What to do in Vero?

[QueenAnne]

My husband and I are taking our 3 year old and my in-laws to Vero Beach this upcoming July. We have never been there, we just bought into DVC in August at HH, and I have been looking on some websites and it really doesn't tell you what there is to do around the town. We are going to do some of the Disney things around the resort and of course the beach, but, for example, at HH we found a Dolphin Cruise cheaper than the one Disney offered and found it very enjoyable. We enjoy doing just about anything, my husband though has requested that we find a golf course that may have a ocean view (the one he played in HH said it was ocean front, but wasn't.) Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[SnowWitch]

VB is very laid back. I'm not sure about golf courses because we didn't look for any. We found VB to be a place to relax and we loved it. There are things to do outside the resort but not quite as many as at HH. I believe there are river and ocean cruises offered, fishing, Mel Fishers Treasure Museum, Cape Canaveral is right up the coast.........We really enjoyd our week there in June and are going back in August for 2 weeks.

 

[PamOKW]

Vero Beach is more of a winter home for the wealthy than a "touristy" area. The oceanfront golf courses, as far as I know, are all private courses in multimillion dollar home developments. (Orchid Island right by our resort comes to mind). I don't believe they allow daily play.

There is a large mall and outlet shopping on State Road 60. There are also smaller, boutique type shops in Vero Beach itself down along the water. There is a theater in Vero Beach as well.

DVC does have some agreements with area golf courses. Maybe others here can shed some light on what they are like.

 

[QueenAnne]

I sort of figured it was that way looking at the different websites about VB. We are planning on just relaxing at the beach all day or at the pool. I was going to call MS and find out about golf. How about restaurants? We ate at the Old Oyster Factory in HH and just loved it! Any places like that near by that anyone recommends??

 

[SnowWitch]

Our favorite was The Patio, it looks like a dump from the outside but the inside is nice and the food was great. We also ate at The Ocean Grille, I enjoyed my duck but my DH was less than thrilled with his choice, would I recommend it YES because everyone has different taste and many on this board recommend it. We may give it another try this summer. We also enjoyed Sonyas at the resort but didn't enjoy Shutters at all.

 

[jmminarik]

Originally posted by QueenAnne
How about restaurants? We ate at the Old Oyster Factory in HH and just loved it! Any places like that near by that anyone recommends??

We didn't venture offsite during our recent trip, but there is a list of 'disney recommended' restaurants in the VB area, including directions and sample menus in big binder books in the lobby.

One thing about the restaurants is you'll have to drive to get to them. Its not terribly far, but living and working in Philadelphia it is 'odd' for us to drive more than 2 miles to a restaurant.

We ate at shutters, and were unimpressed. Typical Disney food, lots of it, average quality. We had Christmas dinner at Sonya's. When we made ressies, they were doing their regular Tuesday buffet, and were told they were going to do something extra for the holiday. When we got there, we found out they had so many requests that they 'changed' to their regular menu at the last minute. My sister and brother-in-law both enjoyed their seafood, I liked my very rare prime rib, and they went out of their way to make kid friendly food for my nephew. We had to send back the stuffed veal my wife ordered. It was overcooked and nasty. Once we get settled back into our normal life, we'll let the VB managment know our displeasure at the unannounced change to the regular menu and the quality of the food (good and bad).

Hope this helps,
Joe

 

[QueenAnne]

Thanks for the info! I don't think we will go to Shutters, not to many people were impreesed from what I've read. We kinda wanted to go to a place off site and eat at a nice seaford place, but may try Sonya's. I have read that you do have to drive a ways to get to resturants and even grocery stores. I am in Springfield, Missouri and its a small town compared to Philadelphia, but we drive down the street to a resturant and grocery stores! We are used to things being easily accessible like they were at HH! We plan to make dinner the other nights we are there. Thanks for the info though, I'll keep it all in mind!

 

[PamOKW]

FYI -- Sonya's and Shutters share the same kitchen and it's possible to order off either menu. I had a bad experience at Sonya's and haven't enjoyed the food at Shutters. I do like the chicken strips from the pool snack bar and the "pizza" at The Green Room. Ocean Grill in Vero is very good although you can sometimes get stuck at a less than desireable table and that can cloud your view of the restaurant.

 

[SnowWitch]

The Ocean Grill isn't but about 15 minutes right down the road. We had a great table at the Ocean Grill but my DH's seafood lacked any flavor at all, I complained and they comped us his meal. I found it odd as I sat looking out at that beautiful ocean how they could have seafood lack any flavor with that location. But like I said we would try it again and order something different. We live in the sticks so driving 15-20 minutes for dinner is nothing to us. We fixed breakfast in the room and had dinner out in the evenings!!

 

[QueenAnne]

I had gone onto a resturant site that rate Ocean Grill 4 1/2 stars and I had read some people really enjoyed it! I was thinking we may consider there! 15 min drive isn't that bad, we drive that to go to my favorite resturant, Lamberts, in Ozark, MO and then wait 2 hours to eat there! I really didn't want to eat onsite just because we will be eating all but one of our meals in our 2 bdrm! We are not going until July so we have time to throw ideas around!

 

[BIERMUGG]

On our Last trip in July we tried the Ocean Grill It was ok very quiet and laid back atmosphere about 15 minutes south on A1A. But really liked Capt Hiram's and Fins's More of a lively atmosphere and the food was great in both, also about 15 minutes away but off of 1A.(?)