Windsor Hill Townhomes, any opinions or info?

[disneymomoftwins]

We are considering a Windsor Hills Townhome for a Thanksgiving visit. Anyone have any opinions or info about the townhomes or resort?

 

[nessz79]

We're going with these WH owners.

http://vacationcentralflorida.com/home.html

We are staying in #7682, in a 3 bed/3bath townhome with splash pool. They have reasonable rates, and while they may not be the cheapest, they do not require a security deposit (which would be in addition to your regular deposit). There is a $250 deposit upon booking and then you don't have to pay in full until 30 days before your stay. Many places require 60 days before. They also have a lot of extra Mickey touches around the house and the kids room is always Disney themed. They have a lot of Disney artwork and it's touches like this that make us still feel connected to Disney even though we're offsite.

 

[crusoe2]

We're going with these WH owners.

http://vacationcentralflorida.com/home.html

We are staying in #7682, in a 3 bed/3bath townhome with splash pool. They have reasonable rates, and while they may not be the cheapest, they do not require a security deposit (which would be in addition to your regular deposit). There is a $250 deposit upon booking and then you don't have to pay in full until 30 days before your stay. Many places require 60 days before. They also have a lot of extra Mickey touches around the house and the kids room is always Disney themed. They have a lot of Disney artwork and it's touches like this that make us still feel connected to Disney even though we're offsite.

We just stayed in this particular unit last month. Overall we were pleased - what you see in the pictures is very accurate. Beds and other furniture were comfy and there was plenty of storage for all our stuff. Good internet service - we often had 3 laptops connected at once and no one had any problems with it. Parking was a little tight - we couldn't get in and out of the car without stepping into the landscaping just a bit. But it was nice to be able to park right outside our door.

We only had a couple issues with this particular rental. First thing was a little worriesome at first but turned out fine - the key code we were sent to open the front door was wrong. So we had to call the property manager and wait for her to call us back with the correct code. She responded very quickly tho and that code worked fine for the rest of our stay. The other issues we ran into with that particular unit were 1) they really needed more bath towels and wash cloths and 2) the dishes were not clean. We've found that it isn't unusual to run into these issues with self-catering accommodations tho. So nothing against these particular owners.

There were a couple things about the townhouse itself (compared to the condos) that we didn't care for tho. The first thing was that the stairs were VERY steep and there was only a handrail on one side. I worried all week that one of us would take a tumble. The other thing was the stacking washer/dryer. They were pretty small and the washer was a front loader - I practically had to stand on my head to load and unload it. And since I had to wash the towels and wash cloths so many times (and had to do them in small loads due to the size of the washer), this got pretty old.

We've rented condos at WH a couple times (both times from Vacation Central Florida) and had full-size washers and dryers in those. Much easier to use. If we ever opt to stay at WH again, we'll most likely go back to one of their condos or try one of the pool homes. We had wanted to try one of the townhouses cause of the splash pool and everyone having their own bathroom. But it just wasn't worth dealing with the stairs and the tiny washer/dryer.

 

[nessz79]

We just stayed in this particular unit last month. Overall we were pleased - what you see in the pictures is very accurate. Beds and other furniture were comfy and there was plenty of storage for all our stuff. Good internet service - we often had 3 laptops connected at once and no one had any problems with it. Parking was a little tight - we couldn't get in and out of the car without stepping into the landscaping just a bit. But it was nice to be able to park right outside our door.

We only had a couple issues with this particular rental. First thing was a little worriesome at first but turned out fine - the key code we were sent to open the front door was wrong. So we had to call the property manager and wait for her to call us back with the correct code. She responded very quickly tho and that code worked fine for the rest of our stay. The other issues we ran into with that particular unit were 1) they really needed more bath towels and wash cloths and 2) the dishes were not clean. We've found that it isn't unusual to run into these issues with self-catering accommodations tho. So nothing against these particular owners.

There were a couple things about the townhouse itself (compared to the condos) that we didn't care for tho. The first thing was that the stairs were VERY steep and there was only a handrail on one side. I worried all week that one of us would take a tumble. The other thing was the stacking washer/dryer. They were pretty small and the washer was a front loader - I practically had to stand on my head to load and unload it. And since I had to wash the towels and wash cloths so many times (and had to do them in small loads due to the size of the washer), this got pretty old.

We've rented condos at WH a couple times (both times from Vacation Central Florida) and had full-size washers and dryers in those. Much easier to use. If we ever opt to stay at WH again, we'll most likely go back to one of their condos or try one of the pool homes. We had wanted to try one of the townhouses cause of the splash pool and everyone having their own bathroom. But it just wasn't worth dealing with the stairs and the tiny washer/dryer.

Thank you so much for such a thorough review. It's good to know all these things so we're prepared! Sounds like we'll need to bring some extra bath and/or beach towels. We've never stayed at WH ever, so I think we'll have to see after this experience if a TH is worth it or if we could go to a condo next time. Again, thanks!

 

[sympatico]

Just remember that every property whether townhouse, condo or pool home is individually owned so the supplies in one home will be different than the supplies in another. I've only had one problem with there not being enough towels and bedding and that was in another subdivision. Legally they are suppose to supply a certain number of towel sets per person for which their home is licensed for and a change of sheets for every bed but over time and without proper restocking these things go missing.
So you may bring extra towels (easy if you're driving and not flying) and find when you get there that's there's plenty. We do usually bring a beach towel for each of us.

 

[ZachnElli]

We stayed last year and used www.themagicorlandorental.com and no problems at all. No security deposit, just a credit card number to charge if there is damage. I would and probably will use them again!

 

[crusoe2]

Thank you so much for such a thorough review. It's good to know all these things so we're prepared! Sounds like we'll need to bring some extra bath and/or beach towels. We've never stayed at WH ever, so I think we'll have to see after this experience if a TH is worth it or if we could go to a condo next time. Again, thanks!

Your welcome. Thought of a couple more things that might be helpful to know. First, if you are okay with hanging your bath towels up to dry and using them a second time before you wash them, there may be enough towels for you. The thing they most needed more of were wash cloths. There were 4 of us and, IIRC, by the third day there were not enough clean wash cloths left for everyone to take a bath. I'm pretty sure we had only used one per person each day. So maybe fewer than a dozen available? I know I had to wash them at least 3 times that week.

The other thing - I'd recommend taking or picking up something to scrub the pots and pans before you use them. There was dried food on the insides of several of them and the only thing we found to clean them with was a worn out sponge/scrubby thing in the cabinet under the sink.

 

[infopurposesonly]

We stayed last year and used www.themagicorlandorental.com and no problems at all. No security deposit, just a credit card number to charge if there is damage. I would and probably will use them again!

We stayed with them as well, two years ago. No real problems. VERY clean. Kids room was Disney-themed. Would definitely stay with them again.

 

[softballmom3]

We stayed at a TH in Windsor Hills October 2010. Overall we were please, but did not think the splash pool was worth it--it was dirty with leaves until close to the end of the week they came to clean it .

We rented through vacationcentralflorida with no issues but I don't think I would ever rent that particular TH again but I would rent w/ them again if that makes sense. It was clean so no problem there but they had the water heater turned way down so the water would barely get warm and we were not able to adjust the AC--know all this stuff upfront before booking a place. The master bedroom mattress needed replaced cause it was super saggy--hopefully that has been replaced by now.

The resort itself was very nice. Pool area awesome! We felt secure all the time since it was gated . Enjoy, whatever you decide to do!

 

[mousemom11]

We stayed in Storytime #3 last month. http://storytimeorlandorental.com/

It was just as the pictures showed. Clean, plenty of towels and dishes. Our DD's had fun in the splash pool. In fact, they never made it over to the big community pool. No deposit necessary. Just a credit card number in case of any damage. Owner very responsive. Would stay there again. One of the things we liked about this particular TH is that it faced a green open space in back.

 

[wgeo]

We stayed at Mickeys World 2 and were happy with our stay. The townhome was just as pictured on the website. We found it through windsorhillsrent.com but she has her own website as well mickeysworld.net . When I was researching townhomes, price was important to us, pretty furniture, granite counters was not. So once we got quotes, we did toss out most of the high ones, and then a few low ones because I had never done this before and didn't want to get a lemon! Mickeys world's price was in the middle. Its location was great in our opinion, because it was very close to the main pool and the splash pool was too deep for our kids to really play in (it's 5 ft deep so they couldn't touch bottom) so we spent all our time at the main pool. We'd stay again, but we like to try new things and bonnet creek is cheaper this year!

Have fun picking, I love looking at all the pics of the themed rooms!

Gina