We stayed in a 4-bedroom townhouse at Regal Palms for 6 nights starting on Christmas Day. This selection was made because reviews on tripadvisor were not all negative and we could check in on Christmas day (several other villa-for-rent operations we contacted did not offer Christmas day check-in). Though our rate was a little more than twice the low rate $99/night mentioned in previous tripadviosr reviews, we still thought Regal Palms offered good value because otherwise we would have to rent 4 hotel rooms to accommodate our parties of 8 people.

Pros:
The pool at Regal Palms was very nice and clean. It had a water slide and a lazy river and the water was heated. Our kids love the pool and stay there for hours at a time. One can borrow towels at the pool area.

There was wireless connection available for free in checking/dinning area if you brought your own computer.

Cons:
The carpet in our townhouse was not very clean. It looked all right but when we walked on it barefooted, it felt a bit slimy.

There was one phone in the kitchen area, and we were told that local calls were free. We had planed to use the phone for dial-up connection to our internet service provider, but we could make calls to the front desk only but not anywhere else. Later we learned about wireless connection, so this was not big problem for us.

The hot water in the townhouse seemed to run out easily, maybe after four or five showers.

Additional Comments:

The staff there seemed friendly and helpful.

We could set the thermostat in our townhouse.

There was a charge of $125 to our credit card when check-in. We were told it would be refunded in about 14-business day after we checked out if there was not damage to the townhouse during our stay.

The drive to Disney was about 20 minutes, 30 minutes to Seaworld. The traffic seemed always congested on I-4 and route 192 during the time we were there.

This place was great. We got the AAA discount and paid less than a hundred bucks a night for a three bedroom townhome. It was clean, well stocked with linens, (and we were able to adjust the temperature unlike some other reviewers). We had "neighbors" in the townhome next to us, but I don't remember hearing them at all through the walls. It is a good 30 minute drive to Sea World, Disney, all the major attractions, but we only ran into bad traffic one time on our week long trip. The place is in a "developing" area. In about five or ten years, it will probably be in the middle of restaraunts and shops, but for now, expect to have a little drive to dining, etc. The pool area was very nice. However, one thing to note is the price of renting pool floaties is quite high. I don't remember exactly, but I'm thinking it was something like 10-15 dollars for one rental. We skipped that and just swam around the lazy river instead. Hot water wasn't an issue for us, but with more people, I think you may need to take quick showers. We had a tub filling up and a shower going at the same time and began to have luke warm water toward the end. All in all, I would definitely go back and think this place is well worth the money.

We recently came to Florida for the first time and did heaps of research on various accommodation options. We choose Regal Palms because we were two families of 4 wanting more than just a small hotel room.

We got two 4 bedroom houses through an owner on the internet. We got a great rate as we were there 10 days at the end of September. The complex was only partially full - probably only about 1/4 of the houses were occupied if that, so it was lovely. It was mostly quiet, except for construction workers building more houses and early morning lawn mowers.

One of our houses was fine - clean and tidy, but no phone line (we were forever promised that someone would look into it, but later found that there was longterm major cable problems). The other had major safety issues - to the point that we had to insist on being shifted after 3 days with no fridge, no toaster, no hot water, no phone and a hissing sound when you turned any electrical switch on! Once shifted, the second house was okay.

We enjoyed the complex - especially the lovely pool area. The staff could have been more helpful, although I would mention the lovely free shuttle bus driver who was wonderfully helpful and went out of his way to accommodate us!

Just be aware that you definitely need a rental car, as you are a fair way out of town and it takes awhile to get anywhere. We didn't actually experience much traffic problems, which was a blessing, and we did go out to Busch Gardens, Sea World, Discovery Cove (the highlight!!) and heaps of shopping.

If we ever come to Florida again, I probably would look to stay somewhere else, but to be honest it was value for money ($99 per night for 4 bedrooms!).

My family and I stayed in a four bedroom townhouse in Regal Palms the week before Thanksgiving. I have to say, we had an awesome time and were very impressed with the quality of the new townhouse and the resort itself. I just noticed several negative reviews from the long holiday weekend, which made me wonder if the resort was simply overloaded during Thanksgiving.

At any rate, it’s true that the thermostats are pre-set, but we did not find that to be a problem. The upstairs master bedroom where I slept was a bit on the chilly side. However, there were plenty of blankets in the linen closet that more than solved the problem. I was also very surprised to read the comments about the lack of bath mats. In the unit where we stayed, not only were there enough bath mats, there were also all kinds of additional amenities. For example, we had a total of four TV sets including numerous VHS/DVD players. There was even a small collection of movies and books on hand for us to use.

Any shortcomings, like the thermostat, are more than offset by the incredible pool and other stuff right there on the resort. If you stay at Regal Palms, you may not even WANT to go to any of the major theme parks, because your family will be so relaxed and have so much fun in the townhouse and at the pool! :) When we did venture to Disney, we did not encounter any major traffic problems. To be on the safe side, you might want to talk to the front desk to find out the fastest, least congested route.

In closing, I think the major point that you need to realize is that every townhouse in Regal Palms is individually owned. If you book your trip through one of the online services, you have no way of knowing which unit you’re going to get. But if you book direct from someone who owns a unit, which is what we did, you can have a better sense of what to expect. In the case of me and my family, our expectations were met and we were very happy with our choice of accomodations.