Frequently asked questions about our vacation homes and visiting Orlando

Why would you want your family to be cramped up in a hotel room, possibly resorting to sitting on the beds to watch TV – nowhere to eat or relax, when for a little more outlay you can have the pleasure of spreading yourselves out in a single family home?

Just imagine the luxury of climbing out of bed in the morning, opening the patio door, and diving into your own private pool!

For breakfast, lunch or dinner, just enter your fully fitted kitchen to enjoy your favorite beverage and share a meal with your family in the dining area – or separate dining room. Or enjoy the luxury of a take-out meal from one of the numerous local restaurants who will happily deliver directly to the home, and you don't even have to worry about the trash, as you would in a hotel room! Lose the kids in the game room and keep in touch with family and friends via the in-house broadband internet access (see individual home descriptions for facilities within the homes). Relax and enjoy the TV in almost every room (most homes have multiple TVs). Easy access to the theme parks makes it possible to split your day by returning home for a swim and a bite to eat, before returning to the parks refreshed and ready to stay for the long haul.

We have a small selection of quality villa homes on Indian Ridge Oaks in Kissimmee, FL. This is a quiet subdivision just 4 miles from the Disney Parks, and about 20 minutes from SeaWorld/Discovery Cove, and about 25 minutes from Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. See our location page and our interactive map for more information.

Abracadabra has been in the rental business for almost three years, and we are seeing steady growth in our business year on year. We pride ourselves on our personal service, and plan to seriously restrict the number of homes we will manage in order to maintain our excellent service levels.

Abracadabra is a small family company. We are hands-on with our management and cleaning, all of which is inspected personally by the one of the owners before guest arrival, and following their departure. We are located on Indian Ridge Oaks, just minutes from any of our vacation rental homes, so any issues you may have during your stay will be attended to promptly.

Absolutely! We have a fabulous service for guests in most of our homes, which offers FREE long distance and international dialing to most parts of the world. No need to bother about obtaining and trying to use phone cards, just pick up the phone and dial away!

Many do have space converted to a game room. Generally when this is done we also ensure that the air conditioning system is ducted into the space. Some of our homes do not have game rooms, as we do have clients who prefer to park their vehicles off the road or driveway, and we like to cater for as many different varieties of requests as we can.

Yes, we can hold a reservation for you with the payment of $250. We hold on to this deposit as security against your stay. This sum is fully refunded within 30 days of departure, providing there is no problem with the home.

To avoid disappointment we recommend that you make a reservation as soon as possible. Call us at 1-407-397-1034 (from the UK call 0871-720-2587) to see what availability we have, and check out any special offers in effect at that time.

In our experience, guests readily remember the name of a home, far more easily than they might remember the actual address. When guests call to re-book for another vacation, they can ask for the home by name.

To avoid disappointment we recommend that you make a reservation as soon as possible. Call us at 1-407-397-1034 (from the UK call 0871-720-2587) to see what availability we have, and check out any special offers in effect at that time.

Absolutely! Visit our website, and having carefully perused our home selection on our, you select the home in which you want to take your vacation, by the name of the home. Unlike with many 'agency' companies who allocate homes on arrival, you know you have absolute assurance that the home you booked is the one in which you get to stay, and the descriptions of each home accurately reflect the amenities available within the individual homes. All paperwork connected with your reservation will refer to the name of the home you have selected.

We normally require balances to be settled within 8 weeks of arrival. Once you have paid the balance of your account we will send you your final receipt and directions to the home. We will include the security code for your keyless access to the home, as well as the telephone number so that you can provide this to family and friends before you leave.

Our homes are fitted with security combination locks. The combination is changed immediately a guest leaves, so you have absolute reassurance that the code issued to you for your stay is unique to you and your guests. This avoids the obvious problems with forgetting or losing keys, or having to visit a management office to obtain a key before you can start your vacation. With us, you go directly to your home, and start having fun!

This will depend upon what time of year you are planning to visit. See charts below for average and record temperature variations and an indication of average rainfall.

This chart shows Average/Record Temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit, comparing these with average water temperatures across the year.

This chart shows average monthly rainfall in Central Florida, measured in inches.

Pool heating is available on request (minimum of 4 days please) and the cost will depend upon the required heating level:
80-85 degrees is $25/day [8 hours] ($100 minimum)
90-95 degrees is $40/day [8 hours] ($160 minimum)
These temperatures may be adversely affected if the air temperature drops below 55 degrees.

Amenities and facilities vary from property to property, but the website descriptions should adequately describe the main amenities you can expect. Please check the description of the homes to determine their special characteristics.

All homes come equipped with linens, towels, dinnerware, glasses, silverware, washer, dryer, range and many with TVs in all bedrooms. Most have DVD and or VCR, and some have game rooms. Most also have at least one hairdryer.

All our homes have private pools and also air conditioning, which is thermostatically controlled. See the Guest Information Pack for your particular home for operating instructions. If you have a specific requirement for your vacation home, please make this known to us, and we will be happy to try to accommodate such requirements.

We understand that it's not always possible to arrive at your vacation home with the little things you need to avoid an immediate trip to the grocery store. We will be happy to provide, on request, a welcome pack of groceries, with 2 service level choices.

Grocery Welcome Pack
Standard Pack	Luxury Pack
Tea, Coffee, Milk, Orange juice, Soda, Sugar, Bread, Butter, Jelly, Cereal, Cookies, Eggs	As standard, but with the addition of wine and 6 cans of beer
$45.00	$60.00

Many tourists and business travelers to the USA will require no visa or a simple visitor visa. The State Department currently allows residents of 27 countries to enter the USA without a visitor visa under the Visa Waiver Program. If you hold a valid passport of one of the following countries and wish to visit for 90 days or less, you are not required to obtain a visitor visa: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

However, as the rules and laws are subject to change, please contact the US Embassy or Consular office in your home country for up to date information on visa requirements.

The homes generally have gas powered BBQ grills, which are normally located on a concrete slab, just outside the pool enclosure. These grills should NEVER be moved into the pool area, as this could pose a major fire risk, and also staining and damage to the pool deck.

Under Florida Law, vacation home owners are required to fit security devices to ensure children cannot enter the pool area without adults being aware that they have done so.

Our homes are fitted with a pool door alarm, which makes an annoying shrieking sound every time the pool door is opened. There will be a button on the front or the side of the alarm box to shut off the alarm. It is a serious offence under Florida law to tamper with, or disconnect the PDA.

Please do not rely on devices to replace constant monitoring of your children, both inside and outside the home.

By Florida Law, smoking is prohibited in vacation rental homes, and all homes are consequently fitted with smoke alarms. Smoking is permitted on the pool deck, although we ask that you clear all ashtrays or other smoking accoutrements when you leave the area.

We are not a rental agency. Our homes are either owned and managed by us, or managed by us directly. We intend to strictly control the number of homes we will manage, so as to avoid the trap into which many property management companies fall – that of over-stretching, and finding themselves unable to keep pace with the maintenance, cleaning and general support of both owners and guests. This self-imposed restriction makes it possible to maintain our service levels, and keep our staff motivated to do a quality job, rather than being rushed from one home to another, with the consequent drop in guest/owner satisfaction and overall service level.

The photographs of the homes on our website, are genuine photographs of the actual homes, and they have all been taken recently.

Because we are selective about our homes, we know every detail about them, and consequently can answer questions with a degree of knowledge that may be lacking in some larger management companies or rental agencies.

Normal check in time is after 4pm on arrival date, and departure time is any time before 10 am on the date of departure. Early check-in or late departure may be available by request, as long as this does not create a housekeeping/inspection problem with the arrival and/or departure of other guests. There will be a charge for this service, which will change seasonally. Please call us for more information.

We do not normally take reservations for stays of less than four nights. Stays of less than 5 nights will incur a cleaning fee of $65 for our 2 bed homes, and $75 for our 3 bed homes.