Introducing the Florida Experts! Simon & Susan Veness

Here at Debbie’s Villas, our aim is always to give you the best possible service, from the moment you first start thinking about an Orlando holiday to the final check-out and your return home. This has been our Mission Statement from day one back in 1999, and we never tire of making it our watchword on an every-day basis.

It is with that in mind that we’d like to introduce you to our latest “recruits,” a pair of long-time Florida authorities who provide just about the last word on informed insight and advice when it comes to the Orlando experience. Our newest bloggers are none other than Simon & Susan Veness, the long-time authors of the best-selling Brit Guide to Orlando and now the writing talent behind the brand new Best Orlando Villa Holiday Guide*, the very latest resource in holiday planning for The City Beautiful.

The awesome twosome have been pounding the parks and other attractions since 1993 and are also the Florida experts for The Telegraph. They have been Orlando area residents since 2004 and they continue to provide a level of info and excitement that is second to none. But we’ll let them put it into their own words:

Well, hello there Debbie’s Villas devotees (and other stray readers!). It’s a pleasure to be able to introduce ourselves to a new set of Orlando fans and holiday-makers. While neither of us were born in Florida, we have become true Sunshine State disciples over the years and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than this part of Central Florida, which remains one of the world’s greatest tourist attractions.

We actually arrived in Orlando from completely different directions but with a shared love of Disney and the other theme parks. Susan originally hailed from the northern state of Michigan while Simon was born in Sussex and had spent much of his working life in London. When we teamed up as Veness Travel Media in 2004, we already had almost 10 years of Brit Guide expertise under our belts but managed to add to that with The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World in 2009, followed by the Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World Trivia four years later and then Walt Disney World Hacks in 2019.

We branched out with a new publisher, the Germany-based Emons, two years ago to produce 111 Places in Orlando That You Must Not Miss, which gave us a chance to tell some stories of the other side of the city, one which many visitors never even see but is a real discovery in its own right, with places like the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, Wekiva Island, the Orlando Beer Spa, Showcase of Citrus and many other local “secrets” that are well worth discovering.

While the pandemic tried to put us out of business (UK visitors were stopped from their regular Florida holidays for almost 20 months from March 2020 to November 2021), we managed to keep ourselves busy and work on a few other projects, including a couple of biographies. We also managed to put together a year’s sabbatical in the form of 12 months on the road around the USA in an RV (or Recreational Vehicle), which proved a great source of inspiration – as well as perspiration!

In the course of the past 30 years, we have seen the opening of each of Animal Kingdom, Islands of Adventure, Discovery Cove, Aquatica, Volcano Bay and Epic Universe, as well as dozens of other smaller-scale attractions. The tourist landscape has definitely changed significantly in all that time, but the essence of Orlando’s charm remains intact, even though our annual visitor numbers have gone from around 39 million back in 1994 to more than 75 million in 2025. That level of increase hasn’t come without its challenges, but the bottom line remains that this fabulous destination continues to provide world-class thrills and excitement, as well as some of the best dining on the planet.

Disney and Universal have engaged in some serious one-upmanship in the course of the last 20 years as they have each sought to out-do each with their latest and greatest rides and attractions. From the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal’s Islands of Adventure park in 2010, there has been a constant drive from the two theme park giants to produce an ever-greater themed environment, with the very latest and greatest technologies, and that looks set to continue for the next 10 years at least.

At the same time, we have also seen the region’s vacation villa options grow and prosper, and we can honestly say that Debbie’s Villas have caught our attention and admiration for their focus on detail and excellent service, with a level of consistency that has been a treat to see. Villas have become a huge focus for British visitors in the past 20 years, and we have no worries in giving Debbie’s our vote of confidence.

And now we have the benefit of being regular blog contributors here on the DV website, with a LOT to look forward to in the coming months. Each of Disney and Universal have more new attractions in the pipeline and you can count on us to be writing about them in due course. Orlando is a place that never stands still and always strives to better itself, to the benefit of its many fans, and we feel enormously privileged to be able to chart its ongoing journey. So, on with the show and let’s make it a good one!

• Currently, every new booking for Orlando with us will include this essential 343-page guidebook (worth £19.99, UK customers only).