⭐ A 5-star month-long stay at Sanddancer at Solterra

🏡 A guest's experience of a month in our Florida home

We always love hearing what our guests think about their stay at Sanddancer at Solterra, particularly when they have had the opportunity to make the house their home for several weeks.

In October and November 2025, Christopher and his family stayed with us for 31 nights, giving them plenty of time to experience the home, the private pool, Solterra Resort and the surrounding Orlando area.

🌴 Comfortable, spacious & ideally located

Christopher described Sanddancer at Solterra as spacious, comfortable and furnished to a high standard. The family particularly appreciated the five-bedroom layout, modern bathrooms, well-equipped kitchen and the additional upstairs lounge, which gave everyone plenty of space to relax.

The location was another highlight. Solterra Resort provided a secure and well-maintained base with convenient access to Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, supermarkets, restaurants, shopping and the I-4.

🏊 A private pool to relax in

The private heated pool and screened lanai were particular favourites during their stay. The family enjoyed the comfortable outdoor seating, ceiling fan, pool lighting and peaceful surroundings, with the pool heat providing comfortable swimming throughout their October and November visit.

They also appreciated the practical touches, including high-speed Wi-Fi, Smart TVs, keyless entry, air conditioning, washer and dryer, USB charging points, plentiful towels, board games and pool toys.

❤️ A home away from home

After spending a full month at the property, Christopher commented on how well maintained and comfortable the home felt. With plenty of space downstairs, upstairs and around the pool, the house was ideal for their family of four and for additional family members who visited during their stay.

Communication throughout their visit was also highlighted positively, with Christopher appreciating the regular contact and assistance whenever needed.

⭐ Their verdict – 5 Stars

Christopher concluded:

“I have no problems giving this property a 5-star rating. It has served us very well, has a good location, and did what it needed to do with a high level of comfort. Very satisfied, and would stay here again.”

★★★★★ 5/5 – Christopher, November 2025

🌞 Planning your own Florida stay?

Whether you're visiting Orlando for a family Disney holiday, an extended winter stay or simply looking for somewhere comfortable to relax between days at the parks, Sanddancer at Solterra offers the space and facilities to make yourself at home.

📅 Check our availability and rates or contact us directly to start planning your stay.

Read Christopher's full blog about his stay below...

Soltera Resort private rental home review
Saturday, 8th November, 2025

General

We stayed at this property for one month, from October 10th to November 10th, 2025. It was organised directly with the property owner through a Facebook group, although the logistics were handled via an intermediary property management company.

Prices fluctuate throughout the year, so I won’t state what we paid. However, I conducted extensive research beforehand. I found the agreed-upon price for the 31 nights to be very reasonable—particularly since we had negotiated a price that included pool heat, which we had found to be often pricey as a separate add-on. It’s essential to check this with any potential holiday rental property.

The location

The property is situated within the Soltera Resort gated community, located in Davenport, Florida. It’s a large housing subdivision, comprising approximately 500-600 homes, all of which were built between 2013 and 2022. There’s a manned security gate at the entrance to the resort, and you have to scan a QR code to get in. Boom gates operate for vehicles coming and going. We routinely saw security vehicles patrolling the streets of the resort, and felt very safe while we were there.

The resort has a clubhouse with a swimming pool and a range of amenities. There’s a separate one-time $35 fee for all guests to take advantage of those amenities collectively, but we didn’t utilise it during our stay, so I cannot review any of that.

As is typical of gated communities, it’s well-kept, with manicured lawns everywhere. There’s no litter, no graffiti or anything like that. Temperatures were in the upper 20s when we were there, and there were plenty of people out and about walking the wide streets.

Driving distances

The Soltera resort is approximately 15-20 minutes away from the Disney theme parks and 30-40 minutes from the Universal theme parks and SeaWorld, depending on traffic. The nearest Publix supermarket is 10 minutes away, with numerous dining options in the surrounding area. Just a few minutes farther are major stores, such as Target and Walmart. It’s about 10-15 minutes to the nearest I-4 on/off ramps, so it’s a convenient location.

Tampa: 1 hour
Downtown Orlando: 45 minutes
St. Augustine: 2½ hours
Jacksonville: 2h 40m
Miami: 3 ½
Kennedy Space Centre: 1h 20m

The house

The property is a two-story house in a terraced row of houses. Although there is no garage, there are two dedicated parking spaces immediately in front. There are five bedrooms in total. One is downstairs, adjacent to a full-sized bathroom with a shower. Four bedrooms are located upstairs, two of which have en-suite bathrooms, and an additional bathroom is available. The downstairs features an entry hall, open-plan kitchen/living room/dining room, all combined into a single space. The high ceilings throughout make the house seem extremely spacious. The screened-in patio features a small pool, a seating area with comfortable patio furniture, and a separate toilet. There is a screen to separate the pool for safety if you have young children.

I had arranged for the rental to include pool heat for the duration. Most days were 28-30 Celsius (mid-80s Fahrenheit). We found the pool heat to be just about perfect with no chill. At its deepest, the pool is around chest height for an adult with a stepped entrance at the shallower end. There was also a nice pool light, which made for a pleasant environment after dark. The table and chairs on the patio were comfortable with adequate lighting and a ceiling fan for a comfortable breeze.

The house is nicely furnished to a high standard, featuring decent and comfortable furniture, high-quality kitchen appliances, electrical outlets with charging ports, a security system, and more. There are plenty of cupboards in the kitchen, and no shortage of dishes, plates, cooking utensils, and other essentials. The kitchen features a large, double-door fridge-freezer, a gas oven with a spacious hob, a built-in microwave, a toaster, a coffee maker (compatible with coffee pods), a dishwasher, a sink waste disposal unit, and a kettle.

There was decent internet and a Wi-Fi system included. Connecting to the Wi-Fi was simple—scan the QR code on the information sheet to establish a connection. Nobody complained about range or connectivity performance from anywhere in the house. Between my blogging and our kids streaming to multiple devices, we put the bandwidth to the test and found it to be more than adequate. All TVs were functional smart TVs with access to major streaming apps (such as Netflix, Disney+ and others—we had our own login credentials), as well as a wide range of cable channels.

There was a brief internet outage while we were there, which turned out to be an issue with the internet provider affecting a large number of users. The owner messages us about this when they received a notification from the provider. After resetting the routers, the issue was eventually resolved.

The downstairs living spaces are tiled, while the bedrooms and the rest of the house are carpeted.

Upstairs, there is a communal living space, complete with a large flat-screen TV, a coffee table, and a couch. There is also a washer and dryer tucked away in a cupboard upstairs.

All bedrooms have adequate cupboard space. The downstairs bedroom features a walk-in cupboard, which proved particularly useful during our extended stay.

The house has a decent air conditioning system, although we were restricted to how low the temperature could be set. This was to prevent the A/C unit from freezing. We had no issues with the temperature comfort.

Checking in was straightforward. We made ourselves known at the clubhouse, and there was a keyless entry system at the property itself—a code on the doorhandle keypad unlocked the door, and another code on the alarm panel inside the entry hall disabled the alarm.

We found all beds to be made up, with plenty of towels available, and some basic consumables (such as soap, bin liners, and toilet paper) were also present to see us through the first couple of days.

Noise pollution wasn’t a problem. We did hear the neighbours talking on occasion, but the walls on either side of the back patio provided adequate privacy. Once or twice over the course of the month, we heard a leaf blower from the gardeners tidying up the lawns after they had been mowed. A pool maintenance man visited us twice during our stay to clean and inspect the pool’s condition.

Other than tidying up, locking up, and arming the alarm, there were no issues with checking out.

The property was well-maintained, both inside and out. We found no evidence of pests and no significant maintenance issues. The house isn’t that old, so it doesn’t have that lived-in feel—no significant scuff marks or wear and tear visible anywhere.

The lighting throughout was warm and cosy, with plenty of control over what needs to be illuminated. There are plenty of lights, although there’s also a lot of natural sunlight when the blinds are open. I also liked the fact that several electrical outlets also had various types of USB ports attached—convenient for charging devices.

Upstairs is a cabinet full of board games. There were plenty of inflatable toys in the pool cupboard on the patio, and various helpful items were stored in cupboards around the house, including cleaning equipment, weighing scales, a sewing kit, etc.

We had no issues with cell phone reception in the house or on the patio. However, we did experience a persistent coverage bind spot just outside the front of the home. This meant I had to program the satnav from inside the house, instead of inside the car. Once we drove a few streets away from the property, that blind spot went away.

We unfortunately broke a glass mirror in the entry hall during our stay. The owner was extremely understanding and didn’t make a huge fuss. We eventually found a glazier to cut a new mirror for us, resolving the issue without the need for insurance involvement.

Impressions

Although we are only a family of four, I specifically looked for a rental property with five bedrooms. In general, the more rooms there are, the roomier the house is and feels. We had different guests stay with us for a few nights on a couple of occasions, and we felt there was more than enough space for everyone.

The house felt comfortable. There was plenty of space to lounge around, be that upstairs while playing video games, downstairs in front of the large TV, or out on the veranda by the pool. My wife and I slept in the downstairs bedroom, and the kids each found their own rooms upstairs. That worked well for us.

The bathrooms have modern fixtures and fittings of a high standard, although I would have preferred a hose shower head in addition to the fixed one on the wall in the downstairs bathroom. This was probably my only criticism of the house, which is saying something, as I’ve lived in Florida before, built my own high-spec home here in the past, and am a difficult person to please.

Although there was a management company, we ended up dealing directly with the owner on several occasions, maintaining regular contact with her throughout our stay. We got to know each other well—partly because she was reading my daily blogs. Throughout my stay, I had little need to liaise with the management company, except to inform them of the details of visiting guests (so security knew to let them in). I experienced some early miscommunication with the management company regarding the payment of the deposit, but that was essentially my fault for not understanding the distinction between a bank transfer and a wire transfer. Once we had overcome that hurdle, there were no further issues, and the management company was suitably communicative with us.

Conclusion

I have no problems giving this property a 5-star rating. It has served us very well, has a good location, and did what it needed to do with a high level of comfort. Very satisfied, and would stay here again.— Christopher Morgan (cdmonline@mac.com), 13 Nov 2025