What a truely awful thing to happen. Hope it didn't put too much of a dampener on your holiday although I know these things leave a bad taste in the mouth.

Please could you post which particular area or development it was on i.e davenport, bahama bay etc so that others are forewarned ?

Ive got to the stage where I think what is the point in taking IPods, PSP's, portable DVD players etc away with you, but travelling is the very time these things come into their own.

Thanks for your reply.
The area we where at was Calabay Park.
I must say that the villa was excellent but what amazed me was the fact the villa was burgled with a car on the drive and the noise when using something like a sledgehammer must have been horrendous.
The thieves also only concentrated on the safe they must have been informed we had rented it to go equipped like that or maybe i'm just naive.
Like I said the children where the worst affected they kept thinking that someone was going to come with a gun and rob us, also we couldn't relax thinking our houses at home could be burgled as well (just being paranoid I suppose)
The travel company would have given us another villa in the same area but I couldn't see the point of that as we might have been burgled again or they would have put us on a resort but that would have been £45 per night extra so we would have been losing more money.
I aren't trying to put people off going as I have said the place is truly amazing and the people are about the friendliest you could meet also the parks etc. are out of this world but if I was going again I would have my money,passports etc with me at all times.

How awful for you and your family.

We are going to Calabay Parc in 2 weeks time and am now really worried.

We keep looking for reviews on the villa's and the only ones we can find say that they are dirty and shabby and covered in cockroaches.

This is a once in a lifetime holiday for us and we have been really looking forward to it especially as we are there over christmas, so any good points would be gratefully recieved.

Thank you
Angie

Please don't be worried about the villas they really are amazing,we had a 5 bedroom and it was huge, my son had a 3 bedroom villa and it was lovely, we never had any problem with cockroaches or ants, we had been warned not to leave any food out as it could attract them so we just tidied as we went along, the front areas are lawned and are attended to almost daily We had a couple of vehicles which we did need to get about as it,s about 25 mins or so into the main areas, there is a shopping centre with a decent supermarket about 10 minute drive away it also has takeaways etc. a huge wallmart is about 15mins away in a different direction. All the villas looked superb to me. We had the pool heated for the first week but as the temp was dropping the second week we didn't bother
The parks are truly amazing we had the time of our lives as every one is brilliant I would really recommend staying for the firework displays etc.
I don't know if you are taking children but our ages ranged from 2yrs to 55yrs and I don't know who was more amazed with everything.
We would definetly book again with the same company and stay at Calabay park the only changes I would make are.
1 Not use the safe as I would keep the money etc. on me.
2 Take travellers cheques instead of dollars
3 When signing for the villa don't speak about your plans for the holiday,please don't think I am trying to accuse anybody of anything but at this point keep valubles in another room.
4 On the patio door there is a plastic flap type thing to prevent the door being opened , check it each time you go out.
5 Leave blinds shut and lights on when you go out
I hope I never misled you when I said about the 3 burglaries a day, they are'nt all at Calabay but spread around that area which has several parks

Like I have said my son had a villa and had no problem at all

Most of all be prepared to be truly amazed any other tips I can help with just ask

Thanks Mev

I just really want this to be the best holiday for my kids. they are 17 and 12 so really excited about it.

Thanks again.

No Problem
17 and 12 i'm 55 and loved every minute of it (except you know what)

You will all be amazed i'm sure, whatever you have been told or anything you have seen can never do the place justice

All the places to eat cater for everyone, can I suggest the Hard Rock Cafe and Margareterville for a meal when in Universal and don't forget the Simpson ride I am still laughing at that one.

Take care and enjoy

This is a terrible story.

We have stayed in lots of villas in different areas within Orlando, we haven't stayed in Calabay Parc but others in nearby communities and we have never had any problems at all so hopefully this is a "one off". We have always had villas that have their own safe number that you assign yourself at the safe or a safe that has a key that we have kept on us. Also the villas we have rented have alarms on all doors when any external door is opened you hear it and also a security alarm which can be set at night, for anyone worried it may be worth checking that the villa has an alarm for reassurance before booking.

The communities of villas that we have stayed in and felt very safe are:-
Legacy Park, Windward Bay, Emerald Island.

Hi everyone

I stayed at a villa in Calabay Parc Florida last October, we were two families of 4.

The villa was lovely and everything which was advertised prior to us arriving, we arrived at about
8.00pm on the first night, next morning kids were all up early wanting to use pool which was great
to see them enjoying themselves, we had a relaxing day at Gatorland. When we got back to villa everything
was fine. Next day all up early off to Epcot, when we arrived back a couple of lights were on and when we got in every draw was opened, we had obviously been burgled.

My daughter had all her holiday money stolen from her purse (it was obvious it was a childs purse), she had all her NDS games stolen, but they did not take the consoles. Our friends children had their money taken and also more NDS games. Luckly we had hidden our money in a safe place so they did not find it.

However they went through our suitcases etc trying to find money. The kids were terrified.

We called the police who were excellent and out within minutes, the rental management company were also good and they moved us to another villa with an alarm system.

At the end of the day we had insurance and got everything back but it did put a dampner on the start of the holiday and we were always nervous about coming back to the villa. However, we put it behind us and had a great holiday.

The Sheriff said that they had had a few break-ins recently and we saw the police outside another couple of villas over the duration of our stay. Calabay Parc is not a true gated community, and anyone can drive around and get into the area.

For the rest of the holiday we had to hide all our valuables in very safe places, left lights on, TV on, made sure Alarm was always on.

Please dont be put off by the above Calabay Parc is a nice area and the villas are great, this was my 6th trip to Florida and the first time anything like this had happened, i guess we were unlucky.

Any questions let me know

PS - we all want to go back to Florida this year again so its not put us off