geth

I started a new topic rather than continue this in the disney baby thread.

I'm curious if anyone has stayed in these vacation home rentals with pools and near disney world. I'm starting to plan a January 2003 disney world vacation for my family (including my parents and inlaws) and something like this would be perfect!

My concern is, they sound too good to be true. Five bedrooms, 3 baths, pool, jacuzzi/hottub, all for 150 or so a night?

So if anyone has ever actually STAYED in one of these type places, I'd appreciate a bit of first hand info

susan

Hi Geth,
,

susan

Hi Geth,
Maybe I can help you out. I live in melbourne, about 45 minutes from disney. we go over there all the time and stay at various places for a few nights. What places are you asking about. You can get really good rates at alot of places. There are also numerous coupon books and discounts available for hotels, suites etc. There are so many places to stay that the prices drop due to the competition. When are you coming? The parks are very busy right now and there are long lines for rides etc. We went to mgm studios and disney's animal kingdom last month and the long lines were pretty bad. Don't miss Old town, which is a little place in Kississmee (where most of the hotels are) it is a little place with a cobblestone street where you can walk around and kids can go on rides. they have old car shows on saturday nights and outdoor music. Disney itself has some pretty good rates on their motels. It might be nice to stay there just a couple nights. if you stay there then you can ride their shuttle to all the parks etc. Well, you can tell i love to go do things. I hope you have a great time. If you want anymore info email me. I could even send you coupons if you want.
Susan

Phil

Geth,

I have done this twice and will be doing it for a third time in January.It is a great way to go.
First time we split a 4 bedroom with another family. Second time a 6 bedroom with 2 other families and this time it's 8 guys on a golf trip.
The pool is key. Get it heated and with a jacuzzi.
I have done the on-site, off-site things and will never go back. You've got to do the on-site thing once but after that this is the way to go.
It's a lot cheaper ( accomodation and meals ) and you are living the life of Riley.
Do it!

FWhiteside

Done it twice - would never go back to Motels unless touring.

Geth

Thanks for the replies everyone!

I think we will do the rental homes. To be frank, the disney resort thing just costs too much! Plus, honestly, me and my fiancee will really want a room separate from my kids .

Glad to know others have had positive experiences at these places.

julie

I am from London, England and have enjoyed several wonderful holidays staying in private vacation homes, believe me, they are beautiful. We wouldn't dream of staying in a hotel, we have the comfort of our own pool, being able to order take-out food some evenings when we are too tired to go out, or even cook sometimes. The houses we have stayed in are East on the 192 and 10 minutes away from Disney, 15 minutes from Universal/Sea World. Two of the places are Indian Ridge and Lindfields, but last year I had a good look round at some of the many different places and they were all up to the same high standard. I buy a magazine in England called Private Villas where people who own these houses advertise and you rent direct from them. You could try www.privatevillas.co.uk. I am sure you would have a wonderful time

Celeste

I'm mystified why one poster recommended a heated pool. I live in Orlando and can swim in mine March through November, but it's almost unbearably hot in there right now!

Kay

Can anyone provide the names of rental companies that they have actually used and received good service from (unit ready, staff helpful, problems addressed, no financial surprises). My sister is planning a budget family trip on which she must have a closed off sleeping room (so the many studio suite hotel rooms won't work). She doesn't like to work online so direct rentals via vrbo.com, etc. aren't for her. She usually works through a travel agent, but the agent has steered her to the studio suites or a much too expensive suite compared to advertised condo and home rentals starting at $90 per night in February.

I've found references here for
privatevillas.co.uk and
familiesfirst.

Anyone use
American Vacation Homes
Florida Supreme Villa Rentals
Orlando Key Vacations?

karen

Kay: I'm leaving for Orlando in 3 days and am renting a house through vrbo.com. I have been in direct contact with the owner (in Scotland) and have also been in contact with the couple that manages their home in Orlando. If you're interested, I'd be happy to provide a report upon my return. So far, all my dealings have been most pleasant and I got a steal of a deal for a 4 bdrm/2bth house with a pool and jacuzzi(we're traveling with another family). Let me know!

alex

To Karen and all the other great participants at this forum. We are a couple of overtaxed and underexchanged Canadians that love going back to various areas of Florida. This year we are hoping to get back to Orlando and would welcome any specific contacts, personal experiences and or references that you may have on your home rentals.
PS have a great trip Karen and I would appreciate any feedback that you might have. If anyone is interested we recently discovered that you when you visit the Orlando travel centre on International drive you should ask for the "Orlando card". Usually I find these are gimmicks but I was surprised to see that when presented to the info kiosks at any of the larger "designer or outlet" malls the savings were significant and for the majority of stores. Looking forward to any input...and dreaming of the warm white sand of Sarasota...pinas..seaside sunset..golfing with the crocs..etc.

Suzanne

Do yourself a favor and check out the Vistana Resort in Lake Buena Vista -- fabulous condo and townhouses that are meant for timeshares but can be rented for a week -- with great rates if you sit in on a sales seminar.

We have stayed there twice with my young nephews, and the units have kitchens, washer/dryer, pull-outs, etc. The resort also has several pools, fitness center, tennis courts, mini golf, bike rentals, shops, etc. I highly recommend it. We won't go anywhere else!

karen

Alex, Kay and anyone else who wrote: we just got back from our week long stay in Kissimmee and wanted to answer any questions you have and give you my feedback! I'll try just to give the basics and you can ask more specific questions for anything I don't cover. We had a great experience with our rental home in Indian Creek in Kissimmee. Right off 192 (the main drag with plenty of inexpensive restaurants, supermarkets etc) and only about 10 minutes to the WDW parks! The house itself was great - we had a 4 bdrm/2 bath house for 8 of us (2 families of 4). Pool and jacuzzi (kids swam every day and the adults hit the jacuzzi every night!). Laundry facilities made it easy to pack and we did laundry mid-week. It was nice to have breakfast at home every morning and dinner at home most evenings...kept the costs down and we knew the kids were getting a good start each day!
Please let me know if there are other questions I can answer!

Sheri

We stayed in one this summer. We did a lot of investigating when we were there. There are some "not-so-nice" ones. If you'd like names, please e-mail me.

Linda

We have just got back from staying in a lovely 4 bedroom villa with private pool. It is a brand new villa and the owners are lovely. Their website is www.jcholidays.co.uk
They are so much better than staying in a hotel and you can relax in your own pool after a long day in the theme parks. This one is in a gated community and 20 mins from Disney.

Kay

Based on other postings and phone conversations with rental agents, I think my sister has settled on Brightstar rentals--a 2-bedroom villa for $79 per night in February with a reasonable cancellation policy. She decided not to get the private pool--avoiding the heating fee and the distraction (she thinks she'd never get the boys out of the pool and she wants to go to the parks everyday).

Gina

Been there, done that! We will return to this type of vacation home for the fifth time early in 2003. We have used the services of "familiesfirst.com" and "prestigevacationhomes.com". Both with great success. "familiesfirst.com" tended to be more expensive with the addition of options (eg. pool heating) therefore we have used "prestigevacationhomes.com" more. Each of the homes were clean, well appointed and conveniently located within a short distance of shopping and Interstate 4 providing for a short drive to major attractions in Orlando or the longer drive the beaches. Having your own kitchen provides a cost effective break from eating out ALL THE TIME or having a midnight snack. The addition of a washer/dryer is worth its weight in gold when you travel with children. Bedding, towels, kitchen appliances (both large and small), cutlery, everything is provided. We HIGHLY RECOMMEND this type of accomodations when travelling with children or numerous family members.

joebob

I rented with all-star vacation rentals and it was great. We had a luxury (underline luxury) home 5 beds, 5 baths, hot tub, heated pool, 2 car garage, living room, dining room, upgraded amenities, gourmet kitchen, awesome master sweet.....for cheap (I forgot how much under 2K for the week.....I think it is the only way to go in Orlando and would do it again without hesitation. the house was in a complex by Splendid China and about a 5-10 minute drive from all disney parking lots.............

karen

Glad to hear so many other people have had the positive experience we had. I too had checked into the rental companies mentioned by Gina and Joebob and found that they were more expensive (as a general rule) than using vrbo.com because you are able to cut out the mgmt company. It was delightful dealing directly with the owner and we have nothing but raves for our trip! Kay, our kids swam every evening when we got home from the parks and for the whole day on our day off. The adults hit the jacuzzi every night without fail (usually with wine glass in hand!).

Kay2

Trip report from sister:
She used Brightstar rentals, booking a 2-bedroom villa for $79 per night in February with a reasonable cancellation policy.
The directions to the rental office were bad, so they had difficulty finding it. They upgraded her to a 4-bedroom house at no extra charge. She said it was very quiet and business looked slow.
The directions to the house were bad, but based on their earlier experience, they knew they'd have to do some hunting off 192 West.
House was great. Absolutely wonderful, I think she said.
They tried the phone number provided for questions and never could get an answer. The emergency number charges $100 if not a true emergency, so she saved her questions about check-out until her return to the office on departure day at which time she wanted to comment how nice the house was, but how poor the directions were.
She arrived at the office to find others there waiting. One couple spent 3 hours lost trying to find their unit, calling the phone number no one answered. Another family arrived to find no key for them in the lockbox. They were directed to find their own hotel room for the night and come to the office the next day. They had spent a long time finding a room and were missing part of their first day of vacation waiting for the office to open at 10 am.
So, sounds like they have nice properties, but need to work on the customer service.