Activity Availability?
 

A question for TV residents: have you found activities to be available most of the time, or have you frequently found your favorite activity to be so crowded that even if you arrive an hour early, there is no room? The TV agent told me that about 98% of activities are available, perhaps 2% are so popular that there is no room. Does that sound about right?

My husband and I plan to buy in TV in a few months. This question is to help me set realistic expectations about the availability of activities. I don’t mind traveling to a different location, going in a different time slot, or waiting 15 minutes, but if I am going to need to sign up at MVP to do yoga or aerobics, I would like to know this up front.

Many thanks for the information.
:bigbow:

I guess it depends on what activities you like to participate in and what time of day you prefer to do said activities. My biggest complaint is that I love to swim laps in the sports pools, but for the most part, there is only lap swimming times very early in the morning or in the evening. During the day (10 AM to 5 PM) there are very few opportunities to swim laps. Since I am not an early morning person, and we have thunder and lightning storms most evenings, it is difficult to swim laps. Sundays are my favorite day because many of the sport pool classes take Sunday off and there are more lap swimming opportunities.

Thank you for the response.
Why the sports pools, in particular? Are they better for lap swimming than the other two types of pools? I am not a resident yet and completely ignorant in this area.

The sports pools have lap lanes and the pool is much longer than neighborhood pools. The neighborhood pools are more for socializing than exercise.

It depends a lot on the type of activity (outside, inside), whether the activity 'is full' (as in certain card games in rec centers), what time of the year, etc. Tough one to answer.

You got that right. Most of the people just stand in the water and talk.

We have been here for more than 10yrs. When we first came I got involved in line dance, it was great, could dance several times a week, just walk in, change shoes and you are on the floor. However, as TV got bigger and bigger it became more and more difficult to get into the dance classes. Same with Yoga, started out great and now you take a ticket an hour ahead of a Yoga session, and this is in the summer when fewer people are here. In the winter you can basically forget doing any of the organized classes, too many people.

One reason is that the leaders of the classes are all volunteer and it takes a long time for the newer areas to find the people to run these classes, so most of the new comers are crowding into the existing classes.

This makes sense. Thank you. :bigbow:

Thank you for your seasoned perspective. It sounds like I will need to join a private health club and find other sources for activities. Thank you. :bigbow:

I am not willing to show up an hour early to an event. 15 minutes would be fine, but an hour? No.
Are there some types of events that are not crowded? Are some rec centers more open? Some days or times perhaps?

Alternately, what is your recommendation for exercises like yoga, line dancing, Zumba? Is there a good local health club? Are the paid classes through continuing education more open?

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Sports pools are a regulation length lap swimming pool that is 25 yards long and has lines painted on the bottom of the pool so people swimming freestyle, breast stroke, and butterfly (very few seniors can still swim fly) can swim in a straight line. The pools also have swim flags on both ends of the pool so backstrokers such as myself can tell when the wall is coming and avoid banging their head on a concrete wall (trust me, that hurts). The pools also have swim lanes that provide many benefits, including helping backstrokers swim in a straight line, they break the waves from other swimmers making for a much more enjoyable swim, and they prevent multiple swimmers from colliding into each other. Swimming laps in a neighborhood pool simply does not work if one is a serious lap swimmer. Also, serious lap swimmers want to know how far they swim so they can gauge their workout. In a regulation 25 yard pool, I know that when I swim 72 laps that I have completed a mile, and when I reach 108 laps I have gone a mile and a half, and that it's now time for a cold beer. :duck:

Thank you for taking the time to answer.

Yoga Pilates are the two toughest classes to get in, come high season. While the classes are good, we are 7 day a week yogi, and we find off site, not mvp to be the best route.

In TV the instructor rarely leaves their mat to correct a person, probably because they are volunteers. Classes are good to get people moving, but if you are having a bad day, and fall out of pose, you are on your own.

Up north we belong to Lifetime Fitness, yoga classes are at a higher level, and are taught with making sure you are not practicing incorrectly. We find a yoga studio or private instructor here to work best for us.

As of yet we have not found a water class that gives the same results as what we are used to.

Swimming laps is not an issue for us since we wake at 4am for morning run or walk, then swim, then have breakfast.

In high season MVP is a zoo, just as the free classes, so get a free pass in January and see for yourself.

Wow, 4 am? What time do you go to bed?

I have lived in the Villages for 8 years now and certain recreation center classes have become a challenge. Zumba or aerobics classes in the winter are so busy you need to be there an hour in advance. This past winter it was not unusual to have a 9:00 am class close at 8:15 because it was full. I have been very surprised at how crowded these same classes have been this summer. You can arrive late and still get into a class, but you will be seeking space between people who have been holding their spots for 30 - 45 minutes. Sadly they make it known you are infringing on their space.
I know sales people say that certain instructors, locations and time slots are probably more popular than others. I am still searching for the others.