disneyisfun
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2003
- Messages
- 228
Hi, welcome to my first trip report:
We live in Florida about a 2 hour drive to USO. We had booked PBH through expedia for our first night and Loews first for our second night. For some reason, the hotel was booked solid so I had to make reservations that way. Come to find out when we got to the hotel there were large youth groups visiting and all of the overflow from RP was going to PBH.
Anyway, our trip there was quick and painless except for the "are we there yet" question from our two five year old twins about every 5 miles. We get to the hotel and our room is ready. I had booked a garden view room (that's all I could get) and we were placed in the East Wing. The problem being that it was a king room. So the guy at the front desk tells us that we could have two rollaway beds for the kids (no charge) and he would upgrade us to the bayview (even though it is packed). Ok, no problem we get in our room which is nice...and we take off for the parks. We have not been in a long time (first time for my kids)and it was fun. My kids were not very adventurous but they still had a great time. It was extremely hot and by the way youth groups were everywhere. I have to say that the boat ride to and from the parks was excellent and always very prompt. After exploring the parks and having a quick bite at IOA we head back to the hotel. We get ready for bed and I have to say it was kinda cramped for us, but no big deal.
The next day I have to go to the front desk to check out of our room and check back in using Loews first and the bed and breakfast rate we had gotten. There is nice lady at the front desk and she is very helpful. Asks how our room is and I said it is nice but a little cramped and explained the situation. Very nicely I asked if there were any kid suite's available. And she says let me check. Well she upgraded to the West Wing kid's suite with our bed and breakfast rate. I was so excited!! I really do believe that being a member of Loews first helped me out on this. So I go back to the room, tell my husband and we pack our bags and they put them in storage. That morning we had the breakfast buffet at the Tratoria de Porto (sp?) with our bed and breakfast coupons..it was yummy..the kid's had the buffet too and they sat in the cute little kid's table and watched cartoons (Nick Jr. of course) so it was relaxing as well for us.
We go to USO for part of the day but when we got back to PB the room was not ready. Luckily, I had packed the kids swim suits and they were able to swim. Our room was ready at around 3:45 and we went up and got settled in. That room was gorgeous with a view of the bay. The kid's room was in castle motif with their own beds and tv. Absolutely perfect!! She had made sure that we had the sand buckets filled with goodies for the kids and shortly after we were in the room our milk and cookies arrived. It was great!!
That night we went back to IOA and had dinner at Citywalk at Margaritaville..I used my AAA card for 10% off. We went back to the room and chilled and the next day got up early, hit the parks for a little while, then had yummy pizza and drinks by the pool. I had called in the morning for a late checkout but all we could get was 12:00 so that was fine. We just put our stuff in storage again.
We headed back to Tarpon Springs that afternoon. All in all, it was very fun. We could not find the marshmallow milkshakes. Nobody seemed to know what we were talking about. When I came home I checked the boards and found out that they were at Tratoria de Porto (oh well) next time. Also, we probably won't go back for awhile until the kids get older. I think that they are still in Disney mode. We loved the FOTL and would not stay anywhere else...that is the only way to go. Thanks for all your tips, my husband was amazed about all that I had learned.
Ciao
We live in Florida about a 2 hour drive to USO. We had booked PBH through expedia for our first night and Loews first for our second night. For some reason, the hotel was booked solid so I had to make reservations that way. Come to find out when we got to the hotel there were large youth groups visiting and all of the overflow from RP was going to PBH.
Anyway, our trip there was quick and painless except for the "are we there yet" question from our two five year old twins about every 5 miles. We get to the hotel and our room is ready. I had booked a garden view room (that's all I could get) and we were placed in the East Wing. The problem being that it was a king room. So the guy at the front desk tells us that we could have two rollaway beds for the kids (no charge) and he would upgrade us to the bayview (even though it is packed). Ok, no problem we get in our room which is nice...and we take off for the parks. We have not been in a long time (first time for my kids)and it was fun. My kids were not very adventurous but they still had a great time. It was extremely hot and by the way youth groups were everywhere. I have to say that the boat ride to and from the parks was excellent and always very prompt. After exploring the parks and having a quick bite at IOA we head back to the hotel. We get ready for bed and I have to say it was kinda cramped for us, but no big deal.
The next day I have to go to the front desk to check out of our room and check back in using Loews first and the bed and breakfast rate we had gotten. There is nice lady at the front desk and she is very helpful. Asks how our room is and I said it is nice but a little cramped and explained the situation. Very nicely I asked if there were any kid suite's available. And she says let me check. Well she upgraded to the West Wing kid's suite with our bed and breakfast rate. I was so excited!! I really do believe that being a member of Loews first helped me out on this. So I go back to the room, tell my husband and we pack our bags and they put them in storage. That morning we had the breakfast buffet at the Tratoria de Porto (sp?) with our bed and breakfast coupons..it was yummy..the kid's had the buffet too and they sat in the cute little kid's table and watched cartoons (Nick Jr. of course) so it was relaxing as well for us.
We go to USO for part of the day but when we got back to PB the room was not ready. Luckily, I had packed the kids swim suits and they were able to swim. Our room was ready at around 3:45 and we went up and got settled in. That room was gorgeous with a view of the bay. The kid's room was in castle motif with their own beds and tv. Absolutely perfect!! She had made sure that we had the sand buckets filled with goodies for the kids and shortly after we were in the room our milk and cookies arrived. It was great!!
That night we went back to IOA and had dinner at Citywalk at Margaritaville..I used my AAA card for 10% off. We went back to the room and chilled and the next day got up early, hit the parks for a little while, then had yummy pizza and drinks by the pool. I had called in the morning for a late checkout but all we could get was 12:00 so that was fine. We just put our stuff in storage again.
We headed back to Tarpon Springs that afternoon. All in all, it was very fun. We could not find the marshmallow milkshakes. Nobody seemed to know what we were talking about. When I came home I checked the boards and found out that they were at Tratoria de Porto (oh well) next time. Also, we probably won't go back for awhile until the kids get older. I think that they are still in Disney mode. We loved the FOTL and would not stay anywhere else...that is the only way to go. Thanks for all your tips, my husband was amazed about all that I had learned.
Ciao
