For many families, choosing where to stay in Orlando used to come down to a fairly simple decision: which hotel has the best location, the best pool and the best price? But the rise of Orlando’s villa communities has changed the way many people think about accommodation in Central Florida. Rather than simply choosing an individual holiday home, families can now choose from entire communities designed specifically around the Orlando vacation experience.
These communities combine large private villas with resort-style facilities, landscaped surroundings, communal swimming pools, water parks, clubhouses, restaurants, sports facilities and entertainment areas. In some cases, the communal facilities are almost as impressive as the villas themselves. That combination has helped make Florida villa holidays increasingly popular, particularly with families and larger groups looking for more space and flexibility than a traditional hotel can offer. But with so many communities to choose from, what actually makes them different, and which ones are worth considering when planning an Orlando holiday?
What Is an Orlando Villa Community?
An Orlando villa community is essentially a residential-style resort designed specifically for holiday accommodation. Instead of staying in a standalone villa somewhere in the wider Orlando area, you stay within a managed community where dozens or even hundreds of holiday homes share communal facilities.
The biggest attraction is that you get the best of both worlds. Your villa gives you private bedrooms, living areas, a kitchen and, in many cases, your own swimming pool. Outside your property, you can access shared facilities that might include huge resort pools, lazy rivers, waterslides, splash zones, clubhouses, restaurants, gyms and sports courts. This is very different from a traditional hotel. You aren’t confined to a single room, but you’re also not necessarily giving up the amenities that make a resort appealing.
For families staying for one or two weeks, that can make a significant difference. You can spend a day at the theme parks, enjoy a completely private evening at your villa and then spend another day making use of the community’s resort facilities.
Windsor Cay: A New Generation of Orlando Villa Resort
Windsor Cay is one of the newer communities to have caught the attention of families looking for modern Orlando villa accommodation. Located in the Disney area, the community has been designed around the idea of combining large vacation homes with an extensive collection of resort facilities.
One of the biggest attractions is the clubhouse and resort area, which provides guests with communal swimming facilities and plenty of space for families to relax away from the theme parks. The villas themselves are also a major part of the appeal. Windsor Cay is home to some very large properties, including ten-bedroom homes designed for extended families and groups. Many feature private pools, themed bedrooms, games rooms and cinema rooms.
This is particularly appealing if you’re looking for a villa where the accommodation is genuinely part of the holiday experience. Instead of simply returning to the villa to sleep after a day at Disney or Universal, families can spend an entire day enjoying the house and the community.
Windsor Hills: One of the Original Family Favourites
Windsor Hills has been a popular choice for Orlando villa holidays for many years and remains one of the communities that many returning Florida visitors know well. Its location is one of its biggest strengths. Situated close to Walt Disney World, Windsor Hills provides easy access to the theme parks while still offering the space and facilities of a villa community.
The community has a large resort-style pool area, waterslide, children’s splash area and clubhouse, giving families plenty to do when they’re taking a break from the parks. The villas and townhomes within Windsor Hills also come in a wide range of sizes and styles. Some are ideal for smaller families, while larger homes can accommodate much bigger groups.
Another attraction is the sense of community. Unlike staying in an individual holiday home somewhere in the wider Orlando area, Windsor Hills has communal spaces where families can spend time outside their villa. For visitors who want the convenience of being close to Disney without staying in a Disney hotel, it can be an attractive compromise.
Reunion Resort: Where Villa Holidays Meet Luxury Resort Living
Reunion Resort takes the concept of the Orlando villa community to another level. Located close to Walt Disney World, Reunion is a large gated resort featuring a mixture of private vacation homes, villas and extensive resort facilities.
One of its biggest attractions is the resort’s impressive water park, which includes a lazy river and waterslide. There are also multiple swimming pools and extensive leisure facilities. For adults, the community has an additional attraction in the form of golf, with multiple courses within the resort, as well as tennis facilities and restaurants. This makes Reunion particularly appealing for groups where different people want to do different things during the same holiday.
This is one of the reasons Reunion can work particularly well for multi-generational holidays. The children can spend time at the water park, adults can enjoy the golf facilities and everyone can come together at the villa later in the day. The villas themselves range from large family homes to enormous properties designed for groups, with many offering private swimming pools and substantial living spaces.
Solara Resort: Designed Around Family Entertainment
Solara Resort is another community that has become popular with families looking for something beyond a standard Orlando hotel. The resort has been designed with families firmly in mind, with a large clubhouse and extensive communal facilities.
One of its major attractions is the resort-style pool area, which includes a surf simulator and waterslide. There are also areas designed specifically for younger children, as well as sports and fitness facilities. The community’s villas are generally modern and spacious, with many properties featuring private pools and large open-plan living areas.
Like other newer Orlando villa communities, some properties also feature dedicated games rooms, themed bedrooms and cinema rooms. This means there are effectively two levels of entertainment available: you can enjoy the communal facilities during the day, then return to your own villa and make use of the private facilities in the evening.
Storey Lake: A Villa Community With a Water Park Feel
Storey Lake is another particularly interesting option for families who want their accommodation to have plenty of facilities. The community’s resort area has a large swimming pool, lazy river and waterslides, creating something much closer to a small water park than the pool you might expect to find at a conventional holiday home.
There is also a clubhouse with additional facilities, meaning families can easily spend a day at the resort without needing to head to a theme park. The location is another advantage. Storey Lake is situated in the wider Disney area, with Walt Disney World and many of the attractions, restaurants and shops around US-192 and Kissimmee within easy reach.
The villas themselves provide the privacy that families often want from a Florida villa holiday, with private pools, multiple bedrooms and plenty of living space. It’s a particularly good example of how villa communities have evolved from simply being collections of holiday homes into genuine resorts in their own right.
ChampionsGate: More Than Just a Place to Stay
ChampionsGate is another major villa community in the Orlando area and is particularly well known for its resort-style facilities. The community’s Oasis Club is the centre of many of its leisure facilities, with swimming pools, a lazy river, waterslide, children’s splash areas and other activities.
There’s also a fitness centre, arcade and dining options, providing plenty to do without leaving the resort. For families, the combination of large villas and extensive communal facilities is a major attraction. ChampionsGate also has a reputation for having a wide variety of properties, meaning it’s possible to find everything from more modest family villas to enormous homes designed for large groups.
Its location also makes it a useful base for visitors wanting to explore more than just Disney, with Universal Orlando, SeaWorld, International Drive and other Central Florida attractions all accessible by car.
Why Water Parks Have Become Such a Big Deal
One of the biggest trends across Orlando’s villa communities is the rise of water-park-style facilities. A swimming pool used to be considered a major bonus for a holiday villa, but families increasingly expect more. Lazy rivers, waterslides, splash zones and resort pools have become major selling points, particularly for families with younger children.
There’s a simple reason for this. Orlando holidays can be exhausting. After several days of theme parks, having a day where the children can still have a huge amount of fun without visiting another attraction is incredibly valuable. A resort water park can provide exactly that.
You can have a slow breakfast, walk down to the communal pool, spend the afternoon on the slides and return to your villa whenever you want. It feels like a day out, but without the queues, parking and planning involved in visiting a major attraction. For families, that can turn what might otherwise have been a necessary rest day into one of the most enjoyable days of the holiday.
The Private Pool Still Matters
While the communal facilities are a major attraction, the private pool remains one of the biggest reasons families choose a villa. There’s something very different about having your own pool just outside your living room. You can go for a swim first thing in the morning, sit around the pool while the children play, or take a dip in the evening after returning from the parks.
You’re not sharing the space with hundreds of other guests and you don’t have to worry about finding a sunbed. For families staying for two weeks, this can be particularly important. Even if you have access to an impressive communal pool, there will be days when you simply want to stay at your villa.
Having both options means you can decide what suits you each day. You might spend one day enjoying the community water park, another afternoon relaxing beside your private pool and another day exploring Orlando’s theme parks. That flexibility is a major part of the appeal of staying within a villa community.
The Communities Are Designed for Families
Another reason these communities have become so popular is that they understand how families actually holiday. Large villas provide multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, meaning extended families and groups can stay together without feeling cramped. Children often have their own themed bedrooms or bunk rooms, while adults can have spacious king bedrooms and en-suite facilities.
Then there are the communal areas, which give everyone the opportunity to do something different. The children can play in the splash zone, teenagers can head to the games room, parents can sit around the pool and grandparents can relax in the shade. Everyone can spend the day doing something different and still come back together later.
That flexibility is one of the biggest advantages of staying in a villa community rather than booking several hotel rooms. You can have plenty of personal space while still having somewhere for the entire group to come together.
They’re Ideal for a Two-Week Orlando Holiday
The longer you stay in Florida, the more important your accommodation becomes. If you’re only staying for three or four nights, you might be happy spending almost all of your time at the parks and attractions. But on a two-week Orlando holiday, doing that every day would be exhausting, particularly when you factor in the amount of walking involved and the early starts that often come with theme park days.
This is where villa communities really come into their own. You can build different types of days into your itinerary rather than treating every day as an opportunity to visit another attraction. You might have a theme park day followed by a villa pool day, then a shopping day, a water park day, a beach day and another theme park day.
The villa and its community become part of the holiday rather than simply the place you sleep between excursions. For families travelling from the UK, who are often staying for 10, 14 or even 21 nights, that can be a particularly important consideration.
A Great Option for Multi-Generational Groups
Villa communities are also particularly well suited to multi-generational holidays. Taking grandparents, parents and children to Florida can be an incredible experience, but finding accommodation that works for everyone can be difficult. A hotel might require several rooms, while a smaller villa may not provide enough privacy.
Large villa communities solve much of this problem. You can have a property with six, seven, eight or even ten bedrooms, multiple bathrooms and several communal living spaces. The grandparents can have their own room, parents can have private bedrooms and children can have themed rooms, while everyone still has access to the same kitchen, pool and living areas.
The resort facilities then provide another layer of entertainment for everyone. Different generations can spend their days doing different things without having to organise completely separate holidays, before coming back together at the villa for dinner or an evening around the pool.
They’re Not Just About Disney
Although many Orlando villa communities are located close to Walt Disney World, they’re not exclusively useful for Disney holidays. Their Central Florida locations make them suitable bases for visiting Universal Orlando, SeaWorld, Aquatica, Discovery Cove and the attractions around International Drive.
They can also work well for visitors who want to explore more of Florida. You could spend several days visiting the theme parks, take a day trip to the coast, enjoy a shopping day and then spend another day simply relaxing at the villa. That flexibility is particularly valuable if you’re travelling from the UK and making the most of a longer holiday.
It also means you don’t have to structure your entire trip around the theme parks. Orlando has an enormous range of restaurants, shopping outlets, entertainment venues, golf courses and outdoor activities, and a villa community provides a comfortable base from which to explore all of them.
The Accommodation Has Become Part of the Experience
Perhaps the biggest change in Orlando villa holidays is that people are no longer choosing accommodation purely based on where it is. They’re choosing it based on what they can do there. A villa with a private pool and games room might be more appealing than a basic property in a slightly closer location, while a community with a lazy river and waterslides might be worth considering even if another villa is marginally closer to the parks.
A themed villa with a cinema room, games room and spectacular pool area can become one of the highlights of the holiday itself. For children, the villa can provide its own collection of memorable experiences, while adults can appreciate the space, privacy and ability to relax without having to leave the property.
That’s a fundamental change from the traditional idea of a holiday rental. The villa is no longer simply somewhere you stay because you need a bed close to Disney. Increasingly, the villa and the wider community are part of the reason for choosing the holiday in the first place.
So Which Orlando Villa Community Is Best?
There isn’t necessarily one answer, because each community has its own character and strengths. Windsor Cay is an appealing option for families looking for modern villas and impressive resort facilities, while Windsor Hills offers an established community with a strong family reputation and a convenient location close to Disney.
Reunion combines large luxury villas with extensive resort facilities, including a water park, golf and other leisure activities. Solara has a strong focus on family entertainment, with a large clubhouse and impressive pool facilities, while Storey Lake is particularly appealing if a lazy river and water-park-style pool area are high on your list.
ChampionsGate offers another combination of large villas and extensive resort facilities, with its Oasis Club providing plenty of entertainment for families. Ultimately, the best choice comes down to what you want from your holiday. Some families will prioritise the biggest water park, others will want the most impressive private villa, while some will simply want somewhere spacious and comfortable within easy reach of the theme parks.
Final Thoughts
Orlando’s villa communities have come a long way from simply being collections of holiday homes. Today, they can offer the privacy and space of a luxury villa alongside many of the facilities you’d expect from a major resort. For families, that combination can be incredibly difficult to beat.
You can wake up in your own spacious villa, have breakfast together, spend the morning at the communal water park, return to your private pool for the afternoon, head to the theme parks in the evening and then come home to your own living space. Alternatively, you can forget about the parks entirely for a day and enjoy everything your villa and community have to offer.
That’s ultimately what makes these communities so appealing. The theme parks might be what gets you to Orlando, but your villa can become a destination in its own right. And when you’re spending two weeks or more in Florida, having somewhere that the whole family genuinely enjoys being can make just as much difference to the holiday as choosing the right theme parks.
