We spent a wonderful week at HHI and will return next summer. Are considering an add on. Don't kow how we could ever do both HHI and DW in one year without one. Can't imagine not going to HHI for a year. Yes, we are addicted.
We took the Dolphin Discovery Tour arranged through Disney. Our guide, Scott, told us alot about the island and surrounding ecosystem. We saw what must have been 40-50 dolphins waiting for the time to come in at the point where Broad Creek meet the Atlantic. To say we were speechless would have been an understatement. We were truly in awe!! As if that wasn't enough of a dolphin experience to last a lifetime, we did the Beach Combing outing a couple of days later. Scott was again our guide and took us out to Defuskie Island at low tide. We found several shells but anything alive we tossed back. We found a couple of sand dollars and sharts teeth along with lots of shells. Our 17 month old enjoyed digging in the sand. We were on the island for a good hour and we were all alone - expect for the occassional golf cart passing by. When we got back on the boat, Scott said he was talking with one the fishing boats and they had a good day fishing. Scott cruised over to the fishing boat just as they were lowering the anchor. And, if we hadn't seen enough dolphins in our dolphin outing, we certainly did that night. They were all over the place -- there must have easily been another 40-50 but they were just outside the boat. One of the fishermen was feeding the dolphin off the side of the boat and it was jumping up out of the water to grab the fish. It was so amazing!! We'll probably never experience something like that again in our lives. The dolphins didn't even seem to mind that we were right next to them. Our 6 year old decided at the point that he wants to be a fisherman when he grows up so he can continue to see dolphins like that. What a wonderful experience!!
We rented bikes for the week from Disney. We were able to get a kiddie caboose for our little guy to ride in. It seemed safer that the other "trailer" type bikes we saw. At least he was riding facing forward instead of backwards as the other trailers offered. A word of caution, Disney bikes are not always in the best condition. The first day, the pedal on my bike came off as we were going to the beach. Fortunately, we were a block or so from the Fish Creek Bike Rental place so we stopped there and they helped us out by putting the pedal back on. The man there said that he is always fixing the Disney bikes as well as the ones over at the Marriott. We exchanged the bike when we returned to Disney that afternoon just to be on the safe side. Probably should have kept that first bike because a couple of days later, we were again on our way to the beach and again about a block from Fish Creek Rental when my bike would not move, no matter how much pedalling I did. Who would have thought that we would have two bikes with problems in a weeks time. We again went to Fish Creek Bike Rental and they were so nice over there. We called Disney and they brought us a new bike and picked up the broken one. In the meantime though, Fish Creek Rental gave us a bike to use to continue on to the beach at no charge. Disney also apologized for the problems and covered the bike rental for the week, but next time we will carry our cell phone with us just incase we get stranded again. Fortuanately we were close by the Fish Creek Bike Rental and not stranded out in the middle of no where because it could have been a long walk. The Disney bikes were nicer than the Fish Creek Bikes in our opinion, however, after having 2 bikes with problems in the week, I'll have to wonder before using Disney's bikes again.
All in all, we had a wonderful time. Crabbing was lots of fun -- the crabs really go for the chicken as bait. Our 6 years old was so excited to see the crabs -- it didn't matter whether they were in his net or not. What a cherished memory that will be for him as well as the dolphin experience. We will return next summer and hope to make it a yearly vacation!!
We took the Dolphin Discovery Tour arranged through Disney. Our guide, Scott, told us alot about the island and surrounding ecosystem. We saw what must have been 40-50 dolphins waiting for the time to come in at the point where Broad Creek meet the Atlantic. To say we were speechless would have been an understatement. We were truly in awe!! As if that wasn't enough of a dolphin experience to last a lifetime, we did the Beach Combing outing a couple of days later. Scott was again our guide and took us out to Defuskie Island at low tide. We found several shells but anything alive we tossed back. We found a couple of sand dollars and sharts teeth along with lots of shells. Our 17 month old enjoyed digging in the sand. We were on the island for a good hour and we were all alone - expect for the occassional golf cart passing by. When we got back on the boat, Scott said he was talking with one the fishing boats and they had a good day fishing. Scott cruised over to the fishing boat just as they were lowering the anchor. And, if we hadn't seen enough dolphins in our dolphin outing, we certainly did that night. They were all over the place -- there must have easily been another 40-50 but they were just outside the boat. One of the fishermen was feeding the dolphin off the side of the boat and it was jumping up out of the water to grab the fish. It was so amazing!! We'll probably never experience something like that again in our lives. The dolphins didn't even seem to mind that we were right next to them. Our 6 year old decided at the point that he wants to be a fisherman when he grows up so he can continue to see dolphins like that. What a wonderful experience!!
We rented bikes for the week from Disney. We were able to get a kiddie caboose for our little guy to ride in. It seemed safer that the other "trailer" type bikes we saw. At least he was riding facing forward instead of backwards as the other trailers offered. A word of caution, Disney bikes are not always in the best condition. The first day, the pedal on my bike came off as we were going to the beach. Fortunately, we were a block or so from the Fish Creek Bike Rental place so we stopped there and they helped us out by putting the pedal back on. The man there said that he is always fixing the Disney bikes as well as the ones over at the Marriott. We exchanged the bike when we returned to Disney that afternoon just to be on the safe side. Probably should have kept that first bike because a couple of days later, we were again on our way to the beach and again about a block from Fish Creek Rental when my bike would not move, no matter how much pedalling I did. Who would have thought that we would have two bikes with problems in a weeks time. We again went to Fish Creek Bike Rental and they were so nice over there. We called Disney and they brought us a new bike and picked up the broken one. In the meantime though, Fish Creek Rental gave us a bike to use to continue on to the beach at no charge. Disney also apologized for the problems and covered the bike rental for the week, but next time we will carry our cell phone with us just incase we get stranded again. Fortuanately we were close by the Fish Creek Bike Rental and not stranded out in the middle of no where because it could have been a long walk. The Disney bikes were nicer than the Fish Creek Bikes in our opinion, however, after having 2 bikes with problems in the week, I'll have to wonder before using Disney's bikes again.
All in all, we had a wonderful time. Crabbing was lots of fun -- the crabs really go for the chicken as bait. Our 6 years old was so excited to see the crabs -- it didn't matter whether they were in his net or not. What a cherished memory that will be for him as well as the dolphin experience. We will return next summer and hope to make it a yearly vacation!!
