The way I would play that would be to stay north of Orlando. Lake Mary area. Two reasons. 1, tourists want to stay Orlando and south. Hotels will offer good pricing and accommodations there as they have to try harder than hotels south. 2, most checkouts will be noonish. This gives you two hours to get from hotel to station which is more than adequate and also allows for some site seeing not to mention miserable traffic north of Orlando. If you hit the station by 2:00 for 4:00pm departure, you'll be gold. If you are bringing motorcycle to station, be sure to arrive at station by noonish. Anytime after 2:00pm and you will be turned away. This is strictly enforced. Bring up your Google map, put Lake Mary in the middle, and type hotels. A bunch will show up. Have fun!
Agreed, stay in the Orlando area, it's about a one hour drive, there's tons of things to do, and Sanford might have a nice downtown area but it is more of a working class town than a place to kick back and relax.
Good question...but considering yhe afternoon departures and morning arrivals and how close the station is to Orlando attractions and lodging, there's not much need to spend an overnight in Sanford.
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