June 2016 Update

We love to keep our guests, past and future, updated about our ongoing improvements at the house.  After a week in the Florida sun we are back home and want to share our most recent updates with everyone. Without further ado here they are!

We have a brand new patio table and matching chairs.

A brand new mat to welcome you to your home away from home.

The pool deck has gotten a facelift. Are you ready for a vacation now?

New light fixture in the Queen master bathroom.

Our Alice bedroom has new bedding and some fun drapery.

Quidditch supplies have made an appearance in our Harry Potter room.


Some other minor items also include, new hallway lights, and new clothes hangers in all the bedrooms. Spring cleaning and maintenance items were taken care of as well.  We hope that all the little things make our guests vacations just a little bit more enjoyable.  We welcome all comments!

News from Mickey's Garden Villa-Updates, Updates, Updates!

The month of October brought another trip for our family to the sunny state of Florida.  Prior to our arrival plans for upgrades and improvements to the house were already in progress.  We are always looking for ways to improve things for our guests. I truly enjoy looking for the little things that add that special something to the house.

For quite awhile we've been planning on replacing the carpets in the bedrooms of the house.  It is now done! Brand new carpeting in all the bedrooms and upstairs hallway.  We hope that everyone enjoys it as much as we did.  Along with the carpets we also got some paint touch ups completed to freshen up the house.

Another big item was removing the vertical blinds in the living room.  They did their job but it was time for them to retire. In their place we have put in drapes that not only provide privacy but we think they look nice too!

One of our fun additions is pictured below:

No Harry Potter themed bedroom would be complete without some trunks. Where else would our visiting witch and wizards like to put their things while on vacation.

Here's the list of things we accomplished for our guests on our last visit:

• Main floor Queen bedroom: new TV, new bedding, new blinds
• New carpeting in all bedrooms, upstairs hallway and stairs
• Paint touch ups throughout the house
• New drapes in the living room
• King master bedroom: new lamps, robe hooks in en suite
• Some new Disney touches in the dining room
• Queen Master bedroom: new TV, new shower curtain and rod in en suite
• Bunk Bed room: new ceiling fan, TV stand and blinds
• New nightstand in Harry Potter room
• Towel/swimsuit hooks in lanai/pool bathroom
• Alice in Wonderland room: new Alice pillow cases
• Motion/temperature sensor in upstairs hallway

Well that's it for now, we hope that all of our guests enjoy our ongoing updates. We only have 3 weeks left available in 2015 and we are looking forward to welcoming more guests in 2016. If you have any questions or comments we'd love to hear from you.

New at Mickey's Garden Villa-June 2015

We just spent a whirlwind 4 night stay at the house last week.  It was a lot of fun as we surprised the kids with the trip, and that made it even more enjoyable.  Even though we weren't there for very long we managed to fit in some additions to the property.

Some items may not be that glamorous, but they are essential!

• 4 New lounge chairs by the pool. They are very comfortable and they have several positions, even flat.

• Deck box for all those pool toys 
• New washing machine (the dryer will follow next month).
• New hallway light leading to the Queen master bedroom.

• The less exciting work done was changing smoke detector batteries, and pressure washing the pool deck and some minor paint touch ups. 
• We also got some new pictures of the pool and some other rooms.  We'll get these up on the website soon.

Regular visit items also included doing an inventory of our linens and putting out new ones as needed. For such a short stay we managed to accomplish quite a bit. We hope that all our guests will enjoy the new additions! 

Ongoing Updates at Mickey's Garden Villa

As owners we strive to continually improve our property for our guest's enjoyment. This December we continued our commitment and guests will find the following changes at Mickey's Garden Villa:

1. Queen Master Bedroom: new bedding, linens, ceiling fan and window coverings.
2. Queen Guest Room: new African decor, new blackout drapes, new mattress set
3. King Master Bedroom: New faucets in the en-suite
4. Alice in Wonderland bedroom:  New comforters
5. Harry Potter Bedroom: New picture frames, curtain rod and Hogwarts crest
6. Bunk Bedroom:  our movie themeing continues with the addition of a DVD player, movie camera lamp, popcorn pillow and 2 more movie posters (Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars, episodes 4, 5, 6). We also replaced linens in this room as well.
7. Kitchen: we replaced all the pots and pans, added some miscellaneous utensils and added a double Belgium waffle iron.
8. Living area: new table and floor lamps.
9. Outside:  a security camera was installed, some minor paint touch ups, new closures on the screen doors and in October we had the pool heater replaced.
10. Luggage stands in 3 bedrooms.

The Windsor Palms Clubhouse has also undergone some improvements as well.  The gamesroom has gotten new games, carpet and paint.  The Cinema has also been refreshed.

We welcome all questions and comments. Thanks

Checking-In at Mickey's Garden Villa

Planning a vacation is a lot of fun.  If it is your first time staying in a vacation rental you may have a lot of questions.  One thing that is important to understand is what happens on your check-in day.  At least one week prior to your arrival we will send out written instructions that you can print out and keep for reference.

Check-in time is 4:00 pm.  We have guests request early check-in times and if our schedule allows we will accommodate.  During peak vacation times such as summer this may not be possible. 

We have a keyless entry system at the house. We provide all guests with the opportunity to choose their own code. If there is not a preferred code we randomly assign one for the duration of your stay. The code that you use during your stay will work on all doors with an electronic lock. 

When you arrive at Windsor Palms you will need to register your vehicle at the gatehouse. Our resort is a 24hr manned gated community. After the first time you stop at the gate and receive your pass you will not need to stop and register again, just make sure that your permit is visible when you pull up to the gate.

You are almost there!! We have parking for 2 cars in the driveway and if needed one car can be parked on the street.  If you have more vehicles than this we would appreciate if they were parked up at the clubhouse where there is ample parking. Please make sure that no cars are parked on the lawn, the grass and sprinkler system will appreciate it!

Once at the house you can proceed to the front door.  To unlock the door follow the instructions in the video posted below:

Welcome to your vacation! We hope that you have a wonderful time and feel free to contact us with any questions.

It's A Pirate's Life for Me!

Well not really, but it does involve salt water.  We have a BIG change coming to Mickey's Garden Villa. Just this past June we painted the pool deck and updated the lights in our pool to colour changing LEDs. These are not only fun but they are also more energy efficient.

We also upgraded our pool pump to a more efficient unit. The only downside to it was that now our guests have to press 2 buttons to turn on the spa. You are on vacation and we hate to make more work for you!  So in the interest of all our guests we thought we'd go one step further and do one more pool upgrade.

To ensure that all our guest have a relaxing, stress and work free vacation we are putting in new pool controls and will bring back straight forward operation of the spa. Mid October we will have the new system installed and guests will be able to control the spa and pool lights from inside the house. Now you'll be able to turn on the spa and get it up to temperature without setting foot outside.

Now all you land lubbers are still probably wondering what Jack Sparrow, Davey Jones and salt water have to do with new pool controls. While we won't be inviting any pirates to vacation at Mickey's Garden Villa we will soon have a non-chlorine pool. During the installation of the new controls we will be changing the pool over to salt.

Why is this big news you ask? Salt water pools are great for several reasons:

• They are gentle on skin and eyes
• The water feels softer
• Safer, no harsh chemicals

We hope that all the improvements that we made to the pool will make all our guest's vacation even more relaxing. 

That's it for updates for now.  Please visit our Orlando area events page for information on upcoming events at all the theme parks. Don't hesitate to ask us any questions or leave a comment. Have a great weekend.

P.S. Today was also National Talk Like a Pirate day, matey!

Whew! What a busy few Weeks!

Hello everyone! Long time no see.  We've been really busy getting things up and running at the new house.  We were lucky enough to have 3 groups of people booked into the house from the previous owners.  The downside is that we are unable to go to the house ourselves and make the changes that we would like to make. 

It is almost unreal that after all this time we ended up buying a different house in such a short period of time.  We couldn't have done it if we hadn't had all the prep work completed in advance.  So far we've managed to put an additional group of guests into the home and ordered some new linens for the house.  Our kids though are most excited about just going to Florida.

Now that we have the house and things are starting to come together I will try and switch the focus of the blog to upcoming events in the Orlando area to help guests with planning.  Of course I'll do some updates on any renos we do as well! 

Have a great week everyone!

From the Longest Short Sale, to the Quickest close!

Things have finally settled down after a very crazy week.  Our involvement in a very long short sale left us disappointed and drained, but we bounced back and found an even better home!  Our closing actually happened this time. The house is still located in the amazing Windsor Palms Resort, it is 1.5 storeys, with an amazing open concept design, soaring ceilings and lots of room for everyone to spread out.  Outside we still have a large private pool with waterfall spa, and lots of space to relax!

The closing was a whirlwind experience. I don't know if we could have done it if we hadn't been prepared to close on the other house.  What was different about this closing though was that we had existing rental bookings that would carry over with the house sale. We ended up closing on Thursday, to give us a bit more time to prepare for guests arriving on Saturday.  Everything fell into place before guests arrive and by the end of the weekend we had most of our advertising in place.

With guests arriving each Saturday for the rest of the month, I've been fielding calls and emails all week.  Today we made our first booking through Home Away.  Now we have a booking for July as well.  I have to admit I was/am concerned about being able to get people into the house, when we took possession during peak season.  Getting the reservation today and having our listing live on VRBO and Dwellable, is easing my fears.

I have to admit that I am getting excited about our trip in July. I am a big kid at heart and can't wait to go to Disney and check out New Fantasyland!  There are so many things I would like to do at Disney World, but I don't know if we will be able to do it all this trip.  Our just turned 7 year old son is a Lego fanatic and LEGOLAND is a must this trip.  We will be arriving not long after the opening of the new Lego World of Chima area, this is fitting as we just had a Lego Chima birthday party for him.

Our "to do" list is still long and we have lots to do before we leave to head south. For the moment though I'm going to work on getting more sleep than I have been.  Have a great week everyone!

When one Door Closes, Another Opens

We have become experts in extremes.  If you follow us on here, Facebook, Twitter or Pintrest you may have noticed that I've changed some pictures.  We put an offer in on another house last week and the offer was accepted.  While outwardly I don't think I appear excited about this but, both my husband and I are happier with this house than the previous.  It's a nice home that is decorated nicely and really only requires some TLC that is a result of normal wear and tear.

After waiting patiently for the other house to close, almost 16 months it was extremely disappointing to have it end in the way it did. So when we put the offer in on this house so soon after the first, we were prepared to move quickly...our closing date is this Friday. Yup, Friday. It has been a flurry of activity getting everything ready.  It's amazing how quickly a traditional sale can move. The ongoing joke is that if the other house was a short sale, this must be the long one. LOL, crazy isn't it.

Over the coming months we will be trying to make the house a welcoming place for our guests to create vacation memories to last a lifetime. Whether you're visiting Walt Disney World, hoping to catch a glimpse of The Boy who Lived, at Universal Orlando, catching a game of golf at one of Florida's many golf courses, or taking day trip to the beach; Mickey's Garden Villa will be a relaxing place to come home to at the end of the day.

It feels good to be moving in a positive direction. Although this undertaking will require lots of work on our part, we are looking forward to the journey! Have a great day!

May 22nd Sounds Like a Good Day to Close on a House

So the 2-3 days it would take to get written approval turned into 12 days.  Our Realtor received a copy of the written approval from the second bank this past Tuesday. We only heard about it last night! I think our Realtor was more excited than we were.  We are excited, it is just that it's taken so long that it's almost surreal.  So, you might be wondering why we only got the news last night that we finally had approval.  Before giving us the news, our Realtor wanted to see the approval letter from the first bank. So with both letters in hand we got our good news!

So many things were running through our heads. First we had to pick a closing date, we have family coming to visit later in the month and we didn't want to miss their visit entirely. We have to close before June 7th.  So after some discussion we settled on May 22nd. It gives us about 2 weeks to get everything in order to close.  I am scheduled to work on the long weekend and I may need to do some scrambling to get all my work in order in time to leave, I'm not worried though.

Today, I had to get the inspection of the house organised.  First though I had to check with the Insurance company to see if it would be advantageous to us to have a wind mitigation inspection. The answer was a big no, so we won't waste our money on that one.  I gave a call to the inspector we had decided on previously. Unfortunately he is going on vacation today, until next Saturday and we need the inspection done in 7 days. So onto our second choice! All is now settled, money paid, info for the Realtor provided so the inspector can gain access to the house on Monday. We'll have our inspection report by Monday evening.  When we have that report and we make sure we're okay with any potential issues, then we can celebrate! It will be official then.

We are so ready for this to happen. So as of today our closing date is May 22 and then we will be open for business. We now have to update our web page, Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest and Google+. We are excited to be close to welcoming our first guests. Stay tuned for more updates. Thanks for following our journey so far. 

Bank Number 2 has Met my Expectations!

So it's May 1st. The weather is getting nicer and summer is getting closer. Around here we were hopeful that the second bank involved in our home purchase would be true to their word and have written approval to us by yesterday. I didn't believe it for a minute, I was hopeful but didn't believe it would happen.

As it turns out they met my expectations and did NOT deliver a written approval yesterday.  I told our Realtor that I should have taken bets on whether the would come through or not. I would have won! I have asked our Realtor to keep on them as we do not want to become his longest ever short sale. We haven't broken his record yet and I don't want to.

That is all I have to report/vent about right now. I am, as always hoping that we will have more to report soon. Happy Hump day!

I'll Believe it when I See it!

So today marked a new chapter in our pursuit of this Vacation Home dream of ours.  After A LOT of chasing after the second bank, the seller's attorney has spoken with a supervisor and supposedly he is approving the sale. Hallelujah! Now in my mind, this really means nothing.  After so many disappointments I am not doing anything else, until I see this acceptance in writing. 

The timing will be interesting.  There are so many things that I want to think about. What to do with the kids when we're there. What renos we'll do, where to shop, what to buy etc. etc. I can't let my mind do that though.  I need to focus on other things, like finishing my taxes. Yes, we are not that motivated to finish. We're almost done, but I just hate doing it!  I need to finish mine though because I always owe money being self-employed and the government doesn't like it when you're late paying them!

I'm hoping to have some more news over the next few days.  The written acceptance from the second bank is supposed to be in our hands within 2-3 days at the most. We will see! Enjoy the rest of your week!

Second Update!

Things seem to be moving along as predicted in this whole short sale process. We got our latest update! I've spoken to our Realtor and the short sale negotiator, the BPO (brokers price opinion) is now completed and has been sent to the bank. Today the seller is requesting proof of funds from us again. So off to the bank I went to get a letter showing we had enough money to buy the property.

Our Realtor said that the process is moving along well, but even thought that's good it's still no guarantee that the sale will go through. The bank my have a counter offer. The actual counter may not actually be directed at us, but at the seller, but it will still require the seller to agree.  We understand the whole process and the amount of time it may take but I still want to know the outcome. Can't wait and our fingers (and toes and anything else) are crossed.

I'm trying to think about what I can work on next to keep my mind busy.  I'm thinking that I can start putting together a rental agreement.  Get all the paperwork ready so we are ready to rent as soon as the keys are in our hands.

Thanks for reading, remember to answer the games room poll and LIKE us at facebook.com/MickeysGardenVilla

BBQ Anyone?!

The voting has ended, and the results are (drum roll please)....

68.8% of people thought a BBQ was an important thing to have in their vacation home.  25% thought it was very important and only 6% thought it was somewhat important!

Personally, we like to make some of our meals at home when on vacation. And nothing is better in warm weather than a BBQ. It is March Break here in Ontario and a lot of people are off on vacation as I write this. Many have flown (or driven) off to warmer destinations. I can't help but be a little envious. I hope they're having some fun for those of us still finishing out winter in Canada! (although we broke temperature records today with 17 degrees so I can't complain!)

The next thing I'm going to start working on is planning what will be in the Games room in the vacation home!  Some of the typical items found in them are pool tables, dart boards, Foosball or air hockey.  The main clubhouse at the resort has some of these items but why not have it at home! So what should I do? I'm going to post another poll here and on facebook. 

If there is something you think should be included please leave me a comment here after this post or on our facebook page (facebook.com/MickeysGardenVilla).

Have a great March break to my friends and followers in Ontario and to everyone else have a great week!