Villa info

[Hallfamily]

Our second trip is March 06 and this time taking my parents. We have booked a villa for the first time ever, in indian ridge. Any tips welcome and if anyone has stayed in this area previously please let me know your opinions. Many thanks and excited already counting down the weeks.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Hi - I am familiar with a lot of the developments but have never looked at this one.
However, it is in Kissimmee and seems like it's located ideally for good quick access to restaurants/supermarkets and Disney/I4.

We always stay in a villa and love the extra room and privacy you get, it is unlikely you will want to stay in a hotel again.

There are a few tips, first of all we find the Publix supermarket (there are at least 3 nearby) ideal for groceries etc, and whilst they are not expensive generally you will find you spend a fair bit on food etc depending on how much cooking you will do.

Are you getting pool heating, to be honest for March I would.

The villas are usually very clean, however, you will need to ensure you keep the kitchen area spotless and never leave food out, not suggesting you would do but you will attract ants if you do.
There could well be a waste disposal unit fitted into the kitchen sink, there are usally 2 sinks side by side, you will use this for the majority of your food waste.

You will probably find the refuse is collected twice a week, we tend to take plenty of our own black bags plus swing bin liners with us - sometimes these are already available, depends on what was left behind I guess - same probably applies to kitchen towels/washing up liquid that sort of thing, although I am not suggesting you take 'Fairy Liquid' too.... obviously these are the sort of things you don't necessarily think you will have to buy.
You probably will not know until you get there, just bear in mind that the likes of even basic things like salt and cooking oil - you could well have to buy them.

I would also advise you to take some washing powder with you, we tend to take the small blocks you can buy - again like the bin liners, they don't take up much room in your suitcase.

Unless the owners specify beach towels are available again either take your own or buy them out there, I would presume they would not want you using bath towels around the pool area.

Anything else feel free to PM me

 

[angel659]

Hi

Good points there some of them Iwouldnt of thought of i.e bin liners would never of crossed my mind.

At least we can look at things like that before we leave, so we can think about what we want to buy or take with us.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Hi

Good points there some of them Iwouldnt of thought of i.e bin liners would never of crossed my mind.

At least we can look at things like that before we leave, so we can think about what we want to buy or take with us.

You can buy them out there, it's just we find if we try and limit the 'extras' we have to buy such as bin liners/washing powder it does help a lot.

 

[FizzyPop]

We always stay in a villa and Ive never thought of taking things like that. Next time I will take bin liners ( thanks for the tip Johnny). The soap powder I will stick to buying out there as there is 6 of us and I usualy do a load of washing a day while im away.

 

[Miffy2003]

Hi hallfamily

Not long till your trip then

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We always stay in a villa and Ive never thought of taking things like that. Next time I will take bin liners ( thanks for the tip Johnny). The soap powder I will stick to buying out there as there is 6 of us and I usualy do a load of washing a day while im away.

It's probably us just being over fussy with the bin-liners Sharon, just we seem to go through a few and got fed up with buying them , they don't take up any room in the suitcase so may as well take our own.

Generally we find the villas we have stayed at differ as to what is available when you arrive, some had tea-bags/salt/pepper/cooking oil/washing up liquid and others have had nothing...we are actually a bit over the top and save up the little salt sachets from KFC and take them as well....I am sad though

 

[UKDEB]

Our routine is to drop the bags at the villa, do a recce of what is and isn't there, and then do the supermarket shop. You'll normally find that there will be a small supply of certain things (dishwasher tablets, toilet rolls, etc), but not much. We always leave loads behind, so I assume the cleaning staff remove all but a very limited supply of essentials. For example, there are usually bin liners in all the bins, but no extras, toilet rolls on all the dispensers, but again, no extras, one or two dishwasher tablets, etc.

Things you'll probably need to buy are washing detergent, tumble dryer sheets, dishwasher detergent, kitchen towel, toilet rolls, soap (often there is a tiny bar of guest soap in each bathroom), surface cleaner. Bin liners come in huge packs, so you might want to take a few with you or save your carrier bags from the supermarket. For some reason there always seem to be plenty of filter papers for the coffee machine!

I really wouldn't worry about pool towels. As far as I'm concerned, unless they're provided it's OK to use the regular towels.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I really wouldn't worry about pool towels. As far as I'm concerned, unless they're provided it's OK to use the regular towels.

If we want to take them out of the villa to a water park it is always best , in my opinion, if you have your own beach towels, if you have room in your suitcases.
The last thing anyone should do is buy them at the theme parks, unless you want to have a multi-coloured face when you need to wipe your face dry

 

[tartangirl]

Hi,

I'm not familiar with Indian Ridge but it looks a good location - you should be able to use the shortcut into Disney via Sherberth Road - just past Bonanza golf on the 192 - this brings you out at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Helps leaving Disney as you can just head for AKL.

I would recommend taking washing powder - especially for colours as I'm not impressed with the powders over there, too much bleach in the color powders - we also take dishwasher tablets, there's plenty of room in our cases on the way out

I never thought of bin bags - we just use the bags from Publix as our bin bags.

 

[Hallfamily]

Many thanks for all the info and will definitely use the tip of washing tablets and bin liners. We booked through florida leisure which came highly recommended in Simon's Brit guide, so fingers crossed and we have paid the extra for pool heat as i'm not sure how warm it will be.

 

[steve404]

Hello,
We stayed at a friends villa at Indian Ridge Oaks in 2004, this is just over the road from Indian Ridge and found the location ideal for getting just about anywhere in the area. Disney is less than 10 minutes away and you have a number of shops on the nearby 192 a short trip down Old Lake Wilson Road. Publix (our favourite) is a 2 minute drive away and we found Old Town a great night out also close by, but you are just far enough out of the lights of the 192 to enjoy a quiet life.
Indian Ridge Oaks is a good mix of rental properties and locals.

You will enjoy the estate and the ideal location will make your stay a great one

Steve

 

[UKDEB]

Many thanks for all the info and will definitely use the tip of washing tablets and bin liners. We booked through florida leisure which came highly recommended in Simon's Brit guide, so fingers crossed and we have paid the extra for pool heat as i'm not sure how warm it will be.

We've used Florida Leisure in the past. It's a small family firm run by Nigel Worrall, a British ex-pat. They look after their villas and their guests very well. Any niggles you might have will be sorted out quickly and efficiently. When we stayed at Cumbrian Lakes he popped in several times himself to check that everything was OK (he was living a few doors away at the time).