# Orange Lake Expands to Snow Ski Resorts



## wcfr1 (Apr 5, 2007)

*Just saw the press release from Orange Lake. They are expanding out of Orlando and into a couple ski resorts in Vermont and Wisconsin.*

Brownsville, VT - The Family of Orange Lake Resorts has branched out from its single-site flagship resort in Orlando, Fla. to a multi-site family of resorts, including a brand new skiing location at Ascutney Mountain Resort in Vermont and Grand Geneva in Wisconsin.

The Family of Orange Lake Resorts began its expansion in June of 2006 to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin's Grand Geneva Resort & Spa, where it purchased the remaining Marcus Vacation Club inventory. Now thousands of Chicagoland-area Orange Lake owners will have the ability to take a short drive to enjoy the resort's golf courses, spa, restaurants, horseback riding and skiing.

The Family of Orange Lake Resorts' New England location, Orange Lake Vermont, includes access to Ascutney Mountain Resort's ski and snowboard amenities. Visitors can enjoy 57 on-site trails for alpine and cross- country skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing, a Learning Center, Nordic Center and Young Olympian Ski Camps as well as a state-of-the-art spa.

Orange Lake owners visit these new locations through the company's GlobalAccess Exchange Program. This points-based exchange program offers its members the ability to use their fixed-week vacation or exchange their vacation for shorter stays within The Family of Orange Lake Resorts and Resort Condominiums International's (RCI) network of more than 3,700 resorts.


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## bluehende (Apr 5, 2007)

wcfr1 said:


> *Just saw the press release from Orange Lake. They are expanding out of Orlando and into a couple ski resorts in Vermont and Wisconsin.*
> 
> Brownsville, VT - The Family of Orange Lake Resorts has branched out from its single-site flagship resort in Orlando, Fla. to a multi-site family of resorts, including a brand new skiing location at Ascutney Mountain Resort in Vermont and Grand Geneva in Wisconsin.
> 
> ...




ASCUTNEY


Wow..  I wouldn't put that in my top 10 list of Mountains to ski on the East Coast.   Probably makes my top 100.  Maybe.  This resort has been down and out for many years.  I believe it has even closed a couple times.  The locals refer to it as Ice_scutney.  I guess they couldn't get Suicide Six.     But I am showing my age there.


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## Pit (Apr 5, 2007)

Referring to Grand Geneva as a ski resort is a real streeeeeeetch. There is no such thing as a ski resort in Wisconsin. Sure, there are some hills you ski down for mild entertainment, but nothing like a real ski resort (a la CO or UT).


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## tashamen (Apr 5, 2007)

bluehende said:


> ASCUTNEY
> 
> Wow..  I wouldn't put that in my top 10 list of Mountains to ski on the East Coast.   Probably makes my top 100.  Maybe.  This resort has been down and out for many years.  I believe it has even closed a couple times.  The locals refer to it as Ice_scutney.  I guess they couldn't get Suicide Six.     But I am showing my age there.



I'm glad you said it - I was thinking that myself.  Plus there's not much else near Ascutney to see or do.


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## Mel (Apr 7, 2007)

wcfr1 said:


> *Just saw the press release from Orange Lake. They are expanding out of Orlando and into a couple ski resorts in Vermont and Wisconsin.*
> 
> ... a brand new skiing location at Ascutney Mountain Resort in Vermont and Grand Geneva in Wisconsin.


I didn't buy into Global Access, so it's of little consequence to me, but the press release doesn't really characterize the Wisconsin resort as a ski resort, though they do list skiing as an activity.

As for the resort in Vermont, maybe with luck Ornage Lake will turn it around.  They can't do much about the mountain, but if they expand the amenities to something like we have in Orlando, it might not be a bad resort.


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## JLB (Apr 7, 2007)

Mel:

So far it sounds like the resorts being added to the _family_ (can we call them stepresorts?) are getting the better end of the deal than _Ornage_ D My fingers do that too.) Lake owners.  

Like the mule that was entered in the Kentucky Derby, it's owner did not expect it to win, but felt the association might do it good.   



Mel said:


> As for the resort in Vermont, maybe with luck Ornage Lake will turn it around.  They can't do much about the mountain, but if they expand the amenities to something like we have in Orlando, it might not be a bad resort.


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## gjw007 (Apr 7, 2007)

JLB said:


> Mel:
> 
> So far it sounds like the resorts being added to the _family_ (can we call them stepresorts?) are getting the better end of the deal than _Ornage_ D My fingers do that too.) Lake owners.
> 
> Like the mule that was entered in the Kentucky Derby, it's owner did not expect it to win, but felt the association might do it good.



It will be interesting to see how much of the Vermont resort OLCC has actually purchased.  OLCC purchased about 34 of the 136 units at the Marcus Lake Geneva property and I thought I saw where they brought 17 of the 200-some units at Panama City Mariott Bay Resort.  The point being that they don't wholly own the resorts and have a minority position.  Can it be assumed that this is the same arrangement at the Vermont resort?  As far as getting the better or worse, I haven't seen too much about the Lake Geneva Resort (Marcus) and there are some who think that Mariott's are further up the food chain, so to speak, in terms of quality for timeshare units.  The Vermont resorts seems to be of lessor quality compared to Lake Geneva and Panama City but overall, the smaller acquisition give owners more options.  That is not a necessarily a bad deal especially if they are close by (none of these are to me) to use for an extended weekend and don't require a massive investment to bring the quality up to a certain standard.  I'm in a wait-and-see mode for these acquisitions but in concept, it does add more value in the sense that I have more options for the use of my points.


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## Mel (Apr 8, 2007)

gjw007 said:


> It will be interesting to see how much of the Vermont resort OLCC has actually purchased.  OLCC purchased about 34 of the 136 units at the Marcus Lake Geneva property and I thought I saw where they brought 17 of the 200-some units at Panama City Mariott Bay Resort.


You bring up an interesting point.  What relation ship will Orange Lake have with these resorts, if Glaboal Access has minority interest.  I would assume that existing owners will also be given the option to join GA, but I don't know how many will.

There will now be 2 Panama City resorts with this type of relationship with a developer/management company.  Tropical Breeze (which we own) sold off a large portion of units (may even have ended up a majority) to Escapes! Resorts, and as far as I know, those weeks are being sold as part of their points program, though it is not part of RCI points.  Having seen how my 1BR there trades, it will be interesting to see what points values are given for  similar units in GA.


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## Robnsunny (Apr 8, 2007)

Wouldn't it make sense to simply join one of the more mature point systems that already have a good selection of decent quality resorts?


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## gjw007 (Apr 8, 2007)

Robnsunny said:


> Wouldn't it make sense to simply join one of the more mature point systems that already have a good selection of decent quality resorts?



OLCC GoGlobal has access to the RCI Points resorts, so in theory, it is already a part of a mature point system.  It doesn't appear that OLCC is setting up full-scale resorts but an interest in a variety of resorts with OLCC Orlando as the prime resort but with an option for OLCC GA owners to utilize their points in a variety of ways.  Depending on how they do this, it could be a good thing but if done wrong, it could be a major expense.  I haven't seen the resorts where OLCC has purchased an interest listed in RCI (and I haven't checked II), so it does seem to add additional choices which should increase the value of the GA membership.  I'm in a wait-and-see mode.


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