When you head to Orlando for a family vacation, staying at a theme park property might not be your thing.  I do recommend that you splurge and stay at a theme park property at least once, but if that doesn't interest you try one of these three properties.

Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Orange Lake Resort

Last weekend I headed to Orlando with two friends for a girlfriend getaway.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Orange Lake.  After many emails back and forth with information about different hotels and much debate, we settled on this property and we are glad we did!  The hotel is situated next to the Animal Kingdom Lodge (you can see the back of the AKL when you drive out the main gate).  The Orange Lake Resort property is huge.  We stayed in a two bedroom villa at the River Island.  The room had a full kitchen, one bedroom with two full beds, one bedroom with a king bed, two full sized beautiful bathrooms, a living room, and a small screened in porch.  Our favorite part of the stay?  Even though the resort is crawling with families, we entered our room and it was a little oasis.  We never heard the kids playing at the pool or kids running down the halls on the floors above us.  There are several restaurants on the premises, as well as golf and mini golf, tennis courts, and basketball courts.  There are several pools, a lazy river, water slides (though one was closed while we were there) hot tubs, poolside cabanas and so much more.  The pools were not very crowded and were a great place to unwind after a long day at the parks.  There are also arcades, a playground and the list goes on!

CoCo Key Resort and Water Park

We stayed at the CoCo Key Resort and Water Park with our two young children.  Although they do have suites available, we stayed in a typical two bed hotel room.  This hotel is actually a much older hotel that was recently renovated and reopened as CoCo Key.  The benefit to this hotel is that it is attached to a small water park.  There are a few large slides for the more adventurous older children and adults and several pool areas with smaller slides as well as a zero entry splash zone perfect for younger kids.  There are a couple of restaurants on the property and it is right next door to a Dunkin’ Donuts on International Drive.  We loved being able to make the short walk back to our room to rest after splashing in the water all morning.  If you aren't interested in staying at the hotel but you want to visit the water park, passes can be purchased separately.

Lighthouse Key Resort and Spa

The three bedroom condo that we stayed at in the Lighthouse Key Resort and Spa had one of the prettiest kitchens!  Stainless steel appliances, dark cabinets, and solid countertops made me second guess the countertops we had just ordered for our own home!  Two of the bedrooms each had its own bathroom and the third bedroom was located next to a full guest bathroom.  I had a chance to tour the spa and I was disappointed that I wasn’t going to be able to stick around for a massage!  You can grab quick meal at the deli on site.  There is a small fitness center and a pool.

Disclosure: I was hosted at Coco Key Resort and Water Park and Lighthouse Key Resort and Spa but paid for everything else on both those trips.  I paid my share, 1/3, of the stay at Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Orange Lake Resort.  My reviews are based solely on my experiences and opinion with no outside influence.