Wouldn't we all like to spend a night in a castle?  Well, for an Orlando or Disney vacation, you have a few options.  You could win a night's stay in Cinderella's castle -- pretty unlikely, but awesome, nonetheless.  For Disney, you could go on certain Adventures by Disney vacations that include a night in a castle -- amazing, once in a lifetime vacations that can get a bit pricey.  Lastly, and the most accessible, you could stay at The Castle Hotel by Holiday Inn, right on International Drive in Orlando, Florida!

The Castle Hotel presents a themed facade that resembles a medieval castle and continues throughout the rest of the resort.  You'l find big, fluffy chairs, extravagant window treatments, and courtly cabanas at The Castle Hotel.

Situated between Universal Orlando and the Disney World Resort, The Castle Hotel provides shuttle transportation to both Florida theme parks.  Many guests also rent a car, as it's an easy drive to either resort area.

Watch our video tour of The Castle Hotel to get a better feel for this one-of-a-kind resort.

The Castle Hotel runs from $90 to $203 per night, depending on the room and the season.  One thing many guests note is a lack of a refrigerator in the room, however, you can get one any time, on request.  Also, keep in mind, this is an "off-property" resort that does not belong to Universal or Disney, so you won't get many of the perks that come along with staying "on-property" such as free Express Passes at Universal, early/late park hours, free parking, etc.

Have you ever stayed a night in a castle?  Cinderella's or otherwise?  Let us know in the comments! 

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Usually, when you hear ziplining, you think of Hawaii, Costa Rica, or some other far-off, exotic location.  However, you can have this same adventure in the Disney World area!  Forever Florida, an eco-ranch and wildlife conservation facility in Kissimmee, offers eco-safari zipline tours high above the Florida wilderness.  Their zipline tours will take you on a two and a half hour journey at speeds up to 25 mph and up to 55 feet off the forest floor!

You get to see lots of Florida wildlife, including alligators, wild boar, whitetail deer, and maybe even the elusive Florida panther!  The zipline tour takes place in a pine forest with some Florida wetlands mixed in.  Before the ziplining begins, you'll take a short hike along the Florida Trail -- one of only 8 scenic trails in the entire US!  You'll then work your way through 7 high-tension cables, going from platform to platform.

Forever Florida also offers "moonlight" and "holiday" zipline tours.  You can zip along under the stars or take in holiday decorations and music in the trees during your tour!  The cool thing about the night time tours is that many of Florida's animals "wake-up" at night, so you may see some eyes shining back at you in the forest!  It could make for an extra-exciting ziplining experience!

Forever Florida charges $85 for adults and children ages 10 years and older who meet the 70 lb minimum weight and 275 lb maximum weight.  They do require reservations and you can make yours by calling 866-85-4EVER.

That's right!  The first week of October, I'll be the guest blogger for the i.seeKissimmee blog!  i.seeKissimmee is a place for people to share their experiences in Kissimmee and the surrounding area (including Disney, of course).  Each guest blogger has a slightly different take because each person experiences Kissimmee in different ways.

In addition to loving Disney World, I also love to find "off the beaten path" activities and things that may be called "secret" activities -- you know, the one's that not everyone knows about.  As a guest blogger, I take my own personality and expertise along for the ride and that's what you'll see the week I'm guest blogging for i.seeKissimmee.  So, you'll be seeing some different activities that you can take part in in and around Kissimmee.

To start off the week, I'll be visiting Discovery Cove and running in the Mickey's Family Fun Run 5K around Magic Kingdom.  The rest of the week will involve a lot of outdoors, off the beaten path activities....you may even see an alligator or two!

It's going to be an exciting week and I can't wait to have you join me for all the fun!  Of course, I'll be keeping you up to date with the activities on this site, so subscribe to our RSS feed or free email newsletter to stay informed.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park has had a significant impact on the Central Florida travel picture for 2010.

July saw a 6.8% increase in the number of rooms booked versus July of 2009 with an additional 3.6% increase in the average cost of a room night.  Hotels and resorts near the new Harry Potter park saw room bookings closer to 90% filled for July!

I know this is a lot of "inside baseball" talk, but it really made me wonder about the impact that the Wizarding World has had on Disney World.  The resorts and hotels in and around Universal Orlando have seen significant decreases in room vacancy, in spite of significant increases in average cost per room night.  Although the Disney World area has seen similar increases, they can't compare to the the Universal area.

I knew the day Wizarding World opened, it was going to hurt Disney, especially in light of the fact that they have very little in the pipeline to generate the kind of excitement that we've seen for Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  Universal went all out on this one and it shows.

What are your thoughts?  Has Wizarding World hurt Disney?  If so, how much and for how long?

Wow! This one's a biggie! In fact, we're going to devote several posts to answering this one.

There are many ways to save money at Disney World and we're going to go over just a few of them. We can't give away all our Disney secrets.

You can break the savings down into specific areas.

• Lodging
• Tickets
• Dining
• Recreation
• Shopping/souvenirs

We'll be discussing potential savings at Disney World and other Orlando attractions in each of these categories over the next couple of weeks, so hit that subscribe button up at the top right and join us for this lively discussion!

We get this question all the time -- What's the weather like in...? This is always followed by "June," "July," "Spring Break," "Winter," or some other specific time frame.  It's a fantastic question, as you should know what the weather's going to be like any time your traveling.

You need to know what type of clothes to pack --- or better yet, what not to pack.  Orlando/Disney World weather can be particularly tricky, since many days (every day of some months) it rains in the afternoon -- and we don't mean a light drizzle, it can often be hurricane-like rain storms.  Other months, it's 30 degrees in the morning and 75 degrees during the middle of the same day.

Due to Orlando's location in the near middle of a state that juts out into two massive bodies of water, -- the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico -- the area has some amazing weather patterns and conditions.  Really, all you can do is act like the Boy Scouts and "Be Prepared!"  Throw in that light-weight rain coat and a sweatshirt and maybe even a pair of shorts in the dead of winter.

For more detailed weather information, check out The Weather Channel's page for average Orlando weather at http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USFL0372?from=tenDay_bottomnav_undeclared.  The site has some great information about Orlando weather, including average highs and lows for each month, average rainfall totals for each month, and some weather trivia about Orlando at the bottom.  Even having lived in Florida for over 20 years, I would have never guessed that July is the hottest month (I would have guessed August or September -- maybe those are just the most humid. lol).

Our travel partner, DestinationsInFlorida.com, also has some great travel tips and weather information for traveling to the Disney World area at http://www.destinationsinflorida.com/traveling%20tips/index.htm

Today, we're starting an interesting new feature called Monday Mouse Mail.  Every Monday we will be answering a question we've received about Disney World, Universal Studios, Sea World, or the general Orlando area.  We get a lot of questions throughout the week and we thought we should share some of the questions and answers with our readers.  Also, if you have any questions you'd like answered in the Monday Mouse Mail edition, emal us at questions @ guide2disney.com.

This week our question relates to distance.  Many guests wonder about the distance from one park to another.  Orlando has many theme parks and although they are mostly within one area of Orlando, they are still spread out over that area.  Here are the gritty details, according to Google maps:

• Disney World to Sea World - 13.2 miles and about 22 minutes travel time
• Disney World to Universal Studios - 16.9 miles and about 26 minutes travel time
• Sea World to Universal Studios - 5.6 miles and about 14 minutes travel time

Obviously, these travel times do not factor in traffic, which can increase the travel time usually by no more than 15-20 minutes.  Of course, the Walt Disney World Resort maintains internal transporation options for guests, including bus, monorail, and boats.  However, if you need to travel off-property to one of these other theme parks, you will need to arrange for your own transportation or have a rental car.

We hope you enjoyed our first edition of the Monday Mouse Mail and look forward to receiving your questions for next week.  Also, please note, we keep all information private at all times, including your name, email address, etc.  Your question will be kept anonymous, as well, unless you specifically ask to be named.

This week was a big week in Orlando for Theme Park price increases!  Both Disney World Parks and Universal Studios Parks increased their ticket prices.  Disney World increased all of their ticket prices from a 1-Day Pass to a 10-Day Pass.  Besides the regular ticket price increases, Disney also increased the prices on the ticket options.  The most popular ticket option is the Park Hopper Option which allows you to hop between Disney Theme Parks on the same day.  This option went up in price by $5 per person.  Finally, Disney also increased the price of the No Expiration Option.  The No Expiration Option means any unused days never expire.  The only option that remained the same price was the Waterparks, Fun and More Option. 

Universal Studios also increased their ticket prices for a 1-Day, 2-Day/2-Park, and 2-Park Unlimited Passes to keep up with the Disney World ticket prices.  The good news is these tickets only went up in price just a little bit.  For Orlando Theme Park tickets, the Universal Studios 2-Park Unlimited Pass is still the best deal on prices.  The 2-Park Unlimited Pass is $97 plus tax.  With this ticket you get to visit 2 Universal Theme Parks for 7 days with the Park Hopper Option.  This same 7-Day Park Hopper ticket for Disney is $278 plus tax.  Disney is $180 more than Universal Studios for the same type ticket.  Our Guide 2 Disney visitors get to save even more money on this 2-Park Unlimited Pass when you book it through our ticket partner at Destinations in Florida.  If you book these tickets through DIF, the price is $92.86 plus tax.  Click here for details.

One of our inside sources are telling us that the Disney World ticket prices will be increasing this Sunday, August 3. This increase in price will affect Disney World Theme Park tickets from a 1-Day Pass to a 10-Day Pass. To avoid this price increase, pre-order your tickets before Sunday.

As an added bonus, book your tickets with our partner company called Destinations in Florida Travel and get free gifts. Add the Waterpark, Fun and More Option or Park Hopper Option to your tickets and receive a $5 Disney Gift Card for each ticket ordered. If you purchase (6) tickets with one of these options, you will receive (6) $5 Disney Gift Cards to use during your Disney World vacation for a total of $30. Click here for details on this extra incentive with DIF.

Disney's Magic Your Way Packages are a great way to get free perks on your Disney World vacation.  One of the free perks is a round of miniature golf at one of the Disney Miniature Golf Courses.  This perk recently changed to include a round of golf for just (1) person in your room.  In the past it included a round of minituare golf for everyone.  This coupon now just includes a round of golf for just (1) person in your room.  The other people playing will have to pay for the round of miniature golf.  It is still a good perk, since it is free!

For more discounts and information on planning a Disney World vacation, check out the Insider's Guide to Disney World.