View Full Version : How safe are the villas?
Nostromo
05-11-2003, 20:57
When we are at Orange Tree, us adults aim to go out for the evening leaving the seniors to babysit the kids. We may return late, eg 2pm or so. Is it safe to leave them behind in the villa? I mean you are not likely to get burglars and similar dodgy characters?
Nostromo, it is no more or less safe, than it would be leaving the seniors babysitting the kids in your own home. I've never let it worry me, either in the UK or Florida.
Enjoy your night out! :D:D
caroline
06-11-2003, 01:27
We've never experienced any problems, and have always felt very comfortable leaving our 19 year old daughter babysitting our 12 year old, more to the point she has always felt very happy about it.
Have a great night!
I know when we first went we did feel a little anxious. A strange thing did happen our first time.
My wife and I we lounging around flicking through 101 cable channels, when we heard a sound outside. As though someone had knocked the bin over. Being the man of the house I told thewife to go and check outside...(didnt want my pizza to go cold[msnwink])...she wouldnt go. Checked the bin it was fine walked round the house all fine. We were told about racoons but never saw any.
Five min later the same sound, again I got up and checked, this time took a torch.....nothin. Five min later same again. This time we did nothing, again the same noise. The wife then said it sound like its from the kitchen. It was all open plan....I think most villas are. Again went to check.....waited...waited...there it was again. It was comming from the fridge.
No nothing.....waited.....it was the freezer. What was happening was the ice machine was droping ice in a plastic bowl which was resinating through the villa.[:I]
That is a true story.
Our villa is on Southern Dunes and the have a security guard at the gate after 6-7 pm, he stays till about 7am
I hope this has reassured you.
Oscar[msnsmile2]
caroline
06-11-2003, 01:47
LOL Oscar:D
No honest it is true[msnscared]
Nostromo, at the end of the day the villa will probably have a phone that will allow you to dial 911. This is obviously worst case scenario, but it is at least there to reassure the seniors (am I not right in thinking that this is your or partner-Nostromo's parents and not the older kids?). We will be in the same situation with my Mum coming with us for the first ten days of our holidays, let me assure you on our one (or maybe two nights out) you won't see me or Mrs MTP for dust!!!
caroline
06-11-2003, 02:55
quote:Originally posted by Oscarsvilla
No honest it is true[msnscared]
I believe you Oscar - because I remember on our first trip hunting for something that was making a noise and guess what it was?...yes the very same Ice maker[:I]
chrizzy100
06-11-2003, 03:54
quote:Originally posted by Oscarsvilla
I know when we first went we did feel a little anxious. A strange thing did happen our first time.
My wife and I we lounging around flicking through 101 cable channels, when we heard a sound outside. As though someone had knocked the bin over. Being the man of the house I told thewife to go and check outside...(didnt want my pizza to go cold[msnwink])...she wouldnt go. Checked the bin it was fine walked round the house all fine. We were told about racoons but never saw any.
Five min later the same sound, again I got up and checked, this time took a torch.....nothin. Five min later same again. This time we did nothing, again the same noise. The wife then said it sound like its from the kitchen. It was all open plan....I think most villas are. Again went to check.....waited...waited...there it was again. It was comming from the fridge.
No nothing.....waited.....it was the freezer. What was happening was the ice machine was droping ice in a plastic bowl which was resinating through the villa.[:I]
That is a true story.
Our villa is on Southern Dunes and the have a security guard at the gate after 6-7 pm, he stays till about 7am
I hope this has reassured you.
Oscar[msnsmile2]
We have racoons around our home......they run across the roof at night and feed from our bin if we forget to tie it up......and they poo on the roof....[xx(]
we have a chipmunk that lives in a hole under our drain pipe...he is so cute.....
chrizzy100
06-11-2003, 03:57
quote:Originally posted by Oscarsvilla
No honest it is true[msnscared]
We don't have an icemaker here.....I am put off getting a fridge with one for the villa because they can be loud....does anyone find that with the newer ones.???
I have to say that the ice-maker is a great advantage to the freezer. I can't believe that in the Uk it is only now starting to become a common feature. I am biased as I like Ice in my drinks and I think you get used to the noise, at least we do when we are in the villa that we stay in.
huckleberry house
06-11-2003, 04:53
I can honestly say I have never noticed the noise of the ice falling but I find the fridge itself incredibly noisy.Come to that I find all the US appliances much noisier than here especially the washer and tumble dryer.
I treated myself to one of the side by side F/F here in UK with the ice and chilled water on the outside and it is in constant use even in the winter.I dont know how the kids survived without it before.
And getting back to your question Nostromo,you wont even give it a thought once you are there.I feel so much safer in Florida than I do here.Just take normal precautions when out and about with valuables and I am sure you wont have a problem.
Lesley
the ice maker making a noise is a very common but most of them you can move to the stop position if they bother you that much
stavros47
06-11-2003, 10:10
Hi Oscar
I think they sould put up a warning notice in the villa, like a set of pool rules . We have just visited our villa for the first time only to be awoken in the night to a bang. Needless to say we found nothing. It was the next afternoon when we relised it was the automatic ice maker!:D[msnwink]:D
chrizzy100
06-11-2003, 18:15
quote:Originally posted by stavros47
Hi Oscar
I think they sould put up a warning notice in the villa, like a set of pool rules . We have just visited our villa for the first time only to be awoken in the night to a bang. Needless to say we found nothing. It was the next afternoon when we relised it was the automatic ice maker!:D[msnwink]:D
My friends one made me jump miles.......I don't know why my son wants an automatic ice maker...he never has ice in his drinks....we never do....not even when its very hot.....but he seems to want one...thing is his bedroom is the other side of the house so he'll not hear it.....I may just move him to one next to the kitchen....hehehehehe
It is so starnge everything is diffrent when you go away.
I also remember on our first night we stayed in a villa. We were in the end villa of a block. So on one side we had another villa and on the other we had a large feild.......[:0]
We could hear all kind of things, and the more you listen the more you hear.
Actually, anyone in the UK who has seen a show called "Escape to the Sun" with Nicki Campbell, well that was the villa we stayed in[msncool]
But there were some strange noises coming from that feild. A bit like "Jeepers Creepers"
The villa also had a security gate, which took us 15min to get through. We typed in the code we had and nothing, as mentioned it took 15 min to get in and that was only because the gardener was leaving and let us in.
The house had an alarm, so when we got in we ran around the house trying to find the alarm console. We looked like 2 burglers running around trying to find the box. I was shouting at the wife saying "We have only 30 secs befor the alarm goes off" 5 min later we found the alarm box and it read "Alarm disarmed"[msnscared][msnembarrased]. It wasnt even on.
I id wonder why they gave us the alarm code if it wasnt even on.
Oscar
Nostromo
07-11-2003, 20:02
quote:Originally posted by MTP
Nostromo, at the end of the day the villa will probably have a phone that will allow you to dial 911. This is obviously worst case scenario, but it is at least there to reassure the seniors (am I not right in thinking that this is your or partner-Nostromo's parents and not the older kids?). We will be in the same situation with my Mum coming with us for the first ten days of our holidays, let me assure you on our one (or maybe two nights out) you won't see me or Mrs MTP for dust!!!
Thanks. The seniors are my in-laws and in their 70s. The Kids are 9 and 12 and so I guess they'l be OK. Oscar's fride-freezer story sounds interesting though. But as you said, they can always call 911 in case of problems.
I understand that Orlando has the lowest crime rate is that true?
Oscar[?]
chrizzy100
08-11-2003, 00:11
quote:Originally posted by Oscarsvilla
I understand that Orlando has the lowest crime rate is that true?
Oscar[?]
I don't know what the crime rating in Orlando is.......but I did read a report that said its dropping....
I always feel OK about walking around......don't keep you money in your back pocket...use a bum bag not a shoulder one....lock your doors when driving all the normal things you do in a big city.....:D
I found the people were very friendly. They always asked us if we were from Australia.
No we are from the UK.
Ive never even been to Australia.
But everyone is so nice.
Love it.....[msncool]
Oscar
chrizzy100
08-11-2003, 01:52
quote:Originally posted by Oscarsvilla
I found the people were very friendly. They always asked us if we were from Australia.
No we are from the UK.
Ive never even been to Australia.
But everyone is so nice.
Love it.....[msncool]
Oscar
People ask us if we're Irish...my son now sounds a Bit American...I can't tell him apart from a few of his American friends on the phone.
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
08-11-2003, 02:32
People used to ask us if we were from Australia when we went as children in the 1970's. Must be our northern UK accents.
We are always asked if we are English! Must be our straight southern (RP!) accents!
I am however asked if I am Irish because of my colouring - and then are surprised when I say no Scottish, although there is a smidgeon of Irish in there! And it is my daughter that is the redhead not me - I just have the odd freckle or two (million;))
But I have to admit the people are very fiendly. They are always willing to help.
Over here if someone says Good Morning to you, you instantly think. I wonder what they are after. In Florida, everyone greets you. And they always wish you a happy day or nice day when you leave.
This will be put to the test when we get to Florida. I have to visit our unit in Orlando, so I shall see how happy they are to see me there[msnscared]
Oscar
Nostromo,
I just returned from Orlando, I took my 80 year old mum with me as she'd never been.
I also left her indoors alot whilst I was out on the town[:I]:D[:I]
She was, like you, really nervous home alone to begin with as everything was different there to what it is here, what with switches everywhere etc, she wasn't sure what she should be touching.
However, that is all she was worried about. It didn't even cross her mind that it was unsafe in any other way.
As also mentioned above, I feel 10 times safer when over there than what I do here[msnsmile2]
Matt
chrizzy100
12-11-2003, 22:59
quote:Originally posted by Matt
Nostromo,
I just returned from Orlando, I took my 80 year old mum with me as she'd never been.
I also left her indoors alot whilst I was out on the town[:I]:D[:I]
She was, like you, really nervous home alone to begin with as everything was different there to what it is here, what with switches everywhere etc, she wasn't sure what she should be touching.
However, that is all she was worried about. It didn't even cross her mind that it was unsafe in any other way.
As also mentioned above, I feel 10 times safer when over there than what I do here[msnsmile2]
Matt
I've been here nearly 4 years.....and I still get the light switches wrong......I feel happy leaving my son in the villa while we go shopping....he is 15....I just have to make sure we buy the TV first so he can play is PS2......
One thing in the thunderstorms are there many powerouts.....I wondered about lights left on timers if that happens.......
allyneil
23-11-2003, 00:27
We did wonder what the rattling was, and then discovered it was the icemaker. However you shouldn't need to leave it on all night, ours seems to make so much in a day you coudn't possibly use it all, so we just put it on when we go out and off when we get back.
So far as security is concerned we have never felt worried on Hampton Lakes and rarely in Orlando, just take the normal precautions. We do carry a mobile phone when we go out so the babysitter can call - but that just as we do at home.
Relax and enjoy your holiday.
Neil
The house we stayed in had an alarm system also and the chap we picked the keys up from said make sure you turn it off otherwise the securty team comes round guns blazing I`m think he was joking but spent at least ten minutes every time we went out just waiting to make sure we had set it properly as the first time we tried it it went of while we were getting in the car and then it was a mad dash to get back in the house with me panicking shouting things like "Quick turn it of before we get shot" lol.
I did`nt realise we had an ice maker until it over-flowed and all the ice cascaded into the freezer compartment [:I]