Rental Homes vs. Hotels

[siskfamilyrobinson]

Does anyone reccomend staying in the homes that people rent out? A lot of them seem nice and fairly reasonable. Tips, tricks, thoughts? I am torn between this and the Magic your way deals they have going on right now. This will be our first trip but we want to keep it affordable.

[lovetoscrap]

I am going to move this to our Orlando Resorts board. You will probably find more people that have stayed in these options over there.

[siskfamilyrobinson]

Ok thank you!

[angelmav]

We stayed in a fabulous vacation home in Sep. Private pool, full kitchen, bbq grill and wonderful beds! Having three full bedrooms was also nice, there were even towel animals on the beds upon arrival! There are several sites, but we used vrbo which offers a guarantee which just added a piece of mind that there werent going to be any suprises. Wouldnt hesitate to do this again.

[dyna]

We have done townhouses condos houses various different places close to disney an can not imagine going back to hotel room for more than an overnight stay. We are 2 adults no longer traveling with kiddos yet we get at least a 2 bedroom/2bath sometimes 3 bedroom.

1 I put my stuff in 2nd bedroom an bathroom which allows dh an I both to get ready at same time without falling all over each other.
2 we can both shower at same time.
3 full kitchen we love a full cooked breakfast each morning before goin to parks I cook dh cleans up
4 we love having washer an dryer in our home allows us to pack much less for our visit
5 a couch to actually sit or lay on while watching tv is nice, usually a private balcony or screened in patio nice for relaxing
6 nice to have a place to keep leftovers from resturants an microwave to reheat something not all hotel rooms has esp disney.
7WE LOVE not fighting for seat on disney cattle cars no sweaty strangers standing over the top of us sweating all over us.
8.Parking at the parks has been so easy
9.Offsite food cheaper than onsite usually
10We find the disney visits to be over all more relaxing staying offsite than onsite

[formill]

We LOVE the villas that people rent out. They are as much a part of the vacation as anything else. The kids (and us) think it is so great to walk out to our own private pool and hot tub......we always have made sure to have one with a hot tub too. The master bathrooms seem to always be as big as our bedroom at home! The only thing we have found is there can be quite a difference in what is in them......as in amount of towels, bedding and kitchen supplies. It is very irritating to have to wash a spoon/plate everytime you need one or to only have one towel per person but usually the ones we have been at have been VERY well supplied and after that one experience of low supplies I make sure to ask. The space for the price can't be beat...

[isla bonita]

I have done onsite BYC, off site Condo type Vistana, poolhomes. For our choice it is the pool homes all the way.

We all enjoy something.
Oldest DS his own space with a TV.
Younger DS pool, own TV, game system, games room.
DD pool, spa, own themed room.
DH fridge with beer, fridge with beer, fridge with beer.
Me own room with a lot of space.

We come home from a holiday and we are rested but yet have enjoyed the chaos of the parks.

[canadianjovigirl]

We did our first trip in Oct/Nov and stayed at a rental house in Davenport as for our family of 5 i couldnt imagine staying in one small room and we were staying 3 weeks and seeing stuff other than Disney. We loved that the everyone had their own bedroom, room to relax, our own pool, the kitchen was awesome for breakfast and a bunch of suppers, couldnt beat the price as it was under $100 including pool heat and taxes, had a washer/dryer, quiet neighborhood.....

[darkwing]

We are looking at renting a house in Davenport - how far was your drive into the parks? I know every house owner is telling us 15-20 minutes (and obviously depends on the parks) but I'm wondering how bad traffic is....

[sympatico]

Love pool homes, even when there's only the two of us. All the comforts of home but on vacation plus having your own pool.

[mgilmer]

Before we bought our DVC points, we always stayed offsite in a pool home (well, almost always -- if only visiting WDW for a couple of days, we would stay onsite). When we rented a pool home, we always stayed with Loyaltyusa. They have very nice homes in subdivisions south of WDW along 192 and they are nice people.

See www.loyaltyusa.com

[canadianjovigirl]

Originally Posted by darkwing

We are looking at renting a house in Davenport - how far was your drive into the parks? I know every house owner is telling us 15-20 minutes (and obviously depends on the parks) but I'm wondering how bad traffic is....

I dont think it took us more than 20 mins to get to any park at Disney. We were at all the parks upon opening and never had a problem at all......we loved the area, the house and there was shopping close by etc. We are in a rural area where we live so we thought 20 mins to the parks was nothing as we are over an hour to the closest city. I think maybe what part of Davenport could also come into play as not sure how large the area is ....we were in an area called the Hamlet in Westhaven and it was super close to Champions gate (publix/resturants) and close to the interstate to get everywhere we needed to go............

[wondermomamy]

We've stayed at vacation homes and on Disney property in the past. When I traveled with just two of my kids, it was fun to stay on Disney property. When DH and I go and take all four kids, I would probably elect to stay at a vacation home even if it cost more (which, thankfully, it doesn't!) because I really enjoy being able to have room for everyone to do their own thing and the private pool is a bonus!

The first time we stayed in a vacation home (and I don't remember the name of the development) it was really far from Disney World and took at least 30 minutes to get to the parks. This time I made sure to check for proximity to Disney World when choosing a home. We've decided on a home at Windsor Hills for this October, and I'm looking forward to a shorter commute!