We are back-The highs and lows

[Giddy Kipper]

Two weeks in Florida- a year in the planning. Here are our highs and lows.
Travelodge Heathrow- a bit grubby
Meteor meet and greet - excellent
Virgin extra legroom-well worth it
Miami Holiday Inn- excellent
Alamo car-hire - nice car. (still waiting for toll charges on credit card to appear)
Rosen Centre I-Drive- overall a good stay
House booked on Anna Maria Island -NIGHTMARE
Residence Inn by Marriott St. Petersburg-Treasure Island - excellent

HIGHS
Miami - although it was way too hot we enjoyed our stay and at some point will be back.
Spirit of the Swamp tours amazing time
Altamonte mall a Hollister shop on sale -YAY
Chip n Dale camp sing a long much (free) fun
Sweet tomatoes good food
Disney staff As always- brilliant
Manatees and Dolphins seeing these wild creatures swimming up close at Anna maria Island
AND of course using TourGuideMike again for a Queue free time

LOWS
An hour and a half in the immagration line at Miami -why oh why
The car being towed on I-Drive- What an expensive scary nightmare
Bedbugs (yes you read it right) in the house we had been looking forward to for a whole year. Absolutely disgusting. The owners were horrified when it dawned on them that it was BEDBUGS. We got a full refund and booked The Residence Inn at Treasure Island which was excellent

 

[mantismad]

Two weeks in Florida- a year in the planning. Here are our highs and lows.
Travelodge Heathrow- a bit grubby
Meteor meet and greet - excellent
Virgin extra legroom-well worth it
Miami Holiday Inn- excellent
Alamo car-hire - nice car. (still waiting for toll charges on credit card to appear)
Rosen Centre I-Drive- overall a good stay
House booked on Anna Maria Island -NIGHTMARE
Residence Inn by Marriott St. Petersburg-Treasure Island - excellent

HIGHS
Miami - although it was way too hot we enjoyed our stay and at some point will be back.
Spirit of the Swamp tours amazing time
Altamonte mall a Hollister shop on sale -YAY
Chip n Dale camp sing a long much (free) fun
Sweet tomatoes good food
Disney staff As always- brilliant
Manatees and Dolphins seeing these wild creatures swimming up close at Anna maria Island
AND of course using TourGuideMike again for a Queue free time

LOWS
An hour and a half in the immagration line at Miami -why oh why
The car being towed on I-Drive- What an expensive scary nightmare
Bedbugs (yes you read it right) in the house we had been looking forward to for a whole year. Absolutely disgusting. The owners were horrified when it dawned on them that it was BEDBUGS. We got a full refund and booked The Residence Inn at Treasure Island which was excellent

I am in the process of planning our trip for next year and was looking at staying on Anna Maria Island but had not decided on the accommodation yet as I was not sure of the quality of some of the places on offer. Your experience of bedbugs was awful but it was good to hear that your stay at Treasure Island was excellent. I am going to look into Treasure Island as an alternative now. Would you say that it is still worth vising Anna Maria Island even if just for the day?

 

[Debs Hill]

We are also planning a stay on Anna Maria Island next year (staying in a Pineapple Fish villa) and would love to hear more about your experiences of the island...sorry to hear the villa was not good
Debx

 

[marcus.ka]

Thank you for your feedback.

And WOW, 90 minutes at immigrations in Miami.

Was this due to the school holidays? When did you fly in? The last two years when we arrived in September (always Monday afternoon) we never waited longer than 30 minutes in Miami.

 

[Giddy Kipper]

I am in the process of planning our trip for next year and was looking at staying on Anna Maria Island but had not decided on the accommodation yet as I was not sure of the quality of some of the places on offer. Your experience of bedbugs was awful but it was good to hear that your stay at Treasure Island was excellent. I am going to look into Treasure Island as an alternative now. Would you say that it is still worth vising Anna Maria Island even if just for the day?

We are also planning a stay on Anna Maria Island next year (staying in a Pineapple Fish villa) and would love to hear more about your experiences of the island...sorry to hear the villa was not good
Debx

Anna maria is a beautiful place....we stayed at the tip of the island within walking distance of the Sandbar restuarant at one side and the city pier at the other side.(where you can fish) It is very picturesque with pastel coloured houses and an old time feel to the place. As you move further down the Island (holmes beach)it gets a more busier with more shops and a publix. The beach is perfect with white sands although there was warnings on the T.V about riptides which did worry us. We were lucky enough to see a Mannatee swim underneath a bridge near the pier and later on in the day a couple of them in the sea. We also saw lots of dolphins swimming which was amzing to watch.
Treasure Island is more built up with lots of eateries and shops but still a good feel to it. Again the beaches were perfect and uncrowded. (there were signs warning to shuffle your feet in the water because of stingrays). Easy travelling distance to Busch gardens and other attractions.

And WOW, 90 minutes at immigrations in Miami.

We swapped queues after about half an hour on the advice of staff monitoring the queues...BIG mistake.. we should have stayed put. It didnt spoil Miami though....

 

[dixonsontour]

Thanks for posting your hi and lows.

Sorry to hear about AMI house.

We love AMI but have only gone for a day or stayed in Bradenton. I know house rentals are pricey so that must have been very disappointing

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Thanks for the update. What happened on I-Drive with the car - were you parked illegally?

Glad you had a good holiday all in all

 

[Giddy Kipper]

Thanks for the update. What happened on I-Drive with the car - were you parked illegally?

Glad you had a good holiday all in all

It was in a car park behind the Icebar on I-drive. There were a few bays marked staff parking and illegal parkers would be towed but this was at the front of the car-park and not where we parked. At first we thought the car had been stolen then after walking to the front of the car park gave the number advertised on the no parking signs a ring on the off chance it had been towed before we called the police. When they confirmed they'd got our car and we had to pick it up from Orange Blossom Trail for a fee of $125.00 my heart sank. After a few tears and a taxi fare of $30.00 we picked up our car...cash only Surprise surprise. They had a notice board in the office full of paperwork for cars to be picked up. Two other families arrived at the 'depot' as we were filling in the paper work....one of whom couldnt speak a word of English and were clearly distressed. Apparently this scam is also going off at the Old Town as well.
Please be careful where you park people.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

What a scam - problem is you don't know enough whilst there to report it

 

[luckylass]

As much as I love the place, things like this and being scammed at the airport are becoming enough to put me off going back.
Cant stand being ripped off.
Think the state the economy is , they would be doing all they can to keep the tourism coming in, not driving it away

What a scam - problem is you don't know enough whilst there to report it