Geyser Gazers do Disney's Hilton Head Resort

[Geyser Gazer]

Our DD's Eden (7), and Sydney (4) Joined My wife Darlene and I for a week at Hilton Head Island. Unfortunately, without licenses, they were unable to help us drive from Northern Indiana. The dvd system in our van proved its weight in gold enroute. We ended up staying at a Country Inn & Suites in Knoxville, TN on the way but drove home non stop. It was fun to drive through the mountains of North Carolina again but after 13.5 hours in the van we were very eager to arrive at the resort. Our one bedroom villa was 1812, overlooking the marsh and close to the pool. Since we went from 40 Indiana degrees to 80 South Carolina, we donned swimsuits and headed for the beach. It is always nice to see the ocean again and we vowed to rent bikes the following day. Our girls enjoyed swimming in the Big Dipper pool but our favorite pastime was riding bikes on the beach. Sydney had enough courage to walk up the stairs to the top of the slide a dozen times, always opting to walk back down after breifly standing in the rushing water and staring into the darkness of the slides entrance. The lifeguards at the pool were amazing. After one day they knew our kids names and became good friends in no time at all. We went to the Campfire twice with Kory and Nichole leading the festivities including the infamous cheeky cheeky dance followed by s'mores. Yes, Disney provides dozens of childeren with sharp metallic objects, then heards them toward a fire...amazing. Eden did a detective/scavenger hunt and an evening at the movies kids night out. I enjoy cooking and since we survived our encounters with fast food enroute, we never really ate out. I attended Chef Gordons adventures in cooking, enjoyed the adult company and made blackend shrimp on a bed of sweet potato while sampling wine. I would recommend this experience to anyone who particually likes to cook or eat. We had a couple of cool days mid week but never slowed our quadrathalon of swimming, biking, playing games, and eating. Our girls quickly made friends, we especially enjoyed watching our usually shy four year old Sydney befriend a nine year old girl named Hannah. We got to hang out with B'lou Crabbe on several occasions, enjoyed his stories, his magic, his balloons, and his friend Shadow. Most of all we just plain liked him. We were having such a good time that we added another night in a studio to our trip mid week. This resort is wonderfully laid back and feels like a camping trip in the woods while staying in deluxe accomodations. Despite the absence of theme parks, we were never bored and never disappointed. The staff here including Sonya, Stefano, Kory, Nichole, Mike, B'lou, Shadow and everyone else were genuine, friendly, and professional.

 

[IloveDMB]

Wow, HH sounds like a lot of fun!! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Macnjac87]

Thanks for your trip report. Sounds like you have a wonderful family and you really enjoyed yourselves. We will be there for Easter (our second trip to HH in 9 months!) and we cannot wait.

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Thanks for sharing, it's great to read about "other" Disney vacations that don't include the park. Yours is a gem!

 

[stink]

Can you tell me more about Chief Gorden's, e.g. cost, is it available seasonally year round etc. Thanks

 

[Credit Man]

Thanks for the great report!

 

[LtlTee]

Thanks for the report! We're going (for our first time) in June!

 

[Geyser Gazer]

stink,

When we were there the adventures in cooking was offered Tuesday and Thursday. The cost was $15 and it lasted over an hour. It included wine and/or lemonade as well as some appetizers and your prepared dish. I did not go on Thursday but Chef Gordon was going to introduce a "retro" cooking adventure, and bring some of the classic 50's mainstay dishes into the 21st century. It was held at the beach house after Signal's closed.