We recently stayed at the fabulous Villatel Orlando Resort in a five bedroom villa grande. We have reviewed the resort itself in full here, but this is our review of the villa we stayed in (which, for reference, was 5684 Asterisk Avenue.) Also, if you scroll to the bottom of this review, you can find our video review on YouTube.
You will receive an email with the code to get in the villa a couple of days before you arrive and then it’s simply a matter of putting the code into the smart lock and the door magically opens.
On the ground floor there are two bedrooms, one double room and one twin room.
On the left hand side of the corridor there is a bathroom that’s divided into two, one room has a sink and various storage drawers and then through a sliding door there is a bathtub and toilet.
As you walk further down the corridor, there is a utility room/ cupboard and here you will find a huge washing machine and a huge tumble dryer. We were given two packs of washing powder so it might be an idea to pack a few washing pods with you to bring, then you don’t need to buy any.
Also in the utility cupboard is stack of pool towels and an iron and ironing board.
The large open plan living area comprises of a big corner sofa and chair with coffee tables. Also, the most enormous TV you have ever seen. It’s a smart TV and although we didn’t manage to cast onto it (may be user error, but I am not normally bad with tech!), there are apps such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ that you can log into. Do remember to log out when you leave! The previous guests didn’t, and it did mean we could watch Harry Potter on their Amazon Prime subscription (we logged them out when we left just in case!).
The living area also has a large round table that seats eight.
The kitchen is very stylish with a large island and three seats at the breakfast bar. There’s a double sink with a waste disposal unit which I’m scared of to be honest and we didn’t use. I think waste disposal in the sink is bigger in the US than the UK!
There is a large dishwasher, oven, hob and microwave. You’ll also find a toaster and a knife rack with about a million knives in it. Not sure why there’s quite so many knives! What else? Oh, a coffee machine and a blender.
As you would expect, it’s a large American fridge with an ice and water dispenser. Loads of space in there!
There are lots of plastic glasses and plates but I felt that there could have been more porcelain crockery and cups, but perhaps Americans tend to use plastic things more often than British people. I do wonder if it’s a cultural difference (or maybe the budget was blown with all the knives!).
In the kitchen there is also a large pantry cupboard which is perfect for storing all your food if you go to the nearest Walmart and stock up – which I would recommend as it’s great fun! (Try and remember to keep some space in your suitcase to bring stuff back, when, inevitably, like me, you go wild in the aisles!)
At the back of the Villa there is your own private pool with various seating. We had two plastic sofas and an outdoor table with four chairs and two loungers. The area immediately outside the patio doors is covered so you can sit out here to watch the storms if you come in hurricane season like we did.
The star attraction of course is the plunge pool you can pay extra to have this warmed but we visited in August and it really wasn’t necessary. You will also find a barbecue which is an extra charge for cleaning and a table football which isn’t! The pool area is very private with a 8ft wall around the majority of it and a mosquito net above so there are no bugs. There is also a safety fence around the pool that can be locked if you have small children.
The ceilings throughout the house are very high which makes the staircase very high too, but as there are downstairs bedrooms if you have mobility issues this isn’t a problem.
Upstairs you will find the master suite with a super king bed (US class this as ‘queen size’), and an en-suite bathroom with huge shower. The master bedroom itself is very large.
All of the bedrooms have large closet spaces which would make excellent spots for playing hide and seek in!
The second bedroom upstairs also has a super king bed.
All of the bedrooms have bedside tables that plug in with USB ports so that you can charge your mobile devices. Remember I mentioned this as they are easy to miss!
Upstairs there is the family bathroom with loo, sink and shower.
You are supplied with two toilet rolls per bathroom, so depending on how long you are staying this may or may not be sufficient. So either plan to go shopping or bring extra loo rolls!
Finally, upstairs there is a magnificently themed kids’ bedroom. The theme you receive is random, though Mr. W emailed ahead to ask if it was possible to put us in a villa with a Frozen themed bedroom and this request was honoured!
The room comes equipped with an enormous castle style bed with four bunks and some fabulous LED lighting. There is also a bendy tube slide. I really wanted to try it but I was scared of getting stuck!
You will also find a retro gaming machine with lots of different games as well as an Xbox and two controllers. The themed room also has an en-suite bathroom with loo and shower. The only problem I foresee is getting the kids to leave the villa at all!
We would thoroughly recommend Villatel Orlando Resort. The villa was beautiful, new, modern and clean and the main resort facilities were fabulous. Don’t forget to read our review of the main pool area here.
Our video review of the villa:
