RCI Member Swapping to Orange Lake

[lpizzuro123]

We will be down in Orlando Thanksgiving week. We stayed at Orange Lake about 5 years ago. I believe we were in a private house on the golf course. Can anyone recommend a location to request at Orange Lake. I have heard they have expanded the property. We have a 2-bedroom that sleeps 6. Do they only let the RCI exchange people stay in a certain section of the resort?

Thanks,
Linda

 

[javamoma]

We have stayed at Orange Lake several times with the most recent being this past september. You definatly want to stay in the new area around Splash Lagoon. The condos are awesome, hammocks right outside your door as well as a lazy river, water park type slides, restraunts and other amenities. We have stayed all over that resort and this was certainly our favorite!

 

[javamoma]

Oh, I forgot to mention we were a RCI exchange as well and we have stayed all over. They will put you anywhere you request because they are really trying to sell the property to RCI owners. They want you to get rid of your original condo and buy into theirs. So, look out if you are not interested!
Oh, it's called River Island, not Splash Lagoon. Sorry.

 

[spiceycat]

boy you had a wonderful experience. I got told no way - not happening when I asked for a different villa at Orange Lake.

we got the houses - Western section. Ours had recently been redone it was nice.

but I love a whirlpool tub and these things don't have them. Not even a separate shower. although each villa is separate.

the newer units have the whirlpool tub.

also didn't appreciate that the swmming pool was not in walking distance. you had to drive your car to the swimming pool. Definitely don't like to do that.

 

[lpizzuro123]

Thanks for your replies. I will definately request a unit by River Island. We have exchanged our RCI unit for many different places and have always gotten a great upgrade. Last time we were near the golf course also and even though the units were nice I did not like that we had to drive to the pool and main building. Honestly we will probably not spend too much time in the unit but I want it to be nice and in a good location.

Linda

 

[Detailor]

For an RCI exchange, I don't think that you'll be able to get into the new River Island section unless you've traded into Code #8881, Orange Lake's River Island - one of four codes that are in use for Orange Lake. The West Village code is 0670, it's 8896 for the East Village and 8897 for the North Village. I'm not sure if they're making an distinction between the West, East and North codes yet, but I am pretty certain that the only way to get into River Island is by trading through that area's code. You should check your exchange document to determine which section you've traded into. If it isn't for the newest section you might consider that the North Village is the next newest and the West Village is the oldest.

Dick Taylor

 

[Lisa P.]

On other timeshare groups, I've read that they are not currently accepting requests due to the current renovations in progress in West Village - not even requests from owners trading their other weeks into OL.

Also, RCI exchangers who trade into OL or OL-West Village may be assigned a unit in any sections through 2007. In 2008, River Island has its own RCI ID# so exchangers will not expect an assigned unit there unless they trade into that section. As of January 2009, each section has its own resort ID#. So after that, you'll know what to expect when you confirm your exchange.

Once the sections are traded independently, IIRC, the "West Village" includes the Tennis Villas and it will have the new Clubhouse, pool area, and restaurant which are now being remodeled and overhauled. "North Village" has Splash Lagoon. "River Island" is self-explanatory.

For your Thanksgiving 2007 trip, you could get anything. Hope you have a wonderful time - people returning recently on the forums have said they did! Enjoy!

 

[gjw007]

Currently there are two areas that you could trade into Orange Lake, West Village and River Island. Until January 2009, a West Village reservation will be in any of the three sections of the Original West Village, the North Village, and the East Village. Your reservation will state either Orange Lake River Island or more likely Orange Lake West Village. If it says Orange Lake West Village, don't expect to get into the River Island units. There are only about 154 units in the River Island area out of over 2500 units at Orange Lake so the odds are very small that a River Island unit will be available and most River Island owners have opted to join OLCC's GoGlobal internal exchange programs meaning that unless they did an external exchange, the only units available are those from the developer. As all future purchases from the developer (the new building as an example) will include GoGlobal, River Island should be limited in availability in the future as well. If you get one, good luck but no matter where you stay, enjoy your vacation.