We stayed there for 6 nights a couple of years ago. We had a week in WDW, then went to a privately owned villa in Cape Coral, then back up to Orlando for one night before flying home.
Cape Coral was great for a 'chilling out' kind of week, but there wasn't a lot to do in the immediate area. We failed to find a central area with shops and restaurants - they seemed to be spread around - although there were plenty of 'average' kinds of places to eat dotted around and about.
However, move just a little further afield and you have easy access to Sanibel and Captiva, Matlacha and Cabbage Key - all wonderful islands which we loved