Anyone else love Christopher and Chef Gordon??? (HHI Trip Report)

[HookdonWDW]

We just got back from our stay at HHI (followed by camp for ds and a mom & dad trip to the mountains ), and I can't decide who I liked more... Christopher or Chef Gordon!!!

Christopher is just fantastic. His programs were great, and when he saw that ds was REALLY interested in science, he was just fantastic with him - he even invited him to come over to the community center to help set up the new telescope he had gotten in for DVC! According to ds, they had a great discussion about black holes and why Pluto and Neptune exchange places...

And Chef Gordon... yummmm..... there were no Longwood Cooking Events the weeks we were there (Chef Gordon said he had been on vacation the week before, and had accidently booked Private Affairs for every night during our week ), but we had booked our Private Affair in Feb (thanks for those of you who said to get our reservations in early!). The meal was simply superb, and it was definitely the best value I have ever gotten through Disney! We had the French Onion Soup and Crabcakes for appetizers, filet mignon with green peppersauce, sauteed zuchinni and onions, and yellow saffron rice for our entrees, and for dessert, the two chocoholics in our group had the chocolate creme pots, and the other two of us had White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake with a warm vanilla bean sauce -simply excellent!

As for the rest of our stay, we had a great trip. We had a marsh view room and it was ready when we checked in, which was a pleasant surprise.

Trip highlights:
- We were checked in by Christopher's wife, who just started working at the resort - she is very sweet.
- We did the Pickney Island, Transverse of Venus, and Sea Turtle programs with Christopher
- the kids did 2 Kids Nights Out and the Bug Program with Christopher (ds liked the live bugs, d niece wasn't as into it, but loved dressing up as a butterfly!). They also did Gyotaku.
- Private Affair with Chef Gordon
- Hanging Out at the Beach Club, pool and in the room with family
- Outlet Shopping with my dsil
- Watching the fireworks from our balcony
- Dolphin Cruise with Captain Scott from Lowcountry Tours. If you have a chance to do a dolphin cruise, he is just great. We saw lots of dolphins, and he had lots of great stories and information about the area. The kids loved getting a chance to "captain" the boat. We saw one of the big tour boats heading out, and we were very happy that we had chosen the smaller boat! (Lowcountry only takes 6 people out per boat)

Trip lowlights:
- I don't know what was used to wash the linens, but ds and I both had pretty serious allergic reactions the first night - I ended up in a full blown asthma attack, and ds woke up with his eyes swollen shut, and his face swollen. We medicated, washed the linens, and requested new pillows and had no problems the rest of the trip. The staff was great. It must have been one of those freak things, because the rest of our party was fine...

- All American BBQ... IMHO, it just wasn't worth the money. It also seemed slightly disorganized, but that might be because it was the first one of the year. The kids had a good time at the pool party afterwards though. I think that if we do it again, we'll save the $$$ we spent on dinner, eat first and then just go to the party.

- Again, it may just have been us, but we weren't overly impressed by the campfire. It wasn't bad, just okay - see what happens when DVC gets our expectations so high . The lines for the s'mores were huge, and I think I had imagined the campfire to be a little bigger - more like the one at FW. Still, we had fun.

We had worried that we wouldn't like the drive to the Beach Club, but it really didn't detract from our trip at all, and in some ways, we actually prefer the way the HHI is set up. It was nice to have the peace and tranquility of the Marsh area, and then taking the trip over to the ocean - it was almost like 2 resorts in one.

All in all, we had a fantastic time at HHI, and we know that it is something we'll try again in the future. We're planning on hitting Europe next summer, but we may try to head back to HHI in 2006. If you have plans to visit HHI, you're in for a treat!

 

[David in Manassas]

Thanks for the trip report. Any chance you have the web site for Lowcountry tours. I tried a google search, but couldn't pinpoint it.

Thanks,

David

 

[VMS]

We have done "A Private Affair" three times (and have had those wonderful pots de creme) and hope to do many more in the years to come. Chef Gordon is my favorite Disney Character!

 

[cgcw]

Thanks for the great trip report. We're getting anxious as we'll be there in a couple of weeks. Christopher was just taking over last summer when we were there. I'm sure my DS9 will enjoy talking with him.

Originally posted by David in Manassas
Any chance you have the web site for Lowcountry tours. I tried a google search, but couldn't pinpoint it.

Scott did have a website at one point but it's not up and running at the moment (maybe because he's contracted with Disney again??). Scott's email is shenry@lowcountrynaturetours.com -- we just emailed him the other day so I know it still works. We've used him several times and have never been disappointed. I'll have to ask him about the alligators now.

 

[HookdonWDW]

Originally posted by David in Manassas
Thanks for the trip report. Any chance you have the web site for Lowcountry tours. I tried a google search, but couldn't pinpoint it.

Thanks,

David

Here's the website for Lowcountry
Lowcountry Nature Tours

Captain Scott also has the contract through DVC, so if you book a tour through them, you will go with Lowcountry.

 

[Laurabearz]

- All American BBQ... IMHO, it just wasn't worth the money. It also seemed slightly disorganized, but that might be because it was the first one of the year. The kids had a good time at the pool party afterwards though. I think that if we do it again, we'll save the $$$ we spent on dinner, eat first and then just go to the party.

We felt the same way, but also thought if our kids were older we could have eaten more... never did get to try the ribs :-(

Were you at the pool party where Greg lost his voice and B'lue took over? If so I have lots of pictures

We caught the tale end of the campfire one night, just in time for S'mores. Your right, the line was so long we had eaten our marshmellows before we got our grahamcrackers and chocolate. Still good mind you.

Sorry to hear about your reaction to the sheets, but glad it was a one night occurance. ((((hugs))))

 

[HookdonWDW]

Originally posted by Laurabearz
Were you at the pool party where Greg lost his voice and B'lue took over? If so I have lots of pictures

Poor Greg! We were there for that... I'd love to see some of your photos. We talked to some of the girls the next day, and they said that half of them were losing their voices. Must be all of that enthusiasm!

Sorry to hear about your reaction to the sheets, but glad it was a one night occurance. ((((hugs))))

Thanks so much. After we washed the linens (including blankets) we were fine. Since ds and I are both allergic to cats, the staff thought that someone *might* have snuck a cat into the room. I know that no respectable DVCer would ever do such an unthinking thing though!

 

[lenshanem]

Thanks for the report!