poohj80
Got Hunny?
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2001
- Messages
- 6,320
We spent our first 5 nights at Disney's Hilton Head resort over Thanksgiving and we will definitely be back!
We stayed in a dedicated 2 BR unit 2221. We thought the location was great as we had a wonderful view of trees and the marsh from our deck but were just a few steps away from the pool, mercantile, and activities. When we first entered our villa the garbage disposal stunk REALLY bad. We ran a lot of hot water and dish soap through it. When we first turned it on chunks of food flew up which wasn't pleasant. We also found dirty mugs on the deck outside when we checked in so we wondered how good of a job housekeeping had done. There were a few maintenance issues we noticed but we were able to fix them mostly ourselves.
We arrived Tuesday evening after about an 8 hour drive (traffic wasn't bad that early in the week). When we checked in we specifically asked whether we would need to check-out then back in since our reservation was first on points and then cash and we were told that wasn't necessary. Since we have read some horror stories on these boards at WDW about similar situations, we checked again a couple days later and were told it wasn't necessary. Our parking pass did go through Sunday when we first checked in and we were fine all week.
After a very scenic route, we had dinner at Scott's Fish Market Tuesday night. We didn't realize it was just across the bridge as DH looked it up on MS Streets and Trips and it showed it farther away. We found the mall, Cracker Barrel, and Fuddruckers before we decided to head back to the room to call for directions. On the way back toward the bridge, we saw the sign (in our defense, there was a big black SUV parked in front of the sign which is why we didn't see it the first time around). Dinner was ok but nothing exciting in our minds. After reading the reviews here we were a bit disappointed.
Wednesday we slept in and explored the resort. We had a dolphin cruise scheduled but there was a tornado warning that afternoon so our cruise was cancelled. Instead we investigated the Beach House and then headed down to the Harbour Town lighthouse. We didn't realize there was a fee to get into Sea Pines so now I understand why the person was offering passes on this board last week. Live and learn.
It was fun going through the shops. We did climb the lighthouse and took some pix. The weather wasn't the greatest so we didn't stay more than an hour or so.
We had dinner at the Old Oyster Factory Thursday night and that was excellent! When we arrived around 7 PM the parking lot was packed so we thought it would be a long wait but we were seated immediately. They said the big rush is between 5-6 for the early bird specials so everyone was leaving when we arrived. I will add to the recommendations for this restaurant!
We got in the jacuzzi Weds night and it was much bigger than the WDW DVC jacuzzis we have been in (and less people). We noticed a large exodus from the pool around 5 PM when the slide closes so that's when we hit the pool during the week. One thing we didn't learn (unfortunately) until our last day is that even though the posted slide hours are 10AM - 5PM, it is by request. We thought if the slide was off that meant something was wrong but it wasn't until 455 Saturday we were told it was by request since there had to be a lifeguard present and they should have told us that upon check-in.
Thanksgiving Day was another lazy morning - watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and some football. The dinner we had ordered through the resort was delivered around noon but did not include any reheating instructions. I knew everything was pre-cooked but I didn't know how long and at what temperature to warm up the turkey and would hate to dry it out. It turned out ok (called mom to ask) but directions would have been helpful.
We went over to the Beach House for the Turkey Bowl. It was a lot of fun but not very organized. Adults played with kids and everyone was on the field at the same time which made for some interesting situations. Kudos to the guys who handed to ball off to the little kids then picked them up to help them run down the field without getting their flags removed! I realized I'm not as young as I used to be after running around with the younger folk.
Did anyone happen to take pix during the games? It was just DH and I so we didn't have anyone extra to take pix.
We went back to our villa to clean up and start heating up dinner. The rest of the family was to arrive around 4 and I wanted the villa to smell like Thanksgiving when they arrived.
Dinner was excellent! It didn't look like a lot of food when it was delivered but it was MORE than enough and the best part was that I didn't have to slave over a hot stove all day. The garlic mashed potatoes were excellent even if I could taste them the rest of the night.
We went to our first campfire that night and it was a lot of fun even if we were getting some strange looks for participating without bringing kids. Cheekie Cheekie is now a part of our vocabulary (as well as SHARK ATTACK!!!). We hadn't made s'mores in years so that was fun and messy (just like I remembered it!). If anyone has any pix of this event as well we would love to see some...thanks! We ended the evening with some ping pong and then to bed as we had an early morning coming on Friday.
The family which arrived on Thanksgiving was staying in the 2nd BR and had a problem with the showerhead in their bathroom when taking showers Friday morning. We called it in and asked that someone come by to fix it during the day since we would be out all day. When we returned late Friday night it had not been fixed. Eventually DH was able to fix it after about 20 minutes and a lot of banging but I felt like if it wasn't an easy fix, we shouldn't be responsible for repairs.
We spent Friday in Savannah. None of us had ever been and Savannah requires more than just one day...so many beautiful buildings, squares, and history. We had rented the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil before we left home just as a reminder of the story and to see some sights so it was fun to find the Mercer House and other places in the movie. We took Ron's Movie Tour first to get acclimated to the city. It turned out to be much more walking than we expected but we learned so much. Ron's getting a shuttle van in the near future but our walking tour lasted 3 hours. We especially loved the stop at Leopold's Ice Cream. After the tour we drove down by City Market and explored River Walk a bit. Had a wonderful lunch at the River House Seafood Restaurant and Bakery. Save room for dessert here! We explored River Walk and a few of the squares the rest of the afternoon but got back to the river for the boat parade of lights before our Ghosts and Gravestones tour. We took the tour through the Historic Old Trolley Tours. It was a lot of fun with the guides dressed in Victorian costumes and playing the part very well. My only complaint is that they oversold the tour so we were jammed in like sardines. It was a chilly night so the body heat wasn't all that bad but it was a bit uncomfortable on the trolley and seemed unnecessary to oversell since there were 3 more tours after ours.
Saturday was for sleeping in again and just having family time. Lunch was leftovers and then to play Frisbee on the beach. We had rescheduled our dolphin cruise for Saturday and this time it was a go. We had the boat for just DH and myself so it was really nice! Captain Scott wasn't available but Nelson was a great guide and got us VERY close to the dolphins (close enough to touch!). We also saw some gorgeous homes along the water and they were so pretty already decorated for the holidays. We stopped at a small island that was built up from shells so he pulled over for a bit of shell collecting and picture taking. I highly recommend it if you are going to Hilton Head. Even if it's a bit chilly, put on a jacket and have fun!
Sunday morning was for packing up, splitting up the Thanksgiving leftovers, finishing that last roll of film, and making one more trip to the gift shop.
I haven't developed my good pix yet but do have some from the resort taken with my digital camera.
General thoughts/observations:
I love the luggage carts at the Hilton Head resorts!
The recreation staff at the resort was great!
I really wish they would sell stickers from the DVC resorts instead of just the Member stickers.
PJ
We stayed in a dedicated 2 BR unit 2221. We thought the location was great as we had a wonderful view of trees and the marsh from our deck but were just a few steps away from the pool, mercantile, and activities. When we first entered our villa the garbage disposal stunk REALLY bad. We ran a lot of hot water and dish soap through it. When we first turned it on chunks of food flew up which wasn't pleasant. We also found dirty mugs on the deck outside when we checked in so we wondered how good of a job housekeeping had done. There were a few maintenance issues we noticed but we were able to fix them mostly ourselves.
We arrived Tuesday evening after about an 8 hour drive (traffic wasn't bad that early in the week). When we checked in we specifically asked whether we would need to check-out then back in since our reservation was first on points and then cash and we were told that wasn't necessary. Since we have read some horror stories on these boards at WDW about similar situations, we checked again a couple days later and were told it wasn't necessary. Our parking pass did go through Sunday when we first checked in and we were fine all week.
After a very scenic route, we had dinner at Scott's Fish Market Tuesday night. We didn't realize it was just across the bridge as DH looked it up on MS Streets and Trips and it showed it farther away. We found the mall, Cracker Barrel, and Fuddruckers before we decided to head back to the room to call for directions. On the way back toward the bridge, we saw the sign (in our defense, there was a big black SUV parked in front of the sign which is why we didn't see it the first time around). Dinner was ok but nothing exciting in our minds. After reading the reviews here we were a bit disappointed.
Wednesday we slept in and explored the resort. We had a dolphin cruise scheduled but there was a tornado warning that afternoon so our cruise was cancelled. Instead we investigated the Beach House and then headed down to the Harbour Town lighthouse. We didn't realize there was a fee to get into Sea Pines so now I understand why the person was offering passes on this board last week. Live and learn.
It was fun going through the shops. We did climb the lighthouse and took some pix. The weather wasn't the greatest so we didn't stay more than an hour or so. We had dinner at the Old Oyster Factory Thursday night and that was excellent! When we arrived around 7 PM the parking lot was packed so we thought it would be a long wait but we were seated immediately. They said the big rush is between 5-6 for the early bird specials so everyone was leaving when we arrived. I will add to the recommendations for this restaurant!
We got in the jacuzzi Weds night and it was much bigger than the WDW DVC jacuzzis we have been in (and less people). We noticed a large exodus from the pool around 5 PM when the slide closes so that's when we hit the pool during the week. One thing we didn't learn (unfortunately) until our last day is that even though the posted slide hours are 10AM - 5PM, it is by request. We thought if the slide was off that meant something was wrong but it wasn't until 455 Saturday we were told it was by request since there had to be a lifeguard present and they should have told us that upon check-in.
Thanksgiving Day was another lazy morning - watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and some football. The dinner we had ordered through the resort was delivered around noon but did not include any reheating instructions. I knew everything was pre-cooked but I didn't know how long and at what temperature to warm up the turkey and would hate to dry it out. It turned out ok (called mom to ask) but directions would have been helpful.
We went over to the Beach House for the Turkey Bowl. It was a lot of fun but not very organized. Adults played with kids and everyone was on the field at the same time which made for some interesting situations. Kudos to the guys who handed to ball off to the little kids then picked them up to help them run down the field without getting their flags removed! I realized I'm not as young as I used to be after running around with the younger folk.
Did anyone happen to take pix during the games? It was just DH and I so we didn't have anyone extra to take pix.We went back to our villa to clean up and start heating up dinner. The rest of the family was to arrive around 4 and I wanted the villa to smell like Thanksgiving when they arrived.
Dinner was excellent! It didn't look like a lot of food when it was delivered but it was MORE than enough and the best part was that I didn't have to slave over a hot stove all day. The garlic mashed potatoes were excellent even if I could taste them the rest of the night.
We went to our first campfire that night and it was a lot of fun even if we were getting some strange looks for participating without bringing kids. Cheekie Cheekie is now a part of our vocabulary (as well as SHARK ATTACK!!!). We hadn't made s'mores in years so that was fun and messy (just like I remembered it!). If anyone has any pix of this event as well we would love to see some...thanks! We ended the evening with some ping pong and then to bed as we had an early morning coming on Friday.
The family which arrived on Thanksgiving was staying in the 2nd BR and had a problem with the showerhead in their bathroom when taking showers Friday morning. We called it in and asked that someone come by to fix it during the day since we would be out all day. When we returned late Friday night it had not been fixed. Eventually DH was able to fix it after about 20 minutes and a lot of banging but I felt like if it wasn't an easy fix, we shouldn't be responsible for repairs.
We spent Friday in Savannah. None of us had ever been and Savannah requires more than just one day...so many beautiful buildings, squares, and history. We had rented the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil before we left home just as a reminder of the story and to see some sights so it was fun to find the Mercer House and other places in the movie. We took Ron's Movie Tour first to get acclimated to the city. It turned out to be much more walking than we expected but we learned so much. Ron's getting a shuttle van in the near future but our walking tour lasted 3 hours. We especially loved the stop at Leopold's Ice Cream. After the tour we drove down by City Market and explored River Walk a bit. Had a wonderful lunch at the River House Seafood Restaurant and Bakery. Save room for dessert here! We explored River Walk and a few of the squares the rest of the afternoon but got back to the river for the boat parade of lights before our Ghosts and Gravestones tour. We took the tour through the Historic Old Trolley Tours. It was a lot of fun with the guides dressed in Victorian costumes and playing the part very well. My only complaint is that they oversold the tour so we were jammed in like sardines. It was a chilly night so the body heat wasn't all that bad but it was a bit uncomfortable on the trolley and seemed unnecessary to oversell since there were 3 more tours after ours.
Saturday was for sleeping in again and just having family time. Lunch was leftovers and then to play Frisbee on the beach. We had rescheduled our dolphin cruise for Saturday and this time it was a go. We had the boat for just DH and myself so it was really nice! Captain Scott wasn't available but Nelson was a great guide and got us VERY close to the dolphins (close enough to touch!). We also saw some gorgeous homes along the water and they were so pretty already decorated for the holidays. We stopped at a small island that was built up from shells so he pulled over for a bit of shell collecting and picture taking. I highly recommend it if you are going to Hilton Head. Even if it's a bit chilly, put on a jacket and have fun!
Sunday morning was for packing up, splitting up the Thanksgiving leftovers, finishing that last roll of film, and making one more trip to the gift shop.
I haven't developed my good pix yet but do have some from the resort taken with my digital camera.
General thoughts/observations:
I love the luggage carts at the Hilton Head resorts!
The recreation staff at the resort was great!
I really wish they would sell stickers from the DVC resorts instead of just the Member stickers.
PJ
You really put time and effort into it and I really enjoyed reading it! I should have been working, but I took a short 
break!! I also printed this thread to show DH.
, but couldn't. Chef Gordon has a reputation for offering exceptional guest service; it was an unfortunate set of circumstances of last week that caused the change of the program.
