2013 Hilton Head lovers thread

[missymouse]

Arrived on Sunday. So far we went to the beach once, but haven't been back since the sunburn snuck up on the kids. Sunday night we ate at Guissepi's we thought pizza was ok, not remarkable, oldest son did not like his wedgedilla. Monday we did recognizance and shopping. Lunch at Hot Dog Harbor which was fairly good. That evening we ate at Kenny B's - we found the gumbo to be blah, rest of food was ok (pretty expensive too). Tuesday we did jet skiing with "On the Water". Under 16 can not drive which is different than other places, but they also had the best price. The jet skiing got cut a bit short due to storms. So instead of an hour it was about 40 min. , ate a Bully's Barbecue which was great. New barbecue joint. They have 5 varieties of sauce all made there. My DH especially liked the sauce with the rosemary and tarragon. Prices were very reasonable. Wednesday we did the kayaking tour at the resort. It is 2 hrs. long. We felt it could have been a bit shorter.

Breakfast at Harold's Diner which was good, fun, and reasonably priced. They are Cash Only.

Plans for tonight are to do the Zip ride at 7:30 and maybe try Up the Creek.

 

[canals68]

Will be arriving next Friday and staying in a 1-bedroom. Can any and all offer an opinion on staying in the main building? Apparently 1-BRs are limited to building 12 ( the main lodge bldg) and the fist floor of buildings 16, 18, 19, 29, and 30. Was thinking of requesting not being in the main building because of distance to pool and pier. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[Conan the Librarian]

It's not that big a place, maybe 300 yards to the pool at most from the Lodge.

We've stayed in the outlying buildings and in the 'main' building. Both have their charms.

The main building is close to the busstop for the shuttle to the beach house.

There is a nice boardwalk from the Lodge to the rest of the resort. Very scenic. WE also like to just walk on the bulkhead overlooking Shelter Cove. Very relaxing.

I wouldn't hesitate to stay in the Lodge at all!

 

[jmpellet]

Will be arriving next Friday and staying in a 1-bedroom. Can any and all offer an opinion on staying in the main building? Apparently 1-BRs are limited to building 12 ( the main lodge bldg) and the fist floor of buildings 16, 18, 19, 29, and 30. Was thinking of requesting not being in the main building because of distance to pool and pier. Any insight would be appreciated.

I would ask for a building closer to the pool as that's area where all the activities take place, especially if you have children. We loved that we could allow our kids to go to the pool and we could stay in the room (they are 12, 11, and 9) and see them from our back deck. We were in building 22 and we loved it there.

 

[living20057]

Will be arriving next Friday and staying in a 1-bedroom. Can any and all offer an opinion on staying in the main building? Apparently 1-BRs are limited to building 12 ( the main lodge bldg) and the fist floor of buildings 16, 18, 19, 29, and 30. Was thinking of requesting not being in the main building because of distance to pool and pier. Any insight would be appreciated.

We checked in yesterday. This is our third time here, and every time we stayed in the main building. I was looking forward to a different building but the main is fine. The parking is in the garage and the walk to the pool area isn't far. About 10 mins with kids. I can definitely see the benefit of being closer to the pool.

We ate at Bullies Bbq! It was very good. I tried the sauce in the yellow bottle. Would recommended them. For a pulled pork sandwich, fries, collard greens, and a drink was about $8-9.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Will be arriving next Friday and staying in a 1-bedroom. Can any and all offer an opinion on staying in the main building? Apparently 1-BRs are limited to building 12 ( the main lodge bldg) and the fist floor of buildings 16, 18, 19, 29, and 30. Was thinking of requesting not being in the main building because of distance to pool and pier. Any insight would be appreciated.

We've stayed in 1 BRs, mostly in the Main Lodge (which is building 11, building 12 is an extention of the main building). Anyways, the main building, or 12, are our favorite locations. Usually now when we go a main building villa is one of our requests. For one thing, being on the first floor, as the other locations are, does not appeal to us, because we've always found it noisy.Also, being in the main building iallows for easy access to warm apple cider and cookies in Big Murgie's Den (we go in the off-season). And since we go off-season, distance from the pool isn't a comcern, but it's not far of a walk. And remember, even the first floor in the other buildings is up a flight of stairs-the only way to guarantee no stairs is to get the main building, which has an elevator. All that being said, building 18 DOES have a gorgeous view!

 

[CoffeeCup]

We also have stayed in 1-bedroom units in buildings 11and 12. The main lodge is the only unit with an elevator, and that is convenient if you have problems with stairs. It's nice to be close to the warm apple cider, or cold lemonade, and freshly baked cookies in the afternoons. The resort is small enough that we never have had problems walking from one end to the other. There is more noise around the pool, but it is convenient if you have children who use the pool often. This spring we stayed in a 2-bedroom about half way between the main lodge and the pool, and we enjoyed a great view from our balcony. We don't worry about which building we get since all have advantages and minor disadvantages depending on what is most important to you.

 

[stmize]

We arrive on sept 16th and check out on the 18th and driving to wdw thru the 22nd. I've seen several posts regarding the fireworks. Will they be doing them in sept?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Are boogie boards allowed at the beach and is there a place nearby that sells them?

 

[helenk]

Are boogie boards allowed at the beach and is there a place nearby that sells them?

Plenty of people had boogie boards on the beach. There are plenty of places to buy them. The Publix that we shopped in had them.

 

[Chelley00]

Arrived home tonight. We actually checked out on Friday but spent the weekend in NC to visit our "other son" (DS's "BFF") who is in the Marine Corps. Disney definitely spoiled us because once we got to Topsail, we were disappointed in our condo there and the "tackiness" of the resort and surrounding area. A big difference!

We LOVED HHI. We stayed on a cash reservation and DH is now insisting we buy points The CMs were fantastic and our kids had a great time. They loved the pirate pool party and were amazed the lifeguards all remembered their names after day one. They went to Kids Night In one night and that was all they talked about for days. There is so much to do we ran out of time. They really enjoyed riding their bikes to main building to watch for the tic tac toe character of the day. They both got 2 trading pins for their tic tac toe wins during the week.

We ate at SkullCreek Boathouse one night (so good and so kid friendly - they had chalk, sand tables, crafts going on outside while we waited) and Salty Dog Cafe another night (it was okay...we weren't hugely impressed) DH and I went to WiseGuys for our anniversary dinner and I can't say enough good things about our meal or our waitress. A huge gluten free menu! We also went to Pino Gelato one night because I had a groupon and it was very good.

I requested a marsh view, top floor. We checked in very late (interstate closed for 2 hours then traffic was 5 mph for miles after!) and we got our marsh view in building 27 but bottom floor. It was fine the first few days as we had a family with teenagers above us, but after that, a family with very young kids moved in and we could hear the kids running back and forth above us.....very early in the morning. I had read reviews about it being loud and couldn't believe how much it sounded like elephants above us! We just laugh and say they were our alarm clock so we didn't oversleep and miss anything good.

The view was great and we were steps to the pool, mercantile, Tide Me Over etc. It was a quick walk or bike ride to the main building and we were very near the grill and hammocks. It was loud on the balcony when the pool music started playing though, so I think we might have preferred to be a building or so down farther.

My biggest disappointment was with the food options. I called well in advance to ask if they had any gluten free options and was told they had bagels for breakfast and bread for lunches. On our one long beach day we went up to eat and was told they had nothing gluten free there, only at Tide Me Over. I ended up only being able to get a turkey sandwich.....minus the bread. Then the one day we ate at Tide Me Over, they said they didn't have the bread, only bagels. I guess I expected a little better since Disney is usually so good with food allergies.

 

[stmize]

I hope once we stay in sept hubby will say I can buy a sm contract too

 

[pollyanna30]

Chelley00 - You make me so excited for our trip! We leave on Sunday for a week - also on a cash reservation. I have a few of questions for you (or anyone else who has been on a cash reservation recently). Since you were not DVC, did you receive daily maid service, and if so, what did it consist of? Also, are the fees for wireless internet still $10 a day, and is there a length of stay discount? One more thing, can you give a quick rundown of the events that you would recommend that your children participated in? Thanks in advance!

 

[Chelley00]

I was sleep deprived last night and forgot to mention we also rode our bikes one night to Harbourfest and then had dinner at San Miguels. The kids really enjoyed the clown and her "paintings" were amazing. They were a little too old for Shannon Tanner but it was cute watching the littler ones.

San Miguels wasn't so great. The queso was really good as were the drinks, but my food was pretty icky and DD's quesadilla was cold. the waiter was pretty slow. It took so long to get our food and check that it made us late for Goofy Bingo.

 

[Chelley00]

Chelley00 - You make me so excited for our trip! We leave on Sunday for a week - also on a cash reservation. I have a few of questions for you (or anyone else who has been on a cash reservation recently). Since you were not DVC, did you receive daily maid service, and if so, what did it consist of? Also, are the fees for wireless internet still $10 a day, and is there a length of stay discount? One more thing, can you give a quick rundown of the events that you would recommend that your children participated in? Thanks in advance!

We had daily "mousekeeping" and they did everything to the point we asked them to stop coming so often! It was making beds, towels, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming etc.

The wireless was down. She told us at check in that they had been having problems and gave us a code and we tried it twice but it never connected. I had to do some work to do and finally gave up and called into the office.

My kids are DS8 and DD11. They did the shark teeth necklace (DS), pin trading corkboard (DD) DS did the Shadow Tales with B'Lou, Funny Bunny Hunt with Shadow, Catch Me If You Can (B'Lou teaches juggling) Their two favorite things were the Kids Night In and the Pirate Pool Party. We did a kayak excursion and a dolphin cruise but used outside vendors for those.

Don't miss the Tic Tac Toe each day. The kids get free pins.

Occasionally there are activities they don't advertise. We ended up doing a water balloon toss game and a Disney trivia game when they closed the pool for maintenance.

 

[helenk]

It was fine the first few days as we had a family with teenagers above us, but after that, a family with very young kids moved in and we could hear the kids running back and forth above us.....very early in the morning. I had read reviews about it being loud and couldn't believe how much it sounded like elephants above us! We just laugh and say they were our alarm clock so we didn't oversleep and miss anything good.

We had the same experience, there were 3 kids above us, but they were ages 10 to I would say about 13. We think they must have had a Wii or some type of game system. There were 2 days when the light over our table was swinging from them jumping. The next time we go we will request a second floor, it got to the point that we wanted to call them to let them know how annoying it was, but we did not do that, we did not want to cause any problems.
When they built the resort they must have forgotten a layer between the first and second floor to absorb the sound.

 

[pollyanna30]

Chelley00, Thanks for your fast reply. I hate to hear that about the internet. Hopefully we'll have better luck. My BIL needs to do some work while we are there too. I'm glad to hear that Mousekeeping stays on top of things. That is always a perk for me on vacation, but it sounds like they may be too good at this resort! We may have to opt out one day too. Thanks for the info on the kids' activities. Looking forward to seeing all the resort offers next week!

 

[tommyvr]

How is Shadow, is she still with us? I know she is getting up in years.

 

[tommyvr]

Thinking about Hilton Head for Christmas. Pro's and Con's???

 

[Chelley00]

How is Shadow, is she still with us? I know she is getting up in years.

B'Lou said he has been there 14? years and Shadow has been there longer than him We were thinking there have been more than one Shadow since the Shadow there now doesn't have grey hair.

Either that or she gets a really good dye job