Going to Disney World? Orlando? Need a Place to Stay? Look No Further.
Feb 21 '02 (Updated Jan 21 '03)
The Bottom Line I highly recommend www.vrbo.com and am giving a personal reference and recommendation to Steen Lauridsen and his homes.
Some background:
Our blending family of 5 goes on vacation every Thanksgiving. Our 3 children are adults – 21, 24 and 27 so finding sleeping arrangements is tricky and costly. Last year my stepson stayed in a room with my husband and I stayed with my daughters. We said we would not do that again so this year when we decided to go to Walt Disney World and the Orlando area, I started looking into options. I knew a traditional inexpensive motel wouldn’t work because even at a cheap rate we needed 3 rooms and it wouldn’t be a lot of fun. I also started looking into suites but just didn’t find anything that really suited our needs. Then when I heard the 21-year olds boyfriend was joining us I knew I had to go some other route. Somehow with all my clicking I ended up at www.vrbo.com. There are many sites that list homes by owners which are rented out, but we found our house through this site and were so pleased with it, I wanted to share what I found.
The website:
When you go to the website you will find a lot of links to click. What you are looking at, if you click on Florida and then Orlando, are basically sub-divisions. From the pictures and various e-mails to several owners, it appears that most of the houses are very similar. There will be a wide range of prices depending particularly on when you go. You may be overwhelmed with the number of links. Let me reassure you that I never met the owner of our house, I own no part of his homes and have no vested interest in plugging Mr. Lauridsen. I am giving you this information so you don’t have to reinvent a wheel I already investigated.
~We had a few bad experiences with some of the links. Before I tell you one, you should know that 3 of us were staying at the house for 6 nights and 3 for 5 nights. One owner quoted us a price for a week (This was before September 11, 2001 happened.), let’s say $700 for a week. We didn’t mind having to pay for one week but when we told him a few weeks later that my brother-in-law might stay for one night he said he would have to charge us an additional $100. I couldn’t figure that out at all. For one thing, the house slept 6-8 people so why would we have to pay for a 7th person? For another, 3 were only staying for 5 nights, so technically my brother-in-law could have taken one of their spaces. And finally why $100 when he was charging us for an entire week and we weren't going to be there for a week. I thought it very petty on his part and wrong.
~We also had some very high prices and some very rigid owners who would not negotiate at all. After September 11, we got a call back from at least one of these rigid owners telling us that a house was now available (People weren’t travelling!) and she could give it to us for less. We had already decided to go with Mr. Lauridsen and were very happy to tell her we were all set.
The house:
~When you talk to any owners double check how far he/she and the website say the house is from Disney World and how far it actually is. You may need a map or use mapquest.com but check it out. Five minutes to Disney World may mean 5 minutes with no traffic and no lights using a short cut no one including the owner knows. Often times those 5 minutes is 25 minutes. I went on an AOL board and got some information there and that was consistently a warning I got.
~The house we chose according to the website is 5 miles to Disney, 15 miles to the Airport and 10 miles to Sea World. That was fairly accurate. It took us no more than 15 minutes to get to Disney. It is in a great location, right off of 192 where you will find convenient stores, fast food restaurants and Krispy Kreme!
~You can view this house at http://vrbo.com/vrbo/944.htm and other houses at the main website. We were very pleasantly surprised when we saw Steen’s house which is located at 4857 Kingston Circle in Montego Bay which is in the Kissimmee area. It is a typical Florida house meaning there is no basement and there is a small screened in pool.
~The house was immaculate. We had 3 good-sized bedrooms. The master bedroom had a walk in closet and a full bathroom. The master bedroom was large enough to hold a queen-sized bed, large dresser, and night tables with plenty of room to spare. The second bedroom where my daughters slept had a full-sized bed and dresser and my stepson and daughter’s boyfriend slept in the “kids” bedroom which has twin beds and really is decorated very cute right down to a large stuffed Disney character on a chair in the corner. I would tell Steen and just let you know that the sun shines right into that room which is great if you want the children waking up early. But if you don’t he might consider putting shades underneath the blinds.
~The master bathroom had a door that opened to the pool. All the rooms were very pretty. They were decorated – not just thrown together with yard sale furniture. Whenever I see things that match (curtains and bedspreads, for example) I know that some care was put into decorating the house. If you go to the website you will see pictures of the rooms and truly that is what the house looked like.
~In addition to the 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, there was a dining area and very large kitchen with a table and chairs in there as well as in the dining room. A sliding glass door leads out to the pool from there. The living room was large and that is where the television is. Another thing I would tell Steen is that he should leave a note that there are videos and paperback books in the table on which the television sits. I didn’t find that until right before we were leaving!
~The house is fully equipped with dishes, glasses, more pots and pans than I have at home, a microwave, coffee maker and even a telephone, which you can use to make local calls for free. Also available if you ask are a DVD, two-way radios, video game player, and more. There is a list of items that you can get but there is so much there and you’ll be out of the house so much I can’t imagine wanting a two-way radio...but just in case! There is an iron and iron board, of course and items such as detergents, toilet tissue, and paper towels were all ready for us. You will also find games in the closet.
~The house is air-conditioned and we never had trouble with it being too hot or too cold. In fact, we never had trouble with anything – everything worked.
~The sofa in the living room pulls out to accommodate 2 people and we found my younger daughter sleeping there often because she doesn’t like sleeping in the same bed as her sister. The pool area has some toys and lounge chairs as well as a table with chairs. It was wonderful having coffee there in the morning.
~You will find extra linens and plenty of towels. There is a washer and dryer in the garage and even rope hung up so you can hang things to dry if you want. We did a wash during our stay because there were 6 of us and the “boys” especially seemed to take 2 showers a day. We also washed the towels (not the sheets) before we left although Steen told us to just leave everything as is. I am sure he or a cleaning crew comes in after visitors leave.
The Price:
~As I said this will fluctuate. We got a great deal both because our fee was finalized after 9/11 and we were willing to pay for a whole week and I don’t think a week during Thanksgiving is a popular week to take off. You will see the rates go up during December, February, March and April vacations. Mr. Lauridsen, who lives in this same neighborhood but never bothered us except to call and make sure everything was as we expected it to be, charges $700 per week. That included the use of the pool. I am saying this because we found many houses, which charge extra to use the pool since it is heated. We only paid $70 per night, which would have come to $490 for the week so for us it was a real bargain. But even at the regular price, given what you get, it is well worth it, in my opinion. There was a deposit of 25% and the balance was due 30 days before we arrived.
Other information:
~This is a non-smoking house and pets are not welcome.
~You can e-mail Steen at the “send e-mail” button here: http://vrbo.com/vrbo/944.htm. Once you e-mail him from this site you will be receiving personal e-mails from his personal address.
~We received items in the maps such as detailed maps to his house from the airport as well as information about where to find the key (It is kept in a locked box by the front door. He will give you a code which I am sure he changes after each visitor.)
~Using sites like this to rent a house is risky. That is why I am giving you this information. This man does exist, as do his houses! We were apprehensive that we may have arrived at the address to find an empty lot! Over the years, though, many of our travel arrangements have been made without ever seeing the facility or human being with whom we were in contact. We traveled to Ecuador totally via e-mail with someone we didn’t know. Perhaps we are too trusting and one day we will pay for our trust. In the meantime, this man is legitimate!
My final thoughts:
~If you are looking for space that you can’t find in traditional hotels or suites, look no further. The one drawback, of course, is that there is no maid service. If you like your beds made you will have to do it yourself as well as clean up after your kids if you can’t stand the mess they leave in the bathroom. We didn’t look at their bathroom for the entire time we were there but nothing was broken and we can live with their beds not being made.
One final thought: I have been to Disney World twice during the summer months. Although it is hot it can be done and I think you’ll find the rates lower than during school vacation time. Many exhibits are air-conditioned so you aren’t always in the heat.
Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions or leave a comment.
The links below are to many of my Orlando/WDW reviews:
Islands of Adventure
Going to Disney World? Orlando? Need a Place to Stay? Look No Further"
Sleuths Myster Dinner Theater
Fantasmic at MGM
Boston Lobster Feast in Orlando
Fantasia Gardens-a golfing fantasy
Honey I Shrunk the Audience at Epcot
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