So I suppose I will start with an apology of sorts? Or at the very least a commentary on my absence. As I have touched on before, my anxiety and depression tend to come in and hit me like a wrecking ball. Therefore I didn't have the energy (or desire) to do much blogging....but here I am, it's October...my kids are back at school/daycare (except the one who is home with a cough right now, but he's cute.), and for a minute everything feels "ok" given the weirdness of the past 1.5 years. Now, we did (sadly) have to cancel our very impromptu December trip to Florida because the people we were going with didn't feel comfortable and the entire point of the trip was an extended family vacation...so we're back to being about six months away from our next trip (April 2022) where we will be staying at a rental property for 10 nights with a group of 10-12 people (we'll see how final numbers shake out).

The house we are staying at has 6 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, a games area, a theatre room, a pool/hot tub, and then a community pool/water park for our use. There is room to park multiple cars (last time I think we had 4 rented amongst us - we put 3 in the driveway, one on the street), and this house is perfect for multi-generational family trips, or even multiple families wanting to get away together. The kitchen is enormous and fully stocked, there are cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper towels, a blender, coffee maker etc. Now, why am I telling you this? Well I feel the need to point it out because when you look on AirBnB or VRBO, not all rentals are created equal. We have stayed at two different rentals (probably .5km apart) with the exact same floor plan but very different amenities.

The first tip I will give you is to look at your options. Look at the range of prices, and look at what comes with the house. The first house we rented in Florida in 2019 was cheaper than the one we rent now, but offered far less in the way of comfort. The beds weren't as comfortable, we had to bring toilet paper, cleaning supplies, pool towels etc. Now, for the price that it was (at the time), this was manageable. However this house if I look it up on VRBO has not added any amenities and is now 2.5 times the price it was when we booked it, making it on par with the more expensive rental we have since used and loved. So there is the basic shpeel I will give you about looking at the options, finding one that means works for you. Decide what matters. Is it simply cost? Is it convenience? Do you need x number of beds. The house we stay at now has 4 king rooms, and 2 rooms with 2 bunk beds each (sleeping 8 children) and 6 bathrooms (3 en-suite, 1 jack & jill, and 2 stand alone full bathrooms), the house we first stayed at had 2 king rooms, 1 room with 2 twin beds and 3 rooms with a queen sized bed and the same bathroom setup. How do you feel about theming? Would your kids just die to sleep in a Frozen themed room or do they not care? Or are there no kids in your group? Consider your needs and look at all of the options. I create a favourites board on VRBO so that I can go back and compare between the houses later on because it can be so overwhelming.

So you've decided what is important to you, and maybe you've ended up in the same house we like to stay at https://sungatheringhouse.com or maybe you've found one of the endless other options available to you around Disney/Universal. We personally love Champions Gate, so be forewarned, that is what we are talking about but there are plenty of other similar communities nearby (Reunion is another close option). Champions Gate is about a 20 minute (in traffic) drive to most of the parks, it can be faster or slower depending on time of day, traffic etc. The community is gated, but also has full time residents so there is a portion of the area that is strictly rental properties and other areas in the community for full-time residents. The closest Target is about 7-10 minutes away, and Publix (my favourite grocery store on the face of the earth, just ask anyone in my family) is a short drive to pick up your groceries - also with the Publix is a liquor store, a few restaurants (which I've never gone to because we prefer to head to Disney Springs for our meals out), a gas station across the street and a car wash (especially useful if you've just driven 21 hours and need to wash your car!).

Why do we like to stay off property? There are a few reasons that we can go over.

The biggest one when we are doing a multi-generational trip is family time. If we were all in our own hotel rooms, we would end up seeing each other for short periods. This way we can actually hang out and unwind, watch movies, have a drink, make use of the blender that comes with the house and have a bunch of daiquiris. Beyond the family time with the extended family, we also have the space to put our kids to bed, and then go downstairs and spend time as a couple. You can swim, you can go in the hot tub, watch a movie, just like if you were at home - something we wouldn't do if we were in a hotel, not to mention because of the ages of our kids (and nieces/nephews), if we were in a hotel, we would likely end up going to bed at the same time as them because what fun is sitting in a hotel dark hotel room all alone? Sun Gathering House (and many other vacation rentals) have strollers, play pens, high chairs and plenty of other kid friendly items that make travelling simple. Not to mention you can rent these items from rental agencies like https://www.kingdomstrollers.com which offer single and double strollers as well as other items for children that you may not want to bring with you on a trip but make your life infinitely easier.

We also love being able to grocery shop and cook - after a few days on a cruise or at a resort...we typically find ourselves craving normal food. Just a normal sandwich or a salad or a chicken breast. Or maybe you want to have a few drinks without paying $15 per drink? Trust me, there is something to be said for just lounging by the pool in your backyard and not having to worry about the cost of each and every beverage you're having. Staying off resort also allows for truly off days. Days to sleep in, days where one family can go to the pool and another can head to Target (can you tell I'm missing Target?), or you and your loved ones can make the drive to Cape Canaveral, or head to the nearest beach, things you probably wouldn't be all that inclined to do if you were just hanging out in the Disney bubble (which is a sweet place to be - I'll talk more about that in my next post!)

Now to the dollars and cents of it all because lets be honest, that is what really matters. If I use the same 7 night stretch of time looking at Disney's Art of Animation for a family suite (sleeps 5) the cost before tax is $4,017 plus tax, vs Sun Gathering House which is $3,371 plus tax on VRBO. When you consider that Sun Gathering House can easily be split between 2-4 families, for us, it becomes a no-brainer to rent the property.

Good luck and happy planning. Whatever you choose, just make the decision that is right for your family.