Big Apple, Boardwalk, and Beach - Bullies and Wrap-up (The End!) (pg 44)

[glennbo123]

Our first full day on Hilton Head



Tuesday June 30th was our first full day in Hilton Head. We were all a little wiped-out from so much vacationing and couldn’t get out of the room until close to 10. When I turned on the tv in the living room (where the kids were sleeping), literally the first thing I heard was a news story on the number of shark attacks on the east coast this year. Guess I won’t have to worry about James going into the ocean past his ankles any time soon.


Sunscreening in progress.

I took kids over to the Rec Window to rent bikes. (Yay for DVC discount!) The cast member wheeled some bikes out for each of them and adjusted the seat heights.

When he got to Marlene he said, "okay, Long Limbs", which was hard to argue with.

I described to them how to follow the path to the Disney Beach House and they got rolling. Judy and I would drive over in the van with our beach chairs and other stuff. I took a few pictures before heading back to the suite.

Hey, it looked like all the shuffleboard discs were present and accounted for. What a difference a little daylight makes!

The Boardwalk (not to be confused with the Boardwalk resort).

I guess my directions to them worked, since they were able to find their way to the Beach House without any difficulty. While unloading our stuff from the van, I noticed a big bulge in one of the back tires. Great. That would need to be fixed before I got ‘er up to 70mph on I-95 and drove several hundred miles back home.



We took our stuff down to the beach and got set up. The water was really nice; calmer than the night before. But again, James didn't want to come out very far. He and I threw a water frisbee on the shore for about 5 tosses before it broke. Considering how we lost the shuffleboard disc the night before, we weren’t having much luck with game gear.



We noticed this horseshoe crab in a tidepool.

Lauren and Judy

Marlene

…and James way far away, at the shore.

Marlene and Lauren

When we came back in, a crowd was around the horseshoe crab.

We found that the sand in in the waist deep water was just riddled with sand dollars. We’d grab a handful of sand, bring it up to the surface and let the water filter out the sand from our hand and we’d be left holding several of the little creatures.

The draw of the sand dollars helped us get James out to that depth.

The tidepools at Hilton Head are awesome.

Here’s Judy in one of our shelters. We got these at Costco and they worked great.

Our view from our shelter.

We dined on a delectable lunch of Publix fried chicken and fruit cups.



This is now a rare photo: Marlene eating fried chicken. In the time since this trip occurred, she has become a pescatarian. (Like a vegetarian, but will eat fish.) How anyone could deny themselves this treat after eating Publix fried chicken, I’ll never know!

This is what it’s all about, people!

Judy, James, and I packed up and moved up to the Beach House. The girls stayed in the ocean and ended up holding a starfish. James and I threw a beach football in the pool for a while. Then I looked up a tire place in Hilton Head and ended up calling “Island Tire” to get an appointment for the next day. It was a good thing I did -- they had to order tires for me.



Oh, and we got Dole Whips, of course.



continued in next post

 

[glennbo123]

continued from previous post


We came back to suite around 4 o’clock and I took James to the pier to fish. He had brought along the rod and reel that he’d gotten at the Vero Beach resort when he took the fishing class.



On the way over, I took some pictures of the Butterfly Garden, which was being built when Judy and I had stayed here the year before. It looked really nice. Here’s a Link to the chapter from the prior trip report with some pictures of the garden in the works.

I bought some bait (shrimp) at the Rec Window. James caught a small fish and of course released it back. I basically fed the blue crabs since our lures weren't good for pier crabbing. They were intended for shore crabbing, where when you get a crab on the lure you just slowly pull it onto the shore where you can grab it. Using it from the pier, I had to count on the crab to hold onto the bait the whole time while I pulled him up and over the railing. Even a stupid crab knows enough to let go of the bait to avoid getting caught. But I tested that theory, as the next few photos will show.

James and a little fish.

Here’s a crab on the pier, though I’m pretty sure I didn’t catch this one.

Up next: Dine at Vine

 

[vamassey1]

I guess my directions to them worked, since they were able to find their way to the Beach House without any difficulty. While unloading our stuff from the van, I noticed a big bulge in one of the back tires. Great. That would need to be fixed before I got ‘er up to 70mph on I-95 and drove several hundred miles back home.

Yikes! Good thing you found it now, on I-95 would have been much worse.

We noticed this horseshoe crab in a tidepool.

Very neat!

We found that the sand in in the waist deep water was just riddled with sand dollars. We’d grab a handful of sand, bring it up to the surface and let the water filter out the sand from our hand and we’d be left holding several of the little creatures.

This is really cool too. It's amazing how hairy they are.

The draw of the sand dollars helped us get James out to that depth.

Whatever works.

Here’s Judy in one of our shelters. We got these at Costco and they worked great.

I like your shelters. Did they hold up well in breezy conditions?

This is now a rare photo: Marlene eating fried chicken. In the time since this trip occurred, she has become a pescatarian. (Like a vegetarian, but will eat fish.) How anyone could deny themselves this treat after eating Publix fried chicken, I’ll never know!

My daughter in law is the same way. I just don't get it.

On the way over, I took some pictures of the Butterfly Garden, which was being built when Judy and I had stayed here the year before. It looked really nice.

Very pretty. I did't see the link from the prior trip.

James and a little fish.

Little fish is better than no fish.

Here’s a crab on the pier, though I’m pretty sure I didn’t catch this one.

And he looks delicious!

What are your December trip dates? We're booked Dec 14th - 21st.

 

[glennbo123]

Yikes! Good thing you found it now, on I-95 would have been much worse.

Yes! It cost me a morning of beach time the next day, but it could have been far worse!

This is really cool too. It's amazing how hairy they are.

Yeah, I know! Alive, they're quite a bit different than the dried-out bleached ones that people use as decorations. Kind of sad really. But I confess that we have some that were given to us.

Whatever works.

At least I didn't have to bribe him with a yeti plush, like I did to get him to ride EE years before.

I like your shelters. Did they hold up well in breezy conditions?

Yes, they worked great. In fact, I left it out of the trip report because I thought it'd be boring to people, but I had made a note that I forgot the spikes back at our room. But they have little pockets to hold sand at each corner. I just filled those with sand and we had no trouble with them wanting to blow over. If it had been a more windy day I may have needed the spikes.

They were a Costco purchase, and we were very happy with them.

My daughter in law is the same way. I just don't get it.

I suppose they have their reasons, whether for their own health or saving the planet or ethical treatment of animals. (But I'm still a carnivore.)

Very pretty. I did't see the link from the prior trip.

You didn't see it in the body of this report or you hadn't seen the chapter from the previous trip report? If you didn't see the link here, I may need to make it bigger.

Little fish is better than no fish.

You bet! They're fun to catch no matter what size.

What are your December trip dates? We're booked Dec 14th - 21st.

Aw dang, we'll miss you. Dec 28 - Jan 5.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I have no idea where I left off on your report... so I just went back and re-read the entire Disney portion and the beginning of your beach trip.

It looks like you had a great time in Disney World! Your tour at the Boardwalk looked so fun - I had no idea the resort had a tour! Anika and I enjoyed wandering around the Boardwalk on the second day of our 2015 trip and I would love to stay there one day! (I'm not thrilled about the creepy clown pool... but who is?!)

I'm thrilled that you enjoyed the California Grill! I've only had one off-meal there (and that was due to the server, not the food). Sanaa is really delicious. I think next time I'm just going to order the bread service and a small appetizer - I was so full from the bread I only picked at my meal! It's too bad you didn't love Via Napoli, but I think your pizza choice may have had something to do with it. I tried a different pizza in 2016 and REALLY missed my pepperoni pizza. I actually enjoyed sitting in the extra room at VN (I didn't even realize it was there the first time!), so it's too bad it wasn't as clean as it should've been. I appreciated that the extra room was a little more quiet - the main room can get quite loud!

I can't believe James is already old enough to graduate! Will your kids stop growing already?! It will be fun to see how his graduation vacation plans develop and I hope you write another report!

My husband and I visited Charleston and Savannah last year and really enjoyed it, so I look forward to your "Beach" portion even more than I did before. It's such a neat area of the country!

 

[Steppesister]

literally the first thing I heard was a news story on the number of shark attacks on the east coast this year. Guess I won’t have to worry about James going into the ocean past his ankles any time soon.

Well that's creepily ironic.

When he got to Marlene he said, "okay, Long Limbs", which was hard to argue with.

Hey, it looked like all the shuffleboard discs were present and accounted for. What a difference a little daylight makes!

Oopsies! I'll bet they found it in no time the next morning.

Considering how we lost the shuffleboard disc the night before, we weren’t having much luck with game gear.

Whelp, if they decide to charge you, there goes your DVC discounts.

Cool!

Oh, and we got Dole Whips, of course.

Of course!

I would NOT want that to find my ankle!

 

[Flossbolna]

Then Kidani for the bulk of the December trip, but hoping to change resorts around Jan 1 or 2 to Boardwalk, Beach Club, or Riviera. I'll hit the 7-month mark in a week or so, so we'll see if anything is available. Availability is looking really sparse at the moment, but maybe it'll open up as others move?

Good luck with the change!! You can always waitlist something. If it is only a few nights, you might get lucky.

We were at WDW over last New Years Eve (12/28 through 1/7) and were rather shocked, how much more pleasant park touring was up to 1/1 as compared to the following week. I think a lot of people defer their holiday trip until the first week of January because of high prices (or high points for DVC) and ticket blockouts or high season ticket pricing. It wasn't as if the days in December were empty, but we did take advantage of the very late hours and that worked perfectly! As soon as 2019 had started, the late hours disappeared and park hours became so much shorter, so more people in the park at the same time.

We spent 12/30 evening at MK and it was fantastic! They show the NYE fireworks and they had EMH afterwards and we got to do a lot that evening! 12/31 we did at Epcot and it was crazy, but it worked for us. They showed illuminations at around 7 or so and we had timed a dinner reservation (at China) for afterwards and that was great. It got us out of the crowds for some time. Then we went ahead and did the Chinese movie and AA afterwards and then found a spot at around 11pm to wait for the fireworks. They are fantastic about crowd control and only around the 7pm Illuminations did it get really bad. Once that was over, a lot of people seemed to leave. It was definitely one of my overall best NYEs ever and I am hoping to repeat it again soon. It was also a really nice and warm day, so instead of trying to battle with crowds, we spent the afternoon at the pool and did not head into Epcot until the late afternoon. Since you are staying on property, there is no reason to be afraid that Epcot would not let you in. They might close the parking lot, but not the park for resort guests. Just be prepared that getting away afterwards will be a mess. We stayed at BWV, so that was perfect! A friend who was checking out the next day, left at 12:30 am and it took her a really long time to get back to her resort by bus. We stayed until close at 1 am and she said if she had been smart, she would have stayed as long as possible as by the time she got on a bus after 1 am, the lines had died down.

 

[vamassey1]

Yeah, I know! Alive, they're quite a bit different than the dried-out bleached ones that people use as decorations. Kind of sad really. But I confess that we have some that were given to us.

I'm guilty too.

Yes, they worked great. In fact, I left it out of the trip report because I thought it'd be boring to people, but I had made a note that I forgot the spikes back at our room. But they have little pockets to hold sand at each corner. I just filled those with sand and we had no trouble with them wanting to blow over. If it had been a more windy day I may have needed the spikes.

They were a Costco purchase, and we were very happy with them.

Michelle has a Costco membership. If we make it to the beach this year we'll have to look for them. I think my niece has this one last year.

I suppose they have their reasons, whether for their own health or saving the planet or ethical treatment of animals. (But I'm still a carnivore.)

Me too.

Aw dang, we'll miss you. Dec 28 - Jan 5.

Darn.

 

[glennbo123]

I have no idea where I left off on your report... so I just went back and re-read the entire Disney portion and the beginning of your beach trip.

Wow, thank you for your going back that far...that's dedication!

It looks like you had a great time in Disney World! Your tour at the Boardwalk looked so fun - I had no idea the resort had a tour! Anika and I enjoyed wandering around the Boardwalk on the second day of our 2015 trip and I would love to stay there one day! (I'm not thrilled about the creepy clown pool... but who is?!)

Yes, I read about the tour on someone else's trip report and wanted to make sure I worked it in. I think it was listed on the resort activities flyer that you get when you check in, but I'm not sure that it would have jumped out to me if I hadn't seen it in a TR. We enjoyed staying at the Boardwalk, probably mostly because of the proximity to both Epcot and DHS, but also because of the Bakery and some of the other things on the boardwalk.

I'm thrilled that you enjoyed the California Grill! I've only had one off-meal there (and that was due to the server, not the food).

It's a little pricey, but a really nice restaurant. We need to watch the fireworks from there some night.

Sanaa is really delicious. I think next time I'm just going to order the bread service and a small appetizer - I was so full from the bread I only picked at my meal!

Yes, you could definitely make a very enjoyable meal of the bread service and a small appetizer. Great flavors!

It's too bad you didn't love Via Napoli, but I think your pizza choice may have had something to do with it. I tried a different pizza in 2016 and REALLY missed my pepperoni pizza. I actually enjoyed sitting in the extra room at VN (I didn't even realize it was there the first time!), so it's too bad it wasn't as clean as it should've been. I appreciated that the extra room was a little more quiet - the main room can get quite loud!

Yeah, I agree, the toppings choice wasn't the best. I know a lot of people love the restaurant. Maybe someday I'll try a slice again.

I can't believe James is already old enough to graduate! Will your kids stop growing already?! It will be fun to see how his graduation vacation plans develop and I hope you write another report!

Actually, this report has gone on so long he's already finished one year of college! We should have had his graduation trip last summer but he wanted postpone his trip until Galaxy's Edge opened, so now we're scheduled for over New Year's. I agree with you though, they need to stop growing!

My husband and I visited Charleston and Savannah last year and really enjoyed it, so I look forward to your "Beach" portion even more than I did before. It's such a neat area of the country!

Oh great, I'm glad you got to see some of that part of the country and are looking forward to the last couple days of this TR.

 

[glennbo123]

Well that's creepily ironic.

Well it was certainly bad timing.

Oopsies! I'll bet they found it in no time the next morning.

Yeah, it's sure a lot easier in the daylight.

Whelp, if they decide to charge you, there goes your DVC discounts.

Well the beach stuff was our own equipment. It was a cheap package of beach sports stuff.

I would NOT want that to find my ankle!

They're tasty though! You'd probably need to worry more about a finger than an ankle.

 

[glennbo123]

Good luck with the change!! You can always waitlist something. If it is only a few nights, you might get lucky.

Thanks. We'll see next weekend. I have a couple of options to look for. We may even try the Riviera if I can only get a couple of days at the end of the trip. Fingers crossed.

We were at WDW over last New Years Eve (12/28 through 1/7) and were rather shocked, how much more pleasant park touring was up to 1/1 as compared to the following week. I think a lot of people defer their holiday trip until the first week of January because of high prices (or high points for DVC) and ticket blockouts or high season ticket pricing. It wasn't as if the days in December were empty, but we did take advantage of the very late hours and that worked perfectly! As soon as 2019 had started, the late hours disappeared and park hours became so much shorter, so more people in the park at the same time.

So you're saying that it got more crowded after 1/1? I was thinking that it would get less crowded! Oh wow. Yes, the higher point cost is disappointing and so is the fact that they don't allow any food discounts (no AP discount, DVC discount, or even TIW discount) for 2 consecutive days on 12/31 and 1/1!

We spent 12/30 evening at MK and it was fantastic! They show the NYE fireworks and they had EMH afterwards and we got to do a lot that evening! 12/31 we did at Epcot and it was crazy, but it worked for us. They showed illuminations at around 7 or so and we had timed a dinner reservation (at China) for afterwards and that was great. It got us out of the crowds for some time. Then we went ahead and did the Chinese movie and AA afterwards and then found a spot at around 11pm to wait for the fireworks. They are fantastic about crowd control and only around the 7pm Illuminations did it get really bad. Once that was over, a lot of people seemed to leave. It was definitely one of my overall best NYEs ever and I am hoping to repeat it again soon. It was also a really nice and warm day, so instead of trying to battle with crowds, we spent the afternoon at the pool and did not head into Epcot until the late afternoon. Since you are staying on property, there is no reason to be afraid that Epcot would not let you in. They might close the parking lot, but not the park for resort guests. Just be prepared that getting away afterwards will be a mess. We stayed at BWV, so that was perfect! A friend who was checking out the next day, left at 12:30 am and it took her a really long time to get back to her resort by bus. We stayed until close at 1 am and she said if she had been smart, she would have stayed as long as possible as by the time she got on a bus after 1 am, the lines had died down.

I haven't thought too much about New Years Eve (or even New Years Eve Eve) yet. I think I'd like to do a dessert party at Magic Kingdom but probably a little later, like 1/2 or 1/3.

 

[glennbo123]

Michelle has a Costco membership. If we make it to the beach this year we'll have to look for them. I think my niece has this one last year.

We get a lot of stuff from Costco. These were definitely a good purchase...I recommend!

Darn.

Yes, Darn!

 

[linco711]

Joining

 

[pooh'smate]

Hilton Head looks really pretty.I hope to make it there sometime.

 

[glennbo123]

Joining

linco711, thanks for joining! This trip report has been going on for a loooong time, but I hope to finish it soon.

Hilton Head looks really pretty.I hope to make it there sometime.

It is beautiful, and so relaxing. A great way to wind down after the parks. I shouldn't tell everybody that -- it's not our home resort and I don't need any more competition for booking there at 7 months! (If I buy more points, it'll be at this resort.)

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

It's been almost 3 years since I was at Hilton Head, and I gotta say...I miss it. It was really a great resort.

 

[glennbo123]

It's been almost 3 years since I was at Hilton Head, and I gotta say...I miss it. It was really a great resort.

Yes, I am missing it too. We were planning on going there this summer, but then I had the brainstorm that Judy and I should get a little more benefit out of our Annual Passes and go to Food & Wine instead. It was kind of a no-brainer. We'll get back to Hilton Head someday.

 

[Steppesister]

Yes, I am missing it too. We were planning on going there this summer, but then I had the brainstorm that Judy and I should get a little more benefit out of our Annual Passes and go to Food & Wine instead. It was kind of a no-brainer. We'll get back to Hilton Head someday.

This IS a no-brainer! Glad you are getting back to F&W!

 

[glennbo123]

Good luck with the change!! You can always waitlist something. If it is only a few nights, you might get lucky.

Update: No luck on the resort changes, but I have a couple of waitlists in. We were hoping for Boardwalk or Beach Club, which I knew were very unlikely to have any availability. The Riviera surprisingly, was showing availability up until a couple of days before I wanted to book it, but someone was working ahead of me and it disappeared just before I got my chance.

This IS a no-brainer! Glad you are getting back to F&W!

You know what? This will be our first-ever F&W! I'm so confident we'll love it, that I'm planning to catch the 2020 F&W at the end of our Annual Passes year.

 

[glennbo123]

Accordion to my records, this should be the last post for this page.