We have decided to stay offsite: Windsor Hills, Castle Disney, 6 bedroom house

khanna

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jul 29, 2008
Messages
159
Hi everyone,
I wanted to share some information and as we walk through this time coming up to our trip and then our actual trip, we will give a full review. We are a family of 8-- mom, dad and 6 kids, plus grandma will be staying with us. We have always been on site people. As you can see by my signature, our last trip we stayed BLT, MK view 2 bedroom, it was awesome! We are going end of April-early May 2014. Priced our 8 night trip, BLT, MK view, 2 bedroom, with 7 day base tickets, regular dining, it was over $16K :crazy2:

So......we looked at BLT Lake view, OKW 2 bedroom, looked at renting 3 rooms, etc..... THEN we looked at offsite. I NEVER thought I would consider offsite. BUT when you compare prices--wow!!!! What a money saver offsite is. Yes, I know we are giving up EMH, convenience of being onsite location, etc.... but we have to try this and see if off site works for us or not.

We have booked a 6 bed, 4 bath house in Windsor Hills, with a private pool, spa, game room, kid themed rooms, full kitchen, washer/dryer, much much more for considerably less than we could stay on site. This would allow us to actually go do WDW more often!

We have spoken to the owner and he is very responsive and helpful. The management company is All Star Vacation Homes and the house is Castle Disney. I know All Star is more expensive than some other vacation homes, but I have read some very scary reports regarding others not responding to guests issues with the house, etc.... Now we have not stayed yet, but so far, our experience booking and getting info, reviews, has been very good.

I wanted to give this info b/c I never thought we would stay offsite and I know others have considered it as well. I will give a full review when we get back next year but I wanted to let you know this is an option and seems to be a very good option. :)
 
Thanks for the info. You will LOVE Windsor Hills!! We will be staying there again around the same time as you but staying in a townhouse. :)
 
Thanks! We are super excited! I have read very good things on Windsor Hills so I hope it is a good experience for us. You have a great trip too!!!!
 
We used to be serious "onsite only" people. Then in 2009 or 2010, we decided to try offsite. Loved it! We spend so much less on accommodations and miss none of the "conveniences" of staying onsite or the perks. Heck, recommended parks are the parks without EMH! It's really not a big deal. We, too, rent Disney themed homes and get so much more than we can get onsite. We have 4 bedrooms, private heated pool, a game room, full kitchen (breakfast), reserved parking steps from our door, and a game room. And we spend 85% less than staying onsite. Plus, we are closer to the parks than a chunk of Disney's own resorts! My view has changed. I doubt you'll regret it.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards
 

We have 5 children and really enjoy staying in Windsor Hills. The first time we did it, it was because we decided to go stay in the area for a month with the 4 children we had at the time. We obviously would need space plus a full kitchen for a trip that long, so we stayed in Windsor Hills and loved it. Now we continue to stay off-site because we love it. You just can't beat the space, the number of bathrooms, the private pool, and the ability to cook a real meal.

Our next trip is only going to be 12 days long. The last 5 days will be onsite because my husband is going to a convention and needs to be close, but the first week we'll be in a 5 bedroom, 5 bath home in Windsor Hills. I'm hoping we don't kill each other in our AoA suite after we've gotten used to the space. :rotfl:

FYI: some of the people who have houses with All Star also list on VRBO, and you can get the same house for way less that way. The house we're staying in this fall is an All Star house, but we're paying about 1/2 of what we would have if we'd booked through them. It will still be All Star that responds to any issues we have, though.
 
Thanks rt2dz! I hope it is a good experience. We do avoid the early morning EMH hours and our kids are too young to stay up really late for the late EMH's. I am a little sad about not being able to just look outside our window, see the castle and the fireworks BUT is it worth $6K more the entire trip? No way!!
 
Hi everyone,
I wanted to share some information and as we walk through this time coming up to our trip and then our actual trip, we will give a full review. We are a family of 8-- mom, dad and 6 kids, plus grandma will be staying with us. We have always been on site people. As you can see by my signature, our last trip we stayed BLT, MK view 2 bedroom, it was awesome! We are going end of April-early May 2014. Priced our 8 night trip, BLT, MK view, 2 bedroom, with 7 day base tickets, regular dining, it was over $16K :crazy2:

So......we looked at BLT Lake view, OKW 2 bedroom, looked at renting 3 rooms, etc..... THEN we looked at offsite. I NEVER thought I would consider offsite. BUT when you compare prices--wow!!!! What a money saver offsite is. Yes, I know we are giving up EMH, convenience of being onsite location, etc.... but we have to try this and see if off site works for us or not.


This is a great mindset to have, try and see how it works out for your family; although I have to say staying at BLT has always been a dream of mine, maybe one day :goodvibes
On the other hand, for our most recent Disney trip this past May we decided to try offsite (we stayed onsite at AS Music in a family suite for our last trip two years ago). We got a great deal on a 3 bedroom condo at Windsor Hills and I too was a little hesitant at first to stay offsite and not be in the Disney "bubble" 24/7. We had such a great experience and just love Windsor Hills. The community is so family oriented, quiet, clean, well maintained, and secure. The main pool is great for families too. We were so happy with our condo with a full kitchen, two bathrooms, balcony, tv/dvd in each room, and our own washer and dryer. The overall cost for our minivan rental, gas, parking fees, and condo rental was hundreds of dollars less than it would have cost us to get two standard rooms at a value resort - even with the spring room discount that was offerred at the time. Driving to the parks was a lot easier than we imagined it would be - no more than 10-15 minutes from our condo to the parks; and Windsor Hills is in such a great location for a Disney trip as you can either turn right onto route 192 and take the ramp onto World Drive to get to the parks or you can turn left onto route 192 and take the Sherberth Road shortcut (8 minutes to AK!). During our trip we did all the four main Disney parks and we had the opportunity to visit and spend some time at a few Disney resorts for the ADRs we had so we honestly didn't feel like we missed out on anything. The only thing we did miss was being able to split up on occasion because some of us like to stay in the parks longer than others and only having one vehicle as opposed to being able to use the buses means we all have to arrive and leave the parks together; but other than that we found so much value in the space, amenities, and savings of staying in a condo offsite that unless Disney offers an exceptionally great discount promotion it will be hard to bring us back onsite :laughing: Have a magical vacation :thumbsup2
 
We will be arriving at Windsor Hills two weeks from tomorrow! We found a 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom townhome with a private pool for $140 a night. In planning what to pack, I'm really looking forward to having our own washer/dryer. We're going to pack for half the week and toss our sweaty clothes into the washer every few days. We can also have whatever we want for breakfast without having to brave a crowded food court. This is going to be a 10-night trip so it will be nice to have the extra space and amenities!:)
 
Just an FYI, we just got back from a week at a rental house in the subdivision right before Windsor Hills, and we could see the high shots and lasers from Illiminations from the front yard and MK fireworks perfectly from the pool in the backyard. :)
This was our first offsite stay, and I don't know if we will return to onsite again.
 
Just an FYI, we just got back from a week at a rental house in the subdivision right before Windsor Hills, and we could see the high shots and lasers from Illiminations from the front yard and MK fireworks perfectly from the pool in the backyard. :)
This was our first offsite stay, and I don't know if we will return to onsite again.

Wow! That's part of the reason I wanted to stay at the Poly, so we could watch the fireworks from the beach. Wish I had known about this place. Thanks for the heads up...maybe for our next trip.
 
We have rented with All Star Vacation homes in the past and they are fantastic! Its incredible to have all the extra space and the ability to just pull up to your house - no trekking across resorts at the end of a long day. To save money we booked a home at Emerald Island resort through VRBO for our trip next week. My teenager prefers to stay onsite w/ the dining plan - I prefer having room to spread out and cable w/ Bravo.
 
I love onsite but I love offsite too About 6 ? years ago I rented a house in Kissimmee from VRBO The rental was easy, the home was beautiful and it truly was only minutes from WDW property The owners and I have become great friends over the years..just spoke to her this morning as a matter of fact :goodvibes Anyone who says they willl never stay offsite is making a big mistake, I used to be one of those "never" people When family comes down they will definitely be staying at her beautiful home so glad I took a chance all those years ago
 
Wow! That's part of the reason I wanted to stay at the Poly, so we could watch the fireworks from the beach. Wish I had known about this place. Thanks for the heads up...maybe for our next trip.

You can go to the Poly and watch the fireworks from the beach without staying there, we do it every trip :)
 
I am curious.....do you rent a car to get to each park? and do you have to pay for parking at each park?? That is in the event you stay off site!
 
How could an offsite place be "Castle Disney". Isn't that a copyright infringement?
 
We used to be serious "onsite only" people. Then in 2009 or 2010, we decided to try offsite. Loved it! We spend so much less on accommodations and miss none of the "conveniences" of staying onsite or the perks. Heck, recommended parks are the parks without EMH! It's really not a big deal. We, too, rent Disney themed homes and get so much more than we can get onsite. We have 4 bedrooms, private heated pool, a game room, full kitchen (breakfast), reserved parking steps from our door, and a game room. And we spend 85% less than staying onsite. Plus, we are closer to the parks than a chunk of Disney's own resorts! My view has changed. I doubt you'll regret it.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Where did you stay off property that was closer to all the parks than onsite?
 
I am curious.....do you rent a car to get to each park? and do you have to pay for parking at each park?? That is in the event you stay off site!

everyone has different circumstances of course when I rented off site prior to moving here I drove down from NY and had an AP ( so no rental for car and no parking fee) but yes staying offsite a car rental may have to be done and one day of parking at WDW is now $15 ( no charge for extra parks if hopping just get a receipt to show)
 





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