Debbie

We have a LARGE group thinking of going to Disney for my parents 50th wedding anniversary.
All 6 kids ( 2 of which have kids ages 9 - 14) are planning on going for either 5 days or a week. In total there will be 15 adults and 5 kids.

With this many people , I am thinking we will get more bang for our buck staying in 2 or 3 of the Vacation Condo / Homes - Much less expensive and having a kitchen right there is appealing. ( and being able to send the kids to bed, and let the adults continue to socialize on the patio , etc would be nice)
Also - I am thinking that being "off-site" would allow for more choices , instead of All-Disney-All-the-Time....

Has anyone done this? what were your experiences?

Thanks!
Debbie

karenvk

This past November we went with another family to WDW (so there were 8 of us instead of 15). We rented a house in Kissimmee through www.vrbo.com. I did a ton of research and ended up very happy with the home we had (owner lives in Scotland and was a joy to deal with). We had a 4 bedroom home with pool/jacuzzi, fully furnished kitchen, linens, towels, tvs, vcrs etc...and we were only 5 minutes from WDW (no exaggeration). I know that the website also has homes with 5-6 bedrooms which can accomodate up to 16 people. You might be able to find 2 neighboring houses. It was a truly positive experience for us and we would do it again in a second. Please email back if you'd like further into...good luck.

RachelG

Personally, I would never stay off site again. But the reasons are the early entry options if you stay on Disney property and not having to rent a car. We always get up early and are near the first in the park. That is important to us--if you don't think your family will do that, probably doesn't make as much difference.

Budman

I have friends who always stay at http://www.orlandopoolhomes.com/

They swear by it. 10 minutes from the park, fully equipped 3/4/5 bedroom homes with swimming pool. It's great for large families on budgets. You can make your own meals, take sandwiches/drinks to the park, etc.

Debbie

Thanks for the input. I will take a look at both of those sites for possible rentals.

I am guessing that at least one of the families will drive down, to keep expenses down. I am also thinking that I will rent a car/van (or split the rental for one with another sibling) , so I am not worried about the car issue.

please keep those responses coming

karenvk

Debbie: What I forgot to mention in my first post is vrbo stands for Vacation Rentals by Owner so you cut out the middle man (in this case the management company). I found that rates for 2 identical houses in the same development could be vastly different prices...
Once you start looking around, I'll be happy to give you the rundown on the various developments (size, proximity to disney, gated or not...) so you can make an informed decision.

Debbie

drifting to the bottom - bringing it back up to the top

martinewezel

We rented a house from USA Vacation homes (Kissimmee), located at 10 min. from the Disney parks and were very, very satisfied. Pool and all acomodations...