Guests wanting to take a safari can turn to Central Florida. Yes, safaris in Central Florida-and they can still get to all the tourist attractions. With alligators in a glass case, a macaw on a stand and African artworks displayed throughout the lobby, the Sheraton Safari sits close to Downtown, Disney and restaurants and shopping. The sarfari-themed hotel boasts an impressive pool complex, where a 79-foot python-shaped water slide begins at the top of a rock formation. Sliders zip through the python's tunnel-like body and splash down beneath its huge head.
The complex also includes a large pool, a 12-foot-diameter children's pool and a 10-person spa secluded in the tropical garden. Other garden features included a shady playground and a wood bridge over a goldfish pond. When not enjoying the safari-like surroundings, guests can hop complimentary shuttles for Downtown Disney and all four Disney theme parks.
The resort's Casablanca's offers breakfast buffet and à la carte dinners, but no Rick, Elsa, Victor Laslow and Sam playing it again. The Zanzibar Lounge dishes up lunches and dinners for guests sitting inside or outside in a thatched-roof gazebo. What's more, staff members at the lobby desks are walking encyclopedias for Orlando-area attractions.
The 393 guestrooms continue the hotel's safari theme with African-print fabrics, animal-print patterns and art in warm, earthy tones. All rooms have high-speed Internet access and video games.
For a price, shuttles ferry guests from the hotel to attractions other than Disney's, including Universal Studios, shopping malls, Wet 'n Wild water park and SeaWorld. Guests looking for the unusual in Orlando accommodations will find the atmosphere at the Sheraton Safari an intriguing mix of eclectic and imaginative.
