Disney offsite condo/hotel/suite advice
 

Planning a last minute trip to disney and very disappointed that the park hotels are completely booked. We'd consider a nearby condo/house rental, but (1) want it to be really close, and (2) really nice. Have looked at vrbo, etc. but no idea which of the towns are closest or developments are nicest. Many thanks!

Windsor Hills gets rave reviews on the TA boards. We've always stayed on property but we're giving Windsor Hills a try this June so I cannot yet say what they are like. We went through www.windsorhillsrent.com. You fill in the "About Me" section and you get a bunch of messages from owners with availability for your dates.

There is a nice area of neighborhood of rental houses just across the hwy. from Animal Kingdom. Once you get into the neighborhood, which start about 1/4 mile off of Hwy 192, it is very quiet and nice. Some are gated communities. I've stayed in Formosa Gardens which is one of the first neighborhoods in that area as you come off of 192, and loved it. It has a lake in the neighborhood, as many of those developments do. These neighborhoods are right behind the old "Splendid China" attraction if you know where that is. At the corner of 192 and the entrance street is a shopping Center w/restaurants. This also puts you close to additional restaurants and grocery shopping on 192, and there is a back entrance to Disney via Animal Kingdom that is great as you don't have to deal w/traffic on 192 at all.

Go to this site and there is a map of where the rental communities are in relation to Disney. The neighborhoods I am speaking of are: Oak Island Cove, Formosa Gardens, Rolling Hills, Indian Ridge Hills, Emerald Island, and the rest of the ones off of that street- you'll see them on the map.

http://www.onlinefloridavillas.com/Map.aspx

If you are looking for condos instead of houses, Windsor Plams resort is also in that neighborhood, and that place has condos. along w/a community center, and extras that go along w/it. It is pretty high density in that neighborhood though. The rest of the neighborhoods are rental houses only.

Hi
Vacation condos at Windsor Hills are great. I found great advice at . It's worth checking into these before you pay a bundle at a hotel. www.DisneyNeighbor.com

Loved, loved, loved the Hilton Grand Vacations Club on International Drive. Last year we stayed for a week with our nine-year-old Very comfy and fun.

We stayed at Windsor Hills 3BR/3BA townhome last month for a week (Atlantis the Townhome, found on davh.com). It was fantastic--very clean, about 10 minutes from the Disney parks and close to many many restaurants. Also much cheaper than hotel rooms--our per night rate was approx. 115!

Orange Lake Resort was incredible. We stayed in a North room Jan 2007 (from what I have read be sure that you get a North room as the other areas are old). Our room seemed to be brand new.

We have stayed at Disney's Boardwalk previously and this room reminded me very much of that resort but with a kitchen and washer/dryer.

We had a view of the golf course from our patio and we walked less than 50 feet to get to the pool/clubhouse. The unit was very clean.

I found the staff to be friendly and very helpful. When I went to pick up my parking pass I was sure that I would get pushed to listen to the timeshare presentation but she just handed me the pass and wished me a good day.

The grounds were beautiful - 4 golf courses, lots of organized activities for all ages, very cool mini golf course, river island was very nice (and big). They had a great convenience store on property and a Starbucks. We ate at the pool one day - our only complaint was that we wanted our burgers med/rare and the woman told us that she was only allowed to sell well done burgers.

We did have a message on the phone (so the phone blinked all the time) - but we just ignored it as we figured that it was just someone trying to sell us a time share.

The resort was very close to Disney (less than a 10 minute drive). We had a car but I did see quite a few shuttle buses driving around. They seemed to come frequently.

We had pizza delivered one night. They took our credit card over the phone, delivered quickly and the pizza was quite good.

There was no noise in the unit - we slept soundly. Water pressure was good in the shower and they supplied dishwashing detergent, laundry detergent, paper towels, etc.

Photos under my screen name are posted on tripadvisor.