Florida Guide > Accommodation
Why do we stay in a villa?
When we first visited Florida we booked a hotel for our stay mainly because we thought that was what you had to do. We had a fantastic holiday in a lovely hotel. The room was a reasonable size and there were two double beds one for hubby and me and one for the 2 kids to share. We had a TV, our own bathroom and the maid changed the towels everyday. She also tidied the room which did seem to get quite messy with the four of us living in there for two weeks. There was an onsite pool and snack bar although they both closed at around 9pm which we thought was a little early.
On our second trip we again stayed in a hotel but this time we were staying for three weeks so we chose a larger hotel room with a coffee maker and fridge. There was a large pool but it was a bit of a trek from the room especially carrying all the stuff we needed to relax in the sun. We enjoyed our stay apart from the children squabbling about sharing a bed, they would put the extra pillows down the centre to divide it, and our daughter locking herself in the bathroom for what seemed like hours on end while the rest of us waited patiently (or not) often with legs firmly crossed for our turn to use the loo! At the end of the three weeks I vowed never to go on holiday with the family again.
I was persuaded to go back to Florida but our third trip took a little more planning. I was adamant I was not spending my holiday cramped in one room. I was starting to get a bit disillusioned but then I found the page in the brochure where there were villas for rent. I’d never considered a villa before even though we often rented holiday cottages in the UK. The villas did look nice with lots of extras such as your own pool but there were under occupancy supplements to pay as there were only 4 of us and I really wanted a 3 bedroom home. So I decided to do a bit of research on the internet.
I soon discovered you could rent a villa direct from an owner through sites such as www.OrlandoVillas.com and the cost depended on how many bedrooms and facilities there were rather than how many people were staying there. I realised that I could ask the owner questions about exactly where their home was and what amenities it had on offer as well as other questions such as “can you recommend a decent takeaway close by? ” We decided to take the plunge and booked a private villa.
When we arrived we were amazed at the size of the place. There were 3 bedrooms so no squabbling about sharing beds as the kids each had their own room. There were 3 bathrooms so no arguing about how long anyone spent in there either. There was a large dining kitchen complete with huge fridge freezer, washer/dryer, microwave and even a dishwasher. There was also a large lounge with a TV and a couple of very comfy sofas. Ok we didn’t get maid service but who cares when you’ve got so much space to spread out in. The icing on the cake was definitely the private pool. We had a patio door from the master bedroom right out onto the pool deck, there was another that led out from the lounge, no more trekking to the hotel pool weighed down with towels, suntan lotion, drinks snack, book etc, etc. We could eat breakfast by the pool. We could stay by the pool on days when we weren’t at the theme parks and nip inside to get cold drinks or ice cream or to rustle up a sandwich for lunch. We could stay late at the parks to watch the fireworks but still have a swim when we got home as the pool didn’t close until we wanted it to.
We had a wonderful holiday and even came home still speaking to one another. That was back in 1995 and we have been staying in villas ever since. For the last 6 years we have owned our own villa and we now have a grandchild to take along on holiday as well as our grown up kids and their other halves. After that second trip I never thought we would still be holidaying with our kids 16 years on but some how the villa has a way of keeping us all happy on holiday by giving us all enough space to enjoy ourselves along with enough luxury to still feel pampered although we are self catering.
So that’s why we stay in a villa !!!
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