Emerald Island vs. Indian Creek

[minerva78]

I've been researching some 4 BR rental homes and I think I'll probably end up trying to get one at Indian Creek or Emerald Island. Both of these seem to be fairly close to the parks and I've found decent prices at both, although Indian Creek homes are generally a little cheaper. The main differences I can find is that Emerald Island has resort-type amenities and security gates while Indian Creek does not. For anyone who has stayed at these two locations, or similar ones, did you find yourself utilizing the resort amenities or did you mainly spend time at your rental home? I'm trying to decide if any resort features really matter if you spend most of the time at parks. We'd be doing either a 6 or 7 night stay but probably 4 days at the parks - no parks on arrival and departure days and one "break" day. We'd probably come back to the house each day for a break after lunch and likely go back to parks in the evening - our group would consist of both adults and children. I guess I'm just trying to get an idea of whether or not you value and use resort amenities when you're at a rental home, if that's a deciding factor when choosing a home. TIA!

[AJKMOM]

Hoping to also see what others recommend!

[chloelovesdisney]

We're going on a trip with extended family in February and we just rented a house in Emerald Island. I also was going to look at Indian Creek, but we looked online first at Emerald Island and something came up that was available and looked good for us so we just went ahead and booked it.

I'll report back after our trip.

[Melknor]

We stayed at Indian Creek in 2011. It was great having our own private pool. Personally I think if I have a private pool, I would never use the resort amenities anyway. The house we rented had a game room as well, so that provide several options during "down time".

[minerva78]

Originally Posted by Melknor

We stayed at Indian Creek in 2011. It was great having our own private pool. Personally I think if I have a private pool, I would never use the resort amenities anyway. The house we rented had a game room as well, so that provide several options during "down time".

That's what I was kinda thinking as well. I think I'm leaning towards Indian Creek because I am doubting we would really use the resort amenities if we stayed at Emerald Island. I'm definitely finding better deals with Indian Creek. Even though I believe it's an older development, I don't think that would matter much to me as long as the house was clean and we had a pool, spa, and game room.

[formill]

We've stayed in villas several times- one area had it's own community pool- we never used it when have our own. The only thing we have ever used is playgrounds -and Indian Creek has basketball,tennis and 2 playgrounds-those areas we have used. Indian Creek is nice area to go for a walk too- pretty big and has some paths around lake etc.

[Booogie27]

We rented a home in Emerald Isle in 2005 and 2007. We didn't use any of the resort ammenities. The location was perfect. More restaurants of all types than you could ever need just a few minutes away. The drive to the main gates of the Disney parks was very minimal.

[loveysbydesign]

We've stayed at Indian Creek 2x and LOVED it there! I even tried to talk dh into buying a home there
We stayed in Dream house this past time http://www.houseforrentflorida.net/en/houses.php and had stayed in a different house the owner had the previous 2 years. I highly recommend his homes! They are clean, well kept and they have curtains on the windows! Can't stand just white blinds as then my kids are up at the crack of dawn!
I also think IC is closer time wise to the parks..think 5-6 min. to AK, 8-9 to HS, 10-11 to MK, and 13-14 to Epcot.
Plus 10 minutes down the road you have a Supertarget, Publix, Flippers pizza, Giordanos, Baham Breeze etc. A bunch of the places are new having been built in the past 2 years.