Renting a house question!!!!!!

[fullhouse]

We are planning our first visit to Disney and have been looking at all ways of staying. Has anyone ever rented a vacation house and traveled by car to the parks? Is parking expensive, Is travel a nightmare? Is there any good advantages of staying in a house over a resort. I was thinking it would be nice to have your own pool, own grill to cook on, and not a noisy. It would be myself, wife, and 8 yr. old son.

 

[dawnball]

You might ask over on the Orlando Hotel and Attractions board, there are lots of people there who stay in rental houses or condos. We've stayed at Windsor Hills and found it *much* better than staying on property. There's a nice (non-crowded) pool with zero depth entry that made it better for our toddlers than the Pop Century Pool. It was about 5 minutes from getting into the car to being on Disney Property, probably 20 minutes to the MK, so the drive wasn't worse than an on-site bus ride.

Parking is $10/day IIRC, but we had APs so I don't recall. Our condo was quiet. It had a full kitchen for midnight snacks. It had a living room, so when the kids are napping you don't have to sit quietly in the dark or sit right outside the door.


We just got a pin code in the mail for 40% off on-site hotels for the dates of our next trip. We're renting a townhouse instead.

 

[fullhouse]

We are planning our first visit to Disney and have been looking at all ways of staying. Has anyone ever rented a vacation house and traveled by car to the parks? Is parking expensive, Is travel a nightmare? Is there any good advantages of staying in a house over a resort. I was thinking it would be nice to have your own pool, own grill to cook on, and not a noisy. It would be myself, wife, and 8 yr. old son.

 

[Twinprincesses]

We have started renting houses. We stayed in Emerald Island. IT was nice having the full kitchen as well as our own pool. We were close enough and never had a problem parking.

 

[5mins2disney]

We have rented a house there numerous times, we loved it so much we bought a place there last summer!

You've come to the right board though, there are plenty of helpful people on here to point you in the right direction. Popular rental resorts include:

Windsor Hills
Windsor Palms
Indian Creek
Emerald Island

Websites to find these homes include:
www.vrbo.com
www.windsorhillsrent.com

and more!

Traffic to/from the parks is really not bad at all, at least from these places, they are in many cases closer than many of the resort properties.

Here's a map of the resorts in the area:
http://www.thedibb.co.uk/villa/map.htm

There are TONs of advantages of staying in a home over a resort, your own pool, free internet, better TVs and beds, better furnishings, your own kitchen, many have amenities like free phone calls, and on and on...

Parking in the resorts is free of course, to park at any WDW property is $10 for the day now, and it's good all day at any WDW park.

Disadvantages...well... you don't get the WDW transporation system, you don't get the EMH (extra magic hour), and you don't get to pay more for the "name"! LOL

We've had some of the best vacations we've taken anywhere, EVER, staying offsite in a vacation rental home near Disney, I can't imagine why people still stay onsite to be honest, but hey, I'm biased!

 

[FLParadisevilla]

The traffic can depend on the time of year you go. IE: Holiday times your going to have traffic.
If you pick a neighborhood close to Disney as possible you wont have a hard time getting to the parks at all!

You can look at www.indiancreekflorida.com as well. That is homes in Indian Creek.

We enjoy the space and peace of having a whole house and pool to yourself.

 

[Mainebound]

Lots of us on this board do exactly as you describe and love it. Depending on where the house is, it can be faster to get to the parks than from onsite hotels. We like the area off 192. Even with traffic (which is rare, because you are only driving like 3 miles) it takes 7-10 minutes to get the Animal Kingdom, a few minutes longer to the other parks. Parking at WDW is $10 a day, but that is good all day, any park. Using a code/coupon you can get a rental car very inexpensively. Our Sebring rental for 10 days in March via Dollar is only $225, for example.

I was worried about driving the first time, too, but now we find it more fun and relaxing to have our own vehicle. Even the parking lot and trams and kind of fun!

There's a thread about onsite vs offsite on the theme Parks board which you might view for a lot of positives about offsite.

 

[sympatico]

We love staying in a vacation home. More room, privacy, quiet etc. As far as the traffic goes we don't find it too bad unless you're there in peak times. But even then if you stay in the Windsor Hills/ Formosa Gardens area and stick to that end of 192 for most of your eating etc. and use the Sherberth Rd entry to Disney you should have no problems. We're from a very rural area in Nova Scotia and the traffic is not an issue for us. As long as you know where you're going before you start out then it's easy. I think your son would love Windsor Hills with the large water slide and main pool area, games room, theatre etc. That's in additon to your private pool. The 3 bedroom townhouses have a private 12 by 12 splash pool and are very nice. The smallest pool home would be 4 bedrooms.

 

[Maria395712]

stayed offsite 1st time in jan going back in march it was an easy drive my only reason to stay offsite is my 4 lb dog he travels with us everywhere but the drive is fast and easy. I own Dvc but we can't take him there darn disney hotels they make me stay at universal or a vacation home but I love the townhomes at windsor hills
maria

 

[mcrockett1220]

We stayed in Windsor Hills last summer and it was wonderful. We had our own private pool and tons of room. Having a kitchen is great you can save some money and also eat some homemade foods, we ate breakfast in everyday except the days we had ADRs. We got a grill from walmart near there for $10 and just left it when we were done. It was nice when it was hot to go to the parks early in the morning, come home before dinner time. The kids played in the pool,watched movies or took naps, everyone got to chill and cool off. We had dinner then would go back early evening when it was cooling off and the kids had more energy, weren't cranky and were able to enjoy fireworks and such. Having a washer and dryer is great as well. It only took us about 10 minutes to get to the parks. Not long at all, traffic was a breeze. Parking was $10, but if you left and came back the same day, you didn't have to pay twice. There were planty of shuttles running in the parking lots.

 

[resol37]

While I haven't done it yet, my family has rented at home for our trip next May. I'm a little nervous about staying off site, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. We won't have access to EMH, will have to pay for parking, and will have a longer travel to the parks, but there are some perks.

We are renting a six bedroom house for me and twelve of my family members (two of whom are under 4 years old) and it's costing $200 a night (for 6 nights). Had we been staying in a resort, we would have needed at least 5 room and that's stretching it a bit. With a house, we have more space, our own pool and our own spa/jacuzzi.

Like I said, I'm still a little nervous about staying off site, but it did save us a lot of money. We'll see how it goes.

 

[coralee]

Last year from 12/30/05 to 1/7/06 we rented a 4 bedroom 3 bath villa with our own pool and hot tub for $1100. We went thru *villas 2000.com* (remove space). There were a ton of houses to pick from. Somewhere on that site I also found a map that listed the various "villa communities" and started checking by using the map. We started with the closest ones to Disney and worked our way out. We ended up in Indian Creek. It was a stones throw from Disney. Driving wasn't an issue. It was less than 15 minutes and we were in the park. Many of these houses are owned by people from England. We were concerned at first about sending checks etc., but everything went very well for us, no hitches at all. We were very pleased with everything. I found the map I used and I could pm you that website. I don't have enough posts yet to include it here. I would rent a house again in a minute. It was nice to have the car and be able to go where you wanted. In Nov 06 we stayed onsite for the first time and that was great too. I must say that it was much harder to go home the last time, as you are surrounded by Disney until you arrive at the airport. Hope this helps!

 

[SherryG]

We are taking our 1st family vacation to Disney in November and renting a villa! It is great to hear everyone's positive feedback about staying offsite!! We are staying in the Lindfields's area. Anyone know much about that subdivision?

Sherry

 

[isla bonita]

Lindfields is located about 3/4 mile away from EI further down Funie Steed rd. There are as many home oners as short term rental owners it appears from conversation with realtors.

It is a quick ride to the parks. Many stores, restaurants and such are close by.

Here is a map that will give you an idea of where it is located
http://www.thedibb.co.uk/villa/map.htm

 

[Samantha/NC]

We rented a huge house last summer with 7 bedrooms, pool and a game room from $950 for the week. We loved it. Parking was $9 a day, but if you paid at one park in the am, and wnet to another park in the afternoon, you did not have to pay again. we are going in November and have already started looking for a house to rent. I know staying on site has it's benefits, but so does staying off-site. Having a pool to ourselves was great, we saved tons of $$$$ by cooking breakfast and dinners at the house. The kids loved the game room. It was nice!!!

 

[meglovesbelle]

We rented a great home from Allstar vacation homes, it was huge and beautiful. we loved the freedom. Parking is expensive at the parks, if you are staying for long or are coming back within the year you may want to get AP's. We are getting AP's this year as we are going in March and December, we are now vacation points owners and are staying in a 2br condo for 2 weeks. I like Disney hotels, but I like more room too !

 

[5mins2disney]

Here's a map of the area resorts:

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/villa/map.htm

- George

 

[mbb]

Just going to merge these thread for you, fullhouse

That way, all of this great info is in one spot

HTH!

 

[bethie]

Great thread! Thanks for asking my question too!!

I would really love to try a house this go around.

 

[kg66]

We're renting a vacation home from Feb10-20, and I too am a little nervous, since booking a home was my job. Now I'm really nervous, as I didn't see the home we booked in the link of vacation homes the OP linked up. Has anyone stayed at Orange Green Villas before?