Orange Lake Information Thread

We are going for two nights in mid-January, using IHG free night certificates. The lazy River will be closed. Looking to do their daily activities for kids...which area should I request?
What do they .give you fir sitting through a presentation? How long are they?
 
As most of River Island's water activities and bars will be closed during that time, the greatest number and variety of daily activities will center around the West Village pool area, for both kids and adults. I would not recommend requesting any Villa's/Suite's/rooms in the West Village, but that is my preference based upon having stayed in them, compared to the Villa's in the North, East, and River Island areas. If you are not going to have your own car, then it would make sense to stay in the West Village, but even that does not guarantee that you will be very close to the activity area, and will have to rely on the resort's shuttle buses (or walk for up to 10 or 15 minutes), which can have you waiting for quite a while. The 'hard sell' time share presentations are really not worth wasting your time at, regardless of what 'freebies' they offer you. After you check-in you will be directed to another desk to get your parking pass and that's where the tour and 'freebies' are 'strongly' presented. Even if you start off by saying 'no' they will keep 'upping their offers' to you. They will say upfront that the tours will be no longer than 90 minutes long, but in actuality you'll be stuck there for a minimum of 2 to 3 hours, no matter how many times and people you say 'no' to ... and, if you should say 'yes' and cannot/don't attend, you will be charged $30.00 ... of course, you won't know that until you check-out and see that added to your bill!
 
Aside from the Tennis villas, are any of the other villas in the west village that have been updated?
Does anyone know the last time any refurbishments have been Made?
Are there some villa sections better than others ( specific to the west)
If you are going as an RCI guest - is there resort fee, cleaning fee, or any other amenities fees?
Thanks!
 
We will be going in April and plan on having groceries delivered from either Amazon Prime or Insta Cart. We won't have any alcohol delivered as we can get that at the nearby Publix. Anyway, my question is, do you know if bell services at OL will hold our grocery order for us if we are not there when order is delivered?

TIA
 




They do,but it costs $... not sure exactly the price ( I think it was $20 pp)but when we were there and called we kept getting transferred around as no one was sure.
( I thought it was free , lol)
 
Does anyone know if the Publix nearby has grocery pickup? I'm thinking of trying this option vs. going inside the store to shop when we arrive. I'm pretty sure it will be a $$ saver AND the store run is my least favorite part of the trip :sad2:.
 
We just returned from our one-week stay at Orange Lake - River Island. Despite some of the comments throughout this thread, we felt that - hands down - River Island was the place to be! We went over to visit West Village and once we saw how small it was, pretty much got back in our car and went back to RI. If we ever returned, we would want to be at RI again for sure. 3 zero-entry areas to the pools, the lazy river, screened in balconies with ceiling fans, starbucks/ice cream, poolside bars and restaurants, mini putt, tons of palm trees, a hammock area with sand, ping pong tables and the little spouts of water area for the really little ones. It was pure heaven.

No matter where you stay, when driving, definitely scoot out that 'back entrance' for super-easy access to the Publix, Target, and all the restaurants in the area. So much easier than dealing with the stop signs every 10 feet!

We have previously stayed at WBC and we loved it there too. Rooms were comparable. That other trip was a park trip and we did the pools at WBC on our in-between days and loved it there too - but I think for a true 'resort-feel' for a complete non-park trip, then I would choose Orange Lake (but you wouldn't go wrong with WBC either).
 
We just returned from our one-week stay at Orange Lake - River Island. Despite some of the comments throughout this thread, we felt that - hands down - River Island was the place to be! We went over to visit West Village and once we saw how small it was, pretty much got back in our car and went back to RI. If we ever returned, we would want to be at RI again for sure. 3 zero-entry areas to the pools, the lazy river, screened in balconies with ceiling fans, starbucks/ice cream, poolside bars and restaurants, mini putt, tons of palm trees, a hammock area with sand, ping pong tables and the little spouts of water area for the really little ones. It was pure heaven.

No matter where you stay, when driving, definitely scoot out that 'back entrance' for super-easy access to the Publix, Target, and all the restaurants in the area. So much easier than dealing with the stop signs every 10 feet!

We have previously stayed at WBC and we loved it there too. Rooms were comparable. That other trip was a park trip and we did the pools at WBC on our in-between days and loved it there too - but I think for a true 'resort-feel' for a complete non-park trip, then I would choose Orange Lake (but you wouldn't go wrong with WBC either).

Did you visit any parks while you were there? I'm wondering about the travel time from resort to park when we are there in November.
 
We went to Legoland, but also Disney Springs. You can google maps it, but the travel time from resort to Disney parks was about 15 mins.
 
We will be going in April and plan on having groceries delivered from either Amazon Prime or Insta Cart. We won't have any alcohol delivered as we can get that at the nearby Publix. Anyway, my question is, do you know if bell services at OL will hold our grocery order for us if we are not there when order is delivered?

TIA

Did you have grocery delivery? What address did you use? Did they hold delivery at desk or deliver to your room?
 
Does anyone know what kind of coffee makers are provided in the 2 bedroom villas in the West Village? Do I need to bring filters? K cups? 🤔🤷🏻‍♀️
 
Does anyone know what kind of coffee makers are provided in the 2 bedroom villas in the West Village? Do I need to bring filters? K cups? 🤔🤷🏻‍♀️
MDIME

We have not stayed in the West Village, but assuming that the coffee makers are the same, you would want filters. We bought a pack of Melitta 8-12 cup filters (regular filters, not the ones for Melitta "cones"), and we pack a few for each trip (we have a pack of 200, and no my memeory is not that good, I'm looking right at it now).
There is a Publix right next to the property, or you can buy/pack some before you leave. As I said elsewhere, if you Google 8505 West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee, and click on maps, you will everything.
I hope this helps.
 
MDIME

We have not stayed in the West Village, but assuming that the coffee makers are the same, you would want filters. We bought a pack of Melitta 8-12 cup filters (regular filters, not the ones for Melitta "cones"), and we pack a few for each trip (we have a pack of 200, and no my memeory is not that good, I'm looking right at it now).
There is a Publix right next to the property, or you can buy/pack some before you leave. As I said elsewhere, if you Google 8505 West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee, and click on maps, you will everything.
I hope this helps.
Thank you!
 

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