ohyes
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2010
- Messages
- 805
DH and I spent four nights at The Villages on their Lifestyle Preview Plan. For the last year or so, I had been interested in the whole idea and halfway expected to like it enough to seriously consider settling there. I had read Leisureville by Blechman. The author doesn't care much for the retirement community concept, but his experiences convinced me even more that DH and I might really like the place. I also lurked on Talk of the Villages forum.
...and there is a lot to like. The entire stay, I saw one piece of trash. The landscaping is beautiful (They change out the flowers four times a year in the round-abouts, etc.) The people we met were very friendly and all we spoke with love living there...11 years, 7 years, 2 months. The restaurant food is reasonably priced and the beer is cheap. On the Lifestyle visit, you stay within a 10 minute walk of Sumter Square. The restaurants near there all had inside and outside bars.
Most of the folks appeared to be in their 60's or 70's, but there are many in the 50's. As I had read, you will see a lot of active, healthy looking folks and a lot who aren't so much.
The Lifestyle visit meant $100 nite in a "cabana" - three bedrooms, two baths, washer and dryer, everything you need, including laundry detergent.
The salesperson assigned to us met with us two times. The first day he drove us all over the place, including the oldest Village. CR 466 divides the old part from the newer part (and CR 466A divides the newer part from the newest part). Along 466 there appeared to be any store you might need - Rite-Aid, CVS, Walgreen, Walmart, chain restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, you name it. All this is part of The Villages. The place is huge. The third day he showed us 6 or 7 model homes. No pressure, ever. He told us that The Villages have a very strict formula which works just fine and he would be immediately fired if a visitor claimed they had been pressured. We spent about 3 hours with him (1.5 hour each time) total.
Golf-carts everywhere. When you visit, they provide you with a cart that won't go over 15 mph. We drove to breakfast in it at one of the country clubs. Everybody else whizzed by us. There are golf cart tunnels you take under the busier roads.
On the squares there is music 365 nites a year from 5-9PM. We attended every night. The first two nights, the bands were pretty good, the second two, not so much. Guess what. They play all oldies. Happy Hour is 5-6 on the square. One of the photos i am posting shows one of the Happy Hour bars. There are four on each square. We attended karaoke in one of the restaurants Friday night. Not the karaoke we have in our town. I was singing Frank Sinatra songs for days.
What turned us off: The Morse family owns the radio station, newspaper, etc. The newspaper is totally slanted for one party, including letters to the editor. You obviously don't have to subscribe to the paper (one is provided each day during the Lifestyle Visit), but it bothered us. Some of the homes are big and gorgeous (no fences allowed) with nice-sized yards, breathtaking landscaping - think huge palms. The housing we would most likely go for would be the villas under $200,000. I wish i had taken a photo of a street of those. They are built lengthwise to the street and they are crammed in. They sell an average of 200 homes (new and pre-owned) a month through the Villages Sales Office.
View of movie theater and City Fire (outside bar) at Sumter Square
A happy hour station on Sumter Square. DH is feeling for his money, lol
Yankees and Red Sox carts. DH is huge Red Sox fan.
This has gone on way too long (and i am leaving out plenty of fascinating info, haha), but on return trip home we spent two nights at Cape San Blas. What a great place! The ocean side has great shelling. We kayaked on the bayside and saw hundreds of mullets jumping out of the water. At the end of the bay is Saint Joseph Peninsula State Park..truly beautiful. A couple at the breakfast table had been there the day before and saw dolphins. We hiked a few miles of walking trail before sitting on the beach on the ocean side. Very nice.
From back deck of bed and breakfast. This is cape side where we kayaked.
Glad we checked out The Villages. You almost have to see how these folks live to believe it, but it's not for us. Now, Cape San Blas, on the other hand....
...and there is a lot to like. The entire stay, I saw one piece of trash. The landscaping is beautiful (They change out the flowers four times a year in the round-abouts, etc.) The people we met were very friendly and all we spoke with love living there...11 years, 7 years, 2 months. The restaurant food is reasonably priced and the beer is cheap. On the Lifestyle visit, you stay within a 10 minute walk of Sumter Square. The restaurants near there all had inside and outside bars.
Most of the folks appeared to be in their 60's or 70's, but there are many in the 50's. As I had read, you will see a lot of active, healthy looking folks and a lot who aren't so much.
The Lifestyle visit meant $100 nite in a "cabana" - three bedrooms, two baths, washer and dryer, everything you need, including laundry detergent.
The salesperson assigned to us met with us two times. The first day he drove us all over the place, including the oldest Village. CR 466 divides the old part from the newer part (and CR 466A divides the newer part from the newest part). Along 466 there appeared to be any store you might need - Rite-Aid, CVS, Walgreen, Walmart, chain restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, you name it. All this is part of The Villages. The place is huge. The third day he showed us 6 or 7 model homes. No pressure, ever. He told us that The Villages have a very strict formula which works just fine and he would be immediately fired if a visitor claimed they had been pressured. We spent about 3 hours with him (1.5 hour each time) total.
Golf-carts everywhere. When you visit, they provide you with a cart that won't go over 15 mph. We drove to breakfast in it at one of the country clubs. Everybody else whizzed by us. There are golf cart tunnels you take under the busier roads.
On the squares there is music 365 nites a year from 5-9PM. We attended every night. The first two nights, the bands were pretty good, the second two, not so much. Guess what. They play all oldies. Happy Hour is 5-6 on the square. One of the photos i am posting shows one of the Happy Hour bars. There are four on each square. We attended karaoke in one of the restaurants Friday night. Not the karaoke we have in our town. I was singing Frank Sinatra songs for days.
What turned us off: The Morse family owns the radio station, newspaper, etc. The newspaper is totally slanted for one party, including letters to the editor. You obviously don't have to subscribe to the paper (one is provided each day during the Lifestyle Visit), but it bothered us. Some of the homes are big and gorgeous (no fences allowed) with nice-sized yards, breathtaking landscaping - think huge palms. The housing we would most likely go for would be the villas under $200,000. I wish i had taken a photo of a street of those. They are built lengthwise to the street and they are crammed in. They sell an average of 200 homes (new and pre-owned) a month through the Villages Sales Office.
View of movie theater and City Fire (outside bar) at Sumter Square
A happy hour station on Sumter Square. DH is feeling for his money, lol
Yankees and Red Sox carts. DH is huge Red Sox fan.
This has gone on way too long (and i am leaving out plenty of fascinating info, haha), but on return trip home we spent two nights at Cape San Blas. What a great place! The ocean side has great shelling. We kayaked on the bayside and saw hundreds of mullets jumping out of the water. At the end of the bay is Saint Joseph Peninsula State Park..truly beautiful. A couple at the breakfast table had been there the day before and saw dolphins. We hiked a few miles of walking trail before sitting on the beach on the ocean side. Very nice.
From back deck of bed and breakfast. This is cape side where we kayaked.
Glad we checked out The Villages. You almost have to see how these folks live to believe it, but it's not for us. Now, Cape San Blas, on the other hand....
