Orange Lake Resort: advice tips webphotos

[lwellen]

We will be staying at Orange Lake Resort & Country Club the 2nd week in December 2006. We have reserved a 3 bedroom villa. Are the 3 bedroom villas better in some buildings than others? Any recommendations on where we should request to stay?

We have two children (1 and 3.5) and another family will be staying with us. They have three children (3.5, 6, & 8). We have a few days planned at Disney and Seaworld but otherwise want to hang out around the resort.

I'd love to hear any advice or tips. If any one has stayed in the 3 bedroom villas and have pictures posted on a website, I'd appreciate the link.

Thanks so much!

 

[spiceycat]

only stayed in a 2-bedroom - but here are my pictures
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/spice...=&.done=http://photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

this resort has only a few swimming pools - so if your kids like crowds they are great - if not then sorry.

 

[lwellen]

Thank you for the photos.

I was confused by your comment

this resort has only a few swimming pools - so if your kids like crowds they are great - if not then sorry.

Have you been there since "River Island" was completed?

 

[spiceycat]

I like my swimming pools close by and enough of them.

Orange Lake is a BIG and I mean BIG resort. It has only 4 pools besides the new one.

the new one is not near the older part of the resort.

here is the pools
http://www.orangelake.com/tour_our_resort/pools_and_water_fun.html

as far as the new pool no I haven't been.

OL as nice.

but I hated to drive to a swimming pool. I want to walk to one not drive.

the pools, my opinion, were not clean often enough. I also like a clean pool.

 

[spiceycat]

there are more than 2,000 units.

OKW has 4 pools - but only 761 units.

 

[DisneyBlonde]

I've never stayed in a 3-bedroom, only a 2-bedroom...but we prefer the layout of the golf villas. They are a little older but have an open floor plan that makes them seem much larger. Orange Lake is a great resort.

 

[shoney]

I stayed in a 2 bedroom tennis villa (yes, there are 3 bedroom one as well) right next to the clubhouse in the west village. The unit was okay, but the clubhouse and olympic size pool were just gross! They are old and very worn and outdated. We felt like we were at a public pool in New York City. The people were rude!!!
We then drove to the splash lagoon pool. Way too crowded...children and teens going down the tiny slide one after another without any care for the little guys (yes I had two of them!).
We left shortly after getting there.
We went to the parks more often than we had planned.
In our family we refer to orange lake as the "ghetto". Yes it is a gross exaggeration but a fitting one!
River Island wasn't open yet, but I could see where those same problems of overcrowding being an issue, especially during a busy time.

We are staying at the Hilton GVC @ Seaworld in November and hope to have a much better experience.
We have stayed at Summer Bay and Silver Lake and both are much nicer than OLCC.

 

[spiceycat]

don't worry - OL has a tons of fans - they will be along shortly. It is a big resort - some people love it - while others of us prefer a smaller resort.

what I didn't like besides the lack of swimming pools - was the light along us192. this thing was awfully. it held you there (in OL) for a good 10 minutes - timed it one morning - it won't be so bad - if US 192 was busy. It wasn't - so waiting for this light was a big problem for me.

 

[f7prez]

I don't think the original poster wanted to hear from those of you that never pass up an opportunity to bash OL. I think they were just looking for TIPS, ADVICE AND PHOTOS. Stop wasting space.

My tip would be to enjoy the many many many amenities on site that a lot of resorts don't have. Especially the lazy river after a long day of golf.

 

[spiceycat]

see OL has a bunch of fans!

 

[stingray65]

We own a 2 bedroom unit at Orange Lake and we love it. my daughter owns a 3 bedroom unit. we have not been ther since river island has opened But we like the north Village pool Most of the 3 bedroom units are in the high rises, we stayed in one and it was great I don't remember the unit number but it was a corner unit. the higher you get the better the view is.You can go to orangelake.com and check out the live web cam of the north village pool ,they also have a photo gallery. If you have any questions PM me

 

[mickeymousemom]

We stayed at OLCC once a couple years ago in a two bedroom villa on the golf course. I like them, but only becasue we basically had our own duplex and it seemed very large inside. We never used the pools, as we would have had to drive(as someone else said) and they were also packed ALL the time. This is a very nice resort, but also very big and a little stuffier than others we've stayed in(we traded thru RCI for this but are BlueGreen owners). We've recently stayed in the Fountains on I-Drive and loved it there. I think you'll be happy with OLCC, but be prepared for it's size and the crowded pools.

 

[lwellen]

We are going in early December so I believe we will not have such a problem with crowded pools. Any opinions?

I'm wondering if it will even be warm enough in December to swim... hope so!

 

[mickeymousemom]

We are going in early December so I believe we will not have such a problem with crowded pools. Any opinions?

I'm wondering if it will even be warm enough in December to swim... hope so!

Ya know, I bet you're right. When we stayed there it was June. Much different than December. Unless they get a really warm streak, or the pools are uber heated, they shouldn't be too crowded. The one time we went to WDW in December, the pools were in use but nothing like in the summer or fall.
Like I said, OLCC really is a very nice resort, but it just didn't fit US very well. We had been so used to smaller places where the employees were much friendlier and personable. I just didn't get that vibe there. Our villa, though a two bedroom, was very spacious. We had two adults, two teens, a tween, and an infant. No problems with room at all. One thing we did notice(though you may not in December, I don't know) was that every night we returned home from somewhere, there were little frogs ALL OVER our windows and doors. Very cute, but I didnt want them jumping on me. I made DH go up to the door first and scare them off!

 

[riu girl]

We are going in early December so I believe we will not have such a problem with crowded pools. Any opinions?

I'm wondering if it will even be warm enough in December to swim... hope so!

We will also be at OLCC in December. I called the hotel and was told that all pool areas (except large pool in West village) are heated. Hopefully you will get some warm days and will be able to enjoy River Island. It looks like a great place to spend a day.