Orange Lake or Vacation Village at Parkway

My husband and I are planning our 2008 vacation. Due to his school schedule, we have a very specific check-in date of March 8, 2008. We only need a one bedroom, as it is just the two of us traveling. I can get a one bedroom at Orange Lake or a one bedroom at Vacation Village at Parkway -- both with full kitchens. We have stayed at Orange Lake before in a two bedroom, which was absolutely gorgeous. I don't know where the one bedroom units are at Orange Lake.

So, from everyone's personal experience, which would you pick -- Orange Lake or Vacation Village at Parkway. Let me also say that we are not at all interested in the Disney parks, we are just looking to relax by the pool, catch some spring training baseball games and relax.

Thanks for your help.

Diane

vacation village - smaller easier to get around and closer to the ball parks - both Osceola and WW oS.

now if you are interested in resort activites - then O L.

I would go with Vacation Village at Parkway in an instant. Now if you have the opportunity for either of the Hiltons, those would be the top bananas in the area, in my opinion, but I prefer the newer one on International Drive. You won't start seeing those deposited until about nine-ten months out, so you are a little early for most of the resorts. I think best availability is more like 5 months out.

I am a planner and cannot wait to arrange our next vacation, so I empathize with your need to plan ahead. But I am going to learn to relax and wait for the best weeks to pop up later on in Orlando.

There are also some Marriotts that still trade with II as well. I also highly recommend Cypress Harbour, although RCI does not put the Marriott name in front of any of their Marriott inventory, so you need to know what you are looking at.

Try to give it two months before you grab something. There will be no shortage of availability until a few months out.

I'm biased in that OLCC is my favorite resort but I also own at Vacation Village at Parkway (VVP). If you choose to stay at Vacation Village, just make sure you get the 'A' units as they have 1000 sq. feet of space with the full kitchen, oversized jacuzzi, washer/dryer, dishwasher, stove, etc. whereas the 'B' unit may have some of these items but probably will not have many of these items such as a stove (they have hotplates), washer/dryer (some of the newer units have them but VVP doesn't guarantee that the unit will have them), dishwashers, regular bathtub.

If you're limiting yourself to the 1-bedroom, then the 'A' unit at VVP would probably be the best choice as it is the largest 1-bedroom unit of the units at VVP and OLCC with the oversized whirlpool tub (some people find that having a jacuzzi-style tub is important but I don't like the location in the bedroom; that is a personal choice that some like). If you are looking at the 'B' unit, then any of the 1-bedrooms at OLCC is a better choice. The 1-bedroom units at OLCC are smaller than VVP's 'A' units but larger than VVP's 'B' units with a regular bathtub, washer/dryer, full kitchen not hotplates, and the 1-bedroom units at the River Island location doesn't have a bathtub but only a shower. The layout of the North Village 1-bedroom units is shown on OLCC's website. The layout of the West Village units I tend to think of as taking the 2-bedroom unit shown on the OLCC website and half the unit where the 1-bedroom layout would be the half that includes the guest bedroom, the kitchen, and the living room area. The River Island 1-bedroom unit is L-shaped with the kitchen forming one portion of the L and the living room and bedroom forming the other section of the L. The North Village units are in a multi-story unit near Splash Lagoon, River Island 1-bedroom units are located at end of each floor (part of the 3-bedroom lockouts), and the West Village 1-bedroom units are located throughout the West Village. VVP's 1-bedrooms are part of the 2-bedroom lockouts (one section the 'A' 1-bedroom unit and the other section the 'B' 1-bedroom unit) and as such are scattered throughout the buildings.

Haven described the basic difference between the 1-bedroom units at VVP and OLCC, I would choose OLCC as it has many amenities, the difference in distance and time to the ballparks is not that great, and I enjoy the fact that it is a large resort with plenty of space. The last report that I had from VVP is that there are 12 buildings with the total construction to be 20 buildings. When staying at VVP, when coming in late, I have found parking to difficult to find (when I was there, they were building the 7th building and I stayed in the 5th building). I had the same problem at Hilton's Grand Vacation Club at I-Drive where I came in at 11 PM and it was raining but couldn't park in front of the building where I was staying. I had to park near the registration building. It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been raining and I wasn't carrying a 5-year old through the rain. There may be adequate parking on property, it may be at times difficult to get parking by the building that you are staying at. I experienced this more at VVP than Hilton and I understand that there are guests that have never had a problem with parking at VVP or HGVC. I never had this problem at OLCC. And as Pat has stated, OLCC has multiple amenities as you have experienced before whereas as VVP has limited amenities (the pool).

A two-bedroom at OLCC should not be a hard trade. Just keep watching. Gary has a different perspective, owning both. I think he is on target with the lack of amenities at VV. The pools were really vacant when we were there in October, but you may not have the same experience in the spring. Also, there is no security at VV, but there is at OLCC.

Vistana Villages, HGVC International Drive, Summer Bay, HGVC Seaworld are my top five experiences.