Most families planning an Orlando park trip start by looking at the resort district, where the hotels are close to the gates and priced to match. There is a second way to do it that costs less and gives you more room: rent a whole house on the city side of Orlando and drive in. This guide is about how that works in practice, including the part nobody likes to say out loud, which is the commute.
Where the houses are, and how far the parks really are
Our thirteen homes sit on the west, northwest and downtown edges of Orlando, in residential neighborhoods like Pine Hills, Washington Shores, Malibu Groves and Holden Heights. From there the parks are a drive, not a walk:
- Universal Orlando (Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, Volcano Bay and the Epic Universe park that opened in 2025) is the closest. The Meet & Play House and the Piedmont House are about 12 to 13 minutes from Universal Studios by road; the farthest of our homes is about 26.
- SeaWorld, Aquatica and Discovery Cove are 25 to 36 minutes south on I-4.
- Walt Disney World is the long one: roughly 35 to 50 minutes to Magic Kingdom depending on the house and the hour, via I-4 or the 429 toll road.
Every home page on this site lists its own drive time to each park, computed by road without traffic, so you can pick the house with the number in front of you. Orlando traffic adds time in the morning rush and again around 4 to 6 pm; leaving for a park at 7:30 am and coming back at 3 pm or after 7 pm avoids most of it.
What a house changes about a park week
The first thing is the bedrooms. A family of six in a hotel is two rooms and two keys; in the Londonderry House it is a king room, a queen room and a bunk room with four twin beds behind one front door. Kids in bunk beds at the end of a park day is a different evening from kids on a rollaway.
The second is the kitchen. Breakfast at 7 am before rope drop (that is the term for arriving as the park opens, when lines are shortest) is a bowl of cereal and coffee at your own table instead of a hotel buffet queue. A packed cooler of sandwiches and refilled water bottles saves a family real money over a week, and dinner at home on the tired nights beats another restaurant.
The third is the washer and dryer. Florida park days are hot and often end in an afternoon storm. Every one of our homes has laundry, so you pack for three days and wash, not for seven.
The fourth is parking. Every home has a private driveway or carport, so the car is at the door. Parking at the parks themselves is separate and set by the parks.
What a house does not give you
Be clear-eyed about three things. There is no pool at any of our homes; they are residential houses. There is no shuttle; you drive or ride-share. And you are 35 to 50 minutes from Disney, which means a family doing four Disney days in a row will spend an hour or more in the car each day. For a Universal-heavy trip, or a trip that mixes a couple of park days with downtown, the springs and the stadiums, the trade works very well. For a Disney-only marathon, the resort district may suit you better, and we would rather say so than have you disappointed.
Planning the days
- Alternate park days with rest days. A house makes rest days easy: a yard, a game room at the Entertainment House or the Meet & Play House, a real living room.
- Do Universal early in the week from the west-side homes while everyone is fresh, and save the long Disney drive for a day you can start early.
- Book the house before the tickets for holiday weeks. Large homes go first.
- Pack ponchos and refillable bottles. Summer afternoons bring short, heavy storms almost daily; the parks reopen rides quickly once they pass.
Which homes suit a family
For a family of four to six, the Cozy House, the Sunset Lake House and the Katherine House are the simplest fits. For two families together, the Dollins House sleeps thirteen and the Head Avenue House sleeps fifteen. The family vacation page lists the rest with their drive times, and the near-Universal page sorts every home by minutes to the gate.
Homes with room to play on a day off
A week built around theme parks usually needs one day that is not behind a turnstile, whether you plan it that way or an afternoon storm makes the choice for you. Four of our homes are set up with exactly that kind of day in mind, and it is worth knowing what each one actually offers, since a game room looks different from house to house.
Meet. Play. Stay. in Malibu Groves has a separate room with a full-size pool table, a dart board and a second table under colored LED lighting, plus a fenced backyard with cornhole and a covered patio. Two of its three bedrooms have a desk and an office chair, useful if a parent needs an hour of email while the kids stay in the pool-table room, and a portable crib is available on request.
Entertainment Home in Pine Hills pairs a foosball table and table tennis with a living room built around a white sectional and an electric fireplace TV wall, and sleeps up to eleven across three bedrooms and a small bonus room. Piedmont in Washington Shores has its own game corner with a foosball table and arcade basketball, an open living and dining area under a vaulted ceiling, and a concrete parking pad large enough for a family that arrives in more than one car.
Downtown & Stadium Cozy Retreat, also in Pine Hills, keeps things simpler: a bunk room with two sets of bunk beds sits beside a king bedroom and a queen bedroom, enough that a family of eight can spread out across real beds rather than doubling up on a sofa. None of these four homes charges extra for the play space. It comes with the house, the same as the kitchen and the driveway.
Drive times to Universal and Disney, home by home
The overview above gives the outer edges: 12 to 26 minutes to Universal and 34 to 47 to Disney. Here is where each house actually falls inside that range, by road and without traffic.
From Malibu Groves, Meet. Play. Stay. runs about 12 minutes to Universal Studios and 38 to Magic Kingdom. In Pine Hills, Entertainment Home and Cozy Home are each about 14 minutes to Universal with 39 to Disney, and The Clue House is 14 minutes to Universal with 40 to Disney. Downtown & Stadium Cozy Retreat, also in Pine Hills, is 17 minutes to Universal and 42 to Disney. On the Washington Shores side, City and Stadium Sanctuary Vibes is 15 minutes to Universal and 36 to Disney, and Game Day Getaway-Downtown Orlando is 16 minutes to Universal and 37 to Disney; Amelia’s Arena Retreat on the downtown edge is also 16 minutes to Universal and 37 to Disney. Fruit Tree Home in Holden Heights is 13 minutes to Universal and 34 to Disney. WinterPark Home, up in Lockhart near AdventHealth Altamonte, is 26 minutes to Universal and 47 to Disney. Wekiwa Home, the smallest home in the portfolio and best for one to four people, is 19 minutes to Universal and 44 to Disney.
| Home | Universal Studios Florida | Magic Kingdom | SeaWorld Orlando |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meet. Play. Stay.Malibu Groves · 3 bd · 2 ba · sleeps 9 | 12 min | 38 min | 25 min |
| Fruit Tree HomeHolden Heights · 3 bd · 2 ba · sleeps 10 | 13 min | 34 min | 23 min |
| PiedmontWashington Shores · 4 bd · 3 ba · sleeps 14 | 13 min | 36 min | 25 min |
| Entertainment HomePine Hills · 3 bd · 2 ba · sleeps 11 | 14 min | 39 min | 27 min |
| The Clue HousePine Hills / Rosemont · 6 bd · 3 ba · sleeps 15 | 14 min | 40 min | 27 min |
| Cozy HomePine Hills · 3 bd · 1 ba · sleeps 8 | 14 min | 39 min | 27 min |
| City and Stadium Sanctuary VibesWashington Shores / Lake Sunset · 3 bd · 1 ba · sleeps 8 | 15 min | 36 min | 24 min |
| BlueEarthHiawassee Villas / Pine Hills · 4 bd · 2 ba · sleeps 7 | 16 min | 42 min | 29 min |
| Game Day Getaway-Downtown OrlandoWashington Shores · 4 bd · 2 ba · sleeps 13 | 16 min | 37 min | 25 min |
| Amelia’s Arena RetreatParramore / Downtown Edge · 4 bd · 2 ba · sleeps 8 | 16 min | 37 min | 25 min |
| Downtown & Stadium Cozy RetreatPine Hills · 3 bd · 1.5 ba · sleeps 8 | 17 min | 42 min | 30 min |
| Wekiwa HomeHiawassee · 2 bd · 2 ba · sleeps 6 | 19 min | 44 min | 32 min |
| WinterPark HomeLockhart / Rosemont · 3 bd · 1 ba · sleeps 8 | 26 min | 47 min | 36 min |
Typical road-routing times without traffic; Orlando rush hours add to the longer routes.
Most of these drives run on two roads. SR-408 carries the west-side, Pine Hills and downtown-edge homes toward I-4, the direct line to both parks. The Pine Hills homes reach SR-408 by way of Silver Star Road or Pine Hills Road. From Lockhart and Rosemont, the route to both parks runs down US-441 or I-4.
- 1 Meet. Play. Stay. 12 min
- 2 Fruit Tree Home 13 min
- 3 Piedmont 13 min
- 4 Entertainment Home 14 min
- 5 The Clue House 14 min
- 6 Cozy Home 14 min
- 7 City and Stadium Sanctuary Vibes 15 min
- 8 BlueEarth 16 min
- 9 Game Day Getaway-Downtown Orlando 16 min
- 10 Amelia’s Arena Retreat 16 min
- 11 Downtown & Stadium Cozy Retreat 17 min
- 12 Wekiwa Home 19 min
- 13 WinterPark Home 26 min
Tolls on the drive to the parks
Two of the roads that carry most of this traffic are toll roads. SR-408, the East-West Expressway that the west-side, Pine Hills and downtown-edge homes all lean on, is tolled by transponder or by license plate. SR-429, the western beltway that the Hiawassee side uses to reach Ocoee and Apopka, works the same way. Neither charges a flat cash toll at a booth; you either carry a SunPass or E-PASS transponder or the toll authority bills the rental car company by plate, usually at a higher per-trip rate.
For a week of round trips to the parks and back, a transponder pays for itself over paying by plate. It is a cost separate from the house, not something we invoice or include in the rate, and it applies no matter which of the thirteen homes you book. Our guide to getting around Orlando covers the same roads in more detail if you would rather plan the routes before you land than after.
What's already in the kitchen and the closets
Every home comes with furniture, beds and linens, a stocked kitchen, a washer and dryer, Wi-Fi and private parking, but a few details matter more with kids along than they do on a solo work trip.
WinterPark Home lists a kitchen already stocked with cookware, dishes and a coffee maker, and Wekiwa Home's cabinets come stocked with glasses, plates and cookware too, so the first grocery run at either one can go straight to food, instead of replacing basics a rental kitchen usually lacks. The Clue House's own listing photos show its kitchen drawers and cabinets stocked as well. If you are traveling with a baby, Meet. Play. Stay. has a portable crib on request; ask about the others when you inquire, since not every home keeps one on hand. For the crash after a hot morning at the park, Game Day Getaway-Downtown Orlando, Downtown & Stadium Cozy Retreat and Cozy Home all have blackout curtains in the bedrooms.
Table size varies too. Meet. Play. Stay. and Downtown & Stadium Cozy Retreat each seat six at the dining table; City and Stadium Sanctuary Vibes, Cozy Home and Wekiwa Home seat four. If a family of six or more plans to eat together every night, check the table along with the bedroom count before you book.
Full-size laundry is specifically noted at The Clue House, Fruit Tree Home, Cozy Home and Wekiwa Home. The rest of the homes have a washer and dryer as well, just not called out as full-size in the listing, which is worth a question if you are washing park clothes for a crowd every couple of days.
Exact inclusions vary a little by home and are confirmed in writing when you book.
Exact inclusions, along with the rate, the deposit and the pet policy, are confirmed in writing when you inquire.
How each home handles parking for the group
Every home has its own off-street parking, but the setup is not identical, and it matters if your group is arriving in more than one vehicle or unloading a stroller and a cooler every morning before the parks open. Entertainment Home has an attached one-car garage, and Meet. Play. Stay. has its own attached garage as well. City and Stadium Sanctuary Vibes parks under a carport shaded by a live oak, and Piedmont has a concrete parking pad large enough for several vehicles, on top of its own driveway. Amelia’s Arena Retreat, The Clue House, Game Day Getaway-Downtown Orlando, WinterPark Home and Fruit Tree Home all park in a private driveway.
Wekiwa Home's own listing notes private parking at its covered front entry, though it isn't broken out as a driveway, carport or pad the way the others are. Cozy Home and Downtown & Stadium Cozy Retreat, both in Pine Hills, don't list a dedicated parking spot in their own records, so ask us about parking on the block before you book either one. None of the parking anywhere on the portfolio costs extra, and none of it is shared with a neighbor the way a hotel parking garage is. If two cars are coming for one trip, mention it when you inquire so we can point you toward a home with a garage or a parking pad instead of a driveway alone.
Where to stop for groceries on the way in
Knowing where to shop on the way in from the airport saves the first evening. Guests at Amelia’s Arena Retreat and Fruit Tree Home are closest to the small-format Publix downtown at The Paramount, with a second Publix on South Orange Avenue near Holden Heights. The Pine Hills cluster sits near the Walmart Supercenter on West Princeton Street, plus Presidente Supermarket and Caribbean Supercenter along the Pine Hills Road and West Colonial corridor if the family wants Latin or Caribbean groceries instead of the usual list. Piedmont, Game Day Getaway-Downtown Orlando and City and Stadium Sanctuary Vibes in Washington Shores are also within reach of that same Walmart Supercenter and Presidente Supermarket, or the compact Publix at The Paramount downtown. Meet. Play. Stay., a little further west in Malibu Groves, is nearest to the rebuilt Publix at Metro West Village on South Hiawassee Road. From WinterPark Home in Lockhart, either the downtown stores or the Pine Hills stores are a short drive.
Inside of a Publix store in MetroWest, Orlando, Florida · Nielsoncaetanosalmeron · CC BY 4.0 · resized from 6000x4000
No matter which cluster you're in, arriving with the fridge stocked means one less stop before an early start the next morning.
A park-free day near the house
Barnett Park in Pine Hills runs to 159 acres, with a free splash pad that operates in timed sessions through the warm months, playgrounds, walking trails, disc golf and courts, a straightforward stop for the Head Avenue, Entertainment, Londonderry and Cozy houses. Lake Lorna Doone Park, rebuilt in 2021, sits near Camping World Stadium and close to City and Stadium Sanctuary Vibes, with a walking loop, outdoor fitness stations, a splash pad and an inclusive barrier-free playground. Downtown, Lake Eola Park has a roughly one-mile sidewalk loop, the resident swans, and a Sunday farmers market from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., a short drive from Amelia’s Arena Retreat and Fruit Tree Home.
None of these charge theme-park admission, and a slow morning at one of them is often enough to reset a group of tired kids for the next park day.
What families said about staying in a house
The reviews on each home's own Airbnb listing are the guests' words, not ours. Angella, who stayed at The Clue House in August 2026, wrote: 'My stay was very good. Close to everywhere without the traffic. My family and I was safe and felt at home.' Cozy Home, one of the simpler three-bedroom options with a single shared bathroom, draws a similar reaction from families who make that trade for the space and the price:
"Brandon was a great host, he knows the local area very well and has tons of recommendations!"
"I love how close everything was and he was very nice"
"Pics were accurate for the place. People who inhabit the neighborhood are nice as well. Overall great stay"
Every home page carries its own set of reviews with the reviewer's name and the month they stayed, and the full collection across all thirteen homes is on our reviews page.
Housing a reunion alongside the park days
Some park trips are two trips stacked together: a few days at the gates, then a family gathering at the end of the week. Pine Hills is worth knowing about for that combination specifically. It holds four of our thirteen homes, The Clue House, Entertainment Home, Downtown & Stadium Cozy Retreat and Cozy Home, which makes it the simplest way to put an extended family under more than one roof in the same part of town. A big group does not have to scatter across the metro to stay together.
Piedmont in Washington Shores adds a fourth large option outside that cluster, with three bathrooms and room for up to fourteen. Between The Clue House at fifteen, Piedmont at fourteen and Game Day Getaway-Downtown Orlando at thirteen, most extended families find one house that fits, and a larger group can split across two of the four Pine Hills homes if one roof isn't enough for everyone.
Housing a Reunion or a Big Group in Orlando
How to put fifteen, twenty or more people under a few roofs in Orlando without a hotel block, and the house rules that keep a big-group stay easy.
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Which Libema Home Is Right for You
All thirteen homes matched to the stays people actually book: a solo nurse, a couple, a family of five, a crew, a reunion, a game weekend, a hospital assignment.
Read →Narrowing down which house fits your family
Most park trips book as a nightly or weekly stay through the home's own Airbnb or Vrbo listing, which is the simplest route for anywhere from a long weekend to two weeks. If a family stay stretches toward a month, for a slower relocation trip or for combining a park week with weeks of remote work on either side of it, it makes more sense to book directly with us instead: a written monthly agreement, a confirmed rate and deposit, and one point of contact rather than a listing calendar. Either way, the same thirteen houses are available, and the same kitchen, laundry and driveway are already in the house when you arrive.
A few questions, answered before you inquire, usually point straight to the right one.
- Which park is the priority? A Universal-heavy week points toward the Malibu Groves, Washington Shores or downtown-edge clusters; a Disney-heavy week costs everyone more time in the car no matter which house you pick, so weigh that against the savings over the resort district.
- How many bathrooms does the group need? Piedmont and The Clue House each have three; Amelia’s Arena Retreat, Game Day Getaway-Downtown Orlando, Fruit Tree Home, Meet. Play. Stay., Entertainment Home and Wekiwa Home each have two; Cozy Home, City and Stadium Sanctuary Vibes and WinterPark Home run on one full bath, and Downtown & Stadium Cozy Retreat has one full bath plus a half bath.
- Is anyone traveling with a baby or a dog? Ask about a crib and about the pet policy for the specific house; the answer varies by home and is confirmed in writing before you book.
- Where will the rest day be? If a free morning at a splash pad or a lake matters to your group, look at which cluster sits near Barnett Park, Lake Lorna Doone Park or Lake Eola Park before you settle on a house.
- Is this trip alone, or a reunion attached to it? If relatives are joining for part of the week, say so up front. A three-bedroom bungalow and a six-bedroom house like The Clue House book differently, and Pine Hills gives you the option of more than one roof.
Send us your dates, your park priorities and your group size, and we typically come back the same day with two or three houses that fit, the real drive times, and photos of the actual rooms.
