Miffy2003
<font color=orange>I've got Saratoga Springs - mak
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2003
- Messages
- 12,175
Friday December 24th to Wednesday December 29th
I could write this up day by day but it would be pretty similar every day so I am just going to give you the edited highlights! The short version is: the weather was appalling, the hotel was nice but not ideally located and relations with the relations became strained
If you are a sucker for punishment, read on for more detail!
We were quite disappointed with the location of our hotel. We had imagined Lido Beach would have a resort feel to it, similar to Clearwater. Well, we were very wrong about that! The hotel was nice enough, though as Ive mentioned before it could not live up to the exuberance of All Star Movies. The location left a lot to be desired though. We could not find a restaurant within walking distance for a start. St Armands Circle was strictly within walking distance, but it was a long walk there and a long walk back; and at night there were no lights and frankly it was not a pleasant pedestrian experience.
The first night we drove six miles up the Tamiami Trail (US 41 for those among you who like the detail) before we found a restaurant or diner! We found later that had we headed the other way there were eating places closer. The main choice of these though were anywhere from eight to twelve miles from our hotel, and this was just a pain for going out to eat. Jon doesnt mind driving (though he doesnt particularly enjoy it) but it become a chore to have to do it every night.
Christmas Day
Christmas Day was probably the lowest point in the holiday for me personally though the girls had a lovely day I am very pleased to report. Father Christmas managed to find us with no difficulty though his choice of stocking was a little unorthodox, as you will see here:
We got up and had breakfast at the hotel and then decided to go for a walk on the beach. Originally my rose coloured spectacles plan for Christmas Day was to walk on the beach and go for a paddle (I was determined to do this if only so I could make everyone at work jealous ). The reality was that it was pretty cold (note we are not talking arctic conditions here like the Wishes Cruise, but it wasnt the Floridian weather Id hoped for!) and extremely windy. Still, when I make my mind up to do something I do it and went for my paddle (much to the horror of the Senior Goviers who I could see were thinking Is it too late to get the marriage to this crazy woman annulled for our sweet son?). We were about a mile from the hotel when the heavens literally opened (and of course in our wisdom we werent in waterproof gear!) This is how wet we were when we got back:
The torrential rain continued for the next six hours, effectively confining us to our room; you had to go outside to get to the communal areas and when I popped out to get a phone card to call my family I had got drenched again despite being outside for under thirty seconds, so we really couldnt leave the room. I rang my mum and sisters and realised how sad I was to be away from them all at Christmas. Still, I got a good laugh as my sister told the tale of how the night before she had been admitted to Accident & Emergency with lockjaw after shed been ill. Poor Gemma! She will be pleased Ive shared that with you all, I know
Anyway; we did have a high spot to the day! When we had been at ASMo we had had a call from reception saying a package had arrived for us. We were a little surprised and couldnt think what it could be, but as soon as I saw the package I know exactly who had sent it! We realised it should be saved for Christmas Day - so we did. Thank you Susan. Your unexpected package was a much needed ray of sunshine on Christmas Day and contained all sorts of goodies for us to celebrate the day!
The rain went on and on and was so loud we could hardly hear each other speak! Anyway, we watched the Disney Christmas parade on the TV, opened presents and went to the hotel restaurant for tea. A very funny Christmas Day and not the one I had envisaged at all.
The rest of the week was taken up with shopping, cocktails, eating, shopping, cocktails, eating and shopping. Oh, and shopping! We found a great mall and imagine my delight to discover a 75% off sale at The Disney Store. For anyone thats interested, they still honoured the 10% DVC discount here, despite the sale of the stores to the Childrens Place. This may have been an oversight but you can never have too many discounts at a Disney shop! I cannot bear to recount how many trips we made that involved going back to the car weighed down with Disney bags! Still, we had fun and among the bargains included a Belle in the Library snowglobe, which cost me the princely sum of $21.00. Cost at home? £60. It made it back home with no problems!
We ate at various places including (at last) Chillis! We really liked it here and will definitely return.
Happily the last two days the weather improved somewhat and we were able to swim in the pool. Not many were that brave (or stupid) but we were! It was lovely though to be able to relax on the balcony after the children had gone to bed, with a drink and a book and to hear the sea! It was too cold to do this apart from the last couple of nights.
I was a little disappointed with the beach here too. Again, I had expected a similar one to Clearwater, which has talcum powder sand. But it was grey and had lots of debris in I suspect this was related to all the building work going on along the beach either side of our hotel. There was quite a deep shelf of sand and I can see how this might surprise small children paddling. We definitely would not come here again sorry.
Lido Beach
We did however find an absolute gem of a place that we will come back to without a shadow of a doubt. Siesta Key. It is a barrier island south of Sarasota and actually much closer to the restaurants etc on the Tamiami Trail than we were. But Siesta Key is what I would call a proper resort, with bars, restaurants, supermarkets, shops and all those other good things Lido Beach had none of. It was very low rise and attractive, which I felt was missing from Lido Beach. The beach at Siesta Key was stupendous. I believe Crescent Beach, which is a bit further down than this picture frequently wins Best Beach in America awards. And you could see why! Beautiful sand, gently shelving into the sea (I tested this was the case. It wasnt that cold either!). We are trying to see if we can stay at Siesta Key for a couple of nights next time.
We had a game of mini golf at Pirates Cove in Sarasota and nearly passed out at the cost of it! Even with a money off voucher this came to $54 for the six of us which I felt was quite expensive; we had been paying a fraction of that to play at WDW; I appreciate I get 50% off with my Annual Pass but you do almost expect WDW to be more expensive by definition. Not the case with the mini golf!
Anyway in tomorrows report we will be heading back to WDW to Saratoga Springs. Julie, Derek, Amber & Erin still have absolutely no idea.
I could write this up day by day but it would be pretty similar every day so I am just going to give you the edited highlights! The short version is: the weather was appalling, the hotel was nice but not ideally located and relations with the relations became strained
If you are a sucker for punishment, read on for more detail!We were quite disappointed with the location of our hotel. We had imagined Lido Beach would have a resort feel to it, similar to Clearwater. Well, we were very wrong about that! The hotel was nice enough, though as Ive mentioned before it could not live up to the exuberance of All Star Movies. The location left a lot to be desired though. We could not find a restaurant within walking distance for a start. St Armands Circle was strictly within walking distance, but it was a long walk there and a long walk back; and at night there were no lights and frankly it was not a pleasant pedestrian experience.
The first night we drove six miles up the Tamiami Trail (US 41 for those among you who like the detail) before we found a restaurant or diner! We found later that had we headed the other way there were eating places closer. The main choice of these though were anywhere from eight to twelve miles from our hotel, and this was just a pain for going out to eat. Jon doesnt mind driving (though he doesnt particularly enjoy it) but it become a chore to have to do it every night.
Christmas Day
Christmas Day was probably the lowest point in the holiday for me personally though the girls had a lovely day I am very pleased to report. Father Christmas managed to find us with no difficulty though his choice of stocking was a little unorthodox, as you will see here:
We got up and had breakfast at the hotel and then decided to go for a walk on the beach. Originally my rose coloured spectacles plan for Christmas Day was to walk on the beach and go for a paddle (I was determined to do this if only so I could make everyone at work jealous
). The reality was that it was pretty cold (note we are not talking arctic conditions here like the Wishes Cruise, but it wasnt the Floridian weather Id hoped for!) and extremely windy. Still, when I make my mind up to do something I do it and went for my paddle (much to the horror of the Senior Goviers who I could see were thinking Is it too late to get the marriage to this crazy woman annulled for our sweet son?). We were about a mile from the hotel when the heavens literally opened (and of course in our wisdom we werent in waterproof gear!) This is how wet we were when we got back:
The torrential rain continued for the next six hours, effectively confining us to our room; you had to go outside to get to the communal areas and when I popped out to get a phone card to call my family I had got drenched again despite being outside for under thirty seconds, so we really couldnt leave the room. I rang my mum and sisters and realised how sad I was to be away from them all at Christmas. Still, I got a good laugh as my sister told the tale of how the night before she had been admitted to Accident & Emergency with lockjaw after shed been ill. Poor Gemma! She will be pleased Ive shared that with you all, I know
Anyway; we did have a high spot to the day! When we had been at ASMo we had had a call from reception saying a package had arrived for us. We were a little surprised and couldnt think what it could be, but as soon as I saw the package I know exactly who had sent it! We realised it should be saved for Christmas Day - so we did. Thank you Susan. Your unexpected package was a much needed ray of sunshine on Christmas Day and contained all sorts of goodies for us to celebrate the day!
The rain went on and on and was so loud we could hardly hear each other speak! Anyway, we watched the Disney Christmas parade on the TV, opened presents and went to the hotel restaurant for tea. A very funny Christmas Day and not the one I had envisaged at all.
The rest of the week was taken up with shopping, cocktails, eating, shopping, cocktails, eating and shopping. Oh, and shopping! We found a great mall and imagine my delight to discover a 75% off sale at The Disney Store. For anyone thats interested, they still honoured the 10% DVC discount here, despite the sale of the stores to the Childrens Place. This may have been an oversight but you can never have too many discounts at a Disney shop! I cannot bear to recount how many trips we made that involved going back to the car weighed down with Disney bags! Still, we had fun and among the bargains included a Belle in the Library snowglobe, which cost me the princely sum of $21.00. Cost at home? £60. It made it back home with no problems!
We ate at various places including (at last) Chillis! We really liked it here and will definitely return.
Happily the last two days the weather improved somewhat and we were able to swim in the pool. Not many were that brave (or stupid) but we were! It was lovely though to be able to relax on the balcony after the children had gone to bed, with a drink and a book and to hear the sea! It was too cold to do this apart from the last couple of nights.
I was a little disappointed with the beach here too. Again, I had expected a similar one to Clearwater, which has talcum powder sand. But it was grey and had lots of debris in I suspect this was related to all the building work going on along the beach either side of our hotel. There was quite a deep shelf of sand and I can see how this might surprise small children paddling. We definitely would not come here again sorry.
Lido Beach
We did however find an absolute gem of a place that we will come back to without a shadow of a doubt. Siesta Key. It is a barrier island south of Sarasota and actually much closer to the restaurants etc on the Tamiami Trail than we were. But Siesta Key is what I would call a proper resort, with bars, restaurants, supermarkets, shops and all those other good things Lido Beach had none of. It was very low rise and attractive, which I felt was missing from Lido Beach. The beach at Siesta Key was stupendous. I believe Crescent Beach, which is a bit further down than this picture frequently wins Best Beach in America awards. And you could see why! Beautiful sand, gently shelving into the sea (I tested this was the case. It wasnt that cold either!). We are trying to see if we can stay at Siesta Key for a couple of nights next time.
We had a game of mini golf at Pirates Cove in Sarasota and nearly passed out at the cost of it! Even with a money off voucher this came to $54 for the six of us which I felt was quite expensive; we had been paying a fraction of that to play at WDW; I appreciate I get 50% off with my Annual Pass but you do almost expect WDW to be more expensive by definition. Not the case with the mini golf!
Anyway in tomorrows report we will be heading back to WDW to Saratoga Springs. Julie, Derek, Amber & Erin still have absolutely no idea.
