Vacation home vs onsite resort

[emerzmom]

We have rented a vacation home for our trip in November. We love the onsite resorts however I am traveling with two 17 yr girls and felt that we needed more bathrooms and more space than a one room hotel offers. I got a great deal on a 5 bedroom home with 3 bathrooms and a pool and spa. We will have more than enough room for the 3 of us!!!:mickey:
At first my daughter was okay with this, however she is now starting to complain that we will not be staying "on site". She loves the theming in the resorts, the atmosphere, and the "surprises" left by "Mousekeeping". She even said "we can't even ride the buses":confused:
Anyone have good experiences with renting a vacation home that they would care to share?
:mickey:

[OogieBoogieMan]

We did better than stay at one, we bought one! We have stayed at Disney many times, usually at a deluxe resort and joined DVC about 3 years ago. We just added two more children to the family though and things were getting tight in a hotel room. We had gone back and forth about staying in a home, for many of the reasons you stated but figured it was worth checking out. Well to make a long story short, we closed on a house in Windsor Hills in April and have been renting it out since late June. We have stayed in it twice so far and absolutely love it. Do we sacrifice some of the Disney experience? Sure, but we love having our own bedrooms, a pool and a place to relax in the evening. And believe it or not, it is actually only about 15 minutes from my door to the turnstiles, about as long as it takes me to walk from the Boardwalk depending on the room!

I suppose to a certain extent I might appear to be a bit biased since I own a home, but we really did struggle with the decision, it is clearly a significant investment. And while I don't necessarily suggest everyone should own a home, I certainly think if you are on the fence about renting one you should give it a shot at least once. Like everything else in the world it is caveat emptor, so do some homework regarding the property you are renting, but in the end I think you will be glad you gave it a shot.

[tink'72]

I have a family of 5. DH, DS 15, DD 11and DS 10 and it's very hard to get cost effective accomodations on-site. The last 5 years we have stayed at a vacation home in Lake Berkley Resort in Kissimmee and the kids absolutely LOVE it!:cloud9: They have their own pool, their own bedrooms with bathrooms and tons of space. From the driveway we are about 15 minutes to WDW and all the other attractions Orlando has to offer.

The last few years however my 2 older ones missed the "magic" of staying on-site. What we decided to do was spend 11 days at the house and 3 days on -site. That worked out so well. We got our fix of 24/7 Disney magic as well as enjoy the flexibility of a house to stay in.

[TheRustyScupper]

1) We liked the area, and bought a 4-bedroom house.
2) Long before we decided to actually relocate.
3) It has proven to be great.

4) And, yes, you can use all the WDW transportation.

[McGoofy]

I'm glad to see this thread pop up. I'm interested in hearing rental home stories as well. We always stay on property and are rather spoiled to that. In 3 weeks, we are going with a group of 13 people, most of which have never been to WDW or stayed on property. The majority wanted to rent a house, so we went with what the majority wanted to do. We are renting a 6 bedroom home in a place called Prestigious Villas. I hope this turns out to be a good experience. It says it is only 4 miles from Disney, so maybe it won't be too bad.

[irish1967]

We stayed in a 4 bedroom /3 bathroom villa (although I would call it a townhome) last summer. Having never stayed off-site, I did have some concerns, but overall it was a good experience...

Pros -

:mickey: lots of space
:mickey:cost savings (from both a rental standpoint and food standpoint - we ate most breakfasts and most dinners at the condo)
:mickey:more conducive to different body clocks - I am an early to bed/early to rise type of gal - my DH stays up later and sleeps in a bit. It was nice to be able to go downstairs and make a cup of coffee and catch the morning news without disturbing him or the boys.
:mickey: laundry facilities in condo

cons -

:(distance to parks - it was 6 miles to the MK gate and at some times, traffic was very heavy (we were late one morning for our Chef Mickey's ADR and had given ourselves 45 minutes to get there
:(transportation home. At the end of a long day, getting on the monorail to get to the TTC, getting on a tram, walking to the car and then driving back to the condo seemed to take a lot more energy than hopping on WDW transportation and being dropped off at the resort.
:(some of the magic was definitely missing. Although I listed it as a pro to be able to get up and have my coffee w/out disturbing anyone, I missed having my coffee by the pool or on the balcony of the room.

Conclusion - given the same set of circumstances, we would stay off-site again (family reunion/much longer stay than normal) but for our regular 3 night stays - we'll be on-site.

[cperry92380]

We did a rental house for our 2005 trip and it was great! The space can't be beat. If you've got your own car or don't mind the costs of renting one, its the way to go with a larger family, long stays, or just looking for more room to stretch out in.
No, we didn't get the 'magic' everyone talks about... but having the extra space was wonderful. I was like being on vacation AT HOME. You could go to the parks and have a great time, then come back 'home' and relax and have personal space. Not to mention the privacy of your own pool and hot tub... you don't have to share 'cooties' with all of the other guest you'd find at a Disney resort vs. your own private pool!!!
I think its the best of both worlds.

[Marker]

I'm just going to cast in my two cents. I have never used a vacation home, but have considered it.

For me, some of what people list as plusses would be minuses for me.

While on vacation, I am typically up with the sun, ready to go. While my family wants to sleep in. My solution, rather than go downstairs and have a coffee and wait, is to slip on my clothes, and head out. When they get up and ready to go, we meet up some place. In the meantime, I'm not waiting and getting frustrated, and they're not getting frustrated with me being impatient.

While on vacation, I don't want to come back to my "home" and have everyone take of to they own private room. We get enough of that at home. I think some of our best memories have come from being all toghether in a hotel room.

The private pool and hot tub is very nice I'm sure. But, as it is, we spend very little time at the pool, at least I do, the kids often head back to the pool during the day. But, we like being around people, we like talking to people. For me, a pool full of people is a lot more fun that a pool by myself.

As mentioned in the previous item, the kids often head back to the pool during the day. It's a lot harder to do that if you not staying on site. We very often leave the room at different times, we return to the room at different times, and individually we may or may come back to the room during the day. There is just not that flexibility if you are not on site.

I am not trying to say staying a vacation home is not a good idea. Obviously it depends on the individual. These are just some of the reasons I considered when I looked into that option. And besides these considerations, I really enjoy the full blown Disney experience. From the moment I walk out of the room in the morning, it's there (actually it's there in the room, but as I said, I'm up with the sun, so I don't turn on the lights).

[martinfamily5]

We stayed off property on our first family trip in 2000. It was a wonderful experience. All Star Homes was the company we used. We had 3 bedrooms/1bath, pool, fully stocked kitchen (although, I refuse to cook on vacation) and a washer and dryer. The washer and dryer was nice. All 3 kids still chose to still stay together and sleep in 1 bedroom.

Now, for on site. Love it, love it, love it. Did I mention that I love it.:number1: We started staying on site in 2002 (2nd trip) and so enjoyed the extra magic. I can't explaine it, it is just that feeling of Disney 24 hours a day.

I hope that this helps.

[emerzmom]

Thanks for the feedback. Just what I was looking for. I love INTERCOT people!!! I have Mickey soap and shampoo from former trips to put out in the girls bathroom and my mom has made special Mickey pillow cases with their names on them to put on their beds (a surprise). I am going to try to bring a little "Disney Magic" to our stay at the vacation home. :mickey:
I think I have made a good choice for this trip. I just needed a little feedback.
Thanks again to all who responded!

[DDuck66]

We stayed off property on our first family trip in 2000. It was a wonderful experience. All Star Homes was the company we used. We had 3 bedrooms/1bath, pool, fully stocked kitchen (although, I refuse to cook on vacation) and a washer and dryer. The washer and dryer was nice. All 3 kids still chose to still stay together and sleep in 1 bedroom.

Now, for on site. Love it, love it, love it. Did I mention that I love it.:number1: We started staying on site in 2002 (2nd trip) and so enjoyed the extra magic. I can't explaine it, it is just that feeling of Disney 24 hours a day.

I hope that this helps.

:ditto: We just got back from our first offsite visit, and while it was nice (any day at WDW is better than a day elsewhere), I really missed that "magical" feeling from staying on property. I would do it again if I make a short trip, but any trip over 3 days is on site from now on.