Welcome to Talk of the Villages and here's the information I can provide:
First off, for your upcoming trip, if you have haven't contacted a VLS agent already (see below) one will be assigned and can answer a lot of questions. You can then attend clubs, events and the like, and get a lot of information. Even though you are a year or so out, I heartily recommend Samantha Griffin, the agent who greatly helped us over the past year-plus (we just purchased a home today). She can be reached at
samantha.griffin@thevillages.com.
As for areas with gas appliances, gas was a big factor for us, and what I found is that you can find electric and gas sometimes in the same neighborhoods. We looked at 30+ homes during a month-long stay this past October, and some homes are plumbed for gas but have electric stoves (for instance). Having said that, we found gas generally around the Sea Breeze recreation center area, up near Canal Street rec center, but there are plenty of other areas (I think a lot above Route 466.
Many homes are block, but there are other construction types as you've likely determined. Another thing an agent can help search for. As an aside, you'll see recommendations to get both a VLS agent and an MLS agent, as homes can only be on one or the other. We originally thought about that but in the end stuck with VLS (a) because so many homes come up for sale, and (b) we just liked being tied into the Villages system for the sale -- and we found the perfect house.
Orlando airport is a bit closer than Jacksonville it appears (others can chime in if I have that wrong) and it's a pretty straight shot from TV to get there. We recently used bus transportation, and though there are threads with problems, that could just be a growing pain as a new company took over the bulk of the bus trips.
As for traveling north (presumably from Orlando) again it's pretty much a straight shot up the turnpike.
Hopefully this helps. Again, contact Samantha Griffin if you haven't already had someone assigned, and see if she can help you when you're down visiting. Best of luck.