Villa location advice needed

[glen65]

Hi all,
This will be our 3rd family vacation to Orlando. The first 2 trips were strictly Disney trips and we stayed at Disney. This trip will be 3 days at Disney, 2 and Universal and 1 at SeaWorld. Where is a good central location to look for a villa or condo for our trip? I would prefer not to have to drive more than 20 minutes to any one resort.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[ukwdwnut]

hi glen

we have stayed in a davenport villa for all three trips so far, the first two trips we stayed at the sunridge woods resort location which is around 15-20 mins to the wdw gates, the resort is mainly a residential estate and is very quiet indeed, last trip we stayed at a resort just off hwy 27 which is right at the end of hwy 192 so is a little further but not too far, there are absolutely loads of locations and most have brilliant locations, there is probaly loads of little shortcuts to take to cut the journey times down a bit, im sure the locals here could fill you in on those happy hunting :D

[glen65]

Thanks Mike!
I saw some nice houses in the Davenport area but it seemed like a bit of a ride to get to Universal and SeaWorld. Any idea how long it takes to get to those parks?

I just did some checking around and found that Apopka-Vineland Road runs between Disney and Universal but isn't near as congested as International Drive, so that may be a good area.

[Johnie]

Apopka-Vineland is very close to Disney. You wouldn't be too far from Universal and Sea World from that point.

[glen65]

Johnie,
Look at my post right above yours. Looks like we are on the same page. HA Any suggestions for Apopka-Vineland?

[Johnie]

Are you looking for a private house or a condo?

If looking for a condo, Sheraton's Vistana resort is right there and is absolutely huge. They have tons of activities. We stayed there last Christmas.

[glen65]

I’ll check it out. Originally, we were looking for a hotel for a family of 5. As you may expect it will be crowded. So, I started looking at condos and villas because they are about the same price as a hotel room but have much more room to move around.

Thanks.

[Bec]

We always stay in Hwy 27 - Highlands Reserve. We visit all the parks, WDW, US and SW. We have gotten to US in 15mins when the I4 was quiet before now. It really depends on traffic with the time duration.

[ukwdwnut]

Thanks Mike!
I saw some nice houses in the Davenport area but it seemed like a bit of a ride to get to Universal and SeaWorld. Any idea how long it takes to get to those parks?

I just did some checking around and found that Apopka-Vineland Road runs between Disney and Universal but isn't near as congested as International Drive, so that may be a good area.


ooooo now let me think, i reckon around no more than 30 mins maybe less :D

[ukwdwnut]

I’ll check it out. Originally, we were looking for a hotel for a family of 5. As you may expect it will be crowded. So, I started looking at condos and villas because they are about the same price as a hotel room but have much more room to move around.

Thanks.


a villa will give you acres of space for 5 and you have your own pool too, most have own BBQ :D

[glen65]

The extra space for the cost of a hotel room is very appealing!

[Catherine]

Your right the extra space is very appealing. We just love our own villa. We have stayed in Davenport, very nice, next year we are staying at Orange Tree in Clermont.

[debsc]

We stayed in a great 3 bed villa in the Formosa Gardens area near mile marker 4 off the 192 a couple of years ago. It was only about 10 mins drive from WDW and was reasonably priced for that area too. I can PM the details if you like?

[glen65]

Thanks all. We ended up renting a house in Indian Wells. We got a good deal on a 3 bedroom house with a pool and hot tub. I can't understand how you can get a newer house for less than the cost of a cramped hotel room.

[lcw2]

We usually stay at Westgate Vacation Villas.. We had rented there previously before purchasing and it is about a mile from the Disney entrance off of Irlo Bronson Highway. It is a gated community, so you don't have to worry about strangers offsite coming in and they have lots of extras for the children. You can purchase tickets there also. We have a 2 bdrm with a loft that will sleep 7 comfortably in the rooms and the couch in the living room pulls out into a bed also for extra sleeping quarters. Overall we have found this to be the best as you can cook something if you like (we take popcorn into the parks), do your laundry, etc. :wink: