just back--1st time in a vacation home and loved it!

[Pooh Girl 71]

Calabay Parc is next to Florida Pines (where we stayed this past week). Traffic is NOT bad going to and from WDW. We went during the height of Easter season and it was no problem at all. I'd rather stay down on 27 than 92 which is incredibly congested IMO.

 

[deirdrefitch]

We have finally outgrown a normal room at the Dis, and rented a 4BR/3BA pool home in the Oak Island Harbor/Formosa Gardens area. Has anyone stayed in this area? The property is managed by Elite. We also went directly with the owners through www.orlandovillas.com. The owner's personal website is www.ourvillaneardisney.com. The owners seem to be very nice, and helpful. They have called us from England twice to see if there is anything that we need help planning, and to reassure us about the house. I can't wait!

 

[ArithaL]

We are going to Disney in December 1st week. This will be our first time renting a Villa also. We have two good offers, the first in Lindfield and the second is in Westridge. We really want to do the Westridge because of the great price, but keep reading that the Lindfield area is really exceptional. Can you tell me how far the Westridge area is from Disney? Has anyone stayed in this area?

 

[Puffy2]

Vacation homes can be a really good value (so much space and some have private pools!) Here is a link with more to choose from:
Vacation Homes
The kitchens are a real plus too!

 

[ArithaL]

Puffy, have you used this site before?

 

[FLeisure]

ArithaL
The homes on Westridge will be newer than Lindfields but Lindfields is at least 10 mins closer to Disney. I was on US 192 last week and the traffic backing up towards US 27 would have easily meant an extra 30 mins on the journey.

If you are smart, you'll learn the short cut down Funie Steed and than across US 192 into Disney.

Pooh Girl is quite wrong to say that traffic wasn't bad. If you catch the wrong day, you'll have a problem IMO. Quite how US 192 is congested and US 27 isn't is beyond me. You have to use US 192 to get to Disney !!

1st week of December will be quiet however but remember, you pay for what you get. Westridge is 15-20 mins on a good day and a darn sight longer than that on a bad day.

Have fun, whatever you decide.

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

Originally posted by FLeisure
Pooh Girl is quite wrong to say that traffic wasn't bad. If you catch the wrong day, you'll have a problem IMO. Quite how US 192 is congested and US 27 isn't is beyond me. You have to use US 192 to get to Disney !!

Well, we were there from 4-9-03 to 4-19-03. And we never used 192 to get to Disney!! To get TO Florida Pines, we went down the I4 East, got off on exit 58 drove about a mile through the new golf place, Champions Gate. You turn right onto Hwy 54 and go a couple of miles and turn right onto Hwy 27. It was not a problem for us at all.

I certainly wasn't trying to mislead anyone with travel times or congestion but considering that I was just there, this was my experience. It was NOT crowded and it hardly took anytime at all to get to Disney.

 

[Moby]

Pooh Girl,

I'm curious to know how many minutes it took you to get from Florida Pines to the entry gate at MK? We had a pool home rented in Florida Pines for our trip in May, but ended up cancelling so we can stay on-site since this is our first family trip to Disney. We have a 4 1/2 year old and I wanted easy access to hotel for afternoon naps.

Did you return to your home in the afternoons or did you just stay in the park for the day?

I'm looking toward the future when we take a 2nd trip to WDW and am wondering about Florida Pines as a future possibility.

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[FLeisure]

Pooh Girl,
Well done ! You certainly managed to get round US 192 traffic problems but that was a fairly long way to go and must have taken you 20-30 minutes each time ?

 

[galaxy]

Hi folks

Moby

We are just back also and stayed in Calabay Parc. We were quite near the entrance ( near the show homes) this area was nice and well establoished.further into the estae there is building works.

We travelled to the parks the same way Poohgirl did and our quickest time to Mk was 10 mins. Coming home was sometimes a problem with rush hour traffic..but this was the same on all roads.

The journey to the Universal parks took 40-45 mins. I-drive about 30-35mins.

There wasn't much to do close to the villa, so at night we had to drive back to I-drive or 192, which became tiresome. Taking a break midday from the parks was time consuming. so we tended to stay 'home' once there. But as our villa was lovely and had a hot tub this wasnt a problem.

Be glad to help with anything else?

 

[Moby]

I appreciate you taking time to give input! You confirmed my concerns that staying off-site would've required too much traveling time for mid-day breaks. I also figured that we just "stay put", ater arriving back to the villa at mid-day and we want to take in some evenings at the parks. Since my dd is still young, I think it is best we stay on-site especially since we are new to WDW. But will probably do villa in the future.

How long was commute during busy traffic??

We leave next week!

 

[FLeisure]

This just stresses the need to stay in a home within 10 mins of Disney, ie., on US 192 corridor.

Before we moved here we always used to rent a home that enabled us to be home within 10 mins so that we could get a rest from the parks and then go back a little later, when it was cooler and we were feeling fully refreshed.

Homes on US27 may entice you because they can be a little cheaper but there is a trade off. IMO, of course !!

 

[TDM516]

We are booked to stay in a vacation home at Windsor Palms May 24-31, so I am very happy to hear that driving time is short. We are staying in the CandyMouse Villa there. Here is the link in case anyone else is interested.

http://www.magicmouse-villas.com/

The CandyMouse is actually the same house as the GingerMouse, but they just don't charge you for the fourth bedroom if you don't use it, which is what we're doing, so each of our teenaged daughters will be getting their own bathroom, which is wonderful! I think we got a very fair price for the week. I will let ya'll know what I think when I get back.

One month from tonight and I'll be sleeping next door to the Mouse!

 

[galaxy]

Moby

commute times during rush hour were roughly 30mins from the park. there are also road works on the I4 just after the junction at champions gate which didnt help at times. However we did find the I4 way much quicker than driving along the 192 and taking highway 27. International drive was always very busy...loads of traffic lights..always at red lol.

Travelling from universal at busy times took us 40 mins plus to get to Calabay Parc, approx 25-35 mins otherwise.

Getting to Universal we found that if you stay on the I4 and take the Kirkman Rd you get to another car park for universal which is less busy, so saved us time. The queues for the carpark there were awful!

Im so jealous that your holiday is just begining and ours is over, Im sure you will have the most wonderful time!

 

[Mr D]

My family is from Alaska, we rented a home from Families First for two weeks in dec. 2001, it was a perfect stay, we missed our vacation in 2002 because of events that were of concern in Florida but yesterday I booked a home for 4 weeks(28 nights) in january 2004 from Florida Dream Villas of a cost of $2470 inclusive of taxes I think , that means the 12% tax was included, its an additional $500 for the 4 weeks to heat the pool.
The home has a supplied PC with 24 hour access, PS2, 31" TV, and is in the Crescent Lakes area off of Hiway 192 in Kissimmee.

Its my first time renting directly from the owner and especially one from the UK but the credentials appear good and the home is fitting for my needs, I was tempted to rent the 5 bedroom because it had the jaccuzzi but my wife says its not important.
My two children 5 and 9 are going to have the most memorable vacation of their lives hopefully, Mission:Space at EPCOT should be open and this time we absolutely will do the water parks and Universal, last time we only went to WDW, two weeks wasn't long enough to cover everything in Orlando as we found out.
Its a big shock as well when we leave Alaska while its -40 and drop in on a green humid warm Orlando!, in dec. 2001 the average high was 75-80F everyday, thats the upper limit that we can handle, but I loved it all the while my allergies came back in full force!

 

[JANNYANS]

Fleisure,I have had a vacation home on the 27 for 5 years and have never had any bother getting to the world.In fact we have had more trouble on the 192 .Also you know as well as anybody I susect that homes on the 27 are not always cheaper as some of the communities have brilliant facilities and this is reflected ion the price.I can get to the world in 10 minutes from my home a fact that my guests can testify to.

 

[Mr D]

Because WDW is so large and that renting a room in the parks to me is not the best use of my hard earned money its a rental home or not at all, unless I buy a home eventually and snowbird.

At Disneyland its the opposite, I see no reason to stay longer than 3-5 days unless we were going to other parks, in that case we just get a room across the street and take a late afternoon nap. DL also has later hours.

Doing the parks at WDW cannot be done like changing a regime in another country and thats how I look at it, if it takes two three or more days to liesurely do each park thats better than rushing through it all and missing the details. Granted many people can afford to stay in the parks and eat out breakfast, lunch and dinner but that seems too frivolous. In my family my kids and myself have certain food allergies so we have to be careful. And now with certain airborne viruses it makes more of a certainty that we try to avoid communal eating places.

Vacation rental homes are the best thing to happen in Orlando. And I hope it becomes more advertised and organized in the future. Unless you have an RV its the best way IMHO to make the best use of vacation funds.

 

[JANNYANS]

Mr D Vacation homes have been around for a long time I have had mine for 5 years and others I know of even longer.It is only just beginning to come to the notice of the american vacation market that renting a home -especially direct from owners is a far more cost effective way of visiting Disney.The Brits have been doing it for years and they now book up to a year in advance for the popular times i.e. Easter ,Xmas ,New Year .The american market tends to be more of a short term last minute booking type of vacation ,which works well if an owner has a few days here and there left but for the main vacations most are booked up a long way in advance.

 

[FLeisure]

JANNYANS,
Yes, I agree that it is possible to get to WDW within 10 mins if traffic is low but in the Summer I would say that 20-30 mins is more the norm if you are coming along US 192. If you use I4 it will be 15 mins assuming an easy traffic flow.

If you stay on the US 192 corridor you usually have a few options in getting into WDW as you can use different routes. I used to live on Sunset Lakes and never ever took longer than 5 mins to be in WDW...even during the peak seasons...ie New Year 1999-2000 when traffic was the worst I can ever remember !

In regard to the communities on US 27, I think we'll have to agree to disagree. The communities on US 27 are no different to ones on US 192 IMO and with another 9,000 vacation homes planned to be built on US 27 in the next few years, I wonder if we will see more of the resort type of community we are currently seeing being built.

We're in for a very interesting time over the next few years and I sincerely hope that owners get the message that it isn't necessary to discount the price of their home thus devaluing it. Vacation homes are a great place to stay and offer so much more than a hotel. They are worth twice the money currently being achieved and those owners who let their homes go at cheap rates are doing themselves no favours. Keep up the good work !

 

[JANNYANS]

Quite agree about rates some owners let their homes go very cheaply makes you wonder if the taxes are paid as there can't be a lot left once you've lost 10-12% It's not only owners that need educating but rentors as well after all as you have probably heard said before many times there are no great discounts on attraction tickets so the only thing to try to get cheaply is accommodation and as long as owners do it the situation is in a downward spiral.