We just got back from a week at Windsor Hills and I thought I'd share my experience for those thinking about staying there. We rented thru www.vacationcentralflorida.com for about $580 for the week (incl tax and cleaning fees). This was our 2nd time at WH & our 2nd time renting thru this particular company and we were, for the most part, pleased with both experiences. The folks who handle the website and the booking are great. They answer very promptly and get you connected to the owners of the unit you wish to book. The owners we've dealt with so far have also been very nice as were all the folks we dealt with at WH. But we probably won't go that route again - at least not anytime soon.
The first time we stayed in a 2 bedroom condo and had an excellent experience - there were plenty of towels, the kitchen was well outfitted, the furniture was comfy, both bedrooms had flatscreen tvs with dvd players and cable, and we had no problems with noise. Everything was very nice.
This time we stayed in a 3 bedroom condo and had a less enjoyable experience. Some of it had to do with the quality of the accommodations and some of it was just discovering what does and does not work for us. For starters, we found a bare minimum of towels, wash cloths, and dishes so we had to do laundry and dishes much more often this trip. The furniture was very comfortable again (really more so than in the condo we rented last time). But the tv setups in the bedrooms were not as nice. All three had flatscreens but only the master and one of the kid's rooms had cable. The tvs in the living room and third bedroom were the only ones with dvd players - so the third bedroom had a dvd player but no cable. We were contacted by the local manager the day after we arrived to see if everything was okay and I mentioned the lack of cable in the third bedroom. She said that all the 3 bedroom condos at WH are like that because there was no cable run to those rooms when the condos were built. It wasn't a huge problem but it would have been nice to know in advance. One of the more aggravating issues was the noise problem we ran into this time. Apparently we either didn't have neighbors during our first trip to WH or they were very quiet. This time we could hear all kinds of things from the condos around us - some of them of a more intimate nature, if you get my drift.
Mostly it was kids being noisy - VERY noisy. The noise from the unit above us sounded like someone moving furniture. There was also a lot of horseplay that at first I thought was coming from my kids. After a few times of checking on them to see what they were up to, I finally figured out that I was hearing the neighbor's kids. Maybe we've just been really lucky but we've never had a major problem with noise from other guests when we stayed onsite.
Fortunately, the noise was during the day so it didn't keep us up all night. But it did start very early - one morning about 6:00 I was awakened by what sounded like a large piece of furniture crashing to the floor in the condo over ours. Not a nice way to wake up.
One other thing that kind of bothered me about this particular condo was that almost all the lamps and light fixtures had really low wattage bulbs so the place was really dark. I know - I'm picky.
I did discover that I've had my fill of self-catering vacations for awhile. We've taken about a half dozen trips over the last 5 or 6 years - some to Disney, some to the mountains or the beach - and all but one have been in a cabin, condo, or beach house where I had to spend vacation time doing grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, and laundry. I expected to do that this time of course but it turned out to be more than I'd bargained for due to the lack of sufficient towels and dishes. After doing so much cleaning during the week, having to do all that cleaning at the end of the week seemed like more of a chore. (For those of you who have never done this type of vacation stay, you will be expected to clear out all the trash, wash all the towels & wash cloths, strip the beds, and start the dishwasher with the last load of dirty dishes before you leave. Or at least that's been our experience. All of that on top of packing to leave, deciding what to do with leftover groceries, and having to be out by 10am made for a hectic last morning.) We also missed the onsite transportation more than I had expected. The first time offsite we actually enjoyed driving ourselves to the parks but the charm wore off this time. Traffic was not much worse but we did just miss a pretty serious accident at the corner of Old Lake Wilson and 192. And as luck would have it, everytime (and I do mean EVERY time) we got to a park, we ended up with a parking spot at the far end of the row and had to hike back down to where the tram picks up. I always develop at least a couple blisters so the extra walking was a pain (literally
). A couple other things we missed - not being able to send packages back to the room or being able to take advantage of EMH to avoid the heat of the day. Since we had a few days of triple digit heat (and those were actual temps, not heat index), it would have been nice to have the option to stay in during the day and hit the parks later at night with lower temps and smaller crowds. Live and learn, I guess.
On a brighter note, we did have a great trip and I won't completely rule out staying offsite again. And I still highly recommend Windsor Hills to anyone who is considering offsite. We finally made it over to the pool a couple times this trip and it was great. Loved the zero depth entry and the fact that most of the pool is shallow enough that I can stand in it (I can't swim). The hot tub was nice too - warm enough to have a little bite to it but not so hot you can't stay in more than 5 minutes.
Well, I guess that wasn't such a quick review. Anyway, overall a great trip but a few lessons learned. Hope this helps some of you with your trip planning. Let me know if you have any questions.
The first time we stayed in a 2 bedroom condo and had an excellent experience - there were plenty of towels, the kitchen was well outfitted, the furniture was comfy, both bedrooms had flatscreen tvs with dvd players and cable, and we had no problems with noise. Everything was very nice.
This time we stayed in a 3 bedroom condo and had a less enjoyable experience. Some of it had to do with the quality of the accommodations and some of it was just discovering what does and does not work for us. For starters, we found a bare minimum of towels, wash cloths, and dishes so we had to do laundry and dishes much more often this trip. The furniture was very comfortable again (really more so than in the condo we rented last time). But the tv setups in the bedrooms were not as nice. All three had flatscreens but only the master and one of the kid's rooms had cable. The tvs in the living room and third bedroom were the only ones with dvd players - so the third bedroom had a dvd player but no cable. We were contacted by the local manager the day after we arrived to see if everything was okay and I mentioned the lack of cable in the third bedroom. She said that all the 3 bedroom condos at WH are like that because there was no cable run to those rooms when the condos were built. It wasn't a huge problem but it would have been nice to know in advance. One of the more aggravating issues was the noise problem we ran into this time. Apparently we either didn't have neighbors during our first trip to WH or they were very quiet. This time we could hear all kinds of things from the condos around us - some of them of a more intimate nature, if you get my drift.
Mostly it was kids being noisy - VERY noisy. The noise from the unit above us sounded like someone moving furniture. There was also a lot of horseplay that at first I thought was coming from my kids. After a few times of checking on them to see what they were up to, I finally figured out that I was hearing the neighbor's kids. Maybe we've just been really lucky but we've never had a major problem with noise from other guests when we stayed onsite. Fortunately, the noise was during the day so it didn't keep us up all night. But it did start very early - one morning about 6:00 I was awakened by what sounded like a large piece of furniture crashing to the floor in the condo over ours. Not a nice way to wake up. One other thing that kind of bothered me about this particular condo was that almost all the lamps and light fixtures had really low wattage bulbs so the place was really dark. I know - I'm picky. I did discover that I've had my fill of self-catering vacations for awhile. We've taken about a half dozen trips over the last 5 or 6 years - some to Disney, some to the mountains or the beach - and all but one have been in a cabin, condo, or beach house where I had to spend vacation time doing grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, and laundry. I expected to do that this time of course but it turned out to be more than I'd bargained for due to the lack of sufficient towels and dishes. After doing so much cleaning during the week, having to do all that cleaning at the end of the week seemed like more of a chore. (For those of you who have never done this type of vacation stay, you will be expected to clear out all the trash, wash all the towels & wash cloths, strip the beds, and start the dishwasher with the last load of dirty dishes before you leave. Or at least that's been our experience. All of that on top of packing to leave, deciding what to do with leftover groceries, and having to be out by 10am made for a hectic last morning.) We also missed the onsite transportation more than I had expected. The first time offsite we actually enjoyed driving ourselves to the parks but the charm wore off this time. Traffic was not much worse but we did just miss a pretty serious accident at the corner of Old Lake Wilson and 192. And as luck would have it, everytime (and I do mean EVERY time) we got to a park, we ended up with a parking spot at the far end of the row and had to hike back down to where the tram picks up. I always develop at least a couple blisters so the extra walking was a pain (literally
). A couple other things we missed - not being able to send packages back to the room or being able to take advantage of EMH to avoid the heat of the day. Since we had a few days of triple digit heat (and those were actual temps, not heat index), it would have been nice to have the option to stay in during the day and hit the parks later at night with lower temps and smaller crowds. Live and learn, I guess. On a brighter note, we did have a great trip and I won't completely rule out staying offsite again. And I still highly recommend Windsor Hills to anyone who is considering offsite. We finally made it over to the pool a couple times this trip and it was great. Loved the zero depth entry and the fact that most of the pool is shallow enough that I can stand in it (I can't swim). The hot tub was nice too - warm enough to have a little bite to it but not so hot you can't stay in more than 5 minutes.
Well, I guess that wasn't such a quick review. Anyway, overall a great trip but a few lessons learned. Hope this helps some of you with your trip planning. Let me know if you have any questions.
), my own pillows since the ones there were pretty flat, and some brighter light bulbs. If you're already committed to staying there you can make it work. But given the choice, I'd stay somewhere else. To me, the whole point of staying offsite in these kinds of accommodations is to have the comforts of home without having to bring it all with me.
