ease my mind...offsite pool homes

[josh0208]

Please PM me also. We are going on April and are paying $800 for 7 days!

Thanks.

 

[LauraAnn630]

We have stayed on-site 2 times. This will be our first time renting a villa!
We are so excited. We are going for Christmas and New Years. My brother and his family, my sister and her family and my parents are all going. My sister is staying at the Buena Vista Palace ( old Whydham). They are paying twice as much for 4 nights as we are staying in a 5bdrm, pool/spa, gameroom and kitchen for 11 nights!!

We are bringing a small tree. My DH is happy about the price and all the room we will have.

We dont think we will miss any of the magic!

NO BUSES!
NO Waiting for buses!!
Washer and dryer
Familyroom to relax
yard for the kids to play
room for us to get away from the kids!
not having to pay $7 or more for a drink!
BYOB

 

[MOMOFMNM]

Yep, add me to the list. We usually stay at OKW or one of the moderates when we're onsite, and we've rented, um, I think about 4-5 houses in the past 10 years. We like both experiences, but prefer the houses when we're staying more than sun-thurs (hello, dvc!) or have extended family with us. More room to spread out and relax, and in exchange you give up a little bit of the magic, which starts to wear off fast if you feel crowded by the space or by your inlaws.

So, short vacations with just the 4 of us = onsite, long vacations with extended family = pool home.

OMG you look like a model in your wedding pic!!

that is gorgeous!!!

too bad I lost all this weight AFTER my wedding!! LOL

My pic would have been so much better!!!

 

[Disneyrsh]

OMG you look like a model in your wedding pic!!

that is gorgeous!!!

too bad I lost all this weight AFTER my wedding!! LOL

My pic would have been so much better!!!

Hey, that's what Adobe Photoshop is for!!!! My mom and MIL make me photoshop their pictures before they print them out now

 

[flipfloppershopper]

Has anyone stayed in the Season's Resort area?

 

[Disneyrsh]

Season's resort doesn't sound familiar, can you tell us what main streets intersect nearby, like, 27 and 192 (that gives me a clear picture) or 192 and, aw, heck, what was the road Splendid China was on?

Sometimes that'll help us.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Season's resort doesn't sound familiar, can you tell us what main streets intersect nearby, like, 27 and 192 (that gives me a clear picture) or 192 and, aw, heck, what was the road Splendid China was on?

Sometimes that'll help us.

Wasn't Splendid China on 'Splendid China Boulevard' or was it 'Formosa Boulevard'??

 

[Angie_Ohio]

My extended family stayed in two pool homes about a 15 minute drive from disney last Thanksgiving. We LOVED it!!! The convenience of pool, kitchen, barbeque, washer/dryer etc... at $117 a night plus pool heat was unmatched. We had no problem driving each day. We've been to Disney onsite many times and I would definitely do the house again. With our large family it is almost cost prohibitive to stay onsite for 10 days.
Angie_OH

 

[Serene]

Add me to the pool home converts. I was a "Disney Magic Addict", and never thought I'd give up the on-site resorts. Until we came to a point where we just couldn't deal with the cramped rooms anymore. After 29 Disney trips over the years, three years ago we took the leap and rented a pool home. We'll NEVER LOOK BACK!

In fact, I try to never think about all the money we wasted getting two adjoining hotel rooms for all those years. For the price of those two, cramped rooms, we now get a 5 BR house, luxuriously furnished, fully equipped, a swimming pool, hot tub, and complete peace and quiet for sleeping. I'll never go back to kids running up and down the halls screaming while I'm trying to sleep.

And, to me, one of the best parts is being able to wake up, fix a pot of coffee, and relax outside watching the sun come up before the day's rush begins. Now, that's REAL MAGIC!

 

[TandCmum]

We are doing both next year. Last year we spent 16 nights at POFQ, we loved it,but by the end of the vacation we found we were fed up of being in one room. We also were out and about a lot more as you couldn't just stay in your room. Next year we are doing 14 nights in a pool home, then 7 nights onsite either at the Dolphin or renting DVC points for a studio at BCV. I think the reason we are doing the onsite bit is as we haven't done offsite yet we are concerned we will miss the magic if we stay all 3 weeks offsite, this way we get best of both worlds and we will see which we prefer.

 

[Disneyrsh]

Wasn't Splendid China on 'Splendid China Boulevard' or was it 'Formosa Boulevard'??

Yep, that was it, Formosa Blvd. The dragon's not there anymore, and I got confused when we were there two weeks ago because I used to navigate by it. Oh well! Anyhoo, any of the houses on that street are *very* close. We were up about 1 mile north on 27, off 192 this time, and let me tell you, it got OLD driving all that way all the time.

And there were a few times the traffic was seriously bad. Luckily, we're early early early birds so we only saw the traffic when we were headed in the other direction-lines of minivans with canadian and new england tags at 11:30 in the morning, with dads hanging out the window, looking like Homer Simpson having a classic "D'oh" moment. We saw an 8 1/2 mile backup on 192 one day!

 

[merrywether]

Indian Ridge is a great development to stay in. DH and I have rented pool homes there several times (including for our honeymoon). As others have noted, it's the best way to extend your Disney vacation without extra $$$. With a rental car (which are dirt cheap these days) we can be at the Animal Kingdom end of Disney property in about 7 minutes! Indian Ridge isn't the newest development around - some of the houses are a little dated inside - early to mid 90's beach decor - but they're still fantastic and VERY close to Disney property and all sorts of dining and grocery establishments! We're doing a big extended family trip for 10 days this summer - my DS's first trip ever! He'll be 2 when we go and I can't imagine how he'd do in a resort room with no room to run!! The house we're renting this time has all sorts of amenities for infants and toddlers as well as a bunch of games, sports equipment, etc. Can't wait!