Trip Report - March 2024

[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; Independent Contractor

I’m going to post a few pictures of Scott and I from the trip so you see what we look like





The photographer was super excited to get this picture with the monorail going through just at the right time:


I like the sort of unique/different magic shot here:


The photographer told us to look like we’re bored with Disney; like that would ever happen, we love Disney.

 

[Noreen411]

Planning
We were away from Wednesday 2/28/24 until Saturday 3/16/24
We were in Florida from Friday 3/1/24 until Friday 3/15/24

This trip will have a new component to it…some location/possible house hunting for potential places to move down the road. We stopped in Greenville, South Carolina for a day on the way down to Florida and we spent one of our days in Florida on the West Coast of Florida.

Lodging:
We stayed at the sister resort to our timeshare; we stayed at Vistana Villages. 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 you don’t just book a regular week, you can use “options” and we have enough to stay for about 2 weeks in the one bedroom.

The premium 1 bedroom villa wasn’t available for our dates but I was able to book a regular 1 bedroom villa. It’s less options for the regular 1 bedroom, but my preference is always the premium one bedroom. Scott prefers the regular one, he says it’s cozier. I chose the St Augustine section of the resort with the large 24 hour fitness center.

Both Vistana Resort and Vistana Villages are great resorts; we enjoy the large 24 hours fitness center at Vistana Villages so have been choosing that resort lately when it’s available

Transportation:
We drove from Northern New Jersey to Florida. We’ve done it several times and prefer the flexibility it gives us over flying. The last few trips, we’ve done 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 two days. We don’t book a hotel for this part in advance, we’ll do it on the fly once we decide we’re just about ready to stop.

Activities:
We have annual passes. We have Incredipass as out of state passholders. We can have 5 days of park reservations at a time, plus any “good to go” days. Normally after a day in a park, we would book the next 5th reservation.

We would buy Genie+ (the multiple parks version) most days and Individual Lightening Lanes for the attractions we want to ride. I didn’t keep track of exactly what I booked and the times. However, we would normally buy Genie+ right before 7am so we could book our first attraction at 7. Staying offsite, we would purchase any Individual Lightening Lanes when the park opened since that’s the first time we’re eligible to.

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

Routine:
We have a pretty normal (maybe boring) routine in the morning at Disney. We would go to the gym then once back in the villa would do laundry, use the jacuzzi, take our showers, and have breakfast before leaving for the park. We had more days this trip where we skipped breakfast and went out for lunch than we normally do.

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 stuff. I would send myself texts throughout the day to remind me what we did. Between the texts and the pictures, I’m hoping to remember most of it.

 

[Noreen411]

The month before the trip
We were both busy at work trying to get things squared away knowing we would be away for over 2 weeks.

We started getting some of the packing done; we both overpack.

We also set up appointments with a realtor in South Carolina and a realtor on the West Coast of Florida.

 

[Noreen411]

The week before the trip
I went to get my manicure and pedicure.


We finished the majority of the packing. Scott started packing things in the car throughout the week. Normally I like to take a picture of all our luggage and stuff we’re bringing, but since Scott packed up over the course of the week, we didn’t have it in one place for a picture. We packed just as much as we always do.

 

[Noreen411]

Tuesday 2/27/24 (The day before the trip)
We both worked, but luckily not too late.

Scott finished packing the car when he got home so we don’t have to think about that in the morning. We’ll just have a few last minute items to bring out tomorrow. Normally I have a picture of our luggage/stuff we’re bringing all lined up ready to be put in the car, but since Scott packed in stages I don’t have that photo; we packed just as much as we always do. We are both over packers.

I don’t know how to cook, but can make a few things. Lately I’ve been making myself Kodiak waffles (a mix) in a little waffle maker, usually adding either banana or blueberries to the mix. I made myself waffles to bring to eat for breakfast in the car tomorrow. I know they won’t be as good as fresh out of the waffle maker, but I’d rather have a sort of normal breakfast on the road instead of fast food.

 

[Paulaparm]

Yay! Another trip report to read
Love following along with you two!

 

[Noreen411]

Yay! Another trip report to read
Love following along with you two!

Welcome - thank you for joining. I enjoy writing them as I get to relive the trip. And I especially love that others enjoy reading it too.

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 2/28/24
I was up and did a STEP workout at 2am. I’m dating myself but Step classes were popular in the 90’s and I saw one on Amazon so bought it last year and have been using it.

We left approximately 4:30am rather than our goal of 4am. Our first destination was Greenville, South Carolina. The navigation in the car says approximately 12 hours until we get there. We know it will be longer with bathroom breaks, possible traffic, etc.

We were in Pennsylvania around 6am. We stopped at a Love’s rest stop near Harrisburg PA. Scott got McDonalds breakfast. I ate my Kodiak waffles that I packed a little later.

There was torrential rain which made the ride longer.

We were in Maryland at 9:15, West Virginia at 9:26, and Virginia at 9:48. It’s interesting how we ended up going through 3 states so quickly. Changing states is a milestone of the journey I keep track of (corny I know). The next leg of the trip was much longer.

I was following our progress on my TripTik from AAA. I know it’s old fashioned but I like to do it. There is something satisfying about turning the page of the TripTik as you are driving along. We would also follow the progress on the navigation in the car.

We booked a hotel for 2 nights around 1:30, the Residence Inn Greenville Spartanburg (South Carolina). We booked a 1 bedroom, the hotel also has studios and 2 bedrooms. It’s so convenient to just do this on the phone while driving. Not exactly booking the hotel while driving; Scott was driving and I was booking the hotel on the phone.

We were in North Carolina at 2:50.

We were in South Carolina at 5:15. There was a Welcome Center but it wasn’t as cute as the one we usually visit when we’re driving down I95 that has swings outside, but it was clean.

The sun peeked out around 5:30 for a few minutes before it started to rain again. At least it was more of a drizzle rather than the torrential downpour from earlier.

We got to the hotel around 6:30, checked in, and freshened up.


It’s very similar to some of the other Residence Inn’s we’ve stayed at in a 1 bedroom. It’s sort of open concept when you walk in with a kitchenette, dining area, living room area, then a separate bedroom and bathroom.

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 2/28/24 Continued
We headed out to dinner and decided to stay near the hotel rather than going into the city of Greenville.

We went to California Dreaming and sat at the bar to eat. We enjoy sitting at the bar. We spent some time talking with the bartender as well as some of the other customers.



Scott had a Bombay Sapphire straight with olives; I had a Blue Hawaiian.


We started with Seafood nachos. I didn’t like them but Scott thought they were OK


Our dinner came with salad. The salad was great.


We shared the Steak with Shrimp and fries entree.


We had the croissant bread pudding for dessert. This wasn’t our favorite bread pudding. I don’t think the croissants held up to being soaked and cooked the way other types of bread do.


We enjoyed our meal at California Dreaming; the best part of the meal was the salad.

Back at the hotel, they reminded us there were fresh cookies so we took a few and brought them back to the room to snack on a little later.


We watched some TV before going to sleep.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 2/29/24
That’s not a typo - it’s 2/29, Leap Year

We were up around 3:30am and tried going back to sleep. We stayed in bed until about 5, then went to the gym. It was small but we were the only 2 people there so it was OK. We appreciate and look for hotels that have gyms, 24 hour gyms ideally.



After our workouts we showered and got dressed then headed downstairs for the included breakfast at the hotel. Scott always looks forward to the hotel breakfasts. I love the cute waffle maker where you pour the batter in, flip it over, it dings, and you have a waffle. There is a nice selection to choose from and a comfortable area to sit and enjoy your breakfast.




I have some food quirks such as not liking different food touching each other, not eating food that looked like it did when it was alive, preferring to dip things that go in syrup, ketchup, sauce (preferably in a separate ramekin/bowl) since I don’t like soggy food.

My plate:


Scott’s plate:


We were ready early but the realtor wasn’t coming for us until 10. We hung out in the room a bit, then came downstairs and sat in the lobby in front of fire chatting about plans for the upcoming trip and excited over what we may see today.


The realtor picked us up at 10. He showed us a few neighborhoods and several homes; they were all in communities. One of the homes we sort of liked, but we’re not sure if this is the right town for us. It was very congested in the area and we want to be more suburban like we have now. It was too built up. We’re also not sure about this whole community concept. I get the point of it, but we’re used to our own standalone house without the rules of a community (or HOA). Like anything else, there are pros and cons.

The realtor had these great smelling air fresheners in the car that he said were from the dollar store when I asked where he got them.

We spent a few hours with the realtor and he dropped us back at the hotel around 2 or so. Then we went out exploring some more. We drove around a few of the neighboring towns to get a feel for the area.

Scott suddenly pulls into a shopping center and asks “guess why we’re here?” There was a dollar store and we found the air fresheners the realtor had.


We drove around some more, but don’t think this area is what we’re looking for.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 2/29/24 Continued
We drove to the city of Greenville and parked in one of the parking lots. I am used to New York City where the early bird special at the garage is $50 for the day so was pleasantly surprised that the maximum charge to park in the lot in Greenville was $7 for 24 hours.

We walked around the city which is very cute.

We walked through a park.


We found the waterfall bridge that’s in the middle of the city.



It’s a very cute/walkable city.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 2/29/24 Continued
We found an adorable candy store, River Street Sweets. The employees were so friendly.


We bought several items which ended up coming back to New Jersey with us at the end of the trip. We opened it, took pictures back at the hotel this night, then re-wrapped everything.




Chocolate Covered Oreos


Chocolate covered pecan clusters.


Pralines


Chocolate bark. The green one was key lime flavored; it was a bit too lime-y for us.


The candy was all very good.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 2/29/24 Continued
We tried to find Sassafras restaurant for dinner. It was recommended to us and had good reviews online. We had the address and were walking up and down the street looking for it but couldn’t find it. We asked a few people if they knew where it was, showing them the address, but the people we asked didn’t know. After a while we just gave up.

We drove back towards the hotel and went back to California Dreaming for dinner and sat at the bar. The bartender remembered us from last night and asked our thoughts on the area since we told him our plans for today when we were here last night.

Scott had a Bombay Sapphire with Olives. I had a Key Lime drink.


We shared our food as we often do, otherwise it’s just too much.

We started with the California Dream salad. This was fantastic. We both really enjoyed it.


We had a burger with fries. This was a decent burger.


For dessert we had a brownie that had a Hershey bar melting on top of it from the hot brownie.


After dinner, we went back to the hotel.

 

[DLo]

Following along . Looking forward to reading more

 

[Noreen411]

Following along . Looking forward to reading more

Thank you for joining

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 3/1/24
We went to the hotel gym about 5:30am. After our workout we showered and got dressed. Scott finished packing the car while I finished getting ready.

We went to the hotel breakfast.
My plate - notice the syrup in a separate dipping bowl.


Scott’s plate


We left about 8:30am. It was raining when we left. We would stay at this hotel again if we were in Greenville SC.

There was a decent amount of traffic near the bottom of South Carolina.

We got to Georgia about 1pm. There was more torrential rain as we drove through Georgia.


Our streak of missing Peach World continues. This cracks us up. We wanted to stop at Peach World and know there are two of them. We noticed the sign with the exits listed. We’re chatting or singing or whatever we’re doing and next thing you know…we missed Peach World again.

We were in Florida at 3:30. We always stop at the Florida Welcome Center to take a few pictures, use the bathroom, walk around a bit. This next part of the drive always seems so long…we’re in Florida but we still have a few hours to go before we get there.





There was a lot of traffic in Florida.

 

[gopherdame]

I'm enjoying your trip report. We were there at almost the same time, 3-2 to 3-15. We rented a house by Disney and had kids and grandkids come at different times. The weather was almost perfect and we hated to come home to cold Minnesota.

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 3/1/24 Continued
With the traffic and rain, we didn’t get to Vistana Villages until about 8pm.

We checked in using the owner’s area, rather than the regular lobby check in. It’s kind of nice; you sit at a desk, they offer you beverages and snacks, etc. We are in the St Augustine section building 25 as requested. The person checking us in mentioned it’s a corner unit and asked if we wanted to switch to a middle unit instead. We actually wanted the corner rather than the middle unit. We like the layout of the corner one bedroom in this section rather than the middle ones (like we had last winter).

We are in the St Augustine section, building 25, villa 25-601 (6th floor). There are elevators in the building. Other than not wanting to be on the first floor, any other floor is fine.

This particular villa was a bit different layout than the last one bedroom corner unit we had in this section. We definitely prefer the units on the corner when we have the smaller one bedroom. Nothing is wrong with the middle ones; location wise they are preferable, but we prefer the interior layout of the corner ones better and don’t mind being on the end.

There was a small entry hallway.

It’s sort of open concept in the main living area with the living room, dining area and kitchen all open.

There is s couch, end tables, ottomans that open up for extra storage and the tops flip over to make a sort of coffee table, a dresser (this was Scott’s dresser), TV, and extra chair in the living room area.



There is also a closet with a vacuum, broom, etc. We stored the empty luggage in this closet.


There is a table with 4 chairs.

The kitchen is more of a kitchenette with a regular fridge/freezer, dishwasher, microwave, sink, stovetop with 2 burners (no oven), etc. It comes with all the gadgets/cookware/dishes/etc you may need.


Behind the table are sliding glass doors to the small screened in balcony with a table and 2 chairs.


Down this hallway there is a stackable washer/dryer in the closet on the left side.



Across from the washer/dryer is the bathroom. It’s a fully contained bathroom with one sink, toilet, and tub/shower combo that is a jacuzzi tub.


The bedroom has a bed, 2 nightstands, a chair, a dresser (this was my dresser), a TV, and a closet with extra bedding since the couch pulls out to a bed and a safe.




Since we got here late we didn’t unpack right away.

We drove to Publix (local grocery store). Publix was crowded but we zipped through getting our stuff. I am sure we forgot some things but it’s easy enough to stop here when needed.

Back at Vistana Villages we brought the groceries upstairs and put what needed to be refrigerated into the fridge and left the rest to deal with later.

 

[Noreen411]

I'm enjoying your trip report. We were there at almost the same time, 3-2 to 3-15. We rented a house by Disney and had kids and grandkids come at different times. The weather was almost perfect and we hated to come home to cold Minnesota.

Thank you. Agree, the weather was great. Having a villa/house is preferable to us rather than a hotel room, especially for a longer trip. A few nights, we would be OK with a hotel room. That sounds great having a whole house with room for the family to come and go. We had lots of pictures taken with the photopass photographers; whenever I see trip reports of others who were there the same time as me, I’m always looking for us in their pictures.

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 3/1/24 Continued
We headed out to dinner. We didn’t have reservations for tonight since we didn’t know what time we would arrive or what we would be in the mood for. We went to Saltgrass Steakhouse on 535. We’ve been here before on prior trips and always enjoy it. We got there about 9:45 and sat at the bar. The same bartender from our September/October 2023 trip was there and she remembered us. Somehow I forgot my phone back in the villa (probably when I was taking pictures of the room) so used Scott’s phone for our dinner pictures and texts to myself at dinner.


Scott had Bombay Sapphire with Olives. I had a Raspberry Mojito.


We shared our food as we often do.

The bread and salad remind me of Outback Steakhouse. That’s not a complaint, we like Outback, just a comparison.



We had the Salmon Oscar. We had it with a side of Mac & Cheese. Scott loves Mac & Cheese; I can take it or leave it. We also added the grilled shrimp enhancement.


For dessert we had the carrot cake which was delicious. Probably the best carrot cake we’ve had.


This was a solid meal at Saltgrass Steakhouse. We recommend it if you are looking for an offsite place to eat.

This is always my favorite part of vacation, you are there so the travel part is behind you, you are checked in to your resort, and you have the whole vacation ahead of you. Normally, we’re fully unpacked and the villa organized so this is a little different than usual, but we were starving and tired so doing it a bit differently this trip.

Back at Vistana Villages after dinner, we pulled out what we needed for tonight/tomorrow morning but will unpack and organize the villa tomorrow afternoon. We did some cleaning in the villa. I know they clean before we check in, but we’ll do some more cleaning (Scott actually does most of it), nothing too crazy but we’ll Clorox/Lysol all the surfaces and inside the drawers. We’ll spray all the soft things like the couch and chairs. We run the dishes/glasses/flatware we think we’ll use through the dishwasher. We’ll also fill the jacuzzi, pour bleach in it, run it, drain it, and repeat. Some people think the jacuzzi tub is a waste, but we’ll use it so like to make sure it’s clean.