A Florida family has found a way to make every day feel like a fairy tale — by owning a storybook-inspired home within the gates of Walt Disney World.
Cristie Anne, the 39-year-old creator behind the travel account The Traveling Red, splits her time between her primary residence in Miami and a vacation home in Golden Oak, Disney’s ultra-exclusive residential community in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
The gated enclave was designed by Walt Disney Imagineering and is composed of individually designed luxury homes — including Cristie Anne’s cottage, which takes its cues from Belle’s provincial home in the live-action “Beauty and the Beast.”
She told the Daily Mail that the inspiration is immediately apparent when the home’s exterior is compared with the cottage seen in the film. Inside, Imagineer-designed details continue the theme without making every room feel like a theme-park attraction.
Her parents purchased the four-bedroom, 3,600-square-foot cottage in 2020 for an undisclosed sum, although buying within the resort was never part of their original plan.
They had been searching for a family beach house when her parents visited friends who had recently purchased a place in Golden Oak. On the same day Cristie Anne’s future home hit the market, her parents toured it and showed the property to her and her brother over FaceTime.
Her daughter was just 3 years old at the time, making a “Beauty and the Beast”-inspired Disney cottage especially difficult to resist. The family saw it as a place where she could grow up while they built traditions together.
Golden Oak properties occupy a rarefied corner of the Orlando market. Other homes currently available within Walt Disney World are asking about $8 million, while past reports have placed prices across the community between roughly $2 million and $20 million. Cristie Anne has not disclosed what her family paid.
Living on Disney property comes with perks that most parkgoers can only dream of.
Depending on which park the family wants to visit, they can arrive within minutes by car or use private Disney transportation that drops them near the entrance. That means they can head out for dinner, squeeze in a favorite ride or catch a fireworks show without turning the excursion into an all-day production.
The family visits most frequently during Florida’s more temperate winter months. Because they can return whenever they want, Cristie Anne said there is no need to race through every attraction in a single trip.
Homeowners received complimentary park admission for several years when her family bought the property, she told the outlet. Once that benefit expired, they purchased annual passes like other guests.
Cristie Anne has now visited the parks hundreds of times. But one of the home’s most enchanting amenities requires no ticket at all: The family can watch Magic Kingdom’s nightly fireworks from the property in their pajamas.
Despite sitting inside one of the world’s busiest tourist destinations, the neighborhood itself is notably secluded.
Only residents and their registered guests can enter Golden Oak, meaning vacationers cannot simply drive through to look at the homes. Short-term rentals are also prohibited, helping the enclave retain the feel of a private residential community rather than an extension of the resort.
Cristie Anne said she is careful not to film neighboring properties when sharing her Golden Oak life with her more than 200,000 Instagram followers, limiting her tours and posts to her family’s own home.
The community does not contain everyday necessities such as supermarkets or schools, so residents must travel a few minutes beyond Disney property for groceries and other errands. But restaurants, resort hotels, golf courses, spas and entertainment are all practically on their doorstep.
For Cristie Anne’s family, that combination of real-world convenience, privacy and Disney magic makes the home a keeper.
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