Ocoee Riverside Lodge, Ocoee

The lodging was fantastic. Very clean and modern. The food was wonderful, plenty of it and an excellent value. THe owners were wonderful to work with and were very careful to make sure that they had everything correct about your stay. I highly recommend this place for any kind of retreat, youth group, etc. The only drawback that I saw and it was minor - is that they needed more than one sink in the bathrooms and more shelves or hooks for your clothes, but like I said that was minor. The area is beautiful, the price can't be beat, the owners were superb, and it was a great place for the students to hang out and have fun before they went whitewater rafting.

The place was very nice. Plenty of things to do for a youth group. Basketball court, Volleyball court.(you need to bring your own balls). Great field for capture the flag/hide and seek etc. If you want to go swimming in the river you need to do it before 2 pm. Afterward they drain the upper and lower ocoee and its to swift/high and dangerous for swimming. Meals were very good, nice portions and filling but no seconds were offered (not that we really needed any). There is a coke machine on the porch but bring your own snacks. Gas station maybe 5 miles up the road. The owners mostly stayed up at their house unless they were cooking. Great fire pit (wood was provided) and seating for nightly worship. We definately want to use this place again and would recommend it. It was very close to our white water rafting spot (Big Frog Expeditions--also great company used them for years). They did have a couple of dogs that stayed at their house but they were all nice and not aggressive to us. I was happy that we were the only group there so we could be loud and have fun. I don't know if the experience would have been different with more than one group there at a time.

For large groups this is the way to go. Plus the owner of the lodge has a restaurant that can occupy large groups a well. My overall experience was good.