Retired Long Islanders find paradise in The Villages, Florida

Some Long Islanders flock to Florida during the winter for a short getaway to escape the cold. But some retired folks have the luxury of putting the frigid weather behind them all year round, moving down South and calling the Sunshine State home.

They’ve settled into The Villages in central Florida, perhaps the state's most well-known retirement community, described by residents as "the bubble" or an adult Disney World. The Villages has more than 150,000 residents concentrated in a collection of 55-and-older neighborhoods dubbed villages. The Villages offers a life of golf carts, entertainment, social clubs and palm trees, former Long Islanders living there say.

But they haven’t left Long Island entirely behind. The Long Island Club at The Villages, founded and run by Bob Novak and his wife, Cathy, (Brightwaters), has more than 1,100 members. They meet on the first Tuesday of the month and host dance bands and comedy acts. A February gathering drew 200 people to dance to the music of a tribute band called The Buzzcatz playing Jimmy Buffett, Jim Croce and James Taylor. "We primarily have fun. That’s the best way I can describe it," Cathy says of the club.

Envious? You can do what’s called a "Lifestyle Preview," a stay-and-play for four to seven nights to check The Villages out before buying or renting for a winter season. 

‘ALL FRIENDS IN NEW YORK’

People with a connection to Long Island are everywhere in The Villages, residents say. For instance, nine friends from the Blue Ridge Condominiums in Medford all moved there, says Jennifer Gisler, 53 (Medford), who jumped ship in 2024. "We all get together because we were all friends in New York," she says. Loretta Madden-Holman, 64, (Manhasset) a nurse anesthetist who is still working part time, says four of her neighbors also hail from Long Island. "There are so many of us," says Jim Delahanty, 62, (Nesconset) a retired financial adviser.

Because flying from Long Island to Orlando (Frontier, JetBlue and Southwest) is relatively cheap, easy and nonstop — whether from MacArthur Airport in Ronkonoma  or LaGuardia or Kennedy in Queens — The Villages don’t seem far away, residents say.

"Last year we were up there about five times," says JoAnn Makarius, 60, (Setauket) of returning to Long Island with her husband, Thomas, 61, to visit their children in Stony Brook and Yaphank. In October, 10 of her family members — all three of their children, their spouses and her four grandchildren — stayed with the Makariuses in their three-bedroom house and went to Disney World, about 45 minutes to an hour away.

A DAY IN THEIR LIFE

Madden-Holman has been living in The Villages since November 2024, when she purchased her house sight unseen, moving there with her two Bernese Mountain Dogs. "It’s the weather that really drove me out of New York and the Northeast. If I never see snow again, I’ll be a happy woman. Every day I wake up, I open the door and all I see is sunshine and palm trees. I feel like I’m on vacation every single day," she says.

She’s started playing pickleball. She golfs. She’ll soon host a murder-mystery night as a fundraiser for The Villages’ branch of The Honor Flight Network, which flies veterans to Washington, D.C., to see war memorials. "There is just so much to do down here," she says. "It is like living in a little utopia for me."

Ed Morales, 65, and his wife, Sandy, 64, (Bay Shore) moved to The Villages five years ago, renting their Long Island house to their son and daughter-in-law. "Basically, it was the lifestyle that sold us," Ed says. They chose The Villages from all of Florida’s many retirement community options due in part to all the activities available there — the Long Island Club is one of more than 3,000 social club offerings.

Since arriving, Morales has lost more than 100 pounds, without the aid of weight-loss drugs, attributing the loss instead to his healthier, more active life, he says.

"At 7 a.m. I walk 3½ miles. That’s how I start my day," he says. He also plays golf three days a week year-round. He and his wife have joined a bowling league — "We never bowled in New York," he says — and they’ve been invited by neighbors to play cards. He warns that "if you want to be an introvert, this isn’t the place for you. Because of all the activity, you’re going to get dragged into something."

Makarius peruses The Villages Daily Sun newspaper to see what activities and entertainment are scheduled throughout The Villages each week. Multiple public squares offer free entertainment nightly. She and Thomas might go hear a country or rock band.

They will take rides in their golf cart every weekend; there are golf cart lanes on the roads as well as golf cart paths and underground tunnels to ride through. "When you’re going by all the ponds, you see all the alligators, all the cranes," she says. Moving to The Villages also enabled them to buy a new house, something they’ve always wanted to do, she says.

EEYORE, TIGGER AND JAY LENO

Housing is less expensive in The Villages, Delahanty says. He purchased his new, 2,100-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath, two-car garage home in 2021 for $375,000, plus a fee of about $30,000 that every homeowner was required to contribute toward infrastructure. He sold his house in Nesconset for $750,000, he says. He was paying $16,500 in real estate taxes on Long Island; at The Villages he currently pays $4,800. Each homeowner pays a $199 monthly amenities fee, which includes upkeep on the pools and other shared recreational facilities at The Villages, he says.

The golf and entertainment throughout The Villages impressed Delahanty and his wife, Christine, 61. "You’re not getting Beyoncé here, but you get Paul Anka, Jay Leno, Arsenio Hall," he says.

For the Gislers, the seduction of The Villages was immediate; her parents had lived there before them. "From the first time I ever went here with them, I fell in love with it," says Gisler, who now works full time selling real estate in The Villages.

Gisler is not one bit embarrassed to admit that she and her husband, Mike, 50, dressed in Eeyore and Tigger onesies on a recent weekend to attend a onesie-themed pub crawl in one of The Villages’ public squares. "It’s a Saturday night and we’re outside, the weather is beautiful," she says. The Gislers were able to move into The Villages before turning 55 because of a Florida rule that allows 20% of retirement community residents to be younger; at the time they moved they were helping to care for her ailing father.

INLAND, NOT COAST

When a friend suggested Madden-Holman consider The Villages, her first reaction was to laugh. "I repeated all the ridiculous myths everyone repeats about The Villages," she says. She says she did her research and found that some of the "silly" rumors were debunked.

The Villages does have limitations, the former Long Islanders say.

"If you’re a boat person, probably not the place, because we’re in the middle of the state," Delahanty says, though the benefit of that is less exposure to flooding and hurricane damage.

"If you want a beach within 20 minutes, not the place," he continues. The closest Gulf beaches include Clearwater, about a two-hour drive away, he says.

Then there’s the summer heat. There are some days "I kind of feel like I’m being seared on both sides in a frying pan," Madden-Holman says. But she can always go inside for air conditioning.