Mainebound
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2002
- Messages
- 1,699
Hi everyone,
We stayed in a 6 bedroom pool home in Emerald Island for 10 nights in May. We had stayed in Emerald Island last year as well. This year we drove around to look at other nearby developments off 192, and I think EI is still one of the nicest. Very lovely entrance, gate with 24 hour guard, very upscale, quiet community. It has a nice community pool with business center and arcade, lovely walking trails etc.
To get to WDW from Emerald Island, you drive about 1 mile to get onto 192, then you are on 192 for one traffic light. You take a left onto Sherberth Road until you get to Osceola. You take a right on Osceola, and signs direct you to the parks. It is fast and easy. EI is one of the closest of these developments to WDW, a major plus for us.
The house itself is located in the "Enclave" section of EI. This means it has a larger lot. It is not overlooked (there are no neighbors to your right or behind you) and you can see lots of grass and trees when you sit by the pool. We liked this better than our previous rental, which had homes on both sides only a few feet away.
The home is all on one floor, which was good for us as we travel with my elderly mother. It has 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms (one with direct access to the pool). The two master baths are huge, with walk in showers and large garden tubs and walk in closet.
All of the bedrooms were a good size, especially the masters which were enormous. We really liked the decor, very tasteful with a relaxing sea shore/vacaton theme throughout (fish, beach, surfing, etc.). There were ceiling fans everywhere, even out by the pool, which was great. The home was extremely clean and well-stocked with every necessity in the kitchen, etc.
The home is stocked with literally hundreds of movies, many for children. Also the two twin bedrooms had a lot of books and toys which the kids (ages 4-6) loved. The pool area also had a lot of toys, from little squirt guns to floaties.
It also had PS2, and TVs and DVD players in every room.
We felt the owner, Deb, was incredibly responsive and helpful before, during, and after our stay. We had three very small issues over the 11 days and got a reply email or phone call within a couple of hours. We also once had to call the management company, and they called back a few hours later. Our refund security deposit check has already been maied back to us.
There a couple of minor things that we did not love about the home: there is one main living area with a sectional sofa that comfortably seats only about 5 adults. This did not provide enough space for the whole family to gather, although there was seating for 8 by the pool if we had wanted to sit out there. The only other thing was that this main living area was tiled. the tiles are beautiful, but with high ceilings and no soft goods in the room, the echo was pretty loud from talking or the TV. If it were my house, I would put some chairs and rugs in the main living area to make it more quiet, and to have a place to sit and read.
Overall we loved the Bonita and had an outstanding vacation there. I would recommend it to anyone.
We stayed in a 6 bedroom pool home in Emerald Island for 10 nights in May. We had stayed in Emerald Island last year as well. This year we drove around to look at other nearby developments off 192, and I think EI is still one of the nicest. Very lovely entrance, gate with 24 hour guard, very upscale, quiet community. It has a nice community pool with business center and arcade, lovely walking trails etc.
To get to WDW from Emerald Island, you drive about 1 mile to get onto 192, then you are on 192 for one traffic light. You take a left onto Sherberth Road until you get to Osceola. You take a right on Osceola, and signs direct you to the parks. It is fast and easy. EI is one of the closest of these developments to WDW, a major plus for us.
The house itself is located in the "Enclave" section of EI. This means it has a larger lot. It is not overlooked (there are no neighbors to your right or behind you) and you can see lots of grass and trees when you sit by the pool. We liked this better than our previous rental, which had homes on both sides only a few feet away.
The home is all on one floor, which was good for us as we travel with my elderly mother. It has 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms (one with direct access to the pool). The two master baths are huge, with walk in showers and large garden tubs and walk in closet.
All of the bedrooms were a good size, especially the masters which were enormous. We really liked the decor, very tasteful with a relaxing sea shore/vacaton theme throughout (fish, beach, surfing, etc.). There were ceiling fans everywhere, even out by the pool, which was great. The home was extremely clean and well-stocked with every necessity in the kitchen, etc.
The home is stocked with literally hundreds of movies, many for children. Also the two twin bedrooms had a lot of books and toys which the kids (ages 4-6) loved. The pool area also had a lot of toys, from little squirt guns to floaties.
It also had PS2, and TVs and DVD players in every room.
We felt the owner, Deb, was incredibly responsive and helpful before, during, and after our stay. We had three very small issues over the 11 days and got a reply email or phone call within a couple of hours. We also once had to call the management company, and they called back a few hours later. Our refund security deposit check has already been maied back to us.
There a couple of minor things that we did not love about the home: there is one main living area with a sectional sofa that comfortably seats only about 5 adults. This did not provide enough space for the whole family to gather, although there was seating for 8 by the pool if we had wanted to sit out there. The only other thing was that this main living area was tiled. the tiles are beautiful, but with high ceilings and no soft goods in the room, the echo was pretty loud from talking or the TV. If it were my house, I would put some chairs and rugs in the main living area to make it more quiet, and to have a place to sit and read.
Overall we loved the Bonita and had an outstanding vacation there. I would recommend it to anyone.
). When we go w/ my parents and sister, it's the only way for us to go. It's great when someone has such great things to say about a specific home, it helps give a sense of confidence to others interested in that specific property.
I do think that staying in a property like this sounds like a blissful retreat from our typical go go go WDW vacations. 
