We recently took a family trip to Orlando and stayed in a five bedroom villa at the newly opened Villatel Orlando Resort. Mr Wonders and I were both very impressed and have each written a review. Mr W concentrated mainly on the resort itself while I have written in detail about the 5 bedroom villa grande we stayed in and you can see that review here. Also, scroll to the bottom of this review for the video we made of the main pool area of the resort.
Mr Wonders’ Review of Villatel Orlando Resort
I was really drawn towards a villa rather than a hotel before we came, as I liked the idea of being on a resort/complex rather than a random suburb of villas. I very much don’t regret our decision.
Why, you might ask? Well, my primary reason was space. We all like our own space. The teenagers will share a hotel room if needed, but to each have their own is perfect. We booked a five bed villa at Villatel Orlando Resort. We only needed four bedrooms but thanks to a good deal, the five bedroom was hardly more expensive. This way we could keep the themed room for a chill-out room rather than it being solely one of the kids’ bedrooms. Click here for more detail of the 5 bedroom villa we stayed in here.
One of the main reasons we chose Villatel specifically was its proximity to the Universal theme parks. Many villa complexes are near Disney but Villatel is perfect for Universal.
With your 5 bedroom villa booking you get two parking permits, though I never had any intention to drive. We exclusively used Uber which I feel worked well. For example an Uber XL to Universal and back was pretty much the same cost as parking at Universal! They could usually be summoned within 5-10 minutes. If you use your actual villa street name and number on Uber, they come to your door. Security do demand their ID and who/where they are here for, so try and put it in pickup notes. Uber Eats are just the same, and every thing imaginable can be brought to your door, groceries, beer, food, etc.
There are Smart TVs everywhere, you can login to your Netflix, YouTube, etc. Don’t forget to log out when you leave. Michael, I’m looking at you (but thank you – we didn’t watch anything dodgy on your account…!)
We hardly used the main pool facilities as we were busy at theme parks. But they look amazing and when we visited they were very quiet. I’ve taken photos of the pool bar and food menu as I always like to nosy at these!
You can book your own ‘cabana’ online, for between 80 and 300 dollars a day! They seemed comfy enough and guaranteed you a spot with an umbrella and lockable coolbox. Would I? Nope, I would want free drinks and dancing girls for that price! But I guess if there’s a group of four families willing to split the cost for the larger one it’s perhaps an option. Equally, at a busier time of year it might be more tempting.
(A bit added by Nikki, as Mr W didn’t mention enough for my liking 🙂 ):
There is a fabulous lazy river in the main pool complex, with lots of available inflatable rings to sit in. Sunbeds lined the lazy river and there were LOTS of lifeguards (I don’t think I have ever seen so many in one place).
The complex only opened three months before we visited and not all the buildings were occupied, so it was lovely and quiet.
There is also a main pool and nearby a pool bar, again with lots of seating.
There is a splash zone which is perfect for smaller children with smaller slides and a drench bucket.
There are flotation aids for the kids to wear to keep them safe too.
Then there is the large waterslides area. My two would have loved this when they were younger and not teenagers who moan when they have to leave their rooms!
For younger kids there is a very nice little park with slides and swings.
There are also basketball and pickleball courts that you can book:
(Back to Mr W):
Villatel do offer a complimentary shuttle to Universal and Disney during the day. Which you must pre-book online. We didn’t use them as we’re not organized enough to stick to a schedule, preferring the convenience of using Uber as and when.
Finally, if you have a late flight you can book a late checkout. We emailed ahead of time to arrange this, but I noticed you can do this while there when you first login to the WiFi. Though it’s best done ahead of time if you want to guarantee it. The latest they will do without charging an extra day, is 4pm, this is chargeable but well worth it if you are not flying until 9pm.
