Villa Rental - Best Location

[saloli]

I am overwhelmed by the number of homes we can rent in Orlando and trying to decide where is the best community.

We will have 2 families and 4 kids (7 and under). We are going for 1 week and plan to go to Disney for 4 days.

There are nice homes at Reunion and Sanctuary which are all descried as 15 minutes away from Disney but look farther on googlemaps.

If we want to take a break and come back home for a couple of hours, how close should we be?

 

[sympatico]

The minutes that are described on most listings will only get you inside Disney property. From there to the individual parks can take another 5 to 10 minutes.
The homes that are closest to Disney are those in the Formosa Gardens area: Windsor Hills, Rolling Hills, Formosa Gardens Estates, Oak Island, Indian Creek, Windsor Palms, Emerald Island and Sunset Lakes. You can use Sherberth Rd from these subdivisions and be in the Animal Kingdom parking lot in less than 7 minutes (depending on if you hit a red light). DHS in about the same time using World Drive and Epcot and MK in 10 - 15min. When we stayed in these subdivisions the parents would bring the grandkids back for a break around 1pm and then go back in around 4. Magic Kingdom is the longest because of the parking lot being so far from the park. It would take 35 - 40 minutes to get out and back to the house. The other 3 parks were quicker.
On this map Windsor Hills is #1 and you can click on the markers to the left of it and find the other subdivisions.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...8.272032,-81.608849&spn=0.068335,0.11055&z=13

WH, EmIs, and WP have manned gates. FGE , Sunset Lakes have acoded gate, and the others have no gate.
Reunion ( # 21 & 22 on the map) and some of the subdivisions in the Champions Gate area would use I-4 and World Dr which could put you on Disney property in about 10 min. or so but then add on another 5 to 10 or so for the individual parks.

 

[bcinohio]

We stayed at Sunset Lakes last summer and it was very close. The farthest park away was MK and it was about 15min. Ak was about 5 min. and the other not much more. We used the Sherbeth Rd shortcut and it worked great. Very easy to come and go even at park closing.

 

[4forMe]

This link has good information regarding which rental communities are closest to Disney:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2741457