We loved Disney's HH Island Resort!! We were there from Oct 4 thru 10, and it was sooo quiet! CM's said the resort was about 70 - 80% full, for most of the week, and went to 100% starting the Thursday leading into the Columbus day weekend.
We drove down from Toronto. Left at 5:30 am and drove until 8:15 at night and stayed in Statesville, NC. It was a pretty drive, but we said next time we would shorten our first day by about an hour and stay in Wytheville VA. That way we wouldn't have been driving in the dark.
The second day's drive from Statesville (just north of Charlotte) to HH seemed so short (probably about 5 hours) after the previous day, and as we drove onto the island, our first impressions were how clean and pristine everything looked. We noticed that the signs were almost hidden by foliage and they were all tone-on-tone. They effect was very esthetically pleasing--but it was difficult to read!
Checkin was super quick and the grounds of the resort are so beautifully landscaped, we knew we were in a great place!
Our 2 bedroom unit in building 26 overlooked the pool. There was rarely more than one or two people in the pool the week we were there, so this was a quiet view. In a busier season, I may prefer a marsh or courtyard view though.
Our daughter is 8 and really loved all the activities. She/our family participated in:
Gyotako--Japanese fish painting on a t-shirt (yes you use a dead fish and it was really fun!)
Magic Show- B'Lou Crabbe is very talented!
Campfire- the songs were fun and the smores were delicious!
Unbirthday party--there were few kids there but they still had a good time. HIghlight was eating a cupcake like Shadow (the resort mascot Dog).
Mission to Mars, Sea Turtles, and Seashells presentations were all put on by the resort Naturalist Christopher. Our daughter developed a little crush on Christopher while we were there! He is knowledgable and enthusiastic and we really enjoyed his activities.
Pirate Treasure Hunt. Very fun! A great family activity.
Shadow's Tales. We listened to B'Lou Crabbe tell stories of Shadow and the kids met Shadow and got to pet him and have photos with him.
Goofy Bingo. We did this twice and it was really fun--we quickly became known as the family who knew the least about Disney movies!
One thing that struck us was how few people were attending the activities. there was often only one or two other families besides ours at some of them, and we kept seeing the same 4 or 5 families at everything.
There were many more activities that we didn't have time to try! We also went to the beach house 3x, so we couldn't do everything! The beach house is a very pretty 1.5 mile drive from the resort, and has a heated pool, sand toys for the kids, Signals restaurant (ate a nice lunch there twice) and a beautiful beach!!
We weren't too adventerous with food--stuck with standards like Tony Romas, Cracker Barrel, Fuddruckers (which were all good). We liked Giuseppe's pizza in Shelter Cove (just down the street) and Marley's for ice cream near Sea Pines.
This was our first trip to HH and we loved it very much! The weather was good--avg around 80 degrees and it threatened rain often, but didn't actually rain much at all.
Thank you to everyone who wrote the trip reports and helpful hints on this resort which we referred to before we went. They were a great help in knowing what to expect and make the most of our week!
We drove down from Toronto. Left at 5:30 am and drove until 8:15 at night and stayed in Statesville, NC. It was a pretty drive, but we said next time we would shorten our first day by about an hour and stay in Wytheville VA. That way we wouldn't have been driving in the dark.
The second day's drive from Statesville (just north of Charlotte) to HH seemed so short (probably about 5 hours) after the previous day, and as we drove onto the island, our first impressions were how clean and pristine everything looked. We noticed that the signs were almost hidden by foliage and they were all tone-on-tone. They effect was very esthetically pleasing--but it was difficult to read!
Checkin was super quick and the grounds of the resort are so beautifully landscaped, we knew we were in a great place!
Our 2 bedroom unit in building 26 overlooked the pool. There was rarely more than one or two people in the pool the week we were there, so this was a quiet view. In a busier season, I may prefer a marsh or courtyard view though.
Our daughter is 8 and really loved all the activities. She/our family participated in:
Gyotako--Japanese fish painting on a t-shirt (yes you use a dead fish and it was really fun!)
Magic Show- B'Lou Crabbe is very talented!
Campfire- the songs were fun and the smores were delicious!
Unbirthday party--there were few kids there but they still had a good time. HIghlight was eating a cupcake like Shadow (the resort mascot Dog).
Mission to Mars, Sea Turtles, and Seashells presentations were all put on by the resort Naturalist Christopher. Our daughter developed a little crush on Christopher while we were there! He is knowledgable and enthusiastic and we really enjoyed his activities.
Pirate Treasure Hunt. Very fun! A great family activity.
Shadow's Tales. We listened to B'Lou Crabbe tell stories of Shadow and the kids met Shadow and got to pet him and have photos with him.
Goofy Bingo. We did this twice and it was really fun--we quickly became known as the family who knew the least about Disney movies!
One thing that struck us was how few people were attending the activities. there was often only one or two other families besides ours at some of them, and we kept seeing the same 4 or 5 families at everything.
There were many more activities that we didn't have time to try! We also went to the beach house 3x, so we couldn't do everything! The beach house is a very pretty 1.5 mile drive from the resort, and has a heated pool, sand toys for the kids, Signals restaurant (ate a nice lunch there twice) and a beautiful beach!!
We weren't too adventerous with food--stuck with standards like Tony Romas, Cracker Barrel, Fuddruckers (which were all good). We liked Giuseppe's pizza in Shelter Cove (just down the street) and Marley's for ice cream near Sea Pines.
This was our first trip to HH and we loved it very much! The weather was good--avg around 80 degrees and it threatened rain often, but didn't actually rain much at all.
Thank you to everyone who wrote the trip reports and helpful hints on this resort which we referred to before we went. They were a great help in knowing what to expect and make the most of our week!
