| Entry price | ChampionsGate from roughly $360K; Reunion condos from about $310K, estates to $15M |
|---|---|
| HOA | ChampionsGate ≈$545–$605/mo across three stacked bills; Reunion $395–$1,130/mo by neighborhood |
| CDD | ChampionsGate $1,300–$2,800/yr; Reunion ≈$2,000–$3,400/yr across two districts |
| The catch | ChampionsGate: STR permitted in The Retreat only. Reunion: club membership attaches to the home and cannot be added later |
| Capital contribution | ChampionsGate $2,000 at closing; Reunion club initiation roughly $15,000 if the home carries membership |
| Lodging tax | 13.5% for both — Osceola County, owner self-remits the 6% TDT |
| Suits | ChampionsGate: large-group rental at a workable basis. Reunion: luxury buyer who wants the club and will hold it |
The one-line version
Buy in The Retreat at ChampionsGate if you want a large-group rental property at a basis that still produces a return, and you are content with a well-amenitised community rather than a destination resort.
Buy in Reunion if you want the top of this market — golf, the water park, the club — and you are buying a home you will use as well as rent. Only buy a Reunion home that already carries membership, because a home without it can never add it.
Both are in Osceola County despite ChampionsGate’s Davenport mailing address, so both carry the 13.5% lodging tax and both require you to self-remit the county’s 6% portion every month. That is not a differentiator; it is a shared obligation people routinely miss.
Where ChampionsGate trips people up
ChampionsGate is really two communities behind one gate. The Retreat is the Lennar vacation section where nightly rental is the intended use. The Country Club, Stoneybrook and Stoneybrook South are residential and do not permit it, and sources conflict on which Vistas townhome phases do. Buying in the wrong village ends the rental plan entirely, and the listing will not always make the distinction clear.
The second quirk is billing. Dues arrive as three separate invoices — Retreat, Master and Oasis Club — plus a $2,000 capital contribution at closing. A listing quoting a single monthly figure is almost always quoting one of the three. What they buy is genuinely substantial: Spectrum internet and cable, full lawn care, daily valet trash, nightly security patrol and townhome exterior maintenance, which makes owning from out of state considerably simpler.
The product skews large. Lennar built up to eight-bedroom plans, resales run to nine, every Retreat home has a private screened pool, and five-plus bedroom homes dominate — which is the large-group niche where nightly rates hold up best.
Where Reunion trips people up
Club membership attaches to the home, not to the owner, and a home that does not carry membership can never add it. Two houses on the same street, identical in every other respect, are different assets. This is the single most expensive thing to learn late in this entire corridor.
It compounds: guest access to the water park and club facilities requires the membership and that the home is managed by a Preferred Partner. A buyer who acquires a membership home and then places it with the wrong manager has still lost the amenity access that justified the price.
Reunion is also not one community. Dues range from $395 to $1,130 a month depending on neighborhood, two separate districts operate across the property, and optional club membership runs roughly $15,000 initiation plus $500–$925 monthly. A figure quoted for “Reunion” without naming the neighborhood is not information.
How the money actually compares
At the entry end the two are closer than they look. A ChampionsGate Retreat home from roughly $360,000 carries about $545–$605 a month in dues plus $1,300–$2,800 a year of CDD — call it $700–$840 a month all in before tax, insurance and mortgage.
A Reunion condo from around $310,000 can carry less in dues at the low end of the range, but its district assessment is higher and, if the unit carries membership, the club fee is a very large recurring line. If it does not carry membership, it is cheaper to hold and materially harder to rent well, because your guests cannot use what they came for.
Which means the comparison is not really about price per square foot. It is about whether the amenity package your guests will actually be able to access justifies the carrying cost you are signing up for. At ChampionsGate that access comes with the house. At Reunion it comes with a specific configuration of membership and management.
Who should buy which
Pure income, out-of-state owner, wants it simple: The Retreat. The dues cover the services that are hardest to manage remotely, the product is sized for the segment that pays best here, and the rental position is unambiguous inside that section.
Family use plus rental, wants the resort experience: Reunion, with membership, managed by a Preferred Partner. You are paying for something real and you will use it.
Value buyer looking for the cheapest way in: honestly, neither. Both carry meaningful CDD assessments. There are lower-cost routes into this corridor with no district assessment at all — the trade is older housing stock and less amenity.
Figures are current as of September 2026 and change. Dues, district assessments, membership status and the leasing rules for any specific parcel must be confirmed with the association and the district before you rely on them.