Conference moira::naturism

78.0. "Paradise Lakes - A Report/Experience" by KAOFS::D_BIGELOW (Amateur Analytical Analogous) Tue Jun 28 1988 13:55

	On our honeymoon, Vicki and I spent a day of our vacation at 
Paradise Lakes in Florida.

	Paradise Lakes is situated approximately 17 miles north of Tampa.
The easiest way to get there is to take I-4 West to (woops, forgot the
name of the other major highway) "other highway" (can someone help me
here?) heading north.  Take exit #56 to highway 54.  Turn left onto 54,
drive for 10 to 12 minutes, and then turn left onto US-41.  As soon as
you turn onto US-41, look for a dirt road (which is on your right hand
side), and it will lead you directly to the gates to Paradise Lakes.
If you miss it, look for the sign that shows a naked man and woman in a 
sunset.  We were staying in Orlando, and Paradise Lakes was about one and
one half hours drive away.

	Well, now that you know how to get there, I'll get on to the better
stuff.

	Paradise Lakes was the first nudist "resort" that either Vicki or
I had ever been to, (actually, it was clothes-optional).  I have been to
other places where social nudity was acceptable, but never to a resort.

	First impressions are lasting, and the resort was like nothing I
had ever seen before.  At the gatehouse, you paid admission.  Cost was
$12 per/person plus tax - almost $26 US for the two of us.  ASA members
can get in for $10 per/person.  The resort is open 24 hours per/day, all
year through.  It never closes.

	Then the gates opened.  When your first drive through the gates, 
it's like you're entering a residential community that looks like any other.
There are houses on both sides (quite beautiful ones I might add), that are
inhabited by permanent residents of the resort.  The road comes to an end, and
you have your choice of going right or left.  I don't know what is to the 
left, but the right turn will take you to "RV" sites and campground.  If you
don't turn, straight ahead is a series of buildings that look like apart-
ments, (which are actually rental units).  The central part of the resort
is on the other side of these buildings, so you can park anywhere, and just
walk over to it.

	In the central part of the resort, there is a pool, jacuzzi, outdoor
shower, tennis courts, a restaurant, an outdoor bar, massage hut, and a 
small lake (or big pond, depending on how you look at it).

	The resort is clothes-optional, but EVERYONE I saw there, was nude
sometime during the day, excluding one person - Vicki.  Vicki kept her
bathing suit on all day.  Social nudity is a new concept for her and she
felt uncomfortable at first, but by the end of the day, came very, very close
to almost disrobing.  How can someone "almost" disrobe ?  Well, it's really
tricky, but I could tell.

	We spent most of the day by the lake, sipping pina-coladas.  The
bar-maid mixes very strong drinks.  Mmmmm  Mmmmm Good !  At happy hour,
any drink you want is 50 cents.  Then, we took a ride in a pedal-boat
around the lake.  Careful !!  These waters are inhabited by Alligators,
and we saw THREE of them, swimming only feet away from our boat.  By
instinct, alligators are afraid of humans, and usually will not attack, unless
you feed them, or throw things at them.  Neither of course is recommended
unless your committing suicide !

	Most of the resort's guests lounged around the pool most of the
day, having the occassional swim and soaking up the sun.  We sort of stayed
close to the lake, cause Vicki felt akward about keeping her bathing suit on
while everyone else was naked, but yet didn't want to take it off.  There
were very few people over by the lake.

	Around 6 PM was last call at the outdoor bar, and then it closed,
and the indoor bar opened up.  At the bar, Vicki and I made acquaintances
with three other couples, all of whom were very friendly.

	We ate supper in the restaurant.  Some people put clothes on to 
eat supper, while others remained naked.  (That was the neatest thing to me,
the entire resort was clothes-optional everywhere you went).  After supper,
we joined the three couples we had met earlier at their table.  Around
9 PM, the restaurant turns into a sort of disco, and they play all the top
rock hits.  Great music, great food and drink, reasonably priced, great time !
As far as money goes though, make sure you read your bill, cause it states;
"for your convenience, a 15% gratuity has already been added to your bill",
and then if you pay by credit card, they write in fairly big letters "TIP",
where you're supposed to give them more money.  Don't.  I think 15% is 
good enough, don't you ?

	When people started getting up to dance, it was really interesting.
Most of the people in the place were wearing clothes when the music started,
but by 11 PM, almost everyone was nude.

	At our table, the new friends we had made were perhaps a little 
too friendly.  We all danced with everyone else, but one couple had 
convinced us that we should stay the night with them in their rental unit.
It had a couch that converted into a double bed, and we were most welcome
to use it.  About an hour after we had agreed to stay, two of the couples
at our table had swapped partners and were out kissing and fondling in the
pool.

	Being newlyweds, we really aren't into that scene, so decided to
leave and go back to our hotel in Orlando.  If they had been making it with 
their own spouses, I think we could have handled that OK.  Seeing a couple
making out is no big deal, but swapping partners ?  Well, it's not for us.
Maybe in 20 years we'll feel differently.

	All-in-all, we had a really good time.  Vicki was so impressed with
the resort and facilities that we are going to book a full week next year.
Rental units come in various sizes, but all are equipped with a fridge and
stove, and dishes.  For $65 per/night, you can get a 2 bedroom unit with a
hot tub.  We're going to go down next year with my sister-in-law and her
husband, and share a unit.  When you think of it, it's cheaper to stay at
the resort then at a hotel.  Local food markets are only 5 minutes away, and
you can save lots of $'s if you do the cooking yourself.

	Well, that's our experience.  I would highly recommend the resort
to anyone.

	Although it's a naturist resort, obviously, more goes on than just
naturism.  You'll have a great time if you go, just don't let anyone try to
push you into something that you really don't want to do.

	Regards,
	Darrell

P.S. If you have any specific questions or comments, plese enter them as
     replies, or you can send mail directly to me if you wish.

    Interestingly, an article by Nina Silver in the latest _The Event_
    about her own visit to Paradise Lakes this spring gives a slightly
    different impression: 

	... some naturists may find the resort a bit old-fashioned --
	where naturism is considered equivalent to nudism and the word
	"nudism" is overwhelmingly used -- ...

	The residents are very committed to living in this community, where
	naked women are safe walking alone at dark, at least two volunteers
	per night patrol the grounds with golf cars and radios, and the
	local school bus stops at the resort gate every day to pick up the
	52 children who live there. ...

    I suppose that in the end, this is a community pretty much like any
    community, except that the residents happen to be nudists; and nudists,
    like everyone else, come in all sorts. 

    	-Neil 

    	You know Neil, now that you've mentioned it, perhaps the residents
    of the community are a different breed.
    
    	The people I talked about were all vacationers.  I don't think
    I met anyone who actually *lived* there (permanently I mean, except
    the general manager and his wife).
    
    	I think that most of the people who were visiting the resort,
    were nudists, not naturists, as Nina indicated.  Most seemed interested
    only in what made them feel good, and they were kind of an impulsive
    lot of people.  But "old fashioned", hardly !  At least not in the
    month of June.  Perhaps the residents of the community behave
    differently.
    
    Darrell
    

Posted by the moderator for a conference participant who prefers to remain
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               Trip Report Paradise Lakes/Resort.


        My wife and I went to Paradise Lakes/Resort for
    national nude weekend, we did not realize it was
    national nude weekend until we got there. 
       The Resort is located in Land O Lakes Florida,
    (near Tampa) its about 1.5 hours from Orlando airport
    its an easy drive all highway. Paradise Lakes/Resort is 
    incredible, there is 2 sections, there is the Resort
    where we stayed which is located in the center which
    includes a night club,a couple of clothing shops, a
    bar, 1 hot tub, 1 large whirl pool, 1 large pool, 1
    smaller pool (for volleyball) and lots of lounge
    chairs. The bar is built like a big hut with palm trees
    around it. The bar can hold about 50 people comfortable,
    they also have waitresses walking around the pools serving
    drinks. There is also a snack bar near the main bar, they
    serve hamburgers, hotdogs etc. The Resort is real clean
    and modern. The rooms were nice, all with cable.
       Once you arrive, you go though the gates and go
    right, you have to walk through the main lobby to get
    into the resort, everyone is really friendly there.
    There is no drinks, food or coolers or cameras beyond
    this point, we registered and proceeded in, the place
    was crowded being national nude weekend, we dropped our
    luggage off at our room which was pool side and went off
    to claim some lounge chairs by one of the pools. They had
    music playing from a d.j. and happy hour from 5 to 7. The
    pools are open 24 hours and The night club opens from 8 till 2
    or whenever. The night club is not real big but nice, they
    have a theme night every night, when we were there it was 
    country night (all country music), but they mixed in a lot
    of top 40's. The outfits were wild, from fully dressed to
    nothing at all, most were revealing something if not all.
        Outside the resort there are condos you can rent, you
    can bring food and drinks in here, they have kitchenettes
    in them. A little further down the road is a somewhat
    large condo complex where people live year round. There
    is a large pool, tennis courts, a large lake, a hot tub,
    a small gym, a  restaurant and volleyball courts with
    beach sand. The restaurant serves excellent food. Even
    though we stayed in the resort you can go and use any of
    the pools, courts etc. It was a little quieter on this side.
    and it is all walking distance.  Anywhere in Paradise Lakes
    /Resort you can wear as little or as much as you like, that
    includes the club, the restaurant anywhere.
       We kept to ourselves mostly,  but that is what was so great
    about this place no one bothered us, but if you wanted to be
    social there were lots of friendly people to do so
        The rooms poolside are around 48 dollars and the ones not
    pool side are 42 dollars but these have a kitchenette. Then
    there is a 30 dollar grounds fee per couple, it might be less
    if your an ASA member or similar organization, so plan on 80
    dollars a night per couple or 30 dollars a day per couple if
    you didn't want to spend the night. They also have weekly 
    discounted rates. 
       We also checked out Cypress Cove in Kissamee, there was no
    comparison. There was only one pool one hot tub and a lake and lots
    of mobile homes it seems geared for and older (retired) crowd.