Whole houses 12 to 26 minutes from Universal Orlando

A day at the park and an evening back at the house

Most people who book one of our houses for a Universal trip are not looking for a hotel room to sleep in between park days. They want a kitchen for breakfast before the gates open, a washer for the shirts that come back soaked from a water ride, and a driveway to park in without hunting for a garage spot. You load the car in the morning, drive over, spend the day on rides and in lines, and come back in the evening to a house that already has the beds made and the air conditioning running.

The house itself becomes part of the trip once the parks close for the night. Meet. Play. Stay. has a separate game room with a full-size pool table, a dart board and a second table, so a rained-out afternoon or a night when everyone is too tired for one more ride still has something to do at home. Piedmont has its own game corner with a foosball table and an arcade basketball game, built around a riddle-and-treasure-chest theme for groups who want to play it; on a plainer family trip it is just a corner with games in it. Entertainment Home pairs a foosball table with table tennis in front of an electric fireplace TV wall.

None of the thirteen homes has a pool of its own. The water part of the day happens inside the park gates, wherever your tickets take you. What the house is for is the part before and after: a real breakfast at a real table, a load of laundry running while everyone showers off a day of walking, and a bedroom that is not shaped like a hotel box.

The homes that suit a Universal trip

Of the thirteen houses in the portfolio, these three run 12 to 14 minutes from Universal and carry the features families and groups tend to ask about for a park trip: room to sleep everyone, somewhere to unwind that is not the bedroom, and parking for more than one car.

West Orlando

Malibu Groves

Meet. Play. Stay.

3 bd 2 ba Sleeps 9

9 min downtown · 10 min ORMC · 12 min Universal

Remote Workers & Digital NomadsGroups & Reunions

West Orlando

Washington Shores

Piedmont

4 bd 3 ba Sleeps 14

11 min downtown · 11 min ORMC · 13 min Universal

Travel Nurse & MedicalInsurance & Displacement

Northwest Orlando

Pine Hills

Entertainment Home

3 bd 2 ba Sleeps 11

11 min downtown · 12 min ORMC · 14 min Universal

Groups & ReunionsFamily Vacations & Theme Parks

The Meet & Play House in Malibu Groves is the newest-built home in the portfolio and about 12 minutes from Universal Studios Florida by road, 16 to Epic Universe. It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, sleeps up to nine, and comes with an attached garage, a fenced backyard with cornhole, and desks in two of the bedrooms for anyone who needs to answer email before the pool table gets used for its intended purpose. Since the house is newer, the backyard landscaping is still young and plain grass, and the game room runs on colored LED cove lighting rather than anything more subdued. The exact address is not published; we share it at booking, along with the 32811 zip code that places it a few minutes off Kirkman Road.

The Piedmont House has a published street address, 4445 Piedmont St in Washington Shores, four bedrooms and three bathrooms, and sleeps up to fourteen. It is about 13 minutes from Universal Studios Florida and 15 from Epic Universe, with a concrete parking pad out front large enough for several vehicles and a fenced backyard behind the house. The kitchen has stainless steel appliances and gray shaker cabinets, and the living area sits under a vaulted ceiling with a sectional sofa. The driveway and parking pad show some age and the bedrooms are furnished plainly rather than dressed up, worth knowing before you book.

The Entertainment House sits in Pine Hills, about 14 minutes from Universal Studios Florida and 17 from Epic Universe, with a foosball table, table tennis and a white sectional facing the fireplace wall. It has three bedrooms plus a small bonus room that adds sleeping space rather than a fourth bedroom, two bathrooms, and sleeps up to eleven, with an attached one-car garage and a paver walk. The front lawn is patchy in places and the rooms are furnished in the same plain, practical style as most of the portfolio. Like Meet. Play. Stay., its address is shared at booking rather than published on the site, with the 32808 zip code placing it near the Central Florida Fairgrounds.

The drive to Universal, Epic Universe and beyond

From the Malibu Groves and Washington Shores homes, Kirkman Road carries you on a straight run southwest to Universal, the route both neighborhoods' area guides point to as the quickest one from this side of the portfolio. From the Pine Hills cluster, the SR-408 expressway ramps put Universal, AdventHealth Orlando and downtown within an 11-to-17-minute drive, before you pick up Kirkman Road for the last stretch. Every number on this page is a typical drive without traffic; Orlando's rush hours add time to the longer routes, the same as anywhere else in the metro.

The map below places each home in its true compass direction from Universal, with the distance from the centre showing drive minutes rather than miles, so you can see at a glance which side of town gets you to the park gates fastest.

Universal is not the only park most of our guests are weighing against a house on this side of town. Epic Universe runs 14 to 26 minutes from our homes, and ICON Park and International Drive run 15 to 27, both close to Universal's own range. SeaWorld Orlando runs 23 to 36, several minutes more across the board, since it sits farther from our west-Orlando cluster. The table below lines up all thirteen homes against the three destinations side by side.

Typical road-routing times without traffic; Orlando rush hours add to the longer routes.

What the house gives you for a park day

A theme park day starts early and ends late, and the house is built to make both ends easier. Every home comes with beds and linens already made up, a stocked kitchen with cookware and dishes, a washer and dryer, Wi-Fi, and private parking in a driveway, carport or parking pad, all confirmed in writing when you book. That means a bowl of cereal before you head out in the morning, and a load of park clothes in the wash before anyone showers off a long day of walking.

Exact inclusions vary a little by home and are confirmed in writing when you book.

A few homes add more. Meet. Play. Stay. has a portable crib available for a trip with a baby, on top of the desks in two of its bedrooms. Piedmont's concrete parking pad out front fits several vehicles. Entertainment Home has an attached one-car garage and a paver walk to the front door. None of the thirteen homes has a pool, and rates are never posted on the site; the nightly, weekly or monthly figure, the deposit and the pet policy are confirmed in writing once you tell us your dates.

Universal charges for parking at the park itself, a cost we do not set or collect, but there is nothing to pay for parking at the house. A driveway, a carport or a parking pad comes with every stay, so you are not hunting for a second spot on the street when you get back in the evening.

Booking a house near the parks

A short stay near Universal books differently than a month-long assignment does. Nightly and weekly visits run through each home's own Airbnb and Vrbo listing, or through a direct inquiry to us if you would rather skip the marketplace, and either way you get one rate for the whole house rather than a rate per room or per person. If your trip stretches into a season, monthly stays are booked directly with Libema on a written agreement instead, with the rate, the deposit and the pet policy confirmed in writing before you pay.

We do not publish rates on the site because they vary by home, by season and by how many nights you are booking; ask and we will confirm the number in writing the same day. A family or a group of friends pays the way any leisure guest does: the rate is agreed up front, a deposit secures the dates, and you get an itemized receipt. None of the net-30 or purchase-order terms we offer companies and agencies apply to a family or group trip; there is nothing to invoice, only a booking to confirm.

You let yourself in with keyless entry or a lockbox, and arrival notes with the code or the key location come a few days before check-in. If you are not sure yet whether three nights or a full week makes more sense for the parks you want to see, ask us for both and compare. Several homes accept pets, and that policy is confirmed in writing too, before you bring the dog along.

Beyond the park gates

A Universal trip does not have to be only Universal. ICON Park and International Drive, with its observation wheel, restaurants and mini golf, run 15 to 27 minutes from our homes, about the same drive as the park itself from most of the portfolio.

SeaWorld Orlando is a further drive at 23 to 36 minutes, which makes it a second-day trip rather than a stop on the way. From the Malibu Groves and Washington Shores homes, the MetroWest restaurant corridor on South Hiawassee Road is close enough to eat dinner out instead of cooking after a long day at a park; Tacos Don Andres and Habibi Lebanese Grill sit along that stretch, and Teak Neighborhood Grill off Kirkman Road does burgers and a weekend brunch. From Entertainment Home in Pine Hills, the Walmart Supercenter on West Princeton Street and Presidente Supermarket on North Pine Hills Road cover the grocery run, and from Meet. Play. Stay., either the newer Publix at Metro West Village on South Hiawassee Road or the Publix on South Kirkman Road covers a full grocery run.

One guest measured the location by the park itself. Miriam, who stayed at Cozy Home in February 2026, wrote: 'The home is in a good spot right in the middle of restaurants and stores. Good distance from Universal Volcano Bay.' That is the trade a lot of families are making: a shorter drive and a lower price than staying inside the resort district.

What guests said about the homes near Universal

The reviews below are real, pulled verbatim from the homes' own Airbnb listings, with the reviewer's name and the month they stayed. Meet. Play. Stay. carries a 5.0 rating across 34 reviews, and the comments below explain some of why.

Ratings vary across the cluster. Piedmont sits at 4.64 across 28 reviews and Entertainment Home at 4.76 across 88, both consistent with the honesty notes on each home page: older furnishings, a plain, practical style, and a driveway or lawn that shows some age rather than anything freshly landscaped. None of the three homes above claims to be something it is not, and the reviews are there so you can check that against your own expectations before you book.

A number of reviews mention a group trip, an event, or simply a place to sleep between long days out, rather than Universal by name. That tracks: guests book this cluster of homes for a range of reasons, and a theme park trip is one of the most common ones.

A planning checklist for a park trip

A little planning before you inquire gets you a faster answer and a better match. Here is what the families and groups who have an easy time booking near Universal tend to sort out first.

• Which parks are the priority. Universal Studios Florida and Epic Universe sit close together on the drive-time table; ICON Park and SeaWorld add a few more minutes each. Tell us and we can point to the home that fits the balance you want.
• How many people and how many cars. Bedroom and bathroom counts vary by home; Piedmont sleeps up to fourteen and Meet. Play. Stay. up to nine, so the right fit depends on the group.
• Whether games at the house matter to you. Meet. Play. Stay. has a pool table and darts, Piedmont has foosball and arcade basketball, and Entertainment Home has foosball and table tennis.
• How many nights, and whether that could change. A few nights or a week runs through Airbnb or Vrbo; a stay of a month or longer books directly with us on a written agreement.
• Parking for every vehicle you are bringing. Every home has a driveway, carport or parking pad; tell us how many cars so we can confirm there is room for all of them.
• The plain parts. Read the honesty notes on each home page before you book: older furnishings, a patchy lawn, or a single bathroom in some homes. We would rather you know going in than be surprised at check-in.

More reading for a theme park stay

Two of our guides go deeper on planning a park trip around a whole house instead of a hotel room.

Family Travel · 5 min

Renting a House for an Orlando Park Trip: A Family Guide

How a whole house on the city side of Orlando works for a theme-park week, what it costs you in drive time, and how to plan the days around it.

Read →

Groups · 4 min

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.

Read →

If you are traveling as a family, our family vacation page covers the rest of the portfolio with that trip in mind. If it is a bigger group, several friends or a reunion filling more than one house, the group and reunion page lays out the four- and six-bedroom options and how they split up.