Author Archives: Dave

How to rent our Tuscan Ridge villa – the process

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Tuscan Ridge – it’s the place to be!

Tuscan Ridge

Tuscan Ridge at Christmas

It can be daunting the first time you want to rent a private villa.  How do you know the villa is as described?  Is the private pool actually green? How do you pay?  How can you get a level of security that you want?  What if it goes wrong?  There are loads of questions that need answering, so I will do my best here to explain how to rent our Tuscan Ridge villa in Florida.

  1. Please contact us!  We will listen to any of your questions and answer as many as we can.  There’s no such thing as a stupid question. We will respond quickly and honestly. We can send extra pictures over, or simply put your mind at ease.
  2. Once you are sure on your dates, check our availability.  We keep our calendar up to date with all confirmed bookings.  Tentative books are only made for 48 hours until we hear a response back.
  3. Contact us again, and we can hold the dates for 48 hours so long as you say you want them.  Discuss if you want pool heating or not, or any extra services such as a welcome pack, BBQ, and so on.
  4. Once you are happy that our Florida pool and spa are the best in town (which they are!), send us a deposit.  Since this is your hard earned money there are a number of ways you can do this, each with different levels of security but there is always one that will suit your needs.
  5. Transfer by bank account or PayPal, if you are comfortable with this.  Any PayPal fees have to be covered by the renter, although if you transfer by bank account the fees are zero.
  6. Visit our Florida Villa on one of our other listing sites: Tuscan Ridge on Flipkey or Florida Villa on AirBnB.  These sites offer payment security but you will be charged between 3% and 10% for this.  They will take the full amount, plus security deposit.  The full amount gets transferred to us once you check in, and the security deposit is returned automatically once we confirm everything is OK at the end of your stay.
  7. If you transfer the deposit direct to us, then the full amount is due 8 weeks before you stay.  The security deposit is returned either by a PayPal refund or bank account once our management company have checked everything is OK after you have left.  Most people are comfortable with sending money this way, you can call us and have a chat about it to make sure real people own the villa!

 

As you can see, we have every option covered for our private villa, and we are positive that one of the options will suit your needs.  Please contact us if you are still unsure about anything at all.

We have various referrals who have stayed in Tuscan Ridge that you can contact too, for another layer of confidence.

And last of all – if in doubt – contact us!

Tuscan Ridge Villa upgrades

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Donna and I have been busy buying upgrades to our Tuscan Ridge Florida villa.  Out with the old and in with the new!  Gone is the old TV in the living room and in comes a fantastic 47″ high definition JVC TV.  Sadly, we don’t live at our villa so we have to make do with a 5 year old TV here in the UK!  I hope our latest rental is enjoying the Super Bowl in glorious high definition!  Why would you want to leave Tuscan RIdge?

The villa now has high speed Bright House wireless internet throughout, along with their long distance USA and Canada call tariff.  So our guests can ring far away for no cost to themselves.

Tuscan Ridge is a great community, so to keep up with the neighbours we’ve bought brand new linen, towels and sheets to liven the villa up, and make anyone feel a million dollars when they rent the villa.  Some of the older style pictures have now been shifted, and in their place are some bright holiday pictures that inspire and relax and bring the villa up in to the modern day.

Tuscan Ridge Bedroom

Our queen bedroom – new linen

These finishing touches really add a touch of class to the villa – it’s always the little details that count.

So don’t wait to book your stay at Tuscan Ridge in our private villa.  You will not regret it!

Disney’s MyMagic+ MagicBands RFID wristbands will transform your next theme park experience

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Disney claim it’s a whole new way to plan and share your Walt Disney World vacation.  They’re right.

Disney’s MyMagic+ MagicBands RFID wristbands will transform your next theme park experience.  These are just one part of the 3 part MyMagic+ system. More on that later – the best part of technology is the RFID wristband.

Walt Disney Theme Parks and also their resorts plan to advance theme park technology and are taking the Disney guest experience to the next level, but is this another case of big brother and big data being used in conjunction with your privacy being the biggest loser – one doesn’t seem to exist without the other and as the saying goes – nothing is free nowadays, especially not your whereabouts.

Disney are dangling the carrot of convenience and harnessing a huge amount of data for potential marketing avenues and commercial advantages. So:

  • No more paper tickets.
  • No more credit card.
  • No more fast pass.
  • No more hotel room key.
  • No more photopass.

This is all handled by the MagicBand and optionally the smartphone apps too, and it all makes up the My Disney Experience:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/

Disney’s MagicBand RFID technology (radio frequency identification) is incorporated into stylish wristbands. On their own they are useless, but dotted throughout the parks are special sensors that will interact with sensors throughout the theme parks.

How much information do you want to give away? Once again this is a catch-22. More information equals a better experience, but also how much do you value your privacy? Favourite Disney characters, fair enough, and names. The Disney characters can then access the child’s MagicBand information and could greet the child by name, if the parents allow, of course.

disney wristband

Disney MyMagic+ RFID wristband

MyMagic+ is needed in order to use fastpass, so it’s not exactly a complete opt out system without any negatives – you lose fastpass.

MyMagic+ comprises two other components: The My Disney Experience website with smartphone app, and FASTPASS+.

FASTPASS+ will also allow guests to reserve spots for the fireworks and parades before they even enter Disney theme parks, so it’s not just the traditional fastpass system.

So on to the smartphone app: Disney has released its guide app that covers all four theme parks and its other tourist areas that make up Disney World. The app features detailed maps, complete with markers of interest, and GPS tracking to help you find your way around (and them to find you).

Itune app: https://itunes.apple.com/app/my-disney-experience-walt/id547436543

Amazon app: http://www.amazon.com/Disney-My-Experience-WDW/dp/B0096CDHIK

Some of the features available are approximate times for Disney character appearances,  wait times (hooray!), FASTPASS return times, book dining reservations, nearby Disney Characters, attractions, entertainment, park hours, schedules.

Other facts:

  • For purchases of $50 or more Disney will require the user to enter a PIN as a safety precaution
  • Bands can be disabled and replaced to avoid misuse
  • MyMagic+ is rolling out in this spring and should be available to all guests by the end of 2013
  • 47 million visitors visited Disney in 2012
  • Data can be tracked minute by minute, raising interesting discussions on Big Data. This needs a new order of magnitude of processing and data power to harness and make use of
  • The Disney My Experience smartphone app is a free download
  • Walt Disney World is a site of over 30,000 acres in size
  • You can even make a reservation at one of the restaurants without getting off your phone app

 

Walt Disney World Speedway NASCAR driving experience

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I learnt that there is a Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando today. As a car fan and petrolhead this is hard to ignore, especially since our private villa accommodation is so close to Disney itself. What a great addition to the list of things to do during your Orlando vacation or Florida escape to the sun.

So what does the Walt Disney World Speedway offer the Disney fan or Cars Petrolhead?

First of all, an adult can either drive or ride shotgun in a NASCAR race car around the mile long race track. 600hp to play with, and up to 140mph of fun. Slightly more than the Interstate-4 speed limit I believe. Even faster than the theme park rides at Universal Studios (think HULK) and Magic Kingdom. More exclusive too – how many people have driven a NASCAR?

For the younger person on holiday, they can join in the fun with a ride along in the NASCAR, so no one feels left out. These are available for children between the ages of 6 and 13 years old and at least 48 inches tall.

Walt Disney World Speedway is located in Orlando Florida and is a 1 mile “tri-oval” circuit. Built in 1995 for IndyCar but now the home to the Richard Petty Driving Experience. Link is below.

Walt Disney World Speedway

Make this part of your vacation when you next visit our Orlando Disney Villa! Or how about a day away from the Orlando Golf courses instead? You only live once!

Private villa rental concerns – Dave’s Florida Villa have you covered

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We have a renter who has booked a whole month at our Tuscan Ridge luxury villa (excellent!), and she was kind enough to let us know why she picked our villa accommodation. One thing the lady mentioned was that there are always concerns about whether the villa is actually real and if the pictures aren’t showing the real truth. I hadn’t thought about this. However you can rent our Florida Villa with peace of mind for the following reasons.

– Our management company. Homes of America handle all queries you have during your stay. If you look on their site you can see our villa listed. They offer a fantastic service and would be happy to address any concerns, and if you are worried about the villa you can always call them directly to check.

– Bing aerial view and Google street view prove the villa is at least real. This doesn’t mean it’s lovely inside though, but it does prove the location, south facing pool, and size of the property.

– You can see our picture in front of the villa, as well as links to several profile pages on twitter, google+, facebook and linkedIn to validate our identity. Feel free to call us too for a personal chat to address any worries.

– By accident, that’s our baby boy Rowan in the picture of the living room!

I can fully understand the concerns when you are spending your hard earned money on our villa, but please be assured that the villa pictures are all up to date and that the description and location are accurate. The last thing we want are negative reviews.