Florida Villa advice

[Tophatron]

Hi,

I'm heading to Orlando at the end of next month for a couple of weeks. There will just be myself and my girlfriend travelling and I've had a look around the usual sites for villas to rent for perhaps a week while we're there.

I was wondering if anyone here could give me some advice on which areas I should be looking for? Somewhere near I-Drive would be great, but I have no clue about what are the nice areas and what should be avoided.

Any advice gratefully received! Also, if anyone knows of any specific villas that they could recommend (or even own!) please feel free to let me know..

Thanks,
Chris

[Matt Harper]

Have you booked a flight without having accommodation at this end then?
What address did you put on your ESTA application?
Try this - www.orlandovillas.com

The thing to appreciate about vacation rental is that neighborhood areas have to be zoned for this type of business. As a result they are invariably grouped together, with pretty much the entire neighborhood consisting of vacation properties. Nothing wrong with that of course.

Most of them are south of State Rd 192 Irlo Bronson Highway, in Kissimmee, Poinciana and St Cloud, or adjacent to SR27, between Cleremont and Haines City (north and south of I-4). There are one or two places a little closer to metro Orlando, but the bulk of them are to the south or west of Disney/Epcot property.

International Drive isn't residential, as far as single unit vacation properties are concerned.

[LuS1fer]

We stayed at Indian Point which is near Kissimmee so ideal for the Old Town car show plus perfect for the parks and has a Walmart round the corner. I-Drive is not too far though why anyone goes there is beyond me.

[AB]

LuS1fer said:

We stayed at Indian Point which is near Kissimmee so ideal for the Old Town car show plus perfect for the parks and has a Walmart round the corner. I-Drive is not too far though why anyone goes there is beyond me.

I know Indian Point, off Poinciana Boulevard, it's probably 10 mins south of tourist central and is relatively quiet. I don't think you'd go far wrong but obviously you'd need a car (which to be honest you need wherever you are).

[telecat]

You don't need to put an address on the ESTA when you apply. Mainly down to the fact you could visit several times and stay in different cities.

[98elise]

AB said:

LuS1fer said:

We stayed at Indian Point which is near Kissimmee so ideal for the Old Town car show plus perfect for the parks and has a Walmart round the corner. I-Drive is not too far though why anyone goes there is beyond me.

I know Indian Point, off Poinciana Boulevard, it's probably 10 mins south of tourist central and is relatively quiet. I don't think you'd go far wrong but obviously you'd need a car (which to be honest you need wherever you are).

I stayed there once and thought it was a bit run down and tatty. Its definately has a residential feel to it rather than a holiday community. It is in one of the better locations though, much more central than most.

The other places i've lived at have been nicer, but much further out (on the 27)

They were:

Ridgewood lakes
Glenbrook
Highland Reserve

You definately need a car for every villa community, most exit onto roads wider than our motorways! "15 minutes to Disney" can be 15-20 miles away .

[98elise]

Matt Harper said:

Have you booked a flight without having accommodation at this end then?
What address did you put on your ESTA application?
Try this - www.orlandovillas.com

I booked my last place through them, its a good site. Its owners advertising their own villa's so what you see is what you get. You can send out a general enquiry and owners will get back to you with availabilty. You'll also hear of late deals that way.

We got a 6 Bed, 4 Bath, 2 Living Room Villa, + Pool/hot tub and games room.....£500 per week in peak time, on a late booking

[Tophatron]

Thanks for all the replies so far - a lot of useful information.

I-drive was more a reference point as I know where it is and how to get to places from it. I've got a car booked already (a Mustang from Hertz) so travelling isn't a problem. The main thing was to get a idea of the areas, as I imagine that there some that are a lot better than others. At the moment they're all just names to me.

I've been reading some of the other forums posts about Florida and have picked up quite a bit of useful info and new places to go - such as http://fishonfireorlando.net/

In general on these owner-advertiser sites, are they ok if you approach them asking if there is potential discount for only having 2 occupants?

[LuS1fer]

They are remarkable value, as is, certainly far better than most European villas and I see you've splashed out a silly amount on a Mustang. Hmmmm.....

[Tophatron]

I wouldn't say it was silly money for the Mustang. With the current Hertz sale it was only about £60 more over two weeks to go from a Kia Rio to a Mustang..

[Matt Harper]

telecat said:

You don't need to put an address on the ESTA when you apply. Mainly down to the fact you could visit several times and stay in different cities.

Thanks for putting me straight - makes perfect sense. I don't use these forms and made an inaccurate assumption, based on the I-94W.

[Matt Harper]

Tophatron said:

The main thing was to get a idea of the areas, as I imagine that there some that are a lot better than others. At the moment they're all just names to me.

I've been reading some of the other forums posts about Florida and have picked up quite a bit of useful info and new places to go - such as http://fishonfireorlando.net/

I think you'll find they are all pretty similar - cookie-cutter kind of neighborhoods. The older ones are a bit past-it - just because they are old. I rented a house for a holiday here in 1991 at Indian Ridge. At the time the subdivision was new and I thought the house was awesome. I drove past it about two years ago and it looked a bit worn-out - however, it was nicer in a way because of the mature trees etc. A lot of these vacation zoned neighborhoods look like they've been thrown together on a moonscape.
My brother and his big family visited last year and stayed at Town Center Reserve, off South Old Lake Wilson Road - it was a nice 4 bed house with everything you might want - and backed onto a wooded preserve, so wasn't overlooked from the back of the property. That said, it is in the middle of nowhere.
Good plug for the Foffer, by the way...

[Tophatron]

Matt Harper said:

Good plug for the Foffer, by the way...

Yeah I believe it was one of your posts which got it put on the list..

[Crafty_]

We stayed in a Villa a few minutes away from the Western End of the 192. Villa was fine and it didn't take long to get to many of the parks. The real advantage was that there are all the stuff you'd see on International Drive but they were less busy and on the whole it made it a bit more relaxed.

The villa we had was in a development called Glenbrook, you should find loads of villas on the usual sites.

[telecat]

Matt Harper said:

telecat said:

You don't need to put an address on the ESTA when you apply. Mainly down to the fact you could visit several times and stay in different cities.

Thanks for putting me straight - makes perfect sense. I don't use these forms and made an inaccurate assumption, based on the I-94W.

You are However, supposed to re-visit and enter an Address once you have a Hotel or villa.

[chopper602]

Try looking on 'TheDibb'( http://www.thedibb.co.uk ), if you can get past the drivels some people ask on their forums.

There are a lot of UK owned villas advertised on there and I'm sure would be happy for an off season one week let.

[AB]

Would it be wrong for me to plug my Kissimmee house?

It's on the Pebble Pointe development... they don't allow rentals so only 'friends' and family...

http://goo.gl/maps/qhD8H

Backs onto the lake, sleeps 10.

PM if you wish.

Also, if you wish to stay in a rather larger house on Longboat Key... ahem... I can help.

[Tophatron]

AB said:

Would it be wrong for me to plug my Kissimmee house?

It's on the Pebble Pointe development... they don't allow rentals so only 'friends' and family...

http://goo.gl/maps/qhD8H

Backs onto the lake, sleeps 10.

PM if you wish.

Also, if you wish to stay in a rather larger house on Longboat Key... ahem... I can help.

Not wrong at all! PM sent.. :-)

[Tophatron]

AB said:

Would it be wrong for me to plug my Kissimmee house?

It's on the Pebble Pointe development... they don't allow rentals so only 'friends' and family...

http://goo.gl/maps/qhD8H

Backs onto the lake, sleeps 10.

PM if you wish.

Also, if you wish to stay in a rather larger house on Longboat Key... ahem... I can help.

Hi AB, did you get my message?

Cheers!

[AB]

I did, sorry mate. Been up the wall. Will respond when I'm home and have details to hand.

Cheers.