timeshares/Orange Lake resort

[lisa and john]

Hi, I am new to the board, and it's been helpful and fun to browse through the posts...

I am wondering what peoples' experiences have been with using timeshares? I am worried about the aggressiveness factor, as we have no intention of buying into a timeshare. Can anyone comment on their experiences and if the "harrassing" is worth it?

Also, has anyone stayed at Orange Lake resort? It is a timeshare about 4 miles from Disneyworld. Would be interested in hearing experiences. Thanks!

Looking forward to my first trip to Disneyworld in March '05!!!!

 

[Big V]

Hi Lisa and John and Welcome to the Dis!We have done a few timeshare tours and some have been really easy and some have been a hard sell. Just keep saying NO! We stayed at Orange Lake in 1999 and had a great time there. It's a very nice place.

 

[Belle1962]

Try hotelkingdom.com for booking. Great rates and NO timeshare tour required--they may ask you but just say no.

I stayed at Orange Lake in October-we loved it. There is a shortcut to Disney from Orange Lake:

From 192 turn LEFT onto Black Lake Road
Black Lake Road ends at SHERBERTH Road--turn LEFT
At the first light turn RIGHT and follow the signs to wherever you want to go. (You hit Disney property about 1/2 way down Sherberth Road.)

If you miss Black Lake Road from 192 then turn LEFT onto Sherberth from 192 a little further up.

 

[reddixie]

I am a current owner at OLCC if you have questions just ask. I love the resort and leave in 2 days to enjoy a week and half there. There is one heated pool in the winter and of course the hot tubs. The timeshare sell isn't as aggresive as at other places. Have fun.

 

[Cocamami]

I also own at Orange Lake (and I love it!), and I don't recall the pitch being too aggressive, of course we knew before the pitch that we wanted to buy (as we had previously stayed as guests). We just played hard to get to get the price down some.

If you are really not into buying, as Big V said, just say no.

Another piece of advice,don't stay longer than you have to! I learned that one the hard way and wasted half a day of valuable vacation time facing rep after rep tring to hard sell me their vacation property. If they say the tour is a 60-minute tour or 90-minute tour, hold them to it. You aren't required to stay longer (unless you're having fun and you want to stay), and since you fulfilled your end of the deal, they have to give you whatever they promised you (attraction tix, etc.).

Good Luck and enjoy your trip!

 

[spiceycat]

they also don't seem to bother those staying with skyauction.

 

[dreamscometrue47]

OLCC is fantastic. My husband will only stay there if we don't stay on-site. We don't own there, but have traded and rented there, and aside from being asked to listen to their pitch, we have never been bothered by sales people. We simply said no, and that was the end of it.

Everything is pristine at Orange Lake, from the beautiful villas to the pools to the restaurants to mini-golf to the several gorgeous golf courses to tennis to jet skis on the lake...I could go on and on. And it's only a 15-minute ride to Disney property. They also now are "authorized" (for want of a better word!) to make Disney priority seatings, etc, which is really nice.

Sometimes it's nice to just relax, away from the hub bub of Disney. That's why we sometimes stay on Disney property and sometimes at Orange Lake!

 

[lisa and john]

Thanks for all your replies everyone! Belle1962, so thoughtful and helpful to provide directions!

Thanks also for all the advice to "handle" the timeshare people. We have yet to find a deal on skyauction or hotelkingdom, but we'll keep looking. Does anyone have any advice as to how we can get a quote for a week and find out what is available?

Happy planning, everyone!

 

[tiggercrazy]

We are staying there at the end of January. We have a 2 bdrm and brother has a studio. We have heard that OLCC is very nice!

reddixie-which pool is heated in the winter? Are the 2 bdrms and studios anywhere near each other? Do you think that we should request something specific?

Thanks for letting me piggyback on this thread lisa and john...have a great trip!

 

[bwvBound]

Also, has anyone stayed at Orange Lake resort? It is a timeshare about 4 miles from Disneyworld. Would be interested in hearing experiences. Thanks!

Our experience is limited to 1BR units, with Saturday arrival. We checked-in 12/11/04 ... and checked-out within the hour. Our units had a strong chemical odor, rusty appliances, dirty carpets and very poor lighting.

The lesson we learned: Avoid accepting 1BR units with Saturday check-in. While Friday arrivals are given "newer" units ... Saturday arrivals are stuck in aging cottage units.

 

[jeff968]

I have stayed at many of the Timeshare resorts and I think they are great. As others have said, just say no to the sale, then take your free tickets or cash and enjoy the rest of the day. My family and I stayed at Orange Lake a couple of years ago. Compared to the other resorts i have stayed at I would only give it a fair rating. I was in a two bedroom but the area I was in wasn't clean and the resort is too large and located out of the way. Of course, if you are a golfer then that would be a plus as they have their own course.

 

[DVC California]

Here is a link to a recent thread started by Snoopy from her stay at OLCC:

Our stay at Orange Lake Country Club (pics included)

We also had a chance to stay a week at OLCC last year through a SkyAuction bid. We had requested to be placed in the North Village near Splash Lagoon. There is a newer section - the East Village - which we did not visit. I don't think there is a pool in the East Village, so you may have to drive over to Splash Lagoon anyway.

When we checked in, they had placed us in the older West Village on the infamous Lake Kem Way. These are much older duplexes. We went over to main reservation desk and asked to be moved to the North Village, then went back to check-in for our keys. It was worth it. These are much nicer fourplexes with newer furnishings and a better room layout.

I agree with everything that Snoopy wrote about her stay. We also noticed that they did not keep the east gate open as long as we would have liked. The east gate is much faster to access the North and East Village but it closed at 10 pm. If you stay until park closing, you will have to take the long drive from the main gate through the west village.

They also have the sprinklers come on at inconvenient times. It seemed to go off in the morning as we were leaving (9 am) and also around 11 pm when we were coming home. We were always getting wet.

Also look out for the sloooow golf carts driving timeshare sales staff. The roads are narrow and it is hard to pass them on the curves. There are also many people out at night jogging, walking, rollerblading, etc in the dark. Keep your eyes open.

There is a Publix supermarket right on the corner of 192 and the east entrance drive. Very convenient for picking up groceries and stuff. There is also a 24 hours Walgreen pharmacy across 192 from the main entrance for late night stuff.

If you plan on driving to the WDW, take the back way, Sherberth Road, right past the McDonalds. It will bring you out to the main road for Animal Kingdom and save you a lot of time during rush hour.

HTH, Steve

 

[reddixie]

First let me say OLCC is very large and not right for everyone. I bought another week and so did a friend as we love the resort. Yes it's true now you can take care of Disney things at the Disney desk staffed by Cast members not resort staff. That was fantastic this trip. The shell shaped pool and the small pool by the olympic pool is heated. I noticed that a few things were not as nice as usual. Our trees are wind burned and leaning. My unit had water damage. I unfortunately live in central Fl. and went through 3 hurricanes along with OLCC therefore I overlooked the minor damage that I knew was caused by the storms. Those coming from out of state might forget that we went through that and consider that to be lack of upkeep. I am very excited as I own in the newest East Village and will be there for the opening this year of River Island. A 12 acre water park for resort guest only. It looks like so much fun. Also they are trying to finish redoing the last golf course on site. We are also getting a new putt-putt course on the new water park site. I loved the internet cafe but it is pricey 5.00 for 30 minutes and Starbucks is only two coffee pots not a real Starbucks; that did disappoint me. I also don't really like the food at Kemmon's. I have tried it on my last 4 trips always the same result. Paisan's and Legacy Grille make up for the bad food at Kemmon's though IMHO. I think they need to update there recreation a little or add more things for older kids. This year my daughter still liked the tube races, slide races, and crafts. I see this coming to an end though and would like to see the resort grow with her. If you like sports this is a terrific place. We tried tennis, raquetball, golf, and swimming this trip. The courts are free to use for raquetball and tennis. They sell balls for about 4.00 for either sport. You can rent raquets 2.00 an hour or 5.00 a day. Golf can be pricey for anyone but my dh loves the courses. Any other ?'s please pm me. I will answer any that I can.

 

[HappyLawyer]

i am a new owner at orange lake, they are not pushy at all if you say no they are fine with it, i went on a few of the sales for different resorts, i bought at orange lake, because they offer a lot, many many things, i am not here to sell or promote so if you have specific questions you can pm me, i have not stayed there yet, i bought new construction but i am excited, i stayed at summer bay and it was nice, i took a nice tour of orange lake the villas are beautiful

 

[reddixie]

I need to state that I too am not advocating buying at OLCC. I just love it so much and am sharing my opinion of the resort. I love Disney also and have stayed on property but I don't think you should buy into DVC unless you know what you want. That goes for all Timeshares. Not everyone will love them nor do I promote or try to sell. I just wanted to explain about my resort feel free to post to the board.

Lisa
Just your average housewife.

 

[js]

We were at OLCC from 11/26-12/5 and LOVED it. We thought we may purchase a week when we went and sure enough not only did we purchase a week in April (at the new section that just opened in June close the the new water park that will be opening) my mom also purchased a week following our week. So, we have two weeks in a 3 bedroom We plan on using our weeks at OLCC and also using our weeks at other resorts. We cannot (well really will not) go to Disney during the Spring so for the times we want to go to Disney, we will just move our weeks for a cost.
We will not be going to OLCC in 05 but plan on returning in April 06 after a cruise and again the Saturday after Thanksgiving November 06
I have an almost 11 dd and 6 1/2 ds and feel like the poster above that the resort will be growing with my children.
I think the bus shuttle will be great when my dd is older for getting her (and if she brings her friend) to from one part of the resort to another.
Unfortunately, we didn't take advantage of any "nightlife" at OLCC (ie., campfires, music by the pool, etc.) but did spend a few days by the pool relaxing which was wonderful. Our "sell" lasted for quite a few hours...way too long if you ask me but that was also the "fault" if you want to call it that of my dh and me.
We asked to be driven to the new highrise they are currently building and also the place we finally purchased that just opened in June.
They were trying to sell us Sun-Sun and Fri-Fri which I did not want and then had Sat-Sat on 2nd floor but also did not want that.
I wanted 3 bedroom on top floor. I really wanted the new building that is currently under construction with a 3 bedroom on the top floor. We found out that the Kemmon's family will own the entire top floor of that new building. I didn't want to be on the floor below (really wanted top floor LOL) so we took the other building. If they didn't push Fri-Fri and Sun-Sun and just told me what was availabile Sat-Sat I am sure it would have also gone quicker but they really wanted to get rid of those first. At one point I said to my husband that it just not meant to be and I wasn't going to buy anything other than Sat-Sat, somehow after "looking on the computer" what I wanted opened up LOL We had a great salesperson but I don't remember her name at the moment but she really was very nice and easy to work with.
I would definately recommend OLCC but like someone mentioned, not all would like it. It is very big and you do need a car to get around.

 

[mrgoodwrench]

I'll be staying at Orange Lake. Is it possible to use the extra magic early entry? Does Disney actually check for a resort id?

Thanks.