Homes with pools vs. homes without?

[LeahA]

I know there are alot of homes to rent with pools in the backyard, but how much time do you really spend in them? Looking at Windsor Hills properties and comparing a condo with no pool to a home with a pool, not sure how much we would use the pool, so not sure if it's worth the extra money.

 

[raydurz]

When are you planning on going? I went in October and I didn't spend the extra money to heat the pool, so I only took a dip once. If you plan on spending most of your time at the parks, I wouldn't get one with a pool. With the exception of the first night (when I took my brief swim) I was at the parks from open to close.

 

[Darcy03231]

Since we were there in August we used our pool a lot! If I were going during the winter months, I wouldn't use it, but the kids probably would. I don't think it's ever too cold for a kid to swim.

 

[Dormeur]

Hello !


I was wondering, are the prices they set somewhere?
(for Windsor Hills)

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

We looked at homes through Villa Direct that were 4 bedrooms with a pool AND a game room for $89 a night. Pool or no pool, getting 4 bedrooms for less than $100 a night is a great deal. But if you are going during the FALL and you don't plan on paying for the pool heat I wouldn't bother with a pool. The pool heat is very expensive. Ridiculously expensive. $25-$40 a day

 

[Chelley00]

We go in October and usually take longer trips, so we use the pool a lot, mostly evening swims, but there are times we take a break in the parks and go back and swim for awhile. We've even beem known to sit in the hot tub/spa after coming back from the fireworks late at night to just relax and have some down time after walking all day.

 

[rt2dz]

We have never used the pool when we stayed onsite. Ever. First, I don't believe the pools are anything that special--our public pools around here offer more than the Disney resort pools do. Second, it always seems like a hug inconvenience. Third, we are just not huge pool people.

When we rented a house (first time) for our Thanksgiving trip, I made sure to have a heated pool just in case. We swam (or at least part of us), almost every single day. There were a couple early morning swims for a couple of my kids when the others were sleeping in. There was a little swimming mid-day once or twice. And several evenings when we did late in the day swims. Something about it being just steps from the living room made it all that more inviting. That and that it was just super private. We've been sitting on the fence of getting a pool at home, but I think this just made us decide a pool at home would well be worth the investment. Now I just need to see if the homeowners association will let us put a screened in room over it!

 

[Mickeyluver37]

We just stayed at a WH townhouse over Thanksgiving and the kids LOVED the pool. We were in it every night with the exception of our MK nights, because they were much later nights out.

 

[Brian Noble]

The advantage of a pool home is that the pool is right there. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it really is significantly more convenient. You don't have to "pack up" for the pool. You don't need to commit one adult to the entire "pool visit", and can trade off supervision duties easily. Add it all up, and we tend to swim more often with a private pool than without. We've since changed over to timeshare trips, rather than renting homes, but I do miss the convenience of that pool.

 

[formill]

We have loved and used the pools a lot at every villa we have rented and have always paid the extra to have it heated.....but for me a villa with a hot tub is even more important.......kids play in the pool........we spend a lot of time in the hot tub while watching them. I love that the pools are all screened you can just leave your patio doors open(if you don't have the air on!) and go in and out.......way way better than any resort/hotel/public pool! We would not rent a villa without a pool but we do not go to the parks all the time.

 

[ksass]

With pool!! My kids (now 12 and 15) have always loved having the pool right there and usually swim for a short while every morning and every night before bed. It is so convenient so it get used....although it is worth it to pay the extra for heating it!!

 

[AllesonWonderland]

The advantage of a pool home is that the pool is right there. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it really is significantly more convenient. You don't have to "pack up" for the pool. You don't need to commit one adult to the entire "pool visit", and can trade off supervision duties easily. Add it all up, and we tend to swim more often with a private pool than without. We've since changed over to timeshare trips, rather than renting homes, but I do miss the convenience of that pool.

Yes, this! When we'd come back to Windsor Hills for a break in the day, the kids would jump in the pool. DH could watch them while I was making dinner (or I could see them right through the patio door.) Last time, when we went with more family, I think my brothers were in the pool every night before we went to bed. This year we have a January trip, so I'm not sure how pleasant the pool will be, even with heat, but we'll see. Like another poster said, it's probably never too cold for the kids to swim!

 

[isla bonita]

The first time we stayed in a pool home we all fell in love.

The kids were in the pool every day and liked it better then Disney at times.

Would not do it any other way since.

 

[travelhome]

We've since changed over to timeshare trips, rather than renting homes, but I do miss the convenience of that pool.

Do you mind sharing why change from timesharing to renting homes?

We normally do timeshares. But it is not easy to exchange into DVC so I'm looking into renting from owners for Wynhdam Bonnet Creek. We will have multi-family gathering so the four bedroom presidential unit sounds very attractive. While browsing this board, I noticed there is even 6-7 bdrm vacation houses with private pools and private game rooms for rent, which may not cost significantly more than a 4bdrm WBC. Certainly the location won't be as convenient. So I'm hesitating between WBC and renting a home.

Very interested in hearing your perspective of changing...