changed from hotel to villa

[welshlamb]

I've changed so many things for this holiday, even the travel agent said he did'nt think he'd changed his underwear as many times as i've changed my travel arrangements!!! Anyway this is what i've done,
We should of / or were suposed to be staying at the radisson barcelo on ID but only in the motel part ,we looked into upgrading to the tower and it was going to cost £490 on top of our £550 ish that we've already paid. Because our friends are coming with us we would be paying £1040 each for our accomodation which i think is alot (£2080 alltoghether) and we proably could get nicer accomodation for that sort of money. So i looked around and thought about a villa. So we've have changed to a villa. So to cut a long story short i was wondering if any one had heard of southern dunes (as this is where we are staying ) and can anyone recommend some good maps. This is our third time in a villa and previously stayed in Weston Hills and Winward Cay. This is proably better than the hotel as our friends daughter suffers with epilepsy and the villa will be more private for when she does have a seziure. THIS WILL BE MY FINAL CHANGE TO THIS HOLIDAY (as you can proably guess i'm quite a fussy person and just want everything to go wonderfully.)

 

[martina857]

I stayed at Southen Dunes for one of my trips, it is MILES away from Disney and I mean MILES. The resort itself is OK ish fairly standard fare but it is such a long way down US27, if you are planning on doing Disney then I am sure you will find this resort to far away. At a conservative estimate, with no traffic you will be looking at 40 minutes to get into Disney property, but at a normal time of the day with traffic as it is on the US27 then it will be more like an hours drive.

M

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Villas are brilliant and give you so many more options than if you stayed in a hotel.
However, to be honest I have driven around many of the developments and personally Southern Dunes wouldn't be one I would choose, the location is not ideal being quite southerly.

Sorry to be so blunt, I am sure you will have a brilliant holiday, there are many many people I am sure who have stayed at SD and loved it , it's all about opinions really.

 

[nattyk]

The first time we stayed in a villa - we rented in Southern Dunes, the villa was lovely and so was the setting, on a lovely golf course but it was just too far out from the parks for us, especially with kids, ment popping back for an afternoon rest a no no and way too much time spent driving!!!

Since then we have stayed in Formosa Gardens and next year in Rolling Hills, as much closer to all the action..

So maybe one more change to your holiday!!!!!!!

Nat

 

[Shropshire Saint]

We have never stayed at Southern Dunes, but know many people that have. Just to add some balance to what appears to be a current theme on here at the moment which is to have a go at Highway 27. The properties at Southern Dunes are often(if not always) newer than those at Indian Creek, Rolling Hills & Formosa Gardens. They are more spread out than those mentioned above & whilst they are at least 20 minutes further away from the Disney Parks they are more peaceful & you dont have to deal with the builders of a new road waking you at 6.00am in the morning as some will do at Indian Creek & as we did in April of last year. Some of the houses at Formosa also look very tatty. Personally the only area directly on the 192 I would stop at is Emerald Island & even then the houses are often right on top of each other with pools so close together you dont get any privacy. All fencing does make the area darker & less inviting.
If you can deal with the extra travel time then Southern Dunes will offer you a great base for your vacation.
If people really wanted to be on Disneys door step then book an on-site hotel.
We stop on H27 or just off Poincianna at least 3 times a year. Its easier for shopping, golf, supermarkets(WalMart) & I personally find intersection 58 on the I4 at Champions Gate a lot easier to use than getting on the 192 & then onto I4.
This mail may be a bit abrupt, but please guys a bit of balance.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We have never stayed at Southern Dunes, but know many people that have. Just to add some balance to what appears to be a current theme on here at the moment which is to have a go at Highway 27. The properties at Southern Dunes are often(if not always) newer than those at Indian Creek, Rolling Hills & Formosa Gardens. They are more spread out than those mentioned above & whilst they are at least 20 minutes further away from the Disney Parks they are more peaceful & you dont have to deal with the builders of a new road waking you at 6.00am in the morning as some will do at Indian Creek & as we did in April of last year. Some of the houses at Formosa also look very tatty. Personally the only area directly on the 192 I would stop at is Emerald Island & even then the houses are often right on top of each other with pools so close together you dont get any privacy. All fencing does make the area darker & less inviting.
If you can deal with the extra travel time then Southern Dunes will offer you a great base for your vacation.
If people really wanted to be on Disneys door step then book an on-site hotel.
We stop on H27 or just off Poincianna at least 3 times a year. Its easier for shopping, golf, supermarkets(WalMart) & I personally find intersection 58 on the I4 at Champions Gate a lot easier to use than getting on the 192 & then onto I4.
This mail may be a bit abrupt, but please guys a bit of balance.

This site is about opinions, there is nothing wrong with a difference of views.
Highway 27 is not everybody's choice, all we can all do is give an honest answer to the question raised.
If anybody (me including) chooses not to stay there then that's our choice.
I actually did say that I was sure many people stayed at SD and loved it there, so if that is not a balanced opinion I am not sure what is.
Some of the nicest villas I have seen are on US27, Calabay Parc is very very nice - but I just do not like the location , doesn't mean to say I am right, just my opinion.

I support and recommend the 192 area because that is where we choose to stay as I feel the location is ideal, close to restaurants, supermarkets and within easy reach of Disney and the I4.
We stayed at Loma Linda near Davenport on our 1st villa rental and having looked at different areas decided that 'for us' in hindsight it wasn't the location we preferred.

I agree, if you stay at Indian Creek the roadworks can affect your stay, 'if' the home is near the construction works - we have always ensured our chosen villa is not.

We stay in a villa because our son is Autistic, although we prefer the privacy that it offers us , a fully fenced pool so that Josh can play in the pool in peace and the ability to relax too.
''Staying on Disney's doorstep'', not really just a preference for relatively quick access, all the villas are at least 10-15 minutes away from the parks, but as we like Universal just as much as WDW 30 minutes we feel is just too far.

At the end of the day it's about opinions, I hope anyone who stays in a villa anywhere, whether it be SD or IC has a wonderful holiday.

I have edited my earlier post about the age of the properties as you are correct many of the homes near or around the Formosa Gardens area are a few years older than developments on the US27.

If you are sticking up for US27 then good for you, it's helpful to people who want different opinions, but I think your ''have a go at US27'' comments are a bit of an over-reaction...again, that's just my opinion.

 

[welshlamb]

One year we stayed at weston hills. Is Southern Dunes furthur from disney than Weston Hills, as this seemed to be quite a way out? Also is Southern Dunes easy to find?

 

[JohnnySharp2]

One year we stayed at weston hills. Is Southern Dunes furthur from disney than Weston Hills, as this seemed to be quite a way out? Also is Southern Dunes easy to find?

Weston Hills is further North.

Here is a map of all the villa communities, Southern Dunes is number 4.
Weston Hills number 20.

www.orlandovillas.com/Map.aspx

Hope this helps, if you need any advice (not that I am an expert), on what to expect in renting a villa or any tips/advice I can give, please feel free to contact me.
Do not worry you will have a wonderful holiday - my son as well as being Autistic also has Epilepsy too , allthough we have not any problems for a couple of years now.

Staying in a villa regardless of location is a brilliant thing, and as for being 'fussy', again do not worry - we all are

 

[martina857]

Shropshire Saint where do you or did you own your villa ? Was it on US27 by any chance ? Johnny and I are giving a balanced view from people who have rented villas and know the area, I really do not consider your view to be balanced, you have or had a vested interest in wanting people to rent on US27.
I have stayed in villas on the 27 in various developments and some are VERY nice, but most are not exactly convieniant for a Disney holiday, Southern Dunes is most definitely not, as I stated earlier on a good day it was 30-35 minutes just to get to the junction of the 27 and 192, it is then at least another 10 with no traffic into Disney.

M

 

[Hilary]

This mail may be a bit abrupt, but please guys a bit of balance.

The original poster asked about Southern Dunes, and others responded with their opinions. Giving an opinion is usually, by its very nature, going to come down on one side of the fence or the other. Other opinions may or may not add up to a more balanced overall picture.

I don't think it's realistic to expect anyone to post / not post their opinion just to get a 'balance'

 

[AndRu]

We've stayed in a villa on Westridge (south of the 192 on Highway 27) the last two times; this complex is a lot closer to WDW / Orlando than Southern Dunes. We won't be going back there though as the travelling time is just too long. Even late at night I4 / 192 seemed to be clogged and it's sapping at the end of the day.

Next year we've opted for an Indian Creek villa so that we don't have to deal with the a long drive. The villa we've booked is smaller but we figure that we'd rather spend time there than in the car.

 

[Shropshire Saint]

Martina,
We have a villa on the H27, nowhere near Southern Dunes, another just off Poincianna. We have stayed at Indian Creek (Horrible in my balanced opinion! That new road really does add to a vacation), Rolling Hills (The houses were pretty tatty), Emerald Island (Very Nice, but was still a building site & houses are very close together), Cumbrian Lakes (Was very nice, but the million town houses at the back just being built dont help) etc etc. I too have stayed in many places since my first visit 11 years ago & the 20 odd visits since. Privacy is important to us. Space is important. We all look for different things. Sure convenience is important to some, but not all.
The travel time is often a lot more important to Brits than Americans. Just in case I have not mentioned, I do work in America for at least a week a month (OK Martina?)
I am basing my opinions on where we have stayed. And more than that I also put my money where my mouth is & bought 2 houses. If I wanted to buy in Formosa Gardens or Indian Creek I could have done. I chose not too. We bought to satisfy our own criteria. The new road is just horrible. The noise when its up & running may be worse.
Or maybe I was just trying to push my own villa in this thread?
Or maybe I was just posting my response because I have stayed in many places too & wanted to give welshlamb a bit more confidence in her trip without going away thinking the resort is "OK ish"?
Martina, I am openly telling people I have villas in the Orlando area. Is that OK? Does it make any of my opinions less valid? Or are you questionning my integrity?
Simply put, I would rather drive for 30-35 minutes & stop at Southern Dunes than stop somewhere where the neighbours watch everything thing you do or where the road construction impacts heavily on your enjoyment. Or the house is old & tatty.
WelshLamb, Southern Dunes is MILES further away than some developments, but that does not mean you cant have a cracking holiday. Enjoy your holiday!

 

[martina857]

The new road is just horrible. The noise when its up & running may be worse.

And I presume the US27 in your opinion is a nice quiet country road ?

Just in case I have not mentioned, I do work in America for at least a week a month (OK Martina?)

Whoopy doo for you ;-))

Martina, I am openly telling people I have villas in the Orlando area. Is that OK? Does it make any of my opinions less valid?

Well yes it sure does ) Funny how you think all the best developments are where your villas are isn't it ? And you activley rubbish all the other developments, we don't do we and you know why ? Because we have nothing to gain, and you DO !!

If I wanted to buy in Formosa Gardens or Indian Creek I could have done. I chose not too.

Nothing to do with the houses being WAY cheaper down there then ? Sorry just teasing ;-))

Or maybe I was just posting my response because I have stayed in many places too & wanted to give welshlamb a bit more confidence in her trip without going away thinking the resort is "OK ish"?

You know I have stayed there and in MY opinion it is just OK ish nothing special but not that bad, just OK but the location is rubbish. Now I am saying that because I have NOTHING to gain from it.

Simply put, I would rather drive for 30-35 minutes & stop at Southern Dunes than stop somewhere where the neighbours watch everything thing you do

All developments in the area have villas that are overlooked... ALL of them, so I do not understand this line.

Sure convenience is important to some, but not all.

Never said it was, we just gave a very balanced opinion, because we have NOTHING to gain ;-))

I also put my money where my mouth is & bought 2 houses

Whoopy doo for you again ;-))

Or are you questionning my integrity

YES !

M

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Martina,
We have a villa on the H27, nowhere near Southern Dunes, another just off Poincianna. We have stayed at Indian Creek (Horrible in my balanced opinion! !

"Horrible"!
I disagree.
The 1st villa we rented was based in Loma Linda, booked independantly and basically was left to ruin by the owners, the pool area was a disgrace, the interior and exterior needed completely renovating.
That is my example of something "horrible" , to state that Indian Creek is so is frankly an insult to many who own there or stay there.

Simply put, I would rather drive for 30-35 minutes & stop at Southern Dunes than stop somewhere where the neighbours watch everything thing you do or where the road construction impacts heavily on your enjoyment.

They will have a job as all the homes we rent are fully fenced.

Every villa development I have seen or stayed on has homes that are overlooked and homes that are not - the rest is down to personal preference.
Don't some of the villas at Southern Dunes back on to a golf course?

If you are staying at IC or Windsor Palms then naturally you would need to be aware of the roadworks as this is obviously a major construction undertaking, and I am sure for many people a worrying one but to say that it would "Impact heavily" is just incorrect, we stayed at IC last year and the majority of the villas are nowhere near any roadworks.

I do not own a villa, I rent one each year however and have no reason to be biased against any development, merely to offer an opinion on what is available. As stated whilst the homes on Southern Dunes and on US27 may be very nice and at least as good as many homes in the Formosa Gardens area, personally I do not like the location.

I attempted to get this subject back on thread to no avail, but with all due respect to WelshLamb I feel we should do our best to stick to the questions asked.

 

[Shropshire Saint]

Johny,
Fair enough about getting the thread back on track. Your comments about Loma Linda are interesting. Maybe all the houses are in bad repair? Or maybe they are not? Johny, You often are the first to respond to those posting with villa enquiries. I think it only fair to state the positives & negatives to each resort/community, because every single one of them has both. The new road, to me, makes it horrible. I stand by that. The road impacted heavily on me & my young children when we were there. It isnt wrong Johny, it did, I was there. The building work, pillars & general noise genuinely impacted on our holiday, it made staying their horrible.Your opinion is different, thats fine.
Martina,
Integrity. Nice one Martina.
Do you get commission from Elle at Florida Homes & Travel?
Or a kickback from Day Star Villas?
I took a couple of minutes out to read some of your other posts. Thought it sensible as soon as you questionned my integrity.
Looks like you dont like villa owners. What was your quote to JannyAnnes in February? " I dont care about villa owners" " They are only in it for themselves always pushing what they have to offer"
Sounds to me like we have a bit of Whoopy Doo GREEN EYES!
Interesting to see you get newsletters from owners websites. Just looking for a $500 bargain?
By the way Indian Creek is not way cheaper. Rolling Hills is often a lot cheaper. Formossa's big houses are more expensive. That is compared to H27 by the way.
Or are you just a bitter wannabee villa owner?
Basing your opinions on envy? Or just looking out for people?
Your opinions have nothing to do with you being jealous then?
Stating opinions as facts? " I am sure the villa is to far away" is what you said to WelshLamb. How sure are you? Do you know her?
How many threads have you had locked Martina? This may be my first.
Why is it you dont like owners? Did I advertise my villas? Did I push WelshLamb to a community? Did I PM her & say stop at mine?
You seek every opportunity to have a go at owners from what I have read in your postings. Certainly looks like a bitter & twisted opinion dressed up in independence. By chance are you a politician?

ADVERT, ADVERT, ADVERT

I also have a piece of land at Reunion "Whoopee Doo for me". Its available to anybody with a tent for $500 a week. Problem is, is that its 35 minutes from Disney & thats to far according to Martina! Sorry Martina, the cost of the land was more than some house at Indian Creek. Whoopee Doo for me!!

Sorry WelshLamb. I agree with Johny this has gone way off subject.

 

[JANNYANS]

From SD you can get to the parks using just the I-4 and not go all the way up to the 27/192 junction.
SD is handy for the Wal Mart , Manny's Chophouse -a must do eating place ,Beef O'Brady's Cracker Barrel, Publix supermarkets -to name just a few.
It really doesn't matter where the home is if it is within your budget and has all you need as a family .

 

[paul_sheps]

One year we stayed at weston hills. Is Southern Dunes furthur from disney than Weston Hills, as this seemed to be quite a way out? Also is Southern Dunes easy to find?

Hi
We stayed at Southern Dunes last year on our first Florida holiday. The villa was fine but it was way too far from the action, although it only took us 20 minutes to get to Disney property.
In it's favour was the fact that the area was quiet and well maintained with a huge Wal-Mart within walking distance.
Very easy to find just head down the 27 and turn left at Wal-Mart.
Next time I would want to be more central though.

 

[Goofyish]

Can we please stick to helping the original poster with their questions rather than having petty squabbles and personal attacks.

It would be a shame to lock the thread before it's fully answered the OP's questions.

Thanks

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Johny,
Fair enough about getting the thread back on track. Your comments about Loma Linda are interesting. Maybe all the houses are in bad repair? Or maybe they are not? Johny, You often are the first to respond to those posting with villa enquiries. I think it only fair to state the positives & negatives to each resort/community, because every single one of them has both. The new road, to me, makes it horrible. I stand by that. The road impacted heavily on me & my young children when we were there. It isnt wrong Johny, it did, I was there. The building work, pillars & general noise genuinely impacted on our holiday, it made staying their horrible.Your opinion is different, thats fine.

No I think there was a combination of bad luck and bad planning with our 1st villa, probably a lack of research on our part but a total lack of responsibility by the owners.
There was also a dispute between the owners and Management Company which meant the property was not being maintained, as we booked off the owner's own web-site where the photos and information seemed up to date it was only when we arrived our holiday turned into a nightmare.
It is difficult to explain how bad it was - let's just say we moved out after a week and during our stay there we couldn't use the pool for 3 days.

Conseqeuntly we now only book off certain websites, and have driven around many of the communities so that we do not make the same mistake again.
Especially as we have a 'special' son. Always booking one with a fully fenced pool also, again this is just a personal preference for us.

I think the villas at Loma Linda are probably older, naturally the majority I presume are well cared for.

This August we will have stayed at Indian Creek 3 times and never been close to the roadworks, something which we have checked out first - we have looked at homes that are right next to the construction but have never booked one of these. It's one of the main questions we ask when renting.
If you have a different viewpoint then that's fine, you can only comment on your experiences which is what I am doing too.

It would be boring if we all had the same opinions so fair enough.

 

[welshlamb]

Did'nt want to start a great debate,but never mind. It seems to me that the general feed back is that SD is futhur away than we'd like. But it's going to be a whole lot nearer from where i'm sitting presently and from all those people who would love to go to Florida but never get round to booking.(i think i will go with that kind of attitude) my husband and son are laughing because they will be able to play golf as well as crazy golf.

To be honest i was in a catch 22 situation. We've booked this holiday for the first time using a travel agent (always done it ourselves and always will after this) We paid for the hotel and then realized that we were staying in the motel part. To upgrade to the better part of the hotel it was going to cost a fortune. The same company offered villa accomodation and we were able to transfer free of charge. The only snag being ,we either took a villa upon arrival (which i'm always worried about) or we could have this named villa at SD. I've obviously opted for the named accomodation. Maybe i should of took a chance and had our villa allocated on arrival,but i might of ended up worse than we already are. I guess we'll never know. As long as the villa is clean and tidy and with all the extras you expect from staying at a villa i'm sure we will have a good time (and enjoy the sceneary as we trek to all the parks...)