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Staying off property at Disney World.
If you follow me on Instagram, you might remember seeing some photos and video of Elle’s 3rd birthday celebration at Disney. Yep, we packed up the family, including my parents and their significant others, boarded a plane, and headed for sunny Orlando.

Let me start by saying that we aren’t Disney fanatics and shockingly enough, Elle isn’t even really into the whole realm of Disney princesses – yet. However, she loves spending our summer days licking ice cream cones and riding rides at Cedar Point, so we naturally thought she’d love the whole Disney experience. We had taken her once before, back in October, but just for one day to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to take in everything Doc McStuffins.

Since we knew we wouldn’t be going to the park every day, we decided to stay off property. The cost of 3 hotel rooms was pretty steep, even at the moderately priced resorts. Once we factored in the costs of park admission, meals, souvenirs, etc., we knew we’d go way over over budget if we decided to stay at a resort on property.

I’ve had several readers reach out to me about where we stayed and what our experience was, so    I decided to give you guys all the details about the rental property we chose. I’ll be sharing a bit more about our trip in another post, but decided to break them into two separate posts, or this post would be eleventy million words long.

THE VACATION RENTAL

Serendipity at Indian Creek Disney World Vacation Rental Living Room
After searching VRBO for weeks for places to stay near Disney World, one day, we stumbled upon this lovely vacation home just 4 miles from Disney. We knew it was the one as soon as we realized it had 5 bedrooms, 3 of them with king sized beds AND their own bathrooms. I’m a firm believer that when you travel with family, the bathrooms definitely need to be separate.

The gorgeous pool and hot tub were definitely a bonus.

Serendipity at Indian Creek Disney World Vacation Rental Pool

Once we spoke with the owner, Sarah, from Orlando Insider Vacations, her delightful personality and willingness to answer any and all questions, pretty much sealed the deal. We booked our stay at Serendipity at Indian Creek and couldn’t wait to head to Florida.

Judging from the photos and reviews on VRBO, we knew the house would be pretty stocked with essentials, but we had no idea just how stocked it truly was.

Serendipity at Indian Creek Disney World Vacation Rental Kitchen
The kitchen was an absolute dream to cook our meals in – complete with quality pans, utensils and even items like an immersion blender and a food scale. You could seriously whip up just about anything, but we ended up using the outdoor grill the most because we wanted to soak up as much poolside time as possible. Sarah even had a little basket of essential groceries waiting for our arrival. And there were items like milk and eggs in fridge – such a thoughtful touch.

We knew we didn’t want to waste time at the grocery store, so we actually use Shipt grocery delivery service to have a grocery order delivered an hour after our arrival. We simply chose our items from Publix, arranged a delivery time everything arrived on our door step. I seriously cant wait until this service becomes available in our area.

Serendipity at Indian Creek Disney World Vacation Rental Master Bedroom Picture
The bedrooms were tastefully decorated and the beds were pretty darn comfortable. There are even 2 kid-themed bedrooms – one with Shrek decor and one with Finding Nemo decor. Although Elle liked the bedrooms, she absolutely loved the Frozen themed game room – complete with a pool table, air hockey table, and tons of other items to play with.


But the star of the house was definitely the pool. Elle would’ve have stayed in the pool all day every day if we would’ve let her. She even cried one morning when we were heading to Magic Kingdom, because she wanted to go swimming instead. She’s keeps asking when we’re going back to the Disney Florida House so she can go swimming in the dolphin pool.

Overall, we can’t recommend the Serendipity at Indian Creek rental house enough – especially if you’re looking for places to stay near Disney World. From start to finish, the process was incredibly simple and we honestly couldn’t have asked for more thoughtful, kind, or helpful owners. They ensured we had a comfortable and delightful stay and we’ll definitely be returning very soon.

Note: The some of the images in this post are not my own. The were either purchased from Svenson Images, or used with permission from the owner of the vacation rental. Unfortunately, my camera was super glitchy while on vacation and I didn’t fix the issue until our final day.

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12 Comments

  1. Donna @ The Slow Roasted Italian says:

    I love everything about this! If you are going to stay off property this is the way to do it and your daughter is so sweet. We rented a house when we went to Florida last time and loved it! We are talking about going to Orlando later this year. I will definitely check this place out!

    1. Jamie says:

      Donna-
      The property was perfect for us! Definitely check this place out! Thanks so much for stopping by.
      -Jamie

  2. Charlene says:

    God could SHE get any cuter???? What a sweetheart!

    1. Jamie says:

      Thank you, Charlene! We’re pretty fond of her, too! xxoo

  3. Melissa Judson says:

    Year ago, probably around 2007-ish, we stayed if not in the exact same house & is shown above, then one identical to it (& likely in the same neighborhood). We split the cost of the rental between my family of 4, my sister’s (then) family of 3 & our parents. It was the best decision ever & I’d never do it any other way again. We had breakfast at home every day but 1 where we decided to all go out together. We cooked dinner 2 nights, ordered pizza one night & went out to eat the rest of the time. Having the pool that belonged only to us for the week was an amazing bonus, also. VRBO.com is hands down the way to go when planning a trip!

    1. Jamie says:

      I couldn’t agree more, Melissa! I’m glad your family had a great time.

  4. Carol Gonzales says:

    Jamie, that dishwasher looks wider than standard. Is it really larger or is it just the camera angle?

    1. Jamie says:

      Carol-
      Hello! It was definitely a standard dishwasher, I think the photo angle just makes it look a bit wider. Thanks so much for stopping by!
      -Jamie

  5. Roseanne says:

    Wow – this place looks fantastic and so close to the parks! We usually stay at an off-site hotel but this looks even better. There’s no competing with anyone else for pool time or pool chairs – sounds beyond perfect. I’ll check this out for our next trip!

    1. Jamie says:

      Great, Roseanne! Let me know what you think!

  6. David says:

    How did the grocery delivery work with it being a (I think) gated community plus a rental, so the gate guards don’t know you? We often stay in nearby communities that are the same kind of set up as  Indian Creek is, and I never thought to try grocery delivery. It’s a good idea. It’s always a little tiring to go shopping the first night in, although the Publix isn’t far, nor is the Super Target plus that little grocery store that’s nearest.

    1. Jamie says:

      David-
      We loved the grocery delivery – be sure to look online for a coupon to use before you order if you decide to do so. Indian Creek wasn’t gated, but we have stayed on gated properties before and you typically just have to notify them of a delivery. We love the Super Target, but it was awesome to just have everything delivered right to our doorstep. Thanks so much for stopping by!
      -Jamie