I’m so excited since I just heard back from the owner of Srub Jay Villa  (the vacation rental we stayed in this past February when we went to Disney) and his home is available for next February when we will be going!   We had only rented from one other owner down there before and this house (layout, furniture and pool) was so much nicer even though both homes were in the same development. (Sandy Ridge)

If you are heading down to Disney and are debating on where to stay (On site or off) I’ll just give you some of my reasons why we enjoy staying off site. 

The first time Paul and I went to Disney it was the first year we were married and we ended up staying at the All Star Resorts since they were the cheapest and was in our price range.  While it was nice having the magic of Disney all the time, I just remember the rooms being on the small side.  It was fine for it just being Paul and I, but thinking of having 2 little kids in the room with us just made me claustrophobic.

Since every year my parents end up renting a condo in Orange Beach and I know how nice it is to have that extra room I started looking for a house, villa or condo to rent.   Our first year we didn’t do so hot as we ended up getting scammed by Jorge Gomez (You can read all about that here) but we did end up finding a nice 2 story house for less money that we were happy with.  Then last year we were going to try and book it again, but because I was booking in advance (the last time it was a couple weeks before we went down) she wasn’t able to match the price from the year before so we decided to start shopping around.

After looking through tons of houses on all the vacation rental by owner sites (vrbo, homeaway) and contacting quite a few owners we ended up deciding on Scrub Jay Villa.  I can honestly say I was a little nervous about the whole thing before we got down there thanks to the scam from the year prior, but once we got to the house and the key did end up working everything just went perfectly! 

The house was so much nicer as there wasn’t stains on the carpet, nothing was broken (one of the blinds were broken in the previous house) and the layout was so nice as 3 out of 4 bedrooms were away from the living room.  So we could stay up at night watching tv and we wouldn’t be keeping the kids up, but yet they were close enough where if they yelled for us we could hear them.

What was really funny was that the countertop in the kitchen was the exact same as ours at home and the carpet was the same carpet that is in Kevin’s bedroom!  So it honestly made it feel like home away from home.  The kitchen had pretty much everything you would need!  All I had to do was go to the grocery store to get some food in the house while Paul and the kids enjoyed swimming in the pool!

The pool and spa was so relaxing.  The first couple days I’ll admit the water was a little chilly, but that was just do the cooler than normal temps in Florida.  Once we put the solar cover on and the weather got warmer the pool warmed right up and we all enjoyed going swimming.  Especially me as there are no neighbors in the back yard (just woods) and the houses next to us didn’t have anyone in them as well, so I didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing me in my swimsuit.  ~wink~

The big bonuses of why I would rather stay in a house/villa/condo over staying on site is because with houses not only do you have LOTS more room, but you have a full kitchen (not just a microwave and dorm size refrigerator) where you can make meals and save some money and also a washer & dryer so when your clothes get dirty you can just throw them in the wash, therefor not having to pack as many clothes! 

 For those who don’t know where Sandy Ridge is, we just LOVE the location!  It’s actually in Davenport which I’m sure scares some people away because it sounds far, but it’s honestly only 10 minutes away (just the next exit) from the Disney exit on I-4!  What’s nice and the reason we are thrilled with that location is you don’t have to deal with all the stop and go traffic like you do with 192.  There is only 2 red lights between the house & I-4!  I will admit that once you do get off at the Disney exit to get to the magic kingdom’s parking lot can take another 10 minutes due to the slow speed limits on site.

All I know is after staying in a home off site and having the extra room and privacy for the same price or cheaper than staying on site or even in a hotel I know what we always will be doing from now on!

One Response to “Vacation rentals”