vacation homes..have any of you tried this?

[mom2smjn]

I am looking for a more inexpensive way to stay in Orlando with
6-8 people. I have heard that these homes are nice but would like some feedback on the quality and cost ...if you thought it was worth it...did it save in the long run??
I would love to know where you stayed and what you thought..
tia

 

[Robinrs]

Hi, Kelly:

I have stayed at them and am a major fan of them, there is nothing like the privacy and the space!

I know it's hard to get into search but if you try it at slow times (early in the morning works for me) and do a search on "vacation homes" you will find lots of input.

Things to reconsider:

Owner vs management company: a hotly debated issue!

West of Disney vs East of Disney

Location and distance from Disney

Privacy of pool area (does it face a wall, a fence, a lake, a golf course or an apartment building??)

The features that you require make a difference, also. Remember, each owner furnishes the place in their own style. Some only have a TV in the living area, others put them in the bedrooms, also. If this matters to you check.

Some companies and some owners offer some sort of maid service but for extra money. If that matters to you realize that you will probably being doing your own cleaning.

Some places offer major perks, like DVD players, computers, game systems, etc. This matters to some people.

As for value, there is no comparison to a hotel. I've paid less than $100 a night for up to a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house. Incredible!

I've used Elite Vacation Homes, Florida Leisure and www.closesttodisney.com All were superior!

Hope that helps!

 

[lilsonicfan]

I stayed at: www.floridavillas4u.net and i thought it was just awesome. We had 7 people, so would have needed two hotel rooms. But for about $85/night we got a four bedroom villa with three bathrooms, large kitchen, two family rooms, three TVs, dining room, private pool, and a laundry room. It was so nice to come home and relax every day in an air-conditioned house rather than a cramped hotel room. The kids really liked being able to watch TV (and we liked that we could watch other things at the same time!). We were in the Oak Island cove subdivision which is #40 on this map - http://www.orlandovillas.com/map.asp and that put us about 5 minutes away from WDW.

I would definitely recommend the villa we stayed at - the owners were great, and they had an onsite management company in case anything went wrong. Definitely the importance of research cannot be overstated. I went to www.orlandovillas.com to look for a house, but others have used www.vrbo.com or Skyauction to bid on a vacation spot.

Hope that helps!

 

[Colestat]

We stayed in a 3 bedroom pool home in Indian Point in December through www.aaadreamhomes.com. I would highly recommend them. We are staying a with them again this August.
Can't wait!

 

[torismom]

We recently stayed in a vacation home in May. We loved the expereience. Did it save us money , yes and no. LOL My grandmother decided to purchase one. We also belong to DVC and we are so excited to own a home down there. We booked through closesttodisney.com and had a wonderful experience with them. I have spoken to floridaleisure and they were wonderfully nice. We stayed on the west side and were very happy there. You will not be sorry staying in a home off-site.

 

[magicmouse2]

For us, a vacation home did not save money. We still ate all meals on site, but the bonus was the privacy and the laundry facilities. I did not like having to clean on vaction though.
My DH is not a huge swimming fan so loves the vacation homes, however the kids and I are water babies and unless we are in a themed resort with pool and slide we are not interested.
I do think of DH though, and have booked a week in September in a vacation home to please him as its his vacation too. Features I would personally look for are Jacuzzi, upscale decor, proximity to WDW, are they in a gated community ? and either a reputable property management or an owner that has been recommended via these boards.
Windsor Palms looks lovely, so does Emerald Isle. These are gated communities and have some resort features.

 

[BostonMouse]

You can also get deals on timeshare rentals that sleep 6-8 people. Make sure you check them out also.

 

[RobinMarie]

We stayed in a 7 bedroom home in 2000 - it slept 100 or so. Seriously, there were several couches in the home we didn't use the pull out feature for but I think there were 15 people who were sleeping in the home comfortably. We could have fit 4 more if we used the sleeper sofas. We paid 2000 for 10 nights - quite a bargain!

The kids loved having their own swimming pool. It was really convenient to have all of those people eat breakfast at the house and come back to cool drinks/snack at night. For anyone not feeling like going to the parks, they had a comfortable home to relax in.

The older adults enjoyed the comfort of watching tv on sofas rather than a bed. I loved having clean laundry and plenty of room for the kids to play. The sun worshippers were just outside the sliding glass doors. We did not think we could have found a hotel where we could have enjoyed being together while feeling cozy.

We definitely thought it was worth it. You can get very low prices at last minute - we have switched from hotel ressies to a home last minute when family members have decided to join us. I have had good luck with This site