- Joined
- May 1, 2000
I intended to post this day by day at HHI this past week, but for reasons detailed in this report, you will see that I had to wait to do this all at once. Sorry about the length.
HILTON HEAD ISLAND TRIP REPORT
THE CAST
STARS
Myself, a 31-year-old husband and father. I am a general contractor who works throughout the southeast; I also own a travel agency with my sister, and the second person in our party, my wife, works for her (notice that even though I am a part owner, my wife works for my sister not me!)
My wife, Jill; a 32-year-old stay-at-home mom. Since I travel frequently for work, she is the motivator in getting our trips scheduled most of the time. This trip was her idea, partially motivated by the 4th of July, and partially motivated by the proximity of the resort to Savannah and her sister and family who live there.
My son, Ethan; a 3-year-old handful, but barrel of laughs. He has traveled more in his young life than some adults I know! It is so much fun to have uninterrupted time with him.
My mom, Raelle; a 58-year-old widow. She is the mother of three, and since dad passed away in 2005, she usually travels with one of her kids and their family.
FEATURE PLAYERS
My nephew, Harrison; an 8-year-old holy terror (overrated, as a terror IMHO).
My niece, Ryan; a 3-year-old angel (definitely overrated as an angel, IMHO).
My brother-in-law, Rusty; a 35-year-old father of the two aforementioned nephews.
My sister-in-law, Julie; a 37-year-old mother of the two aforementioned nephews.
JUNE 30, 2007 DAY 1
Today, we got a later start than we had hoped for. My wife is in the primary presidency (a childrens organization) in our church, and she had a primary activity this morning that went a little long. Since we were driving, this was not a huge deal, except that I wasnt looking forward to a long drive, so a late start was not something I was looking forward to. We also had two of my sister-in-laws children riding with us, since they were going home after a two week summer break stay in Atlanta. The two kids (Harrison, 8 and Ryan 3) are well behaved, but can be a bit of an over stimulating influence on my 3-year-old. By the time we hit the road, I was sure all hell was about to break loose. It turned out, however, that the trip timing worked out all right. The two youngest kiddos were asleep within minutes of leaving home, and they didnt wake up until we were about 30 minutes past Macon. Both were a little grumpy when they woke up, but we have a DVD player in the car, and they were at least distracted by that. The one complaint I had about the trip was the little girl with a pea-sized bladder. We were headed to Pooler, GA (just outside of Savannah), and between Macon and Pooler, which is about a 2-hour drive, we stopped 4 times for her to go to the bathroom!
We left Pooler just ahead of a massive thunderstorm, and watched it rage behind us all along 17 to 278. Somehow, when we got on island, the cloud stayed behind. The traffic was pretty lousy on island (a little after 6:00 PM). And it took about 30 minutes to come down 278 to the resort. I think it would have been quicker to take the Cross Island PKWY, though that does come with a Toll (we have a Palmetto Pass, we might as well use in on occasion).
I was really worried about arriving late. We had not stayed at HHI previously, and the resort map made it look like you could get a really remote room. When I came into the main building to check in, I was met by a nice young woman from Ireland who quickly got us checked-in. She told us that the resort was completely full, and she didnt offer us any kind of choice for where our room location would be. She gave us a welcome packet that contained a newsletter, a weekly activity guide, a restaurant guide, 101 things to do on the island and a flyer stating that points are available for sale with a $5 discount at HHI. We were put in Cottage 17, room 1721. This is a second floor room in the middle of the resort. In fact, if you had to pick up the resort and balance it on a stick, you would probably have to put the stick through our villa. This seems to be a very convenient location. The only problem is that, 1, my mom has a hard time with the stairs, and 2, there are no signs pointing to the cottage. Every other cottage has multiple signs pointing the way to the cottage, 17 has none. The nice thing is that the parking is convenient from almost anywhere.
We parked near a luggage cart return area. It took me about 15 minutes to get everything moved in. We immediately fell in love with the villa. The place is huge. The countertops are plastic laminate, and some of the finish levels are not as nice as Saratoga Springs, but those are minor points. The rooms are nice, the beds are comfortable, the dining area is ample, the balcony is large with a picnic table (it shares access with the master bedroom). We are most impressed with the villa. Still, we do have a couple of minor complaints.
1. No internet access. While you can go to the main lodge, pool area, community hall, and beach house for internet, there is no other internet access without dial-up. Local calls are free, so if you use dial-up and have a modem, you are ok here.
2. No light or fan on the back porch. As somebody from the south, we arent foolish enough to think a fan can keep you cool, but they do wonders in keeping the bugs off of you and the food. Also, a light just seems obvious.
Obviously, the internet is something long over due, but the other item is pretty minor.
We were pretty tired by the time we got everything moved in, but we were even more hungry. We took the whole family to Fudruckers for dinner. The place was packed, and it took a while to get out of there. By the time we finished, my son was done for the day, so we took DW and him back to the resort to hit the hay. Afterwards, I took my mom to the Piggly Wiggly, which is just around the corner. The place had most of what we wanted, but it was way too expensive. It was also overrun with people, so it took forever to get out of there. I have got to check out another grocery store on Monday.
JULY 1, 2007 DAY 2
I woke up early this morning to make the family breakfast burritos. We were trying to make it to church by 9:00 AM, but I could sense that we would be late by the very slow awakening this morning. Everyone enjoyed breakfast, and were slow get going form there. We made it to church about 10 minutes late, but fortunately, the ward was overrun with visitors, and started late today. We only stayed for Sacrament meeting (the main service), and then we headed back to the resort.
We drove around a bit, to get to know the island again, but the traffic is still pretty bad, so we gave up and just headed back to find the beach house. It isnt far from the resort, and we all decided it would be a lot easier to drive than to wait on the shuttle. When we got back to the resort, we ate lunch, and then headed out to the Big Dipper Pool for a while. It was a little overcast, and the pool wasnt packed at all. We purchased two refillable mugs, which can be refilled at the mercantile, the small restaurant next to it and the Signals Bar at the beach house.
We have a three-year-old who is learning to swim, and the Big Dipper is a great pool for him. Ethan turned three a couple of months ago, and we work with him swimming quite a bit, but he still isnt there. He is about 40 inches tall, and the pool has 2 three-foot sections of the pool that he can stand in and still keep his head above water, but he can, and does, float and swim without standing. The pool slide is also a lot of fun for both Ethan and myself. I must admit to really enjoying the slide with him. He went down it once in a life jacket, but we quickly abandoned that. It is not too intense, nor too dull. It is dark (completely enclosed), but that isnt a deterrent to him. It does scare some other kids here though.
Tonight for dinner we ate a casserole dish that my mom had prepared and frozen prior to our trip. The food was great; it reminded me of being a kid again. After dinner, we put our son down, and stayed in for the night to play Scrabble and watch a movie we rented from the mercantile. We had intended to go to the hot tub, or to take a late night swim, but thunder shut down the pool area.
JULY 2, 2007 DAY 3
We woke up today to a torrential downpour. It looked like the kind of thing that would blow over pretty quick; boy were we wrong. It rained until after 1:00 PM. We occupied the morning by playing Monopoly. When it finally let up, we headed out to get a bite to eat. We were not the only ones to head out at that time. The traffic was terrible, and the restaurants were all packed. We ended up at (blech) McDonalds. Afterward, we went to the Cinema 10 to see Ratatouille. We really enjoyed the movie, and the theater was 100% packed. Every ticket was sold out for the day. I know it was the movie at this theater today.
After the movie, we went to Folley Beach to show Ethan the beach he has been begging to see. The wind was really heavy today, and the surf was quite rough. It was a much better day for kites than for swimming. As a result, we went back to the resort to get our kites.
Instead of going back to the beach, we decided to try and fly kites from the pier at the resort. Im glad we did. The site was actually really good for flying kites, since there was no danger of hitting anyone or getting in anybodys way. We had a great time flying kites, and did so until the sun went down. We also had a nice sunset to look at as the partly cloudy skies lit up the sky in brilliant colors. This is also the best place to watch the sun go down. There was hardly anybody there for the campfire program tonight, but they still held it.
Tonight for dinner we made pizza in our villa. The pizza was good, and the fuddy duddy occupants of or little pad decided to call it a night. That is until I got a hankering for a hot chocolate (yes in July), and went out looking for a Dunkin Donuts. According to my TomTom, the closest Dunkin is 50 miles away. As a result, I went to Publix and bought some chocolate. FWIW, the Publix near Sea Pines was significantly less crowded, and had much better prices than the Piggly Wiggly we went to on Saturday night.
JULY 3, 2007 DAY 4
This morning I got up early again to make the family breakfast. I wanted to get to the beach house as soon as it opened, since I figured it would be a busy day at the beach. The pool house opens at 10:00 AM, and we did pretty well. We arrived about 10:15 AM. There were very few people there. This was due, in part, to the extremely rough surf. Yellow flags lined the shore, which didnt stop some from getting in the water, but it stopped us. I was under-whelmed by the beach anyway. Folley Beach was much nicer, with less debris to deal with. You actually had to walk through a huge 5 wide stretch of straw and other debris that had been washed ashore. There were plenty of chairs and umbrellas for rent, though it was again partly cloudy, and most of these were vacant. As a side note, we fell in love with DVC on a cash stay to Vero Beach last 4th of July; part of the reason is the actual beach. Vero has a much nicer beach than Hilton Head. Now back to your regularly scheduled trip report: due to the conditions, we spent all of our time at the beach house pool.
The Beach House is a very nice facility. There is a medium sized pool in an H shape. The pool is 5 at its deepest, and has a volleyball net set up across the middle of it. One side is stripped like a lap pool, but it was too crowded to be a practical pool for exercise, and it is a little small anyway. The facility has a dining spot, a bar/drink stand/ice cream store (complete with Mickey Premium Bars!), a game room, a table tennis, foosball table, water play area and indoor air-conditioned lounge with free high-speed wireless. FWIW, you can use your refillable mug here. One more thing, the refillable mug says Disneys Hilton Head Island Resort, 2007.
After a few hours of swimming, ping-pong and Mickey Premium Bars, we headed back to the villa. We wanted to rent bikes for the rest of the week. Unfortunately, Disney was out of bikes, as was the other 4 rental locations the rental desk gave us to call. Disappointed that we missed out on our chance, we made sandwiches for lunch, and Ethan and Jill took a nap, while I went to Big Murties Den to check e-mail. When I came back, I saw that somebody had a rented bike from Palmetto Dunes Rentals. I called the number on the bike and discovered that they still had a few bikes and a toddler cart left. I went straight over and rented the bikes. It cost 96 dollars for two bikes and a cart for Tuesday through Saturday. I took my son and wife with me, and we loaded up Jills bike in the Excursion, and I took Ethan back on the bike and trailer. The ride is easy, and it is a lot of fun to do. The weather is nice, so we couldnt have picked a better week to rent bikes. After we got back to the resort, we got Jills bike out, and we loaded up Ethan to ride over to the mall.
The mall here stinks. There is not a decent store in the place. Im not a big fan of most malls, but my wife, who believes that every mall has some potential, found herself pretty unimpressed as well. We purchased a toy for our son, but there was not much else I would have purchased in the place. After our ride to the mall, we had worked up an appetite, so we decided to go out for ribs.
Since I was a kid, I have made an almost annual trip to Hilton Head, and it was never complete without a trip to Tony Romas. Well, now it will have to be complete without it. Tony Romas closed down, and even though the sign is still up, a new restaurant (some kind of Asian fusion place I think) has taken its place. I was very disappointed, until I looked in the restaurant guide and found a Smokey Bones BBQ. I love Smokey Bones, and this place did not disappoint tonight. It did take a while to ge us seated, and then about 30 minutes o get our food, but it is the night before July 4th on a resort island; we had to expect some wait.
When we returned from dinner, we found that there was some kind of July 4th celebration planned for the island. The little shopping center across the channel from the resort was hosting some kind of festival. We were not interested in the party they were throwing, but it looked like a good time nonetheless. At or about 9:00, we were surprised to suddenly hear fireworks popping outside. I went out on our balcony, thinking that the fireworks were coming from across the way, when to my surprise, I saw that Disney was sending them up from a barge just beyond the end of the dock. The whole family came out onto the balcony to watch them. It was a very good show that went on for more than 10 minutes. It was a nice bonus, and a great cap to a fun day.
JULY 4, 2007 DAY 5
Like all of our other days, today started out with me making breakfast for the family. My wife has mentioned to me that she wanted to go to some spa (I dont know which) to get a pedicure, and I had it in my mind to take Ethan to Harbor Town on our bike/trailer. After breakfast, I saw my wife off, and loaded up my son for a ride. Harbor Town is about 5 miles away, but it is a mostly flat trip. It was a very pleasant trip, but when we got to Sea Pines, I learned that you must pay for a pass into the plantation. I wanted to wait to do this with my wife, so we instead rode down another 3 miles or so to a public beach. Ethan was ready to get out, but it took me longer to get there than I had planned on, so I had to turn right around and head back to the resort to meet my wife and mom for lunch.
I made a couple of cheese pizzas for lunch today, and then everyone settled in for a nap. My sister-in-law and her family were coming to meet us for the afternoon, and we wanted to be well rested for the afternoons activities. After an hours rest, we all got up and were soon met by the Burns family. They live in Savannah, and they make frequent trips to Hilton Head. They mentioned that the traffic was pretty bad today, and that there seemed to be more people than usual heading over to the island for the day. That is no surprise considering the beautiful weather we are having. Before they arrived, we asked the front desk about my in-laws parking and swimming. They issued us a parking pass and said that swimming was not a problem. Even though the resort is full, I think the two pools and beach really help to absorb the crowds. We never have any trouble getting seats around either pool. As a result, the resort seems pretty relaxed about letting guests use the facilities. I think it also helps that we have 4 people in a 2 bedroom, and we could technically have gotten room keys for all of the members of todays party. We had a great time swimming, and had to drag the kids away from the pool at around 4:30.
My brother-in-law wanted to go out to dinner, but I wasnt in the mood to fight the crowds. I suggested that we could either cookout or try the Disney BBQ dinner ($20.99 per adult, $9.95 per child under 10). I was hoping to cookout, and the prices convinced Rusty to do so. We already had charcoal and burgers, but not enough food for everyone. We decided to let my in-laws go pick up some more food while we watched the kids. I took the two smallest for a ride over to the beach house. We made sand castles and quite a mess of our clothes, but they had a good time.
When I got back to the resort, Rusty and Julie had just returned. There are several BBQ grills around the resort, but the one directly in front of our cottage was being used; no worries because the grill behind us was open, and it afforded a great view of the mash. Also, from our balcony, the girls could watch Rusty and I cook. It took a while to get the burgers done, but I think it is because we didnt have quite enough coals. The grills here arent huge, but the small bags of match light are not quite big enough for them. I would recommend the medium sized bag; it costs just a little more, but if you have extra, you can make more food another night. I would also recommend bringing some aluminum foil & BBQ utensils.
The food was good, and we all had a great time cooking out. Afterward, we played Scrabble while we waited for another dose of Disney fireworks. The fireworks went off around 9:00. We watched from three vantage points. My mom stayed back to watch them from our balcony. My wife took the oldest kiddo and her sister out to the dock (which was pretty crowded) and Rusty and I took the littlest two to a playground near the pool to watch. All of us had a good vantage point, but I really think Rusty and I had the best view because there was no obstruction and no real crowd. Another good vantage point would have been the boardwalk, but it was pretty crowded.
After the fireworks, the in-laws headed back to Savannah, and we put Ethan down for bed. Afterward, we popped in Finding Neverland to watch; we had rented the DVD from the mercantile yesterday. The movie was great. I want to check and see if it is available for dowload from iTunes; if it is, Im buying it. Afterward, I watched the end of the Braves game (Braves defeat Dodgers 5-2 and pick up a game in the standings on the Mets), and now I sit here writing this report, while everyone else is already in bed. I think I will join them.
JULY 5, 2007 DAY 6
It is really hard to believe that it is already Thursday. This has been a great week, and my earlier plans to return to Vero for next Independence Day are starting to fade as we are considering attempting to make this location an annual trip.
Today we started a little slow. I made my son some oatmeal, and toasted an Eggo for everyone else. It was easy, fast and my favorite breakfast of the week. After breakfast, I had to go up to check e-mail and attempt to post this trip report. For some reason, the internet has been really slow here for the last few days. It would let me post an answer to a question on the boards, but other than that, it shut me down. I had a few phone calls to make, so I made them while riding around and checking ou the ships at Shelter Cove. There is nothing here to write home about. Afterwards, I rode over to Piggly Wiggly to get a few more groceries for the rest of the week. I swear that nobody could drive and beat me to and from Piggly Wiggly and any resort room at Disney in a car; this is not because I ride fast, but because it is just that much quicker.
After I returned from the store, we packed everybody up and went to Harbor Town at Sea Pines Plantation. Sea Pines charges $5.00/day parking fee. They also told us to park in a parking lot and wait for a trolley service to take us to Harbor Town because of crowds. My mom has a handicapped placard, so after checking out the dirt/grass parking, we decided to see if we could find any parking on our own. We did, find some, and I am glad. Several people were complaining about waiting more than 30 minutes for the shuttle to come, and saying that it was crowded and uncomfortable on the trolley (which is really just a bus).
We ate lunch at a deli across the street from Harbor Town. It cost $30 to feed all 4 of us, and while the food was good, it was hardly worth that price. After eating we went to a playground at Harbor Town and let our 3-year-old go to let off some steam. He had a good time on an old-fashioned style playground that used the trees and sand as a big part of the attraction. It was pretty crowded, but Ethan didnt care.
Jill went shopping while I played with Ethan, and after he was done, she took us to a few shops. One was a toyshop that was small and over-priced, but I still bought my son a toy (hey, he doesnt spend enough time with me, so when he does, I spoil him a bit). We also went to a mens store called Knickers that sells Tommy Bahama and LaCoste clothes and shoes. It had a pretty limited selection, and seemed to sell only small and XX-large. Where is the store for us normal sized guys? Why cant they have a 5-7-9 equivalent for guys? I am a 36/30, XL guy, and can never find my size; it seems like if I was either 140, or 240 lbs., I could buy whatever I want, whenever I wanted it (sorry for the rant)! I was equally unimpressed with the other shops we went into. The Christmas Shop isnt worth your time, and the other places were mostly tourist traps. We did get some ice cream from a local shop, but even that wasnt great. I do wish we had gone up to the top of the lighthouse, but my mom has a bad foot, and I didnt want to make her climb the stairs.
After shopping around Harbor Town, it was time for a break, so we went back to watch a rented movie. We watched Herbie the Love Bug, and then I fell asleep on the couch. The next thing I knew, my family was waking me up for dinner. We ate another home-cooked meal, and then DW and I went out for a date, and left Ethan at home with mom.
We left tonight trying to make a 7:15 showing of License to Wed. As we are accustomed to doing, we arrived late. I hate to go into a movie late, so we decided to see if the TomTom could locate another theater I wish we hadnt. The closest theater listed was a 21 theater cinema, but it was 28 miles away. We decided to go with it. Well, when we go there, we found the Highway 21 drive-in movie. I would have been willing (it wasnt our movie, but they were showing Evan Almighty, which we also wanted to see), but my wife was not impressed; it was admittedly a little po-dunk. Instead, we drove all the way back to the cinema we started at, only to arrive right as the 9:15 movie was starting. I thought we would be ok, but by the time we got inside the theater, it was 10 minutes into the movie. We decided instead to see 1408. Yeah; creepy. Not a bad movie, but definitely not a feel-good flick. All in all, it wasnt a great date night.
After the movie, we came back to the room to relieve mom and watch a little baseball. I am writing this update while I am watching the Braves play the Dodgers (Braves are winning 7-6 in the bottom of the 6th). The nap late this afternoon has taken all sleep from my eyes. I guess Ill plan for tomorrows day. It is our last day, and we have not been to the Bluffton Outlet Mall yet, so I am sure well get there, but other than that, I suspect well have more of the same more rest, more relaxing, more swimming, more fun. Good grief Im going to miss this place!
JULY 6, 2007 DAY 7
Today started out like so many others. I woke up early to make breakfast for the gang; unfortunately, halfway through breakfast, I dumped 6 scrambled eggs on the floor. Oh well, not every meal can be a great one. I had just enough leftover eggs to salvage the meal, but I had a mess on the floor. What a way to start the day.
I had hopes of taking Ethan to the beach today, but he was much more interested in heading over to the pool and water slide. We went over around 10:45 AM, and stayed until just after 2:00 PM. It was a good time, but I missed the sand. Still, my little boy is a full-fledged swimmer after this week, which he showed us all day at the pool. He would even go down the slide and swim away at the bottom without being caught by one of the adults in our group.
After swimming, we ate lunch, and got ready to meet my sister-in-law, Julie, for some shopping at the Bluffton Outlets. We first eent to the Old Navy outlet (yech), but quickly made our way to the Birkinstock outlet in the same shopping center. The Birkinstock store sells Crocs as well, including Disney Crocs. I found a pair of Pirates of the Caribbean Crocs for Ethan, but they didnt have any Birks in his size. I did go ahead and replace a 5-year-ols pair of Birks that I have. I hate breaking in new Birks, but I love those sandals.
After the Birkinstock store, I wanted to go to the Ralph Lauren store. They were having a big sale. I bought over $1000 worth of clothes, and paid less than $400. I was pleased, and my wife was stoked because I was excited about the savings. I got a lot of new clothes too, so that is nice. After that, I was done for the day, but DW wanted to keep going. I took my mom and son home to feed them (hot dogs, baked beans, potato chips and macaroni and cheese).
After making dinner, I set about doing the most depressing of vacation activities packing to go home. I am writing this now because I am sick of packing, and need DW to come home to help me figure out what I can go ahead and load into the truck tonight. I sure wish I was staying here another few days, but I have an office that needs me, and that I, frankly, need as well. Ill include my final review of the resort in tomorrows update, but I sure have loved this vacation.
JULY 7, 2007 DAY 8
The plan last night was to leave today at 7:00 AM. I never figured we would really make it, but we did pretty good, and were out of our villa at 7:15 AM. The drive off the island was pretty quick, and we stopped at a Chick-fil-a in Bluffton for breakfast. We finally got on the road around 8:00 AM.
The weather on the ride home was good, and we made it back to Atlanta by 1:00 PM with only a couple of stops for a 3-year-old to investigate the bathroom facilities along 16 and 75. Our home and dog were both in good working order upon our return, and we are now left thinking about our next vacation, as I put this on in our rear-view mirror.
This resort is a new favorite of mine on Hilton Head Island. I have stayed at over a dozen places over the years, and while some have had more dining and recreation options at the resort, or better rooms with nicer amenities in the units, none have offered such a good combination of both. I do wish that there were a place for sit-down meals at the resort (especially if it would offer a character meal a la Shutters at Vero Beach). I also think the resort must be updated with high speed internet in the rooms; it is really way past due for this, especially when the free wireless at the public areas is so spotty. Still, despite these few complaints, we had a fantastic time. So much so, that I could see adding on here to insure that I got the July 4th week every year. This really is a fantastic place to spend a week., and I would recommend it to almost anyone looking for a quiet getaway to a great family vacation spot.
HILTON HEAD ISLAND TRIP REPORT
THE CAST
STARS
Myself, a 31-year-old husband and father. I am a general contractor who works throughout the southeast; I also own a travel agency with my sister, and the second person in our party, my wife, works for her (notice that even though I am a part owner, my wife works for my sister not me!)
My wife, Jill; a 32-year-old stay-at-home mom. Since I travel frequently for work, she is the motivator in getting our trips scheduled most of the time. This trip was her idea, partially motivated by the 4th of July, and partially motivated by the proximity of the resort to Savannah and her sister and family who live there.
My son, Ethan; a 3-year-old handful, but barrel of laughs. He has traveled more in his young life than some adults I know! It is so much fun to have uninterrupted time with him.
My mom, Raelle; a 58-year-old widow. She is the mother of three, and since dad passed away in 2005, she usually travels with one of her kids and their family.
FEATURE PLAYERS
My nephew, Harrison; an 8-year-old holy terror (overrated, as a terror IMHO).
My niece, Ryan; a 3-year-old angel (definitely overrated as an angel, IMHO).
My brother-in-law, Rusty; a 35-year-old father of the two aforementioned nephews.
My sister-in-law, Julie; a 37-year-old mother of the two aforementioned nephews.
JUNE 30, 2007 DAY 1
Today, we got a later start than we had hoped for. My wife is in the primary presidency (a childrens organization) in our church, and she had a primary activity this morning that went a little long. Since we were driving, this was not a huge deal, except that I wasnt looking forward to a long drive, so a late start was not something I was looking forward to. We also had two of my sister-in-laws children riding with us, since they were going home after a two week summer break stay in Atlanta. The two kids (Harrison, 8 and Ryan 3) are well behaved, but can be a bit of an over stimulating influence on my 3-year-old. By the time we hit the road, I was sure all hell was about to break loose. It turned out, however, that the trip timing worked out all right. The two youngest kiddos were asleep within minutes of leaving home, and they didnt wake up until we were about 30 minutes past Macon. Both were a little grumpy when they woke up, but we have a DVD player in the car, and they were at least distracted by that. The one complaint I had about the trip was the little girl with a pea-sized bladder. We were headed to Pooler, GA (just outside of Savannah), and between Macon and Pooler, which is about a 2-hour drive, we stopped 4 times for her to go to the bathroom!
We left Pooler just ahead of a massive thunderstorm, and watched it rage behind us all along 17 to 278. Somehow, when we got on island, the cloud stayed behind. The traffic was pretty lousy on island (a little after 6:00 PM). And it took about 30 minutes to come down 278 to the resort. I think it would have been quicker to take the Cross Island PKWY, though that does come with a Toll (we have a Palmetto Pass, we might as well use in on occasion).
I was really worried about arriving late. We had not stayed at HHI previously, and the resort map made it look like you could get a really remote room. When I came into the main building to check in, I was met by a nice young woman from Ireland who quickly got us checked-in. She told us that the resort was completely full, and she didnt offer us any kind of choice for where our room location would be. She gave us a welcome packet that contained a newsletter, a weekly activity guide, a restaurant guide, 101 things to do on the island and a flyer stating that points are available for sale with a $5 discount at HHI. We were put in Cottage 17, room 1721. This is a second floor room in the middle of the resort. In fact, if you had to pick up the resort and balance it on a stick, you would probably have to put the stick through our villa. This seems to be a very convenient location. The only problem is that, 1, my mom has a hard time with the stairs, and 2, there are no signs pointing to the cottage. Every other cottage has multiple signs pointing the way to the cottage, 17 has none. The nice thing is that the parking is convenient from almost anywhere.
We parked near a luggage cart return area. It took me about 15 minutes to get everything moved in. We immediately fell in love with the villa. The place is huge. The countertops are plastic laminate, and some of the finish levels are not as nice as Saratoga Springs, but those are minor points. The rooms are nice, the beds are comfortable, the dining area is ample, the balcony is large with a picnic table (it shares access with the master bedroom). We are most impressed with the villa. Still, we do have a couple of minor complaints.
1. No internet access. While you can go to the main lodge, pool area, community hall, and beach house for internet, there is no other internet access without dial-up. Local calls are free, so if you use dial-up and have a modem, you are ok here.
2. No light or fan on the back porch. As somebody from the south, we arent foolish enough to think a fan can keep you cool, but they do wonders in keeping the bugs off of you and the food. Also, a light just seems obvious.
Obviously, the internet is something long over due, but the other item is pretty minor.
We were pretty tired by the time we got everything moved in, but we were even more hungry. We took the whole family to Fudruckers for dinner. The place was packed, and it took a while to get out of there. By the time we finished, my son was done for the day, so we took DW and him back to the resort to hit the hay. Afterwards, I took my mom to the Piggly Wiggly, which is just around the corner. The place had most of what we wanted, but it was way too expensive. It was also overrun with people, so it took forever to get out of there. I have got to check out another grocery store on Monday.
JULY 1, 2007 DAY 2
I woke up early this morning to make the family breakfast burritos. We were trying to make it to church by 9:00 AM, but I could sense that we would be late by the very slow awakening this morning. Everyone enjoyed breakfast, and were slow get going form there. We made it to church about 10 minutes late, but fortunately, the ward was overrun with visitors, and started late today. We only stayed for Sacrament meeting (the main service), and then we headed back to the resort.
We drove around a bit, to get to know the island again, but the traffic is still pretty bad, so we gave up and just headed back to find the beach house. It isnt far from the resort, and we all decided it would be a lot easier to drive than to wait on the shuttle. When we got back to the resort, we ate lunch, and then headed out to the Big Dipper Pool for a while. It was a little overcast, and the pool wasnt packed at all. We purchased two refillable mugs, which can be refilled at the mercantile, the small restaurant next to it and the Signals Bar at the beach house.
We have a three-year-old who is learning to swim, and the Big Dipper is a great pool for him. Ethan turned three a couple of months ago, and we work with him swimming quite a bit, but he still isnt there. He is about 40 inches tall, and the pool has 2 three-foot sections of the pool that he can stand in and still keep his head above water, but he can, and does, float and swim without standing. The pool slide is also a lot of fun for both Ethan and myself. I must admit to really enjoying the slide with him. He went down it once in a life jacket, but we quickly abandoned that. It is not too intense, nor too dull. It is dark (completely enclosed), but that isnt a deterrent to him. It does scare some other kids here though.
Tonight for dinner we ate a casserole dish that my mom had prepared and frozen prior to our trip. The food was great; it reminded me of being a kid again. After dinner, we put our son down, and stayed in for the night to play Scrabble and watch a movie we rented from the mercantile. We had intended to go to the hot tub, or to take a late night swim, but thunder shut down the pool area.
JULY 2, 2007 DAY 3
We woke up today to a torrential downpour. It looked like the kind of thing that would blow over pretty quick; boy were we wrong. It rained until after 1:00 PM. We occupied the morning by playing Monopoly. When it finally let up, we headed out to get a bite to eat. We were not the only ones to head out at that time. The traffic was terrible, and the restaurants were all packed. We ended up at (blech) McDonalds. Afterward, we went to the Cinema 10 to see Ratatouille. We really enjoyed the movie, and the theater was 100% packed. Every ticket was sold out for the day. I know it was the movie at this theater today.
After the movie, we went to Folley Beach to show Ethan the beach he has been begging to see. The wind was really heavy today, and the surf was quite rough. It was a much better day for kites than for swimming. As a result, we went back to the resort to get our kites.
Instead of going back to the beach, we decided to try and fly kites from the pier at the resort. Im glad we did. The site was actually really good for flying kites, since there was no danger of hitting anyone or getting in anybodys way. We had a great time flying kites, and did so until the sun went down. We also had a nice sunset to look at as the partly cloudy skies lit up the sky in brilliant colors. This is also the best place to watch the sun go down. There was hardly anybody there for the campfire program tonight, but they still held it.
Tonight for dinner we made pizza in our villa. The pizza was good, and the fuddy duddy occupants of or little pad decided to call it a night. That is until I got a hankering for a hot chocolate (yes in July), and went out looking for a Dunkin Donuts. According to my TomTom, the closest Dunkin is 50 miles away. As a result, I went to Publix and bought some chocolate. FWIW, the Publix near Sea Pines was significantly less crowded, and had much better prices than the Piggly Wiggly we went to on Saturday night.
JULY 3, 2007 DAY 4
This morning I got up early again to make the family breakfast. I wanted to get to the beach house as soon as it opened, since I figured it would be a busy day at the beach. The pool house opens at 10:00 AM, and we did pretty well. We arrived about 10:15 AM. There were very few people there. This was due, in part, to the extremely rough surf. Yellow flags lined the shore, which didnt stop some from getting in the water, but it stopped us. I was under-whelmed by the beach anyway. Folley Beach was much nicer, with less debris to deal with. You actually had to walk through a huge 5 wide stretch of straw and other debris that had been washed ashore. There were plenty of chairs and umbrellas for rent, though it was again partly cloudy, and most of these were vacant. As a side note, we fell in love with DVC on a cash stay to Vero Beach last 4th of July; part of the reason is the actual beach. Vero has a much nicer beach than Hilton Head. Now back to your regularly scheduled trip report: due to the conditions, we spent all of our time at the beach house pool.
The Beach House is a very nice facility. There is a medium sized pool in an H shape. The pool is 5 at its deepest, and has a volleyball net set up across the middle of it. One side is stripped like a lap pool, but it was too crowded to be a practical pool for exercise, and it is a little small anyway. The facility has a dining spot, a bar/drink stand/ice cream store (complete with Mickey Premium Bars!), a game room, a table tennis, foosball table, water play area and indoor air-conditioned lounge with free high-speed wireless. FWIW, you can use your refillable mug here. One more thing, the refillable mug says Disneys Hilton Head Island Resort, 2007.
After a few hours of swimming, ping-pong and Mickey Premium Bars, we headed back to the villa. We wanted to rent bikes for the rest of the week. Unfortunately, Disney was out of bikes, as was the other 4 rental locations the rental desk gave us to call. Disappointed that we missed out on our chance, we made sandwiches for lunch, and Ethan and Jill took a nap, while I went to Big Murties Den to check e-mail. When I came back, I saw that somebody had a rented bike from Palmetto Dunes Rentals. I called the number on the bike and discovered that they still had a few bikes and a toddler cart left. I went straight over and rented the bikes. It cost 96 dollars for two bikes and a cart for Tuesday through Saturday. I took my son and wife with me, and we loaded up Jills bike in the Excursion, and I took Ethan back on the bike and trailer. The ride is easy, and it is a lot of fun to do. The weather is nice, so we couldnt have picked a better week to rent bikes. After we got back to the resort, we got Jills bike out, and we loaded up Ethan to ride over to the mall.
The mall here stinks. There is not a decent store in the place. Im not a big fan of most malls, but my wife, who believes that every mall has some potential, found herself pretty unimpressed as well. We purchased a toy for our son, but there was not much else I would have purchased in the place. After our ride to the mall, we had worked up an appetite, so we decided to go out for ribs.
Since I was a kid, I have made an almost annual trip to Hilton Head, and it was never complete without a trip to Tony Romas. Well, now it will have to be complete without it. Tony Romas closed down, and even though the sign is still up, a new restaurant (some kind of Asian fusion place I think) has taken its place. I was very disappointed, until I looked in the restaurant guide and found a Smokey Bones BBQ. I love Smokey Bones, and this place did not disappoint tonight. It did take a while to ge us seated, and then about 30 minutes o get our food, but it is the night before July 4th on a resort island; we had to expect some wait.
When we returned from dinner, we found that there was some kind of July 4th celebration planned for the island. The little shopping center across the channel from the resort was hosting some kind of festival. We were not interested in the party they were throwing, but it looked like a good time nonetheless. At or about 9:00, we were surprised to suddenly hear fireworks popping outside. I went out on our balcony, thinking that the fireworks were coming from across the way, when to my surprise, I saw that Disney was sending them up from a barge just beyond the end of the dock. The whole family came out onto the balcony to watch them. It was a very good show that went on for more than 10 minutes. It was a nice bonus, and a great cap to a fun day.
JULY 4, 2007 DAY 5
Like all of our other days, today started out with me making breakfast for the family. My wife has mentioned to me that she wanted to go to some spa (I dont know which) to get a pedicure, and I had it in my mind to take Ethan to Harbor Town on our bike/trailer. After breakfast, I saw my wife off, and loaded up my son for a ride. Harbor Town is about 5 miles away, but it is a mostly flat trip. It was a very pleasant trip, but when we got to Sea Pines, I learned that you must pay for a pass into the plantation. I wanted to wait to do this with my wife, so we instead rode down another 3 miles or so to a public beach. Ethan was ready to get out, but it took me longer to get there than I had planned on, so I had to turn right around and head back to the resort to meet my wife and mom for lunch.
I made a couple of cheese pizzas for lunch today, and then everyone settled in for a nap. My sister-in-law and her family were coming to meet us for the afternoon, and we wanted to be well rested for the afternoons activities. After an hours rest, we all got up and were soon met by the Burns family. They live in Savannah, and they make frequent trips to Hilton Head. They mentioned that the traffic was pretty bad today, and that there seemed to be more people than usual heading over to the island for the day. That is no surprise considering the beautiful weather we are having. Before they arrived, we asked the front desk about my in-laws parking and swimming. They issued us a parking pass and said that swimming was not a problem. Even though the resort is full, I think the two pools and beach really help to absorb the crowds. We never have any trouble getting seats around either pool. As a result, the resort seems pretty relaxed about letting guests use the facilities. I think it also helps that we have 4 people in a 2 bedroom, and we could technically have gotten room keys for all of the members of todays party. We had a great time swimming, and had to drag the kids away from the pool at around 4:30.
My brother-in-law wanted to go out to dinner, but I wasnt in the mood to fight the crowds. I suggested that we could either cookout or try the Disney BBQ dinner ($20.99 per adult, $9.95 per child under 10). I was hoping to cookout, and the prices convinced Rusty to do so. We already had charcoal and burgers, but not enough food for everyone. We decided to let my in-laws go pick up some more food while we watched the kids. I took the two smallest for a ride over to the beach house. We made sand castles and quite a mess of our clothes, but they had a good time.
When I got back to the resort, Rusty and Julie had just returned. There are several BBQ grills around the resort, but the one directly in front of our cottage was being used; no worries because the grill behind us was open, and it afforded a great view of the mash. Also, from our balcony, the girls could watch Rusty and I cook. It took a while to get the burgers done, but I think it is because we didnt have quite enough coals. The grills here arent huge, but the small bags of match light are not quite big enough for them. I would recommend the medium sized bag; it costs just a little more, but if you have extra, you can make more food another night. I would also recommend bringing some aluminum foil & BBQ utensils.
The food was good, and we all had a great time cooking out. Afterward, we played Scrabble while we waited for another dose of Disney fireworks. The fireworks went off around 9:00. We watched from three vantage points. My mom stayed back to watch them from our balcony. My wife took the oldest kiddo and her sister out to the dock (which was pretty crowded) and Rusty and I took the littlest two to a playground near the pool to watch. All of us had a good vantage point, but I really think Rusty and I had the best view because there was no obstruction and no real crowd. Another good vantage point would have been the boardwalk, but it was pretty crowded.
After the fireworks, the in-laws headed back to Savannah, and we put Ethan down for bed. Afterward, we popped in Finding Neverland to watch; we had rented the DVD from the mercantile yesterday. The movie was great. I want to check and see if it is available for dowload from iTunes; if it is, Im buying it. Afterward, I watched the end of the Braves game (Braves defeat Dodgers 5-2 and pick up a game in the standings on the Mets), and now I sit here writing this report, while everyone else is already in bed. I think I will join them.
JULY 5, 2007 DAY 6
It is really hard to believe that it is already Thursday. This has been a great week, and my earlier plans to return to Vero for next Independence Day are starting to fade as we are considering attempting to make this location an annual trip.
Today we started a little slow. I made my son some oatmeal, and toasted an Eggo for everyone else. It was easy, fast and my favorite breakfast of the week. After breakfast, I had to go up to check e-mail and attempt to post this trip report. For some reason, the internet has been really slow here for the last few days. It would let me post an answer to a question on the boards, but other than that, it shut me down. I had a few phone calls to make, so I made them while riding around and checking ou the ships at Shelter Cove. There is nothing here to write home about. Afterwards, I rode over to Piggly Wiggly to get a few more groceries for the rest of the week. I swear that nobody could drive and beat me to and from Piggly Wiggly and any resort room at Disney in a car; this is not because I ride fast, but because it is just that much quicker.
After I returned from the store, we packed everybody up and went to Harbor Town at Sea Pines Plantation. Sea Pines charges $5.00/day parking fee. They also told us to park in a parking lot and wait for a trolley service to take us to Harbor Town because of crowds. My mom has a handicapped placard, so after checking out the dirt/grass parking, we decided to see if we could find any parking on our own. We did, find some, and I am glad. Several people were complaining about waiting more than 30 minutes for the shuttle to come, and saying that it was crowded and uncomfortable on the trolley (which is really just a bus).
We ate lunch at a deli across the street from Harbor Town. It cost $30 to feed all 4 of us, and while the food was good, it was hardly worth that price. After eating we went to a playground at Harbor Town and let our 3-year-old go to let off some steam. He had a good time on an old-fashioned style playground that used the trees and sand as a big part of the attraction. It was pretty crowded, but Ethan didnt care.
Jill went shopping while I played with Ethan, and after he was done, she took us to a few shops. One was a toyshop that was small and over-priced, but I still bought my son a toy (hey, he doesnt spend enough time with me, so when he does, I spoil him a bit). We also went to a mens store called Knickers that sells Tommy Bahama and LaCoste clothes and shoes. It had a pretty limited selection, and seemed to sell only small and XX-large. Where is the store for us normal sized guys? Why cant they have a 5-7-9 equivalent for guys? I am a 36/30, XL guy, and can never find my size; it seems like if I was either 140, or 240 lbs., I could buy whatever I want, whenever I wanted it (sorry for the rant)! I was equally unimpressed with the other shops we went into. The Christmas Shop isnt worth your time, and the other places were mostly tourist traps. We did get some ice cream from a local shop, but even that wasnt great. I do wish we had gone up to the top of the lighthouse, but my mom has a bad foot, and I didnt want to make her climb the stairs.
After shopping around Harbor Town, it was time for a break, so we went back to watch a rented movie. We watched Herbie the Love Bug, and then I fell asleep on the couch. The next thing I knew, my family was waking me up for dinner. We ate another home-cooked meal, and then DW and I went out for a date, and left Ethan at home with mom.
We left tonight trying to make a 7:15 showing of License to Wed. As we are accustomed to doing, we arrived late. I hate to go into a movie late, so we decided to see if the TomTom could locate another theater I wish we hadnt. The closest theater listed was a 21 theater cinema, but it was 28 miles away. We decided to go with it. Well, when we go there, we found the Highway 21 drive-in movie. I would have been willing (it wasnt our movie, but they were showing Evan Almighty, which we also wanted to see), but my wife was not impressed; it was admittedly a little po-dunk. Instead, we drove all the way back to the cinema we started at, only to arrive right as the 9:15 movie was starting. I thought we would be ok, but by the time we got inside the theater, it was 10 minutes into the movie. We decided instead to see 1408. Yeah; creepy. Not a bad movie, but definitely not a feel-good flick. All in all, it wasnt a great date night.
After the movie, we came back to the room to relieve mom and watch a little baseball. I am writing this update while I am watching the Braves play the Dodgers (Braves are winning 7-6 in the bottom of the 6th). The nap late this afternoon has taken all sleep from my eyes. I guess Ill plan for tomorrows day. It is our last day, and we have not been to the Bluffton Outlet Mall yet, so I am sure well get there, but other than that, I suspect well have more of the same more rest, more relaxing, more swimming, more fun. Good grief Im going to miss this place!
JULY 6, 2007 DAY 7
Today started out like so many others. I woke up early to make breakfast for the gang; unfortunately, halfway through breakfast, I dumped 6 scrambled eggs on the floor. Oh well, not every meal can be a great one. I had just enough leftover eggs to salvage the meal, but I had a mess on the floor. What a way to start the day.
I had hopes of taking Ethan to the beach today, but he was much more interested in heading over to the pool and water slide. We went over around 10:45 AM, and stayed until just after 2:00 PM. It was a good time, but I missed the sand. Still, my little boy is a full-fledged swimmer after this week, which he showed us all day at the pool. He would even go down the slide and swim away at the bottom without being caught by one of the adults in our group.
After swimming, we ate lunch, and got ready to meet my sister-in-law, Julie, for some shopping at the Bluffton Outlets. We first eent to the Old Navy outlet (yech), but quickly made our way to the Birkinstock outlet in the same shopping center. The Birkinstock store sells Crocs as well, including Disney Crocs. I found a pair of Pirates of the Caribbean Crocs for Ethan, but they didnt have any Birks in his size. I did go ahead and replace a 5-year-ols pair of Birks that I have. I hate breaking in new Birks, but I love those sandals.
After the Birkinstock store, I wanted to go to the Ralph Lauren store. They were having a big sale. I bought over $1000 worth of clothes, and paid less than $400. I was pleased, and my wife was stoked because I was excited about the savings. I got a lot of new clothes too, so that is nice. After that, I was done for the day, but DW wanted to keep going. I took my mom and son home to feed them (hot dogs, baked beans, potato chips and macaroni and cheese).
After making dinner, I set about doing the most depressing of vacation activities packing to go home. I am writing this now because I am sick of packing, and need DW to come home to help me figure out what I can go ahead and load into the truck tonight. I sure wish I was staying here another few days, but I have an office that needs me, and that I, frankly, need as well. Ill include my final review of the resort in tomorrows update, but I sure have loved this vacation.
JULY 7, 2007 DAY 8
The plan last night was to leave today at 7:00 AM. I never figured we would really make it, but we did pretty good, and were out of our villa at 7:15 AM. The drive off the island was pretty quick, and we stopped at a Chick-fil-a in Bluffton for breakfast. We finally got on the road around 8:00 AM.
The weather on the ride home was good, and we made it back to Atlanta by 1:00 PM with only a couple of stops for a 3-year-old to investigate the bathroom facilities along 16 and 75. Our home and dog were both in good working order upon our return, and we are now left thinking about our next vacation, as I put this on in our rear-view mirror.
This resort is a new favorite of mine on Hilton Head Island. I have stayed at over a dozen places over the years, and while some have had more dining and recreation options at the resort, or better rooms with nicer amenities in the units, none have offered such a good combination of both. I do wish that there were a place for sit-down meals at the resort (especially if it would offer a character meal a la Shutters at Vero Beach). I also think the resort must be updated with high speed internet in the rooms; it is really way past due for this, especially when the free wireless at the public areas is so spotty. Still, despite these few complaints, we had a fantastic time. So much so, that I could see adding on here to insure that I got the July 4th week every year. This really is a fantastic place to spend a week., and I would recommend it to almost anyone looking for a quiet getaway to a great family vacation spot.
We will be there this October for our first visit "home." 
Really looking forward to it. We specifically bought at HH just for the 11 month advantage. Now I would like BWV and AKV. Hopefully in time. 
Thanks for taking the time to post your experience.
but we managed to work around it as best as we could but we would have loved to see it close at like 7pm.. oh well thank you for your detailed feed back!!!
