Orange Lake West Village for Easter - SO EXCITED!!!

[krmlaw]

I just traded into the West Village for Easter. AND AM SO EXCITED!!!

Got a GREAT 2 bedroom condo!

And know NOTHING about Orange Lake, and their website seems to be down.

I think we are skipping the Disney main parks, and just going to hit the water parks and Universal.

Any other ideas on what to do, non Disney parks?

Anyone ever stayed here? Tips/Advice?

And where should we eat dinner on Easter?

 

[MerMom60_94]

Hi there! I own at Orange Lake and have gone there for the past few April vacations. We will be headed down there again April 19th - can't wait!!

How old is your son? Does your family golf? There are beautiful courses there. Our unit is in the West Village and it overlooks one of the holes. They just did the pools over and there is a lazy river onsite. Usually we spend our days at the parks but my DD and I talk my husband into letting us relax by the pool for at least one afternoon.

A friend of mine brought her 10 year old son to Disney Quest. I have never been but is that something your family would like? I think that was their favorite part of Disney. In fact, I'm thinking about checking it out myself!

 

[MerMom60_94]

The sales people are pretty tenacious. You're bound to get a call for someone to come and see you for "an hour". I'll warn you now they are going to try to sell you something and they are not going to be an hour. My advise is to pass. Other than that, it's beautiful there.

 

[krmlaw]

DS is 15. We've been to Disney in 2007 and 2006. Missed 2008!

Disney quest is awesome! Definatley make a trip there, just make sure you get there early in the morning b/c it gets crowded later on.

We are excited to stay at Orange Lake.

We arent doing any of the Disney parks this time, as this is a last minute extra trip.

So we will be enjoying to resort alot! What are things to do at the resort? Is it far from DTD, Boardwalk, Disney water parks (which we are doing)? Universal (I think we are doing that too)?

We are all golfers, but i dont know if we want to bring our clubs with us, its such an expense to lug them, and pay for them now! Do they rent clubs there? And are there reduced greens fees?

Sorry for all the questions!!!!

 

[MerMom60_94]

They do rent clubs - and lessons are available. I have friends who introduced us to Orange Lake and they never used to even leave the property all week with their kids. There is a teen-only party one night and other activities throughout the entire week. One thing we got a big kick out of was midnight madness putt-putt golf. They turn off all the lights and put glow in the dark things in the putt-putt holes and use glow in the dark golf balls. Ironically, it was the best putt-putt game I have ever played in my life (scorewise). They also have watersports available (i.e Searays and waterskiing). During the day they have bingo by the pool and a craft by the pool. My daughter did the craft once and made a tie-dyed t-shirt. They have one night where they have a "dive-in movie" - they set a screen up by the pool and show a flik. Lots of fun stuff to do. What dates are you there?

 

[krmlaw]

The sales people are pretty tenacious. You're bound to get a call for someone to come and see you for "an hour". I'll warn you now they are going to try to sell you something and they are not going to be an hour. My advise is to pass. Other than that, it's beautiful there.

thanks ... we WONT be going on the tour. I bought our 3 TS off ebay for almost nothing.

 

[swilshire]

My kids called the West village cottages "monopoly houses". We didn't care for them at all, but we did tour there in October and they have remodeled since we stayed there. They look nicer now.

The tour wasn't bad after I told the salesman we already owned six timeshare weeks and really need to sell a couple because we're having trouble using them all every year. We got $100 in Universal Bucks, which I used to buy tickets for my two college kids for our New Year's trip.

It's a pretty good haul from Orange Lake to Universal. The new water park looked nice, but it was crowded even in October. Can't imagine what it would be like in the summer.

If you're not already a member of the Timeshare Users Group, check them out at www.tug2.net . The modest membership fee is a great investment. I don't ever book a resort without checking out their members only reviews first.

Sheila

 

[krmlaw]

My kids called the West village cottages "monopoly houses". We didn't care for them at all, but we did tour there in October and they have remodeled since we stayed there. They look nicer now.

The tour wasn't bad after I told the salesman we already owned six timeshare weeks and really need to sell a couple because we're having trouble using them all every year. We got $100 in Universal Bucks, which I used to buy tickets for my two college kids for our New Year's trip.

It's a pretty good haul from Orange Lake to Universal. The new water park looked nice, but it was crowded even in October. Can't imagine what it would be like in the summer.

If you're not already a member of the Timeshare Users Group, check them out at www.tug2.net . The modest membership fee is a great investment. I don't ever book a resort without checking out their members only reviews first.

Sheila

Thanks Sheila, Im a member of tug and do love it. I heard they are fully renovated, with is good. Im surprised that I got a trade at this late date for a 2 bedroom for Easter week in Orlando.

Do you remember if the different areas are far apart?

 

[krmlaw]

They do rent clubs - and lessons are available. I have friends who introduced us to Orange Lake and they never used to even leave the property all week with their kids. There is a teen-only party one night and other activities throughout the entire week. One thing we got a big kick out of was midnight madness putt-putt golf. They turn off all the lights and put glow in the dark things in the putt-putt holes and use glow in the dark golf balls. Ironically, it was the best putt-putt game I have ever played in my life (scorewise). They also have watersports available (i.e Searays and waterskiing). During the day they have bingo by the pool and a craft by the pool. My daughter did the craft once and made a tie-dyed t-shirt. They have one night where they have a "dive-in movie" - they set a screen up by the pool and show a flik. Lots of fun stuff to do. What dates are you there?

Im excited they have lots to do. We are there from April 10 (good friday) to April 16 (thursday). We have the condo from friday to friday, but we have to be back.

Does everything cost money to do?

 

[MerMom60_94]

There are fees for a lot of the activities - I don't think everything though. Here is a link to the current activities calendar. This is pretty typical, even though the current calendar is geared toward Christmas.
http://orangelake.com/tour_our_resort/event_calendar.html

I no longer see the teen party listed - I am hoping they will have it when we go since my daughter is now 14 and might enjoy finding other kids her age to hang around with. I was thinking more about what there is to do. On site there are tennis courts and basketball courts. Off site you would be about an hour from Kennedy Space Center. My family and I really enjoy it there - I don't know if your family is interested in that type of thing. Also, we went to Busch Gardens last April and the crowds weren't bad at all and they have about 10 roller coasters. That night we took in the Red Sox vs Tampa Bay game over at Tropicana Field.

http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/schedule/?c_id=tb&y=2009&m=4

I've read that there are airboat rides nearby. I haven't tried that yet but would love to check it out. Also, I have seen hot air balloons some mornings so there must be hot air balloon rides nearby.

 

[Julie*]

We have stayed at Orange Lake 3 different years now- all during our April break- and we love it. We have stayed in East Village once and River Island Village twice. This time we are in the West Village.

We have found that River Island is so much fun for the kids and we've spent a couple of days there just having fun. It can be crowded but it's SO big that we didn't feel too crowded.

My DH loves to play golf and likes to play at least one round of golf. Last time we also got the week long minigolf pass and played 5 times as a family.

One of the things that we like to do is go to a Disney resort character breakfast on a day that we have nothing else planned. We make the reservations for 10am and have a nice leisurely breakfast with the characters and then head back for some swimming and stuff.

I will be at Orange Lake in 2009 from April 19-April 26th.

Have a great trip!

 

[MerMom60_94]

I will be at Orange Lake in 2009 from April 19-April 26th.

I'll see you there!!! I'm there the same week as you.

 

[lawgs]

We have stayed at Orange Lake 3 different years now- all during our April break- and we love it. We have stayed in East Village once and River Island Village twice. This time we are in the West Village.

We have found that River Island is so much fun for the kids and we've spent a couple of days there just having fun. It can be crowded but it's SO big that we didn't feel too crowded.

My DH loves to play golf and likes to play at least one round of golf. Last time we also got the week long minigolf pass and played 5 times as a family.

One of the things that we like to do is go to a Disney resort character breakfast on a day that we have nothing else planned. We make the reservations for 10am and have a nice leisurely breakfast with the characters and then head back for some swimming and stuff.

I will be at Orange Lake in 2009 from April 19-April 26th.

Have a great trip!

are you owners at orange lake? if not, how does one get around the one in three rule??

 

[swilshire]

Do you remember if the different areas are far apart?

It's all pretty sprawling. We drove around the resort. They have some sort of shuttle service, but we never used it.

I found it annoying that they charged $1 for each toll-free phone call, which is how I was accessing my internet for work.

Sheila