vacationcentralflorida townhouses

[cdngrl]

Hi! I have been doing lots of research to try to plan our trip to Florida this summer. We are looking at possibly booking a week at a townhouse in Windsor Hills, and I was wondering if anyone had any feedback about the townhouses through vacationcentralflorida (Dave Robinson). The two we are most likely deciding between are 2526 Maneshaw and 7658 Sir Kaufman. Has anyone stayed at either of these? If so, I would love any feedback!
Thank you!

 

[crusoe2]

We haven't stayed in one of their townhomes yet but we've stayed in 2 of their condos. We were happy with the accommodations. It was our experience that what you see in the pictures is what you get. I do recall someone posting on here awhile back that they had major issues with their townhome unit. But they posted later that Dave Robinson followed thru with a refund and then some - sounded like it was handled very well and very promptly. We would probably book thru them again this year but we would like to book 8 nights and they only allow you to book in blocks of 7 nights, with check-in and check-out on Saturdays.

 

[floydfamily4]

We stayed in maneshaw but it was fall of 09. We were very pleased and would definately rent through them again. What we saw in the video was what we saw when we arrived.

Good luck.
Dawn

 

[julirina]

I am following as we are considering staying in one of these also
We are interested in the newer end unit, if anyone has any feedback on that one. Thanks!

 

[lotus14]

We are staying in 2526 Maneshaw at the end of August. Can't beat the pricing! I haven't read reviews on this specific unit but people seem satisfied with Vacation Central Florida as a whole and their communication so far has been great.

 

[crusoe2]

Just a heads up regarding booking with vacation central florida --

We decided to see what they have available for our week and possibly just settle for staying 7 nights instead of 8. According to the Rates page on their site, townhouses are $399 for that week (first week of June). That's an awesome deal but when I went to book the unit, the charge was $699 for the week plus the usual cleaning fee and taxes. There were also 2 new fees that I don't recall seeing on their units before - $19 for a south-facing pool and another $19 because the unit I had chosen is an end-unit and has a bit more square footage.

I emailed them to see which price is correct and if they would honor the $399 shown on their rates page. They said that "some of the townhouses" rent at that rate but all of those are booked and that this unit is more because it is an end-unit. I did not press the issue by pointing out that they are also charging an additional fee of $19 that is specifically because it's an end unit.

The total for that week came to $940 which is really not bad - but I have seen some other townhomes at WH that are just as nice and for about the same price we can get the full 8 nights we were hoping for. So I guess we're going to continue shopping around just a bit more.

Anyway, I just wanted to make others aware that the amounts on the Rates page are not always correct. Be sure to watch for that when booking.

 

[julirina]

Thanks for the heads-up, crusoe2. I wonder if your email prompted them to change the rates page? I notice now for that week it says "$399 to $699" for townhouse.

I thought the extra $19 for end-unit when you're already paying a $100 upcharge seemed a little hinky, too, but hey...it's $19, and there's no security deposit or extra random fees, so I'm willing to let it slide. I do think $50 for use of the gas grill is outrageous, though! I can get a pretty nice steak dinner at a restaurant for 50 bucks, and I don't have to cook it or clean the grill afterward.

 

[Beccabunny]

Their rates appear to be low, but they seem to always be looking for ways to charge extra. Awhile back they were charging extra if you wanted the hot water heater at a certain temperature. Some people complained that without paying the extra charge, the water was just lukewarm. Now it's extra money for a south facing pool. Really? I personally wouldn't stay there. I stayed at two WH townhomes with better furniture and nicer Disney theming, had south or west facing pools with no extra charge, could book eight or nine nights, and really didn't pay much more than what vacationcentralflorida charges.

 

[cdngrl]

Thanks for all the replies so far. Lots to think about! Does anyone have any other recommendations for townhouses at a reasonable rate? Also, if anyone else has stayed in one of these units or had experience with this company I would love to hear more!

 

[Momma2PrinceNPrinces]

I received a quote from them as well for a condo at WH. They were a lot lower than other quotes. I've been working with Suzanne there. I thought it was kinda annoying that you can't book more than 7 nights, and have to stay Sat-Sat. We're driving so it makes it a little harder to get there on Sat

 

[Missy29]

I tried to book with them but could not since they only book Sat-Sat and we arrive on a Tuesday, oh well their loss. We ended booking at the exact townhouse we stated in last time. There website is themagicorlandorental.com, we stayed in the daydreamer, it was really nice.

 

[Beemitchcowski]

We ended up staying at www.letsgoseemickey.com. It was a very nice townhome with a southfacing pool. What was extra nice about their homes (they have 2) that they area all inclusive...all their baby equipment, gas grill, and things like garbage bags, papertowels, toiletpaper..dishwasher pellets..were all included (not just a starter pack)....our rate even included pool heat.

 

[Beccabunny]

Two years ago we booked through Magic Orlando Rental. We stayed in the Magical Dreams townhome. Very clean, only a few minor little issues. Rita is very nice to work with. Last year we stayed at Ethan's Little Disney. An absolutely beautiful newly renovated townhome! No extra charge for the south facing pool! We did have one issue, but it was resoved by the owner. I would recommend either townhome.

 

[crusoe2]

Thanks for the heads-up, crusoe2. I wonder if your email prompted them to change the rates page? I notice now for that week it says "$399 to $699" for townhouse.

I thought the extra $19 for end-unit when you're already paying a $100 upcharge seemed a little hinky, too, but hey...it's $19, and there's no security deposit or extra random fees, so I'm willing to let it slide. I do think $50 for use of the gas grill is outrageous, though! I can get a pretty nice steak dinner at a restaurant for 50 bucks, and I don't have to cook it or clean the grill afterward.

I just checked their rates page again and it's back to showing just the $399 rate for that week. So I checked to see if that unit is still available and it's now showing that it's booked for that week. Maybe that's why they changed it back after you saw it?

Anyhoo, looks like we'll definitely be staying somewhere else this time.

 

[3suns]

We ended up staying at www.letsgoseemickey.com. It was a very nice townhome with a southfacing pool. What was extra nice about their homes (they have 2) that they area all inclusive...all their baby equipment, gas grill, and things like garbage bags, papertowels, toiletpaper..dishwasher pellets..were all included (not just a starter pack)....our rate even included pool heat.

If we were staying at WH this go round, I think that's where we'd stay. Did you stay at their condo with the salt water pool, or the other one?

 

[3suns]

We ended up staying at www.letsgoseemickey.com. It was a very nice townhome with a southfacing pool. What was extra nice about their homes (they have 2) that they area all inclusive...all their baby equipment, gas grill, and things like garbage bags, papertowels, toiletpaper..dishwasher pellets..were all included (not just a starter pack)....our rate even included pool heat.

If we were staying at WH this go round, I think that's where we'd stay. Did you stay at their condo with the salt water pool, or the other one?

 

[cdngrl]

Just bumping this up again to see if anyone has specific feedback about these townhouses through vacationcentralflorida.com... Thanks!

 

[lotus14]

Since my original posting, we decided to cancel our Vacation Central Florida listing and go with Florida Sun. We lengthened the trip and we were going to have to move twice to keep the original reservation. Since they only rent by the week, it was going to be more of a hassle than it was worth to stay with them, even for a bit of price savings.

Just wanted to report that should you need to cancel, they do refund deposits, which is great. Not everyone does. We did have quite a bit of confusion when we were cancelling which I didn't really appreciate, but we did end up getting our check back in a timely manner.

Something to consider...

 

[cdngrl]

lotus14 - Thanks for the update... do you mind elaborating on the confusion when cancelling?

Anyone else have information about these townhouses?

 

[crusoe2]

lotus14 - Thanks for the update... do you mind elaborating on the confusion when cancelling?

Anyone else have information about these townhouses?

I have no idea if lotus14 had the same issues I did. But, FWIW, we had to cancel a ressie with them last year after paying our deposit. We did get our deposit back but it took awhile. I don't recall exactly - maybe about a month or so? About 2 weeks after I cancelled I still had not gotten a refund so I emailed to find out what was going on. I was told that there had just been some confusion on their end and the owner thought it had been mailed. I don't think they ever really explained why that happened. It still took another week or two to actually get the money back tho. I remember either emailing them a second time or was about ready to email again when we finally got it. They were very apologetic - and they DID refund the money - but it did drag on long enough that we'd gotten concerned that they weren't going to follow through as promised.