Southern dunes

[di5ney]

Hi, a colleague of mines has a villa at southern dunes and has offered me it at a decent rate. We are a family of 4, our dd’s will be 3 & 9. We r still not sure whether to do disney or universal & seaworld parks. Is southern dunes too far out? What i do like about it is that there are restaurants within walking distance and how close walmart is! Can anyone advise me at all?

Thanks!

[CCFCRJ]

It's pretty far out, but personally I enjoy driving in the states so it was okay for us. Depends on what you want and are used to I guess. I imagine some want to be a lot closer. Its a bit of a trek over to the Universal parks. Close by Mannys is great. Big Walmart there. Checkers up the road do great burgers. We used to go out early, grab breakfast at Dennys on way up US27 then breaks drive up I guess so didn't feel too far to Disney area.

There is an annoying train EVERY morning that sounds it's horn close by. Think there is a traffic crossing somewhere and even at about 6am it blares its horn!

[Weddingnyc]

We liked Southern Dunes, the traffic was heavy at peak times but we quickly learnt to hang on until after 5/6pm, etc. It took around 30/35 minutes most times to Disney. We enjoyed having the big Walmart around the corner, plus a few takeaways.
I remember the train now that CCFCRJ has mentioned it, but I don't remember it being a problem, it definitely didn't wake us up!
Its a nice area, we liked that it had security, it was a lovely walk around the golf course, there's a little park, but the club house type thing was closed when we went.
We wouldn't hesitate to go to Southern Dunes again.

[DonnaD]

All villas are probably within 10 minutes of a Publix and most are within 15 min of a Walmart. I wouldn't pick a location based on distance to a supermarket as there are loads of them here. Southern Dunes is one of the few communities with a few restaurants very close by but the distance to the parks shouldn't be underestimated especially with young children. The Walmart is right at the community entrance but the house could still be quite a walk especially in the heat. If you are planning parks every day you might get pretty tired of the drive. 30 minutes to Disney is with no traffic. At the moment (8:30PM) The trip back from Universal is an hour. The traffic on I4 (and all alternatives) has been very bad the past few years. If I was planning a park heavy trip it would have to be an extremely good price to make up for the extra driving.

[di5ney]

Thanks everyone. We stayed in hampton lakes years ago and found that an ok location. I think it may be too much in the car for my youngest. Back to the drawing board lol

[Trusty ian]

We did a 2 week stay at Southern dunes and the villa was fantastic. We did universal/ SeaWorld/ Discovery cove etc and found the driving a little too much time consuming.and that was with 3 teenagers. I would go back if it was just for a villa break and the occasional Trip out. Otherwise doing parks we would try somewhere closer.

[Elmhurst 5]

Our first trip to Disney, Gorgeous villa on Southern Dunes as never been to Florida before it was luxury to us. However, driving to the parks became a trek as it is a way out. Traffic and heavy rain will also hold you up.

[Ball81]

We've stayed at Southern Dunes previously and enjoyed it .

Manny's Chopshouse close by is a bonus .

The drive was fine once each way per day. only issue we felt was if leaving and returning for evening fireworks etc. Its some yrs since we stayed there now but friends stayed 2019 and the Traffic has defiantly increased and could be problematic .

last Few times we have been spoilt with stays at Sunset Lakes and would probably now struggle to change the location of here by much

[JAF]

First stayed at Southern Dunes many years ago and it seemed so far out but last time we stayed a few years ago there were so many more restaurants and other places opened including Posner Park. We like that you have Walmart at the entrance so can pop in any time on the way back for essentials etc.

[Gryff]

JAF
Posner Park has expanded big time in the last 18 months with more+to come the new Culvers at the bottom of our Street is always rammed with folks returning to The Dunes
After a Park day
You also have Winne Dixie the Dollar Tree Dollar General Market Aldi as well as Mannies Sonny’s Pit BBQ Egg City R Eatery Pappa Johns And Dora’s and a few others all walkable even the club house do lovely meals including breakfast and my favorite at lunch French dip sandwiches on nice ie not horrible sweet high fructose laden bread