Family of 7 going for two weeks June/July 22. Looking at renting a house for the space and getting everyone their own bed. Where have folks stayed and what did you think of it. Thanks.
Stayed here twice:
2014 & 2016
Here once - most recent:
2019
Both were happy to negotiate.
I’d go back to either.
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We stayed here last month:
We liked the house. Only 2 bathrooms, but it was fine for us. Location was a bit far from the parks (depending on traffic). I would say about 20-25 minutes. Loved the pool, worth it to us to get it heated for the spa (even in July). Kids loved the game room, but it is in the garage so it could get hot.
We have rented homes and condos many times, usually through vrbo.com. There are SO many choices, each with various advantages and disadvantages. I suggest searching, filtering on various criteria and create a board with a bunch of options that have availability when you want to go. It usually doesn’t take me long to find 15 to 20 options.
Then, show each if those to your spouse or anyone else with vested interest to get their input. For example, sometimes homes that I would be fine with, my wife didn’t like because of some reason I hadn’t considered. Also, read reviews.
Once you narrow the choices down, you can then make your final choice based on price or location (for example).
In May, we stayed at a house in Davenport. 4 bedrooms, 3 bath, private pool and hot tub, game room, etc.
Oh…and pay attention. Pool heat is generally an add on even when not explicitly stated as such, so factor that into cost.
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This was our experience with our [only] vrbo. I’d probably add at least 50% to advertised drive time. IF rope drop is important. Which it is to us. We had an adequate house - plenty of bath/bedrooms - otherwise. If staying vrbo again we’d really investigate the travel situation.
We stayed at a resort just up the road from Disney Springs - with a family member’s timeshare - that was very close. Idk what paying rates would be like but we did make rope drop those mornings. Much happier trip.
The second one I listed was a super short drive. We even had easy access to the “back door” to WDW.
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We’ve stayed at different townhouse properties at CLC Encantada Kissimmee. Close to everything and it gives us space to spread out at end of a park day. Usually book via VBRO.
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That VRBO lists the time as 12 minutes, which is impossible unless there is no traffic and you are driving 60 MPH. We knew that was inaccurate going in, though. Definitely take it with a grain of salt. We always allowed 30 minutes and would generally leave the house 90 minutes before published opening time. We did pretty good on rope drop - usually not first in line but a pretty short wait at the first ride. There were certainly closer places that ticked our other boxes for more money.
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Thank you all very helpful. I have found that time estimates on all these sites assume you are doing it at 2 in the morning, not hitting any lights and speeding…
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You are right. And when I leave a review, I always mention that the drive time is wrong. I have gotten push back from the owners saying the drive time is accurate…but experience…and Google Maps…says otherwise. Perhaps they have wings and fly there or something. But for us normal folks, drive time is as much as double what they list!
Still, leaving a little bit early is no big deal. After all, even staying on property, travel time to the parks in the morning can be longish. Staying at Pop Century in August last year, it took us over 50 minutes by Skyliner!