Windsor Hills! I will never stay elsewhere!

[momof2n2]

after a number of WDW trips I have found my home-away-from-home!

I will never stay elsewhere.

We could leave our rental and be IN AK, MGM and Epcot in 10-15 minutes. Parked and walked in. [Obviously TTC messes up MK!]

and the grounds are awesome.
Slept great.

I will be back!

Ask questions if you'd like.

We got a 3 bd, 3 bath townhouse for $750 last week. With splash pool that we never used.

 

[Jamie Wisecup]

Glad you liked it. i will be there next week with 2 teenaged daughters. Did you spend time at the pool or clubhouse, just wondering if they will find friends?
Thanks
Jamie

 

[Jen50]

Glad to hear you liked Windsor Hills. We are looking to stay there too. Why did you not use the splash pool? Not sure if we would either. The main pool looks so nice and big. We are thinking of renting a 2 bedroom condo that is close to the pool. Thanks for the info.

 

[Dopey & Grumpy]

That's great news. We've rented a 3 bedroom/3 bath townhouse for 6 days and the owner only charged us for 6 days so the cost came to a little under $700.
We've got three families staying there and there seems to be plenty of room from the pictures I've seen. We can't wait.

 

[100AcreWood]

Can you tell me more? How did you make reservations? Where is WH located in relation to Disney? Do you work through the owner or through an agency?

We are planning a trip for February and we usually stay at the Doubletree Suites in DTD. Unfortunately even with the mousesavers code we're looking at $189 a night! The highest I've ever paid is $109.

Any tips, information you can provide would be awesome!

 

[sympatico]

I'm not the OP but we've stayed at WH 3 times. Just got back in Nov from a two week stay in a 6 bedroom home with the whole family (10). Have stayed in two townhouses previously. WH is located just 5 min from AK and 10 to 15 from the rest of the parks. (MK is 15 min to the parking lot.) It's an easy drive and you can easily come home at noon and rest then go back later in the afternoon. Here's a map to show you where it's located: http://www.thedibb.co.uk/villa-map.php
There's a tab at the bottom of the map that will show you where the specific subdivision is located.
You can find rentals on their website: www.windsorhillsrent.com
or the vrbo site: http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/usa/florida/central-disney-orlando/kissimmee
There's also the homeaway.com site for Kissimmee and lots of others.
We usually rent directly from the owners but there are agencies like allstarvacationhomes. It usually costs less to rent directly from the owners.
If you want any other info you can PM me or ask on here.

 

[Dopey & Grumpy]

We just went to http://www.orlandocondodirect.com/quote-form-v3.html and filled out the form. We received e-mails from the different owners who had an availability for the time we wanted. We then checked the properties for price, aminities, etc. and narrowed down our list to 2. Contacted these 2 owners and went with the one who was willing to just charge us for the nights we were staying as opposed to for the whole week. You work directly with the owners. We've heard great things about Windsor Resorts and this will be our first time there.

We've stayed at other condo rentals before and we've always had good luck with them. I'm anxious to see how well we like this one. We've never rented a townhouse before so that'll be different in that this one is two floors with bedrooms up and down.

Hope this helps.

 

[JJ&JSMOM]

Does Windsor Heights have transportation to the parks? I thought I read this somewhere.

Edited to add I meant to write Windsor Palms. And I checked and they do offer transportation to the parks at an extra charge. But doesn't mention anything else; type or anything - probably a shuttle bus.

 

[gqchicago]

How does the Windsor Hills Resort daily shuttle service work/operate/etc?

In the sundry shop in the Windsor Hills Resort clubhouse you can find schedules and make arrangements. Shuttle cost is $10 per person round trip to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM, or Animal Kingdom. $14 per person round trip to universal, seaworld, and shopping areas. There is an information sheet at the clubhouse with the time schedule. The shuttle company is MAINGATE TRANSPORTATION. They can be called at # 407-390-0000. A taxi cab to Disney is $20 one way.. cab to Universal is $32 one way.... Don't forget it costs $11 per day for parking at Disney and Universal if you drive.

 

[pjlla]

Quick question... what kind of fees or hidden costs should we expect to pay if we rent at Windsor Hills? TIA...................P

 

[DangerMouse]

subscribing

 

[JJ&JSMOM]

Just to be clear - I have never rented a vacation home in Florida but I am researching it. I am mostly looking at vrbo.com & allstarvacationhomes.com as thats what was suggested in UG I think. I have some many books I'm not sure exactly. I've asked for some quotes from allstarvacationhomes.com and the form lists all the options and you select what you want and they email you the quote. One thing I've noticed while researching is that some places you pay extra for pool heat (usually through the owners) versus pool heat being included. There are also different categories of houses based on rates. Usually the cheaper homes are further from disney. The houses I'm looking at are about the same as staying onsite so I don't think it would be any cheaper. But we would definitely have more space, separate bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, pool & spa to ourselves so theres lots to think about.

The houses seem nice & from what I've read if you get close to disney the commute isn't too bad but again never done it. I'm trying to figure what would be more reasonable on site vs off site. And I'm figuring in car rental, gas, groceries, parking fees. We would buy some groceries for onsite so I'm trying to figure the difference. Anyways - lots of calculating to do. There are also variables that you can't price - down time, kids having their own space when needed, etc.

So its really fun researching. There are so many homes - we'd be fine w/a 2 bedroom condo but DS8 saw that some of the rental homes have their own game room & pool so thats where I'm concentrating right now. Have fun.

 

[emmsmama]

I have some close friends who stayed at Windsor Hills in 2006 and spoke very highly of their condo and the location. I am debating whether to go with a condo or a value or moderate resort at WDW. I wasn't aware that you could book condos through so many different places though. My friends booked through Villa Direct, but I guess I'll have to check prices with other places all of you have listed. I didn't know you could deal direct with the owners either.

 

[ChrisinNJ]

Can you post a link or contact information for the place you stayed.

Was it nicely decorated? Disney themed??

I would love to go this route for our next vacation, but my DH is skeptical because he doesn't have any direct or personal recommendations, and he is afraid of getting burned!

Christine

 

[stahshee]

Quick question... what kind of fees or hidden costs should we expect to pay if we rent at Windsor Hills? TIA...................P

6$ for the use of the pool key and you get the money back when you return the key

 

[DisneyFreaks]

Has anyone had any experience with www.windsorhillsorlando.com? I found their website while searching and it looks nice. I wrote and asked a question to Diane & Jerry and they answered quickly and sounded very friendly and knowledgable. How do you locate reviews on these different places or owners? We've been thinking of getting a couple townhouses with splash pools since we only need a few days before moving to dvc but want complete kitchens and laundry facilities.

 

[queen_bee]

How about www.dworlando.com? We are staying there in 10 days. Any feedback would be appreciated. I hope we picked a good one. I've really only ever heard good things about Windsor Hills.

 

[kaseymolly]

There's a new website that is run by a WH owner and is a listing of vacation rental owner's websites strictly for Windsor Hills. It's called WindsorHillsBest.

 

[twob4him]

I actually stayed in Windsor Palms but also visited Windsor Hills during a conference where fellow attenders were split up among condos. Let me tell you.....the place was as nice as it looks in the pictures. Clean, well-equipped and the pool was fabulous!!!! It was a short drive to Disney as mentioned. I would definately go back. I couldnt believe it since I am picky and so was my friend that stayed with me. In fact she is going back this summer! If we go to Disney again I will be pricing it out myself.

 

[carissanboys]

We just got back from staying there too and we will definitey be back.

The shortcut through Sherberth was so easy!! It really is just as good as staying on property and using Disney transportation (we had our van with us).

We booked through www.5mins2disney.com and stayed in Fantasmic. It was awesome! Next time we'd like to stay in Enchanted as it is more Disney themed.

I'd be happy to answer any questions as well (there will be pictures of the townhome up in my TR in the next day or two).