Vacation Central Florida

Once upon a time in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle.... Oh no, wait a minute, different story...

This is a story that starts with our son, however. We have always loved Walt Disney World and made countless trips to Central Florida over the past 25 years. Through all those years, we always talked about owning property close to Disney. Living in the midwest in Ohio and Illinois, we had looked at Florida properties but never had the "nerve" to jump in for one reason or the other. Maybe you have been the same way. But we are true entrepreneurs and always wanted to be real estate investors, our dream was to start a Condo Rental business so we could host families who would bring their kids to Disney World.  Boy were we in for a ride!

Our son Daniel was born, and literally knew no vacation other than the Disney parks from age zero to about age 14. People thought we were crazy going there sometimes 2 or 3 times a year. They'd say stuff like "you know there are other places to go", but we didn't listen! When 1999 changed over to the year 2000, we were standing right there on Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom, watching the fireworks!

I can say for sure Daniel "grew up at Disney". When he was a baby we would always take him back to the room for his daily nap and then right back to the parks at night. We would take Daniel to Disney as many times a year as we could afford to.  Today, because of all those trips, he knows his way around the theme parks almost better than his own neighborhood at home. He loves to take friends and "show them around".

During the time Daniel was growing up, we stayed both on and off Property in just about every hotel, in the campground a couple times, and spent a lot of money trying everything out. We stayed just about everywhere! We always looked for the best way to stay in Florida around Disney but not spend a fortune. It's a challenge as you know, it can be very expensive! We considered the Disney Time Share, and looked at a few, but we wanted something more. Then we found it.

Everything changed for us one Spring when we took the leap and bought our first Condo on nearby Cocoa Beach with a view of the NASA Launch Pads right off the balcony. It was our first Condo, and the perfect place. The Closest beach to Disney. Year round beach fun - and Disney was just minutes away too! We opened the Cocoa Beach condo to guests and it was an instant hit. Unit 701 at Sandcastles sold out almost from day one, and STILL gets rave reviews to this day because it's right on the water, you can watch and hear the waves right from the balcony. I invite you to look at the unit, by clicking "How About A Beach Condo" in the menu to your left.

With 701 at Cocoa Beach a smashing success and in such demand, we knew what we had to do. We wanted to own more properties - but this time we followed the original dream - the closest properties to Disney World. The idea was to open a condo that families could actually AFFORD, and have a much better experience than simply staying in a small hotel room. We love families and kids, and want families to be in our Condos. We imagined Daniel back at age four and what we wanted for him back then.  That was our guiding principle - how can we help kids have a great and Magical experience?

We located the best Condo units that were the CLOSEST to the Disney Main Gate and started looking at them all. After countless hours of searching and research, and thanks to Florida's greatest realtor Mike Derenthal, we located unit 302 at Windsor Hills. With that as a starting point, we built out unit 302 and added all the touches. The day we launched 302, that's really when our lives changed. The beach condo was cool, but now we were really doing what we loved - a Disney Condo! This was what we had dreamed about for all those years, and worked so hard to scrape up the money for. I can't tell you how many nights I stayed up late crunching numbers into the wee hours to make unit 302 a reality.  Owning a vacation Property is a lot of unseen work, but it is certainly a labor of love for us. 

The funniest thing happened.  Unit 302 was such a huge and immediate sell out success that it dwarfed the Cocoa Beach property. It was stunning and surprised both Patti and I. Apparently there were a LOT more out there like us! We were getting emails from people with email addresses like "dznyfreak" and it was clear that we were not alone! The calls and emails flooded in from Minnesota to New York, Oregon to California, it was incredible. Once 302 was launched, we had to change phone numbers because the phone rang constantly. No, really - AROUND THE CLOCK 24/7.  We had to buy a second phone line it got so out of hand. 

Meanwhile, our friend John Cline (who I had discussed this with over and over and over), was first to join us, and purchased a unit, then several more as those took off to great success.   Tom and Debbie Archakis purchased several units as well, growing by leaps and bounds.  We also met new friends Tim and Katie Cox who purchased a unit, and our longtime friends Lee and Sue Ellen Waedekin (Sue Ellen = biggest Disney Geek I have ever known - she has a TIGGER tattoo, I'm not kidding here). They just purchased  another masterpiece unit.  Then our friends the Saylors from Columbus, Ohio joined us by buying a unit.  All this time, Patti and I continue to buy units, picking up a couple of Townhouses recently.

In 2009, we finally made the decision to pack up and leave the Cold Illinois winters for good. When we drove out of town it was 14 degrees, I will never forget it.  Got to Florida and it was in the 70's and beautiful.  Now it is Central Florida Year Round for us.  For the first year once we moved to Florida, we actually LIVED at Windsor Hills in one of our units, so we can tell you everything you would like to know about Windsor Hills.  It took us a year and many, many real estate deals, but we finally landed in our true Florida home for good.  We now live in Windermere Florida, just a few short miles to our beloved Disney World and Windsor Hills.  IN fact, we can see and hear the Disney fireworks every night from our back yard.  Being close to all the Windsor Hills properties, we have a great time watching over them very closely so they remain in top shape and ready for your vacation. We are an hour from Cocoa Beach and go there regularly.  Patti sometimes misses the snow, but I don't.  January and February are my favorite months here, it is gorgeous. 

So, it all started as a hobby and is now a full time job for Patti.  Our website VacationCentralFlorida.com has become the standard for Windsor Hills owners, and we now rent to nearly 1000 guest families just like yourself every year.  We recently teamed with a software company in Southern California to produce ONLINE BOOKING for all of our units because it is so much more efficient. Our level of re-bookings indicates that we are doing things the right way, as families are returning to our individual owners this year in big numbers.  We also started up the WINDSOR HILLS CLUB, which is a free-to-join email newsletter that now reaches thousands and thousands of Windsor Hills lovers, as we send out emails of special rates and information regularly. 

Thank you so much for helping us make our dream come true. Your family is the reason we do what we do, we love kids and we love families. And we'd love to have you at any of our Condos or Townhouses. I know you'll never stay in a hotel again once you try us, we hear this almost every day.  We are committed to you and your family having a FABULOUS vacation!

I'd also love to hear from you. Write me with any questions, we'd love to help you, whether you've NEVER rented a Condo and have no idea what to do, or you have already learned why you will ALWAYS rent a condo instead of a hotel, call or write us an email.

Thank you again and hope to see you soon in Florida! As I said, please bookmark us, and if I can give you any advice at all, it would be to BOOK EARLY because at our rates, we sell out EVERY SINGLE NIGHT OF THE YEAR at all units. Thanks again and we'll talk to you soon!

-Dave

To Book any Windsor Hills Condo, or just ask questions, email me at dave@vacationcentralflorida.com or by CLICKING HERE.