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Please help me with planning a trip to Orlando
Hi all,
I posted here not too long ago asking when it was best to take a vacation to Orlando, and everyone told me to choose October out of my choices. I am now starting to look into planning a vacation in October for my H and I. This would be our last trip before TTC, so I want it to be a really fun trip. The theme parks that I would like to go to are Disney and Universal, but I have no clue where to even begin in planning this trip.
If it's just my H and I, where should we stay? I just tried to look up hotels and I was overwhelmed. I'm trying to keep the hotel budget low so that we can spend money at the parks and on other things. I would like to spend $100 or less a night on a room as we would probably be staying for 5 or 6 nights. I'd like a hotel that has at least a decent pool. I was even thinking about maybe splurging and staying at one of the really fun Disney hotels for one of the nights, but I'm not sure if that would be too much of a hassle.
So basically, any hotel recommendations and any other information about Orlando would be appreciated! Restaurant recs, things to see, info about the theme parks, I'd love to hear it all! TIA 
Re: Please help me with planning a trip to Orlando
In terms of hotels - I'm not a huge help. I've only stayed at Disney hotels - but they are affordable. They have the 4 value resorts that can be under $100 per night. I would definitely look into those. If you stay on Disney property you will have access to Disney's extra magic hours at the parks, free transportation to and from the parks (and the airport), and can participate in their dining program....among other things. I haven't stayed at the value resorts, but I have friends who have and they enjoyed their visits. If you stay off of Disney property then you would have to pay for parking each day - it is transferable, park to park - but it would add up on a daily basis.
We've taken a cab from Disney property to Universal - not cheap, but definitely worth it since we didn't have to pay to park, worry about directions, etc etc. If my memory serves me correctly, it was roughly $90 round trip. We only did one day at Universal so it was worth it. If you are going to do more than one day - that might be a different story.
I've got some Orlando-resident-annual-passholder tips and FYIs for both Universal and WDW here:
http://sunshinenwine.blogspot.com/search/label/Florida%20Travel
Since you are coming in October, you have to do the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot.
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/special-events/epcot-international-food-and-wine-festival/
I'm sure you'll have a great time!
It's usually still fairly hot in Orlando in October, but the Disney resort pools are not indoor but they are heated.
Ditto the Value resorts at Disney. Pop Century is the best one, IMO as far as their food court, decor, and bus service goes but they are all pretty much the same as far as room size and amenities.
It can still get HOT in October. We were there in October 2006 (3rd week of the month) and it was in the high 80s and low 90s every single day. It sucked!!
Disney pools are heated.
The 'budget' hotels (all star resorts, pop century) have very basic accommodations and they all have pools. They wont be fancy pools like the ones at the deluxe resorts but its still a pool
Disney also has 2 water parks; I've done Blizzard Beach and could easily spend all day flaoting along the lazy river (the other park is Typhoon Lagoon).
I strongly recommend checking out this site for travel deal tips at Disney:
http://www.mousesavers.com/
and this one for planning tips at Disney:
http://www.mousesavers.com/
Unfortunately I am of no help when it comes to Universal. My friend is planning a trip there, and mentioned something about being able to pay Universal for transportation in addition to the normal ticket price. That might be a good option if you are only planning on going there a couple of days.
you can probably get a timeshare rental at a good price off season but you should have a car.
there are some hotels around downtown disney that arent too badly priced but cannot remember which.
also do you plan to eat out, if so the timeshare option with kitchnettte may be a waste.
Wow, thank you all so much for the great information! I will be looking into the Disney Value Resorts, which I didn't even know about until they were mentioned here. I think we will probably want to stay at Disney so we can take advantage of the transportation services since I don't really want to rent a car. Unfortunately we can't check in by the 29th so the dining plan won't work for us, but thank you for the info KellyPixie.
If anyone has anymore info I'd love to hear it
If you want to spend some time in the fancy pools, feel free to do so. There are only two that you have to show that hotel's room key (I know one of them is Yacht Club, but not sure about the other), but all the rest should be open to you. DH and I have pool-crashed at Grand Floridian, Polynesian, Coronado Springs, and Saratoga Springs. All of them are nice.
This is great to know since we probably will want to pool crash if we don't end up upgrading a few nights to a more expensive hotel