Staybridge Suites Orlando/International Drive
8480 International Drive
Orlando, Florida 32819

This hotel is for you if you’re: a cruiser, need “roomy” hotel rooms, in need of a vacation, have a family.

This hotel isn’t for you if: you prefer interior corridors ( all rooms do face the inside and the perimeter is gated which is a great security feature).

My Experience:

I arrived at the International Drive property of Staybridge Suites around noon time. Upon arrival there was plenty of free parking, a very clean property, and folks waiting outside to catch the complimentary shuttle.

The first thing you notice when you walk through the sliding doors and into the lobby is the kid friendly atmosphere. The lobby was very clean and had a gift shop, atm, and couches. I was greeted by a friendly front desk clerk who checked me in and went through the basic check in protocol. The front desk clerk was very nice to point out that because I was using my company debit card for incidentals, that a $50 dollar authorization would take place and be lifted if I didn’t use it. A lot of hotels I have reviewed don’t care to tell you those things.

This property is a “Good Neighbor Hotel,” to Walt Disney World and provides complimentary shuttle services to Disney, Universal, and Sea World. You will not find the shuttle times listed online because the park hours vary throughout the year. The property is 7 miles from Disney, 2 miles from Universal, and 3 miles from Sea World.

I checked into my room which was a which was a one bedroom suite, which included:

•Fully Equipped Kitchens
•550 square feet
•Separate Living and Bedroom Areas
•Luxurious Pillow Top Mattresses
•Daily Housekeeping Service
•Multiple Televisions and Telephones
•Satellite TV
•DVD/VCR Player
•CD-Clock Radio
•Iron and Ironing Boards
•Hair Dryers
•Complimentary High Speed Internet Access
•In-Room Safe
•Non-Smoking Suites Available
This hotel also offers:

2 Bedroom Trio Suite Sleeps 8
2 Bedroom Suites Sleeps 6

Night time was very quiet. Our hotel room faced north and sat right between International Drive and I-4. You could not hear cars or trucks passing by. It’s very comforting to know that the hotel rooms all face the court yard and the gate is key controlled to gain access.

The daily housekeeping staff was very attentive and paid attention to detail, again, something you don’t find a lot these days.

The hot complimentary breakfast area was great and the dining area was very spacious. The hot breakfast had your typical spread of waffles, eggs, corn beef hash, and your normal continental breakfast foods.

The weight room, arcade, business center, pools, and bar area were all in good shape. Note that the pools are heated. You have a swimming pool, a kiddie pool, and a jacuzzi.

Check out was a breeze and once again the front desk staff were very courteous.

Closing Comments:

This hotel is well worth the value and will save your family $$.

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Deland is about 80 miles or so south of Jacksonville, Florida and really didn't have a lot shaking down there except for the sky diving. Sky Dive Deland was the company we went with. Everyone who has ever been skydiving has told me that the training takes about four hours so I really wasn't looking forward to that, I have a hard time sitting still as it is.

 We signed up, filled out a release and watched a instructional video. That whole process took about 15 minutes and set me back about $260 (I bought the video and picture package). So far so good. Looking back now, I realize why everyone said it took about four hours to jump. We had to go outside and wait, wait and wait to even get our gear to jump. We waited for at two hours. Which gave us plenty of time to watch the people plummet out the sky and onto the landing pad. Some folks landed pretty rough, others floated to the earth like they had wings. The long wait gave us time to call our friends and allowed them to tell us how crazy that we are for jumping out of a perfectly good plane (wish I had a dollar for every time I hear that one). 

When you are a first time jumper you jump tandem (with a instructor attached to you).  To be honest, I didn't know what was worse to think about, falling out of an airplane alone or with a 200 pound man strapped to my back doubling our momentum and velocity of rocketing to the earth.

Regardless, it was our time. They called our number and the butterflies in my stomach grew. We went into the room, geared up with a harness, got strapped in, and went through a briefing (harmless). In a nut shell it was hold on to your straps and don't throw up on the instructor. My instructor joked with me that if I threw up he would drive me into the ground at 200+ miles per hour. About five minutes later a plane rolled up and about 20 of us piled in for destination sky. The plane reminded me of a sardine can with wings.

We were literally sitting single file and my heart was racing like never before. A lot of folks who jump for fun and with their own gear pay to go up in the plane with you so that where all the folks came from. As we started to take off and reach altitude folks were just saying "peace" and jumping out of the plane.

 Once again, I thought I was going to pee my pants. The plane got colder and colder the higher our altitude got. Our altitude was 15,000 for that jump (approx 3 miles up). It was our turn to jump and I slowly walked towards the end of the plane. The door was open and looking down all I saw was earth and a couple of feather like clouds. My instructor hooked himself to me in about six places and told me to look up and read a warning label. Knees buckling, I looked up and there was not warning label, it was a trick to deter me from looking down and chickening out ..........and I fell for it!

From this point on we were in total free fall. You may think that when you jump out of a plane it has a feeling a lot like a roller coaster with the whole stomach dropping sensation but not at all. Free fall literally feels like you are floating in the air, only at a speed of 120 mph. About a minute into the free fall my instructor told me to position my hands on the harness because he was going to pull the rip cord. When the chute opened it jerks the hell out of you.  Once we stabilized, he let me have control of the chute. The chute was pretty cool to control too, you could turn it left, right, slow down, and speed up. Landing was not as rough as I expected it would be. I thought we were going to come in hard.  You land on a pile of gravel and keep your feet up to break that fall... basically you land on your butt.   The duration lasted about five minutes from jumping out of the plane  to being back on the ground.

Would I jump again? In a minute.

Would I go alone? HELL NO.

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