.

• 15 minutes from the Disney parks, International Drive, SeaWorld and Universal Studios
• 20 minutes from Orlando city centre, close to the Florida Turnpike and just over an hour from east coast beaches.
• Excellent local shopping and restaurants but under half an hour from Orlando’s famous outlet malls.
• Shuttle services to all major theme parks and waterparks run from Kissimmee.

South Orlando’s main drag stretches for 17 non-stop, dazzling kilometres. If you can think of a US food chain, it’s here: from the world’s largest McDonald’s to six different varieties of Subway, Taco Bell in triplicate to Sushiology and Starbucks every which way. It’s the highway for outlet malls or designer discount stores and SeaWorld, Madame Tussauds, Coca Cola Orlando Eye, Ripley’s Believe It or Not and Wet ‘n’ Wild are just a few I-Drive’s iconic big ticket attractions.

• One of Orlando’s best areas for families with older kids. Every major brand from Great Western to Hilton, Wyndham, Sheraton and Ramada has at least one enormous resort hotel on International Drive.
• A journey along I-Drive on a cute I-Trolley is a tourist must-do in Orlando.

Take a theme park breather and go visit Downtown Orlando. It’s one of the largest urban centres in the US and the place for museums, science centres, galleries, non-outlet shopping, chic restaurants and some very pretty parks and gardens. Even just walking around for an hour or two is good fun.

• Take a tour and discover Downton Orlando with an expert city guide. Themes include art, food, history and hauntings.

Don’t miss: Orlando Science Centre, Orlando Museum of Art, Mennello Museum of American Art, swan boats on Lake Eola and the Amway Centre.