?? Renting a House/Villa/Etc.? HELP NEEDED

[DonnaBelle2005]

Hello Everyone...

I would love some information (and your experiences a plus) in renting a house withing 10 minutes or so from WDW. I need something large enough for 6 people (4 adults/2 kids). I don't want to go the route of renting a hotel room (Holiday Inn Kidsuites is SOO expensive!), and I've stayed "way back when" at Dixie Landings (1998) and it was "small" in size compared to average hotels.

Amenities I'm looking for: 2/3 bedrooms, prefer 2 baths, and if a house/townhouse--a pool is a BIG plus. Hoping to spend at/about $700 for the week (November 2005).

ANY HELP MUCH APPRECIATED!!!!

Donna (here in Snowy Maryland)
Planning my 1st family trip to WDW -- Thanksgiving week 2005

 

[onlyoneforme]

Check out these places:

http://www.greatrentals.com/FL/FLCentral.html
http://www.a1vacations.com/Florida.htm
http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/usa/florida/central-disney-orlando

 

[winniedapooh]

I like vbro rental and love Windsor Palms. It is close by everything but far enough away. Reasonable and have not had a problem renting.

 

[TiffJ]

Another vote for Windsor Palms. It is in a great location-close to grocery, restaurants and WDW. We have rented a condo there several times & a friend of mine rented a pool home & also loved it. It would be cheaper to rent a condo if you only need 3 br. The condo we rented was 3br 2 ba full kitchen, washer & dryer. They also have a huge clubhouse with olympic size pool, fenced kiddie pool, hot tub, small playground, gameroom, workout room. Can you tell I love this place!

You can find them on vrbo.com or on windsor-palms-resort.com

 

[Mainebound]

We are renting a pool home next month in Emerald Island. We found it at www.orlandovillas.com, a website I love because

(a) all of the villas are "verified" and the owners all know each other. and

(b) they have discussion forums devoted to renting a villa -- much more info there than on the DIS.

I will post a detailed trip report when we are back in March.

Good luck!

ps. Windsor Palms is very close to Emerald Island. Both are very nice new developments very close to WDW. We found that most WP homes have only one sitting area, while EI homes have two sitting/living areas, so we went with EI.

 

[Local_Girl]

You may also want to check out the threads on this board for Cypress Pointe. We are paying right around $100 per night incl. tax (through Hotelkingdom.com) for a newly renovated 3 bdrm unit. There will be 5 of us...DH and I will have one master bdrm and MIL will have the other to herself, and the kids will have their own room. Check this out: http://cypresspointe.net/floorplan.html

Good luck in your search!

 

[Snoopymom]

We've used http://www.orlando-villa.com and onlinefloridavillas.com. You put in your requirements and the owners will e-mail you their rates including tax and pictures. We love having the space.

 

[Jane E.]

3 1/2 years ago we rented a 4bedroom, 2 bath house with a swimming pool and game room. We went in midSeptember and were able to get a good deal on the house. We paid $700 for the week. I don't even remember which company I used but I did lots of reading, research & phone calls.

Remember, just because you have a house don't let yourself get tied down cooking & doing housework. Then it won't be a vacation for you. (A friend of mine ended up having a miserable time with family when they rented a house together. The men were always off playing golf etc and she ended up stuck fixing meals,cleaning up & watching children. She had a miserable time and vowed never to go with family again.) For meals, we fixed cereal, fruit & juice for breakfast, ate a nice sitdown meal in the parks & our teens had fast food for dinner while dh & I ate dinner out at a nearby TGIFridays.

Do your homework beforehand but make sure its still a relaxing time for you.

 

[magsmouse]

If you go to the VRBO.COM website search under "Kissimmee" too, it pulls up a list broken down by subdivisions.

 

[JANNYANS]

Try orlandovillas.com as already mentioned plus
www.orlandovillas.co.uk
www.vacation-rentals-orlando.com
also rent direct from owner sites where you can ask anythng you need to know about the home you are interested in.As an owner I can assure you we don't mind how many questions we are asked about our homes -we love talking about them and helping rentors out.