🌟 Guest Reviews – Sanddancer at Solterra

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.

As a former owner of a property in Orlando I have struggled to find another place I would recommend or go back to myself for future holidays, the struggle is over ! From the moment we stepped through the door we knew we had made the right choice, the smell of clean ! Everywhere was spotless and felt like a brand new property, it has been very well looked after. Lovely welcome basket and personal note was a nice touch. Spacious property, well stocked with everything you could need for a short or long stay. Husband was well impressed with the extra features on the TV which meant he could watch football all weekend, which I also appreciated as I was able to relax outside ! Location is great with easy access to areas such as Champions Gate, Reunion and Posner Park, where you can find numerous shops and restaurants. We didn’t do parks this time but the ability to get to I4 or have alternative routes to Disney meant we could get to the Disney area in around 15/20 minutes so would be great for future trips. Carole was great and responding to any questions and the management company kept in contact both prior and during our stay. We would highly recommend and look forward to future stays.

Host were kind and responsive! Gave clear instructions and information about the property. Home is just as pictured clean, and exactly how it was described it was perfect for our family stay. We would definitely stay here again!

We really enjoyed the townhouse. Thank you!

Absolutely loved this home and the amenities the resort has to offer. Definitely coming back!

We had a great time....kids were able to spread out.....great time

We loved our stay! Home was clean and just as described. Management Company were responsive with the one small question we had.

Beautiful home! We enjoyed our stay with two busy kids.

The villa was fantastic and played a huge part in our extended family having the best holiday! Every room in the house is beautiful and clean, with the beds extremely comfortable. The social areas allowed for our mixture of ages to have their own space and the sitting room upstairs was an added bounds. Anything and everything we needed we found at the villa, this included pool towels, a stroller, pool toys and games. The wider complex and pool area was beautiful, the kids loved the flume and lazy river. It was the perfect break after our busy days at universal. The location of the villa was about 30minutes to universal and a 5minute drive to the supermarkets. The host couldn't do enough to help, she was always there if we had any questions and was quick to respond. I really cannot recommend this villa enough for a large family stay - we will be back!

We had such a wonderful stay at this gorgeous house, Sanddancer at Solterra. It is a beautiful holiday home fully equipped with absolutely everything you could need including a huge array of kitchen utensils and appliances, a fantastic washing machine and tumble drier and even pool toys and games. We spent so much time relaxing at the private pool (the chairs and loungers were very comfy!) and loved eating breakfast on the patio. The house is beautifully decorated, spacious, comfy and clean. It was full of lovely touches throughout and the beach theme gave it such a nice ambiance. We found our stay very relaxing and everything was made so easy, from connecting to the WiFi to using the coffee machine, to the security system. It felt like a very safe place to be and the Solterra resort itself also has fantastic amenities including a large pool, lazy river, water slide onsite cafe and gym. It is in a great location, close to lots of shops and restaurants and just a short drive to Disney World. We can’t wait to come back and stay again!

Wow! What a beautiful home from home the Sandancer is. With its thoughtful decor and lovely pool it was the perfect place to spend 14 days this August. It’s got everything you need and then some! It’s close to Disney (about 30 mins by Uber) and Universal (about 45 mins) It has a fabulous kitchen with all mod cons and 5 spacious bedrooms 3 of which have en suites. I can’t recommend this townhouse enough. We already have the blues and wish we were back there!!!

I can honestly say this was the first time I didn't want to leave go home after a holiday. Usually after a week I miss home but we were here for 3 and a 1/2 weeks and I could stayed forever! Such a lovely and well equipped house, everything has been thought of. The pool was the icing on the cake and got plenty of use! The Solterra site itself is lovely, very well maintained and secure. The main pool and facilities were also fab and well worth buying the pass for. A short drive off site are loads of restaurants and shops and only 30 minutes to Disney etc. We're already checking dates and making plans to return next year, we absolutely loved it. Thank you Carol for ensuring we had a wonderful stay.

We had a wonderful stay! Everything was better than expected. Extremely clean!