Prequel To Disney: Vista Cay

‘Wow!’. Those were my first words when I saw where we would be staying for our week in Orlando. To say that the accommodation was fabulous doesn’t even do it justice. We parked opposite the entrance, took the speedy lift to the third floor and punched in the unique keycode. Had I known it would be so secure I would have travelled with my laptop. Then we opened the door and stepped into an immaculate, but family friendly world.

On the left were the laundry facilities, tastefully hidden behind a cupboard door, with a washing machine, tumble dryer, hanging space and an iron. There was even some laundry powder to get us started. On the right was a hall table with a floral decoration. Straight ahead was a compact but beautiful kitchen, with a tall stainless steel fridge with icemaker (for my UK friends, it was one of those big American ones – you could actually fit a person in there); a microwave, a dishwasher, a kettle and all the crockery you could ever need.

The living and dining room – furnished in stainless steel, glass and leather, were immaculate. The furniture was sturdy – no worries about an active four year old. There was a flat screen TV, comfortable couches and a lanai where you could sit and have a drink while looking at the view of the lake. It was very tranquil, even though we were only a stone’s throw from Universal Boulevard.

Then we looked at the bedrooms. Carpeted floors, flat screen TVs, a queen sized bed in the master and two twins in the other two. The ensuite bathroom was roomy, with enough fluffy white towels to last us the whole week and a starter set of toiletries – and the shower was great – you just never wanted to leave it. All of us felt at home straight away and loved coming back to the condo at the end of a hard day’s sightseeing. My daughter was happy because she had her own TV and her own room (so were we ).

To add to the luxury, there was a pool and jacuzzi for the building just across the car park. There was also another pool at the clubhouse for the complex, though since ours was effectively private ( no more than 3 other people there at any time during the week), we never used it. There was WiFi access both in the condo and at the Clubhouse.

The Clubhouse was great for booking tickets, though I had my issues with the Disney tickets, and it also had a games room. There was also a movie theatre where you could select one of about 30 movies to play at a chosen slot. We watched Happy Feet one afternoon and took our own snacks – great fun.

During the week, all of us kept saying ‘I want to live here’ and ‘So, same time next year?’ That shows how much we loved the place. We were close to Disney (15 mins or so to the outskirts), to Sea World (we watched the fireworks from the living room one night), to Universal, to all the stuff on International Drive, to Walmart, to BJs, to the Florida Mall – in fact, to everything you could possibly want to see in Orlando. Truthfully, I think staying anywhere else would be a comedown now. I can’t wait to go back.

Check it out on RKCondo.com. Pics available here.