Villa Advice

[NatalieMT]

So haven't even been on my trip this year and we're already planning another! We are looking to go to Cheerleading Worlds 2013 held at Disney around this time in April every year. So jealous of everyone enjoying it this weekend! I know it probably drives some people crazy but we are going to enjoy the atmosphere and excitement.

There will be about 6-8 of us so we are considering that a villa would be the best option. I always stay on site because I don't drive but that won't be an issue this time. Does anyone have any suggestions of sites that have villa listings or any dos/don'ts in terms of area? Not something I've looked into before and I'm a bit lost on where to start. We will probably be booking each element separately rather than as a package.

 

[canadiankim]

There are so many sites out there that you can book a villa through and with a huge choice of number of rooms, location etc. I would sugget you start your search with googling Holiday villas in Florida and then go through the sites. There is always a way to contact the villa owner most of which are living in the UK.

We are booked into a 6 bedroom villa as there are 11 of us going and I think we looked at villarentals.com. It worked out at around 85 GBP per night and we are staying for 11 nights.

 

[bazzanoid]

Area is something that's down to personal preference, some like to be on the Mouse's doorstep, others prefer to be a nice distance away from the hubbub of everything out in the country a bit more. You need to start by thinking about what you want from a villa - remember, it's a home, not a hotel. Do you want a townhouse or a traditional style villa. With or without pool. Secluded garden. Communal facilities. Gated access. Etc etc etc. Once you have a small list of what you don't want, you'll find it easier to get a few you would be interested in.

A couple of sites some villa owners use are lastminutevillas.net and villas2000.com. In addition, a lot don't advertise anywhere so googling is definitely a must as well.

Hope that helps!

 

[WSussex]

Hi
There are soooo many sites it can be over whelming - I would recommend finding the community you would prefer first to narrow it down then search that community. We used owners direct website last year which was great. Think about what your villa priorities are ie number of bedrooms (doubles/twins etc) how important is deck and pool size, how close to Disney do you want to be??? I spent weeks searching and by looking at so many realised what I didn't want and narrowed down what was most important.

Happy hunting!!
Sx

 

[Holstar]

This is our first trip... and at first we figured we'd just do 14 nights on site, but it worked out about £1000 cheaper to do 12 nights on site and then seven in a villa!

But, it took me weeks to find one I was happy with.... and then as luck would have it, the owner also works for the same employer as me and gave us a discount!

To give you an idea, this is where we're staying - and it's costing us about £500 for the entire stay including pool heating and it sleeps 8, although there's only five of us in our group!

http://www.oristavilla.com/

We picked it based on how nice it looks, reviews, it's location (15min drive from Disney - we didn't really want to be any further away!) and of course the price.

xx

 

[flortlebap]

It is actually quite true (and quite odd!) that for us UK chaps, it's often cheaper to go for say, 14 days than 11.

Good excuse to stay longer, though...

 

[NatalieMT]

Thanks for all the useful suggestions! We would ideally like to be 15-20 minutes away from Disney. One of the girls has her international drivers permit so she's used to driving on the 'wrong' side of the road but because we will be going back and forth a lot from the competition I imagine being relatively close will be necessary.

We aren't too fussed about the style of home. There must be a private pool, I don't think pool stunting would go down too well with the neighbours in a communal pool. I personally would prefer something within a gated community although that's not an absolute must. Number of bedrooms, 4 would suffice, twins would be better than doubles but cheerleading is a contact sport so we've not too bothered about sharing.

Funny you should mention about staying longer, Flortlebap, because we were looking at flight prices and they were about £200 cheaper per person for a 14 night stay, so given the villas are around £500 a week and when you split that say 5 ways it did work out more cost effective. We were just looking at 7 nights originally but will have to have a look at dates and see how we can work everything. The competition dates will probably be announced July-ish when bids go out so we are hoping to be sorted enough to book by then.

 

[Netty]

one thing i would suggest is when you find a villa you like please then go and check on this site to make sure all their taxes are up to date etc. we have rented villas nearly every year for 14 years and last year we rented a villa and the villa owners wouldnt give us our security deposit back so we ended up taking them to the small claims, found out that they owed thousands in tax and the house was being repossessed, so no wonder they were keen on keeping our money.
this is taken from another site

you can check if a homeowner you are booking with has any unpaid debts or is heading towards foreclosure if they have a US mortgage. You will need their first and last names. Take a look at www.osceolaclerk.com and on the left side pick 'Civil Division' and then you can do your search.

To check that a person actually owns the home they are renting to you go to www.osceola.county-taxes.com do a 'Tax Search'.

 

[NatalieMT]

That is something I hadn't thought of! Sorry to hear about your experience!

I think after a few days searching we might go through Debbie's Villas, website it very easy to navigate, there are loads of suitable listings and it's easier when you have someone you can call to sort everything out for you!