Been asked, so here it is: Hotel v. Pool Home

[crjack]

Isla Bonita, I'm with you on the blender.....no need for a crockpot when I go on vacation - just some paper plates to serve the take-out!

We just reserved a pool home for 2006 and this will be our third time using one. My DH travels constantly for work and has miles, points, etc. with almost every major hotel chain. For him, the pool home vacations are his favorite and the reason why he keeps letting me plan vacations in Orlando!

We all love to save some $$$ but I find pool homes to be so reasonable anyway, and if we are splitting the cost with other family members it's really insignificant in many cases so we always choose a home with ammenities that are important to us.

We love to swim and don't always want to travel to the community pool so for us having a nice, large pool is a must. Also, enough seating in the pool area. Most nights the adults in our group sit and watch the kids swim.

My son loves if a home has a game system (PS2, X-box) or even better a game room in the garage. (Not a deal breaker by any means though for me) A nice size t.v. is great in the family living area and this time the home we rented has a t.v. in each bedroom. The last house we rented only had t.v's in the two master suites. Now that my children are older, and each will be sharing their room with a cousin, I like the idea of the extra t.v's while we are on vacation. They know that will never happen at home!

As you said, larger homes are often shared by two families or groups traveling together and two king rooms is great.

You are a very nice to go out and get a crock pot. Both times I rented pool homes in Windsor Palms the owners followed up with us after our trip to see if we enjoyed ourselves and found everything that we needed. We never had a hotel do that!

 

[isla bonita]

Thanks crjack,
It might be the only time it is ever used. Also we purchased a safe for guests that had come from Europe. That is something we have used every time we have been down there ourselves. I would never have thought of it but it sure comes in handy. We put tv's in every room of our home. When we first rented the home had no tv's in the bedrooms. Nine months later we had my daughter Ainsley. LOL We also put DVD players in all the rooms. As you all can guess we are big TV people. When on vaca we catch up on what we can't do during the year. Lounge and watch a good movie. We love the parks but we enjoy our down days too. Next time I go down I am bringing a Texas Hold em game. I have become addicted. We are getting one for our home and for the vaca home so we can have cards at night while the kids are in the pool. Any other ideas please feel free, you can never have enough fun on vaca.

 

[jdm]

If I were interested in purchasing a pool home for an investment, where would I begin? It's something DH and I have kicked around, but honestly don't know where we would start?

Jenn

 

[isla bonita]

jdm
I have pm'd you with a wealth of information. It is the greatest thing we have ever done. I can not say enough about it. We love it. So do our families and friends. LOL

 

[Gillian]

One thing we didn't have last time was a place to hang shower towels to dry. The tiny towel bar was broken. We don't wash shower towels every day and like to hang them. I got a plastic over the door hook rack at walmart that was so great we took it home and still use it! So installing some good quality hooks would make the bathrooms feel homey.

also
-storage containers for leftovers
-an empty shelf or cabinet for food (last house there were soooo many plastic cups that obviously had been left by previous guests and they took up more space than you can imagine.

We enjoyed the board games and puzzles provided.

I've noticed more owners offering no charge baby items, which is great! Highchair & pack n play or crib being tops on my list, along with fitted sheets for it.

 

[isla bonita]

Do people use pack and plays or do you need cribs. I used a pack and play and have 3 at our home they can be packed away if you do not need it. With a crib it is always left out.

 

[JANNYANS]

Some good ideas here most of which I already have but others I can sort out on my trip nov 7 .My pool towles are blue house towels white so I was a bit worried about the washing but I simply ask my guests to wash them separately - something MOST people would do anyway but not all, and I have had no problems.I aske my guests if there is anything missing I did have one guest say recently that a bigger garbage can in the kitchen would have been good and that was all -so I shall have to look for one.

 

[kaylajr]

I love pool homes
One in particular

This is a great thread and I have to agree on the great big book of info

The house we rent had one and it was a great help (thanks Jan)

Also the different color towels
The first house we rented had all white towels I still don't know how that person expected us to keep them seperate

 

[muffyn]

I agree with the paper plates. really would come in handy.

also, I know this would be appreciated,, but maybe some kind of welcome box with staple items ( I KNOW some people usually leave things in fridge, but I am hesitant to use some of the stuff). maybe some sugar, coffee, peanut butter/jelly some bottled water/ pop etc. OH & make sure there is salt & pepper in the house. I know there are some grocery stores that will deliver, but a starter package would be cool,,, I am sure it woudl be a nice renting point.. even if you ask extra $$ for it. or maybe at least give out a name of a place that delivers & have the renter arrange for items to be there when they checked in.. I end up buying a jar of peanut butter etc & not use 1/2 of it.. maybe if there were smaller samples or something ( like in restaurants where they have individual jelly packets.)

 

[JANNYANS]

Muffyn most owners can organise a welcome pack of exactly what you want all you have to do is ask .Alternatively there is a company that will shop and drop for you .It is called wegoshop .

 

[alexcturner]

We have a little one, so we have a full size crib with all the very nice bedding etc, 2 strollers, high chair, carseat, childrens swimvests and toys. We also have a child safety fence around the pool. Within our gated community we have a communual pool and playground. This is all included in the rate. So our guests frequently are families with young children. All of our guests have been GREAT and we feel we have become friends with many even though we have not met face to face. It has been a wonderful experience for us not just being able to enjoy our home but also being able to share it with others. I would highly rec. vacation homes on either side, owning or renting. However, dealing directly with the owner is always better.

 

[RedSox1974]

GREAT THREAD!!!!

Thank you all for your many suggestions and PM's on pool homes rented directly from the owner (will welcome more)

I would like to 2nd the suggestion of a small welcome basket/ package upon arrival. When we had rented a pool home in February, due to the fact we arrived at the home late at night, we didn't stop at the grocery store (we put it off til morning) but thankfully my DW had packed a roll of toilet paper and soap... because there wasn't any at the home.

 

[muffyn]

Muffyn most owners can organise a welcome pack of exactly what you want all you have to do is ask .Alternatively there is a company that will shop and drop for you .It is called wegoshop .

ha! I have had 5 house rentals, & never even THOUGHT of asking... I figure most tmes the owner is in england somewhere, & had one bad experience with the management company.
guess would be nice to have known about wegoshop etc.
I'll have to remember next time, but 'i' usually stop somewhere to get fresh stuff. I just suggested this for some others who have never had a house before .

 

[challada]

It's been 4 years since we last went to WDW (I know, I know...how can you go that long b/w visits...good thing we have the original park on our 'coast'side)....so we are a little rusty on this. When we went last time, we rented a beautiful pool house near the Walmart on 192 (neighborhood behind Medieval times). Loved, loved, loved the house, but last christmas card I got from the couple we rented from said they had moved away.

Now we are looking at renting a house to share w/another family for spring break week 06 (first week Aprli) and I'm trying to remember what all was where and what neighborhoods to avoid (I remember passing an Indian-something on way in to park every day and saying, 'yuck'). With bigger kids now (we traveled w/diapers last time!), I'm thinking we would like the game room set up as well.

I've looked at vrbo.com and emailed a few owners there, but wondered if anyone had areas that are great, areas that are terrible or insider info.

thanks
chris

 

[crjack]

Challada, three very nice resorts all close to WDW are Emerald Island, Windsor Palms and Windsor Hills. I think if you narrow your search on vrbo to these three you will find beautiful homes in a great commuting location.

I don't mean to rule out other developments for you and I'm sure other posters will have some great suggestions as well, it's just that we are familiar with these so I can recommend them.

Red Sox 1974 (fellow Bostonian here) we have had great luck renting directly from owners and we have always known exactly which house we were getting by communicating directly with them. I found the houses we rented originally on vrbo but most linked me directly to owner websites that included photos, tours, availabilty calendars, etc.

There are several posters here who have beautiful homes you may want to consider and a number of us who can recommend others. There are so many...I wish I could try them all! Also, you have a smart DW to be so prepared but I can't imagine arriving at a home without toilet paper! The homes we rented had all been cleaned before our arrival and each bathroom had a new roll in it.

We are only a family of four but I can't imagine staying in anything smaller than a condo and we love renting pool homes. We get so much more for less $$$ than most rooms on-site.

I cant wait for our visit in 2006!

 

[challada]

Thank you...those were actually the three neighborhoods I was checking out based on their location...we are struggling to find our dates still available, but I think I found a house in Windsor Palms that is available and has the right # of bedrooms, etc for us.

My questions on the Windsor subdivisions...

They obviously are large to have the community center, etc, so are they so big you can't find your house?

It looks like there is a mix of condos and houses....is it too many people packed into the area or is it comfortable (ie, I don't want to feel as overwhelmed as the parks when I get back "home" for the night)?

With the gated community, do you feel safe in the complex (ie, is your rental car left outside in the driveway safe?)?

How close are grocery stores?

THANKS
Chris

 

[djkeenan]

Windsor Hills, Windsor Palms and Emerald Isle were the top three in our search, but we ended up staying at Rolling Hills because that's where we got the best deal. Rolling Hills is a couple years older and more of a neighborhood than a "resort". It's in the same area as the above 3, just minutes from WDW.

I checked and the home we chose still has availability for April: http://www.sjsvillas.com so you might want to take a look.

We didn't need a six bedroom home when we started planning, but we've always wanted to take a WDW vacation with our siblings, nieces and nephews. Since we had extra space we sent out the invitation and it looks like we've filled the place up. We're thrilled!

Another great reason to choose a pool home over a hotel room: you can invite guests!

 

[flagdaytwins]

Challada,

I stayed at Windsor Palms a few months ago. I loved it there, stayed in a townhome. It is like a housing development -- a section with townhomes, section with condos, and then the houses.

Very close to WDW - 3 miles to Animal Kingdom entrance. A little further to MK. Commute not an issue for us.

The fact that it was gated made us a feel a little safer -- we got to park one car right at the townhome door, and then another in the lot just across the street. Felt safe the entire time.

Not to mention...the beds in the townhome were AWESOME. Pillowtop or something -- never slept so well in my life.

 

[flagdaytwins]

...we shopped at the super wal M on 192 -- about 10 min. ride. seemed far before we actually drove there -- but it wasn't too bad -- worth the $$ you save.

there is a grocery store 2 miles from windsor palms -- but i heard it's over priced and not worth going to.

 

[challada]

Thanks...we grocery shopped at the superWallyworld on 192 when we where there 4 years ago...I really liked that place but it was so crowded at that time! Of course, we were staying about 2 seconds away from the W so wasn't hard to shop there.

I think we will book the house in Windsor...I was scared there was some hidden problem w/the development that I didn't know, but it all looks on the up and up. The house's pool looks like it faces the parking lot for the condos, but w/4 boys and 1 little girl, I don't think any of our kids will mind.

THANKS for all the info!
Chris