Has anyone saved money by renting a vacation home?

[jennilouwho]

We are renting a 3 bedroom condo at Windsor Palms for $720 for 10 nights in October. Much cheaper than 2 rooms at a value resort, even with paying for a minivan rental and parking everyday. We're taking my parents with us and I decided we'd all be much happier with some space.

 

[jacobsmom00]

We rented a condo the first week of may and LOVED IT!! There was 5 adults and 1 kid. It was at Windsor Palms. It was soooo pretty!! It only cost us $625.00 for 7 days. It had 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths. we had so much room. It was only like 5 miles to DW. We rented through VRBO.com It was so easy and the lady we rented from was soo nice. Not sure if we will ever stay on site. This was soo nice!
http://www.vrbo.com/45643

That link is the one we stayed it. I would stay there again! Everything was just like the picture! Good Luck!

 

[crjack]

We've rented three different pool homes and would do it again in a heartbeat! We've stayed in Windsor Palms twice and last July we rented a large home in Windsor Hills. We want to try Emerald Island on our next visit.

We prefer to be closer to the parks but if you are willing to go down 192 to 27to the Davenport area you can save even more $$$.

We've used vrbo and for Windsor Hills we used www.windsorhillsrent.com . Check out the Orlando Off-site/Attractions board for specific recommendations and lots of good info.

 

[teresajoy]

Co-worker rented a house over Easter and her 5 year old son drown in the rental homes pool. You can do search on Michigan boy drowns on vacation and find the stories.

I am very sorry to hear that. People have got to start realizing that pools are DANGEROUS!!! A child can NOT be left unattended anywhere near a pool. I have been to three funerals for children who died in pools, and I've known two others who drowned, one was a nine year old.

The houses we have stayed at all had alarms on the doors, which we made sure worked, and were always turned on. The houses also have a fence around just the pool. Even with all the safety precautions in place, you have got to supervise your chilren.

My sympathies go out to your co-worker.

 

[deide71]

Co-worker rented a house over Easter and her 5 year old son drown in the rental homes pool. You can do search on Michigan boy drowns on vacation and find the stories.

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry to hear this.

My 5 year old was hit by a car during our spring break vacation. He was injured pretty badly, but we were lucky, he survived, and aside form a few scars (emotional and physical), he's perfectly fine.

I can't imagine what your co-worker is feeling right now.

My heart goes out to that poor family.

 

[Homer Simpson]

Co-worker rented a house over Easter and her 5 year old son drown in the rental homes pool. You can do search on Michigan boy drowns on vacation and find the stories.

That's really sad

But its precisely the reason why we would probably not rent a house with a pool. We have a 3.5 year old and a 1.5 year old and I would be paranoid having a pool out back.

But this is a great thread. I had no idea that the rates were so reasonable comapred to the Disney Resorts. I like the idea of the townhouse since it still has lots of room, but not the worry of having a pool out back. Having one main pool for the whole resort is fine with us.

Thank you to everyone for the info...

 

[englishteacha]

We found a great condo last year and are returning again this year. It's cheaper than any onsite hotel during the same time period! The whole week is $415! Granted, we could stay in a (probably sketchy) budget hotel for a little less money, but I love having a kitchen, laundry room, and lots of space to spread out. Last year we traveled with another couple, this year we're going on our own. It was no problem sharing the space last year.

 

[J&ADisneyMom]

We rent houses frequently. We have paid anywhere from $1050 for a six bedroom, three bath home to $1395 (includes all tax and pool heat) for a seven bedroom, 4 1/2 bath. We always share a house with friends or family, making a seven night trip extremely reasonable. You get a lot of space to relax and visit once the kids are in bed, you have your own pool/spa, washer and dryer and you save money by not eating out every meal. We get breakfast foods and cold cuts/pb&j for lunches. We normally rent a house when we plan more relaxing vacations (a day at the park, a day to relax...) and stay on property when we are doing a few straight days of parks.

Shell

 

[hinodis]

Our whole Disney trip started bacause we wanted to go for the free dining. Then we started looking at the pool homes. It turned out that renting a pool home was cheaper then having 2 rooms at the CSR even with free dining. The cost of a beautiful 5 bedroom pool home Plus the rental car and food and disney tickets was less then the 2 rooms with tickets and free dining. Now we are giong in early november and we won't have to deal with the heat!

 

[TNKBELL]

Check out this deal, we have done this twice, it's awesome and very nice!!
http://www.skyauction.com/action/offer/1283731