Last minute windsor hills reservations?

[dawnball]

We were planning a spring DL trip this year. Howver, the prices just kept going up and up and it looks like we'd spend about twice what our last WDW trip cost.

So we're trying to switch gears and book for a WDW trip instead. Once our dates for this trip solidify (I'm hoping by Weds) I'll make a general inqiry on windsorhillsrent and I'm wondering if I'm likely to get good last-minute deals or to pay normal list prices for a fairly picked-over selection.

We're looking for 10 or 11 nights in late april or early-mid may. (April 20-30, May 4-14 or May 11-21) in a 3 bedroom condo and up. I had a list of prefered condos and townhouses that I'd been eyeing for a fall WDW trip, but they're all booked at this point for spring.

We may even have to consider staying somewhere else - but I don't know where in the "very close to disney" set of properties I'm most likely to find a deal.

 

[5mins2disney]

Hmm.....that's a very good question. As a Windsor Hills owner, I can tell you late April - May is less busy than, say, late March, early April. Now, the part about getting last minute deals? I guess it depends on who you're talking to....keep in mind, the people who are going to be willing to offer you "deals" as you put it, are the ones who probably have had a hard time getting their place booked. That doesn't mean it's a bad place, often times it's because some owners simply aren't as good as others in how to market and rent their places.

Now, that being said, what's most important to you? You do get what you pay for you know! I scratch my head sometimes that someone tells us (as an owner) they love to have a very high end place, and then walk away since a high end place costs $10 more per night than a more average place, all while being a small fraction and 10x nicer than any hotel / resort room in the area, then people don't blink an eye about spending $190 a night at an offsite hotel room! LOL

One word of advice, DON't do a "general" inquiry on WHR unless you want just a million emails! LOL Do a "3 bedroom inquiry" or a "4 bedroom inquiry" / etc.

I think you'll still find some beautiful homes at great prices (roughly $110-125 a night!? for a 3 bedroom townhome w/pool slightly less for a condo, pretty good price to me!) during your timeframe, it just depends on what you're looking for in terms of accomodations / amenities vs costs. There are really no bad choices in the resort though, I've personally been inside dozens and dozens of homes there (mostly townhomes), as we were looking to buy another townhome there, and there's not a single one that I can say I would have been very unhappy with if we visited as rentors on vacation. I know my wife would say she'd want to change the decorating in a lot of them.. LOL, and I'd be wanting to add plasma TVs and stuff..but that's just personal tastes!

If you really get stuck and can't find something you like, you can check other resorts like Windsor Palms which are slightly older (but still pretty nice!). Prices there tend to be a little lower too, but again, it depends on what you're looking for, are you looking for the newest, nicest, and closest place at a reasonable price, or are you willing to go a little further out or compromise in some areas to get a killer deal?

Let us know what you end up doing!

- George

 

[dawnball]

We rent vacation homes for two reasons - we have 4 people in our party with special diets and we really like to have room to spread out. Vacation homes are just the most economical way to get a full kitchen and a living room.

In my mind, anything that has a 2 week gap in their schedule 60 days out is likely having trouble filling the unit for one reason or another.

We aren't particularly looking for luxury. For my next business trip I chose a Day's Inn because I like Day's Inn. We don't have a TV at home so a 21" TV is a luxury for me.

We've stayed at Windsor Hills three times so far, all in the same unit. On the last trip we added up the number of hours we spent wrestling with the management company over keys, key deposits, etc and moving all the breakable knick-knacks so the toddlers couldn't reach them and then putting it all back - and it was more than a full day. Since the owner had been looking for a new management company for 2 visits without finding one - we decided to look for other units.

We're really looking for:
direct access (first floor condo, townhouse, etc)
not many breakables within pre-schooler reach
an easy to work with management company
close to WDW (5 minutes farther than Windsor Hills is probably fine, but more than that is pushing it)
minimal carpet/rugs and no shag rugs

It would be nice to have:
Disney themed kid's rooms
a pool (community or private)


I'm just kind of working this out as I type... I think that we'd rather have a good deal on something larger and less luxurious than to pay as much for something smaller and higher end. I don't want grubby. I don't want bad maintenance. But the fancy duvets and designer pillows end up in a pile in a closet until we're ready to leave. I'd rather have sturdy stoneware or melamine than fancy dishes. A bit of grass for the kids to play on right outside the door is more valuable than a pool.

 

[5mins2disney]

Wow....can i ask which MC caused you that much grief? Sounds painful..and pretty unusual in our experience!

Usually you're working with the owners in our experience, the MC doesn't do all that much unless you have a problem they need to sort out with you.

Did you work with one of the larger MCs that forces you to go their office way way offsite for checkin / checkout?

There's other reasons for having gaps, besides being newly listed, such as being a newly listed home, etc, just so you know. I would suggest putting out a 3 bedroom inquiry for a townhome or condo if that's the type of home you think will suit your family's needs, and do ask about the MC they use, and their checkin / checkout procedures, etc, especially if your past experience in this regard wasn't great!

Our homes for instance, you just go straight to the home, we have secure key lockboxes there for the guests, many owners work the same way. We think the offsite checkin stuff is a big hassle.

If you need any help or suggestions please feel free to PM me, I know a lot of people, owners, and MCs in Windsor Hills, we have 3 townhomes there ourselves actually, so just a little bit of experience in this area! ;p

 

[Ontmomof4]

Try www.romancingthemouse.com
they have a three bedroom house in Windsor Hills.They offer last minute discounts as well as referral one.Mention I told you about them.They are a great local family(live in Windsor Hills)you are greeted by them on arrival with warm fresh cookies.What a way to start your vacation.

Linda Minnett

 

[dawnball]

Most of those delays were the knicknacks - we spent hours getting them all put away and then put back.

With the MC it was that they wouldn't let us put down a deposit for extra keys in advance because they only take cash for key deposits. So we had to go to the MC office to pick up our paperwork/keys on arrival. Then go back to the MC to get keys (3 days later when they were open because they closed 3 hours earlier than their posted hours and 2 hours earlier than their verbal hours). Then you had to go back to the MC to drop off the keys (and just hope that they'd be open, we stopped by twice during official hours before we found them open). At which point they had no interest in returning our deposit. When we requested it - they had no record that we had gotten extra keys or made a deposit. So we had to find our copy of the reciept for the deposit, and then they spent 20 minutes finding someone to authorize the deposit return. And then we had to go back on checkout day to drop off our keys (you couldn't get your deposit back on our checkout day because they weren't open).

That was Global, and we're never renting from anyone who uses Global again.

 

[Hamiltontraveller]

Wow, this has got me worried about our upcoming stay in Windsor Hills (not really...), your experience seems to be contrary to most reports. I never thought of the management company as being so important. We have a lockbox with a security code on the unit we are renting this coming weekend. I think it would be a pain to have to pick up keys somewhere!
By the way, has anyone heard of Homes of America MC?? Should we be worried about anything?

 

[FLParadisevilla]

WOW Dawn,
Thats not good that you had such a problem with getting keys from a MC.
We have keyless locks on our home, so our guests get a key code that is programmed for each guest, and they can go right to our home! They do not have to go to the MC for anything. Also our MC lives in the neighborhood, so if you need them they are not on Office Hours like some are.

If you want have a look at some of these homes www.indiancreekflorida.com
Indian Creek is about 4 miles to Disney World.

 

[5mins2disney]

Wow, this has got me worried about our upcoming stay in Windsor Hills (not really...), your experience seems to be contrary to most reports. I never thought of the management company as being so important. We have a lockbox with a security code on the unit we are renting this coming weekend. I think it would be a pain to have to pick up keys somewhere!
By the way, has anyone heard of Homes of America MC?? Should we be worried about anything?

The MC is VERY important. There's just no way I can tell you who's good and who isn't. Well, I can tell you who a few good ones are...I won't say anything about who I think the bad ones are for fear of getting sued! LOL...but you can read the prior poster's comment, I'll leave it at that!

Not familiar with Homes of America, no.

I can tell you ours is great!
www.oasisvacationhomes.com

 

[horseshowmom]

We were planning a spring DL trip this year. Howver, the prices just kept going up and up and it looks like we'd spend about twice what our last WDW trip cost.

So we're trying to switch gears and book for a WDW trip instead. Once our dates for this trip solidify (I'm hoping by Weds) I'll make a general inqiry on windsorhillsrent and I'm wondering if I'm likely to get good last-minute deals or to pay normal list prices for a fairly picked-over selection.

We're looking for 10 or 11 nights in late april or early-mid may. (April 20-30, May 4-14 or May 11-21) in a 3 bedroom condo and up. I had a list of prefered condos and townhouses that I'd been eyeing for a fall WDW trip, but they're all booked at this point for spring.

We may even have to consider staying somewhere else - but I don't know where in the "very close to disney" set of properties I'm most likely to find a deal.

I did this a couple of summers ago. I told them that I was looking for the best reduced "last minute" price I could get. Some sent me a rate qute that didn't take a cent off their highest rate. So be it, that is certainly their perrogative. I'm sure I would feel the same way as an owner. However, I'm not and am a bargain hunter.

I did windsorhillsrent and vrbo and got some wonderful offers. I wound up taking a 4BR/3BA house in a gated community with a screened pool for $480 total for the week.

I also got some offers from Windsor Hills. One that I remember was a 3BR/3BA townhouse with a splash pool that was $485 for the week. I know there were some offers for condos in there too. I needed at least 2BR/2BA and wound up with much better.

As far as the properties being "picked over", I would have to say that other than it being a very nice property in a good location, I have few other requirements (like the ground floor entrance but didn't require it). There are a LOT of properties down there, and it is probably close to impossible to rent them all of the time. People do have empty weeks here and there (I'm on a list to be contacted this summer for a condo owner in Destin. I'm flexible, and he probably won't wind up with every week booked.).

One other possibility for you: You may be interested in checking with the woman that I rented Cypress Pointe Grande Villas through the week before Christmas. She's a Sunterra owner, and I got a 2BR/2BA for Dec. 16th-23rd for $300 (actually had three of the units). They have a playground and lots of stuff for the kids (although mine were 19 and 23 ). The fact that your trip isn't an exact week may make a difference though. Her ebay ID name is jumpbackjack0. You can find one of her auctions and email her through there. If she can help you, she can do a listing for you. She takes Paypal, and I used a credit card as extra protection (everything was perfect though).

 

[dawnball]

Wow, this has got me worried about our upcoming stay in Windsor Hills (not really...), your experience seems to be contrary to most reports. I never thought of the management company as being so important. We have a lockbox with a security code on the unit we are renting this coming weekend. I think it would be a pain to have to pick up keys somewhere!
By the way, has anyone heard of Homes of America MC?? Should we be worried about anything?

Windsor Hills as a community was fine. We really liked it. The key issue was the only problem we had with the management company, other than that they were too useful. We called to let them know that our dish count wasn't right - and explained that we didn't need more dishes - we just didn't want to be charged for dishes we didn't break. They brought over a whole new set of dishes and we had to find somewhere in the cabinet to put them. And they were different dishes, so they didn't stack nicely with the dishes already there.

And the second time we were in that unit the unbreakable (plastic) dishes weren't there anymore - and since we were expecting them to be there we hadn't brought our own so we trooped down to the walmart to buy some. It wasn't a big deal and we would have gone to the walmart eventually .. it was just irritating to not have something that had been there previously.

Ok, I sound really whiny now. the resort was really very nice and convenient - Management just makes a big difference.

I think I've actually found a really good fit for us in Indian Creek. It's self managed though, and I'm trying to decide if that's better or worse than an unknown management company.

 

[dawnball]

One other possibility for you: You may be interested in checking with the woman that I rented Cypress Pointe Grande Villas through the week before Christmas. She's a Sunterra owner, and I got a 2BR/2BA for Dec. 16th-23rd for $300 (actually had three of the units). They have a playground and lots of stuff for the kids (although mine were 19 and 23 ). The fact that your trip isn't an exact week may make a difference though. Her ebay ID name is jumpbackjack0. You can find one of her auctions and email her through there. If she can help you, she can do a listing for you. She takes Paypal, and I used a credit card as extra protection (everything was perfect though).

Wow, that seems like a really good price. Her current price is a good bit higher than that but it's probably worth considering anyway. Once you subtract out the equivilent tax it's really not much more than we were looking at to stay in Indian Ridge. How was the drive into the parks? I haven't ever stayed out by Vineland. The pool there looks really nice too.

 

[horseshowmom]

Wow, that seems like a really good price. Her current price is a good bit higher than that but it's probably worth considering anyway. Once you subtract out the equivilent tax it's really not much more than we were looking at to stay in Indian Ridge. How was the drive into the parks? I haven't ever stayed out by Vineland. The pool there looks really nice too.

I think her prices depend on the timeframe. Is the timeframe she has listed the same one you need? If not, you can email her to see if she can get your dates yet.

As for the drive, we were less than a mile from the entrance to Downtown Disney. There are lots of restaurant choices, so you can get a "good" meal for what counter service would cost in the restaurant. There's a very good Golden Corral just down the road (buffet) and many, many other options.

We stayed in the Grande Villas section (phase II) and really liked it. The 2nd bedroom is apparently a good bit larger than it is in the Cypress Pointe Resort section (phase I). I liked how all of the buildings fronted the pools, playground, mini golf, and activities building (just be sure to request that side of the building, because the other side fronts the parking lot). CPGV also has elevators (CPR doesn't), but we requested ground floor (and got it on all 3 units).

We were very pleased and very comfortable. None of our units at CPGV had DVD players yet (apparently, they're in the process of getting them), but we didn't particularly care about that anyway. The units were spacious, and I don't think you could beat the location. In fact, we generally rent houses, and my family said they would rather stay here from now on.