I received this as a private message from somebody I will not name, that many on this forum would recognize, when I asked why he and his wife left The Villages in 2010. I didn't write it so take it as you want
After about 5 years, we felt that The Villages was aging us. That may sound funny because there are so many youthful things to do there. For us, however, every place we went, theater, grocery store, restaurants, golf courses, stores, there were old people just like us. We craved a little youthfulness around us once in a while. Even now, when we go back to The Villages to visit our friends, we sense the constant age grinding at us all the time.
There was another complication for us. Golf carts everywhere. There are 80,000 residents and about 35,000 golf carts. They zig zag everywhere. People don't consider them to be cars. To most, they are toys. It is a constant assignment to watch for golf carts. Some guys soup them up to double speed. Others have never had a license in their life, but now drive a golf cart. Then there are those who are legally blind or too old to drive cars, but they drive their carts. It was getting to be a real annoyance to us. But, there 79,999 other people who don't mind.
Since our home in NY was 2 acres, we really felt hemmed in at the Villages. Deed restrictions keep the community looking beautiful, but also keep active residents from being the "kings of their castles."
Most residents call The Villages, "The Bubble." They joke about "drinking the Kool aide" Honestly, I don't want to live in a Bubble. I am my own person and want to live that way. I want to live in the "real" world.
We built in Plant City on 1 1/2 acres. I can do pretty much what I want and when I want to.
For most folks, The Villages is heaven on earth. But it wasn't for us.
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