The biggest, most dramatic decision people think they need to make is deciding where they are going to live on their program. All the complexes have pretty well established reputations that aren't necessarily true.
So let's talk about Vista Wayyyyyy. Guess what? It has a reputation of being the place for parties. But here's a plot twist, the reason why so many parties happen at Vista Way is because people decide to live in Vista Way because they want to throw parties. It's a self perpetuating cycle! Since Vista is the first complex to exist, it has a deep seeded reputation of being the place where sex, drugs, and rock and roll prevail. And that might have been the case in the 1990s before Disney seriously cracked down on noise and partying and being a nuisance. But parties still happen there because people who live there hear about how that's where all the parties are and they want to party too. But honestly? There aren't that many parties. I did go to a party in Vista, but it wasn't some out of control rager with wall to wall bodies like people assume happens at Vista. It was like, maybe thirty kids, most of which I worked with, and we sat around arguing about whether to listen to country or rock music, playing shitty drinking games, and eventually there was a small expedition to Wendy's to get frosties and french fries. The night ended with four or five girls I worked with storming out dramatically because they were underage and pissed that we were being too loud and terrified they would get caught, and Luke, Jessica, Sam, and I sitting outside for hours smoking cigarettes, drinking beers, and being really damn deep with each other.
Chatham is said to be the middle ground, the sometimes party sometimes sleep kind of place. Well, I thought Chatham was dead, always. I lived there. I never encountered parties, rarely encountered people at all, ever. I literally never even saw the girls who lived across the hall from us. We only knew that anyone lived there was because these girls would leave food outside their door for the Chatham cats that roamed around. Where was the sometimes party?! I was promised a sometimes party? I mean, other than the fact that I don't party and it didn't really matter to me. But that is what they said. The nice thing about Chatham, though, was that the bus stop was right outside the complex. I really wanted to live in Patterson going into the program, but my roommates wanted to live in Chatham and let me tell you how glad I am that we lived there. The walk from Chatham to Patterson isn't that far, and I did it a lot after work to go over by Nicole who lived in Patterson, but there were some days after 10 or 12 hour shifts when the thought of making those extra fifty steps to get back to Patterson seemed miserable and I was so grateful that I could go right into my complex.
But, with that being said, Patterson had some nice apartments. And don't let the "retirement home" reputation scare you away. It was nice there. Everything just felt nicer. Their pool area was nicer. Their apartments felt homier. Security was friendlier. It was just nice. And there were plenty of people out and about, walking around, hanging out. I even went to a couple of parties at Patterson, believe it or not. A lot of my friends lived there, including Nicole, and I was a little jealous. Had I had my own car or they had their own bus stop, I would have been so jealous of that place. Everything seemed perfect. Their walls were not stark white but a welcoming yellow, their furniture was a better color, their appliances were newer. Everything was just so. Pleasant. (But they are refurbing Vista and Blond Luke lived in a refurb apartment and it seemed pretty nice.)
And lastly, the Commons. I spent a bit of time in the Commons. That's where Luke lived, and Erin moved there for her extension, but I still don't really have an "opinion" on them. Luke lived in a two bedroom apartment that was HUGE. The bedrooms were big, the bathrooms were big, the living room was huge, the dining area was spacious, and the laundry space was great. Erin also moved into a two bedroom in the Commons. However, it was nothing like Luke's two bedroom. The living/dining space was cramped and on top of each other. The front door literally could not open all the way because of the weird way the coat closet was behind it. Erin's bathroom door was unusually narrow and the way the room was laid out made it impossible to have two beds in their comfortably, although there were two beds in there. (Erin moved in first and got lucky, but her roommate was not so fortunate. Her bed was situated so weird to accommodate the closet door and bathroom door). And their closets were so small. Oh, and they had a stacked washer dryer in the pantry or something weird? Luke's weren't stacked and they had an almost laundry room like space. So that kinda freaks me out about the Commons is how vastly different the two apartments were from one another although they were both two bedrooms in the same complex. And I know that there can be a lot of parties in the Commons because, although it is no longer exclusively ICPs, it still has a lot of them and those foreign kids can party and they can party hard because it is a lot harder for Disney to term an ICP than a domestic. Also, major plus, like Vista, the bus stop is INSIDE the complex. Not in front like Chatham. But a drawback is that not all the busses go to the Commons so you either have to take a bus to Vista and transfer or walk to Chatham to catch your bus.
So it really all depends. It's up to you. None of them are terrible. And although Vista has a reputation of being rundown, they are working hard at renovating them, and from what I saw, Chatham was the most rundown of the apartments with the Commons in a close second. But I guess it all depends. I don't know. Do what thou wilt.
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