Best Villa's -your Opinion- Wdw

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I have always stayed on site at WDW, but for my next trip to Orlando I am considering a villa / Orlando Home. Maybe booked through Virgin.

Could I ask you for your reviews and suggestions:-

• Best homes.
• Best locations.
• Best pools.

What would you recommend.

For location I know that a lot are on 192/27, so for WDW (Maingate) not too bad, but also on location, are the homes close together, privacy on the pool area etc?

Thanks

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Hi,

I have stayed at and viewed many different villa communities.

Personally I would always book my own , we go with Virgin too however I prefer to choose where I stay rather than have someone choose for me.

As far as location goes without a doubt I prefer just off the 192 in Kissimmee.
Close to the Formosa Gardens junction there are many nice villa developments and you are ideally situated.
There is a Publix supermarket 5 minutes away, restaurants within easy reach, you are about 10-15 minutes away from Disney and the I4 access is good too for Universal etc

Windsor Palms, Indian Creek and Emerald Island are all good places to stay and the homes all fairly new.

I can recommend looking for a south facing pool, as this way you get the sunshine all day. The way it faces can dictate how much sun gets on the pool and pool deck.
A fully fenced pool is also I feel an advantage as you get that extra privacy.

It is common for many villa communities to be very quiet, and it's common for many homes to be empty most of the time - though renting villas is a very competitive market these days and they are becoming more popular as people seek the extra room and flexibility.

If you would like specific recommendations on a nice home we have stayed in please let me know.

Otherwise if you do decide to book your own, these websites are some of the best:
www.villas2000.com
www.vr360homes.co.uk
www.holiday-rentals.com

 

[Corky Morris]

Always ask about the outlook as well. Many new villas are built very close to each other & the pools can be within a couple of feet. If privacy is important, ask a lot of questions & get photo's of the pool & deck.

 

[orchid]

Hi... Renting villa privatly has many advantages over booking with tour operator.
When i first went out i stayed in a villa rental and the villa owner sorted flights and car for us, we did check the prices out and saved quite a bit doing it this way.
Booking through a tour operator is ok but i klike to know where i am staying, what place i am staying in and so i can check out before i go what is arround the place i am staying in....cant do this with a tour operator as it is allocation on arrival, yes you can get a nice place to stay in but then why be over charged ? A leading tour operator charged someone £400 for pool heat at a villa, i did some checks and spoke to owners on that estate who said no more than £140, the person went back to the tour operator with this information that i got the owners to send them but they didnt want to know.
So i would always book flight car and villa seperatly to avoid the tour operator ripoff of supliments for this, that and the other.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Thank you for your great responses.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Hi,

I have stayed at and viewed many different villa communities.

Personally I would always book my own , we go with Virgin too however I prefer to choose where I stay rather than have someone choose for me.

As far as location goes without a doubt I prefer just off the 192 in Kissimmee.
Close to the Formosa Gardens junction there are many nice villa developments and you are ideally situated.
There is a Publix supermarket 5 minutes away, restaurants within easy reach, you are about 10-15 minutes away from Disney and the I4 access is good too for Universal etc

Windsor Palms, Indian Creek and Emerald Island are all good places to stay and the homes all fairly new.

I can recommend looking for a south facing pool, as this way you get the sunshine all day. The way it faces can dictate how much sun gets on the pool and pool deck.
A fully fenced pool is also I feel an advantage as you get that extra privacy.

It is common for many villa communities to be very quiet, and it's common for many homes to be empty most of the time - though renting villas is a very competitive market these days and they are becoming more popular as people seek the extra room and flexibility.

If you would like specific recommendations on a nice home we have stayed in please let me know.

Otherwise if you do decide to book your own, these websites are some of the best:
www.villas2000.com
www.vr360homes.co.uk
www.holiday-rentals.com

Johnny

If you have some recommendations with pools I would be very interested thanks.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Johnny

If you have some recommendations with pools I would be very interested thanks.

Will send you a pm.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Will send you a pm.

Thank you! You have been most informative.

 

[castanea1985]

Hi
In recent years when staying 'off site'
I always have a check list..... here are a few of the things that are important to us!

• South facing pool with no rear neighbours!

• Free UK calls - if you can find a villa that gives you free calls, this can save you time and effort looking for payphones or buying phone cards.

• Free internet access - we like taking our wireless laptop - so again finding a villa that will give you free internet access or even better a computer to use will also save time and money.

Internet cafes aren't that common out there!
• Disney themed rooms for the kids

• Games room for the 'older' kids!!

Hope this helps!
Tracy

 

[Jakey Rowling]

The big advantage booking privately is you know exactly what you are getting in terms of community, outlook, privacy, facilities, villa layout etc.

With virgin there is a high probability you will be based on the US27 which is not too bad but their are more convenient areas but I wouldn't let this put you off if you find the right villa for you.
I've stayed there and once you're in the car another 5 or 10 mins makes no real difference to me.

If you go private, if you are needing a 3 bedroom, consider a 4 bedroom for the small difference in price. These often come with a 2nd living area which can come in handy.
A bathroom with a door to the pool is very handy for all ages, we tend to put a couple of towels on the floor as a drying area as the rest of the villa will be tiled and potentially slippy or a wet carpet takes a while to dry out. Towels are washed and dried overnight in the garage for the next day.

Our preferred layout can be found here
http://www.elegantfloridavilla.com/floorplan.htm

I'm not recommending the villa as I've never stayed there, just the layout which works well for us and will maybe give you a few ideas to consider.

Consider the eating areas, the plan above has a nook with a little table for 4 which is fine for us, I've always found the formal dining areas a little over the top and I'm wary of the mess that we can make.

 

[TinkTatoo]

I agree with Johny on the Formosa Gardens area as it's very handy location. You can usually get to AK in about 5 minutes.

We've stayed at Sunset Lakes on our past two trips and we love this location as the view over the lake is really tranquil

We've never bothered with pool orientation as we're there in August ands if the pools got a bit of shade it's a real bonus for us. Having said that this photo was taken in the afternoon

We also look for free internet access and last trip the villa owners added a slate bed pool table which was a nice bonus.

 

[Haworthfamily]

Hi we've stayed off site for two years now, in Emerald Island.
We love it there, so close to 192 for shops and 10 mins if that for Disney parks.
The villa we stay in has a lovely pool, hot tub and pool table and play station.
We book direct to the owner, but orginally found the property on villarenters.com.

It sleeps 10 and as two double rooms with on suites, there is also a pool, tennis courts and playground on site, but let's face it most of the time we are at the parks or eating lol.

If we are feeling flush one year (not often!) we sometimes stay for two nights in WDW hotel as a treat.

Hope that helps
Sarah X

 

[lexie32]

Hi Andrew, i agree with everything Johnny said but i would add Windsor Hills to the list,we habe stayed at windsor palms and hills but prefer windsor hills as it was newer and the community pool facilites were better which is great when ds needs to interact with other children, i have pm'ed you the villa details please ask if you need an more info

alex

 

[Melcatfish]

I agree with Johny on the Formosa Gardens area as it's very handy location. You can usually get to AK in about 5 minutes.

We've stayed at Sunset Lakes on our past two trips and we love this location as the view over the lake is really tranquil

We've never bothered with pool orientation as we're there in August ands if the pools got a bit of shade it's a real bonus for us. Having said that this photo was taken in the afternoon

We also look for free internet access and last trip the villa owners added a slate bed pool table which was a nice bonus.

Ooohh that is one gorgeous looking pool! Can you PM me the details of the villa you stay in please?

Thanks
Mel
x

 

[TinkTatoo]

Ooohh that is one gorgeous looking pool! Can you PM me the details of the villa you stay in please?

Thanks
Mel
x

PM on it's way Mel

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Thank you everyone for your excellent responses I am in research mode now!

 

[PoppyAnna]

I can add another vote for Windsor Hills, we stayed in a three bath/bed terraced townhouse with a splash pool in October. There are four of us and as we didn't want to sleep on a different floor to the girls we only used the two upstairs bedrooms, we used the downstairs bathroom for showering off after using the pool. If you go for a gated community (like WH) I have heard stories of the gates being left open with many vehicles coming and going. We didnt find this at WH even the exit gate.
Although terraced we had no noise from either side and as previously mentioned the public facilites at Windsor Hills are great. We paid around £700 for two weeks with pool heat and wi-fi. The location is great, especially if you use the Sherberth roady shortcut off the 192 you can be at the gates of AK in less than 15 mins.
We did our research and got loads of help from on here (Johnny included ) we also used Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth to check out the villas location. We booked through one of the sites Johnny reccommened. Any prospective "rentor" should be more than happy to provide you with the property address.
Hope this helps.
Joanne.

 

[mungo]

we stayed on the 192 and didn't like it, hated travelling up and down the 192 all the time, and didn't like that end of the 192 at all.

We like being at Highgate, its quite close to the 192 on the 27, we like the road access, we also like champions gate area too. It doesn't bother us having to travel and extra few minutes to get to disney, as we don't just visit the parks. With the new road open down westside boulevard its even quicker, I plan on visiting a few more communites too, as its nice to have a change


most important to our family

is a quiet gated community

south or south west facing pool

not overlooked

we prefer a lake or conservation area

games room

internet access

quality furniture

we have always booked our villas independantley as well

you will have a great time looking at all the villas enjoy

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We did our research and got loads of help from on here (Johnny included ) we also used Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth to check out the villas location. We booked through one of the sites Johnny reccommened. Any prospective "rentor" should be more than happy to provide you with the property address.
Hope this helps.
Joanne.

Glad it worked out for you.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Glad it worked out for you.

Johnny thank you, just booked your recommendation!