There are lots of villas to rent around this area. We have stayed at two different houses in Bridgewater Crossing, and we are staying in one at the Sanctuary this summer. We sometimes took the back road to 192 and the Sherberth road entrance to the WDW access roads and sometimes we just took I4 to get to the parks when we stayed in the villas.
We shopped at the Publix at the Champions Gate shopping area. There also was a Chinese restaurant and a video rental place, not sure if they are still there.