Lake Mission Viejo — Attraction in Mission Viejo

When I was deciding to join the lake I found lots of positive publicity about the lake. Yet I didn't see reviews giving much of a genuine overview. After a couple of years being a member, here are the positives and negatives to the things most people will likely use the lake for...

The Positives... A few free concerts per year. 1 pretty good former headlining act on average per year. A few showing's of last year's top kids movies. Come early and they raffle off some candy. (They will charge above costs for popcorn and churros.) They do a decent Halloween evening event for younger kids, and so-so x-mas event. Boat rentals which are generally available. Rates are above cost prices. All electric, wind, or human powered. (There is no room on this small lake to go fast.) They stock the lake with fish and generally have been known as a good lake to fish. (When I joined a couple of years ago they had put in a new filtration system and they have had trouble with golden algae blooms killing off the fish and restocking failures.). So I cannot say they will continue to be a good lake to fish in. Picnic tables with charcoal grills. (You supply the charcoal same as at the park.) 1 so-so play structure for the kids near the lake. (Same thing on the summer only East Lake.) A lake you can safely swim in, which is impressive considering it does not have regular fresh water running into it. The water is far from pristine, but probably not less worse then the chlorine and other human ingredients in the public pools.

The Negatives... Except for avid fishers, you will probably only come to the Lake between June to September. Swimmer's Itch is usually high when the lake warms up for comfortable swimming temperatures in the summer, but the showers stands to rinse you off and prevent Swimmer's Itch are often functioning poorly. There is an annoyingly strict membership card policy, with no flexibility to look you up if someone in your family forget theirs. (Even though they have computers with this access at the entrance gate.) The parking lot is a mess. Even after a several month overhaul nearly nothing was change. (One's got to wonder how well funds were spent on that project.) The picnic tables fill up quickly and only a few have good shade. Get use to showing up at the 6am opening if you want a good spot. I think for a fee you can reserve some sites instead. You won't find any dog poop, but you will find a lot of duck/geese droppings on the grass. Bring a blanket if you will be sitting on the grass. You cannot bring rafts, boards, or boats to the lake without going through a long quarantine process to prevent the spread of destructive waterborne pests to the lake. Lastly you can never un-join. Joining permanently attaches the HOA to the title of your house, staying on the title even when the house is sold. Therefore however much the monthly about increases, the homeowner must pay it. (In the couple of years that I have been a member the annual fees increased 20% and fees for my guests went up 40%.) When the Lake changes what they are providing members, you the homeowner still have to pay your membership dues. The current amount being charged for what you get is reasonable when using the lake frequently. Yet over the years when you get tired of it, the amount...

if only I could give a zero star! "Jim Floren" is the worst 'facility supervisor' I have ever encountered! His manager "Bryant Watilo" should be ashamed of hiring him! yesterday we went to the lake as guest. we took our emotional support dogs with us. at the gate they confirmed that its ok to have them with us as emotional support dogs. but after a while life guards would aggressively come and ask us if we have confirmed their presence there. before we know it a couple of guys showed up and Jim Florne started shouting in my husbands face saying they are going to have him removed from the park! It got to a point that I had to ask Jim to chill! Not only did he not chill he only got more aggressive. He straight up told me "I am not talking to you. dont talk to me!" I let him know the guy you are shouting at is my husband so I have every right to talk to you , so he finally walked away and as he saw us taking our phones out he ran away! My husband had a broken leg so he took the dogs back to our car. I went to the main office to ask for his card, he said he will give it to me but instead he started shouting in my face again and shoved me out of the office! I literally had my wrist, leg and knee in the door way getting jammed in between door and the frame while this 6'5" white guy was trying to push me (a 5'2" middle eastern woman) out of the lake's office! At the end he was shouting at the top of his lungs "I am a psychopath"!! Our host saw this and went back to the main office to take Jim's card. Jim kept shouting and lying that our dogs have pooped without us picking after, that we have spent all day there and so many other lies that I lost track of! he ended us refunding our host for the service they failed to offer! will be talking to my lawyer for follow up options. never going back there and do not recommend going...

Went there with one of our friends who lives in mission viejo this past weekend. What an amazing place for family and friends to gather. You have coffee shop, kayak rental, boats rental (your host has to be present for you to rent), sand beach, grills, club house etc ( you have to reserve club house in advance) apparently this is only open to people who live in mission viejo and it’s part of their HOA. As a guest you need to pay $5 person to enter. There are two or three gates. We were at the playa del Norte which has all the activities. There are showers and restaurants available as well. Very fun place to spend time on...