Another housing option

A few months ago, I did a guest blog over at Babes in Disneyland about some of the many lodging options at WDW - trying to give those Californians somewhere to start when thinking about checking out the World instead of the Land, which they are most likely more familiar with.  I've mentioned this before, but now that it's a done deal, I wanted to write a little more about our upcoming trip.  We have officially booked where we are planning to stay for our January trip!


The Walt Disney World Resort is a HUGE campus, according to Wiki, it's around 47 square miles.  GOOD GRIEF! There are 24 resorts on property, costing more because of the extra magic that they really do offer (extra magic hours, transportation, Mickey Mouse wake up calls, Magical Express), but those details may not always be worth it.


In January, we've planned a week long trip with only a couple of days planned in the parks.  We don't want to be exhausted and walking miles and miles in the parks the days before running 13.1 miles, and most likely won't want to really do the parks after running 13.1 miles, so I looked for another option: a villa. 


I'd originally tried to find a place to rent in Celebration, because I have ALWAYS been curious about the town.  Even though it is no longer owned by Disney, I still think it would be a great place to retire...  Anyways, Celebration has resorts, but I wanted something more.  Then, I came across the Windsor Hills Villas.  


Windsor Hills Villas are located "5 minutes" from the main gate, this is a community very highly recommended on the Disney bulletin boards by many previous guests (and probably some owners).  As far as I can tell, they're all individually owned homes generally used as rentals.  I can't imagine anyone living there full time, but they might.  Heck, I would if I could!  These are gorgeous condos, townhouses, and villas, that can sleep many different people, depending on how much you pay.


Don't be fooled like I was - I stupidly signed up for a  "send me information" button and received about 50 emails within 48 hours (most within an hour) from different owners.  Of course, I guess this is the easiest way to see your options.  I looked around at the different options and found what we wanted: our own 3 bedroom villa.


Doesn't that sound magical?  3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms AND a private splash (read: super small) pool with a full kitchen all to ourselves.  We don't have to think about eating out every single meal, or trying to store milk and everything in a little mini-fridge.  We will have a full kitchen.  My parents will be driving up from Ft. Lauderdale to watch Noah while we run, and now they'll have their own bed and bathrooms!  Now, the question is how to choose these 50,000 villas apart.  Our biggest turn?  Tvs.  If they didn't have nice tvs, I ruled them out.  Silly, I know.  But, it's the first thing my husband notices when he walks into a house and he sure doesn't want to be stuck with something old and crappy for a week!  So, fulfilling our requirement of nice tvs, I found a beautiful villa that fit my style and perfectly into our budget.


The best part - we're staying for 7 nights and it costs about $100 more than our 5 night stay at the Caribbean (and you all know how I felt about that one.. and if you don't, you can find my review here).   I don't want to say the name of the actual villa, in case I end up not liking it, I don't want to lead anyone in the wrong direction.  However, I will happily post the name if the trip is successful (so in January)!

The living room of "our" villa

Getting excited!  Now, to get running...


Thanks for stopping by!
~Jenn