Florida - disney hotel or villa?

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I'm off next week and staying in a villa - 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and own private pool, all for just £400 a week which seemed pretty good value. I didnt want to stay in a hotel as they tend to have 2 double beds in all rooms and expect families of 4 to bunk up together or you pay a hefty under occupancy supplement if you want a bit of privacy. Also, ours tend to get up early and at least they have room to spread out and play with their toys in the lounge etc or watch telly. Also most hotels tend to be room only so you are not able to cater for yourselves and would have to eat every meal out.

Why not get the best of both - hotel and villa? WE stayed here twice and it is very nice. Huge spacious rooms with two bedrooms, large jacuzzi bath two bathrooms, fully kiied out kitchen with fabulous washer dryer. Also has hotel services, swimming pool, towel hut etc etc. They even did evening pool movies (watching a movie while swimming around) which the children loved.

We paid $120 per night for the two bedroom villa through expedia (which is about £66) which considering the apartments sleep up to 8 is pretty good value.

You are 10 mins drive from disney and just round the corner from Seaworld. The designed outlet malls are just across the road and there is a large supermarket closeby which we used to stock up on drinks, snacks etc.

We're goin to florida in july and staying in a disney hotel. Wish I'd thought about a villa now though in retrospect. We've stayed in a friend's villa before and it was great but he sold it.

Thanks soapbox for your link ... it looks great. We want to go to Florida again next year but wanted something between a hotel and villa, this looks ideal

Trifle - your villa sounds like a good price. Can I ask where you booked it through ?

We stayed at Westgate Towers which was fab. We had a bedroom/bathroom, a living room/kitchen plus a second connecting bedroom/bathroom for the boys (which had twin beds in it). 5 minutes from Disney which was great.

I don't know how much it was as it was a timeshare swap. Personally I'd go for a villa/apartment over a hotel room every time - we've had both and the last holiday with the proper apartments was the best. You don't always want the huge breakfasts on offer and sometimes your children are knackered so you want to eat in - with a villa/apartment you get proper eating space and cooking facilities if you want them. And space! You're not crammed into one room.

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we stayed at the sheraton vistana last year in august, 2 adults 3 kids (3.5, 13 an 12) apartment with kitchen big living room, big dinning area 2 tvs 2 bathrooms 1 big jacuzzi bath that all 3 kids loved specially when they all got intogether and added a bottle of shampoo when i wasnt looking!!!
communal big pool games room etc, gardens etc close to everything about 10mins to disney and cost about £1000 for all 5 of us for 8 nights. Would highly recommend it if you want some space to spread out rather than just a hotel room. it is a timeshare resort but the standard is really high.

Can recommend Windsor Palms resort, villas with private pools but also a clubhouse with a communal pool, toddler pool, tennis, indoor games and a free cinema room.

On 192 marker 5, about 3 miles from WDW maingate.

Hi everyone,
We are going to Florida in Oct for 3 weeks, can`t wait, its our first time. We have an executive 4 bedroom house, pool, hot tub, pool heating etc, its on the Rolling Hills estate, very close to the Animal Kingdom, its costing £925 for 13 nights which I thought was very good. Then we have a cottage on Anna Maria Island, not as luxurious but ok, 3 mins to the beach, bikes, swings, kayaks, all the beach equipment, bbq, 4 bedrooms, £400 for 8 nights, such good value. Found all this myself on the net.

a good friend of mine has recently bought her own villa just 10/15 mins drive from Disney and she is planning on renting it out for some weeks. Her website is www.plumfloridavillas.com if anyone is interested in taking a look. She has children herself so it is very child friendly accommodation.

We are staying at Windsor Palms (recommended below actually) in August this summer. Have a big 4 bed villa and can't wait!

Windsor Palms is here