Need to sleep somewhere,but where? How do I rent a house??

[huntforjulia]

There are so many options my head is spinning and the planning is starting to not be fun anymore. I have a group of 10 in March, so my choices are tent at the Fort, (which I have always wanted to do) 3 value rooms, offsite hotel or a rental home. The rental home is looking to be the best choice,but the others are still options. I have a fear of getting to Orlando and not having a place to sleep and the whole family being under a bridge. I need a, how to rent a vacation home for dummies. How do you safely rent a house. There's a million places online and I've kind of figured out the best/closest areas. Now what?Thanks for ANY help suggestions or ideas!

[JulieC]

I have rented vacation homes at Hilton Head, SC before (and stayed there), and we have rented one in Windsor Hills for our WDW trip next June. With the caveat of "we haven't stayed there yet", the owner has been easy to work with thus far, the guest comments are good. They have a 5 bdrm/5 bath vacation house available that week, http://luxurydisneyvacationhomes.com/andrews-summer-palace/#calendar . We are renting Ethan's Little Disney from them (3 bdrm/3 bath for 6 people). If not there, I would check http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/usa/florida/central-disney-orlando/kissimmee, or http://www.windsorhillsrent.com/. This is our first time renting through a smaller company where one owner rents multiple units, the others have been through a management company that rents units for many owners.

[MichaelColey]

I would suggest looking at renting a 4-bedroom Presidential unit at Wyndham Bonnet Creek. You should be able to rent one from a Wyndham owner for less than the cost of a single Disney Moderate resort. You'll have four bedrooms with a total of (I think) six beds, plus a sleeper couch or two. In addition, you'll have a nice kitchen and dining/living area and a washer a dryer.

[vatmark]

We found our villa last trip and our up coming trip through vrbo. I think a villa is a great way to go. Lots of room and your own pool. We rented in Emerald Island this past June and are renting again there for our next trip. It was a nice location, easy to get to parks and close to grocery shopping. We had 8 of us last trip and had a 4 bedroom. Next trip will be 10 of us and we got a 6 bedroom. How we went about it was to narrow down which areas we wanted to look in. We searched both Windsor Hills and Emerald Island. We had very specific requirements with bedrooms, batrooms and kitchen open to living area. We were able to narrow the list down greatly. I then sent out emails from the site for quotes. We never heard back from some so the list got smaller. We then looked at price and asked questions. we wanted to be able to pay through paypal and have the price split between the 3 families. Some renters were fine with that and others weren't so the list got smaller after that. I think you really get a feel for which are good renters and which aren't just by their responses and promptness of the responses. There were some that just rubbed me the wrong way so they went off the list. I preferred dealing directly with the owner then a management company.

Ann

[FjmArch]

I have had great luck using Homeaway (d0t) com. We rented in April in Washington D.C. We have also used them in New Hampshire, Naples and Sedona in the past. We have never been disappointed with the properties we have rented.

[huntforjulia]

Thanks for your help I at least have a starting point now. Is a management company better than owners? How do I check to see if they are reputable? Can I ask for references? Thank You all!

[mousehelper]

I use vrbo. Windsorhills is fine too, but then, well, you just get Windsor Hills, and I find them a bit pricier.

Make a chart of what you want, so you are then able to compare apples to apples. Mine includes Price per night? Hot Tub? spa? Cost for heat? Keyless Entry? Non smoking? Gas grill and fee? Cleaning fee? Credit Card Okay? Security? Patio furniture? Game room? Last day cleaning requirements? Blender? Privacy? Pool faces what direction?

Then, get all that info from each person who actually responds. You will quickly work it down to a couple. Then, just pick one.

We like any of the resort areas near Indian Creek, Windsor Palms, Windsor Hills. There's a map on vrbo.

I used to worry about mgt companies, and shady folks, but really, you don't ned to . Odds are overwhelmingly in your favor that they are fine. Remember-- they are trusting you not to destroy their property as well!

Ya know-- there is someone on this forum who has a 5 bedroom she rents in Indian Creek. But, I think she lives there in March. I've been in the home -- it's lovely. And we stay at
Indian Creek all the time.
http://www.vacationhomerentals.com/vacation-rentals/Kissimmee-Florida-vacation-rental-home-proID-58183.html

[bnoble]

I would also go with a rental home for that group. It is important to remember that you do not need the very best possible home. You just need a great one that meets your needs---and many will!

I wrote this for another site, but it gives the basics:



There are lots of off-site hotels in Orlando, and they're very much like the hotels everywhere you've ever stayed in. However, Orlando also has a very strong market in private vacation home rental---condos, townhouses, and detached homes, many with private pools, owned by individuals and rented out to vacationers by the night or week.

There are a few other places in the US that work like this---the Outer Banks in North Carolina, for example---but it is much more common overseas. It is likely that most US visitors haven't ever looked into this option before. There are some advantages and disadvantages, but for many families it presents an interesting alternative. This thread contains some basic information, and I'll try to keep an edited FAQ in this post with questions that come up often.

The first thing to understand is that you are renting from a private individual. The owner probably only owns this one house in addition to their primary residence. The owners range from people who are trying to defray the costs of owning a second vacation home on up to small investors who own perhaps a few to a half-dozen houses. Very few of them consider this their primary business, and so business practices vary widely. Many owners live overseas, particularly in the UK. Owners who do not live locally should have a local management company to handle the day-to-day details. There are a few large companies, but most seem to be smaller mom-and-pop operations, often run by people who live in the area and also own their own vacation homes.

There is a HUGE variety in price, quality, furnishings, and amenities between houses. This can be true even in the same neighborhood and subdivision---two houses next to one another can be very very different and price is often, but not always, an indication of the quality of the home you'll be getting.

A vacation home in Orlando should, at a minimum, have an equipped kitchen, a private washer/dryer, and linens provided---sheets, towels, etc. (This is quite different from, say, the Outer Banks market, which usually rents linens separately.) Beyond that, the home can have nearly anything, or nothing extra at all: Hi-Def televisions, DVD players, PS2 or Xbox gaming systems, broadband internet (wired or wireless), equipment for babies and toddlers (high chairs, cribs, strollers), private pools or hot tubs, high-end furnishings in bedrooms and common rooms, high-end kitchen equipment, or complete game rooms with pool tables, air hockey, etc. Typically, game rooms are converted garages, do not have heat or A/C, and mean that you will not have covered parking.

The largest discriminator in price seems to be home size, followed by location. Location doesn't always mean "proximity to the parks"; it can also mean "quality of neighborhood amenities." That said, pricing and terms is almost entirely at the discretion of the owner, and there is a wide variety of price within the same neighborhood and quality of home. The more affordable the home is compared to homes similarly equipped and located, the sooner it will rent. Price does vary by season, but the seasons do not always track Disney's, and the range of low-season to high-season price seems to be narrower than at Disney's resorts.

Homes are typically priced per night, but some are per week. Often, there will be a discounted rates for stays of two weeks or more. Most homes quote tax and pool heat separately---pool heat is needed at least October through April. Owners from the UK are more likely to quote all-inclusive prices. To book a home, one usually must put down a non-refundable deposit, with the balance payable anywhere from several weeks to months prior to stay. A damage deposit is taken either at booking, with final payment, or when picking up keys, and is refundable after a home inspection. Some management companies take a credit card swipe rather than a cash deposit, and I prefer the former. A few owners also have additional random charges, like a non-refundable damage waivers, cleaning fees, short-stay premiums, etc.

There is a home for nearly every budget and family, but they tend to be much less expensive than comparably-sized and equipped "traditional" lodging, either on-site or off. For example, we've rented a 3BR/3BA townhouse with private heated plunge pool in a "resort-style" subdivision (free-form pool, waterslide, movie theater, etc.) in Peak season for less than a rack-rate Value room at a Disney resort. We are renting a 5BR/5BA home with a south-facing, private heated pool and hot tub, overlooking a conservation area, in the same "resort-style" subdivision for less than a rack-rate Moderate room at a Disney resort.

This all sounds great, but there are some downsides to vacation home rental as well. It is sometimes hard to get good information on the homes available. Some management companies are more responsive to problems than others. There is no maid service, bellman, or concierge. There are usually no restaurants within walking distance, and you have to drive yourself or arrange for cabs/town cars to take you where you want to go. So, if you are looking for a “pamper me” experience, this probably is not what you want. Finally, (and obviously), you are offsite---no Disney-owned perks and privileges, including the dining plan, magical express, extra magic hours, Disney transportation, etc.

To pick a home, I first decide what’s important to me. For me, that means separate bedrooms for kids and grownups, with separate beds (and possibly bedrooms) for each kid. At least two and preferably three full bathrooms, a heated pool, broadband network access, a DVD player, in a location within 15 minutes from any park. After that, it’s a large search---a lot of work, but also quite a bit of fun. The largest listing of homes can be found at www.vrbo.com. A good map of where the subdivisions are located can be found at http://www.thedibb.co.uk/villa-map.php. Most homes south of US-192 between Old Lake Wilson and Lindfields Blvd are probably close enough, but the closer you are to the intersection of Old Lake Wilson and 192, the easier it is to get to the parks.

[ke_page]

We've stayed off site before and for a group that big I think that it would be great. The house we stayed at was called Southbriar. It was 5 bedrooms (not sure how many you are looking for. http://www.vacationhomerentals.com/vacation-rentals/Kissimmee-Florida-vacation-rental-home-proID-58183.html The owner was great to work with, the house was extremely clean, and it was very close to the parks.

[JaymieInMN]

We stayed in a house that we found on VRBO.com, it was called the Sand Castle and it was wonderful and fairly close to the parks, maybe 20-25 minutes away.

[mmsportsmom]

Not sure if you are still looking. We rented Mickey's Clubhouse a couple years ago. www.mickeyscondo.com (http://www.mickeyscondo.com) It was our first time renting a home like that but it worked great. It is located in Windsor Hills, it was a short drive to Animal Kingdom. Mickey's Clubhouse was a 5 bedroom/5 bathroom house and the owner's made it so easy. We had trouble with the coffee pot and they had someone local bring us a new one! If we stay off site again we will rent one of the properties from this same owner again. You do have to have a rental vehicle though.

[vicki_c]

We've stayed off site before and for a group that big I think that it would be great. The house we stayed at was called Southbriar. It was 5 bedrooms (not sure how many you are looking for. http://www.vacationhomerentals.com/vacation-rentals/Kissimmee-Florida-vacation-rental-home-proID-58183.html The owner was great to work with, the house was extremely clean, and it was very close to the parks.

That's Deb that's who Judy was referring to above - who lives there in the month of March.

[keurigirl]

We LOVE LOVE LOVE Windor Hills Resort. We've stayed and a few different properties there, but our favorite is run by these guys: http://5mins2disney.com/

However, you can find tons of house rentals at windorhillsrent.com - they are owned by private owners and often rented by a rental company. The resort itself is awesome, and is SO close to Disney, right by lots of shopping for groceries, cheap souvenirs, fast food, restaurants, etc. We love staying there and I seriously doubt we'll ever stay on property again.

[Porphyro]

Have to toss my two cents in for www.romancingthemouse.com. A local (to the Orlando area) couple rent out some properties they own in the Windsor Hills and Windsor Palms areas. We had a great experience with them last time and are using them again when we go back in August.

[clnewco]

I second staying at the Wyndham bonnet Creek. You can find sellers on EBay.

[mom2ksm]

This is where we like to stay. It's about 20 minutes away from all Disney parks and Seaworld. Five bedroom, 4 full baths and 2 half baths. Gated with a lakeview.

http://www.floridaleisure.com/FL%202004/5%20Bedroom%20Homes/Home%204632-E/Home%204632-E.htm

I think he's charging about $100 - $150 per night.