glennbo123
DIS Legend
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- May 10, 2008
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In this chapter I will reveal the meaning of the second portion of my Pre-Trip Report title “Glennbo’s City, Sand, and Savanna PTR”: Sand.
It’s not really much of a secret if you look at my ticker though, is it?
Sand = Vero Beach, FL!
Specifically, Disney’s Vero Beach Resort
As seen from the road:
(This photo has been borrowed from the internet and will be returned the moment you close this post, I promise.)
Or, as seen via riptide:
(Yes, yes, this is another image borrowed from the internet.)
We figured we’d like to give another Disney resort a try, and this one would definitely give us a different type of vacation than the theme parks. A few days of sun, sand, and surf. But even more of a plus is the fact that this one is very close to Judy’s sister (who’s made a couple of appearances in past trip reports), so we’ll have a chance to get together.
We want to hit Walt Disney World on Saturday, June 23rd (to give us a week there before the 4th of July crowds hit, plus I need to be back at work in early July), and Judy wants 4 nights in Vero, so working backward we wanted to book Tuesday June 19th through the 22nd (checking out on the 23rd). Arriving on Tuesday will give Judy and Lauren a day or so of “turnaround time” after their trip to NYC, which may be short but life’s rough when you have all of these fantastic trips to take, isn’t it?
Since our home DVC resort is not Vero Beach, we had to wait until the 7-month mark to try to make a reservation. (You can book your home resort at 10 months out, all others at 7.) I called Member Services the morning of November 19th, and boom, got everything I wanted.
We got the exact dates, and a 1 bedroom unit, which according to the DVC points chart can sleep 5 people.
I tell ya, between the RCI trade for New York City, and this non-home-resort reservation, I’m becoming the poster boy of flexibly using DVC. Or maybe just incredibly lucky.
As for activities while at Vero, I think we’re just going to enjoy the beach and the pool, mostly.
One other potentially cool thing though… The latest edition of Disney Files magazine (a publication for DVC owners) brought to my attention that June and July are the prime months to see nesting sea turtles crawling on the beach to lay their eggs.
(This picture is from allears.net and it says that Gene Duncan was the photographer.)
The staff at Vero Beach offer sea turtle night walks, but selection to attend is by raffle and they can’t guarantee that everyone will be accommodated. The Archie Carr Refuge however, offers a couple of other opportunities a few miles north of the Vero Beach resort. I plan to call and reserve some spots for us when registration opens in May.
TRANSPORTATION
This seems to be as good a time as any to touch on the subject of transportation. Okay, yeah, well, hmmm, interesting. So, the thing is, we have a new driver in our household, and at the moment we’re down one vehicle due to recent unfortunate events. (The van from the "Something Alarming Happened at Sonic" story.) We’ll have to replace it soon (yes, the events were that unfortunate), and that’s going to put a crimp in the ol’ budget. I’m still looking at flights, in case there’s some sudden “half price sale”, but driving is looking more and more likely.
Considering that the “flying” scenario has the cost of flights and the cost to rent a car to/from Vero, the cost of “driving” looks like a big savings in comparison, even though I’ll hate the extra time and effort required.
Well anyway, there you have it. Now you know part 2. The "Sand" portion of the trip is for our family, ie. me, Judy and the kids, to spend 4 nights in Vero Beach Florida.
Link to next chapter
It’s not really much of a secret if you look at my ticker though, is it?
Sand = Vero Beach, FL!
Specifically, Disney’s Vero Beach Resort
As seen from the road:
(This photo has been borrowed from the internet and will be returned the moment you close this post, I promise.)
Or, as seen via riptide:
(Yes, yes, this is another image borrowed from the internet.)
We figured we’d like to give another Disney resort a try, and this one would definitely give us a different type of vacation than the theme parks. A few days of sun, sand, and surf. But even more of a plus is the fact that this one is very close to Judy’s sister (who’s made a couple of appearances in past trip reports), so we’ll have a chance to get together.
We want to hit Walt Disney World on Saturday, June 23rd (to give us a week there before the 4th of July crowds hit, plus I need to be back at work in early July), and Judy wants 4 nights in Vero, so working backward we wanted to book Tuesday June 19th through the 22nd (checking out on the 23rd). Arriving on Tuesday will give Judy and Lauren a day or so of “turnaround time” after their trip to NYC, which may be short but life’s rough when you have all of these fantastic trips to take, isn’t it?
Since our home DVC resort is not Vero Beach, we had to wait until the 7-month mark to try to make a reservation. (You can book your home resort at 10 months out, all others at 7.) I called Member Services the morning of November 19th, and boom, got everything I wanted.
We got the exact dates, and a 1 bedroom unit, which according to the DVC points chart can sleep 5 people.I tell ya, between the RCI trade for New York City, and this non-home-resort reservation, I’m becoming the poster boy of flexibly using DVC. Or maybe just incredibly lucky.
As for activities while at Vero, I think we’re just going to enjoy the beach and the pool, mostly.
One other potentially cool thing though… The latest edition of Disney Files magazine (a publication for DVC owners) brought to my attention that June and July are the prime months to see nesting sea turtles crawling on the beach to lay their eggs.
(This picture is from allears.net and it says that Gene Duncan was the photographer.)
The staff at Vero Beach offer sea turtle night walks, but selection to attend is by raffle and they can’t guarantee that everyone will be accommodated. The Archie Carr Refuge however, offers a couple of other opportunities a few miles north of the Vero Beach resort. I plan to call and reserve some spots for us when registration opens in May.
TRANSPORTATION
This seems to be as good a time as any to touch on the subject of transportation. Okay, yeah, well, hmmm, interesting. So, the thing is, we have a new driver in our household, and at the moment we’re down one vehicle due to recent unfortunate events. (The van from the "Something Alarming Happened at Sonic" story.) We’ll have to replace it soon (yes, the events were that unfortunate), and that’s going to put a crimp in the ol’ budget. I’m still looking at flights, in case there’s some sudden “half price sale”, but driving is looking more and more likely.
Considering that the “flying” scenario has the cost of flights and the cost to rent a car to/from Vero, the cost of “driving” looks like a big savings in comparison, even though I’ll hate the extra time and effort required.Well anyway, there you have it. Now you know part 2. The "Sand" portion of the trip is for our family, ie. me, Judy and the kids, to spend 4 nights in Vero Beach Florida.
Link to next chapter
Perhaps they'll just skip the popcorn to save a little....
We're arriving June 8th and check out the 14th... the boys last day of school is June 7th and I'm having them skip it (such a slacker mom, right??) and we'll start driving that morning after the dogs get dropped off a "camp" and it takes us like 7 hrs to get just to the other side of Jacksonville, FL and then we'll spend the night, get up and arrive at the Beach Club by 10am on the 8th!!!!
I'm glad you found us!
