rental houses?

[gravymom]

I have a friend who needs to rent a house as close to Disney as possible. What would be the best website to look at to find what she needs?

Thanks in advance.

Amy

 

[Jimdamedic]

The one I used was www.orlandovillas.com The advantage of this site is that you can submit a request to a users group of owners and they will reply if they have availability and meet your needs.

 

[gravymom]

Thank you for the quick response!!

 

[tednvon]

Hi, as you may know this is kind of like asking where is a good place to eat in Florida!!!

There are literally over a hundred housing developements with hundreds of housed in each development, all "close to Disney."

Right now there are some great deals on homes to rent as the market is pretty flooded with homes. We have owned and sold a rental home in one of these developments.

Three major questions...
Do you want a basic home with simple but nice furniture, smaller pool (they all have pools) basic TV in family room and master bedroom, maybe a DVD and VCR or a upscale home with fancy furniture, large pool, 3-4 bathrooms, with pvt bathrooms off at least two bedrooms, big TVs, DVD and VCR in bedrooms.

Other question is do I want to be about 7-9 minutes from Disney PARKING LOTS (not just the entrance) or would a 20-25 minute drive to the Lots be OK.

Last question is how many bedrooms for how many people. We suggest plenty of bedrooms and plenty of baths at the price you can get homes.
A four bedroom 3-4 bath home will often be just a bit more or even the same as a 3/2 with a little shopping around. IN MY OPINION ONE THING A LOT OF RENTERS REGRET IS NOT GETTING MORE BATHROOMS. It is so nice to have a pvt bath of the bedroom for at least the adults and so many of these rental homes and condos have pvt insuite because they are so popular with renters.

Finally, you need to decide to rent from an owner direct or from a company. In realty many of the homes are available from either the owner or a company as they both market the home. For example www.villadirect.com is company that rents homes that are all privately owned. The vast majority of these homes are also offered by owners on sites like www.vrbo.com or www.villas2000.com or www.vacationrentals.com .
So I would shop around on these sites...If you know how many bedrooms you want you can key the sites to show those homes first.

Have fun and let us know if you have questions about anything....

Grandpa Ted

 

[SeattleMark]

We absolutely love www.villadirect.com We've used them multiple times and have always enjoyed our stays, and the service and prices are great.

For example, this year we're spending the second part of our vacation in a home from them, the Sunshine Bay Villa in Oak Island Cove. It's literally about 2 minutes to Disney, with a grocery store, restaurants, etc all nearby. It's a new home with 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, beautifully decorated, themed kids bedrooms, big screen TV, private pool, overlooking a wetland, spa, etc, etc. We love this house, and the best part is that it's only $130/night!

I prefer going through a management company rather than the owners themselves, just for the support and customer service. Villa Direct even has "Concierge service" to get discounted attraction tickets, rental cars, etc.

Highly recommended!

 

[SJSKJ]

Try villas2go4 dot com (couldn't post a URL, too few posts). They seem to have good deals on really nice homes. Good Luck!

 

[tednvon]

Hi again...just to clarify...If you have your home on vrbo by owner and have it managed by VillaDirect, you get the very same service from VillaDirect. They take a % of each rental "by owner" and the renter has the very same services if they get the very same house from the owner or from the management company. Usually the rentals are lower direct from the owner as the management company has more overhead...

Hope that helps...Ted

 

[gravymom]

Wow, thanks for the info.

I can spout info like about for on property, but off site just baffles me.

Thanks again

Amy

 

[anabella]

We used OrlandoHomeRent dot com, you make a enquiry and direct owners sends you a quote

 

[kaylajr]

Last october we stayed here http://www.jansfloridavilla.co.uk/

It was GREAT
the owner is wonderful about answering all questions

we are going back in 2006

 

[tednvon]

Hi again,
I think this thread and the thread right above are pretty good examples of how many homes, agencies, manangement companies, and websites there are...
Take your time....you will find the right place... and no it won't be the best deal anyone ever got nor will you will it be the worst deal in history...It will be a special deal because your family are the occupants!

My final thought is YOU ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD and where you stay is important but not the center of your trip.

Our first of over 35 trips to Disney was in 1973 in a 1965 Pontiac with kids 6 and 3. We stayed in small motel room on a very tight budget. Our last trip was staying in a nice home with kids and grandkids 9 and 6. I honestly believe that first trip with the old grainy 8MM movies was still the most special of all. The wonder of Disney for all of us, and the room was the last thing we worried about...

Peace and have a great time....Ted

 

[mbb]

........IN MY OPINION ONE THING A LOT OF RENTERS REGRET IS NOT GETTING MORE BATHROOMS. ........

ITA!!

We rented a villa last year with 5 bedrooms, and 6!, yep 6! bathrooms (well, 5.5, but who's counting!!LOL)

...and if we're going with more than just DH, myself, and our two kids, we would MAKE SURE that the bathroom situation is the same as the #of bedrooms...why? Because that extra "powder room" either right off the hallway, or off the pool area, can make such a difference with kids, grandparents and teenagers all sharing the same house.

JMHO, YMMV

 

[SeattleMark]

Hi again...just to clarify...If you have your home on vrbo by owner and have it managed by VillaDirect, you get the very same service from VillaDirect. They take a % of each rental "by owner" and the renter has the very same services if they get the very same house from the owner or from the management company. Usually the rentals are lower direct from the owner as the management company has more overhead...

Hope that helps...Ted

True, but many, many of the owners on VBRO or self-renting, don't take credit cards like American Express (which I wanted to use), nor can you get the other discounts that they offer.

Just a matter of preference, I suppose.

 

[Mainebound]

In March we rented "Emerald Footprints" at Emerald Island for a week (www.emeraldfootprints.com). Lovely U.K. family, spotless new home. They now also own a larger home in the same development (5 beds). We had 4 beds, 3 baths, private pool, indoor and outdoor spas. First time offsite and what a great time! Easy access to parks (WDW, Universal, Sea World).

We found this rental via www.orlandovillas.com as mentioned above. They have discussion boards the owners frequent (not for rental inquiries, but for asking general questions) and I think this group is very ethical and self-policing.


It CAN be very overwhelming sorting through all the vacation homes. I would be suire to rent one with recent reviews from guests. Our home had past guests' email addresses on the website and we emailed some of them to be sure the home was as great as it seemed.

I will suggest one other thing: BUY TRIP INSURANCE. Typically you do not get your deposit back, or even your full paid amount, if you cancel within 6-8 weeks. Much more punitive cancellation policies on rental homes as opposed to hotels make it dangerous not to get the trip insurance.

 

[Maria395712]

Kaylajr
where was this home located how long a drive to disney

 

[kaylajr]

HI sorry I didn't get right back to you

The house was in a great location
far enough from the CRAZYness of The main strip but close enough to everything

I would say we were at disney in under 20 minutes everyday no matter which park and that is with traffic and construction

some days only took 10

sea world and Universal about 30-35 minutes

we have rented homes before and it either took longer or was confusing finding WDW

this was very easy to navitgate around

Feel free to PM with any questions You'll probably get a quicker response that way

 

[Mainebound]

Kaylajr
where was this home located how long a drive to disney

We timed all our rides...

The home was located just south west of WDW's maingate off I-192. It took 60 seconds to get to 192, about 5-8 minutes depending on traffic to get to Sherbeth Road (left off 192), another 5-8 minutes to get to Magic Kingdom (2 mins. to get to Animal Kingdom). So, it was 10-20 minutes to get to a WDW park depending on traffic, and another 10 minutes to get to Universal and Sea World, again depending on traffic.

I believe that the developments in this area off 192 (which includes Emerald Island, Formosa Gardens, and Windsor Palms, Oak Island Harbor and Oak Island Cove among others) are just about the closest you can get to WDW. They are also all new and beautiful.

After leaving the pool home we checked into Wilderness Lodge for 4 days. We have always stayed ON site and wanted to end our trip at a WDW hotel. It was clear to us after one day at WL that the WDW transportation took longer and was more of a pain than the drive from the pool home (with the exception of the boat to MK from WL).

I think there are some good reasons NOT to opt for a pool home, depending on the type of vacation you want, but having stayed in one I would NO LONGER consider transportation to be a deciding factor between on and off site.

 

[Maria395712]

mainebound
what neighborhood were you in
maria

if emarald island can you give exact directions to disney from the neighborhood entrance. I don't want to get lost

 

[Mainebound]

mainebound
what neighborhood were you in
maria

if emerald island can you give exact directions to disney from the neighborhood entrance. I don't want to get lost

you can use the directions from Windsor Palms that you got on another thread. They are practically next door to each other.

you can also easily answer such questions for yourself if you use the link Isla Bonita gave you on another thread to the online 192 Map.