February 2005

[jhiltwine]

Has anyone ever stayed at the Orange Lake Resort and Country Club? If so, what did you think? We will be staying there for our week in Orlando (this Saturday, the 26th!) We are so excited !

 

[EG528]

Actually I just returned from staying there on 2/10. My parents had three weeks of timeshare they were using, so my 20-month-old DS and I joined them for 9 days.

I loved it there. We stayed in the North Village and the unit we had was nice. Not quite as elegant as some of the timeshares I've been to, but still very nice and clean. Our unit overlooked the golf course and at night we could see the fireworks from MK. They have a lot of kids and adult activities there, which is nice if you like to do those kinds of things. There is a beach on a non-swimming lake, but my DS loved to play in the sand so we enjoyed that. The pools looked clean and well maintained.

A couple of tips: The resort has a shuttle to take you from one part of the enormous complex to another. DS and I tried it one day and it took us 20-minutes to get to the West Village area (where the beach, main lobby, general store are. It would've taken us not even 5 by our own car. I wouldn't recommend taking the shuttle too often unless you don't mind the long ride.

Also, the parking lot in front of the West Village area gets packed during warm, sunny days (especially around the daily 2:00 p.m. poolside bingo game). I am not kidding about this. The payouts for the bingo games are pretty decent ($200 or more) so these are very popular and I think some guests drive down specifically for it. Actually, my mom and I played a couple of times (one time they ran out of cards) and it was kind of fun.

If they call you for a sales pitch (and they will, probably offering some kind of free tickets or other bait) just know that the tour takes more than the 1-2 hours they say it will.

Since we went at a low-crowd time, it only took us like 15 minutes to reach the MK's parking lot. I don't know how long it takes in busier times. Also, right on the edge of the Orange Lake complex there is a Publix grocery store and Walgreens.

Anyway, I really enjoyed staying there! Email me if you have other questions!