2 NYer's Head South - The Big Drive Down, Then Back Up Again (W/PICS!!) UPDATED 9/12!

[ericafny]

Let me introduce the cast: Me, 29, sp ed teacher. DBF, 28, high school english teacher.

Let me set the stage: We drove from Long Island, NY to Orlando, over the span of 12 days. We stopped in Richmond, VA (night 1), Myrtle Beach, SC (nights 2 & 3), and Raleigh, NC (night 12). We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, Concierge Level (our first time staying deluxe!!). This is our 4th year in a row going to the World, so we decided to shake it up a bit and drive.

And here we go:

Day 1 - Leaving NY/Richmond, VA

We left NY around 5 am and made pretty good time getting to Richmond
(12:30pm including 1 breakfast stop and 2 bathroom stops). We stayed at the La Quinta Inn in 'South Richmond'. DBF had gotten a credit card offer from Visa and La Quinta Inn where if he signed up he got 2 free nights at any La Quinta Inn in the U.S. so he signed up and let me tell you it was well worth it! We actually are going to only use that card and my Disney VISA now! The hotel was nice, no frills, and very clean. After putting our stuff in the room, we headed over to Maymont Park in Richmond. We had done some research on what to do in Richmond, and this seemed like the most reasonable since we were only there for half a day and we were exhausted! We didn't want to go around touring the whole city, etc. This park is nice and is free to enter. We toured the Maymont Estate House and there was a 'suggested' donation of $5, which we payed. I always pay the donation because I used to work for a not-for-profit and I know how hard they struggle with budgets. The grounds were beautiful and there is also a nature center and nature trails. I highly suggest it if you will be passing through for a day. Here are some pictures from the park:
Signage for the Estate House:

Fountain in front of the Estate House:

More fountains:

Pics of the grounds:

After a few hours we decided to get an early dinner and go back to the hotel to relax. After all we had been up since 4am and were exhausted from driving. Tomorrow we had another stretch of driving ahead of us to Myrtle Beach. OK, this is where you will have to bear with me here (and this may come up again and again)...we are NYer's and we don't get to the south very often (except for Disney) so some experiences are new to us. We decided to eat at Cracker Barrel for dinner. The closest Cracker Barrel to us is in Jersey and we passed by it on the way home. Other than that, I have never eaten at one. There may actually be a few in upstate NY too, but honestly I do not know. So we decided to try it. I thought it was good. I got the fried shrimp (which was good, not spicey!) and they came with hush puppies. I didn't know what hush puppies were so I had to ask the waitress. She was very nice and kind of giggled when I asked her. I didn't try them though, because I have a weak stomach and I can't really eat spice. Oh yeah I also don't eat meat (just fish) so you will notice that on this trip. DBF eats whatever you put in front of him so we are a pretty good combo! After dinner I walked around in the craker barrel store and bought some things. The store is cute! We then headed back to the room and feel right to sleep. I think we feel asleep at 8:30pm. HAHA! Not much of an exciting day but it broke up our drive and I did enjoy Maymont.

Next Installment will be Myrtle Beach and my thoughts on the future of the new Hard Rock Park...

 

[aaronmckie]

Wow, those pictures are beautiful

I'm on board

 

[reyasmommy]

Looking forward to more

 

[robind]

Glad you enjoyed Richmond, I love to go to Cracker Barrel but don't get there very often. Don't be afraid of the hush puppies, they are not spicy. If you ever decide to go again and are there on a Friday they have the BEST fish fry.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your report.

 

[luna99]

can't wait to hear more!! DH and I go to Cracker Barrel more often than I care to admit. If you ever get to go back.. get the chicken salad sandwich on TOASTED sourdough bread.. MAKE SURE THEY TOAST IT!!! that's the key!!
mmmmm.... so good!

 

[ericafny]

Wow, those pictures are beautiful

I'm on board

Looking forward to more

Thanks! I will try to get another update by tonite or tomorrow, so stayed tuned!

Glad you enjoyed Richmond, I love to go to Cracker Barrel but don't get there very often. Don't be afraid of the hush puppies, they are not spicy. If you ever decide to go again and are there on a Friday they have the BEST fish fry.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your report.

Yes I saw the fish fry on the menu but we were one day short of that (Thurs), oh well I guess another excuse to go back!

can't wait to hear more!! DH and I go to Cracker Barrel more often than I care to admit. If you ever get to go back.. get the chicken salad sandwich on TOASTED sourdough bread.. MAKE SURE THEY TOAST IT!!! that's the key!!
mmmmm.... so good!

Thanks, glad you are enjoying it so far! I think DBF will have to be the one to try the chicken salad sandwhich since I don't eat meat, haha! I will let him know next time we head down south so he can try it.

 

[jmskinner]

Thought I would join in. Love Cracker Barrel. I had to laugh about the hushpuppies. You will have to try them next time. I love hush puppies. Can't wait to hear about the Hard Rock Park. We use to live about an hour from Myrtle Beach and I have been very curious about this new park.

Oh, you got me interested in your TR when I saw you were a special ed teacher. My DS has ADHD and is special ed. I have a lot of respect for you, and all teachers (don't want to leave DBF out). I couldn't do it.

Looking forward to more!
Melissa

 

[cdfl30]

I am enjoying your report, you are off to a great start! Thanks for the recommendation on the Maymont Estate, I will add it to my list of must see places. We always enjoy places like that.

I too had to laugh about the hush puppies, they are so common down here. When I visited NJ a few months ago, I saw so many things on the menu that were a mystery to me (Scrapple, pork roll, etc...). Needless to say, I stuck with the pancakes and bacon.

Looking forward to more of your report

Candis

 

[ericafny]

Day Two - Myrtle Beach, SC

OK so we continue our journey south with our next stop being in Myrtle Beach, SC for the weekend. DBF's godfather and his wife live there and they have been asking us to come visit for a while. We decided to make it one of our stopovers on our way to Orlando. It was about a 1 hour 45 min detour off of 95, but since we were staying there Fri-Sun we figured it wasn't that big of a deal since we had 2 days to rest before we continue driving.

So we woke up early this morning (you would think since we went to bed at 8:30!) and took advantage of the free breakfast La Quinta Inn offers. This is really a bare bones continental breakfast with bagels, muffins, cereal, minimal fruit (apples), juice and coffee. It was enough for us though. The breakfast room was nice with a flat screen t.v. and free USA Todays. I can not stress enough the value and service you get from La Quinta Inn. I have stayed at 3 now so far and I have not been disapointed yet. I know there are at least 2 locations on I-drive and I think 1 on US 192 so if you are looking for a budget hotel that is nice and clean I say go with them! And La Quinta Inn did NOT pay me to say this...haha I sound like a commerical.

So after breakfast we checked out, put our luggage in the car and headed south. So on the way we stoped at Ruby Tuesdays somewhere on the border of Virginia and NC for lunch. I had an interesting experience here which I will share with you in a bit. The restaurant is exaclty the same as the one we have here in NY, so I am assuming they try to keep the menus consistent. The service was friendly and fairly quick, however there were not very many people in the restaurant so not sure how it would be if it was busy. It was right off of 95 so I am sure they are used to high volume though. OK so onto my strange experience - after we ordered I went to use the bathroom. While in the bathroom I noticed there was someone in the stall next to me..no big deal typical 'oh ok, this stall is taken I will use the next one'. While I was washing my hands the person in the stall walks out and it was a man, in his early to mid-sixties dressed in work clothes (button down shirt and khaki pants). He looked at me and said 'well one of us is in the wrong place'. I then replied 'I am pretty sure this is the ladies room' and then went on to shrug it off because clearly he was embarrased. I said 'its the 21st century, who cares!' or something like that. As we were leaving he said 'just don't tell my wife'. Well wouldn't you know it as we are leaving the bathroom (together) his wife is sitting at a both near the bathroom and looking right at the two of us as we are exiting the bathroom!! Oh and yeah it was the ladies room. I was dying to be a fly on the wall for THAT conversation when he got back to his table...

After that highly amusing, yet a little strange experience we ate lunch and continued our journey. I had wanted so bad to stop at South of The Border so we did! Here is a pic of me (I am very far away because DBF wanted to get the big gorrilla in the pic too):

We only spent about 20 min there. We walked around the 'Africa shop', the hat store and the leather store. This place is CHEESY! Of course we fell into the tourist trap and got a mug and a shot glass (we collect them). It's cute with their signature 'Pedro' hanging out on the side. I am pretty sure this place is NOT politically correct, but I guess it works for them? There are several shops, a pizza place, hot dog shack, ice cream place, mexican 'restaurant', arcade, and small amusement park which I would not put any kid on any of those rides if they paid me. I guess it was good to walk around and stretch our legs but if you are pressed for time I say skip it. Oh yeah they also have a motel there so I guess you could technically stay there for one night if you choose.

After South of the Border we had to leave 95 and get on another highway to head east to Myrtle Beach. We arrived at their condo at around 4pm and hung out for a little bit and caught up. This was me and DBF's first time in Myrtle Beach so his godfather wanted to show us around and stuff. They have been living there for a year but before that they would vacation there every year for 14 or so years. First he took us to 'the strip' and we rode up and down. It looks nice and clean and if you stay on the strip you can walk to the beach. There are also arcades, food places, and a small amusement park and water park called Family Kingdom. Very cute especially for little kids. After that we went for dinner in a fairly new area near the airport. It was built on an old air force base and it has shops, restaurants, and housing. Its a mixed-use area catering to young workers that may want to move from big cities to Myrtle Beach. They had apartments on top of the stores and they were building condos and homes. Something for everyone I guess! The shops there are high end like Anne Klein, White House/Black Market, and Coach. I forgot the name of the restaurant that we ate at but it was a brewery and they brew their own beer there. I'm not much of a drinker but DBF got a 'beer sampler' for $7 and he literally had 9 6-ounce glasses of beer in front of him. He found one he liked and then ordered a pint. I finished one of his other 'shots' of beer (lol).

After dinner his godfather drove us by Hard Rock Park. I had wanted to go but we simply didn't have time. Now I know I said I would tell you my thoughts on the future of the park but I hope I didn't mislead anyone thinking I actually went. But here is what I think based on what I saw. First of all, the park is literally on the street. It was built in an old shopping/outlet center that had been vacant for a while. When you approach it on the highway you can see the Led Zepplin coaster. We were told that the flights coming into Myrtle Beach fly directly over the coaster. Once off the highway you enter the lot right next to the coaster. You can walk up to the fence and you are nose to nose with this thing. We were there around 8:30 on a Friday night and the place was a ghost town. There were like 10 cars in the lot and I am going to venture a guess that those were the employees cars. We saw the coaster go around 2 times with 4 people on it, probably again the employees. You can't really see the rest of the park because the fence is tinted green but the lights were off and it looked very dark. I was really shocked. I thought this place would be packed on a Friday night. DBF's godfather also told us that they were talking to someone who works at one of the bars in Myrtle Beach and he said he was supposedly offered all kinds of hours at the park but then three weeks later they told him he can only have 2 shifts. (side note: in the local paper the next day there was an article stating the park is not doing well and they had to lay off something like 300 employees). So basically I do not think this park is doing well and I am thinking they will have to close. There are signs EVERYWHERE for this thing so marketing is not an issue. I think the weakend economy really took a toll on them. They are charging $50 a person to get in there and for a family of four to go would cost them $200 on top of all the other activities there are to do in Myrtle Beach, probably not worth it. Oh well, I do hope they stay open because I would want to experience it. I guess we will have to see.

After that we went to this outdoor shopping/restaurant complex called Boardwalk on the Beach (which really reminded me of DTD or Citywalk). They had Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood (in the same shape as the one at DTD). They also had some bars like Senor Frogs, Pat O'Briens, and Margaritaville. Oh yeah, they even had a Disney Store there too! We were headed to Margaritaville to see the house band - The Necessary Band play. DBF's godfather and his wife like this band and see them play there quite reqularly. They were very good and we were also able to meet them after their set. Very nice people! I hear they have a website so if you google them I am sure it will come up.

Well that was our first night in Myrtle Beach. Tomorrow we spend some time at the beach and go where the locals go at night...stay tuned!

P.S. Sorry there was only one pic but I forgot my camera that first night so I wasn't able to take any pics...there will be LOTS of pics once we get to Disney tho so hang on for the pics!

 

[jmskinner]

Wow, you brought back some memories. I have a t-shirt from Planet Hollywood there at the Boardwalk. I never stopped at South of the Border, but have driven by it several times. There was a movie with Ben Affleck, can't remember the name of it, but they stopped there and actually rode one of the rides. I feel the same way though, I wouldn't ride them!

I use to follow-up on amusement parks a lot closer before I fell in love with WDW, so I didn't even realize the Hard Rock Park was open yet, sorry to hear it is having a hard time.

Can't wait to hear more about Myrtle Beach, and of course WDW!

 

[ericafny]

Wow, you brought back some memories. I have a t-shirt from Planet Hollywood there at the Boardwalk. I never stopped at South of the Border, but have driven by it several times. There was a movie with Ben Affleck, can't remember the name of it, but they stopped there and actually rode one of the rides. I feel the same way though, I wouldn't ride them!

I use to follow-up on amusement parks a lot closer before I fell in love with WDW, so I didn't even realize the Hard Rock Park was open yet, sorry to hear it is having a hard time.

Can't wait to hear more about Myrtle Beach, and of course WDW!

I wonder what movie was shot there? I will ask DBF if he knows, he is a big movie buff. Yeah I didn't know about Hard Rock Park until we were getting ready to go and I started doing some research on Myrtle Beach. Glad you are enjoying the report! Hopfeully I can get in another update by tomorrow night.

 

[Fudbutter]

I'm subscribed. Never did that before but you are from Lon Gisland (spelled as pronounced properly) where I grew up and you stopped in the same two places that we did last February on the way so I want to see more. Now get to work !

 

[ericafny]

I'm subscribed. Never did that before but you are from Lon Gisland (spelled as pronounced properly) where I grew up and you stopped in the same two places that we did last February on the way so I want to see more. Now get to work !

HAHA that's too funny! Where do in NY do you live now?

Update coming tomorrow, sorry got caught up in some stuff today...

 

[Fudbutter]

HAHA that's too funny! Where do in NY do you live now?

Update coming tomorrow, sorry got caught up in some stuff today...

Grew up in Cantiaque Park area in the late 60's but we live in Westchester County now. Mom & Dad and sisters all moved off the Island years ago so we rarely go there, but when we do, we're astounded how developed it is now.

Looking forward to the rest of your report.


BTW: Here was the report on our trip down in Febraury:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1757502&page=1&highlight=Fudbutter

 

[the4princesses]

hi hope you all have a wonderful time!!
How many days will you all be at WDW?

 

[exwdwcm]

enjoying your report so far. we spent some time in myrtle beach a few years back- my uncle was a pastry chef at a resort there and got us a free suite!

 

[ericafny]

Day 3 - Myrtle Beach, SC

So today was our only full day in Myrtle Beach and boy did DBF's godfather have an action packed day for us! We woke up and he immediatly insisted we borrow their bikes and bike ride around his development. They lives in a gated golf community (very common in Myrtle Beach) with gorgeous houses and condos (they live in a condo). So off we go on the bikes. Now, I have not been on a bike for I'm gonna guess 15+ years (does not include stationary bikes in the gym) so I was a little rusty at first...I know, I know you never forget how to ride a bike...but lets just say I looked 'special' for the first 10 minutes of our bike riding journey. We spent about 40 minutes riding around the community stopping to look at houses and watch some of the golfers. Everyone is SOOOO friendly saying 'good morning, how are you'...remember we are from Long Island, this doesn't normally happen here

After our bike ride we packed some lunch and the car up and headed to the beach. We went to the state beach which is also a state park. 'Locals' can buy an annual beach pass which gives them unlimited access to the beach. There are two lanes leading to the beach, one going in and one going out. Today being a Saturday, well you can imagine the line-up of people waiting to get onto the beach. Surprisingly enough though, the beach was not crazy crowded. The beaches in Long Island can get extremely crowded after 11am on a summer weekend so we are used to some crowds. Many of the people entering the park go and camp there at their campgrounds or have a picnic party. We saw many family reunions and church groups there bbq'ing and hanging out in the picnic areas. It looked very nice and seemed like a fun thing to do. Once on the beach we set up camp (me being very pale needs to sit under an umbrella) and the relaxing began...here are some pics:
Me sitting under my umbrella -ella-ella, hey hey hey (ok I'll stop singing Rhianna):

Other beach pics:

See how empty it is?

We spent about 4 hours at the beach, we picked some shells, walked along the shoreline, and soaked in the beautiful blue water (the water is kind of scum green in Long Island). After the beach we got cleaned up and headed back to the mixed-use complex we had gone to the night before for dinner. This night we went to an american restaurant that was very good (sorry can't remember the name!) All I know is I had a grilled fish sandwich and it was one of the best fish sandwiches I ever had. Actually, writing this right now is making me crave it...YUM! OK I'm done drooling...After dinner DBF's godfather wanted to take us around the rest of Myrtle Beach (which we were told is quite large). He drove us around Garden City Beach and Murrels Inlet. We ended up at the strip of bars on the boardwalk in Murrels Inlet which is apparently a local spot. We went to the Dead Dog bar which has pictures hanging of people's dogs that have passed with special messages on them. DBF's godfather showed us his dog. It was cute but sad to see the pics. Some of the pics were really funny though! There was a live band and this area seemed pretty happening. Most of the bars served food and provided live entertainment. We also ran into the most calmest bachelorette party I had ever seen. HAHA, that may seem like an oxymoron but I'm telling ya, no crazy shenanigans from these ladies..Here is a pic of me and DBF from that night:

After the bar we headed back. We needed to make it a semi-early night because tomorrow we head to the World!!

Up next - Lunch in Charleston with an old college roomie and our grand arrival at the AKL!!

 

[ericafny]

I just realized nobody commented on my man in bathroom story...I honestly thought that was one of the funniest things that has ever happened to me

 

[jmskinner]

I meant to comment about that and forgot. That was . Especially when the wife saw you walk out of the bathroom together. Told my DH and he laughed.

I haven't been to Myrtle Beach in so long. I am really starting to miss the area. Oh, and I see you are heading to Charleston. I could spend days looking at houses there. They are just beautiful!

 

[ericafny]

I meant to comment about that and forgot. That was . Especially when the wife saw you walk out of the bathroom together. Told my DH and he laughed.

I haven't been to Myrtle Beach in so long. I am really starting to miss the area. Oh, and I see you are heading to Charleston. I could spend days looking at houses there. They are just beautiful!

Yeah I wish we had more time in Myrtle Beach. I think we will def make it a point to go back there for a little bit of a longer weekend in the near future.

Unfortunatly we didn't get to see much of Charleston...I will explain in next post..