newbie, any advice really welcome

[rachsol108]

Hi everyone, this is my first post but one of many no doubt lol.

having recently become a single mum of 3 i am planning to give us all a holiday to remember as we all deserve it and was wondering if anyone knows whether u can request a villa in a certain area if u book thru a agent or whether u have to have whatever is allocated to you, the reason being my son has Aspergers Syndrome and I would prefer to be as close to the parks as poss so I can keep his travelling times down to a minimum everyday.

Any advice gratefully received

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Hi everyone, this is my first post but one of many no doubt lol.

having recently become a single mum of 3 i am planning to give us all a holiday to remember as we all deserve it and was wondering if anyone knows whether u can request a villa in a certain area if u book thru a agent or whether u have to have whatever is allocated to you, the reason being my son has Aspergers Syndrome and I would prefer to be as close to the parks as poss so I can keep his travelling times down to a minimum everyday.

Any advice gratefully received

You can try this one, very close and also a good price then you would know the location, good luck. Hope you and the children get a great holiday.

http://www.villaclose2disney.com/

What you can do is book a flydrive and book this seperate, or book flights only and this.

 

[Twilight Terror]

You may also want to pop over to the disABILITIES forum of the boards. While they might not be able to help directly with villas (although chances are they can!), they will be able to give you advice, tips and experiencing of doing Disney with an Aspergers Syndrome sufferer.

Forum: http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20

 

[amystevekai&bump]

I'm sure there will be others along with more advice for you - but I just wanted to say.....

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Hi,

We have a child with Autism and have been staying at villas in Florida for many years.

If you book a package then many will allocate your home on arrival so you would find often you cannot choose. I would highly recommend booking your own independantly which give you control over where you stay.

There are literally 1000s to choose from, have always recommended staying in Kissimmee as here you are close to restaurants, supermarkets and all the attractions.

You will definitely need a car, I assume you are renting one?

Some good websites are below:
www.vr360homes.co.uk
www.villas2000.com

The rest comes down to personal choice, budget etc

If you have any questions I would be glad to help, the disABILITIES forum is also a great place to get help and support, you may see me over there too.

 

[wayneg]

Welcome to DISboards!!!
I don't know much about Villas, I prefer to be closer to the parks. We stayed at Windsor Hills last Easter (2 bed Condo)which is one of closest developments to Dinsey and still found that further than we liked.
If you are wanting somewhere close and to keep costs down also look at somewhere like this http://www.cypresspointe2.com/resort.html you can get a 2 bed apartment there for about £40/night sleeps upto 6 people.

If you only want to do a package then you will have to see what options tour operators offer, book a flydrive or flight only you can pick your own place and usually save money but not always.

 

[kevin harrison]

Hi everyone, this is my first post but one of many no doubt lol.

having recently become a single mum of 3 i am planning to give us all a holiday to remember as we all deserve it and was wondering if anyone knows whether u can request a villa in a certain area if u book thru a agent or whether u have to have whatever is allocated to you, the reason being my son has Aspergers Syndrome and I would prefer to be as close to the parks as poss so I can keep his travelling times down to a minimum everyday.

Any advice gratefully received

My son is also on the Autistic Spectrum, as long as you have a plan and be prepared you will be fine.

 

[rachsol108]

Thanks so much for your replies and advice, I have thought about booking independently but am very nervous about all sorts of things going wrong, I have heard stories of people booking villas to find out they have been sold and are no longer available to not being able to find flights when the time comes! Sorry sound a bit of a worry wart dont I lol but being on my own I want to feel as confident as I can about the trip. Obviously if it works out cheaper I would consider it but wouldnt really know where to start.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Thanks so much for your replies and advice, I have thought about booking independently but am very nervous about all sorts of things going wrong, I have heard stories of people booking villas to find out they have been sold and are no longer available to not being able to find flights when the time comes! Sorry sound a bit of a worry wart dont I lol but being on my own I want to feel as confident as I can about the trip. Obviously if it works out cheaper I would consider it but wouldnt really know where to start.

Can I just say that we booked a villa through virgin holidays last year, for much the same reasons as you - we were a bit scared (although we had been several times before, it was our first time with our children) and thought that through VH we would have some security and less to worry about.

Our villa was not a patch on some of the ones you see talked about on here, we collected our keys from a management company (and they were the only people we saw) and I had to go to see them twice - once about the bins not being collected and once because we had seen a snake that we believed could have been poisonous - they weren't interested at all!!) We ended up leaving the villa a day early and ending our holiday at Animal Kingdom Lodge!!

If I was to stay in a villa again, I would ask the regulars on here which they would recommend and take it from there - Yes it means organising it yourself, but at least you can get a good standard of accomodation and I (now) don't think you gain anything in terms of security by booking through a tour company when you get there.

Hope that helps a little!!

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Hi & welcome

With some holiday companies such as Virgin you can choose a villa location - they now offer Windsor Hills and Emerald Isle (both close to WDW) - but you still won't know which exact villa.

 

[laluna]

Hello! I just wanted to reassure you about booking villas independantly. This is our preferred method of booking and both us and my parents have made 6 successful bookings this way over the years. We have always secured flights first so we are sure of our dates when booking accommodation. My advice would then be to:

1) have an idea of your ideal location in mind. It helps to narrow the search.

2) make a shortlist of essential/desirable criteria eg, number of bedrooms/private or shared pool special facilities for your family, price etc and then google search the villas or use some of helpful links on the board.

3) Get a shortlist of villas meeting the criteria then check the availabilty.

On three occasions we have actually telephoned and spoken to the owners before we have booked and, when we stayed in a newer property, I obtained the detailed postal address and checked it out on google earth - just to check it was there! I am very specific as to my requirements and can discuss these directly with the owner.

Last year we independantly booked a villa in a location listed in the Virgin Holidays book and worked out a savign of about £600.

I am sure you will continue to receive lots of useful advice from this board.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Thanks so much for your replies and advice, I have thought about booking independently but am very nervous about all sorts of things going wrong, I have heard stories of people booking villas to find out they have been sold and are no longer available to not being able to find flights when the time comes! Sorry sound a bit of a worry wart dont I lol but being on my own I want to feel as confident as I can about the trip. Obviously if it works out cheaper I would consider it but wouldnt really know where to start.

If you book via a reputable website you will be fine, often they forward on your communications direct to the owner's mail address and they have a responsibility to keep ownership information up to date.

Try the websites below and you won't go far wrong, as an example any email you send to an owner on the individual villa link within the vr360 homes website is automatically cc'd to the vr360 homes own mail address - so they receive copies of the communication.

www.villas2000.com
www.vr360homes.co.uk

 

[Pegasus928]

Hi and welcome to the forums.

We have been to Florida a number of times now and have always stayed in villas for the exact same reason as you. We have a son who has Aspergers and, on the occassions we have stayed in hotels, it has added a lot more stress to what was supposed to be a relaxing family time.
As has already been said if you have in your head a list of requirements for the villa you want then you will find it easier to narrow down the options. We have used the following site for our villas and have never had any problems
http://www.orlandovillas.com/
If you search for your required number of bedrooms, then chose one when the list comes up (any at this stage - it doesnt really matter). Scroll down to the bottom where it says 'enquire about this villa now' you can then be more specific about your needs. (south facing pool, games room, free international calls, downstairs bedrooms, pc or Wi-Fi etc).
This site will also pass your details onto other owners that meet your specifications, which will cut down on the amount of searching and emailing you have to do.
You will also find a wealth of information on the disABILITIES section so make sure you check this out.
If you need any help specific to an Aspergers child then please feel free to message me. We learnt the hard way I'm afraid by doing 2 trips prior to finding these boards. We then went armed with all the information gained from people on here and it was like we were visiting a totally different place.
Happy planning - no doubt we will be seeing you on here again regularly