WDW in October vs. Hilton Head in March: a tale of two trips NEW! 10/6 p20

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Beautifuls picture of Charleston. I'll have to tell Jodi to get over here - that's her hometown!

Looking forward to Hilton Head!

 

[KatMark]

"Sarah talks to the animals - Sarah Dolittle! "

I love it!


The pictures are really beautiful. I can't believe you held the cupcakes hostage from the girls until you got to HHI.

 

[Poolrat]

I think the last time I was in Charleston that bridge was being built.


Looks like you had a nice tour of the city .


I agree with MeMom We're here We're here!!!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Beautiful pics!

Thanks!! It's easy to get great pics there!

Geek time. I have the mini series north and south on DVD (actually 3 of them) and I watch them about once a year.
I am currently watching again while I exercise and I am pretty sure this building is used in the movie as the War Dept. LOL

There are also some of the manisons used in the movie nearby too.
Boone Hall Plantation is one of them. It was also used in the Notebook.

The The Calhoun Mansion is another one used in that film...ironically they portreyed it as being in Pennsylvania.

Ok, done being a geek. Loving the pictures.

That's cool!! I wish we'd have had time to go to the Boone Plantation - next trip!

Pretty place - and the gates are very cool. I would have enjoyed walking around just taking it all in.


Can't say that I blame her. I'm sure summers are delightful up there, but then there's the rest of the year....

My favorite season here is fall - meaning September and October. After Halloween, forget it. It could snow a foot any day. Once it snowed about 3 feet on Halloween! But I'd say we really have from May - October with good weather that most people could appreciate. Winter does get long.

We're here!!!

YAY!!

Beautifuls picture of Charleston. I'll have to tell Jodi to get over here - that's her hometown!

Looking forward to Hilton Head!

Oh, Jodi is a lucky girl! What a beautiful place to call "home"! HHI is coming up soon. I've got an update almost ready back on my home computer - hopefully tonight!

"Sarah talks to the animals - Sarah Dolittle! "

I love it!


The pictures are really beautiful. I can't believe you held the cupcakes hostage from the girls until you got to HHI.

She is the animal lover - she even thought a skunk was cute - it was on the news that it bit some poor little baby and she was excited about the skunk! OY!

Well, those cupcakes needed to have their picture taken first (DIS duties!) and we had to share them, so I figured we'd wait until we got "home" to HHI! I'm such a mean mom, right?

I think the last time I was in Charleston that bridge was being built.


Looks like you had a nice tour of the city .


I agree with MeMom We're here We're here!!!

Charleston is a COOL city! I just fell in love (with all of SC really) and would love to "retire" there someday. At least part time there and part time at HHI and part time at WDW.

YAY we're here!! Villa pictures in the next update! Hopefully I'll get to it tonight.
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Hey everyone - just wanted to share with you all that I'm doing a fundraiser for Give Kids the World. I hope it's okay to post about it here. I've set up a FB event too so if you're my friend on there you should see it. If I'm allowed - here is what it is: I'm hosting (Full disclosure - I'm the consultant too) a Pampered Chef online only show. It runs through the end of July. At least 10% of the sales will be donated to GKTW and if I hit $1000 in sales, I will donate my commission too! I doubt I can post the link here, so message me for details and the link by which to order. Let's see how much we can raise to help send those kids to our favorite place!! Thanks!!!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

OH MY GOSH! Look how far my ticker has gotten! HA! It caught me by surprise!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Hi Sheree! Just trying to get all caught up once again. Charleston looks soooooo pretty and interesting! I love your pictures!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Beautiful pictures of Charleston! I just love the big houses along the water and I too love wrought iron gates.

It's so funny that you took a picture of Moe's!! Their food is so yummy!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Hi Sheree! Just trying to get all caught up once again. Charleston looks soooooo pretty and interesting! I love your pictures!

Hey Kelli! Charleston is fabulous!!

Beautiful pictures of Charleston! I just love the big houses along the water and I too love wrought iron gates.

It's so funny that you took a picture of Moe's!! Their food is so yummy!

Thanks! It was just beautiful!!
Moe's is good, eh? Maybe next time I'll eat there!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

We arrived at the resort around 5:30.



Fell in love with the place right away! So relaxed and comfortable! The CMs are super friendly! I thought I had a picture of the CM waving at us upon arrival. Of course, I don't know where it went. But a lovely young lady named Carissa (?) greeted us and welcomed us to Disney's HHI resort! Mickey welcomed us too!


At the check-in building, they had some really nice public spaces! We'd be back here for a special event!




The Check-in Desk


The key hangers behind the desk contain some Hidden Mickeys! First, the keys are hung on hooks in the shape of a Mickey head.
Hidden Mickeys at the check-in desk


Sarah was excited to find out about Shadow, but we didn’t see her that night. She kept her eyes peeled for her every minute we walked around.




We were in Building 19


We drove over and parked in front of our TWO BEDROOM villa!




I love the layout of this place – the bedrooms are on opposite sides of the kitchen/living room, so there’s a bit more privacy.
I have one complaint about the room. The couch in the living room is near impossible to sit on! The cushions are firm, and because it’s a pull out, they sort of tilt you to the front of the couch. So I always felt like I was sliding off to the front unless I sort of lay sideways and hogged the couch! Which I did sometimes.

So, are you ready to see some room pictures???

cont. in next post!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

cont.
Let's go inside, shall we?
Looks like Shadow was here!


Kitchen



Did I mention we stopped at Target?


Living room sitting area - with weird couch cushion


to the left is the dining area. The door goes out to the deck.

Master/main Bathroom - the toilet is behind the door. The shower is to the left. This bathroom is connected to the vanity and big tub area of the bathroom, separated by a sliding door. This bathroom walks through into the master bedroom.



Master bedroom - with access to the deck!





The "girls' room"




The "girls' bathroom"


They were REALLY happy to have their own space!

The deck


The view from the deck


There's a bench with hooks above it in the entry to hang coats, bags etc.
This is carved into the bench.


Gotta love the Disney details!!

Not bad for 25 points a night, eh?


Just so you know I didn't make the girls wait too long - here are our cupcakes!


All were yummy!

We did go out to watch the movie under the stars – African Cats, but it was chilly and windy (and the girls were not loving it – Sarah was upset by the reality of animals dying), so we didn’t stay for the whole thing. The benches were not comfortable for this old body either!

I think we made it to bed around 11. It was expected to rain the next day, so we planned to just explore the resort, go meet Shadow and check out the Beach House.

 

[MEK]

25 points a night in March? That's awesome. I think it went up to 35 when we were there. I actually really like the second bedroom even though I've only slept in the master.

I agree that the walk through bathroom is a pain. You always have to make sure the doors are locked.

And that couch - I know exactly what you mean. I think it was a bad design and there was no way they were going to replace them. Ours actually wasn't too bad, but the one I had on my previous trips was ridiculous.

 

[wiigirl]

Awesome pics!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Great pictures, looks very roomy!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

25 points a night in March? That's awesome. I think it went up to 35 when we were there. I actually really like the second bedroom even though I've only slept in the master.

I agree that the walk through bathroom is a pain. You always have to make sure the doors are locked.

And that couch - I know exactly what you mean. I think it was a bad design and there was no way they were going to replace them. Ours actually wasn't too bad, but the one I had on my previous trips was ridiculous.

Yeah! The points were why we chose to go then and originally we had a 1BR for a night longer, but switched to the 2BR when we had to give up a night. Worked out well. The 2nd BR has a big closet area too that was good for storing luggage. The girls used it as a changing area for privacy!
That couch was so odd. Although it made me feel good that apparently I didn't weigh enough to keep it down!

Awesome pics!

Thanks! The scenery gets better too!

Great pictures, looks very roomy!

It felt just HUGE! There was so much room compared to a regular hotel room - I could really see staying in one for a month every winter! HA - I'm pretty sure I'll never have that many points!! But it is very much a "home" rather than a "room". LOVED it!!

 

[MeMom]

What a great place! I like the picnic table and chairs out on the deck. Such a nice place to just hang out and socialize!

Good to hear that your cast members were super friendly. That was a drawback at Vero, in my opinion. With the exception of a few, we didn't really feel that the Vero CM's were all that 'magical'.

The girls look very excited about the bathroom!

Cupcake time!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

What a great place! I like the picnic table and chairs out on the deck. Such a nice place to just hang out and socialize!

Good to hear that your cast members were super friendly. That was a drawback at Vero, in my opinion. With the exception of a few, we didn't really feel that the Vero CM's were all that 'magical'.

The girls look very excited about the bathroom!

Cupcake time!

Oh just wait! I've got some really good CM stories! It was awesome!
Not sure why they thought the bathroom was so great - maybe because it was "theirs"?

 

[KatMark]

Oooh...your villa is lovely. Another destination to keep in mind for a future trip.

Those cupcakes are making me think it is time to go heat up my lunch.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Oooh...your villa is lovely. Another destination to keep in mind for a future trip.

Those cupcakes are making me think it is time to go heat up my lunch.

We loved it!
Hope you got your lunch! I always end up reading TRs about food and getting hungry!

 

[KatMark]

We loved it!
Hope you got your lunch! I always end up reading TRs about food and getting hungry!

I did; and then I had to go out and get a cupcake at one of the stores...thanks to you. It put me behind...but I finally got my updates done on my TR and PTR before I left work.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Tuesday 3/12/13

Today we slept in! I first woke up at 6 and went back to sleep until 8:15! I think it was around then that I realized I left the coffee filters at home! We did make a filter of sorts with paper towels, and it worked okay. I didn’t want to buy a pack of 100. I had just about 20 back at home!! I don’t use that kind of machine at home, so the filters would not be of use anywhere else. Oh well. We had breakfast in the room and per the activity chart, decided we would go meet Shadow! He and his “friend” B’lou were going to be telling stories in the Den at the main building. We were about the first ones there (not too excited!) Shadow is a golden retriever and super friendly and mellow. B’lou is a great story teller (BS-er) and was very entertaining. The kids really enjoyed it.

Waiting...


That's B'Lou. You can't really see Shadow because of the kids attacking!



not very ladylike Shadow!! But what dog doesn't need a good belly rub?



Now B'Lou will tell you that Shadow's been around since they started building the resort, but she doesn't look very old. Must be the pixie dust!

Walking back to the villa
Spanish Moss



There's a nice "covered" walkway along the marina


That would make a fun climbing tree!


Anyone spy a kid?


We decided to drive over to the Beach House – it’s a mile away across the “main highway”. It would be so amazing to hang out here for a day if the weather were a little warmer and sunnier.

view from the parking lot




Guess it wasn't much of a pool/beach day

These spray water when it's warm (I suppose)


It's very private around the pool and building



Walking out to the beach - there's a locked gate and you have to use your KTTW to get in again. Then you walk down the "boardwalk" to the sand.



Definitely not a beach day.


Mine, mine - these guys didn't mind the lousy weather. Every day is a beach day for them I guess!

Sarah wanted to join them


or scare them?






cont. in next post...