Steven & Molly @ PARADISE LAKES 2001-2002
1. Getting There 5. Weather
2. The Place 6. The Crowd
3. Night Life 7. Sexuality
4. Staff 8. Synopsis
1. Getting There
Tampa Airport is a pleasure. It's well organized. Signs are simple and clearly stated. A modernistic-train shuttles from the Ground Transportation section to the actual Flight Terminals. Everything is clean and well-marked with adequate facilities for eating, parking, and buying souvenirs. We rented a car (Ford Escort was all they had) for the week. ($550.) Paradise Lakes can recommend a private taxi service for Airport pick-up and return @ $30. per person each way. Rental car pick-up and drop-off were a breeze. Bowl Games and Holiday demand made car rental prices high and cars scarce. The drive is an easy one, all highway, and takes about 1/2 an hour from the airport to the resort.
2. The Resort
Steven: Paradise Lakes is like a condo association for nudists.
Molly: It's in a commercial/light industrial rural North Tampa setting.
Steven: The large walled-village is situated next to railroad tracks (the whistle at night is quite pleasant) and adjacent to a Tire-King and a Bowling Alley. Nude Bowling with cheap drinks, last Sunday evening of every month. (We didn't find out 'til the next morning, the resort didn't annouce it, other vacationers told us.)
Molly: Supermarkets, one decent Italian restaurant, drugs stores, and the usual strip-mall stuff are nearby. They'd be a long walk. (5-6 blocks back and forth)
Steven: Several types of housing options are on the property: People were staying in tents, RV's and trailers of all types, hotel-type 1 room accommodations, Kitchenette 1 bedroom studios with screened porches, apartment-style/condo properties, and town houses. New condo units were under construction and are presumably for sale.
Molly: Lots of cars on property, 10mph speed limit pretty much observed, motorcycles here and there, and lots of folks getting around naked by bicycle and golf cart, and roller-blading. Ouch!
Steven: We stayed in a 1 bedroom kitchenette w/screened porch.
Molly: Having a kitchen and washer/dryer was a big plus.
Steven: Upon first entering, the rooms seemed farily clean.
Molly: But, I was bitten up as our stay continued. "Something" was in the bed, and the detail-cleaning was just not there.
Steven: The grounds were not lush in in terms of tropical foliage or landscaping. But there were orange trees and some wonderful flowering plants. Tree-frogs were chriping during the "warmer" early evening hours, and the grounds were generally neat and clean.
Molly: Housekeeping, not much to speak of, consisted of fresh towels, emptying the trash, and remaking the bed with the same sheets during our 1 week stay.
Steven: Most activity (there are no organized "Hedo-type" activities or co-ordinators) centered around what we called the RESORT AREA of the compound. In the RA, there were Massage and salon services, and a lingerie boutique with a model who occasionally paraded around the hot-tub area in various outfits offered for sale.
Molly: Paradise Lakes couldn't seem to decide if it wanted to be a private residential nudist colony, or a nudist resort open to the general vacationing public.
Steven: We had to buy a Membership ($112.) in addition to paying for our room, plus pay a daily ($16. per person) usage fee to enter the Resort Area, which we describe below.
Molly: No food or drink (from your room or elsewhere) was permitted in the Resort Area. Everything consumed there had to be purchased there. People staying in the 1-room hotel-type accomodations poolside in the Resort Area, were not permitted to bring any food or beverage to their room.
Steven: Visitors could, and did purchase "day/night passes" to the Resort Area. I was told they were around $30. per day.
Molly: At the far end of the grounds was a health center with another massage area, a small gym, a dry sauna, and a lake with canoes. That was also an extra fee. Steven did canoe there. He saw big turtles, many beautiful birds, and small alligators. The lake is small, with black water, and takes 15 minutes to navigate the perimeter.
Steven: A couple from the midwest told me they felt nickel-and-dimed. Drink prices in the bar did change day to day and night to night. Use of the gym, canoe, sauna, exercise/aerobics room was $5. per day, per person, or your could buy a monthly pass for $21. per person, which we did.
Molly: The health center also had a heated outdoor jacuzzi which seated a dozen or so people, a sand volleyball court, and a fair sized heated outdoor pool, adjacent to tennis courts.
Steven: The main RESORT AREA consisted of a long "S" shaped heated pool with a few very powerful jets, seating around the sides, for about 79 people. There's a small round hot-tub, seats maybe, 12 or so. Folks went from one to the other according to changing temperature preferences.
Molly: Pools were clean, well chlorinated, and we didn't notice any floating substances...
Steven: There were 3 additional pools in the RESORT AREA. One served mainly as a SERIOUS water volleyball venue and was not very large. The second also had a volleyball section for novices, and was very large. The third pool,was covered/enclosed, and was smaller, and we rarely saw anyone in it. All were heated as far as we could tell.
Molly: Lounge chairs were poolside and plentiful.
Steven: Shuffle-board, horse-shoe, petanque (bocce) courts, a ping-pong table, and mini-golf course are also in the RESORT AREA.
3. NIGHT LIFE
Steven: 2 venues: Key West Bar is a circular room that can be open-air, or enclosed depending on the weather. It is on the far side of the "S" shaped pool in the RESORT AREA. During the day it was open air. A live singer provided Jimmy Buffet-type background music on the walk that ran around the outside of the bar. People played pool in an enclosure beside the bar, ate and drank, and generally lounged by the pools and in thehot tub. In the evening, some folks chose to go to the Key West Bar as a break from the more crowded "Disco." Elvis sang one night in the Key West Bar to a crowd of about 5 people. Key West was generally empty in the evenings.
L'Attitudes, is the name of the "Disco" type bar. It consists of a sizable dance floor, a large bar, and elevated tables and stools scattered around the perimeter. Plenty of GREAT DANCE MUSIC from the DJ. Hedo could take a lesson here.
Molly: The dancing is what saved the vacation for me.
Steven: Drinks were not cheap and the prices differed every night.
Molly: The quality of the liquor was so-so, and it was served in plastic cups.
Steven: We did not eat in PL Hemingway's Restaurant on site, but were told that it was moderate in both price and quality. We ate "off-campus," or cooked in our room.
Molly: The one lunch we had at the Key West Bar, was greasy and smelly. I had to spit out the french fries.
Steven: YOU MUST CARRY YOUR PAPERS!!! Everywhere you go. They check you at the gate coming in by car, if you enter the RESORT AREA, they ask you again, and at the gym and the sauna at the far end. In fact, we were told by staff, "You can be asked to produce your Pass, at any time. Imagine, I was walking, naked, from our condo, to the RESORT AREA, going to the hot tub, hat, sunglasses, carrying a towel, was stopped at the door of the RESORT AREA/Hotel Check-In, asked, "Are you a guest here?" Looking down at my naked body, I had to laugh at the question. But, was required to march back to our room and get my Pass.
Molly: Having to carry Passes around was very inconvenient. Once you've checked in you should be allowed free run of the place.
4. STAFF
Most of the male Staff (sorry to generalize) were great, even the guy checking passes. Security was wonderful, no boundary issues with Staff hitting on women, etc... But... Some of the women Staffers, particularly one in Marketing or Membership, or something... Wow! She was a B****!!! on wheels!!! At first we thought, well, maybe it's just us. But literally everyone we talked with said the same thing. Hey, maybe she was having a bad week. Side Note: PL Staff generally, had a hard time with the pressure of a crowd. More than 2 people and they were stressing. Good thing they don't work in NYC. But... topless and naked bartenders and waitresses in the "Disco" really level the playing-field in a positive way. Nice touch! And, the young girl at the check in front desk was SO professional and GREAT under pressure. The older women could've learned something from the kid with the purple streak in her hair and the bandaged hand.
5. WEATHER
Steven: We went 12/26/01-1/2/02. Temps in the weeks before our arrival had been in the 80's we were told. But were in the 60's most days, overcast, 3 days in the low 70's with sun, and believe it or not, we did get a tan.
Molly: I thought the weather was crappy and it was cold, but you can't control the weather, so you just have to go with it. Night time temps were in the mid-30's and low 40's.
6. THE CROWD
Steven:
Full-time residents of PL, mostly 50-60 something, generally. Some families with kids, mostly little, some teens. Most residents/property-owners were "hard-core" nudists who seemed to resent you if you had on sweats. The sign: NUDIST AREA - NOT CLOTHING OPTIONAL! seemed to say it all.
Day Resort: Friendly-Friendly-Friendly... Mostly American, some Brits and Canandians, but not many, mostly Southerners and Midwesterners when we were there. Age range, generally 35-55... A few 20-somethings.
Night-Time: Big Mix! Residents, vacation folks like us, and Night Passes. Many limo's dropping off and picking up "Bada-Bing" type Go-Go Girls and the accompanying "body-guard" types... Again, Super Friendly. New Year's Eve had to be several hundred people (over 300 or 400- we heard one ticket count of 950) But folks couldn't have been more polite, happy, well-behaved, and cordial. The Security guy said it was always like that and he was hardly needed. The band the next night, Bobby Friss (great dance/rock band) told me the same thing, they love to play PL. There were many singles, both male and female, the age mix was good, mostly over 28, though, one or two black couples, and one or two "very" elderly. PS: We had to pay $110. additional just to attend the New Year's Eve Bash. It included 2 champagne toasts. Basically, nothing, nope, nothing to eat, nothing. Many complained.
Molly: Generally speaking, the crowd was pleasant and happy. There was an interesting mix, clothed and non-clothed, some came naked to the disco every night. Every night was PJ night or Toga night, or whatever you wanted it to be night. You could wear whatever, whenever. New Year's Eve, there were tuxes and gowns dances next to naked Lex Luther and Lois Lane!
7.SEXUALITY
We're not into Lifestyle, etc... But, we did meet a charming young Southern gentelman, a single professional man, first initial, "J" (Hey, J!)... He was quick-witted, funny, observant, articulate, and had a BIG DICK! We first observed him at work in the hot tub late one night in his laid back, innocent, modus operandi... receiving a kiss from someone's wife for turning the jets back on... His dance card was full the entire time we were there. Couple after couple sought to receive and engage his services, some straight, some, ah... Well, at our early morning coffee chats, he was always discreet concerning details, (he didn't kiss and tell) but he did give us enough insight into sexual activity at PL to indicate the possibility that if you want it, it very well may be there.
8. SYNOPSIS
As a Stateside alternative to naturist resorts in the Islands (in a pinch) PL could offer something of value if it could make up its mind to do so in terms of accomodations, entertainment, food, services, fee structure, pampering of guests, training of staff, etc... The potential is there for something very big and profitable. But, currently, compete with Hedo or become a world-class nudist resort? No way, unless, PL is willing to invest not only the dollars and to loosen up, but to seriously rethink, focus, and clarify it's raison d'etre...
PS: Molly says: I would never stay there again, it wasn't on the beach, I got all bitten up in bed... And not by Steven! But, I would buy a day pass just for the dancing and the Disco.
PPS: For the same money, WE COULD'VE GONE TO HEDO!!!! (AND MAYBE SHOULD'VE)
Questions: steven_molly@yahoo.com