Windsor Palms or Emerald Island

[mareed]

Please help me choose between the following 3 options for a 12 night Thanksgiving trip. Bed sizes are identical in all 3 (king, queen, 2 twins) which is perfect for our needs. They are all essentially the same price (within $5/night) and renting directly through the owners in each case:

1. Windsor Palms 3 bedroom/2 bath condo.

2. Windsor Palms 3 bedroom/3 bath town home w/ splash pool. Includes heat for the splash pool.

3. Emerald Island 3 bedroom, 2 bath town home.

We've stayed in a Windsor Palms condo before, so we're familiar with that, and we've driven by the outside of Emerald Island. I'm thinking the 2 locations are comparable as far as travel time, right? I'm leaning towards the Windsor Palms town home for the 3rd bath and the splash pool. Extra bathrooms always come in handy, and while I don't think we're likely to visit the resort pool much if at all during our trip, we would use the splash pool some since it would be right outside our back door. I think I may have just made up my mind, but I'd like to get comments from the wise people here.

 

[Big V]

I'd go with the town home at WP!

 

[isla bonita]

Emerald Island hands down!!!!!!!!!

 

[mareed]

Emerald Island hands down!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell me why you'd recommend Emerald Island? We've never stayed there, but we have stayed at Windsor Palms before.

 

[tednvon]

these are both obviously top of the line developements within a few minutes of Disney...I guess I would be down to quality furniture, how close to the pool, and how big is the TV!!!

Emerald Island has a very warm pool and great hot tub...

Ted

 

[sweet maxine]

How do you go about renting from the owner? Are the rates pretty reasonable?

 

[mareed]

I sent inquiries directly to the owners from the following sites:

www.vrbo.com (select FL, Disney area, Kissimmee, then Windsor Palms or Emerald Island or other neighborhood)

http://www.windsor-palms-resort.com
http://www.windsor-palms-florida.net

The last 2 sites are strictly Windsor Palms, and you bring up a list by category that you're interested in such as 3 bedroom condo.

I think the rates are very reasonable. There were a few high prices, and a very few low prices, but most were around $95 to $105 per night including taxes for a 3 bedroom and either 2 or 3 bathroom condo or town house. I narrow my selection to those that contain at least one king-sized bed. This left me with 3-4 to choose from around $95.

I think I'm actually going to choose a town home in Windsor Palms that has a separate hot-tub/spa instead of the splash pool. Seems like that would be better for us in late November. Also, since my trip is over Thanksgiving, some owners seemed to raise prices like this was a peak holiday time, and some didn't. There were enough to choose from that didn't seem to raise to peak prices, so I chose from them. I've rented a condo and a house directly from the owners on 2 separate trips, and have a Windsor Palms condo booked for our March trip. I really feel this is the best way to visit Disney!

I received a few quotes that were around $75 - $80, but most of those seemed to only have queen beds. I received a few high quotes from $110 - $125, but I couldn't see anything in them to justify the higher price for me (I think they were just charging higher holiday rates). I ended up with responses from about 12 in the middle price range to choose from, and at that point I chose based on which one just appealed to me most based on pictures, and things like having the 3rd bathroom and either a splash pool or hot tub in the Windsor Palms town home verses a condo.

Good luck!

 

[LIFERBABE]

We have stayed in a Villa at WP and driven through EI and viewed the models. I agree, both are lovely, and with you staying in the Condos they are located in the front of the property of each development.

WP is much smaller than EI, and the houses at EI are huge and plentiful, so I would think it would be a little easier at busy times of the day to exit/enter WP.

EI is beautiful and we actually considered purchasing a vacation home there but decided that was too much like work LOL and did DVC instead.

 

[winniedapooh]

My vote is for #2.....love WP. We will be staying there again Christmas 2005!

 

[martina857]

Having stayed at each 3 times it has to be Emerald Island, it is much much quieter than WP much more tranquil and spacious. I have stayed here www.orlando-rental-home.com and cannot recommend them highly enough ! private owners who really look after you.
M