Solterra Resort
Solterra Resort is a gated community of privately owned holiday homes in Davenport, Central Florida, about 12 to 15 miles (19 to 24 km) from Walt Disney World. Rather than a hotel, it’s a spread of self-catering townhouses and villas, most with their own private pool, built around one clubhouse and its water park. Families come for a private pool and a full kitchen near the parks.
On this page
Is it worth it?
Solterra suits families who want a private pool and a full kitchen near the parks and are happy to drive and self-cater.
Solterra Resort isn’t a hotel. It’s a gated community of privately owned holiday townhouses and villas in Davenport, Central Florida, about 12 to 15 miles (19 to 24 km) from Walt Disney World, built around one clubhouse and its water park. The draw for a family is a self-catering house with a full kitchen and, in most homes, a private pool of your own, plus a shared water park with a zero-entry pool that slopes in gently like a beach, a waterslide and a lazy river. What you give up is hotel service, so you cook and clean up yourself, and there’s no crèche or kids’ club.
Best for
You want the private pool and full kitchen of a self-catering house near Disney, with a shared water park inside a gated resort, and you’re happy to drive. It suits bigger family and multigenerational groups needing several bedrooms.
Maybe not for
You want the structure of an all-inclusive or a Center Parcs-style children’s activity programme, a very short stay where the fixed costs weigh heavier, or a trip without a car.
Best ages
Children of roughly four and up enjoy the zero-entry pool and playground; the slide needs a child of about 48 inches (nearer six or seven) who can swim the pool’s width, so it’s for the older ones.
What stands out
A shared clubhouse water park, with a zero-entry pool, a waterslide, a lazy river and a sandy playground, on top of a private-pool house with room to spread out.
What to check
Which management company you book through, and exactly what a specific home includes, since the price, the cleaning fee, the check-in times and the linen all vary and there’s no single resort desk.
Where is it?
A gated community in Davenport, Central Florida, off US Highway 27 near Interstate 4, about 12 to 15 miles (19 to 24 km) from Walt Disney World and 28 to 32 miles (45 to 51 km) from Orlando airport.
Quick facts for families
A gated community in Davenport
It sits in the villa belt southwest of Kissimmee, the area many UK families pick over an on-site Disney hotel for a private pool and a kitchen.
Solterra sits in the ChampionsGate corner of Davenport, in Polk County, just off US Highway 27 and close to Interstate 4 at Exit 55 or Exit 58 depending which way you’re driving. This is the villa belt covered in our Orlando guide, and the private pool and full kitchen for a similar or lower nightly cost are why families choose it over a room on Disney property. The community is fully built and sold, laid out as 939 single-family home lots and around 100 townhouse lots, a little over 1,000 homes in all, put up by two Orlando-area builders, Park Square Homes and D.R. Horton. The individual homes sit on their own streets inside the same gates, so which street you end up on depends on the specific home you book.
For distances, the Disney parks sit at roughly 12 to 15 miles (19 to 24 km), about 17 to 22 minutes without traffic, with Animal Kingdom the closest and Epcot the furthest. Universal Orlando is around 21 miles (34 km), about 26 to 30 minutes, and SeaWorld around 17 miles (27 km). Orlando International Airport (MCO) is roughly 28 to 32 miles (45 to 51 km), about 30 to 45 minutes depending on traffic, usually via FL-417, then I-4, then US-27.
How the homes are letHow booking works
Solterra has no single reservation desk for the homes. Each house is individually owned, and almost all are let through independent holiday-rental management companies, with names found operating here including Vacasa, Florida Vacation Homes, Reunion Vacation Homes, Top Villas and Head For Orlando, alongside owners self-managing through sites like Airbnb. The clubhouse and water park are shared and run by the community, but the home itself comes from whichever company or owner you book with.
That structure decides a lot of the practical detail. The price, what’s included such as linen, towels and a starter pack of toiletries, the check-in and check-out times, the cleaning fee, the minimum stay and the cancellation terms all vary by company and by individual owner. It’s also why Solterra appears on review sites under more than one listing, since each company lists its own homes, so a poor review of one company doesn’t necessarily reflect the physical resort or a different company’s homes.
Check what a home includes before you book
Confirm exactly what a specific home comes with before you pay, rather than assume it matches another Solterra home. Ask about the cleaning fee, whether pool heating is included or an extra charge, the check-in and check-out times, the minimum stay, the damage deposit and the cancellation terms, and confirm whether a travel cot and highchair are provided if you need them.
The townhouses and villas
The draw is a private pool and a full kitchen, in anything from a two-bed townhouse to a villa that sleeps a large group.
There’s no traditional hotel room at Solterra. The homes fall into two broad types, both self-catering and both individually owned, and both let mostly through third-party companies rather than a single resort desk. The table shows the range, from a townhouse to the largest custom villas.
| Type | Bedrooms | What it offers |
|---|---|---|
| Townhouse | 2 to 5 | Two-storey homes in blocks around shared courtyards, roughly 1,900 to 2,700 sq ft; many have their own small private plunge pool in a screened rear courtyard |
| Detached villa | 4 to 6 | Freestanding homes of roughly 2,100 to 3,500 sq ft, each with its own private screened pool and, in many, a spa or hot tub |
| Large group villa | 10 to 14 | A smaller number of custom homes above 6,000 sq ft, built for multi-family groups, with examples sleeping around 26 to 28 |
The townhouses are two-storey homes, typically two to five bedrooms, roughly 1,900 to 2,700 sq ft. Many, though not all, have their own small private pool in a screened rear courtyard, sometimes advertised as a splash pool. That splash pool is the home’s own small private pool, not a shared children’s water feature at the clubhouse, so confirm it comes with the specific home if it matters. The detached villas are the developer’s standard models, four to six bedrooms and roughly 2,100 to 3,500 sq ft, each with its own private screened pool and often a spa. A smaller number of larger custom homes run to 10 to 14 bedrooms and over 6,000 sq ft, built for multi-family groups travelling together.
A travel cot and highchair are commonly provided as standard across several of the management companies here, though that’s down to the individual owner rather than guaranteed, so confirm it directly rather than count on it. For a family with a baby or toddler, the pull is the same as any Florida villa: a full kitchen for formula, weaning and fussy eaters, a private pool on your own hours rather than shared opening times, plus separate bedrooms with doors for naps and an early bedtime. The trade-off is no daily housekeeping and no childcare.
The clubhouse and water park
The shared water park is the reason to choose a home here over a plain villa nearby, though the slide’s height rule makes it more of an older-child feature.
One shared amenity centre serves the whole community, at 5200 Solterra Boulevard, and it’s the main reason families pick a home here over an equivalent villa somewhere without a water park. The clubhouse is a Mediterranean-style building of around 5,600 sq ft, set within roughly four acres of recreation grounds. The main pool is a large zero-entry pool, a gently sloping beach entry rather than steps, which is easier for a toddler or a nervous swimmer to walk into, with shaded loungers and cabanas to rent at an extra charge. It’s heated through the winter.
The twisting waterslide runs into the main pool and carries an official minimum height of 48 inches (4ft), with riders needing to be able to swim the width of the pool, so it’s out of reach for most children under about five. The landscaped lazy river winds around part of the grounds and isn’t heated, worth knowing if you’re visiting in a cooler month. For younger children there’s a sand-based playground at the clubhouse, and a communal hot tub sits at the amenity centre too. The clubhouse’s Café Sol Bar & Grill serves the pool area, where outside food and drink isn’t allowed. Lifeguards are on duty at the pool complex during opening hours, though the hours themselves are adjusted by season, so check them on arrival rather than count on a fixed time; the pool itself runs roughly nine in the morning to ten at night.
On the groundsSports courts, a gym and walking paths
Beyond the water, the grounds have sports courts including tennis, volleyball and pickleball, plus a multi-purpose sports field. There’s a fitness centre at the clubhouse with cardio machines and weights, plus walking, jogging and cycling paths around the community. The ponds and lakes on site are for wildlife viewing only, with swimming, wading, fishing and boating all prohibited by the community, which is the same rule as anywhere in Florida, where alligators live in fresh water across the state. Our Orlando guide covers freshwater safety with young children in full.
Eating and drinking
One casual bar and grill sits by the pool, and there’s a full kitchen in every home for the rest.
Café Sol Bar & Grill is the only food and drink venue for the whole community, at the clubhouse, serving casual bar-and-grill food and drinks with poolside service. The real food story here is self-catering. Every home has a full kitchen, so most families cook the bulk of meals in and treat Café Sol as a poolside top-up rather than a meal plan. The nearest supermarkets are close: Publix branches serve the immediate ChampionsGate and Davenport area, including one at ChampionsGate Village Shopping Center and one at Champions Crossing, both around five minutes’ drive, and Walmart, Aldi, Winn-Dixie and Target serve the wider area for a bigger pre-holiday shop.
Babies and toddlers
Solterra is a self-catering holiday-home community, not an all-inclusive resort, so there’s no on-site crèche, kids’ club or organised children’s activity programme, and no staffed childcare. The clubhouse runs a calendar of community events, but that’s for residents rather than a guest-facing children’s club, so plan on entertaining your own children through the private home pool, the shared water park and days out. With a baby or a younger toddler you’re watching your own throughout, at the pools especially.
The self-catering kitchen is the real advantage for a baby, since you can make up bottles, sterilise and cook plain food in the home rather than rely on eating out, and a Publix at the gate stocks nappies, wipes and baby food. For water play, the home’s own private pool suits younger children better than the shared water park, since the waterslide’s 48-inch rule keeps it for the older end of the family. On pool safety, as with any Florida villa, most private pools are enclosed by the screened patio cage itself rather than a separate physical fence, and a pool fence or alarm is usually only fitted if you request it from the management company at booking, so treat the patio doors, not just the pool edge, as the hazard with a toddler in the house. Our Orlando guide covers the villa pool-barrier rules in full.
Beyond the gatesThe area and days out
Solterra sits along the US-27 corridor near I-4, so the immediate area is easy to reach by car. Posner Park, an outlet-style shopping and dining centre with an IMAX cinema, is a short drive south, around seven minutes, and ChampionsGate Village, with its own shops, restaurants and golf courses, lies a short distance north. The nearest hospital is AdventHealth Heart of Florida at 40100 US Highway 27 in Davenport, a full acute-care hospital with an emergency department a few miles along the same road.
For the wider Orlando trip, the theme parks, the Gulf beaches, hire cars and Florida driving, tolls, alligator safety, hurricane season, the ESTA and ticket pricing, our Orlando guide covers it all, and the Disney parks section covers how Walt Disney World works with young children. This page keeps to what’s specific to Solterra itself.
Loves and gripes
Families rate the mix of a private pool and the shared water park, and flag that the service depends on which company they booked through.
What families love
- The mix of a private home pool with the shared lazy river and waterslide, a hit with children across a range of ages.
- The gated setting and the general upkeep of the clubhouse area.
- The space and privacy of a whole house with its own pool over a hotel room.
- A full kitchen for family cooking, close to the parks.
Common gripes
- Service and communication vary noticeably by which management company you book through.
- Some families were surprised by the separate resort fee on top of the rent.
- A few note the lazy river closing earlier in the day than they expected.
- At least one family with young children flagged strict bag-checks at the pool entrance.
- No crèche, no kids’ club, and a hire car unavoidable for the whole stay.
The gripes track the way Solterra is run. Many owners and many management companies mean the standard of a given home, and the service around it, varies from one booking to the next, and none of that is a mark against the physical resort or the shared amenities, which are consistently well regarded. It’s the nature of a rental community with no single operator responsible across every home, and it’s why reading a specific home’s recent reviews and confirming what it includes matters more here than the overall name.
Against a hotel and other villasHow it compares
Against a Disney resort hotel, the trade is hotel service for space. A Disney hotel comes with park transport and a stay with no driving, but a hotel room and a higher price per person. A home at Solterra gives you a full kitchen and, in most cases, a private pool for less per head, at the cost of needing a car and doing your own cooking and cleaning-up. Against a European all-inclusive or a UK holiday park like Center Parcs, the difference is bigger: there are no included meals, no kids’ club and no included transfers, and the shared water park is a bonus on top of a private-pool house rather than the reason you book, the way a Center Parcs pool complex is.
The car and the feesGetting there and around
A hire car is effectively essential for the whole stay, not just the airport run. Solterra runs no airport shuttle, no Disney or Universal shuttle and no shared resort transfer, no public transport serves the surrounding villa belt, and every day trip to the parks, the supermarket or the beach means driving. A rideshare works for the airport transfer, subject to surge pricing, and a pre-booked private transfer is another option, but neither replaces a car once you’re here. From Orlando airport it’s roughly 28 to 32 miles (45 to 51 km), about 30 to 45 minutes. Our Orlando guide covers car hire, tolls and Florida driving rules. Within the gates the community is large, so a rented home can be a short walk or a short drive from the clubhouse depending which street it’s on, and there’s no internal shuttle or golf-cart service, so check a specific home’s distance from the clubhouse rather than assume it’s close.
One fee is fixed and official. Solterra charges a resort amenity fee of $35 plus tax per stay for a party of 12 or fewer, or $45 plus tax for a party of 13 or more, collected once for the whole visit rather than per night, with every guest counting toward the party size, paid at the clubhouse by card or mobile payment rather than cash (last checked July 2026). It’s separate from, and on top of, whatever you pay your booking company for the home.
When to goWeather
Solterra sits inland in Central Florida, a few miles from Orlando and in the same climate zone, so it’s a year-round destination with hot, humid summers and milder, drier winters. The table shows the Greater Orlando pattern through the year, and our Orlando guide has the fuller steer on choosing when to go with little ones. One resort-specific point for a winter trip: the main pool is heated through the winter, but the lazy river isn’t heated at any time of year, so don’t picture a warm float alongside the heated pool in the cooler months.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22° | 10.5° | 55 mm | 5 |
| February | 24° | 12.5° | 43 mm | 5 |
| March | 26.5° | 14.5° | 64 mm | 5 |
| April | 29° | 17.5° | 64 mm | 5 |
| May | 31.5° | 20.5° | 98 mm | 7 |
| June | 33° | 23° | 205 mm | 14 |
| July | 33.5° | 24° | 201 mm | 14 |
| August | 33.5° | 24.5° | 206 mm | 15 |
| September | 32° | 23.5° | 185 mm | 12 |
| October | 29.5° | 20° | 70 mm | 6 |
| November | 25.5° | 15.5° | 51 mm | 5 |
| December | 23° | 13° | 55 mm | 5 |
Typical monthly averages from weather-station records.
Questions
Are we booking a room or a whole house?
A whole self-catering house, a townhouse or a detached villa, rather than a hotel room. Because each owner furnishes and configures their own home, two listed with the same number of bedrooms can sleep different numbers, so check a specific home’s bed setup against the party you’re bringing rather than going by the bedroom count.
Is there anything at the water park for a toddler?
The zero-entry main pool and the sandy playground suit younger children, though the waterslide’s 48-inch height rule keeps it for the older end. For a baby or toddler the home’s own private pool is the better bet: no height rules, no seasonal hours, and you set the timing around naps rather than the clubhouse’s lifeguarded opening times.
What is the splash pool some townhouses mention?
It is the townhouse’s own small private pool in the screened rear courtyard, not a shared children’s splash area at the clubhouse. Ask the management company whether a specific home has one if that matters to you.
Do we pay a resort fee on top of the rent?
Yes, and it is separate from what your booking company charges for the home. It is a one-off amenity fee settled at the clubhouse, $35 plus tax per stay for a party of 12 or fewer or $45 plus tax for 13 or more, and every guest including babies and children counts toward that party-size threshold (last checked July 2026).
See more Solterra Resort photos
Open the Solterra Resort photo gallery →
Useful links
- Solterra Resort: the community’s own amenity-centre site, including the clubhouse, the water park and the resort fee.
- Solterra Resort CDD: the Community Development District that runs the shared facilities and publishes the amenity hours.
- GOV.UK USA travel advice: entry rules, ESTA guidance and safety updates before you travel.
- Florida with little ones: our guide to villas, the parks, hire cars, the ESTA and the Gulf beaches.
- The Disney parks: how Walt Disney World works with young children.
Last updated 30 July 2026.
