House rental or condo

[JJ&JSMOM]

Family of 5 - DH, DDS11, DD8, dd5 interested in renting a house or condo/townhouse near Disney. I've done some research but it is quite overwhelming. Have picked Windsor Hills as it states closest to Disney but I am open to other areas.

What is the advantage/disadvantage to staying in a house vs condo? The only thing I can think of is the splash pool. We are a family that swims ALOT.

Open to any and all suggestions.

Thank you.

 

[loveslupins]

Well I'm no expert but we're currently trying to book a 3 bedroom townhouse.

I like the townhouse over the condo because it seems bigger, with a more open floor plan for approx. the same price (maybe slightly more expensive).

You mentioned the splash pool which is a bonus if you like swimming.

In a town house you won't have anyone above you or belowmaking too much noise.

You can park right in front and not worry about carting your luggage up stairs (although i get the impression some condos have an elevator)

That's all i got

 

[kamanda]

we've stayed in both a house and a condo. My main benefit is the covered pool in the back.

Other differences off the top of my head:
gameroom in some homes
BBQ that you can use
Like the other poster mentioned - drive up infront is easier
Quieter - no need to really worry about hearing noises through the walls

 

[JJ&JSMOM]

Thanks for the replies. Probably the house is the way to go. The pool is probably the biggest advantage. Plus, we could still use the clubhouse pool if the kids want to do the slide. Hmmmm....I'm off today. Maybe I'll book us a house - lol. Wouldn't DH be surprised? )

Off to research more! Yeahhh!

 

[sjanus]

IMHO the biggest advantages of a townhome over a condo is: own private entrance, do not have to go through a common building, get elevator, etc; no one above or below you, have the whole unit to yourself; the screened in lanai and splash pool in WH is a definite plus; I like the floor plan in the townhome in WH, one bedroom on first floor with bath it shares with living area; two bedrooms upstairs, each with own bath--so you get 3 bathrooms, another plus. More bathrooms, more space, bedrooms spaced out nicely.

The condos are also a great deal and have a nice size screened balcony though to sit out in the morning and evenings. Most likely, cost will be a little less, too. Some condos are really close to the community pool, but the townhomes are just a short walk away. So depends on your priorities.

Sandy

 

[northriver]

We've stated in both villas and a condo at Windsor Hills. Although we paid for pool heat, we found the pool at the villa a bit cold in March and did not swim as often as we expected. On a June trip, we rented a condo near the pool thinking we'd surely swim each afternoon but because of daily afternoon thunderstroms, again, we rarely swam in the main pool.

At our villa, we heard neighbor kids swimming in their pool late into the night which kept us awake. At our ground floor Condo, we heard from our upstairs neighbor what we think was kids jumping on the furniture during the day but no noise at night. We only had neighbors on one side and never heard them. At our condo, we always were able to park directly in front of the nearest entrance, we never had far to walk.

We loved our 3 bedroom condo but will rent a 5 or 6 bedroom villa next trip simply because we are traveling with a bigger group.

 

[saphyre]

Although i belong to DVC we have rented a house for the past three years. For around $125-150 a night we get a 4 bedroom, 3 bath with pool. We love it.

 

[kathy884]

My personal favorite way to go is a condo resort. I like the resort feel and community ammenties. Usually tennis, pool facilities, etc. are super close. I usually rent from timeshare owner on sites like Redweek.com and TUG2.net. Condo resorts we've stayed at fairly recently are Cypress Pointe (lots of three bedroom condos if you want three bedrooms) and Sheraton Vistana Resort (We've stayed here four different times). In March, we'll be doing Orange Lake.

We did a house once, and it was fine, but I felt a little more isolated than I like and farther from community resort ammenities than I like. We didn't have pool heat, and because the pool was colder than we like, we didn't use it.

I haven't stayed at Windsor Hills, though, so really don't know how this compares to the timeshare condo resorts that we love.

 

[Lucky4me]

If it's just us, a condo resort is fine. Next month we're renting a 6 bedroom house in Windsor Hills with another family for $125 a night. I think it will be the best of both worlds. A huge house to spread out in, there's only 8 of us, most of us can have our own bedroom if we want it , and they have all the resort amenities there. We'll have our private pool and hot tub, but will have to drive to the main pool/clubhouse/tennis courts/etc. which is fine. We could probably have a great vacation never even leaving Windsor Hills, but we have several park days planned too. My only wish is we had more than a week!
Next time I'm planning on two!

 

[dtum]

We're going with a 4-bed/4 bath house at WH. Wanted everyone to have their own room and bathroom. Also, the house we went with has a full-size covered pool and whirlpool. Here's a link:

http://www.romancingthemouse.com/id32.html

The house also is inclusive...no extra cleaning fees, pool heat, charge for bbq etc. From what i understand it's only 5 min drive to the parks and GS is really excited about the Indy Jones themed bedroom. Can't wait.

 

[JJ&JSMOM]

Thanks for the replies. Its nice to read others opinions. I've checked out alot of houses and thats probably the way we'll go. We rented a condo for our last vacation in the White mountains and it was soo nice. Condos seem to be more prevalent then rental homes in our area. But we really liked it - and I think adding on the feel of "our own home" for a week will be a big plus.

Thanks again.

 

[Pembo]

We stayed in a condo at WH this year for the first time at Disney. It was the most relaxing Disney vacation we've ever had. I loved the fact that we could spread out after a day at the parks instead of jamming into one hotel room.

 

[saphyre]

We're going with a 4-bed/4 bath house at WH. Wanted everyone to have their own room and bathroom. Also, the house we went with has a full-size covered pool and whirlpool. Here's a link:

http://www.romancingthemouse.com/id32.html

The house also is inclusive...no extra cleaning fees, pool heat, charge for bbq etc. From what i understand it's only 5 min drive to the parks and GS is really excited about the Indy Jones themed bedroom. Can't wait.

This is similar to what I have rented in the past but can you rent for less than 7 days as I usually cannot get away for more than 4 or 5 days at a time.

 

[dtum]

This is similar to what I have rented in the past but can you rent for less than 7 days as I usually cannot get away for more than 4 or 5 days at a time.

http://www.romancingthemouse.com/id144.html

but it's a lot cheaper saturday to saturday; however they have a lot of ways to get discounts as you can see. I'm sure if you wanted less than 5 days you could talk to them.