What are some the cheaper resort communities that have decent rentals

[Hemlock]

We’re thinking of staying in Orlando for 3 weeks if we can find a cheap rental- otherwise we will likely only stay 10-14 days. Condo or Townhome is fine as we are only 4 people (3 adults, 1 child). Must be CLEAN and hopefully decent pool area. Any recommendations for communities to look at?

 

[Minniefan18]

I've stayed at a few resorts that have 2 or three bedroom condos close to Disney World. If you go to https://www.diamondresortsandhotels.com/ under destination then go to Florida select Cypress Pointe Resort, Grande Villas Resort, or Parkway International Resort. Cypress Pointe Resort and Grande Villas Resorts are next to another and close to Disney Springs. I have stayed at Cypress Pointe Resort and Parkway International Resort and both are very nice. All three resorts have screened patios on the 2nd and 3rd floors. There are no elevators are all of the resorts. So you might want to keep that in mind. There is a nice pool at each of the resorts, wash/dryer inside the room, coffee maker, oven, microwave, plates, and utensils. Parkway International Resort is about a 10 to 15 minutes drive to Disney World depending on traffic and has a lot of restaurants nearby. There was no charge for parking when I went within the last year. To get a better idea you might want to look up tripadvisor also.

 

[omniscientmommy]

We have typically stayed at Windsor Hills for the 2 week or less stays. It does vary from owner to owner and property management can be great or terrible. I'm not sure what qualifies as 'cheap'. The only trip where we stayed 1 month was through southern dream vacation rentals. The property manager was very responsive.

 

[elaine amj]

We have recently stayed at Sheraton Vacation Villages, Holiday Inn Orange Lake, Parkway International and Bonnet Creek.

We are hoping to return to Parkway International depending on price. The inside of the condos were nice and spacious with everything you need. The exterior was more simple and utilitarian. Maybe a Holiday Inn Express? The pool would have been a nice pool elsewhere, but very blah compared to other lush Florida resorts. LOVED how close it was to the parks - maybe only 1-2 min difference compared to Bonnet Creek. One morning I left at 7:25am, parked, took the ferry to MK and was walking into Frontierland at 8am.

Bonnet Creek was our favourite for it’s step up in luxury, and many more amenities and activities and lush grounds. Very odd how small all their multiple pools are though. Lazy river was fun but since our APs include the waterparks, we chose to drive to Typhoon Lagoon to use their lazy river for 45 mins instead. The free luau is fantastic, the free dueling pianos rather blah. But it was the most expensive for us to rent. And we didn’t use the amenities a whole lot.

I really liked the setup at Sheraton Vistana Villages for a “cheaper” resort. Grounds were lush, pool was fabulous, lots of fun activities and tournaments (which our group likes). But, it is 20 mins from the parks. We go back and forth a lot, sometimes to drop off a couple of people in our group when we split up so that extra 5-10 mins each way makes a massive difference.

 

[elaine amj]

Oh I am also looking for condo/vacation home deals for a last minute trip from Dec 16-Jan 2 so if you come across any, do share.

I used one owner for a last min rental for Wyndham Bonnet Creek last month (October). Got a 2 bedroom condo for 6 nights for $690. She was great to work with and I will be contacting her for my upcoming trip in the hopes she can snag something over Christmas.

 

[nw6675]

We've stayed at Windsor Hills multiple times. Once in a townhouse with a splash pool. Agree with a pp that management can be hit or miss, but we've had good luck.

 

[Pigletpal40]

We’re thinking of staying in Orlando for 3 weeks if we can find a cheap rental- otherwise we will likely only stay 10-14 days. Condo or Townhome is fine as we are only 4 people (3 adults, 1 child). Must be CLEAN and hopefully decent pool area. Any recommendations for communities to look at?

We love both Windsor Palms and Hills. Hills has pool area with waterslides. Palms has a nice quieter pool area with kids splash zone outside the gate, hot tub and Tiki Bar/restaurant. Both have Condos, Townhouses and homes that are privately owned so updates can vary.

 

[mckennarose]

I used one owner for a last min rental for Wyndham Bonnet Creek last month (October). Got a 2 bedroom condo for 6 nights for $690. She was great to work with and I will be contacting her for my upcoming trip in the hopes she can snag something over Christmas.

One thing to note about WBC is that they are cracking down on owners renting their points. People (renters) have had their reservations cancelled right before or when they arrive, leaving them stranded.
We stayed at WBC, rented from an owner, in October and had a wonderful stay. But with the reviews online on travelocity and seeing the activity on TUG about the owner rental thing, I'm not going to risk it again until we see where this owner-crackdown thing goes.

Sheraton Vistana Resort (not Sheraton Villages) is one of our favorite places, and very comparable to WBC, IMO. It's on 535, directly across I4 from Disney Springs.

 

[elaine amj]

One thing to note about WBC is that they are cracking down on owners renting their points. People (renters) have had their reservations cancelled right before or when they arrive, leaving them stranded.
We stayed at WBC, rented from an owner, in October and had a wonderful stay. But with the reviews online on travelocity and seeing the activity on TUG about the owner rental thing, I'm not going to risk it again until we see where this owner-crackdown thing goes.

Sheraton Vistana Resort (not Sheraton Villages) is one of our favorite places, and very comparable to WBC, IMO. It's on 535, directly across I4 from Disney Springs.

I actually just booked a week at Sheraton Vistana Resort from Dec 16-23. Now just need to piece together Dec 23-Jan 2. Ideally we stay put at SVR but I am ok with moving if we have to.

Any suggestions on where to look? I am prowling Facebook, redweek and skyauction. Also looked at ebay.

 

[kathy884]

I have often gotten timeshare rentals from owners on TUG2.net. https://tug2.net/

I've used redweek.com quite a bit too which sounds like you are already looking at -- look as a guest and join if there is something I want to rent.

The places I have rented most often are Sheraton Vistana Resort and Cypress Pointe. Owner timeshare rentals are usually just Fri-Fri, Sat.-Sat. or Sun-Sun, so you might need to do a retail rental for some of your days.

I like the timeshare resorts better than home rentals, but if you rented a house or condo at a place like Windsor Hills you aren't limited to the week. I know VRBO lists those and I think there is a special site for Windsor Hills rentals. I always do the timeshare rentals though, so don't have those links.

When I have had to do a retail rental during the Christmas Holidays in 2019 Cypress Pointe was my least expensive option of the timeshare condos we looked at. We got one owner rental and for extra people down for three days did a four night retail rental . They have both two and three bedrooms. https://bookings.travelclick.com/10...m_content=gmb-listing_weblink#/guestsandrooms

 

[mckennarose]

I actually just booked a week at Sheraton Vistana Resort from Dec 16-23. Now just need to piece together Dec 23-Jan 2. Ideally we stay put at SVR but I am ok with moving if we have to.

Any suggestions on where to look? I am prowling Facebook, redweek and skyauction. Also looked at ebay.

Skyauction has not had SVR listings regularly for over a year or so now. I'm not sure why, as we've found really good deals over the years.
Ebay would be my other recommendation for SVR, but I haven't rented that route myself.

I do see Reunion and Mystic Dunes a lot on Skyauction. I have stayed at Mystic Dunes before and it was nice, but not the same level as WBC, SVR or the Marriott Palms resorts (Sabal, Royal, Imperial), IMO.

I don't know anything about Reunion other than what I've seen on here and it *seems* to get decent reviews. I always have that one in the back of my mind if I can't get my other favorites, but I haven't had to look closely at booking there yet.

Re: timeshare pitches:
I will say that Mystic Dunes, which I think is a Diamond resort, or at least was when we stayed there last, has SUPER AGGRESSIVE timeshare sales people. BUT..... I think WBC timeshare sales people are the absolute worst out of the bunch. We stay in timeshares a lot and have no trouble saying no, and we've seen a lot of pitches, but WBC definitely takes the cake on that one! Marriott Palms and SVR have never given us a hard time in all the times we've stayed there.

 

[Muskrat191]

Sheraton Vistana Resort (not Sheraton Villages) is one of our favorite places, and very comparable to WBC, IMO. It's on 535, directly across I4 from Disney Springs.

We just stayed there a few weeks ago and were very happy (although no lazy river). Getting to Disney/Universal was fine at the times we were going, but the traffic on 535 in certain places/times was a nightmare. It took way too long to get to the Publix that is a bit further down 535, and going towards Disney on 535 around dinnertime was also a nightmare. There is a different route if you are actually going to Disney - I was going to a nearby restaurant.