Anyone just back stay in a vacation home?

[hulagirl]

We will be staying at Windsor Palms in a couple of weeks and I wondered if anyone stayed offsite over Thanksgiving and enjoyed it?

 

[karenvicki]

Not over Thanksgiving but we stayed in a rental home the first week in November. We were in Indian Creek (a development not far from Windsor Palms) rented through vrbo.com and it was a wonderful experience from start to finish! Please let me know if there are any specific questions I might be able to help you with!

 

[TDM516]

Karen, which one did you stay in? We are looking to rent one in May as well.

 

[tinatark]

I'd like to hear, too. We had booked a villa at the Caribe Royale but ended up cancelling that and booking a 4 bedroom house at Windsor Palms instead, for $200 less for the week, including pool heat. I understand it's a great, gated community, so close to Disney you can see the fireworks.

 

[TDM516]

Okay Tina (my name's Tina, too, and we're both from Tennessee!), I'll ask you a similar question---which house did you rent? We're thinking of renting from the www.windsor-palms-resort.com website where you rent from the owners, and not from Global. What did you end up deciding? I'm very impressed with the prices and the quality, from what I can see. And when are you going? My girls are very excited about each having their own room and, more importantly for teenage girls, their own bathroom!

 

[tinatark]

We're in 2263 Wyndham Palms Way, March 16-23rd. Our rate, including taxes and pool heat is 1621.76; I used Global Marketing, Keree, the marketing director booked for me, I believe she gave us the price of a "regular" 4 bedroom house for this house, which is an "executive" home. I didn't check the other web site, just went to wyndhampalms.com and called the toll free # from there.

I did go to another site (another community, I think) where you book with the owners directly, I had called a few and got no answer, e-mailed and waited for replies (they came several days later) I really didn't have the patience to keep checking around ... I thought this was a fair price, didn't really want to poke around a lot more for a little more savings.

Tina

 

[tinatark]

I was wrong, I did check the web site you linked to your reply, it was such a pain! When I did get replies, even though I had checked the calendar for the dates I needed, the homes weren't available, plus, like I said, the replies came a few days after I sent the inquiries. We are in the instant, NOW age!

www.windsorpalmsresort.com is such an easy page, with the map of the community, prices quoted for specific dates, and you can click on any of the lots to see the house at the address you choose.

 

[hulagirl]

Hey everyone!
I just wanted to jump in here and make a few comments. I was the OP on this thread and we did end up staying at Windsor Palms from December 15- 21st and had a wonderful time. We went through All Star Vacation Homes (found them on Deb Wills site) They were excellent! Karen Coffman is the concierge there and is extremely helpful. The kids (I have 3 boys) loved having our own pool right in our back yard and enjoyed fooling around at the clubhouse and the playground. Also, you cannot believe how comfortable the beds in this house were! I came home and immediately thought - we need a new mattress! Going through All Star is a bit more expensive but I can tell you, it is well worth the money. (Their decorator does an amazing job and every one of my kids slept like a dream in those beds - they were pillow top mattresses for goodness sake! )
I hope your experience turns out to be as good as ours was. I would do it again in a heartbeat except we ended up taking the tour and buying into DVC!
If you have any ? I would be happy to answer!

 

[MalcolmC]

As a home owner I would, of course, recommend you book direct with the owner. There are quite a few owners on this board.

If you know which sub-division you want just search for it in Yahoo or Google i.e. "vacation home Hampton Lakes"

You may not have had replies to your phone calls if the owners are overseas - don't forget the time difference of 5 or six hours to Europe.

We have always stayed in vacation homes long before we bought our own! Who wants to be stuck in a single hotel room for a whole vacation with three kids? We didn't!!

If anyone wants more specific information about which sub-divisions are where or anything else vacation home related, just send me a PM.

 

[karenvicki]

The one day I don't log in and of course that's when you asked your question! Now I hope I can be of some help!
We booked a home in the Indian Creek subdivision through vrbo.com but worked directly with the owner (David Field). The listing was number 2421. We were 2 families in a 4 bedroom/2 bath home with a pool (and jacuzzi!). The house was lovely, fully furnished and it was nice to be able to have coffee/breakfast at home every morning, not to mention dinner a few nights and to do our laundry on our day off was fantastic. We were close to 192 (and loaded up on groceries the first night) and were only 5-10 minutes from the WDW parks! And if you can believe it, we paid under $900 for the week and that included tax and pool heating (we were there first week of November).
I hope this info is helpful. Please let me know what other help I may be able to provide for you.

 

[karenvicki]

By the way, I forgot to mention in the last post that I did a lot of research before booking and found that as a general rule, the vrbo homes were less expensive (for homes in the same subdivisions as the management companies) and all the inquiries I sent via email through vrbo were answered within 24 hours (most of the owners I dealt with were in the UK). As you contact some of these owners, you will undoubtedly get a feel for those who you feel most comfortable dealing with! My experience was a positive one with regards to all the owners I contacted before I made my decision!

 

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

We were in Windsor Palms the 1st week of Decemeber (our 2nd stay) and I STRONGLY reccomend booking directly thru the owner. For the poster who is paying 1600+ that is way too much.
We had a 5 bedroom 3 bath house for a fraction of that. Check all the sites and you will definately save alot of money. I used villas2000.com and vrbo.com.

 

[tinatark]

First of all, no offense was meant to any owners of these vacation homes. I did make a couple of phone calls and e mail contacts regarding rentals and didn't get what I thought was a prompt reply.

I have today made further contacts to other owners referred by this board, we'll see what happens there. I will certainly re book for a lower rate, if the management company cannot match the rate I can get.

It seems like March is high season, so rates everywhere are higher than in, say, winter time. We went on a cruise this same time last year and paid a real premium to get the dates we required...

 

[TDM516]

I e-mailed one of the owners through the website I linked above, and I got a reply within two hours. I think the theory that some of these owners may be out of the country or out of pocket for a while (especially through the holidays) is a valid point. Don't discount the entire website for that reason only, because you could save quite a bit of money vs. the option that you mentioned above. I agree that $1600 is way overpriced compared to the rates I am getting quoted for the last week in May. Perhaps March is higher, but I still think it's too much.

 

[tinatark]

Okay guys, you are all correct! I did get a reply from 1st for Orlando - same type home is quite a bit less for the same type home/including tax and pool heat. $500 less, to be exact. I will be calling Global, seeing if they can match or I will pay their $50 and re book.

 

[Lakul]

We advertise our villa on 1st for Orlando and can recommend them highly. We have received quite a few bookings from them and have had lovely guests staying in our villa

 

[tinatark]

Okay, we found a home on VRBO, the # is 19934, the owner just called me and I understand what another poster said about being comfortable with the owner!

This is a brand new (finished in 11/02) 4 bedroom house, on Sun Palm Drive, the newest section of the community. My price, including pool heat and sales taxes is unbelievable. I'm not sure the owners would like me to post exact figures, but I will say, after a $50 cancellation fee with Global, we are still over 40% lower than Global!

Awesome! I'm glad I listened to you more and dug a little deeper!

Tina

 

[karenvicki]

Tina,
I'm so glad to hear you were able to find another property at a good price! Sounds like you did well! Is this villa also in Windsor Palms?
If you have any further questions, be sure to post back and i'd be happy to give you any help I can!
Once again, congrats on the rental! I too was amazed at the difference in prices for identical homes in the same community when they were rented through a management company as opposed to going through the owner!
Enjoy!

 

[tinatark]

brand new (completed 2 months ago) 4 bedroom pool home. We would have done even better, pricewise, with a condo, I'm sure, but the private home idea was just too good to pass up! Plus, the owners will be there the week before us, so I'm sure they will be taking care of any little issues they find then... now, for the park hopper pass research to begin!

 

[karenvicki]

You're going to love having your own pool. My kids liked that almost as much as the parks themselves! It will be so worth it for you, I promise!
As for tickets (not that you asked for my help or opinion), if you have AAA, they do offer a 5% discount on several of the hopper passes (we got the 4 day which was perfect for us). If you're a AAA member, this might be the way to go!