Spas Florida

We are a family of 4 with two children under 6 on a budget, is they any small cheaper villas in Florida?

We are looking for the best value holiday for us to Florida. We are looking at going April 5 - 19th 2008. We want to keep the children entertained but at age 5 and 2 years they are too young for lots of rides so we would prefer just one or two days maybe at Disneyworld and Seaworld. Then hopefully spending time at a beach, sightseeing and relaxing by a play area. This will be our first holiday together so more than anything we want to spend time together and explore new things as a family. We have established that booking everything separately seems the cheaper option, though the flight prices seem extortionate anyway !! A villa would be lovely but we can only find ones that sleep up to 8 or 10 and it seems a waste when theres only 4 of us, and the children will no doubt be in our room a lot of the time. Does anyone know of any smaller or cheaper villas/homes available? Or any advise on this at all would be greatly appreciated...

Public Comments

1. you could try some of the 'timeshare' condos they have one, two and three bed apartments - and if you do the 'tour' you can usually get a good rate for your whole stay...
2. Shop around for villas. Most of them seem to sleep at least 6 people but you do get a lot of space. I have been to Florida several times over the past few years and have been amazed by how many villas were empty. Another way of getting a cheaper villa is to look in your local paper or ask friends, nearly everyone knows someone who owns and rents out a villa in Florida. There are some really good websites that let you see exactly what you are getting for your money. The main thing is to shop around, there are inexpensive villas available. As you say the most expensive part of your holiday is the flight. Have a good trip.
3. For the past 10 years my family & I have vacationed in orlando for the past 8 years we stayed at the Disney Value resorts. I suggest the Disney Music Resort as it has resonably prices suites that sleep 5, however you can stay at the reguklar double bed rooms for even more of a bargain, inside the disney property. You don't need a car transportation is provided free of charge to all the Disney Parks. (Magic kingdom, MGM, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Typhoon lagoon, Blizzard beach, Downtown Disney.) Everything is at Disney you don't nee to go anywhere else and that can keep your budget low since the disney tickets can be included with your package for x amount of days you stay you can choose tickets for fewer days than your length of stay. You can even get meals included with your package and as your children are little you do not have to pay for them.
4. Sure I do! It's called the "Orlando Dreamer Vacation Home." If you know anyone else needing a beautiful place to stay in the Orlando area (besides you :-]), please let Derek and/or his wife Heidi Jo Levendusky know via these websites. (The first one is probably the main important one) : http://www.OrlandoDreamer.com http://www.orlandovillaowners.com/villa/551/ Quote from Heidi Jo Levendusky: "We have turned an investment property into a vacation home. We needed to furnish it, so I put my Trading Spaces hat on and planned and purchased the décor in three days. We had many people help out by giving us different things for the house, and the Lord helped me SOOO much to put it all together. Let me know what you think of my decorating skills! (lol)" The owners of this property are a family of six also and understand the needs and wants of families. :-) Check out the cool photos of the house inside! Isn't it nice?!?!?!?!
5. Try using the All Star Vacation Homes http://www.allstarvacationhomes.com/all_ears.asp?ovchn=OTHER&ovcpn=Listing%20&ovcrn=landing&ovtac=AD You can search by number of people staying, and many have a pool.
6. I am a cheapskate so know what it's like! I always book flights with www.travelcitydirect.co.uk, they fly fast 747's and there are no hidden costs (Entertainment, meals, drinks (alcoholic too!) are free. You might want to compare prices with car hire inc with them too (Fly drive), or just flights and car hire from someone like www.carhire3000.co.uk. (it's variable as TCD's car hire is more expensive, but they give you discount on the flights if you book the car with them as well) Bear in mind that the chances of getting a free car upgrade is better then 50%, BUT don't rely on it. Don't rush to be first in the queue or you may get one of the few smaller cars they have left! American boots (trunks) are smaller so think about baggage storage. I would recommend flying into Stansted over Orlando International EVERYTIME. It's SOOOO much easier to get out of the airport as it is smaller and only one road out! You DON'T need to take the Toll road, just keep going to the I4 (motorway/Interstate) and head south to the hotel/resort area, it takes about 50mins. I usually book a villa from http://www.hiremyfloridavilla.co.uk/ (it's not mine!) Advice for the cheapest tickets - trust me here and read on... Most of the shopping malls and Hotel receptions run a time share visitation system where you can save HUNDREDS of $$'s on tickets for everything. You can do ones with different companies too! You get a free breakfast if you start at 7:15 ,a tour and chat for no more then 90 mins, get your tickets and go! I saved nearly $1000 in September These 'tours' are tightly regulated in the US by FEDERAL law, so nothing like the Spanish horrors of years ago. Just say the maintenance charges are too high (which they are) and that will suffice. Another scam if you are really tight is you will have to pay to park at all the attractions now (a rip off I know). If you get a Flex ticket you pay one parking for the day and go to any participating park for free, the same day! The tip here is that Wet n' Wild offers the cheapest parking and is only half a mile from Universal! So, drive into Wet n' wild, pay to park drive straight out again and down to universal, show them the ticket and get in without paying any more! You WILL have fun, Orlando is THE place to go, I've been 7 times now!