There are plenty of 13-room homes in the world, but none like Andrew Greenstein’s in Lake County, which he rents out to vacationing families, for family reunions, seminars and any large group of people interested in fun.
We’re talking laser maze entrances; Monopoly-, Scrabble-, Pac Man- and Clue-themed rooms; giant Operation and Lite-Brite game board walls that really work; a Donkey Kong staircase; a Jumanji theater; and a dry-erase word-search puzzle that takes up an entire wall, with more than 4,500 words hidden in it.
There’s also an actual escape room, that locks its occupants in upon entering, and only opens when riddles, puzzles and mind-bogglers are solved using clues located all over its walls.
And that’s just on the inside.
The backyard includes human bowling, Foosball and soccer billiards; giant Connect Four and chess games; and a huge Chutes and Ladders water slide that empties into a large Go-Fish (fish shaped) swimming pool.
“I rent it to people and they all get their own interpretive difference out of it,” Greenstein said. “But the main recurring theme is people find themselves reliving their childhood, doing things they never thought were possible.
“We all get trapped inside the box and this really reminds people to think outside the box. Like the old poetic saying that says you don’t stop playing ‘cause you get old, you’ll get old if you stop playing.”
Greenstein said his goal was always to retire early enough to enjoy life as much as possible.
“When I retired, I had money, and although I never cared much about things like cars and stuff, I always thought it would be cool to have a big secluded house.”
Greenstein bought the home on 62-acres in Clermont, surrounded by a lake, trees and nature galore.
He and his first wife started a family, and Greenstein started elaborate renovations on the home. With two growing daughters Baiden-Melody and Kayden-Harmony, the family began traveling and seeing the world.
That’s when the idea of renting out his first property came to Greenstein. He called it “The Ever After Estate.”
“It wasn’t (created) for this (rental) purpose, but it already had a lot of cool things in it, like a ball pit, miniature golf course and the carousel horse rides, just because I wanted all that for our family,” he said. “We took a lot of family vacations and we were traveling as much as 20 weeks per year around the world.”
Renting out the house helped pay for the trips and the property became so popular, Greenstein bought another large home on five acres in Minneola and renovated it using a candy theme. That property is called “The Sweet Escape.”
People can rent this 10-room house with each room decorated with a different “sweet” theme, including lollypops, Hershey Kisses, Oreos, ice cream and more. There’s also amenities like a movie theatre, a water park, a human Candyland board, a massage room with sauna, and the world’s only ice cream cone-shaped swimming pool with a hot tub cherry on top.
Greenstein said The Sweet Escape became just as popular as The Ever After Estate. However, a dream the kids and he had of building yet another fun-filled house still lingered.
By that time, Greenstein and his first wife were divorced, but Belinda, his current wife, had come along and the four let their imaginations go wild.
Rather than purchasing a house and renovating, they had a third home, now known as “Great Escape Lakeside,” built to specification. The estate was built in 10 months and opened in February.
It’s already booked through August, along with Ever After and Sweet Escape, which are booked even later than that.
The Labbe family stayed at the Sweet Escape last year, but when they found out about the Great Escape’s game theme, they had to see it for themselves.
“We’ve been in every room and there is nothing like it anywhere,” said Chris Labbe, who admittedly said he was one of the several adults who had become addicted to finishing word search before leaving.
Lisa Labbe said the staying at the estate also provided much more of an opportunity for family bonding and pure fun without the long lines and overcrowded theme parks.
What they like best is the 10 1/2 bathrooms the house has, which means no waiting.
As for 9-year-old Ethan Labbe, his favorite part was “everything.”
Greenstein likes hearing about people having fun at his properties.
“They (the three houses) represent my belief in kind of never growing up — in a good way never growing up,” he said. “Being mature, but never growing up.”
The Sweet Escape house has been featured in Travel and Leisure Magazine, the Ever After Estate has been featured on HGTV and Great Escape’s word search made the Guinness Book of world records as the largest word search, before a professor in India topped it last week. Still, the word search is the second largest in the world, Greenstein said.
For more information, visit www.sweetescapehouse.com , www.theeverafterestate.com and www.greatescapelakeside.com.