Nickylv
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2021
A little background before I get started. My wife and I mainly live in Henderson Nevada which is a town within Las Vegas. I thought since I will be retired in a few months it would be nice to start sharing our experiences. We have been DVC owners since the 90’s and have enjoyed many family vacations to Disney World through the years and now that our family is grown we have found the many entertaining opportunities that are available to seniors and those traveling without children. Shame I did not start writing about all the great experiences we have had throughout the years since there were many but I guess now is as good as any. This is a short version of the 14 day vacation we just came back from. Hope you enjoy.
DAY 1:
10/17/21
3:50 am wake up call, get ready for our ride to McCarran airport in Las Vegas at 4:30 am. We are lucky to live a 10 minute drive to the airport and family member drop off and pick up without having to pay the $12 a day parking charge. We arrived at the airport only to find the lines to check in at Southwest Airlines were out the door. This goes without saying for early Sunday morning check out in Las Vegas, every one is heading back home to get ready for their Monday workday after a crazy party, gamble and food fest on the vegas strip. Thank goodness for A-list that line was empty so we just walked up to the counter and within minutes our luggage was on its way to the plane. Now time to head to security checkin, line again massive. But thank goodness for TSA precheck. We beat the long lines and walked right thru. Just an FYI if your visiting Las Vegas don’t be fooled that since the airport is right in town you don’t need to leave early, it’s a very busy airport and you never know when the lines are going to be very long.
Sitting at the gate by 5am for a 5:30 boarding time.
Now on the plane and ready for a 2 1/2 hour flight from Las Vegas to Dallas. One movie later we were touching down. Now that was easy. Now our one hour wait for our flight from Dallas to Jacksonville Fl. Once the plane took off it was a fast one hour and fourty-five minute flight. At 3:30 pm we arrived in Jacksonville. We can do this 2 1/2 hour drive (or so I tell myself) to Disneys Hilton Head Resort. Well it looked good on paper but being in airports and planes since 5am, it was an awfully boring drive thru the tip of Florida, thru Georgia and finally to South Carolina. We booked our flights and car rental during Covid shut down last year so for a two week car rental picking up in Jacksonville and drop off at the Orlando Airport was a little over $500. After things started to open up again that price rose to over $1,600. So we decided the savings of $1,100 was worth driving 2 1/2 hours from Jax to Disneys Hilton Head Island resort. Finally we checked into the resort. Tired and hungry we brought our luggage in took a quick look around and walked out on the porch when we saw the water view we knew that drive was all worth it. The room is not one of the newly renovated rooms but you can’t beat the view. We knew that the porch was where we will be spending a lot of time. We left the room to walk over to the only walking distant restaurant open, Top Dawg Tavern across the bridge. Seems Sundays most restaurants are closed. A loud sports bar with mediocre bar food. But exhausted from a day of travel we ate and went back to the room and relaxed on the balcony until we retired for the evening. To be continued …
DAY 1:
10/17/21
3:50 am wake up call, get ready for our ride to McCarran airport in Las Vegas at 4:30 am. We are lucky to live a 10 minute drive to the airport and family member drop off and pick up without having to pay the $12 a day parking charge. We arrived at the airport only to find the lines to check in at Southwest Airlines were out the door. This goes without saying for early Sunday morning check out in Las Vegas, every one is heading back home to get ready for their Monday workday after a crazy party, gamble and food fest on the vegas strip. Thank goodness for A-list that line was empty so we just walked up to the counter and within minutes our luggage was on its way to the plane. Now time to head to security checkin, line again massive. But thank goodness for TSA precheck. We beat the long lines and walked right thru. Just an FYI if your visiting Las Vegas don’t be fooled that since the airport is right in town you don’t need to leave early, it’s a very busy airport and you never know when the lines are going to be very long.
Sitting at the gate by 5am for a 5:30 boarding time.
Now on the plane and ready for a 2 1/2 hour flight from Las Vegas to Dallas. One movie later we were touching down. Now that was easy. Now our one hour wait for our flight from Dallas to Jacksonville Fl. Once the plane took off it was a fast one hour and fourty-five minute flight. At 3:30 pm we arrived in Jacksonville. We can do this 2 1/2 hour drive (or so I tell myself) to Disneys Hilton Head Resort. Well it looked good on paper but being in airports and planes since 5am, it was an awfully boring drive thru the tip of Florida, thru Georgia and finally to South Carolina. We booked our flights and car rental during Covid shut down last year so for a two week car rental picking up in Jacksonville and drop off at the Orlando Airport was a little over $500. After things started to open up again that price rose to over $1,600. So we decided the savings of $1,100 was worth driving 2 1/2 hours from Jax to Disneys Hilton Head Island resort. Finally we checked into the resort. Tired and hungry we brought our luggage in took a quick look around and walked out on the porch when we saw the water view we knew that drive was all worth it. The room is not one of the newly renovated rooms but you can’t beat the view. We knew that the porch was where we will be spending a lot of time. We left the room to walk over to the only walking distant restaurant open, Top Dawg Tavern across the bridge. Seems Sundays most restaurants are closed. A loud sports bar with mediocre bar food. But exhausted from a day of travel we ate and went back to the room and relaxed on the balcony until we retired for the evening. To be continued …
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