by Amer Numan

Created on: April 12, 2009   Last Updated: April 13, 2009

A lot of families associate the idea of staying at a theme park hotel (or resort) with irresponsible spending a luxury they should not add to the bill. Although I subscribed to that belief for a long time, living in Orlando, Florida has taught me that staying at these hotels is actually a very smart way to go when planning a vacation for several reasons:

SAVE MONEY AT BOOKING

Every major theme park company (Disney, Universal Studios, Anheuser Busch etc.) offers hotel "packages," not just a room rate that is independent of your theme park passes like regular hotels. This basically means that you will buy your desired tickets, your hotel rooms, all included discounts on park food & merchandise, as well as guaranteed transportation, all in one swipe. Online or in person. Prices are usually designed to be an incentive by being the equivalent of one less ticket, one less hotel room, etc.

GET AROUND EASIER & CHEAPER

Forget renting a car to get around. Booking your hotel vacation package through the park guarantees you transportation service from the airport to your room and back, as well as the best shuttle services to and from their parks. Obviously, the park's own shuttles will have the most convenient pick up and drop off spots, and continuous service around the park's hours of operation. No longer will you have to call the hotel and ask for a driver, or wait on their usually smaller
vehicles to meet you somewhere and take you home at the end of a long day. Theme park drivers also know a lot about the parks and are trained answer a lot of your questions on behalf of the park. In addition, many theme park hotels are on site and shuttles may not be needed at all.

THE CONSISTENT VACATION EXPERIENCE

Theme park hotels complete your vacation, especially for kids, by following the general theme and feel of the parks. Disney hotels, for example, will have character illustrations all over the place, customized furniture, events, and the kids favorite fairy tale stars greeting them. Obviously, guests are known to be theme park goers, so the service is trained to guide you around, give you some helpful tips, hand out maps, and recommend the best spots to do different things based on your specific vacation type. A honeymoon guest will have options to have breakfast in bed set up, roses delivered, a special dinner, or a romantic announcement at a theme park event, whereas a young child's birthday will have services like a customized cake, special encounter with a character, a dedication during a kids show, or something along those lines.

WOULD YOU LIKE FRIES WITH THAT?

Other, smaller perks are offered with your theme park hotel package. Those largely depend on the theme park, and are very creative and different across different parks. One of the most common perks is a discount on food and merchandise with your room reservations. For Universal Studios Orlando, for example, a given percentage discount is offered to you for the duration of your stay on all souvenirs, as well as a free dinner for you and a guest at one of their restaurants, depending on your room grade. At SeaWorld, some guests receive free souvenirs, pictures, and savings coupons for return visits with their room reservations. At Disney, the perks include complimentary breakfast, lunch, stuffed toys, desserts for kids, and others depending on your vacation package.

DO IT RIGHT

All in all it's smart to book all elements of your vacation with the theme park you're visiting. You get the convenience, savings, and full experience that the parks intended you to have by visiting them. You also have plenty of choices to make the vacation truly yours. Hey it's your time off, might as well do it right!

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