Windsor at Westside Villas is affordable accommodations for large families visiting Disney World. Our review covers the private pool, clubhouse, community pool, and a tour of the villa – with video!
Looking for a socially distanced vacation? Or, trying to find affordable lodging near Disney? As you’ll see in this review – and through our video tour – the Windsor at Westside Resort can offer either!
Vacationing during a pandemic brings its own set of new experiences. After cancelling our Disney parks trip, we still ended up in Orlando.
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Airbnbs for a Disney World Vacation
After years of visiting Disney World and knowing there were vacation rentals in the surrounding area, we finally checked one out.
Disney World excels at many things, but affordable lodging for larger families isn’t one of them. If you’re traveling as a family of 5 or more, the accommodation options are limited and/or pricey.
An Airbnb might also be the right choice if you want to cook your own food. Most Disney resort rooms do not have a kitchen (the exceptions include cabins, one-bedroom villas, and two-bedroom villas).
Therefore – if cooking is a priority – staying off Disney World property may be the best bet.
Windsor at Westside Villa
We found our rental through Airbnb, but you can also rent it directly through the property management company.
If it’s not available, check out other properties on the resort’s website or by searching the term “Windsor at Westside” on Airbnb.
We chose a 5 Bedroom, 5.5 Bath Villa because it had a large, private pool. While two bedrooms would have met our sleeping needs, the smaller homes have a “splash pool” in lieu of a full-size pool.
For adults looking for a spot to cool off – or for a group who intends to spend most of the day in the parks – the splash pool may be sufficient.
In our case, we needed a full-size pool. It was a no parks trip (check out our list of 15 things to do in Orlando besides theme parks) and we had to ensure we could social distance (i.e. not be stuck without a size-able pool if there were crowds at the community pool).
The private pool gave us plenty of entertainment and guaranteed a socially distanced vacation.
Living Area
Open the front door to a small foyer, where you can toss shoes or hang your purse.
From the foyer, you can see across the living room and kitchen and out onto the patio. The open floor plan is bright an light due to windows and plenty of recessed lighting.
Since Windsor at Westside is a relatively new resort community the kitchens are outfitted with modern appliances.
The living room has seating for 6 (there is a second living room upstairs which also seats 6) and the kitchen/dining area had room for 12.
Just past the kitchen and directly off the pool patio is a half bath.
To the right of the living room is the game room which includes air hockey, foosball, a pool table, and a dartboard.
Note: Most of the game rooms are not air-conditioned because they are located inside the garage.
Upstairs is a loft area that acts as the second living room, including two more couches and another large TV.
Bedrooms
There is only one bedroom on the first floor. It is a Master Bedroom at the back of the home with access directly onto the patio.
It has a large en-suite bath with a separate tub and shower.
The second Master Bedroom, located upstairs, also includes a large en-suite bath.
The third bedroom has a queen bed (unlike the Master Bedrooms which each have a king-size bed) and an ensuite bath with a tub and shower combo.
The fourth bedroom features two twin beds and an Avengers theme feature wall.
Finally, the fifth bedroom features a fun Mickey theme with paint-splatter style colorful bedding. This bedroom has a bunk bed with a trundle bed underneath (i.e. sleeps up to 4).
Each bed had a set of towels (beach towel, bath towel, hand towel) for each person. The vacuum-packed towels were a nice touch, giving us the assurance that the towels were clean and sanitized.
Every bedroom has it’s own en-suite bath – even the kids rooms.
There is a TV in every bedroom, as well.
Pool and Patio
The patio included a dining table with 6 chairs, 3 loungers, and a safety gate. There is also a gas grill, but it is only available to use for an additional fee.
I appreciated the safety gate at night because we have a sleepwalker who has been known to open the door to our deck (or… a patio door, for example).
Families with small kids will appreciate the safety gate while eating dinner on the patio, too – no chasing kiddos away from the pool every few minutes.
We ate most lunches on the patio, and many snacks. The kids could hop back and forth between swimming and snacks, without having to dry off. I read on the loungers while the kids swam. Such a relaxing vacation!
We took some blow-up floats for use in the pool, along with a bag of pool toys (dive sticks, balls, goggles, etc.). If you’re flying, you might prefer to buy a few things after you arrive or seek out a home that offers pool toys as part of the space.
Windsor at Westside Resort Clubhouse
At the clubhouse, there is a lounge, pool area, and fitness center.
Tu Casa Lounge
From the lounge, we purchased several drinks and a few shareable items – like loaded nachos and desserts. While it was pricey, everything was good (much better food than the typical poolside snack shack)!
Pool and Patio
The pool and patio is a good size and only felt crowded midday. So, if social distancing is a priority, head to the pool during the couple hours near open and close.
On one end of the pool is a shallow area with a water playground. My youngest enjoyed this area during the less-crowded hours (she can get a little overwhelmed in large crowds of kids).
Note that floats are not allowed in the pool except for floats for small children and life jackets/puddle jumpers.
Lazy River
Unlike the pool, the lazy river is on the small side and can feel crowded even when the overall clubhouse crowd is low. Therefore, you’ll just have to monitor the crowds and determine when to swim in it.
I’ll add that it’s not particularly “lazy.” The water moves you through the lazy river rather quickly. So, since floats aren’t allowed (except safety flotation devices), it’s more of a walking river than a lazy river.
Windsor at Westside Review
We absolutely loved our villa. It was clean and new with plenty of living space. The game room, living areas, and kitchen offered room for play, watching TV, cooking, etc. – it was incredibly comfortable.
The clubhouse was nice, but we were inclined to spend as much – if not more – time around our own pool. In other words, the clubhouse was a great feature but I’d go back simply for the villa itself.
So what are the negatives? The only big negative was the parties (yes, plural). If you search reviews for any of the resort communities in Orlando, you’ll likely see some reviewers commenting on parties.
Honestly, we stay up late and aren’t averse to noise – so we weren’t too concerned about those reviews beforehand. However, I underestimated how loud and how late the parties could go (one night it went past 4 AM!).
Our kids slept right through it (thankfully!), but my husband and I were definitely frustrated.
In summary, we’d go again. But, before we went, we’d probably contact the resort management and Airbnb host to learn more about how they monitor and manage parties.
Family Vacation Ideas
Where else could your family go besides Orlando? Take a weekend trip to a nearby city, take a flight to an island such as Maui or Oahu, go hiking in a state park, or just take a day-long road trip.
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