Inside the World's Largest Retirement Community (The Villages)

This is my granny's house, which is located in the world's largest retirement community. If you've never heard of the Villages before, it's probably not what you think. I've always described the Villages as like college for retired people. Are the Villages as crazy as people say? And do you party every day?

Yes. Yes.

This very unique place here in Florida is a 55 plus community that spans over 57 square miles. To put that in perspective, Washington D.C. is 68 square miles, is almost as big as the capital city of the United States and It's home to 150,000 people. And there is more stuff that you can do in a week than you could ever imagine. Now, the Villages has gotten some bad press over the years. There are some rumors floating around and Vice even made a juicy two hour documentary about this place.

It's like a college campus for the elderly with a lot of golf, booze and guns.

So there's potentially that side of the Villages that could have some truth to it. Maybe we'll.

But my soon to be 85 year old grandmother has lived here for 23 years. My family and I have grown up coming here to visit her and I've never seen any of that stuff. I have only ever witnessed a fun and wholesome community. Does it get any better than this? So over the next few days, I want to take you around the villages on a golf cart, of course, and show you what real life is like here. At least from Granny's perspective and a few of her friends. It's going to be great.

Okay, Granny, we're rolling.

Oh, we're on the carriage. My carriage had to visit Granny. This golf cart goes really slow up the hill here and just kind of move like this.

You're gonna learn really soon that my granny is pretty special and she always has been. As long as I can remember, Granny has been the life of the party. She dresses like a superstar, she has sparkly manicures, she drove a convert, and she's always gone out of her way to have a good time with her grandkids. This trip is no different. It's hard to comprehend just how big the Villages actually are. But Granny and I will do our best to show you as much as we can during my short stay with her. And just to make sure we don't miss anything, I asked Granny all of the most asked questions I got on Instagram.

Cheers. Cheers. To a wonderful birthday week with my car. The best birthday present ever.

According to the Internet, the Vil has over 100 miles of golf Cart paths. Golf carts are without a doubt the way to travel through the villages. If you never wanted to drive a car again, you wouldn't have to.

Everything is golf cart accessible.

In fact, there are over a hundred thousand golf carts whizzing around the villages. And there are over 70,000 homes here. Meaning there's an average of 1.5 golf carts per home. Or a golf car. As the villagers say, everything you need in one little town.

Well, I guess it' not anymore. It was, it was little.

How much has changed since you first moved here 23 years ago?

When I moved here, we have one town square, Spanish Springs. And since I've been here.

In Brownwood.

The three counties that encompass the villages have all grown in the neighborhood of 18 to 20% in the last four years. So one of the fastest growing areas in the country.

This is my uncle Nelson, one of the village's newest residents. You'll be seeing a lot more of him in this video. Get this. He's an actual rocket scientist and an iron man. He's so cool. My aunt Jenny lives here too, but sadly is out of town right now. But she did take this video for me last week showing how awesome their Zumba class is.

Carol, this is the best birthday I've ever had. Granny, it is the best happy birthday I ever had.

I'm so happy.

You don't make me feel 85. You make me feel like a teenager.

How old do you feel?

Oh, about 16.

Most of these homes are manufactured homes.

Not even like a trailer.

We don't call them trailers. Right. Some are single wide and some are double wide, see? Yeah, they're bringing in more site built homes.

They're replacing all the original ones. Do you remember how much your house cost in 2002?

58,000.

What? And what's the cheapest you can get now?

Right at 199. Look here. This is Schwartz park, named after Mr. Schwartz.

Oh, cute.

And then his home was right here on the corner. See, it's a manufactured home too. He wanted us middle class folks to have the benefits of being rich. Everything is available with our amenity fees.

And how much is your amenity fee?

Mine is 199Amonth. A lot of people don't come here for the big homes. They come here for the entertainment, exercise and the fun things.

What made you originally move here?

Actually, because of the weather.

Did you ever think that you would.

Live the rest of your life here? I used to say I don't want to live in the middle of Florida. I want to Live on the beach? Yeah, but the more I'm here, the more I know living on the beach would get boresome.

Someone wants to know if you ever get bored.

If I ever get bored? No.

How could that happen? Hi, babies.

Y' all the cutest thing in the world. He's a little scummy, isn't he?

Well, that didn't take long. Meet our first new villager friends. These won't be the last. This place really is like a village. So sweet.

They're so handsome, baby, I want them. I have to get me one.

Kara. You do.

They keep you company, that's for sure. Make you smile.

Let's go get one.

Very entertaining.

Oh, he loves you, Granny.

I love him, too. Don't you love him?

I love it here. So this is where you come walking?

This is our walking path.

It's so beautiful.

I know.

Nate would be so proud getting these establishing shots.

I think you're a pro.

Thanks, Granny.

I'm lucky with a pro and a movie star, both.

I love you.

Here comes another puppy.

Oh.

Hello, puppy.

It's like a movie. And all these people driving around with their puppies are like actors in the movie.

Yeah.

Oh, this is a sweet one. You might be the cutest one yet, aren't you? Yes. Okay, Granny, I'm ready to go get you a dog.

I'm any kind of dog. Ugly dogs. Any kind of dog. And, Kara, there's alligators in this water.

No.

Anywhere there's water in Florida, you might know there's an alligator.

Oh, gosh. Do they ever eat people?

Well, I guess they do dogs if they don't get close. Kara, you know that's a history about the moths. People say it's poison, but it's not.

Sure is pretty.

So cute. Granny and I were having so much fun skipping through the park in the sunshine, when all of a sudden, we almost got hit by a golf cart.

Xander's out here.

That's done.

We're having a little bit of fun. Yeah. Or should I say, we got hit on?

Now, is this young lady married?

I am.

Yeah.

Grammy?

Grandma.

But you have a girlfriend.

Yeah, she's working right now.

Okay, well, then, yeah, Pretty sure we.

Were getting hit on. But he was very nice. Nice to meet you.

Have a good day.

Nice meeting you.

Thanks for chatting.

I better not be on there because I want some residuals.

I don't want to ask you this, but so many people want to know. Are the rumors true? Do you know anyone who has loofahs on their door or upside down? Pineapple?

No.

Do you know anything about that?

No. I do know a pineapple is a welcoming sign and I don't know about an upside down one. I've heard some rumors. They're just. As far as I know, they're not true.

So you don't know anything about people's different colored loofahs?

No. In the swinging and all that? Yeah.

It's not true.

I don't think so.

You don't know anybody who does that? I don't know.

That thing you hear about STD is not true at all.

It's not.

The hospital and I talk about their doctors about it.

Next, we're going to the Orange Blossom Country Club.

How many country clubs are there?

So many I don't, but I know. I understand it's 56 pools, so it.

56 pools. According to the Internet, the villages now has 117 pools. And there are 14 country clubs. And one of them is our next stop. The prices vary, But Granny pays $210 per year for access to this club, and she can bring in as many, many guests as she wants for free. So is it a separate fee if you want to be a part of the golf?

Yes. Country club? Yes.

I played today and I paid $4.

That is crazy.

And the prices, you know, like the food and all that, everything is really inexpensive. Happy hour starts at 10 in the morning.

Welcome to Orange Blossom Country Club. And probably my favorite because of this waterfall. When I came to Granny growing up, I would lie in these chairs all day long and just roast myself. All I cared about was getting a tan. It was a good time. Also, in case you were wondering, you probably never noticed any of the clothes that I'm wearing before. Like my hat, these glasses, this swimsuit. And that's because I'm wearing all of Granny's clothes head to toe. When I flew here from Colorado yesterday, my checked luggage did not make it here with me, so I had nothing. And when I showed up at Granny's, she had prepared an entire closet for me. They're actually really cute. I'm just gonna wear all of her stuff and all of her accessories the rest of the week, so you can look forward to that fashion show. The Granny's closet fashion show continues.

Okay, I promise this was unplanned and unscripted. I was just minding my own business when I was summoned by this group of ladies to join their performance. And here we are.

This is just another day in the Villages. I don't know them. They don't know me. I Don't even know if they know each other. But we gave the performance our all and we named our band the Cabana Girls. I think we're a hit.

Good job on that guitar.

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What are the best parts of living here? The best part of living in the villages is there's so much to to do here. And if you can't find anything to do here, you might as well just bring your shovel and dig your grave because you can do anything from 5 in the morning till 10:30, 11 at night. It is awesome. They have over 6,500 clubs. Are you serious? I'm not Talking golf clubs, anything you can think of, they have. What? Aldora's right. The clubs and activities are never ending here. I don't think you understand. Just check out this calendar on the Villagers app. There's Pilates, cards, board games, swimming, quilting club, water volleyball, basketball, World War II, bocce, corn toss, horseshoe tennis. These activities I'm scrolling through are just for today and only here in the villages. All of them are included as a villager. And once again, guests can join for free.

The big thing is here, I've always liked to swim in Jennifer An. We think it's just a great, relaxing, good exercise. And that's one thing we knew the year round. Now, sometimes it's kind of cool here, but year round you can go to the sports pools here and do all kind of water aeropics. And then we've gotten involved with Zumba and somewhat with racquetball, as everybody seems to be. And we're gonna try out golf here pretty soon. We're gonna give it a go and see how at least I am to see if I can still play. I played a long time ago. If you don't find a club, you want something to do, start your own club.

Most people on Instagram knew that you were my mom's mom.

Really?

They could just tell by the way you look. Is that why I don't have a question? I just want to say Granny's beautiful.

Oh, this is the life. Cheers, Granny. Cheers, kids.

I love you, love you more and thank you for coming.

This is so special.

Bon appetit.

Good stuff. Great view.

Tell me about the dating scene.

Well, sadly, there's so many more women to men to. Women are out there.

I tell you this.

Tell me.

Look it.

So how often do men pick up women on the dance floor? Just for the night. Like people are asking me to dance.

If they're asking you, it's because you're young and beautiful and I have to call a paramedic. Cause you give them heart attacks. Look at that beautiful girl.

Okay, tell me the tag theory.

Well, here's this what I've heard. But if you put your tag on your shirt out, that means you're looking.

Always make sure I tuck mine in like that. Is it back where your tag is sticking out? Hold up.

Are you available? So there's a little bit of promiscuous little activity, but not what people think. So the rumors aren't true?

No.

Check out my closet at Granny's. She hung all this stuff up for me and it is cute stuff. Granny bought this authentic Italian leather jacket in rome, like, what, 40 years ago? And it still looks brand new. Vintage University of Tennessee shirt where I went to college. But this is actually probably also 40 years old. I'm obsessed with this hat. Not to mention this robe. Oh, check out this leather jacket. Oh, my gosh. I almost want it to get cold so I can wear this jacket. All right, Granny, what do you think of my new outfit?

Oh, my gosh.

Hi, Carrie. You look so darling. Course you look cuter than anything.

Granny's clothes just keep getting better. These turquoise pants.

Is that in style?

I think so.

Wasted in style on you.

Am I gonna wear it anyway?

Yes.

Let's go to Rocky and the Rollers tonight and show them how to bookie.

Let's go.

There's one thing I've heard that's kind of funny about the men and women in the villages. They say all the men in the villages look like they're pregnant and the women can't be. But it's got to be funny.

People are making fun about the men.

Uh oh, I forgot he was listening.

I've been holding my tongue here.

The reason we're all dressed up is because we are going out on the town tonight. And this, this is probably my favorite part of the Villages as a visitor. There are three different town squares in the Villages. And this is hard to believe, but they have a live band and a dance floor every single night of the week, all year long. It doesn't matter what night of the week it is because most people here are retired. So people just come dance. It is just one of the most freeing experiences. There is zero judgment.

Or you can dance or not dance. Just jump around.

Yeah, let's go rock and roll. I forgot to mention that these shows every night are completely free. Plus anyone can come. You don't even have to live in the Villages. Check out the bar line.

You like to party, don't you?

I do. And this is a line to get their beer before the happy hour's over.

This is actually the most people I've ever seen out here. Last time I came to Granny's was at Christmas time a few months ago with my entire family. We shut the dance floor down every single night, even with the babies. And as you can see, we had plenty of seats and space. But not tonight. We took a little bathroom break. And on the way back, I found something I just have to share. There is the coolest looking golf cart. It's like an old school truck. It has a bucket of clubs in.

The Back and there's a handwritten sign.

That says, any club $10 with the phone number. And then it says, the face of the front of the cart is where you can put your cash. Smile, you got a deal. And he's just got them all out. Like you can just come and take them all. This is so amazing.

For a lot of years you guys told her that this was a wonderful place to come. She doubted it. She doubted it. She thought, I'll never come there.

All of a sudden we were on the dance floor.

She comes down here, boom, she's sold.

I'm sold.

Look at that.

The villagers. Man, is shockingly good. Are the villages as crazy as people say? And do you party every day?

Yes. Yes.

Two yeses. Of course. Our nights end at 9 o', clock, but we party till 9 o' clock. And I say it's cause we all have to go home and take our medicine.

The band came back strong and so did we. I didn't want to be that person with the camera ruining everyone's good time. But hopefully, hopefully you get the gist with these few clips of how fun this place is. And you better believe we were the last ones on the dance floor.

By the end of the week, we'll have a lot of sunshine. We get a little bit cooler.

I have a little confession. My suitcase arrived last night with all of my clothes, but I'm choosing to still wear all of Granny's clothes. And we have some big morning plans.

Thank you, Ganny.

Welcome to Monday morning Zumba class, a village's staple. I wouldn't say it's the most hardcore workout, but man, is it fun and adorable. And the important thing is this whole room of people are up and moving when it'd be so easy to sleep in.

Wow.

That was a blast.

And we all went to Zumba today.

Did you go Zumba?

Yes, we did. Do you do Zumba?

No.

No. Do you do yoga? No. What do you do? Play golf. Speaking of golf, did you know that the villages contains more holes of golf than any other community in the world? Can you guess how many 771 holes there were? 2.5 million rounds of golf played last year, which is equival to 6,830 rounds per day. Crazy. This is one of those times that makes me feel like we're living in a college town for retired people. We were in the middle of cooking brunch back at Granny's house when her crazy cousin Chuck, who lives right down the road, just busted in the house unannounced Chuck kind of feels like that friend in college who is always up for a good time and never runs out of energy.

If a man would like to be successful in life, he or she will find a way. If not, you'll find an excuse.

Ooh.

Is that a Chuck Lewis original?

That's my original.

And what did you say about moving to the Villages?

This is a playhouse for seniors. And if you don't want to be active, stay up north.

Don't come out of here and try to change things in our town. This is a beautiful place for longevity, and you'll add 10 years to your.

Life if you move here.

Preach.

Have a nice day. I'm watching them eat and they didn't even offer me anything at all. Oh, yeah, Except a cup of coffee. They were stingy with their food, but the coffee was all right, you know.

Do they have any statistics on the life expectancy here being longer than anywhere else?

I've read that there. Yes, indeed there is. There is studies and they have information. It says that people here tend to. Tend to last a little bit longer. And I can understand why. But once you get here and kind of get ingrained in it, it's just very relaxing. But even when we go back to Tennessee, I'm not as relaxed as I am here because, you know, it's just so beautiful all the time. And most of the time you can get out and do something almost every day.

Do you think you're going to live longer because you live here?

I hope so. Got a lot more stuff to do.

This afternoon. We found ourselves at this lovely place. It's basically a car lot, but for golf carts, which people take very serious around here. Some go all out and they can get pretty expensive. Granny's treating herself to a new golf cart for her upcoming 85th birthday. And my gift to her is upgrading her paint job to match her turquoise nails, her favorite color. Congratulations. A brand new golf cart.

Granny camera. Be honest.

Okay.

Do you have to be a Republican to fit in here?

Certainly do not.

I'm here.

I'm here.

It would help.

I'm here, but I never do follow the crowd.

I thought you would like that. Yeah, I'm obsessed. Granny has always loved Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, everything. So she has lots of these. But wait for it. How cute. You got the cutest day, right?

Yeah.

Turn around.

I love it. I'm ready to go.

Okay. I know this looks strange, but we're in a car right now with a motor and we are driving to another part of the villages called Sumter Landing. It's like almost whole world away from Spanish Springs. Feels like it.

Yeah. Every bit of five miles, I think.

So far, we've only seen the tiniest little pocket of the villages. But just remember, during this whole drive and this entire video, we are still inside the villages. Okay, so you've met my granny, obviously, who is a veteran villager. Then you've met my Uncle Nelson, who is a newly retired new villager. And tonight we're actually meeting someone else who is about to move to villages. It's a very special couple who I've never met personally. Our beautiful editor Brooke is from Wisconsin. Brooke's parents are moving from Wisconsin to the villages very soon. So they've been here checking out the areas, trying to decide where they're going to move. And we're going to have dinner together. And hopefully my granny and Uncle Nelson can help steer them in the right direction. I'm so excited. The Sumter Landing square is such a vibe. It looks just like a movie set and was actually built to mimic Key West. Welcome to the village's smallest outside bar. Happy hour all day long. I just realized I don't even know what they look like. I hope they know what I look like.

Hi. How are you?

Great.

Me too.

We ended up finding each other no problem. I immediately expressed my love for their daughter who edits our videos. And I love her parents just as much as I thought it would, and so did everyone else.

And don't forget to feel my best friend.

Tell us about when you first discovered the villages. And did you ever think you would actually live here? How did you know it existed? YouTuber.

I go on YouTube all the time.

Same.

And I investigate everything. And so I just investigated it and.

Just fell in love with it.

And I thought, we need to go check it out.

So what did you think about this?

I didn't want to move. We checked out South Carolina, the west.

Coast of Florida, like three years ago.

We came here to visit.

Terry fell in love with the place.

And I'm not gonna argue, since Terry and Greg are basically locals now, Uncle Nelson gave Greg some tips on how to rock the dance floor.

I do not dance. How do you twist your feet like that without falling down?

You got to pick him up.

Think too much about it. Just be loose. I mean, that's it.

That's all you gotta do, man.

Beautiful.

Wow.

And during our romantic sunset dinner together, Granny and Greg became the best of friends. It didn't take long. Everyone becomes family in the villages now.

Would you be acting that way if Jim was here.

Join.

I think it goes without saying it was a fabulous night full of lots of lots of laughter. You really do look angelic right now.

Well, thank you. She left me after 10 minutes.

You moved on to the younger man.

She's too old for me.

I know. Too old for me too.

Your husband's cute and everything.

Granny just ages like a fine wine. She's getting better and better.

Morning. Feels so weird driving a car instead of a golf cart. I'm on a little bit of a secret mission this morning. Today is my last day in the villages with Granny, and Tomorrow granny turns 85 years old. So I told her that I was going to get tampons at the store, but really I'm getting birthday cake. Public speakers. How may I help you? Is it too late to order a custom birthday cake for tomorrow?

I don't believe so.

What would you like it to say on it? Can we do happy 85th birthday, Granny? I actually don't need tampons, but I grabbed them just so she didn't think I was lying. It's perfect. She's gonna love it. Since it was my last night in the villages, Granny decided to invite the whole crew over for a good old fashioned home cooked country dinner. Which was perfect because she basically planned her own surprise birthday party. Cooking with Granny is always a good time. Tonight's menu consists of Granny's pinto beans, collard greens.

Mac and cheese, and her delicious cast iron cornbread.

There we go. There we go.

My Granny's corn. My great grandmother's iron skillet from Florence, Alabama. This is my mother's mama and daddy.

Oh, wow.

That skillet I use was hers.

So we think that's skillet is what, 200 years old at least.

Y' all don't have to eat the salad. It was just there for the color, you know? After we finished eating, Granny went to get her banana bread to serve for dessert. So I knew it was time to go get my surprise. What's she filming?

Oh, she's filming over there.

I always wonder what way they film this way.

Or.

Did you bake that yourself?

I did. I was up all night.

Oh, this is too special. And all my friends are here.

Ouch.

All right, well, let's get back now. Let's sing Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you Happy birthday dear Granny Happy birthday to you.

Yay.

Get up.

Yeah. Get your own.

There you go.

Morning, Granny Stanley's. I don't want to leave. I came here to make a video about the world's largest retirement community. And I didn't even scratch the surface of this place. But what I did do is make some of my most treasured memories with my sweet granny that I'll carry with me forever. From the outside, my granny has lived a long and adventurous life and is just oozing with love, which is true. But she has also lived through a tremendous amount of loss and times of grief. You'd never know that side of her though, because she chooses joy and positivity every single day. Do you have any advice for young people on how to live a good life? A life that you love?

Just don't sweat the smallest stuff so much. Which I did. We all have problems, but they usually work out. Like I told you, try to make memories so when you're old in your rocking chair, you'll be smiling.

I love that advice. I'm so thankful she's mine. I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into her life in this crazy place called the Villages.

You're my present.

Bye.

Bye.

And remember, don't sweat the small stuff.

Hi, James.

You're often yummy.

Yes.

I better get over here.

Hoping I meet a man like you.

My Aeropostle era choker braces. Classic. Granny, you haven't changed a bit.

That's funny, Granny.

I didn't realize how many things I got from you. We both hate to shower. We both hate to wash our hair. We both love coffee. We both love margaritas.

Granny, a long time ago you told me to never use my teeth to open stuff.

I know I shouldn't do it. So don't do it. Do as I say. Now. What I do.