2013 Hilton Head lovers thread

[JVL1018]

JVL1018, You should stop by Harris Teeter. It is not like any store we have here in NJ. On the higher end of pricing, but not as bad as Whole Foods.

I will, thanks!

 

[MLC2002]

Thank you, Chelley. We've been to Disneys HHI resort before, but our child with food allergies was just an infant then. I appreciate the restaurant suggestions.... I put them on our list.

I spoke with a cast member at the HHI resort. She said I should contact the food/beverage manager at the resort, as they can make sure to have some basic allergy friendly items in stock for us at their counter service options... even rice milk.

Thanks, again!

 

[Chelley00]

I spoke with a cast member at the HHI resort. She said I should contact the food/beverage manager at the resort, as they can make sure to have some basic allergy friendly items in stock for us at their counter service options... even rice milk.

Thanks, again!

I caution you to not count on them having stuff on hand.

I spoke with a manager there before we traveled and was told they would have stuff stocked but they did not (I asked if they would have bread, soy milk and maybe g/f Mickey waffle mix and was told only would only have bread and bagels and when we got there they were out of bread and did not restock entire time we were there) The person working the counter at Signals was from another country and when I asked for gluten free bread she asked of gluten was a type of salad. It was so disappointing as when we go to WDW I eat like a queen and they really are careful but not so much at
HHI.

 

[roryc]

Our family home will be a 2-bedroom for Easter weekend. Help me with deciding if there's a better area to request. We have 3 children ages 4, 8 and 12 (all girls). Assuming weather is good, my girls will likely be at the pool a good bit. They also love crafts. The older 2 could bike together (safe, right?) to the Community Hall if there was something going on there. Or one of us could take them. My husband will want to be able to come and go to the room easily. Even if we're at the ocean, they will be at the pool. Don't let me go on about going to Hawaii and them not wanting to go on the beach. So suffice it to say they're pool girls.

We love the pool party atmosphere that we've experienced at the Grand Floridian in WDW so I'm hoping that those are very similar to HHI.

So my questions:

1) What are the better buildings for people like us who want to be close to the pool because we'll probably come and go a good bit between the 5 of us. But we're not really loud music people either. During the day is okay. Floor request too? But by 7PM, I want a little more serenity.

2) Any special Easter activities that anyone is aware of (i.e. egg hunts, chocolate bunny making or anything special we should be on the lookout for? Are there ever character visits for special occasions? (I know HHI isn't their home).

3) Are the Back Yard Barbecue and/or the Clam Bake worth it in cost and experience? Or, should we just plan to eat out somewhere else or cook in our kitchen?

4) Any great things your family (particularly if you have children/grands my girls' ages) that I might not think they would like at first but we should consider?

Sorry for all the questions. I am excited about the newly refurbished units!

 

[lsyorke]

3) Are the Back Yard Barbecue and/or the Clam Bake worth it in cost and experience? Or, should we just plan to eat out somewhere else or cook in our kitchen?

Wondering about this too. Just booked for the last week in August. There's great food on Hilton Head so it would have to be pretty good for us to go for it. We've discovered that eating using Yelp has found us some amazing food.

 

[slindamood]

It is so easy to get around the resort, and the pool is not far from most villas. A pool view might be a bad idea if you do no like loud music. Sometimes the pool music was a bit loud for us and we commented that we were glad we did not look over it.
We were in villa 15 with marsh view, and the pool was an easy 5 minute walk with a toddler. On our balcony, all we could hear were birds (unless mid-day and a new roof was going on a nearby villa).

There is a pool at the beach house and the view from the pool deck over the ocean is amazing. Blue water, blue skies. Sit back in a lounge chair and enjoy. The beach house pool would make a nice break from the pool at the resort - but it does not have a slide so that might be a negative.

 

[slindamood]

Giuseppe's is AWESOME !! !

Agree! We ordered pizza delivery from there - it arrived at our door within a half hour and was hot and excellent!

The sofa was ok, it seemed the cushions kept sliding off the couch under you. No biggie, it was comfortable and was the chair.

The seat cushions did keep sliding off the couch - several times a day I would lift the back cushions to slide the seat cushions back in place. No biggie, but a constant thing. The chair sleeper was the size of a loveseat and seated two comfortably. The couch could seat 3 comfortably and 4 good friends.


I will see about posting some pictures on the updated 2 bdrm villa and some pics of the resort too .

THANKS for the pics! So happy to have them - when we arrived my camera battery died and by the time it was recharged our place looked well loved and lived in. Your pics are great!

 

[Syndrome]

THANKS for the pics! So happy to have them - when we arrived my camera battery died and by the time it was recharged our place looked well loved and lived in. Your pics are great!

Glad you liked the pics, does the room look ...........familiar ??? lol .
I have a bunch more pics I can post, if anyone needs some more HH eye candy !

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Glad you liked the pics, does the room look ...........familiar ??? lol .
I have a bunch more pics I can post, if anyone needs some more HH eye candy !

More pictures the better

 

[KristiMc]

More pictures please . We will be visiting for the first time in June!

 

[Syndrome]

We will be visiting for the first time in June!

LUCKY !!!! (said in my best Napoleon Dynamite accent !)

I will see if I can post some more pics .............

 

[roysbrew]

We are here now. I requested a renovated room close to the pool. We were given building 24. I was excited as someone had posted it had been closed for rehab the first week of March. When we got there it wasn't renovated. They are full so no way to move. We're making lemonade out of our lemons though. We covered the sliding coach cushion with an extra blanket so everyone stays put. I told the kids to look for shadows paw prints and the carvings on the bench because they'll be gone when we come again. Plus we figure the kids can't dirty a room that's about to be torn up. And we still have the big picnic table on the balcony. It is cold tonight about 48 and we are about as close to the hot tub as you can get. So I guess I wouldn't change rooms even if I could. They are redoing three building right now and they move fast. There seem to be as many people in a unit as possible working.

I asked what happens to the furniture. It gets shipped to Orlando and sold to the public. So anyone you wants a piece of " home" check out mousesurplus.com

Our activity sheet has the same activities but at different times so I'll try to post it when we get home. Also the big projector that shows movies is broken so they are doing them in CHall.

Roryc. We have five kids 5 months 5,5,12,12 and building 24 is really perfect. The older ones turned 12 the day we came. For the first time ever we told them they can go to the store, tide me over, community hall and the pier all without us The playground is next to our room. My five year old said bye and went on her own with a key because I can see her from our balcony and it's literally down the stairs. I can see the pier from our room too. I thought I would want to overlook the pool but I think it would be noisy. The first morning I could hear a mom on the playground from my bed and that convinced me we would definitely hear people at the pool if we overlooked it. We are on the first floor and I do hear walking above but it's better than doing the extra stairs with a baby and stroller. Plus the people above seem nice and if they've heard my kids they haven't complained or stomped on the floor.

If anyone has any questions I'll try to answer them.

 

[CoffeeCup]

We've been here since Sat evening, and we're in a refurbished building, 28. We may be the only people in our building since we haven't heard or seen anyone. For some reason, we got an upgrade to a 2-bedroom villa, and it's huge for just DH and me. When we checked in, the guy at the desk said they accidentally canceled and lost our reservation and later realized it. We didn't know what he was talking about, but we weren't going to complain about the upgrade.
We went to the St. Patrick's Day parade Sunday, and it started raining just after the parade ended about 5:30. It has rained off and on ever since and is cold and windy. We haven't done much since we've been here, but the main reason for this vacation was to relax. Sleeping late, going outo eat, and reading or watching TV are fine for us, but families with children are disappointed by the weather.

We miss Shadow's pawprints, but the new decor is nice. Our villa has all new appliances, the new sofa is much more comfortable for sitting, and the love seat that can become a sleeper chair, is very nice.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We've been here since Sat evening, and we're in a refurbished building, 28. We may be the only people in our building since we haven't heard or seen anyone. For some reason, we got an upgrade to a 2-bedroom villa, and it's huge for just DH and me. When we checked in, the guy at the desk said they accidentally canceled and lost our reservation and later realized it. We didn't know what he was talking about, but we weren't going to complain about the upgrade.

Hmm! That happened to us one year at HHI, but it wasn't the resort that cancelled us, it was MS. We didn't get an upgrade though-we just moved to a new room almost every night. Would have loved an upgrade! So does anyone know the status of the refurbishment? What percent of the resort is done?

 

[jmpellet]

We loved building 24 and in fact room 2422. So easy to let the kids go to the pool while the parents stay on the porch.

 

[CoffeeCup]

We left Thursday since we needed to be home for work Friday, but we enjoyed our refurbished unit even though we had a lot of rain, wind, and very cool weather. The updated decor is nice, but there are a few changes we wish they hadn't made. We really miss Shadow's pawprints in the foyer. The kitchen seems too narrow now, and when you open the dishwasher and let down the door completely, it is only about 2 inches from the tall island that has shelves on the kitchen side and the TV on the living room side. I think they moved the TV island more into the kitchen to give more living room space for opening the sleeper chair/loveseat. The new sofa was much more comfortable than the old one for sitting, and the new loveseat provides very comfortable seating. The new kitchen appliances are stainless steel, which will make most people happy. I don't like the stainless steal look in the kitchen, but that's just me.

I loved the new color scheme in the villa, and I wish I could find lamps for our house like the lamp with the little birds sitting on a tree limb and the floor lamp that looks like the trunk of a small tree. The old fish camp appearance has changed to birds and trees, and I like that.

I don't know why we received daily maid service when we didn't need it. I can make the bed, I like to wash a load of clothes and towels every day, and DH can take out the trash when necessary. Since so many units are being refurbished and not occupied, I think they may have asked the maids to provide daily room service so they can keep them on full salary. That's just my guess, but one day someone from housekeeping came by to ask if the maid had come earlier that morning. We started putting out the "Privacy Please" sign since we didn't want room service, and we had a phone call saying the maid had respected our wish for privacy but that the front desk would send anything we might need. Again, it's just my opinion, but I found it a little annoying to receive so much unwanted/unneeded attention from housekeeping.

 

[dmank]

We were there last week from our first ever visit to HHI. But not our last. Beautiful island. We rented bikes for the week and it was so fun. Loved riding to the beach.

We had a renovated room (#31) and I wish I knew the story of the Blue Lady ghost coming to visit this buidling. We didn't see her. The kids would have freaked out so guess this is a good thing!!

We were on the first floor and there was no noise from teh second floor. The redone floors have a layer of cork or something and then the laminate wood panels. A CM said they specifically were trying to fix the noise and it worked!!

Also, these were the most comfortable pull out beds I have ever laid on!! Just FYI - very comfie.

 

[JVL1018]

We were there last week from our first ever visit to HHI. But not our last. Beautiful island. We rented bikes for the week and it was so fun. Loved riding to the beach. We had a renovated room (#31) and I wish I knew the story of the Blue Lady ghost coming to visit this buidling. We didn't see her. The kids would have freaked out so guess this is a good thing!! We were on the first floor and there was no noise from teh second floor. The redone floors have a layer of cork or something and then the laminate wood panels. A CM said they specifically were trying to fix the noise and it worked!! Also, these were the most comfortable pull out beds I have ever laid on!! Just FYI - very comfie.

We were in 31 last year and I did not my tell the kids about the ghost. But I had to get up to use the bathroom one night and I was scared myself! LOL

 

[scottb8888]

Here now. A bit chilly. Where do we find the store about the ghost?

 

[WDW_Diane]

I have a new question.
I've been following this thread and am intrigued with Hilton Head DVC. I've been to Hilton Head, before, for just a day as part of a Savannah trip. I'm interested in taking my family there for a few days.
However......I'm really concerned about my darned shellfish allergy and trying to eat there. All the food I read about is yummy seafood or something fried along with it that I can't eat and would cause me serious problems.
Suggestions? Have any of you been in this predicament? They take great care of me at WDW, but this is a different ball game.