What Retiring to The Villages in Florida Is Really Like, According to Redditors

Does retirement at The Villages in Florida live up to its reputation?

What Living the Villages in Florida Is Really Like, According to Redditors

Senior couple returning home after shopping

The Villages is a popular retirement community in Florida that's getting bigger and allegedly wilder with each passing year. Its reputation appears to precede it. But what is really going on here?

We've scoured Reddit for some "boots-on-the-ground" accounts of what it's like to live a life of leisure in this 55-plus community.

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Everything You Need Is Here

People who live in The Villages don't want for anything. Everything they need is just a golf-cart ride away, and their attitude sometimes reflects this.

According to one Redditor: "It's a self-contained 55-plus community — by self-contained, I mean their own hospital and everything. 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."

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

There are good and bad to The Villages, particularly for the locals who lived in the area before the retirement community existed.

One Redditor, who grew up just outside of the community, states, "It’s both as bad and not as bad as people make it out to be. It’s crowded, [and] there’s lots of traffic ... but for every rude or entitled old person, you have some sweet old folks. We were eating hibachi the other night, and this older woman struck up a conversation with my 11-year-old daughter about books and reading and was generally very sweet. If you spend enough time around here, you end up with a more balanced set of interactions.

"There are a lot of stores and restaurants that wouldn’t exist in this part of Florida if The Villages didn’t exist, as this area was mostly farms and small/medium, middle-income towns before. Within a 10-minute drive from my home are three Walmarts, [a] Target, four Publix, [a] Best Buy, a few Starbucks, two movie theaters ... and just about every major chain restaurant you can think of. It’s a weird combination of quiet and peaceful here, and convenience and crowding just a short drive away."

All You Wanna Do Is Ride Around, Sally

Make no mistake — even though The Villages is a retirement community, it is by no means a place where its residents have slowed down. One commenter, whose parents live there part-time said, "Imagine truckloads of 60-plus-year-olds drunkenly line dancing and singing Foreigner, then going to their aqua aerobics class."

Another commenter, who talked to a resident, agreed: "He described the nightlife as exactly the same, no matter where in The Villages you were. Every band in every venue played the same songs that everyone sang along to. He finished his comments with, 'If I hear 'Mustang Sally' one more time, I'm gonna puke.'"

An Infrastructure That's Stretched to the Limit

With about 82,000 residents (and more coming every day), The Villages is packed, and its infrastructure can barely hold on at times.

According to one Redditor: "It is overpopulated, overbuilt and has a severe shortage of infrastructure, as it relates to fire and medical. [There is] not enough property tax to cover the funding necessary for additional support due to the frequent 911 calls for medical assistance."

The Elephant in the Room

Is it true that The Villages is a hub of illicit behavior? According to Redditors — it is. One said that upside-down pineapples are placed out in front of homes to invite "those who are interested in participating in a particular event!"

The same commenter recalled a story from a real Villager: "His attitude was basically that all the reasons not to have unprotected sex disappear when you're old. Nobody's going to get pregnant, and even if you get AIDS, something else will kill you first."

Just the Facts, Ma'am

Local law enforcement has a lot on its hands when its comes to the retirement community. One man says, "The Villages is about a 15-minute drive for me. We go there a lot to eat or see a movie.

"Whatever The Villages deems important gets the resources [from law enforcement]. I worked for the county sheriff's department for several years. I was in dispatch, and the number of calls that go to servicing that community is completely reasonable given its population but, nonetheless, entertaining.

"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. But, man, do the deputies dread it, especially FHP (Florida Highway Patrol.) They hated reporting to that area."

Beware of the Cruisin' Cajuns

Of course, as a retiree, you don't necessarily have to get up and get to a job early, so the drinks can flow until the wee hours. As one person puts it: "I can confirm that retirees can drink. I work for a beer distributor, and I used to work in the draft department. There's a group of retirees around here called the Crusin' Cajuns that just drive around in RVs and have get-togethers. At any given time, there are about 75 to 100 RVs at a get-together. I dropped off a draft trailer one weekend with 15 half-barrel kegs of Coors Light on a Friday, and by Sunday afternoon, they had drunk every last drop."

Another agreed: "This phenomenon amazes me the most — when you have a community where practically everyone is above the age of 50, it's as if their age 'resets.' Sure, they've still got back problems and arthritis and bad knees and whatnot ... but they live. 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."

Life on the Road

You never know who you'll meet at The Villages, but not everyone passing through experiences the late-night excess they've only heard about.

One band that was touring around Florida stopped in The Villages for a drink before heading to the next venue. "We're a group of 20-something tattooed 'rockers' and stuck out like a sore thumb. We hit up all the bars and tried to see if anything crazy was happening there, but [it was] not at all like the story suggested! It was actually really dead pretty early at night, as you would expect in a senior community.

"The craziest thing was some senior almost tried to start a fight with me at a bar at 2 p.m. because 'I was being rude' for not wanting to further his conversation about why my tattoos were going to ruin my life in the future."

Married to the Mob

One person whose parents live in The Villages swears the Mob owns and runs it — as in, the old-school "Goodfellas" mob:

"I don't have any evidence or documentation supporting this, besides hearsay from more than a few residents. [But] In my opinion, it checks out.

"Supposedly some old-school mob bosses decided to hang up the brass knuckles and buy up a bunch of orange groves down around Lady Lake, Florida. They hooked up with a real estate mogul and got things running. Rumors abound that, though it's all pretty legit, they still maintained their 'ways' and there are some unlucky cement-shoe-wearing folks at the bottom of Lake Sumter.

"If you're under the age of 50, you can't live there. Can't buy property. You can patronize the businesses, but if you plan to stay there for any substantial amount of time, a resident has to 'vouch' for you. You have to check in at this office with this old Italian lady. She remembers everybody."

Food for Thought

People seem to enjoy The Villages, but it's not for everyone. One Redditor states that the community seems more like work than play. "I'm a few years away from retiring but can't see myself living like that. Someone mentioned [it was] cultish, [which] seems to fit since I can't think of another word for it.

"A lot of these people have everything written down on their calendar for the month. Monday: golf at 7, the pool at 10, cribbage at 11. Meet Jim and Doris for lunch at 12 ... 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. This isn't a place to live if you like your privacy."

However, some people are considering it: "Earlier this year, my wife and I did a lifestyle visit for a week, and we didn't want to leave. The place is huge and very much geared to a golf-cart lifestyle ... the buildings and grounds are spotless. Their marketing about tons of things to do is not an exaggeration. Golf is not the only thing to do. You would never be bored.

"Everyone that we met (clerks in the stores, grounds maintenance and staff, residents, other people that were visiting) was very friendly. Bottom line is we are keeping it on our shortlist."

It Doesn't Matter What Anyone Else Thinks

Despite the rumors and the gossip around the Villages, one Redditor said, "Everyone dislikes the Villages except the people who actually live there. Residents love it. The hassle factor is low, lots to do, no kids and no crime to speak of.

Understandably, younger people find controlled/managed environments like The Villages unfathomable, so they make fun of it."

Always Be Kind to Your Neighbors

Some locals feel that Villagers are kind of an entitled bunch and are pretty vocal about it. "I hate The Villages with a fiery passion.

They've taken over most of the surrounding area and think they are God's gift to the locals. Small communities that were founded in the 19th century are losing their identity and charm to become de facto labor camps for these clowns. Some of the residents are outright rude to everyone and hate it when the locals dare show their faces.

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."

Train in Vain

There are elements to the Villages that are meant to harken back to a childhood people are nostalgic for — but they are all for show.

"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.

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," according to one Redditor.

Wherever You Go, There You Are

The Villages keeps growing, and while Villagers love it, they sometimes don't like Florida itself. One local said:

"They are [messing] up a swamp to the west of my house. They keep trying to build subdivisions in it. They get permission to build 20 houses, then keep at it. By the time the whole thing is done, there are 50-plus houses. It is changing where water sits, gathers, and flows. The whole area is supposed to be a protected wet area.

Also everyone that buys in complains. 'Why does it smell bad? Why are there mosquitos the size of small dogs?' Because you are in a ***** swamp.

Villagers Have It Made in the Shade

It's safe to say that the generations coming up probably won't have the savings and carefree lifestyle that current Villagers do, according to one Redditor.

"They have enough principal invested to never work or worry (live off interest/dividends/annuities/capital gains) and maybe increase their wealth. They have their housing paid off, and social security and Medicare to pay for the basics. They have it made — they can just sit back."

Which brings us to the question. What will the Villages and other retirement communities be like in 20 years time, if they exist at all?