First time in a villa - 1 week down thoughts. Updated after 2 weeks

[Joelin]

Thanks for all the replies everyone 😀 It’s really interesting reading everyone’s viewpoints and as always,loads of fab tips. Suite/apartment style accommodation nearer idrive sounds great.

My father in law wouldn’t drive here. It’s essentially our holiday but they tag along 🙈They would be clueless if not for us and openly admit it. It’s me who mainly lurks on here for a year before we go and does the research on everything so we know what we’re doing when we arrive.

We’ve been to Rolling Oaks as it’s nearby but that was an outing for myself,OH,MIL and teenage girls. FIL and teenage boys stayed at the villa as they don’t like shopping. If we were in idrive nosying at the tat in the gift shops,those 3 would have headed back to the hotel.

Please don’t get me wrong,we’re still enjoying ourselves. We just have to compromise. Me and OH are the best holiday partners there is,totally on the same page thank goodness. We love getting up early,exploring and seizing the day. In Florida,we don’t drink at all (usually have a cocktail or 2 on a lazy,pool based holiday like Greece) and we’ll be asleep by around 11pm 😂 The last 2 Florida trips are the only ones we’ve had with his parents and they’ve agreed it’s too much for them as they struggle with all the walking in the parks so this will be the last.

[Greyfriars]

Originally Posted by SimonB

Most people at home have to share a bathroom though?

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We always have a villa for the two of us. We have 3 bathrooms at home so we want at least 2 on holiday . 😀

[duchy]

To be honest though part of your suffering <ha> is simply that it isn't just your family but you are having to accomadate the wishes of others too and compromise is essential but it means t isn't "your holiday" in the same way !
We have the same this year as instead of a lazŷ, dipping in and out of the parks second week, we have my step daughter and her three kids joining us so it won't be the chilled out slower pace I'd planned originally ... but I'm happy they are coming , just accepting it isn't the holiday I first planned.

[Mexy02]

Its great to see honest opinions and clearly shows how unique a Florida holiday actually is as one size certainly doesn’t fit all , which is great . Luckily there is such a great choice for everyone accommodation and location wise . Enjoy the rest of your holiday op

[duncanb]

Personally wait till end of hols then decide when all done and dusted.
Enjoy rest of hols.

[Plato]

We've done both and always had a villa when the children were younger, but now we have older teens, we prefer onsite, so they can have their own freedom to explore the parks and use the Disney transport to get around. It also means the over 21s can have a drink with their meal.

It now gives us more freedom, as the family is still very much "park people" and sometimes we do things together but this way the teenagers get the freedom they want and we get our own time too.

It does get costly though, as we have to book three rooms to keep everyone happy!

[Myakka17]

Whilst we have always had a car we have stayed in different locations and type of accommodation. Our last time was at Vista Cay at the back if I drive and 10 mins from universal. There was a Walgreens at the bottom of the road and in the other direction a publix and few restaurants. You do have to drive to I drive but it would only take 5 mins ,if that to get there. It was perfect 3 bedrooms, all kitchen facilities washer dryer etc. I highly recommend it. Why not see for next time somewhere like that on I drive?

[Joelin]

Originally Posted by Myakka17

Whilst we have always had a car we have stayed in different locations and type of accommodation. Our last time was at Vista Cay at the back if I drive and 10 mins from universal. There was a Walgreens at the bottom of the road and in the other direction a publix and few restaurants. You do have to drive to I drive but it would only take 5 mins ,if that to get there. It was perfect 3 bedrooms, all kitchen facilities washer dryer etc. I highly recommend it. Why not see for next time somewhere like that on I drive?

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That sounds like it would have been ideal in hindsight as we only did Universal and SeaWorld parks (did Disney last time and didn’t want to revisit) and it was actually on my shortlist when I was originally planning but we went with a villa for our own pool.

I think this will be the last Orlando holiday for many,many years. We haven’t enjoyed the theme park thing as much this time truth be told. We feel it should maybe have been left as the holiday of a lifetime it was meant to be 🙈

[pawwavingpuppy]

Like someone else said, we prefer the Gulf coast, we normally have villas in the Rotonda area as we love Boca Grande.
Last month we picked up a cheapish deal and stayed at mystic dunes which is a condo/golf resort. Nice place, but we prefer a villa. If someone shuts a door in the block, the noise echoes through, the same as hotels.

I personally don't like hotels, whether they are 1 star or 5 star. Like many I'm an early riser, OH definately isn't.
In a hotel I'm trying to be quiet, usually in the dark, trying to make a coffee etc... I end up making more noise than if all the curtains are open😊

In a villa, I can get up, watch the morning news, make coffee, swim, shower etc all without disturbing him.

When we go with son & Dil, Bil came last time as well, so we had 3 cars, which suited everyone.
Each to their own but I don't like hotels anywhere.

[Lulu Belle]

We've stayed on site and in a villa and I enjoy both however I'm not the one who drives. The first time we went, I felt for my DH as he had to drive all the time and couldn't have a drink with dinner. Last time we did a split stay and for the villa part, we just looked at places where there were restaurants and shops within walking distance. This worked really well. The kids loved being in the pool in the evening too so I'd def consider a villa again in future although a split stay would be my top choice for the best of both worlds.