Trip Report - September/October 2022

[Noreen411]

Introduction:

Noreen: I am a Senior Vice President at an Investment Banking firm in New York City. I will be the author of the report.

Scott - my husband. Scott is an Independent Contractor.

I’m going to post a picture (or two) of Scott and I so you see what we look like.



There were others that were potentially joining us for parts of the trip but that didn’t happen so it was just Scott and I.

There was an uninvited guest…Hurricane Ian

 

[Noreen411]

Planning:

We were away from Friday 9/23/22 until Saturday 10/9/22
We were in Florida from Saturday 9/24/22 until Friday 10/8/22

The plans to meet up with some of my co-workers/friends from the Tampa office of my company didn’t happen. Neither did the plans to meet up Dana, Herman, and their family.

Lodging:
We are going to stay at the sister resort to our timeshare. We own one week in a 2 bedroom / 2 bath villa at Vistana Resort. When it’s just Scott and I, I like to book the 1 bedroom premium villa if it’s available. If you don’t just book your week, you can use “options” and we have enough to stay for about 2 weeks in the one bedroom.

Since we already used our timeshare options this year for our March/April 2022 trip, we booked this one as a regular cash (American Express) reservation. When you book using your options, you can choose the section of the resort you want, but as a cash reservation you don’t have that option. I booked the one bedroom premium villa and put in a request to be in the St Augustine section (where the big 24 hour gym is located).

Transportation:
We drove to Florida from Northern New Jersey. We’ve done it a few times and prefer the flexibility it gives us over flying. We’ll do the drive over 2 days stopping in either North or South Carolina for the night. We’ve done the drive straight through a few times and realized we prefer to break it up over 2 days.

Activities:
We have Disney annual passes that expire during our trip. I couldn’t renew them until 60 days before they expired. We had to make reservations for the parks. As out of state pass holders we have the Incredipass. With our pass we can make 5 park reservations at a time but with the expiration being near the beginning of the trip, I was only able to make 3 until I was able to renew the pass. As soon as the date came that I was able to renew, I renewed online and made the additional few park reservations allowed with the annual pass.

Dining:
I had a handful of restaurants I wanted to try to get reservations for. I went on the app 60 days out each morning right before they opened and would book dinner. I kept checking and changing things as we went along.

Misc:
I didn’t keep many notes this trip so am trying to recreate what we did from memory so I’m sure I’ll forget some things. I would send myself texts throughout the day when we were away as a reminder of what we did. Between the texts and the pictures I’m hoping to remember most of it.

 

[Noreen411]

The week before the trip
We tried on clothes to bring and did most of the packing. We are going to take my little car again rather than Scott’s big truck. Since we both overpack, it’s always interesting to see how everything fits.

Aside from the normal being busy at work knowing we would be away for two weeks…

We’ve been talking about changing the paint color in the living room for a little while now so that was done. What a difference a new paint color makes.

We normally decorate for the holidays early. For the last few years we had the inside fully decorated by Halloween. We don’t want the neighbors or anyone driving by to think we are too nuts so don’t put up any outside decorations until mid/late November. Knowing we won’t be home from this trip until mid October Scott brought two of the Christmas trees up and we have the corner tree standing in the living room, and the big spinning tree standing in the family room. No lights or decorations are on yet, but two of the trees are up.

Scott also accidentally put one of the credit cards (the one we planned to use this trip) on something magnetic and demagnetized the card. The chip wouldn’t work nor would swiping it. I called to get a replacement card and was very impressed. I called on Thursday 9/15 when he demagnetized it and received the new card Friday 9/16

On Tuesday 9/20 I received a call from Vistana Villages to check when we’re arriving, any preferences on location, floor, how many keys we needed, etc. I was impressed that we received such a call but the woman mentioned that since we’re owners they want to make sure they knew our preferences.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 9/22/22
I am glad I took an extra day off. The last day before vacation at work is always stressful/busy and this way I had today to take care of my own stuff before the trip.

I went to get my manicure and pedicure at the spa. A shellac manicure in a sparkly light pink. My pedicure is a purplish pink that reminds me a bit of the 50th anniversary colors.



We finished the last of the packing and were ready to go.

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 9/23/22
We planned to leave at 4am, but it was 4:45 by the time we actually left.

The navigation in the car had us take an alternate route than what we expected, I’m guessing due to traffic, so we followed the car’s guidance.

We ended up on I95 around 7am but further south than we would normally get on.

We stopped at the Delaware Welcome Center for gas. Scott got a Burger King breakfast sandwich, we got Starbucks, and also an almond croissant from Pret A Manger. I ate my yogurt with granola.

We were in Maryland by 8:35 and Virginia by 11.
There was a lot of traffic, crashes, and broken down cars.

We stopped at a Wawa in Virginia around 1:45. Scott got an Italian hero for lunch. I ate a protein bar.

We were in North Carolina by about 3. After all the traffic delays we decided to stop in Florence for the night instead of driving to Santee. Around 4:40 I booked the Residence Inn Florence on my phone; we were about 2 hours away.

We got to South Carolina at 5:55. At the South Carolina Welcome Center there are cute swings that we always spend a few minutes sitting on.



We arrived at the Residence Inn Florence about 6:45. We checked in and went to our room #305. It’s a cute studio room with a kitchenette. We brought in our luggage and pulled out what we would need for the night.

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 9/23/22 Continued
We walked to a nearby Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner and sat at the bar.


I had a white peach sangria which was overly sweet. They added some seltzer and it was a bit better.
Scott had Makers Bourbon


For an appetizer we shared the Wild West Shrimp which was a bit too spicy for me so Scott ate most of it.
The bread they have is good.



For an entree we shared the filet with broccoli. Scott also ordered macaroni and cheese. He loves macaroni and cheese and will order it whenever he sees it.



For dessert we shared the strawberry cream shortcake.


We enjoyed our meal at Longhorn. It’s not fancy, it’s a chain so the food is pretty consistent.

We walked back to the hotel and watched some TV before going to bed.

 

[DLo]

Following along . Looking forward to reading more.

 

[Noreen411]

Following along . Looking forward to reading more.

Thank you for joining.
It takes me a while since I only really work on the report on the weekend.
Hoping to get some more written today

 

[Noreen411]

Saturday 9/24/22
We were up about 4:45 and headed to the hotel gym. It’s small but had what we needed. We both appreciate when there are 24 hour gyms available.





Back in our room we showered and got ourselves dressed and ready to go.

The hotel offers complimentary breakfast so we stopped to see what was available. They had the cutest waffle maker. You pour your batter in, close it, then flip it over when it beeps. I should have taken a picture of the waffle maker; I took a picture of the end result. Probably not the healthiest breakfast but it was good and fun to make. Scott also had some eggs and bacon with his waffle.



We left about 7:45. It was kind of chilly out so we put on sweatshirts. We like this hotel and would definitely stay here again if we are in the area.

We were in Georgia by 10:15



We missed the exit for Peach World which we were originally thinking of stopping at.

We were in Florida by 12:15


As exciting as it is to finally get to Florida, we knew we still had a few hours to go.

Splitting up the drive over two days is so much more relaxing than when we used to do it straight through.

 

[Noreen411]

Saturday 9/24/22 Continued
We arrived at Vistana Villages about 3:45, checked in, and our villa is ready.
We are in the St Augustine section (as requested) in a one bedroom premium villa - Room # 26-410

The villa is great - we really like it. I know many people don’t like timeshares but it works well for us having some things your wouldn’t have in a standard hotel room.

When you first enter it’s pretty open concept - you can see from the kitchen to the dining area to the living room.
The kitchen has a regular size refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave, stove, etc along with an island with stools.
The dining area has a table with 4 chairs as well as a bench seat.
The living room has a couch, chair, coffee table, end tables, TV, closets, etc

The villa is well equipped. There is plenty of storage





Near the door there is a small closet with a stackable washer/dryer


The bedroom isn’t huge but a reasonable size with a bed, dresser, TV, closet, safe in the closet, ceiling fan, etc.


The bathroom is a multi-room bathroom with multiple doors. The way it’s set up works well.
There is one section that has the shower stall and a sink (this was Scott’s sink).


In this part there is a water closet (toilet in it’s own room). I didn’t take a picture of that.

The next part has the jacuzzi and another sink (this was my sink).



The different bathroom sections all have doors between them.

There is also a balcony with a table and 4 chairs.


We cleaned the villa; I know they clean before we check in, but we do some extra cleaning.
We ran the dishes, glasses, and silverware through the dishwasher.

We brought our stuff in and unpacked. This took a while; we have a lot of stuff.

We went to Publix to get some groceries. It was jam packed because of the hurricane (Ian) threat. There were very long lines to check out. It took us a lot longer than expected.

We brought our stuff back to the villa and put away.

We also filled the jacuzzi with water and bleach, ran it, drained it, and did that again. We‘ll use it so want to make sure it’s clean.

By the time we were done with all this it was about 8pm.

 

[Noreen411]

Saturday 9/24/22 Continued
We didn’t make any dinner reservations for tonight since we didn’t know what time we would arrive or how we would feel.

We headed out since we were getting hungry. We thought of maybe heading to Disney Springs but changed our mind.
We went to Saltgrass Steakhouse on Route 535 (near Vistana Resort which is where we own and is the sister resort to Vistana Villages where we are staying). We found this restaurant a few trips ago and like it. As we parked and were walking towards the restaurant we changed our mind again since we just had steak yesterday. Instead we went right next door to Landry’s which is a seafood restaurant. We were kind of indecisive tonight.

We sat at the bar.
Scott had a Martini and I had a Peach Solstice Sangria.


This is probably one of my favorite parts of vacation. We’re here and unpacked; now we can just focus on having fun. We have the whole vacation ahead of us.

For our appetizer we shared the shrimp enbrochette. This was too spicy and cheesy for me, but I liked the little onion straws.


Scott also ordered oysters which he said were very good.


For our entree we shared the mixed grill which had filet, lobster tail, stuffed shrimp, and asparagus. We enjoyed this. It’s amusing me now that we changed our mind about the steak place yet our entree has steak on it - LOL



We also got the add-on of lump crab which was good.


For dessert we shared the Cinnamon Bread Pudding. This was pretty good. We compare all bread pudding to the bread pudding at Tambu Lounge at the Polynesian (the same bread pudding from O’Hana). That’s the holy grail of bread pudding. This one was not as good as Tambu Lounge, but it was a still a good bread pudding.



We enjoyed our meal at Landry’s.

We headed back to Vistana Villages and watched some TV before going to bed.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 9/25/22
We went to the gym at about 5. We purposely ask for this section of the resort as it has a large 24 hour fitness center.
There is a nice variety of equipment.



At 5:30 we bought Genie+ for today and set the phone alarm for 6:56am so we won’t forget to make our first selection.
At 7 I booked our first selection, Peter Pan valid from 10:15-11:15.
It’s convenient doing this on the phone from the gym, just pausing our workout as needed.

Back in the villa we started a load of laundry, used the jacuzzi, showered, and made breakfast.
This is pretty much our morning routine while here.

I had set my phone alarm for 7:56 so at 8 (when the park opened) I was able to buy and Individual Lightening Lane (ILL) for Seven Dwarves Mine Train for 12:55-1:55. This was in the midst of our morning routine.

We got to Magic Kingdom a little after 9. We stopped for a few Photopass photos; I really like these. Especially the Magic Shots.







We wandered through a few shops on Main Street then made our way towards Buzz Lightyear and got in the standby line which said 25 minutes. At 10 we were able to make our next Genie+ selection (the 2 hour rule) and Buzz had one available for 10:05-11:05. I booked that, we got out of the standby line and went right on.

Once we tapped into Buzz Lightyear, I was able to make the next Genie+ and chose Small World for 10:55-11:55 which works out nicely with our time for Peter Pan since they are right near each other.

I never get a good score on this game but it’s always fun.



We went on Carousel of Progress. I always like this and we will walk all the way to the end to sit, not stopping in the middle like many people do. I like to sing along as you move scenes and don’t want anyone to hear me (except Scott). We both noticed the updates in the final scene.

We stopped for this photo which I really like - it looks like a postcard. If you look closely you can see Scott and I near the bottom right. Not only is this a picture but in the app it’s also a video that zooms in and out, I can’t attach that here but I can attach the picture. Several of the photopass pictures are like that - both video with either zooming and/or animatronics as well as a still picture; it’s really cute.



We headed into FantasyLand and rode Peter Pan once our ride window opened. It’s a classic and we enjoy it.

We went right onto Small World after and as soon as we tapped in here I made a selection for Pirates which was good right away.

We noticed there isn’t much leg room on the boats in Small World; we were in the first row. We aren’t tall people either - I’m 5’ 3.5” and Scott is 5’ 9”.

We headed right over to Pirates and went on. Once tapped in we made a selection for Haunted Mansion for 1:20-2:20.

It’s not too crowded today and Genie+ is working great letting us jump right onto ride after ride. Some of the waits are only 20 minutes here and there for standby but we’re saving those little waits with Genie+. Some rides have waits listed of 45 minutes or more, but I wonder if they are accurate.

We went on Big Thunder Mountain standby. The wait said 40 minutes but it was actually only 15 (I timed it).


We went on Philharmagic standby no wait. The new scene with the skeletons is cute. I know it’s not that new but it’s the first time we’re seeing it.

It was time for our ride on Seven Dwarves Mine Train. This is so fun. I’m liking it more each time we go on.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 9/25/22 Continued
We headed over to Haunted Mansion as it was time to ride. We never seem to be looking at the camera when we get a picture on Haunted Mansion. This is another favorite attraction of ours.


When we exited there was a photographer taking pictures so we stopped. I am hitchhiking with the wrong thumb. The photographer was laughing at me (with me not in a mean way).





It’s sunny and a bit hotter out now than it was earlier.



We went through some of the shops on the other side of Main Street (opposite the side we browsed on the way in) and Scott found a cute shirt.

We left the park around 2:30 and headed to Disney Springs.

There was a 3.5 hour virtual queue for Gideon’s so we’ll try that another day.

We went to Morimoto for lunch. We had such a great meal here our last trip, have several dinners booked here this trip, Scott has been really looking forward to it and since we were in Disney Springs he suggested we pop in and see if we can have lunch. It wasn’t busy. We sat at the bar.

This is a bit of a pet peeve of mine…the chairs are not comfortable. Even in the restaurant most of the chairs are hard like this too. I guess it keeps people from lingering too long.



We ordered a California Roll, A Spider Roll, and Pork Dumplings.





The food was just OK. It was nowhere near as good as our last trip. We cancelled our dinner reservations here for later in the trip. We won’t write Morimoto off and will give it another try since we really enjoyed it last trip, but we won’t be back this trip.

At Sprinkles we virtual ordered a Carrot Cake Cupcake to share. We sat outside and enjoyed our little treat. This was very good.





We wandered around the shops.

At World of Disney I found a cute shirt and Scott got a sunglasses holder/lanyard.

In CoOp I was looking at the Vans sneakers which are adorable but they didn’t have my size.

We were a bit disappointed in the Christmas store since we normally find several ornaments each time we’re in here and we didn’t this time.

We headed back to the villa and did some more laundry. We put away our purchases and just hung out for a bit.

Pretty soon it was time to shower and change for the evening.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 9/25/22 Continued
We drove to the Grand Floridian. We have dinner reservations at Citricos later but went a little early planning to have a drink at the Enchanted Rose Lounge.

We checked the shops for the Vans sneakers but they didn’t have them. They suggested we try the Contemporary so we took the monorail over. They had them - aren’t they adorable? This picture is taken after we were already home. The cast member told me they take some time to break in so didn’t recommend wearing them for a long day in the parks for the first time.



We took the monorail back to the Grand Floridian but the Enchanted Rose Lounge was super crowded. Instead we ended up at the bar in Citricos around 8:30. We checked in and let them know we were there and would be at the bar since it wasn’t time for our reservation yet

I had a Magical Beacon Cocktail and Scott had a martini.






We were seated just after our reservation time.


The bread is really good, it’s hard to stick to just one piece.



For our appetizers we shared the duck with tagliatelle and the pork belly. Both were delicious.





For our entrees Scott ordered the salmon and I ordered the Mahi Mahi. We often share meals but the portion sizes here are reasonable and we will usually order our own entrees at Citricos (of course tasting/sharing). Both entrees were really good.





We skipped dessert. We’ve been very spoiled at Citricos in the past with great service. Today was OK but not as good as in the past. The food is always great. It’s not a huge menu so we cancelled our other dinner reservations here for this trip.

We walked out to the marina area and were able to watch the Hallowishes fireworks that were at Magic Kingdom for the Not So Scary Halloween Party. It was great timing that they were going off after dinner. The bartender had suggested we head out to the marina to watch them.


After the fireworks we drove back to the villa.

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 9/26/22
We slept a bit later than usual and woke up a little after 6. We headed to the gym.

Just before 7 we bought Genie+ for today and booked our first selection for Slinky Dog Dash for 11:55-12:55. After the brief pause for Genie+ stuff we continued our workout.

Back in the villa we started a load of laundry, used the jacuzzi, showered, and made breakfast.

The news reports are very serious with Hurricane Ian heading towards Florida.

We drove to Hollywood Studios and arrived about 10:30. We were able to book our next genie+ selection (2 hour rule) and chose Toy Story Mania from 11:45-12:45. That worked out well as it’s right near Slinky Dog and the times are similar.





We walked over to Rock N Roller Coaster where Scott was planning to use the single rider line but they didn’t have one today. The standby wait looked long so he came back.

We saw the 11:30 Frozen Sing Along Show. This is always so funny. The historians really make it. It’s a great combination of kids enjoying it and comments that the adults appreciate.

The park is pretty crowded today.

We went on Toy Story Mania. This is such a fun attraction. We always have a little bet and Scott always wins.

We went right onto Slinky Dog Dash after. This is fun. Our genie selections for these two attractions with overlapping times worked perfectly so we weren’t criss crossing the park.



Once we tapped into Slinky Dog we booked Star Tours that was good 5 minutes later so we headed there next and enjoyed that attraction.

The Genie+ returns were all showing later this evening.

We headed out of the park and drove to Disney Springs. The line for Gideon’s is standby today (rather than virtual queue) and was about 25 minutes; we joined the line and had a pleasant wait chatting with others in line.

We got 12 cookies (limit of 6 per person), a slice of White Oreo Cake, and an iced Pumpkin Chai. The pumpkin chai was good, but the peanut butter drink that we tried last trip was better.



We went back to Vistana Villages to put the cookies in the freezer.



We went to the pool. They had a net set up for water volleyball so we played. We were laughing so hard at one point…I was looking up for the ball and maybe the sun was in my eyes or something so I didn’t see it and it bounced off my head. It sounds silly but at the time was hysterical since not only did it bounce off my head but over the net for a point. We had a nice time at the pool.

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 9/26/22 Continued
Later we showered and changed then drove to the Beach Club. We have dinner reservations at Beaches and Cream at 7:30 but we went a little early to have a pre-dinner cocktail.

We went to Martha’s Vineyard Lounge for drinks.



I had a Bahama Mama and Scott had a Martini.



They had snacks at the bar so we ordered the tater tots to snack on. These were better than I expected them to be; they stayed crispy even with the toppings on them.



Scott was chatting with the bartender about drinks and the bartender suggested an off-menu drink for Scott since he likes Bourbon…a Bourbon Smash. Scott said it was good.



We headed over to Beaches and Cream later. I think this silly picture of Scott with the menu is adorable and funny. I haven’t been to Beach and Cream in ages; Scott’s never been before. He likes burgers and hot fudge sundaes so I thought he would enjoy it.



Scott had a bacon cheeseburger with tater tots. He said it was good.



I had the French dip with fries. This was good too.



For dessert we shared the Mudslide Sundae. We enjoyed this, but even sharing we barely put a dent in it. We probably should have shared a meal to be able to enjoy more of the sundae.



After eating we walked around the Boardwalk/Beach Club/Yacht club area.

We headed back to Vistana Villages.

 

[Counting Stars]

Following Love reading your trip reports and dining reviews. Really well done. Also a sprinkling of new places and dishes to try in my own trip planning. Thanks for taking the time.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

This is probably one of my favorite parts of vacation. We’re here and unpacked; now we can just focus on having fun. We have the whole vacation ahead of us.

Best feeling in the World!

 

[Noreen411]

Following Love reading your trip reports and dining reviews. Really well done. Also a sprinkling of new places and dishes to try in my own trip planning. Thanks for taking the time.

Thank you for the kind words

 

[Noreen411]

Best feeling in the World!

Exactly