Hi everyone. Just got back from 11 days. Cast of Characters. Me (DH) 37, DW (37) and DS (7). Stayed 3 nights at HGVC at Seaworld, and the rest of the trip at SSR.
1st. Started our trip from Manchester NH to Orlando on Southwest. Plane was a little late taking off, but no real problems on the flight down. Able to fit everything into 2 suitcases this time. WOOHOO. Got into Airport and right over to DOLLAR rental car. Make sure you use Dollar express. Well worth it. Only rental car company I use. Got our brand new Ford Taurus and we were off. Got over to HGVC no problems. Heres were the fun begins. I wasnt in the lobby more than 5 minutes, and I am already being asked to take a tour at the new HGVC Parc Soleil. I havent even checked in yet. I say no. " But sir, it is worth 120 dollar gift card". Again no, let me just check in. Get all set and check in. Did not get the Fireworks view room we requested, but no prob. Get to room. 1 bedroom very clean (i mean very clean) nice and large, screened in balcony ( NICE!!!!). Got a great deal on room. 109.00 per night. My son loves SW, so we said why not. Could not complain about room one bit. EXCEPT::::: Its just not DISNEY. It had no feel. No pizzazz. Couldnt really walk around resort. Oh well. right next door to SW was still a good thing. In the room for about 1 hour, phone rings. After small talk, it HGVC trying to set a time up for me to see HGVC at PS. Again NO, LEAVE ME ALONE, i am on vaca. Our goal is to see SW for a few days and then goto SSR.
After about a few hours, my wife states she does not feel good. Get back to this later. Day 1 is at SW. Been there 100 times, and still love it. If you have to eat lunch, try to make ressies at SHARKS UNDERWATER GRILL. A little expensive, but really neat to eat right next to all the sharks. My sons favorite place to eat. Did SW not really much has changed.
Day 2: Wife still not feeling well. I take my son to GATORLAND. This place is awesome. My son and I had a blast. He got to sit on a live alligator and hold a 8 foot snake. For a 7 year old, this was heaven. It is only a half day park, but really worh the take if your looking to do something other than the big parks. Get back to the room about 3pm. Phone is blinking. Another message from HGVC about a tour. DELETE!!!!!!!!. My wife is at pool. Go down to see her. She dont look to good. I finally say lets goto the hospital. She says YES. Thats how I know she really is sick. I go to CentreCare over by the Crossroads, but there is a 2 hour wait. The nurse was very helpful and gave us directions to another center. I called ahead and made a RESSIE. Got there, filled out forms, saw doctor , got medicine (strep throat) and on our way home all in 45 minutes. PLUS they took our health insurance. Only had to pay COPAY. I thought I was in for a big bill.
DAY 3: Wife feels better and off to SW for the day after check out. Dont have to tell you what I get asked in the lobby AGAIN!!!!. Check out no problems. Dont get me wrong. HGVC was a very nice and clean place to stay, its just not DISNEY. There was no magic or anything special about the place. Cant wait to get too SSR. Head over to SW for the afternoon. Another fun day, cant get enough of this place. At lunch at the Spice Mill. One note here. It cost me 80 dollars at the Underwater Grill and 54 Dollars at the fast food Spice Mill. I would rather have spent 26 more dollars and had better food and view. You only live once.
Head over to SSR. Rooms allset. Paddock Section, overlooking pond, next to new pool, 3rd floor. SWEEEEEEETTTTT!!!!!!. Walk into room and it smells like an ASHTRAY. Not the whole room, its coming from the balcony below us. ( this is after I opened the slider). It looked like a war cloud coming up. And it was a real nasty smelling cigar. I call the front desk. I really didnt want to complain, but this smell was nasty. Plus I didnt want our room to smell like smoke and me to get the fine for it. The CM tells me they will come over and take care of it, and note it on our file. Felt bad for doing it, but hey its my vacation too.
Day 4: Guess what I woke up too. YEPPPP!!!! Cigar smoke coming in our room. Called front desk again. Now I am a little mad. These people are just rude. CM takes all info and tells me she will personally speak to manager. I hear someone come over. Again felt bad. CM comes to our room and explains everything should be all set. They were fined 500 dollars for violating the no smoking policy twice. (there was a language barrier, so they might have taken the charges off, dont know). They ended up checking out anyways the next day. Oh yeah, one last thing. They used the coffee pot as the ashtray the CM said. YUCK!!!!
Anyways head over to EPCOT for the day. Now our son is really easy going, but he has been a bear for the last few days. Cant figure out what it is. We are just about ready to head back to the room when my wife notices a nice happy family with there two kids singing and laughing in there nice comfy STROLLER. AAAARGH. This is the first trip with our son (6th trip total with him) to WDW in August without a stroller. The kid was fried. We felt so bad. 100 degrees outside. 100% humidity, and we are asking him to walk EPCOT. I rush over and get a stroller for him. He hops in and you think he won the lottery. We end up having a great day at EPCOT. Do some rides and walk the countries. He is happy as a clam. We eat at Garden Grill with Chip and Dale. Very nice meal with the characters. Food was excellant, but it felt really crowded.
Will continue tomorow. Any questions feel free to ask. Sorry about me hopping around. Trying to remember everything and then type it is really hard. Ive read some excellant TR before, mine is at the bottom of the barrel. Again I will answer any questions is you have them.
1st. Started our trip from Manchester NH to Orlando on Southwest. Plane was a little late taking off, but no real problems on the flight down. Able to fit everything into 2 suitcases this time. WOOHOO. Got into Airport and right over to DOLLAR rental car. Make sure you use Dollar express. Well worth it. Only rental car company I use. Got our brand new Ford Taurus and we were off. Got over to HGVC no problems. Heres were the fun begins. I wasnt in the lobby more than 5 minutes, and I am already being asked to take a tour at the new HGVC Parc Soleil. I havent even checked in yet. I say no. " But sir, it is worth 120 dollar gift card". Again no, let me just check in. Get all set and check in. Did not get the Fireworks view room we requested, but no prob. Get to room. 1 bedroom very clean (i mean very clean) nice and large, screened in balcony ( NICE!!!!). Got a great deal on room. 109.00 per night. My son loves SW, so we said why not. Could not complain about room one bit. EXCEPT::::: Its just not DISNEY. It had no feel. No pizzazz. Couldnt really walk around resort. Oh well. right next door to SW was still a good thing. In the room for about 1 hour, phone rings. After small talk, it HGVC trying to set a time up for me to see HGVC at PS. Again NO, LEAVE ME ALONE, i am on vaca. Our goal is to see SW for a few days and then goto SSR.
After about a few hours, my wife states she does not feel good. Get back to this later. Day 1 is at SW. Been there 100 times, and still love it. If you have to eat lunch, try to make ressies at SHARKS UNDERWATER GRILL. A little expensive, but really neat to eat right next to all the sharks. My sons favorite place to eat. Did SW not really much has changed.
Day 2: Wife still not feeling well. I take my son to GATORLAND. This place is awesome. My son and I had a blast. He got to sit on a live alligator and hold a 8 foot snake. For a 7 year old, this was heaven. It is only a half day park, but really worh the take if your looking to do something other than the big parks. Get back to the room about 3pm. Phone is blinking. Another message from HGVC about a tour. DELETE!!!!!!!!. My wife is at pool. Go down to see her. She dont look to good. I finally say lets goto the hospital. She says YES. Thats how I know she really is sick. I go to CentreCare over by the Crossroads, but there is a 2 hour wait. The nurse was very helpful and gave us directions to another center. I called ahead and made a RESSIE. Got there, filled out forms, saw doctor , got medicine (strep throat) and on our way home all in 45 minutes. PLUS they took our health insurance. Only had to pay COPAY. I thought I was in for a big bill.
DAY 3: Wife feels better and off to SW for the day after check out. Dont have to tell you what I get asked in the lobby AGAIN!!!!. Check out no problems. Dont get me wrong. HGVC was a very nice and clean place to stay, its just not DISNEY. There was no magic or anything special about the place. Cant wait to get too SSR. Head over to SW for the afternoon. Another fun day, cant get enough of this place. At lunch at the Spice Mill. One note here. It cost me 80 dollars at the Underwater Grill and 54 Dollars at the fast food Spice Mill. I would rather have spent 26 more dollars and had better food and view. You only live once.
Head over to SSR. Rooms allset. Paddock Section, overlooking pond, next to new pool, 3rd floor. SWEEEEEEETTTTT!!!!!!. Walk into room and it smells like an ASHTRAY. Not the whole room, its coming from the balcony below us. ( this is after I opened the slider). It looked like a war cloud coming up. And it was a real nasty smelling cigar. I call the front desk. I really didnt want to complain, but this smell was nasty. Plus I didnt want our room to smell like smoke and me to get the fine for it. The CM tells me they will come over and take care of it, and note it on our file. Felt bad for doing it, but hey its my vacation too.
Day 4: Guess what I woke up too. YEPPPP!!!! Cigar smoke coming in our room. Called front desk again. Now I am a little mad. These people are just rude. CM takes all info and tells me she will personally speak to manager. I hear someone come over. Again felt bad. CM comes to our room and explains everything should be all set. They were fined 500 dollars for violating the no smoking policy twice. (there was a language barrier, so they might have taken the charges off, dont know). They ended up checking out anyways the next day. Oh yeah, one last thing. They used the coffee pot as the ashtray the CM said. YUCK!!!!
Anyways head over to EPCOT for the day. Now our son is really easy going, but he has been a bear for the last few days. Cant figure out what it is. We are just about ready to head back to the room when my wife notices a nice happy family with there two kids singing and laughing in there nice comfy STROLLER. AAAARGH. This is the first trip with our son (6th trip total with him) to WDW in August without a stroller. The kid was fried. We felt so bad. 100 degrees outside. 100% humidity, and we are asking him to walk EPCOT. I rush over and get a stroller for him. He hops in and you think he won the lottery. We end up having a great day at EPCOT. Do some rides and walk the countries. He is happy as a clam. We eat at Garden Grill with Chip and Dale. Very nice meal with the characters. Food was excellant, but it felt really crowded.
Will continue tomorow. Any questions feel free to ask. Sorry about me hopping around. Trying to remember everything and then type it is really hard. Ive read some excellant TR before, mine is at the bottom of the barrel. Again I will answer any questions is you have them.
] of the Phineas and Ferb mini-show? That sounds really cute.
