Has anyone stayed at Orange Lake on RCI lately?

[pcgmom]

If so, did you stay in the west village, and how did you find it? I have read many negative reviews about that section, so I am a little nervous about our upcoming reservation. It also angers me that OL divided their resort on the RCI directory, and now our plans say "Orange Lake's West Village." Since we will be travelling with small children, I would really like to be closer to one of the more kid-friendly pool areas.

 

[gjw007]

If so, did you stay in the west village, and how did you find it? I have read many negative reviews about that section, so I am a little nervous about our upcoming reservation. It also angers me that OL divided their resort on the RCI directory, and now our plans say "Orange Lake's West Village." Since we will be travelling with small children, I would really like to be closer to one of the more kid-friendly pool areas.

The current listing for OLCC West Village includes the original West Village, the North Village, and the East Village. This may change shortly as the expectation is that each of these sections will be listed as a separate resort. I happen to like the West Village but I do agree that some areas may be away from the hub of activities. That is actually one of the reasons that I like the section. One of the requests that many exchangers had requested was the ability to choose the section that they will be in. By having the sections divided into different resorts, this accomplishes what had been requested.

 

[MKCP5]

not sure which section is which, but we visited our friends there whille they were on vacation. Kinda yucky. Lots of animal poo in the stairwell and she said it had been there all week long. The unit itself was kinda of damp smelling. She said she would not go back. : (

 

[TotoToo]

All resorts on the 192 highway suffer from an area that is simply too congested with traffic. That has happened as each resort - from monsters like Westgate (were we own) and OLCC and the smaller ones like Wyndham, Star Island (small only in comparison to the monsters) are not pedestrian friendly. Everything is too spread out and you must drive even for a paper or a "quick" cup of coffee. It adds a minimum of 15 minutes to any thing you do away from the unit - usually far more especially at busy times. We absolutely hate that area and only take it is better areas aren't available. On top of that OLCC has a policy to put exchange guests into the worst areas/units. Doesn't make us anxious to ever return there.

Since you already have the reservation make the best of it but you may want to look elsewhere in the future.

 

[LoveMyLAP-BAND]

Just stayed there in the north village at OLCC and LOVED it. We requested OLCC for our next stay as well. The room was so clean and awesome. We did not do any of the on-site activites but they looked great. We were all Disney!

The "commute" from door-to-door (by this I mean from the moment you walk out your OLCC door to handing you ticket at the front gate) is about 45-60 minutes to MK, about 30-45 for EPCOT and Studios and about 30 minutes for AK. That is getting everyone in the car, buckled in their car seats, through Disney property, parking, getting the strollers and ECV out, walking to the gates, etc.

I loved having Publix right near there, too.

I don't think you'll be disappointed. Oh- my kids loved the check in. They had popcorn and lemonade for the kids and making balloon animals. There is also a small indoor playground right off the lobby, too.

Have a great time!

 

[LoveMyLAP-BAND]

Oh- I was an RCI exchange. We don't own there.

 

[HappyLawyer]

Just got back from OLCC, i love it but i own there and i am biased, i can say they could keep the bathrooms cleaner, near the pools.

 

[KerriMc]

We were at OLCC last March and we were happy (the dryer in our unit was awful though ... and we had it checked, but it just blew hot air out the back and took forever to dry things ... made the air a tad humid, but minor really). Anyways, we were in the East Village. The pool up there was quite busy while we were there and it seemed to have some rowdies that week (college age or so, drinking - which supposedly isn't allowed, running around, throwing a football, etc ... and there were a huge number of them) ... so we avoided that pool after that as we had to drive to it anyways. So we found the pool at the very front of the resort (the first road to the right as you come in the front gates) to be quiet. My girls were 2 and 5 last year when we went, so it was nice to have a quieter area. The north pool was also busy, which for my more timid little one would have been a bit scary for her. Anyways, we enjoyed it.

Kerri