Hilton Head lovers....

[MinnieGi]

After a 13 hour drive home we are back. I miss HH already. We were in building 13 and loved it. Had a view of the marsh and watched the birds. It was cool in beginning of week but we planned around the weather. We went over to Sea pines to the nature preserve and saw turtles and a racoon. Rented bikes and road around on the bike trails and to the beach house. We also did the making of cornbread in the open fire and nature walks ( where we saw a baby alligator). The kids did a few of the activities for the teens. They played capture the flag before we left on Friday. Spent Thursday and Friday at the pools and we all came home with a sun burn. My Dh liked it better than going to WDW and the kids also want to go back. We definately will be going back again.

My DH likes HHI better than WDW too! So now we have HHI as one of our home resorts. And that is not to say he doesn't like WDW b/c he always looks forward to going and has a great time, but he LOVED HHI. Even though he had a great time on our WDW Nov. trip he has been looking forward to HHI since the day we left last August!! The relaxing beach, gentle waves of the ocean there, and all the active stuff you can do like golf, bike, tennis, nature hikes, boating, kayaking etc...is just so him!

Glad to hear you all made it back home safe.

 

[WolfpackFan]

We really love HH and can't wait for our trip in June. We actually spent Friday night there on our way back from WDW. We stayed in the Hampton Inn though rather than the DVC resort because I couldn't get a ressie for that night on points and didn't want to pay the cash price. As we were getting ready to eat at the Old Oyster Factory I looked over and could see the resort and thought to myself I sure wish we were staying the week there. I can see us more and more using more of our non-HH points for HH stays in the future. I'd love to spend Thanksgiving there.

 

[JCLNJ]

Anyone going to HHI in the future that could grab a restaurant guide and a copy of the children's activity schedule for me and mail it? I'd be happy to pay you for the shipping along with thinking you were one of the best people in the world!


TIA

If you want to email me a fax number, I will fax it over the scheudle to you. We were there this past week so it may be different for Sunday as it was EAster. My email is shell.lane@verizon.net

 

[JCLNJ]

Hi! So glad to hear you will definately be going back!!! have to ask- how was the drive, did you stop anywhere? And ...did you notice? We live so close to each other!

There was traffic in DC that made our trip an hour longer. We do quick stops for gas and food that are 15 minutes long. On the way down last Friday we made it in 12 hours. I did notice that you live close to us!

 

[Desnik]

Just home from our first trip to HHI. We were in bldg 18. Weather was pretty chilly 2 days but the rest of the time was beautiful - no rain. Left yesterday and it was sunny and 80, home in Chicago now and it is gray and 40 - ugh!

We rented bikes, did some activities, took dolphin cruise and spent a whole day at the beach house.

We all loved it there and are looking forward to going back again someday.

Could you tell me how much the dolphin cruise costs?

 

[Simba's Mom]

Guess I have to cancel my subscription to this thread. We went. We saw. We didn't love it. In fact, we hated it.

Terrible traffic. Poor signage. Can't get anywhere without driving, including the beach. Inconvenient internet. Bobcat trucking rock through the garage under our balcony all day every day. The only things we did that were fun were walk on the beach and take a dolphin watching tour that had nothing to do with Disney. Couldn't WAIT to leave.

I can see how HHI really isn't everyone's "cup of tea", I can understand your view. And I'm glad to notice that your complaints aren't about housekeeping, the resort CMs, mostly just differences of what we all enjoy. Although I happen to love HHI, I really respect your opinion. Just like I hate Las Vegas, but others love it. Different strokes for different folks!

 

[ranthony]

Guess I have to cancel my subscription to this thread. We went. We saw. We didn't love it. In fact, we hated it.

Terrible traffic. Poor signage. Can't get anywhere without driving, including the beach. Inconvenient internet. Bobcat trucking rock through the garage under our balcony all day every day. The only things we did that were fun were walk on the beach and take a dolphin watching tour that had nothing to do with Disney. Couldn't WAIT to leave.

First, I am sorry that you did not enjoy your vacation. It's difficult to stay somewhere you're dissapointed with knowing you could have been somewhere you love. I hope your next trip is everything you want it to be.

I have a few questions. Were you dissapointed with the restaurants and their service or was it just so tough to get to them with the traffic? Also, did you go with children and participate in any of the activities the resort offers for them?

TIA

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Guess I have to cancel my subscription to this thread. We went. We saw. We didn't love it. In fact, we hated it.

Terrible traffic. Poor signage. Can't get anywhere without driving, including the beach. Inconvenient internet. Bobcat trucking rock through the garage under our balcony all day every day. The only things we did that were fun were walk on the beach and take a dolphin watching tour that had nothing to do with Disney. Couldn't WAIT to leave.

Can you elaborate? I hate traffic at vacation resorts. That is why I am done with Ocean City, Md. I would hate to travel to HHI only to find this same problem. I also learned that the beach is very crowded in the summer. Again, I am trying to avoid this. How bad is it to drive around the town of HHI?

 

[irish dancer]

Could you tell me how much the dolphin cruise costs?

We scheduled this through Disney on a Wed which is Member Day so we had a 10% discount. It was $180 for our family of 5, we thought it was pricey. The boats accomodate 6 people so we were the only ones on our boat. We enjoyed it and are glad we did it but don't think it will be on our list again for a while.

 

[irish dancer]

Guess I have to cancel my subscription to this thread. We went. We saw. We didn't love it. In fact, we hated it.

Terrible traffic. Poor signage. Can't get anywhere without driving, including the beach. Inconvenient internet. Bobcat trucking rock through the garage under our balcony all day every day. The only things we did that were fun were walk on the beach and take a dolphin watching tour that had nothing to do with Disney. Couldn't WAIT to leave.

So sorry you didn't enjoy your stay. I agree with Simba's Mom that it seems to be a different strokes kind of thing. I liked the fact that all the signage kind of blended in with the scenery. I also expected the traffic being Spring Break, I can imagine it must be very difficult in the summer.

What did the CMs say when you complained about the construction noise? That would have bothered me too.

Did you participate in any of the offered activities? They seemed to have a good mix of adult and kid type activities. Since we were there with kids we didn't get to try any of the tours but the crafts we did were fun.

 

[MinnieGi]

Can you elaborate? I hate traffic at vacation resorts. That is why I am done with Ocean City, Md. I would hate to travel to HHI only to find this same problem. I also learned that the beach is very crowded in the summer. Again, I am trying to avoid this. How bad is it to drive around the town of HHI?

I know I'm not the person you posted this question to, however I'll tell you our experience. We were there first week in August and did not have difficulty at all traveling around HHI. We did not find it congested. Maybe because we are used to DE beaches to Ocean City, MD being JAMMED, we found HHI traffic quite manageable. Also HHI beach is very wide and there was room for LOTS of people! But each group was not on top of each other at all, lots of room to spread out!! There sand is also very compacted and not burning hot like DE and MD beaches. The kids didn't even want to wear their water shoes because the sand was cool and easy to walk on.

 

[CheapMom]

Just back and we LOVED the resort. Loved the rooms, the grounds, the pool, the island, the beach house... Mostly loved the activities- the recreation CMs are amazing. There was something terrific to do everyday.

I have posted this on the photo thread but thought all you fellow HHI lovers would like it too. You can see the resort in the background and a gang of folks from the resort were on the Kayak tour- you can see them too.

This was taken from Capt. Sonny's Island Queen dolphin watch tour. This one is a lot less $$$ than the one you book through the resort- but less private- there were probably about 25 people on our boat. It cost $16 for adults and $10 for the kids and was 1.5 hours. It was fun- my daughter was in awe when the dolphins showed up. They jumped right out of the water right next to the boat- exactly where my kids were standing. It was really cool.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I have a question about the kayaking. How "fit" do you have to be? I've always wanted to do it, but I'm not very athletic at all. I'm afraid that the rowing would tire my arms out.

 

[WolfpackFan]

I have a question about the kayaking. How "fit" do you have to be? I've always wanted to do it, but I'm not very athletic at all. I'm afraid that the rowing would tire my arms out.

Well let's put it this way - DW and myself did it last year. I was 57 and she was 60. I wouldn't put either of us in the physically fit category, but we're in good health. We had no problem doing it at all. In fact, it was the highlight of our trip last year. We plan to do it again this year, but I don't want to do it as part of the group booked thru the resort. I am hoping just to rent a kayak and the two of us go off on our own exploring the marsh. I understand you can rent kayak's over at Shelter Cove.

 

[podsnel]

Just back and we LOVED the resort. Loved the rooms, the grounds, the pool, the island, the beach house... Mostly loved the activities- the recreation CMs are amazing. There was something terrific to do everyday.

I have posted this on the photo thread but thought all you fellow HHI lovers would like it too. You can see the resort in the background and a gang of folks from the resort were on the Kayak tour- you can see them too.

LOVE THIS!!!! What a beautiful shot!!!

 

[MinnieGi]

Cheapmom - thanks for the amazing shot!! We can't wait to get back to HHI for another week in June!!!!

 

[WolfpackFan]

A question - are they have the Shrimp Boils at HHI now? If so, what night? When we were there last Sept. they had canceled it the week we were there.

 

[marvali]

This was our first trip to HHI and we had a very good time, other than the trip was too short. We had a number of holdups on the way so we didn't arrive until late Friday evening. By the time we got up Sat, we didn't have a whole lot of time to get much done after going out and having a late breakfast and making a trip to Signe's so we could try that key lime pound cake everyone on here talks about.

We did the Family Feud activity (after I pulled the DSs out of the pool). Since there were so many, they split us up. DW and I went with a group that had more kids to start with, and DS18, DS15 and DS11 were with the group that had more adults. We all had a ball (the DS's love competing against their DoD anyway) and when our team won on the final question, DD and DW had the bragging rights. The DSs spent most of their time swimming (until it got cloudy and quite a bit cooler rather quickly) and playing ping pong, pool, shuffleboard (first time ever but loved it), basketball and horseshoes. DS15 and DS11 also went to the magic show and had a great time.

We intended to just relax and take it easy this trip and learn about the resort since we will be back in two weeks and plan to do more of the activities then. Didn't get to do as much as I had hoped, but still had a very good time as a family. We didn't make it to the Beach House, but I know that will be at the top of the list for DW when we return.

We got a new digital cam on the way down and I tried to take a bunch of pictures. When I get them loaded I will try to post a few. Nothing earth shattering since I took a lot of the popular landmarks that have been posted on here before. I expect we will have a lot more to tell about the resort after the next trip. Hopefully the weather will stay warm the whole trip in two weeks so we can really take advantage of what the resort has to offer.

 

[marvali]

A question - are they have the Shrimp Boils at HHI now? If so, what night? When we were there last Sept. they had canceled it the week we were there.

They gave us info when we got there about the shrimp boil for our next trip since we were only there Fri and Sat night. It is at the Beach House on Tuesdays, from 5:30 to 7:30. Price is $24.95 for adults, $9.95 for kids 3-9. All you can eat and drink (lemonade, tea) including desert and lots of extras in addition to the shrimp boil. Also includes entertainment by B'Lou Crabbe and face painting for the kids.

 

[irish dancer]

A question - are they have the Shrimp Boils at HHI now? If so, what night? When we were there last Sept. they had canceled it the week we were there.

There was a Shrimp Boil last Tues. It was nice but it was VERY chilly and windy so that kind of ruined the atmosphere a little. Kids were desperate to go in the pool but they settled for playing in the sand on the beach.