I stayed in Isola Bella from Jan 09 - March 09 and had a great time! There are probably a 100 or more FAA students staying there. Isola Bella went out of their way to help me in anyway. The place is like a retreat as it is so huge. You can get away on a nice walk for a bit or spend a few hours in their gym on the property. They have recently renovated the entire ATC section of the property and it is well worth it. The rooms are spacious, like a corporate apartment with all the ammenities. Dishes, beddings, towels, you name it. Beds are comfortable, cable TV, free internet...The best way to go about this place is split the room with another student so you can pocket all of the extra money and live on a resort! They have a social on Friday's with beer and food and a lot of people come out to it. It's a good chance to meet some fellow classmates in various stages of the process and get your mind off things. If you need a rental car they have some available for you to rent at a very very reasonable rate. I am supposedly going to head back here for RTF at some point and I definitely plan on staying at Isola Bella again.

If you have any questions about the place in detail, please let me know and I'd be happy to answer them!

Just joined the website today, thought I would write a review for Isloa Bella. I stayed there for Enroute Training in OKC from late July of 2008 to early October. At the time I was there I really enjoyed it. I was able to rent a two bedroom place with another roommate and split the costs. Isola Bella provided both of us with receipts so we could get the full per diem. It really helped out a lot since we don't get paid that much.

I spent a lot of time in the gym. It is a HUGE gym and it is hardly ever crowded. If you have friends that are in the academy that are not staying at Isola Bella they can work out their if they have their FAA Badge I believe. If you are serious about working out I while you are in OKC I would strongly suggest Isola Bella because I researched other gym's in the area before I came down to OKC and there was not a big selection and the one gym that I found would be worthy was too far of a drive. Isola Bella's gym has absolutely everything you need and then some to stay fit while in OKC.

One of the best things I found about Isola Bella was that is was on the Academy Bus Route. You get more time off than anyone else at the FAA Acadmey because you are the last stop and the last students to get picked up in the morning (so you can sleep in an extra half hour) and you are the first stop in the afternoon after school, so you can get dropped off, get changed, go to the gym, get a quick workout and already be done by the time the last people get dropped off on the bus route. Isola Bella's waiting area for the bus route is also covered so you do not need to worry about inclimate weather as you would if you stayed at some of the other places.

If you don't bring a car to OKC this place is perfect since it is so big it is almost a small town. If you do bring a car the place is gated and has security that roam around all day and night. You could literally spend your entire time on the premises if you wanted to as they have everything from the awesome gym, I believe they have over four or five pools, walking trails, massage palor, they even have gatherings every friday night and provide free beer and drinks for all the FAA students. It is an awesome chance to get to meet up with others and unwind.

If you are looking for an awesome place to stay in OKC, look no further than Isola Bella. I went there and didn't even get to stay in a renovated room and I loved it. I can't even imagine how nice the rooms must be now. I heard that they spent over 10 million dollars turning that place into a paradise. If you have any specific questions about the place, feel free to PM me anytime and I can fill you in. I'm at ZKC now...woohoo!

What a great place to stay while in OKC. One of the great qualities is the staff they were very welcoming when I arrived. Michelle Falls always shows the best hospitality when I come to OKC. She always takes care of the San Jose folks.

I'm on the Tech Ops side of the house and this place is like a resort getaway. The apartments are very nice and they all have new kitchen appliances. The bathroom is remodeled...very nice!

The gym was another selling point. The olympic size pool, aerobic machines, tennis court, boxing ring and a basketball court, all indoors. Really nice folks running the facility too.

The pavillion is a great hang out spot. Les has put a lot into making this facility nice. Nice comfy decor, pool table, conference rooms and massage therapy (affordable rates). Theresa is there during the week and she makes you feel right at home. The Friday night happy hour is great. The food and drinks are very good. They also have the Oklahoma Yard Dawgs staying on the facility. If you have never seen arena football, go check them out. They are great & fun to watch.

The wireless has worked well for me. Some places you stay it only works near the office, well, this one works all around.

I'm heading back to reality next week but I plan to return for training in the fall and I will definitly be staying here. I can't wait to see all the new and exciting things that they have planned for Isola Bella Apartments.

I stayed in Isola Bella Apartments for 3 months beginning this last January. The apartment homes offered more than any other option I found. (And believe me- I looked.) The GYM is fantastic. It is a relaxed atmosphere, with lots of equipment... tennis courts...basketball courts. And they even allow you to bring your other friends from the FAA.

All in all... i asked around and Isola Bella seemed to be the best opportunity in OKC. Everyone there was helpful, and addressed any questions/concerns as fast as possible. They are upgrading furniture, televisions, fitness equipment, landscaping...etc. So I will be sure to check it out next time im in OKC.

Any questions... please feel free to ask.

BagofSquirrels - ATL TRACON

It is a little bit of a drive to the academy approx 10 miles or about 25 minutes down Macarthur and the people around here drive like idiots. There are tons of places to go shopping just off of the Northwest expressway though. Not to mention they just bought 3 PT cruisers for FAA students only, to take out if needed. You can take the shuttle and save your gas money though, it picks up at the Pavilion.

There is still some construction going on but not in any of the buildings that are occupied from what I can see. But it will be great for future students that come. It hasn't seem to affect me either cause I am on the lakeside view though

The gym is huge and pretty well equipped it does look a little dated but over all pretty nice. Plenty of equipment to obtain the desired body re sculpting.

The staff and maintenance people here are great they are very accommodating and they treat you like family. The cookies are awesome too you get a huge plate when you check in.

The pavilion is very nice and seems like a great place to hang out. I have met a lot of academy students that are here. They are now serving breakfast and dinner. Which by the way is awesome who can resist free food and it actually taste pretty good too. They have a full salad bar, then the dinner side and for breakfast it consists of eggs, sausage, biscuits, hash browns, waffle makers 4 to be exact, juice machine, soda machine, bagels, toasters, and cereal.

They do have a pretty good happy hour until you get that one knuckle head that breaks the tap on the keg.

I will be more than happy to answer any more questions but this is by far the best place to stay in OKC after seeing the other places that my class mates are staying in.

I have been staying at Isola Bella for one week. There are a lot of nice things they have to offer. I got a lake view and get to wake up looking at the lake everyday which is nice. They just finished remodeling the ATC apartments and they are pretty nice. I think they could have done a better job with the remodeling, but it is not too bad. You can tell the floors were put together in quite a hurry. The furniture is nice and new, the beds are kind of hard, but I have slept very well since I've been here, no problems there. There are a lot of geese, mallards, cranes, ducks, whatever that hang out around the pond. They are cool to look at I guess; however, sometimes they are irritating because they are walking around on the sidewalks and lake all the time looking for food. Completely harmless though. Isola Bella is a gated community so that is nice. I think it is located in a pretty good area if you ask me. It could be a little closer to the Academy though...I think it takes about 20 minutes to get to the Academy; however, it is located right by NW Expressway....just about any restaurant you can imagine is located right around the corner as well as a Wal-mart and Target...there is anything you need within 1 to 2 miles of here. You will need a car though; however, Isola Bella lets you check out the PT Cruisers to use if you need to run some errands. The pools are nice, I enjoy lounging around there on the weekends. The breakfast in the morning is good...they serve from 5:30a.m. to 9:30 a.m. I believe. I eat and then take the shuttle to the Academy so it works out perfect. The pavilion is pretty nice and you can go in there anytime for study groups or grab a coke or just watch TV or play pool. They have events on Friday nights with free beer and wine.

There is a Disc Golf course about 1 mile away as well as a golf course within a mile if you are up for that. All in all, I am enjoying my stay here. There are a lot of academy students here so it is nice to get to know other people in your situation while your here.

I had the pleasure at staying at Isola Bella for about 30 days last month. I had a great experience. I felt it was the perfect location. It was about a 25 minute drive to the Academy when there was traffic, about 20 minutes without traffic. It is located right by NW Expressway...every restaurant you can imagine is within just a couple miles of the place. The Penn Square Mall is also located just a couple miles down the road.

If you like golf, Lake Heffner Golf course is only 1 - 1.5 miles driving from the apartment. If you like Disc Golf...you have two courses, one that is 2 miles away and the other course is located about 4 miles away. Both very good disc golf courses in my opinion.

Isola Bella catered to every need that I had. I was greeted with open arms when I first checked in and also a HUGE plate full of freshly baked cookies wrapped up very nice and neat. I checked into my room and they had the thermostat set on a cool 70 degrees....it was very nice considering that it was over 100 degrees when I arrived. The rooms are all remodeled, nice furniture and desk area, leather couch, DVD players and TVs in the rooms. The kitchen and bathroom have the stone tile which is really nice. The apartment was spotless. I also had a lake view which was very nice.

They just started offering breakfast when I arrived. It was pretty good. Eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, biscuits and gravy, taquitos, all sorts of breads, bagels, waffles, yogurts, fresh fruit, apple juice, orange juice, cranberry juice, coffee...pretty much everything you need for breakfast. Once you are done with breakfast, just step right out in front of the Pavilion and the FAA Shuttle takes you away to school.

Isola Bella just started supper the week before I left. I took advantage of it every night. The salad bar was better than the salad bar at the Academy. They have everything you could possibly imagine to put on a salad there. It was very very very good...I'm a big fan of ranch dressing and I would have to say that their ranch ranked up near the top. Other than the salad bar while I was there they offered things like pastas, chicken, fish, steaks, hamburgers and hotdogs...things like that. They tried to change it up every night...but they always have the salad bar so I usually filled up on that before anything else.

There also was a drink fountain located in the Pavilion. You could get unlimited sodas all throughout the day as long as the Pavilion was open. I also heard their ice cream machine should be up and running by now so I would be sure to check that out.

The Pavilion was very nice, it overlooked the pool and lake. All the furniture was very nice...they had a huge LCD TV in the Pavilion with satellite or cable so you could watch whatever you wanted. Make sure you check out the Pavilion on Friday night for Happy Hour...free beer and wine and food!

The pools were never crowded...I laid out by the main pool almost everyday and there was never a problem finding space.

At the time I was there, I believe there was over 140 FAA students so there was always something going on....study groups, people just hanging out, or planning trips for the upcoming weekend.

All and all, I would highly recommend Isola Bella for your stay. I had a great time, met a lot of great people...if you have any questions about the property, feel free to ask!

I've been a member for a while and decided to write my review of Isola Bella after living there for 4 months. I was there during all the construction (that is now over) and basically saw the place transform from what is used to be to now. My apartment looked exactly like the picture of the apartment that they had shown. I really enjoyed my time there. I am a big drinker and enjoyed that there was a 7-eleven and also a liquor store right beside the place so I could get booze as often as I wanted.

Towards the end of my stay, there was at least 2 buses full of Academy students going to the academy every morning. When I first got there, we could barely fill one bus...now we couldn't all even fit in two buses. I was also there from when they served no food to when they started their food service.

The food is awesome, the breakfast is great to get your day started and the dinner was really good. It worked out perfect for dinner because they started serving at 4:30pm so I had the chance to eat right when I got home and then I would usually take a nap, go to the gym, come home, shower, and then actually go back for 2nds around 7:15pm before they closed. So I got to eat two times for the dinner portion. It worked out well because I work out every day and eat smaller meals. Also, the gym is huge...has just about everything you could want....there was never anyone in the gym when I went..maybe 10 at the most, but no one ever got in the way.

I put a "4" down for location because it is about a 25 minute drive from the academy...other than that, the location is perfect...close to any restaurant, mall, fast food, anything you can think of.

The pool was really nice, never crowded....

The lake was also relaxing...they ducks were pretty cool...however, they are used to humans and will almost expect that you throw them some food if you are out and about. They did poop everywhere, but I assume the Isola Bella staff was pretty much on top of that because it seemed to always get cleaned up within a day or so.

They have a washer/dryer combo in one...it washes and dry's your clothes in the same cycle...it does take a pretty long time to complete a load and you can barely put any clothes in it at all....I would highly recommend using liquid fabric softner because if you don't, your clothes smell kind of like plastic when they come out. I just did my socks and underwear in there and did send the rest of my clothes off to the dry cleaners.

All and all I enjoyed my stay...yes, there could be improvements to the place, but what place couldn't there be improvements to? Every issue I had, I brought up with the Isola Bella staff and they were quick to accommodate my needs. I would recommend this place....

This is not a place you want to stay. Its an hour on the shuttle to the academy. Its a half hour to drive. There is far to much drama around the place because FAA people are not the only people staying there. They serve breakfast and dinner, but after I watched one of the cooks licking there fingers I couldn't eat there any more. Worst of all the roaches. They sprayed several times but they kept coming back. The rooms are falling apart, they have painted over pealing paint and the floor seemed like it was going to cave in it is so rotted. There is no sprinkler system so the grass is crunchy and bug infested. There are people walking around and making noise at two and three am, hard to get a good night sleep.

Isola Bella Reply:

Can?t do much about the drive, but now one of the FAA Shuttle Bus Routes is a non-stop cutting the time down considerably. Not sure about what ?drama? means, but we have had some cases of FAA students getting carried away with passing their latest exam. Courtesy Patrol comes by and that normally calms things down. Licking fingers ? not supposed to happen. About the bugs, we fired our exterminator and have a new one; no recent bug complaints. After spending $16mm dollars, the rooms are not falling apart. The floor is one of those ?let no good deed go unpunished situations?. It is an eco-friendly re-cycled product that is terrible to install, but there is nothing rotten; some units did not get the flooring installed properly. Most of these have been re-done by now. We take these comments seriously and are always striving to deliver the best possible value to FAA Academy students