Encore Resort vs Reunion Resort: Which Is Better for Your Orlando Family Vacation?

Encore Resort at Reunion and Reunion Resort sit less than two miles apart in the same pocket of Kissimmee, roughly 6 to 8 miles from Walt Disney World. Both are gated communities renting whole vacation homes rather than hotel rooms, and both aim squarely at families who want space, a kitchen and a private pool instead of two connecting rooms. Because they are neighbours competing for the same guest, they get compared constantly.

They are not interchangeable. One is a compact, walkable resort built around a water park; the other covers 2,300 acres and is built around three championship golf courses. Below is how they actually differ — on access rules, transport, dining and homes — so you can match the resort to the trip rather than the other way round.

The quick answer

• Choose Encore Resort if your group is focused on the children, wants a water park included with the stay, and would rather walk to everything than drive across a resort.
• Choose Reunion Resort if you want championship golf on site, a wider spread of home styles, or a larger resort with more to do beyond the pool deck.

For most families it comes down to one question: is this a golf trip or a water-park trip? Almost everything else follows. You can see what we currently have at Encore Resort and at Reunion Resort.

Water park access: the difference that catches people out

Both resorts have a water park, but they are not offered on the same terms, and this is the detail most comparisons skip.

At Encore, water park access is included with the stay. The Aqua Park has a three-slide tower and a lagoon-style pool with lifeguards on duty, plus a shallow area for younger children, and it sits at the centre of the community rather than off to one side.

Reunion's water park is larger at five acres and is open year round, seven days a week — but access is limited to guests, members and select partners, and entry is by wristband with photo ID. Under-16s must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. None of that is a problem when you are booking through a manager whose homes carry access, but it is worth understanding before you arrive rather than at the gate.

Getting to the parks

Neither resort has a meaningful advantage on distance — both sit roughly 6 to 8 miles from Walt Disney World, usually a 10 to 20 minute drive depending on traffic and which park you are heading to. Treat that as an approximation rather than a promise: neither resort publishes a drive time, and the corridor into Disney varies a great deal by time of day and season.

The real difference is transport. Encore offers complimentary transportation to the theme parks, which genuinely changes the shape of a week — one car between eight people stops being the bottleneck it usually is. Reunion runs shuttles within the community itself, which matters there because the resort is large enough that walking between facilities often is not practical. Parking is free at the home at both.

You will still want a car at either for groceries and for anything off-resort. But if you are weighing whether to hire a second vehicle, Encore's park transport is a real saving.

How the two resorts are built

This is the difference that decides most bookings, and it is a difference of shape rather than of quality.

Encore: one clubhouse, everything around it

Encore concentrates its facilities in a single place, and it is unusually well equipped for sport. There is a regulation soccer field — full size, not a five-a-side pitch — along with tennis, full-size and half-size basketball courts, and a sand beach-volleyball court. Bike and surrey rentals cover getting around the resort. The clubhouse holds a sit-down restaurant, a casual grill, a bar and lounge and a coffee house, and there is pizza delivered to the home for the nights nobody wants to move.

Practically, that means a family can leave the villa on foot, spend the day at the water park, eat without driving, and walk home. The resort also runs a concierge for theme park tickets, attraction bookings, dining reservations and spa treatments.

Reunion: a resort you drive around

Reunion covers 2,300 acres behind a manned gatehouse staffed 24 hours. It has eight pools across the community, the five-acre water park, tennis and pickleball courts, EV charging on site, and a broader dining line-up — a signature restaurant at the Reunion Grande, an American-classics room in the Nicklaus Clubhouse, a bar and grille at the water park, a poolside grill, a sushi bar and a Starbucks.

There is more here in absolute terms. But it is spread out, and getting between facilities usually means a short drive or a shuttle rather than a walk. That is the trade: greater range, less immediacy.

Golf

There is not much to weigh up. Reunion has three championship courses on site, with tee times booked through the resort, and it is the obvious choice for a golfing group. Encore has no golf course of its own, so golfers staying there would be travelling to play. If anyone in your party is planning more than one round, that single fact probably settles it.

The homes themselves

Encore is an all-villa community of newer homes, which makes for a more consistent standard but a narrower range of choices. Reunion has been developed over a longer period across a much larger footprint, so it offers more variety — from smaller properties up to very large houses suited to multi-family groups.

If group size is your real constraint rather than the amenities, start from the number of bedrooms you need and see which resort can actually supply it. Our 8-bedroom homes near Disney and 10-bedroom properties for larger parties are a sensible place to begin, or you can search the whole portfolio by dates and party size.

Which resort suits which trip

1. 1Young children, one week, park days most days. Encore. The walkable water park earns its keep on the afternoons you come back early, and the complimentary park transport removes the daily car problem entirely.
2. 2Multi-generational group with golfers. Reunion. Three courses on site means the golfers are occupied without anyone losing the car for the day.
3. 3A large party that needs a specific house. Reunion, usually — the wider spread of home styles and sizes gives you more to choose from.
4. 4Sport-mad teenagers. Encore, on the strength of the regulation soccer field, the basketball courts and the beach volleyball.
5. 5First trip to Orlando, want it simple. Encore. Everything in one place is worth a great deal when you are still learning the area.

Booking either one

We manage homes at both resorts, so we have no stake in which you pick — and if you describe the trip, we will tell you honestly which one fits it better. Booking with us directly means dealing with the people who actually manage the property rather than a platform in between. Have a look at what is available at Encore, compare it against the Reunion portfolio, or tell us your dates and we will shortlist for you.