live from the Mickey Villa 1 at Windsor Hills...

[loriandmatt]

....and loving it. this is our first experience renting a place off site (any other offsite visits were staying with friends) and i can say that it is exceptionally nice.

the pictures on the website don't lie. very very nice place. clean. well appointed. the beds in the master and 2nd master bedrooms are pillow top mattresses...so comfy! the furniture is very nice, not rickety at all.

dealing with the booking agent (checkin, pre-trip questions) was a breeze. will edit in my check out experience, but i expect it to go just as smoothly. the only issue i did have was that we had trouble reaching the onsite manager when we had a small problem once onsite. (one of the breakers had tripped and we needed access to the breaker pannel to reset it. we called the onsite manager 3 times over a 24 hour period and no reply. i finally called the booking agent again, reached her - she does not have voice mail and caught her out of the office once - and she gave me the number of onsite maintenance. reached him immidately and he was out in a matter of minutes to reset that breaker. not a crisis for the wait as we were out at the parks or sleeping most of the time the breaker was tripped anyway.)

there was some concern that the princess wall decorations were plastic sheets and not safe. yes they were sheets (for the most part unnoticable that they were) and they were quite secure. your kids would have to be up to some naughty hi-jix to pick the edges of these things and peel them off the walls. the sections are not large enough to cause a hazzard.

some points to note:

- bring or buy some dish soap or dishwasher tablets
- bring some laundry tablets or buy some laundry soap.
- the front load clothes washer deals best with low sudsing soap or a very small amount of regular soap.
- that washer has a tricky door...when closing it, you have to lift the door up in order for it to latch.
- bring some hangers if you have a lot of clothes to hang....there are only a few in the house.
- there is a coffee pot, teapot, blender, toaster, microwave, collander, plenty of pots, pans, dishes, glasses and utensils. stock up on paper products if you want to use such items while onsite.
- buy or bring some trash bags, toilet paper, tissues and papertowls. you get one roll of TP per bathroom, one roll of papertowels in the kitchen and one bag in the trash can. you will most likely need more than that during your stay.
- they provide towels and bed linnens, but not pool towels. either pack your own or pick up some cheap ones at walmart. (the walmarts around here are much nicer than the ones in the philly area too.)

i will post more info if/when i think of it.

ask away if you have any questions.

lori

 

[*disgal*]

Thanks for the info.

Can you give us the website? Is this a condo, townhome or house?

Thanks.

 

[loriandmatt]

it is a townhome (windsor hills has condo units, townhouses and single family homes (called pool homes)

the website for the one i am staying in and others owned by this same owner is

http://www.themagicorlandorental.com/

very annoying website - acts as if speaking to the kids....tacky graphics and music.....but the homes are very nice.

thing to add to my post above....

- they give you a key to get onto their secure wireless web access, but it never worked for me. i was able to pick up a non secure wireless network and get online easily from the house though

 

[tnkr_bell]

So glad to hear. We will be staying there at the end of Oct. in Villa 4 I believe.

I've got a couple of questions if you don't mind. About how long does it take you to get to the parks from there? What is the temp of the splash pool like? Ok, all I can think of for right now. It's good to hear a positive review though, makes me feel better and even more excited for our trip.

 

[Cindy B]

I agree about the website. Just awful! I'm actually not a fan of the overdone Disney bedrooms so I would pass on these homes.

 

[rentayenta]

I couldn't get past front front page of the website to investigate. Do they have pools?

 

[loriandmatt]

sorry for the delay - just getting back to the real world after returning...

to address some of your questions:

About how long does it take you to get to the parks from there?

if you shoot across 192 on sherbeth (?) road you hit oceola (sp again???) parkway and AK within 5 min or less. very easly. stay on oceola and get to any other WDW area within a few min. honesly we have stayed onsite for years and we were back at the villa just as or quicker than when we stayed onsite.

What is the temp of the splash pool like?

nice. it was cool and refreshing, but not ice cold. after a few weeks of hot nights it rise a bit. i personally would not pay extra for the pool heat unless going in Dec thru April. preferred the spalsh pool it to the resort pool. resort pool was very shallow. great 0 point entry for little kids and splash area was nice. 13 year old liked the water slide but otherwise he was bummed that the rest of the pool was so shallow. an adult has to either sit or neel to get even half of your body underwater. 3 feet max in most of it and only about 4 feet at a very few scattered remote areas. it was also very nice to have that splash pool right there. nothing to prep and walk to/from. (even though magic villa 1 is VERY close to the pool/clubhouse)

I'm actually not a fan of the overdone Disney bedrooms so I would pass on these homes.

Actually every room other than one is done quite lush and tastefully. the pricess room is over the top, but my 16 YO neice and my DD3 were into it. All other spaces were quite adult and nice.

I couldn't get past front front page of the website to investigate. Do they have pools?

i hear ya. don't know why i stuck with it and kept looking at their houses once i hit that homepage....but it was worth it. yes, each villa has a pool. the villas 1-6 are 3 bedroom/3 bath townhomes with private "splash" pools. about 8x10 feet if i had to guess on size. steps at one end and about 3 foot deep going to about 4.5 deep at the other end. just enough for a group of 4-6 to dip in, cool off and splash abit. not for serious swimmers. the one larger home on their site (magic palace) is a larger home (not sure how many rooms) with a larger deeper pool and a hot tub off to the side.

 

[twob4him]

Hi Lori!
So glad you made it back ok! I was worried! So it was nice??? Great to hear!!! I was concerned about the cleanliness and the upkeep. Sure they make it look nice for the website but what was it really like when you got there....sounds like it was just as nice!

Did you cook a lot or eat out? I am a little nervous not being on the Dining plan in terms of cost etc. I want to be able to eat at Disney sometimes, cook sometimes and maybe go out to dinner off-property too. I don't think you really save money staying off-site but you definately have more room!!!

Glad to know that traveling wasn't a problem. I'll probably mostly be the "girls" going back and forth to the World since I have somehow managed to be married to a Disney-Disliker

Darn about the main pool being shallow all the way around. Great for the kids, not so much for the adults. I wonder why they did that?

Great tips on the paper products...when we stayed in the townhome, we went to the store and stocked up on everything ahead of time. I go thru a lot of papertowels so I would need to make sure we had lots of them.

Do you have any pics you are willing to share? How were the parks? Were they crowded and hot??

Thanks again for sharing!

 

[loriandmatt]

we stocked up on snacks (fruit, salty snacks, PB&J, bread, muffins) and drinks and incidentals at Publix when we got there. we are not big breakfast folks, so a quick breakfast at the villa in the AM before we hit the parks was our norm.

i had 3 sit down meals inside WDW planned (1900 park fair dinner for my DD3, Germany Biergarten for my DS13 who LOVES German food and the Hoop Dee Doo - that was a pricey one for our party of 6) but other than that the only onsite meals we ate were counter service.

i cook alot at home, and with working full time that is truely a chore, so i decided that i was not going to cook meals in that kitchen on my vacation. PB&J and toaster waffels was about the extent of it.

We did hit some low cost reliables....shoney's, waffel house, perkins (actually one of the best meals i had....i swear places like this are just better down south than up here) even mcD's at DTD one night.

did we save $ on food staying off site....i don't think so. (maybe on snacks and drinks only, but not overall) could one do so with cooking in that kitchen? sure. i wasn't getting the offiste house for that.

the offsite house saved us big bucks for the fact that with my MIL and neice coming along, we would have needed two rooms at any onsite WDW resort. (or a 2 bedroom suite $$$$$$$!!!!) seeing as how the villa cost us about 1200 for 8 nights and one room at the all stars would have run us 1008 for the same 8 nights....that was where the villa was saving us big bucks.

The parks were not bad at all. MK was of course the worst of all of them, no matter what day. (avoiding EMH AM or PM) EPCOT was of course the least crowded on any visit we made to it. it was the typical daily afternoon soaker for about 1/2 hour with only one day being a wash out exception. Far nicer temperature wise than our visit last Aug (very early in the month). we caught a heat wave and not one drop of rain the entire 10 days. (except when we were setting up our camper of course!)

i have tons of pics of my kids but i didn't take any of the house specifically. really, the pics online are very comprehensive and live up very well to real life. as far as fun pics of my fam....i will eventually get to that, but i know that i will be slow....i can't do that from my work PC (policy) and when i am at home i am in "gotta start my 2nd full time job that i don't get paid for" mode and don't get much PC time. I'll try to post some of the better ones though.

some trip highlights:
- saw the BeeGee's tribute band at EPCOT. they were great. lead singer dances his butt off and we had a great time laughting with/at (i can't tell if he was serious or not) him.
- the new Toy Story 3D ride at MGM was great! go there and get your fastpasses VERY early. (we snagged ours at like 10 and our return time wasn't until 6:45 in the evening. the wait never went below 120min.) this ride is great for the little ones as the "gun" height is based on how low the seat bar comes down. their is one bar per passenger in the two seater car, so if the little one's bar comes down low, so does their gun. it fires easily as well. DD3 was able to fire and aim on her own and scored a respectable amount of points without my assistance. better than Buzz at MK in this respect. also a very unique handicaped load design. does not interupt play or loading for the rest of the patrons. this is good for the other patrons as well as good for those using the handicaped loading area. you don't feel rushed or as if you are holding up anyone if you need extra time.
- was at MGM for Star Wars weekend. my DS13 and i could get our Geek on. it was fun to watch all the geeks who were geekier than us with their costumes, light sabers and stuffed Yodas. (i am talking about the adults here, not the kids) We got some decent pics of Vader (huge line!) and some storm troopers as well as Donald and Goofy in their get ups.
- DD3 and Neice 16 LOVED the HSM pep rally.
- if it's raining cats and dogs and you are in Fantasyland, take shelter under the awning for the tea cups. the ride keeps going thru the rain and my kids loved going on over and over and over again.

i am sure i will think of more but i have to pretend like i am working now.

 

[New England]

Loriandmatt thanks so much for all the information on the villa and visit. Please write more!! Based on various kitchen items would it be fair to say it would be easy to cook nice meals in the kitchen of the villa?

I'll remember to ask for the maint number when we get keys. Odd about the pool being so shallow all over! I'll pay to heat the pool for April.

Are there dumpsters on the property for trash or curb side pick up? I thought someone said trash was picked up daily?

 

[loriandmatt]

ok, New England, we have to stop meeting like this (bouncing back from thread to thread....)

anyways, here goes on the questions below...

Based on various kitchen items would it be fair to say it would be easy to cook nice meals in the kitchen of the villa?

sure, i was actually shocked as to how many cooking items there were. large and small pots and pans, utensils, strainer, you name it. i don't think i saw a crock pot....but i can't be sure.

I'll remember to ask for the maint number when we get keys. Odd about the pool being so shallow all over! I'll pay to heat the pool for April.

yes, i recommend taking the info that is e-mailed to you with you AS WELL AS the number for the sales person. if you can't reach one, call the other and keep calling until you get a human. once i reached "Rita" the sales person and explained my troubles reaching the contact person, she gave me the main number and i reached someone within minutes and the issue was fixed before we returned from the park. and YES, in April, i would pay for pool heat. Brrr!

Are there dumpsters on the property for trash or curb side pick up? I thought someone said trash was picked up daily?

they do pick up trash daily and there are very nice plastic benches on each townhouse/villa front pourch. the benches fold open and that is where the residents/renters put their trash for pick up. nice idea actually. there isn't a trash can in site in the entire development except for in the public areas like the pool/clubhouse/gym.

 

[New England]

Thanks loriandmatt!!

 

[momofdbsdc]

How was check in? Where did you have to pick up the keys. The web site is working for me, but takes forever to maneuver around!!!

Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
Kim
momofdbsdca

 

[LuvindisCruiser]

I showed my kids the pictures of Villa #1, and they loved it.
They said they would share the room with Mickey and Princesses,
and use the 3rd bedroom for
their toys !
They said they will definately start saving their money, so we can
stay in a 3 bedroom, and we can have the splash pool !!!
The actual website is a pretty good one. It had good maps, and
I liked the virtual tours of each home ! I just turned down the volume.
Renting @ WH is looking better and better than a WDW Resort room !!!

 

[Eveningsong]

I couldn't find any rates on the website, are they listed or do you have to email the owner?

 

[LuvindisCruiser]

I hit the Quote, and it asked for dates.
And, then gave you a quote for those dates
and if they were available.

 

[Emma1]

We are booked into Villa 5 in December. I can't wait!

 

[LuvindisCruiser]

So, was the pool just a few minutes to walk ?
Can you see the pool from Villa #1 ?
I got a quote for Villa #1 for 9 nights, and the quote wasn't
too bad.
I definately want to try to get it when we go !

 

[loriandmatt]

ok, i will try to answer some of the questions that i have missed in the last week or so....

How was check in? Where did you have to pick up the keys.

there realy was no check in. i was e-mailed the address and code for the front door before my arrival. when we got to the gate of the resort we gave our name and the address we were to book into. they gave us pass to keep in our car and directions to our address. went to the address, put that code into the keypad on the door and we were in. never got actual keys. just that code and we used it the entire time we were there. very easy. when we left, we just left. no check out process.

So, was the pool just a few minutes to walk ?
Can you see the pool from Villa #1 ?

the pool/gym/community center is very close to villa 1. it is about 10 townhouses and then across the main drive of the resort. we walked it in about 2 min or less. from the front of the villa (driveway) you can see the pool area clearly. you can't see it from inside the house or the private splash pool at the town house...the angle is wrong. i know that other renters in Windsor Hills have commented that they were quite a distance from the main pool and the walk was long. i could see where that would be true. that is not the case with villa 1 from this particular owner though. very very close.