I've owned a villa near Disney for many years and having rented it form time to time, we came to realize from chatting with our guests that one of their biggest challenges is how to choose the vacation rental villa that is right for them in the first place! This article reflects their experience and hopefully sharing it with you will make your choice easier...
Location:Let�s start with furniture. If you�re creating a theme then your furniture must match. For example if you want a �Beach or Hawaiian Theme� then the best pub tables, pub chairs and accessories would be made of wicker or rattan. If you�re creating a Green Bay Packer�s Theme then you�d want chrome bar stools with green or yellow vinyl cushion covers to match. Otherwise if you just want a great game room make sure you bar stools and pub tables match.Next comes the flooring. There is a variety of floors that can be put into game rooms. A few examples would be hardwood, vinyl, cork, bamboo, carpet tiling, ceramic tiling, area rugs and wall-to-wall carpeting. If your game room is located in a basement that eliminates most if not all hardwoods because of moisture problems in basements.The next thing to consider is the lighting. If you have a theme, say a sports theme, then find pub lamps, swag lights and floor lamps that have your favorite sport or team�s name on them. For an Asian theme you�d want bamboo lamps and hanging lanterns. For general game rooms, bar lights with your favorite drink or food would be perfect!Games roomsIt�s time to liven things up with �Music�. You can�t have an ultimate game room without music. A Juke Box is best when it comes to game room music. Whether it�s a 1946 Rockola or a retro looking CD Juke Box it doesn�t matter. It�s having a jukebox that counts most. Yes a 400 CD changer with a nice surround sound stereo system works even better but looks mean a lot when creating a game room. Just hide your CD or stereo in the corner.Now you have all the ingredients you need for creating the �Ultimate Home Game Room�. There are always fun and different accessories you can add to spice it up even more but with the basics covered you�re ready to start having the best parties and get-togethers on the block!Of course not every moment was perfect. We had our fights. Sometimes they were HUGE FIGHTS! But usually by the following weekend things were back to normal and we'd play together all night once again. On many nights we had to swallow our pride!Some vacation rental villas advertise a games room with all kinds of entertainments. If this is something that you want to have in your villa, be sure to inquire whether it is properly air conditioned. The reason for this is that some owners have simply locked the garage door and installed a carpet and a pool table or foosball table and called it a games room. Its fine in December but impossible to use comfortably for much of the year.We spent some time recently viewing and inspecting Florida vacation rental villas. The pictures on their web sites presented the villa very well in most cases but it soon became clear that they had been taken a very long time ago. Many of the villas were very tired, showed heavy wear and little attention to maintaining a comfortable environment for their guests. They were certainly far form the luxury vacation rental villas they were being marketed as! These problems showed up much more in the properties where the owners had clearly taken little interest and were managed by property management agencies (Large or small, and who, in turn rent them to the large holiday companies). This is one reason why we update the pictures of our properties each year (several times a year in fact!). This gives our guests the confidence to know that what they see is what they will get. Whilst booking direct with the owner does not guarantee quality, it does give you the opportunity to ask if the photos on the site truly represent the condition of a particular vacation rental villa today.The games were all bought second hand and didn't work when my parents acquired them. Luckily my dad and a few of my brothers could fix them. That's how we ended up with pinball games, a jukebox and an old bowling machine in our basement. Those were some of the best times in my life. Playing pool and games with my brothers and sisters into the early hours of the next morning.In closing I'd like to say that "no" my family is nowhere near being the perfect family. We have our problems like every family does. We argue and we disagree on many things but we can still stay close. Somehow having a game room and playing games with family and friends seems to relieve that stress and tension and can make even the biggest of problems go away, at least for the moments we're together anyway! So I'm convinced from my own experiences that:What we mean here is the area surrounding the villa. Careful examination of the photos of some villas will show where they have been doctored to hide undesirable features. One of the favorites is to block out the lower areas of screened pool enclosures to hide the fact that there are many others very close to the villa. We do not enhance our photos. Check carefully or ask if the pool area is overlooked.EquipmentA variety of games, some for the adults and some for the kids are what you need. Games can get a little expensive so don�t buy new, buy second hand from an online auction site or look in your local paper for used games. It�s not how new they are it�s how FUN they are! Don�t have enough space? Then try a �Combination Game Table�. They have combos from 3 in 1 to 15 in 1 game tables.Check whether the equipment you need is 'included' or 'available' and know the difference between these terms. Included usually means that the item is included in the rent for the villa. Its important to know that 'available' usually means that the item is available but you will be expected to pay an extra charge for it. For example, a gas barbecue will cost you between $35 and $50 per week to hire (+ sales tax). A cot, baby seat or stroller can be the same each! That can make a significant unexpected dent in your pocket - check unless the information is explicit!It's a good idea to turn off the computer and video game once in a while and play a "real" hands-on game! Invite family and friends over on the weekends. Sure it doesn't have to be every weekend but a couple times a month would be great. Show them your new trick shot. Have some laughs! And maybe a few tears will even be shed? No matter what happens it's getting family together and sharing experiences what counts. And playing games with family and friends in a fun setting like a home game room is something every family could learn to enjoy!Now comes the �FUN PART�. You can either theme your game room or create a general all out fun game room.
For good quality vacation rentals and FLorida Villas close to Disney, take a look at our select collection at http://www.myorlandovilla.biz - and have a great Disney vacation!
Author: John Macrae
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