TS Today - Creating a Vision for the Future of Vacation Ownership Issue #96 Nov/Dec, 2007 | Page 29

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Nov/Dec, 2007

Two Reports on
Lagonita Lodge,
Big Bear Lake,
By Tom Chong, Phoenix, AZ
This past August we had the opportunity to exchange into Lagonita Lodge,
Big Bear, California.
There are actually two communities
there: Big Bear on the south side of the
lake, and Big Bear City to the east of the
lake. The main feature of the area is Big
Bear Lake, the largest recreation lake in
Southern California with about 23 miles of
shoreline. It is located in the center of the
pine forested Big Bear Valley at an altitude of 6700 feet. It is a ski and snow recreation area, summer and vacation resort
area, about 90 miles east of Los Angeles.
It could be used as a base to visit the
theme parks in the LA area like Disneyland,
but it is a steep, winding 35-mile drive to
reach from the bottom of the mountain in
the LA basin.
Lagonita Lodge is located on a spit
of land that juts into the lake, so in certain
spots one could feel surrounded by the
lake. About 2/3 of the Units had a lake
view, the other 1/3 looked out into the interior parking area. We were in the latter.
Our one-bedroom unit had a full kitchen
with full size stove, refrigerator, microwave
and small dishwasher. There was a queen
bed in the bedroom with a TV set; in the
living/dining room was a TV set with DVD
and a pull-out sofa bed that was decently
comfortable. The bathroom was small with
a tub/shower combo.
The lodge has an indoor swimming
pool and spa which had a changing room
and clean towels, a nice touch. Above this
was a large family recreation room with
pool tables, ping pong tables, air hockey
and foosball game tables. There was also
an adult only room above the main lobby
with pool table, computers, big screen TV.
A small gift and sundries store was located
in the main lobby, selling laundry soap,
snacks and souvenirs. The staff was
friendly and was very attentive to some
minor maintenance requests we had.
Lagonita Lodge had a pretty good
week’s worth of planned activities for all
ages. On Friday, there was a free wine and

cheese party at 5
p.m. which had
enough goodies
that it became
our dinner. The
next morning
was a free continental breakfast. Nothing was being sold
at these events; they just wanted guests
to sign up for the rest of the week’s activities. There were arts and crafts classes for
kids, bingo and bunco games, a ping pong
and pool tournament, matinee movies with
free popcorn. And for a nominal fee, a BBQ,
ice scream social and pancake breakfast.
They also had a boat do