Can anyone explain this Orlando Rental Craze

amother

Maroon

Wed, Apr 19 2017, 8:18 pm

I was wondering why everyone is renting these homes in Orlando for Pesach and other remote locations and calling it a vacation. You are shopping, cooking, packing and schlepping so where exactly does it make sense to leave your comfortable home and eat off of paper goods for ten days and schlep your house with you. Can anyone explain this to me.

amother

Periwinkle

Wed, Apr 19 2017, 8:20 pm

most houses come with a pool hot tub and game room. If you are the type that enjoys these amenities it's worth the headache. Also many people buy things down there and only bring clothes

amother

Black

Wed, Apr 19 2017, 8:37 pm

I get it. I'd do it with another family if we could.
Leave the house as is with no pesach cleaning. Fly to Orlando with my family for a destination vacation. Cook together with the other woman in camaraderie for pesach. Make the meals together on YT using nice disposable dishes. Kids playing together. Built in pool. Enough room in one home for both small families. Or two separate homes near each other for camaraderie with cooking and making meals together but still having privacy. Can be together with others over YT but still eat your own homemade food and stay in a comfy robe instead of needing to be constantly dressed like at a hotel.

amother

Olive

Wed, Apr 19 2017, 8:44 pm

amother wrote:

most houses come with a pool hot tub and game room. If you are the type that enjoys these amenities it's worth the headache. Also many people buy things down there and only bring clothes

How does it work with food? If you're buying all take out, that's very expensive esp. on pesach. If you're cooking, you need to bring your pesach pots and pans, ingredients, etc and then cooking in a home you're not comfortable with. Seems to me like a huge hassle from the food standpoint

amother

Periwinkle

Wed, Apr 19 2017, 8:46 pm

amother wrote:

Someone told me that people go to Wal-Mart and buy cheap stuff there to use in the kitchen. They get a delivery from the grocery etc

sky

Wed, Apr 19 2017, 9:28 pm

I know of a family that goes every year and has a storage rental and they keep all their pesach stuff down there.
Really all you need is a pot and a frying pan. You could prob get away with lots of disposables and aluminum pans. There are NY stores that will deliver your entire yom tov order so you are even still paying NY prices.

agreer

Wed, Apr 19 2017, 10:15 pm

sky wrote:

Seriously? One of each? How do you heat up everything for one meal?

We don't do anything fancy, and we need several large pots, several frying/saute pans, and a few smaller pots.

sky

Wed, Apr 19 2017, 10:20 pm

agreer wrote:

Seriously? One of each? How do you heat up everything for one meal?

We don't do anything fancy, and we need several large pots, several frying/saute pans, and a few smaller pots.

It really depends how much you make from scratch. If you squeeze your own juices and make your own tomato sauce its hard. If you buy almost everything that its easy (juices, pam, marinara sauces, tomato sauce, panko crumbs, salad dressing, mayonnaise, etc)

Even in my own house I didn't use a ton of pots.

For a nice hot yom tov lunch all you need is one pot IF serving soup:
Eggplant and Meat Roll ups - 8x8 aluminum pan + aluminum Baking sheet
Spaghetti squash - 8x8 aluminum pan
Vegetable Soup - 1 pot
French roast - 9x13 pan
Roasted Potatoes - 9x13 pan
Roasted Broccoli - 9x13 pan
Salad - Large disposable bowl (reuse a few times even)
Cut melon for dessert

ra_mom

Wed, Apr 19 2017, 10:28 pm

I used my pots this year for chicken soup (and only one pot of that since my very good friend made awesome chicken soup for us, and veg soup, with such love and flavor!), hard boiled eggs, boiled potatoes and sauteed onions. That's it IIRC.

Crockpot for applesauce and cholent.

I made 4 roasts in disposable pans in the oven, various chicken, potato, quinoa, gefilte fish, salmon, veggies, cake... All in the oven using disposables.

Cooking without needing to wash is my simchas yom tov.

Fox

Thu, Apr 20 2017, 3:12 pm

I also would have thought it sounded crazy, but about a decade ago, I did something similar.

My DH's business rented a large apartment in a frum building in Queens which he used during the week. We made Pesach there for three years, and it worked out great.

The kids loved it because it was a novelty -- they actually had "Pesach friends" in the building. Virtually everything counted as a Chol HaMoed trip since it was different from what they were used to doing.

I loved it because it took about an hour to clean and prepare the kitchen. I actually shipped all my Pesach pots, pans, and small appliances there -- it took four boxes if I remember. I bought all the food and disposables from local stores. I ordered in advance and just had them deliver everything when I arrived.

Would I do the same to go to a resort-type destination? I don't know. NY was convenient because it was easy to go to the store Chol HaMoed to pick up extra snacks or ingredients that I'd miscalculated. Orlando doesn't appeal to me, but I'm sure there are places that would.

watergirl

Thu, Apr 20 2017, 3:28 pm

agreer wrote:

Seriously? One of each? How do you heat up everything for one meal?

We don't do anything fancy, and we need several large pots, several frying/saute pans, and a few smaller pots.

Off topic. But this year I made almost everything in one Instant Pot. Google it if you dont know what it is. Its amazing.

Thu, Apr 20 2017, 3:31 pm

Might be fun to go to theme parks on chol hamoed, and I would much rather stay in a villa where I can cook than in a hotel. It's not so hard to carry or purchase a cookware set, and keep things simple. I've done it for non-Pesach vacations. I'm sure you can find kosher ingredients at supermarkets in Orlando.

SixOfWands

Thu, Apr 20 2017, 3:37 pm

watergirl wrote:

Off topic. But this year I made almost everything in one Instant Pot. Google it if you dont know what it is. Its amazing.

Paesan!

I use it year-round, but it was a lifesaver for Pesach.

amother

Maroon

Sun, Apr 23 2017, 8:45 pm

Someone told me that people go to Wal-Mart and buy cheap stuff there to use in the kitchen. They get a delivery from the grocery etc

What do you do with the stuff you buy from Wal Mart after Pesach?

amother

Maroon

Sun, Apr 23 2017, 8:47 pm

[quote="sky"]
Really all you need is a pot and a frying pan. You could prob get away with lots of disposables and aluminum pans. There are NY stores that will deliver your entire yom tov order so you are even still paying NY prices.[/quote]

Aren't you paying $25.00 - $35.00 per box to ship from the supermarket
Where does this come out economical?

groovy1224

Sun, Apr 23 2017, 9:29 pm

amother wrote:

Aren't you paying $25.00 - $35.00 per box to ship from the supermarket
Where does this come out economical?

Economical in what sense? It's of course more expensive than making pesach in your own home, but ultimately cheaper than a hotel.

Even if you pay ~$100 to ship groceries (I assume people buy produce locally) you probably still do better price-wise than you would buying all groceries in Orlando. The price difference in meat and dairy products alone must be astronomical. Plus you can't get the same selection down there.

I've never done it, but it sounds fun. I don't mind the cooking, but hate the cleaning and the turning over and then back. But I dont think I'd enjoy a hotel, with the crowds and the lavishness all the time. Plus I have small children so I don't know how I'd manage the seder with bedtime. So this whole rental idea seems cool to me.

cnc

Sun, Apr 23 2017, 9:33 pm

groovy1224 wrote:

The people that I know that shipped groceries to Florida shipped 25 + boxes . But these are not people that are looking to save money.....