Off Property Windsor Hills Review

[disneynarula]

In October we had a wonderful stay at the Windsor Hills Resort.

Pros: It was closer to the theme parks then some of the WDW resort properties.

We had plenty of room for our family. My mom, the kids, as well as DH and I all had their own rooms. (The kids shared) It was so nice to have closets to stick suitcases in.

We had a washer/dryer and a full kitchen.

The pool was so nice. It was nicer than almost all the on property hotels and was never overcrowded.

We only payed $99/night. We were also able to save money by cooking some meals at the condo.

We were able to eat off property. There were tons of places near the resort.

I did not feel pressured to be at Disney every day. We had some down time that were spent just swimming and relaxing.

Cons: No Extra Magic Hours

We had to pay for parking. That made the condo more like $115/night on the days we went to the Disney Theme parks.

We also had to rent a car. Our car was free because we used our British Airways points to get the car but if we had to pay for it it would have cost $600 for the week. (we needed a six person vechicle) That would cut into the money we saved staying off property.

In conclusion: I am torn because now that our kids are getting older we like to use the evening extra magic hours. But is it worth the extra money? I did not feel any less "magic" staying off property.

We did not use All Star Vacation homes. We used a service that allows you to rent right from the owners. It was a lot less expensive that way. If you want to know what we used you can pm me.

[VWL Mom]

Thanks for the review, seems like a great option. Was the condo a 2bdrm/1bath?

[January-2007]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

[TFrauts]

We LOVE Windsor hills, if we are staying off property! You can't beat 5 bedroom/5 bathrooms and your own pool/hot tub(with a Disney fireworks view!) for $129 ish a night!! <3 <3 <3

[minnie04]

WOW!! I have never heard of this place. Sounds really nice. I will check it out forsure :thumbsup: It's great to hear good reviews from people you can trust...lol We could always use the extra room with a big family.. :mickey:

[disneynarula]

We had a three bedroom two bath unit. It was around $100 a night. Two of the bedrooms had queen/king sized beds and one bedroom had two twin beds.


I was just throwing some numbers together for our 2014 trip and by my calculations we could stay off proprerty for 14 days for less than the price of a 7 night stay on property, even with a rental car.

That is assuming we buy 10 day park hoppers with the water parks and more option, and go to the water parks for four days and the main parks for 10.

Probably most people don't come for that long but we are coming from overseas and take longer trips.

[disneynarula]

Sorry for the late response for those of you who sent me PMs. Since our next trip is not until Oct 2014 I don't get on here very often.

[eandrsmom]

Thanks for the review. We have a townhouse booked there for our summer trip this July. Even with discounts, we find that Disney is overpriced for a family of six. We used to stay onsite when our kids were little, but as they have gotten older, we have found that we need more space. I really used to be afraid that we'd miss the magic of staying onsite, but for us, it didn't happen. We have found some wonderful local restaurants that have become our favorites. EMH are a plus, but because we're there in the summer, most of the parks are open late enough for us anyway.

[waymickey]

EMH may dissapear so if that is what has you on the fence then I say save the money and stay off property since that perk may not be there in a year.

[disneynarula]

If EMH is not available anymore it's a no brainer for us.

Is this a rumor or fact?

Extra room+Less Money+Nicer Pool=Winner!