More upgrades…
Just back from yet another trip to the villa (they seem to becoming more frequent!), and a few more upgrades to report.
The first is the new large tv in the family room. The old TV has found a new home in another villa and been replaced by the new 55″ internet enabled tv which brings Netflix to Eeyores Escape 
We have used DVD players for the past few years, then added a Blu-ray player last year, but Netflix definitely seems a better option than both. The internet is fast enough to handle the real time streaming, and it now means there are thousands of movies and tv episodes available on demand.
As usual, we will see how the service works in practice and it worked well while we were out at the villa, but we are already looking to expanding it into the bedrooms so there are dvd players and netflix available throughout if it works out to be popular. If you are staying in the villa in the next few months please let us know if you liked it, or not!
Other upgrades include a new TV in the mickey room. We only changed the tv a couple of years ago but were not happy with the picture quality so we have upgraded it to an LED model. The old tv is now stored as a spare.
We did the usual paint touch ups, replaced some towels and sheets etc to maintain the villa to the ‘as new’ quality we aim for, and had nice sunny vacation at the same time.
Sometimes work isn’t all bad!
Andy
A Quick Update
Just a quick update!
We have just returned from the villa, and slowly getting over the jet lag!
Ive just updated the family room photos page (photo link) to add photos on the new furniture.
The new sofas are even larger than the old ones (which we thought would be impossible!) and we added a recliner chair and new tables to complete the room.
The old sofa was collected by the salvation army which was nice as there was a lot more life in it and it is good to know that although we are probably replacing furniture too soon to maintain the ‘as new’ feel to the villa, the old items do not end up in landfill and will find new homes.
We also added a larger wine cellar to the kitchen. There are pictures at the bottom of the kitchen photos page of the new cellar / fridge and its a great place to store soft drinks, beer and even wine and helps keep the main fridge freezer clear for, dare I say it, food!
Finally, the last major upgrade would be the TVs. All the bedrooms now have flat screen tvs, although we did keep the pooh bear tv in the eeyore room as we couldnt part with that one so the flat screen in that room is linked to the playstation!
We did lots of other little things just to make sure everything is kept in tip-top shape, and had a great holiday too!
Thats all for now!
Andy
Bellavida Internet Speed
Since the resort went ‘digital’ we upgraded to the faster 15mbps service, but until now we could only listen to guest reports of how fast it actually was.
Well we now have a speedtest report for the connection in the villa, and the answer is fast!
Im quite used to having a ’20 mbps’ service at home in the UK, which actually ends up at around 6 mbps, so its nice to see here in the villa the 15mbps advertised speed actually means just about that!
With or without a hyphen? Bellavida-Villa.com
We have finally managed to secure both versions of the domain name, Bellavida-villa.com and Bellavidavilla.com (ie. with and without the hyphen!).
When we bought our home we registered the bellavida-villa.com domain but the thought of registering without the hyphen never entered our minds. Obviously it did to another owner and ever since we have heard people saying they went to our website but it was a yellow house, not ours!
Anyway, we have now managed to secure the domain without the hypen so our website can now found on either domain name and hopefully this will put an end to any confusion!
Andy
Bellavida is going ‘digital’
The cable TV system on the Bellavida Resort is being upgraded to a digital service, bringing more choice and 15 new HD channels.
We are told this will be happening during this month, and when complete the basic package will have 108 channels and an improved internet service with up to 25mbps available.
At the moment all homes on Bellavida Resort get the same cable tv package so it is interesting to see the words ‘basic package’ as this would indicate there will be upgrades available, hopefully these will be made available soon!
We also need to change the Tivo DVR system in the villa, but again apparently there will be options available so watch this space!
More guestbook entries
We leave the villa to fly home again today, but just before we leave I thought I would scan in some more entries from the guestbook.
Back in the Villa (eventually!)
Well, we got here eventually, but it’s been a long journey this time!
We decided to do a bit of a road trip this time and flew into Philadelphia, then onto Minneapolis, then drive up into Canada, and then back through the States.
It took us three weeks to get here and we drove through Minnesota, Ontario, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia before reaching Florida!
Updates to the Bellavida cable tv and internet
The cable internet service on the Bellavida Resort has been taken over by Summit Broadband (it used to be provided by Ygnition).
Initially the takeover is a direct swap so the performance should be identical, however we are promised an even faster high speed ‘fibre’ internet service (it was fine anyway!), and an expanded tv lineup.
