This article about life in the villages so full of false information
 

This article What Retiring to The Villages in Florida Is Really Like | Work + Money

No wonder people think the villages is just one wild party with articles like this. The author needs to come visit to see what the villages is like. Her sources were Reddit comments.

But some truth in there too.

Sometimes you must walk around listen and observe its not All “La La Land”

Getting so sick of reporters saying there are so many swingers. Heck this reporter didn't even get the rumor right, mentioning upside down pineapples instead of loofas. But it is tiring trying to explain to my friends that I'm not moving to a swinger community. Reporters like this are just looking for clicks.

Apparently this guy is local and has an axe to grind. We have been here for two years and honestly have not run into "Rude" people. Almost everyone we have met have been really, really nice

Cruisin' Cajuns have 75-100 RVs that drive around at any given time drinking barrels of draft beer? I have not ever heard of this phenomena but apparently it's a national thing. I've definitely never seen it here.

On the other hand, if you read the article, it's not really an article. It's an op-ed of an aggregate of reddit posts. So you have reddit, which is not a news source at all, ever, it's a trash heap of ignorance and social misfits who vent their frustrations with the world. And you have some blogger pulling a few posts from the trash heap, and expounding on the salient points, without doing any fact checking. Why no fact checking? Why WOULD you fact-check anything on reddit? The result of all reddit fact checking will be "stop wasting your time reading reddit."

Why try to explain it away? Just grin and say its amazing. :pepper2:

Try working in a service industry job in TV. My granddaughter worked at a bank here and couldn't believe how arrogant and entitled some of their customers were. Not just a few but many. My cleaning lady has told me stories of how difficult it was to please some of her entitled clients. Treated them with no respect or courtesy.

I don’t think this is an accurate picture of The Villages at all. It is another hit piece written by a young person who mocks older folks for enjoying their retirement. The Villages is the best place I have ever lived in. The people are great. There are many clubs and activities to be involved in and this active style of retirement suits me perfectly. I moved here eleven years ago and it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I am in bed by 10PM and up at 6AM and I have no idea where these immature writers get these nonsense stories of wild parties from. When I look out the window at 9 PM and everything is “lights out!”

Looks like she specializes in those "top - x" lists of content without content, I think most of them are AI generated.

Michelle Nati | Work + Money

it's Reddit, you guys, that speaks for itself :shrug:

One sided views.....unless you fact check only an opinion.

Wow we are here 4 plus years and never knew about all this sex and drinking going on.

Another hit piece on the villages

Hard to argue with the Mustang Sally comment.

There should be a law making it a jailable offense to line-dance to Led Zeppelin in public. I've witnessed this abomination of movement myself. It happens, people.

Just cheap clickbait. Reporters now get paid based on click counts.

It is ALL true! Maybe not the pineapples but who knows?
 

I am a TV resident and I found the article to be right on the money! Here are some of the highlights from the article that are definitely true.

"Imagine truckloads of 60-plus-year-olds drunkenly line dancing and singing Foreigner"
TRUE
You need never go off the property or mix with the 'common folk.' My friend was a 'flyer' there at the hospital and said she'd never met a group of folks who thought themselves more entitled."
TRUE
"It is overpopulated, overbuilt and has a severe shortage of infrastructure, as it relates to fire and medical."
TRUE
"Whether it was the drunken [swingers parties], wrecked golf carts, multiple occasions of public indecency, [that] all of this coming from a retirement community just made it more comical."
TRUE
"There's a big party in every town square every night — little booze huts everywhere. Happy Hour lasts like four hours."
TRUE
"Of course, you can do or not do whatever you want, but there's a stigma attached to those who don't socialize as much as the rest."
TRUE
"This isn't a place to live if you like your privacy."
TRUE
"The Villages is the Wal-Mart of communities, providing a cheap, superficial sense of community with a made up history while simultaneously choking out the actual communities nearby."
TRUE
"There are train tracks going through the center of town that are completely fake."
TRUE
"They've taken over most of the surrounding area and think they are God's gift to the locals."
TRUE
"Small communities that were founded in the 19th century are losing their identity and charm to become de facto labor camps"
TRUE
"Villagers are kind of an entitled bunch"
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"They get permission to build 20 houses, then keep at it. By the time the whole thing is done, there are 50-plus houses."
TRUE

I have been here for almost 20 years. When I read the article, I thought most was spot on. I have never seen upside-down pineapples, an Italian woman who scrutinizes and watches everyone, or mob leaders throwing dead bodies into Lake Sumter. That's a bit of an unnecessary stretch.

For those of you who stated there are no wild parties with lots of drinking, have you been to the squares? Late-night restaurants? Have you seen the MANY unflattering mugshots of Villagers arrested for DUI? Indecent exposure? Fights? Reckless driving? Relieving themselves in public? Possession of child porn? Drugs? Retail theft? Domestic Violence? If not, you must be living under a rock.

Please do not respond that most of this is done by non-Villagers. Wrong! Reports of the incidents provide their age, village they live in, address, and for whatever reason the amount they paid for their home. C'mon! I know you have seen these reports. Why try to deny it? When company comes, I insist they stay alert. Anything can happen in this town!

To be fair, the amound paid for their home is important information. After all, they are about to get a divorce or jail time. The house will be on the market soon and we need a starting point. :D

ANYTHING can happen in ANY town. Exactly who benefits from the article? Who benefits from trashing T V? Tampa, Orlando, Miami... the list goes on and on of cities going to s$>t in FL BUT look up north. People still want out. T V isn't immune. It takes community strength to keep an area nice. T V so far has just that... for now at least.

Try working in the service industry anywhere. You’ll always run across “entitled” customers no matter where you live if you are in the service industry. In some cases people do feel above others (shame on them) but in some cases they just want and deserve good customer service which is often hard to find.

I lived there for eight years before moving onto Lakewood Ranch. While there is some truth to the article, there is obviously some false.
Still have a number of friends there and still visit.
At the hospital in Leesburg, I was told not to tell anyone I was from the villages as some of the nurses hated the people there as they felt they were entitled so I kept my mouth shut lol.
I never saw swingers, but people do start drinking early there. Never found it to be rowdy, but found most people friendly.
It’s not for everyone, but I enjoyed my time there.
It’s unfortunate the villages gets such a bad rap as they do so much good for the charities which never gets mentioned anywhere other than the local newspaper.

Irrespective of the content, the article is laughable!! Whoever believes anything written like this should absolutely keep going to Reddit for the truth and hold firmly to your knowledge!

Agree that the majority of the article is true.

A lot of exaggerations and half truths.


There's a big party in every town square every night — little booze huts everywhere. Happy Hour lasts like four hours. Two-for-one Rumritas, and the strongest margaritas I've ever had."


Happy Hour was never 4 hours and booze has not been 2 for 1 since the covid.


There are train tracks going through the center of town that are completely fake. The railroad never ran through there, it's there to seem folksy.

The one block stretch of rails in LSL doesn't look anything like a real train track. There was a real spur from Wildwood to Leesburg running next to 44A.


They also wield an insane amount of state political power. The developer built his own airport in the town just so he didn't have to bother going through customs at the Orlando Airport,"

The developer did not build an airport and if they did we would have paid for it. They did manage to get customs to staff Leesburg International.

This comment made me LOL! Couldn’t agree more. 👍🏻😂

Not correct. Drinking at the squares is from 5-9 which is 4 hours. If you do not buy from the huts there are several restaurants that serve happy hour 2 for 1.

The fake train tracks are in Spanish Springs along with a parked railroad car.

The developer does indeed have a private area for planes and helicopters. Not certain if he uses it to escape customs.

I would argue they do have state power. They are HUGE contributors to the campaign funds. In doing so, they receive kickbacks for what they want.

Thanks for making me laugh.

The article is a collection of mistaken thoughts of people’s posts on Reddit.

My home’s deed restriction doesn’t allow me to hang pineapples upside down in my yard.

Lots of truth and I found it very entertaining. Lol

The street orgies start around midnight, when the kegs are all but empty.

It is tough to drive around the kegs and naked bodies littering the street in the morning.

How have you missed it?

I guess our perceptions are quite different than yours.

Reddit is good for overclocking help and other truly geek stuff.

But if you really want to read truths, go visit 4chan...

I've been here since September. There are rude people. But there are nice people too. 150k people. Pick someone lol.

Yesterday I went outside when my landscape became a nicely asked him to blow extra at the end because I just had the house pressure washed. Him and his friend look at each other and he was like you are so nice. They said there's this other lady we just came from and all she does is yell and scream at us.

Did it ever occur to you young people that some of the people here have dementia and cannot communicate in any other way. It had ever occurred to you that that person might be so old and so tired and in so much pain that yelling and screaming and barking is the only way they can communicate. I have been yelled at at the public's parking lot when helping an older guy try to find his car and he Yelled at me the whole time.

Ya'll say that people here treat you like garbage but how do you treat them.

So because we're old and wealthy you're jealous.

What 25-year-old do this stuff you'll have no problem with it.

When 25-year-olds do this stuff and it ends up violent you still have no problem with it.

An old rich people do it and nobody hurts each other now you have a problem with it.

There was a time when having sex in the squares was amusing for some. Kinda like the mile high club or sex on a beach.

This all came to a sceeching halt when police arrested a couple. The judge sentenced them to six months in jail. And yes! They served every day of that sentence.

Don't believe it? Do an internet search on couple gets arrested for having sex in the square. Judge gave them time in jail.

At the time, many villagers thought six months was excessive. But, I guess that was the plan. Like I said, those shenanigans came to a screeching halt.

Every wave of retirees is different. Back then, the newly retired were teenagers during the make love, not war movement. Woodstock....You guys do not need a history lesson.
Point is, they were a very AMUSING crowd, to say the least.
There was only a small Lady Lake police department. You could get away with so much more back then. And, boy! Did they take advantage!

Outsiders remember these times or are told about them. They will never let the past die. Current daily mugshots solidfy their beliefs.

Easily fast asleep by 11.

Will have to ask my wife if she wants to drive around after midnight to see the orgies

I heard, from a reliable source (Reddit of course) that the grocery store parking lots are jumping swinger hangouts after the stores close at 9pm

;)

Why does The Villages have to get a lousy write-up? I would be living there already if it were not for my grandkids, who live five minutes away from me. They would have to take about a two-hour airplane flight to visit if I moved there.

The Villages is a great place to live. I have been there, roaming around the neighborhoods numerous times! Lol!!!