One Annual pass

We are trying an experiment this year. We decided to save some money and get four 10-day Disney passes. We learned we might save even more money if we bought three 10-day passes and one annual. The person with the annual pass pays for everything and takes advantage of the discounts. So, free parking, discounted restaurants, discounts at the gift shop, and more!

Did this approach save us any money?


Annual Pass Cost $740
10 Day Pass Cost  $440
===================
Price Difference  $300

Did we save $300 by getting one annual pass?

ADMISSION
Parking was $20 x 10 = $200

FOOD
ABC Commissary, 20% = $13.34

SOUVENIRS
Sunglasses, 20% = $4
========================
TOTAL SAVED $217.34

If we could have gotten into Disney Quest, it would have save us an additional $150. We couldn't get in... so... I can't count that.

sorry - I didn't finish this blog entry. I planned to provide a detailed account of all the savings but I never got around to it. I can tell you for certain we saved more than enough to pay for the pass.

Indian Harbor Beach Club Review

We stayed for ten days at the Indian Harbor Beach Club.

The best way I can describe the Indian Harbor Beach Club is it is a  six floor building with condos that are privately owned by predominately snow birds. While the snow birds are away, the condos are available for rent.

 We rented the 1200sqft condo 301, which is a corner condo allowing us to look out the beach through the back of the condo (which is what we did primarily) as well as up the beach through the side window. This is a two bedroom, two bath condo with an open floor plan that includes a living room, dinning room, and kitchen. There is also a laundry room.

There is a large balcony with access from the living room and master bedroom. The balcony on our side of the building overlooked the pool and the ocean beyond. If I were concerned with the beach view, I wouldn't want to be on the first floor and probably not the second floor. Floors 3 through 6 would provide a nice ocean view.

 Our condo (as I suspect all of them do?) came with beach chairs, beach umbrella, boogie boards, sand toys, and pool toys. We were at the Condo in August and the beach was surprisingly empty most of the time. We could look up and down the beach and not see anyone for a long ways. There would be the occasional beach walker or jogger. And occasionally a family would pitch their umbrella in the sand or use the pool. But for most of the time it felt like we had a private beach!

 The beach is a little interesting... and since it is all sand, the beach might be different when you visit. For us, there was a large hill that the tide would reach and then not cross - even at high tide. The beach has a significant slope into the ocean, which means you don't have to go very far before being waist deep. Due to this, the waves crash shortly before hitting shore, and the waves crashes can be fairly violent. You could be knee deep and then  easily whacked by a shoulder height wave.

"Violent" is probably too harsh of a term, however, when you see the waves on cocoa beach you'll understand the difference. Because the waves hit so hard, the tend to crush sea shells. But don't worry, if you want sea shells just go north a few hundred yards and you'll find piles of sea shells that no one has touched. As mentioned, there are few people on the beach so there are few people hunting for shells.

Sea turtles nest on this beach from May through October. It was very common to awake and find sea turtle tracks on the beach. During the full moon when the beach was lit, we stayed up to 11pm and watched the turtles come ashore from our balcony! While all this is great, there are state regulations that require no lights on the beach after 9pm. That means you must either shut off all your lights or close all the blinds after 9pm. That's a bit of a hassle, but it is for a good cause: to protect the turtles.

Not every condo rental place has a pool, and I think a pool is essential. The ocean is fun, but, I don't like going in very deep because we are sharing the ocean with ocean life, some of which wouldn't mind a tasty human snack. Also, after laying in the sand and then spraying off the sand and showering off the sand, it is nice to jump in a pool to get those last bits of sand off.

The pool faces the east, which means it gets the morning sun. In the afternoon the building shades the pool, which means the pool water in the afternoon is as warm as bath water without having to be in the direct sunlight! The pool posts a maximum capacity of 15 people. And while I never saw more than five in the pool, it could easily hold much more than 15. 

The area around the condo is fairly sparce, but 10 or 15 minute drive can get you to almost anything. There are many Mexican and sea food choices, a Walmart, Lowes and Publix not far away, Cocoa beach just up the road, and Canaveral just beyond that. Other than shopping, eating, and beaching - there isn't much else to do. We found some miniature golf, a movie theater, and a 18+ comedy club. But when I compare it to the Disney area, or to Myrtle Beach - there isn't much to do. Come to this area with the intention of spending long lazy days on the beach and you won't be disappointed.

From our balcony, we were able to see cruise ships after they left Port Canaveral. They were very small on the horizon. We could also see coast guard ships and fishing ships. I have been told you can also see space launches from Cape Canaveral! This is where binoculars come in handy. Luckily 301  had a pair, but, I recommend you bring a pair for your vacation. The binoculars did much better than the 50x zoom on my camera, allowing us to identify all the cruise ships.

Condo 301 has large flat screen TVs in each room, super fast wifi, comfortable lazy boy chairs, a nice leather couch, a large master bedroom bath, high quality durable deck furniture, and updated expensive kitchen cabinetry. It is decorated superbly. The parking lot is covered to protect your vehicle form the sun and the weather.  There is an elevator to take you to each floor, along with luggage racks and shopping carts to help transport items to your condo.

There were two inexcusable situations where condo staff tried to gain access to our condo. I have all my office equipment, the kids have their video games, and we have a few valuables. When we are looking for a villa we always question who will have access to the room because we need to know how concerned to be with locking up these items. We were told no one would be accessing the condo. That wasn't true. In the first case, a maid was attempting to access because she wanted to use the dryer and didn't realize the condo was rented. A second time, a maintenance guy was replacing the air conditioning filter - and while signs had been posted that the filters would be changed, they weren't posted in advance so we could see it.  We received a sincere apology from the office.

When I do these reviews I try to be very critical. The last thing my readers need is a sales pitch. They want to know the real deal - they want to know the bad things so they can decide if they want to go there. I am struggling to come up with some bad things to report. The price was high for my taste, but as far as sea side condos go, it was very reasonable. They tried to gain access to the room, but apologized. The beach is rough compared to cocoa, but not bad and is very quite.

In the balance, I think this is a wonderful place. I would love to come back again if I ever had the opportunity.

Golf and Gator Review

We were interested in some mini-golf during our stay at the beach so we went to Golf and Gator at Cocoa Beach.

Golf n Gator offers two 18-hole golf courses that were a lot of fun. It was rather expensive at $16 per person! But if you do all 36 holes, it is $20, which is still high but a little more reasonable. The golf courses take you past a huge tortoise (who was sleeping in his house when we came buy)  and some huge iguanas in cages.  They had something unique I hadn't seen before: dials that you spin at some holes to for some random activities. See the video here.

 The mini-golf is just part of what we did. They have a gator pond where you can pay to feed the gators! You can also hold a gator or buy reptile jewelry and skeletons. They also have a small gift shop and a place to get food (but no ice cream?).

We took part in a "panning for gems" feature. You guy a bag of pay dirt, dump into into a sifter, and then wash away the dirt. What remains are colorful low value gems. The boys had never done anything like that before and enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, we picked one of the hottest days of the year to play mini-golf. The heat was sweltering at nearly 100 degrees. It was challenging to keep our spirits high and our frustration low under such conditions.

We did the Swamp Cave golf course. You can see Hole 7 (the cave) in this video: click here. 

We spent a little more than an hour at Gator and Golf, which was perfect (especially considering the heat). It might take ninety minutes to do everything including both rounds of golf. If you are looking for something a little different and don't mind the price? This might be a nice place to stop at.

Board Walk Surrey Bikes

We started a tradition a while back to do an annual bike ride at Board Walk.  The surrey bikes come in two flavors: two seats and four seats. There are no passengers on this ride, everyone pedals.

The rental covers 30 minutes, which is enough time to make two laps around the lake in front of the Board Walk.

The path takes you toward Epcot, then turns past the yacht club, past the Swan and Dolphin hotels, and then back down the boardwalk.

There are three hills you have to go over. The first hill is hardly noticeable. The second hill is a small hill that takes you up onto a bridge. There is plenty of space to build up speed. The third hill goes up on a bridge too, but his larger and there is less area to build up speed.

Watch this video to see hill three: click here. 

And you can watch most of the ride : click here. 

Solanas Resort Review

Solanas is a subdivision of vacation villas located on Rt 27 in Davenport. Depending on your destination, Solanas is 20-40 minutes away from Disney.

 This is a gated poolhouse community. There are a variety of house sizes including one and two story. There are some permanent residents, but most of the properties are rentals, which means the area is usually quiet.

Gaining entry is through a guard house that is loosely controlled. There is always a guard present, but I think they would wave pretty much anyone through.

The community is encircled by Solanas Circle, a one mile road that goes around the perimeter of the property. Streets cross the circle containing pool houses whose back yards back up to each other. The problem with that? It may feel like you are swimming in your private pool with your neighbors because they are very close.

There is a club house that features miniature golf, public pool, and an exercise room. They advertise a pool side bar, but it was usually closed when we visited. The bar contains bottled beverages, chips, and some grill items. We have seen some better pool side bars, however, this doesn't get a lot of business so it isn't going to offer great meals and mixed beverages.

 The clubhouse has an arcade, but most of the games were broken. There is a playground and a sand volleyball court.

 We enjoyed our stay at Solanas. I would stay in this community again if given the opportunity.

Villa Pool Privacy

VRBO and Homeway are perhaps the most popular sites to find a villa (house or condo) for your Florida vacation. When you look for a pool house, the owner will likely post pictures using clever angels that hide how close your pool is to the neighbor's pool. In most cases, you're pool is going to be surrounded by neighbor pools that are as close as twenty feet. You are practically in the same swimming pool with your neighbors!

In Salona, for example, all the houses face the street and all the backyard pools are in the back. From one pool you can see all the other pools up and down two streets - especially if you are looking out a second floor window!

So, what can you do to get a little privacy? Try to rent a pool house that has shrubs around the pool.  Shrubs will block the view from all the other pools.

If you can't rent a house with shrubs? Hang beach towels along the screen.

And if you can't do either? Then don't worry about it. This is YOUR vacation. You'll never see these people again. Have fun!

Hollywood Studios: Star Wars Galactic Spectacular

The Hollywood Studios Star Wars Spectacular is arguably the best fireworks show on Disney property. I may be a little biased because I am a Star Wars fan. Whether you are a fan or not, you are going to be awed by this show!

Disney converts three large buildings into video screens. They also use columns of fire, lights, smoke projection, and lasers that shoot right over the top of your head!

New for 2017 (at least... I don't remember it in 2016) the viewing area is surrounded by fire effects. And it seems there are more explosions and more lasers.

The best place to watch the show.

There are palm trees blocking the view. I have complained about the palm trees in other forums and have been told the palm trees are where some of the shows lights and lasers are hidden. Well.... I would suggest finding a different way to "hide" lights than to hide them in view obstructing palm trees!

Watch the 2017 video here

Working from Florida

When we visit Florida, we rent a house and I convert one of the bedrooms into an office. Working from this office every day is very important to me. I need to prove to myself and my employer that I can be productive from Florida. This will encourage my employer to continue approving my trips to Florida. It will also help me make the argument that they should let me relocate to Florida someday and keep my current job.

I take this very seriously. My goal every year is to make it so my global colleagues have no idea that I am in Florida. As far as they know I am still in New York because I am providing the same level of dedication and effort while in Florida that I provide everyday.

While I work? The family plays. Video games, pool, club house, mini golf - whatever they want! Most years we get the annual Disney pass so they can go to Disney while I work, and I catch up with them in the evening.

I have a very important criteria for when we rent a house. I require the house to have a street facing bedroom with a palm tree in the front yard. While I am working all day, I want to look out the window and see Florida. This year is perhaps one of the best views I have ever had. The window looks out onto a garden of three palm trees and a variety of plants.

I usually like to see some kind of activity out the window: people walking their dogs, joggers, baby strollers, etc. There is some activity in the morning, but for the most part - the street is very quiet.

When we return back to dreary New York, I won't have the palm trees and blue skies. I like to set up a video camera and record several hours of video out the office window. Back in my office in New York I have a "digital window" where I loop the Florida shots and it is almost as if I work from a Florida office all year long!

Hollywood Studios: ABC Commissary Review

It has been years since we last ate at the ABC Commissary. We always found the menu too fancy (lacking pizza or hamburgers) for our kids, and way too crowded. You can imagine our surprise when we looked at the menu and found.... hamburgers and french fries! But not only kid fare, but some nice adult options too. We decided to give the ABC Commissary a try in hope it could be an air conditioned destination that would make everyone in the family happy.

The boys got a pile of kid burgers and fries. My wife got the BBQ burger and I got the ribs and chicken.

The kids burgers came with cheese, even though we asked for no cheese. Luckily it didn't melt, so, we were able to remove it. My wife gave her fries to the boys, ate half of the giant BBQ burger and said she was full. The ribs were fantastic. The half chicken was good, but, it is a lot of messy work to get chicken off the bone. Half way through the chicken I wished for some BBQ sauce or something to use with the chicken. Nevertheless, I would definitely get this again!

We also ordered the Olaf Cupcake: a chocolate cupcake with a marshmallow frosting topping. The chocolate cupcake had no chocolate flavor. All the flavor came from the delicious frosting. Unfortunately, the frosting is sweet and 'gets to you' by the end. A little more chocolate flavor would have been nice.

The best part of the experience was after our order, we sat down and they brought the food to us! The restaurant was not crowded at all - there was ample room between the tables. When we were done we could just walk away and they clean the tables for you.

When they delivered the food, they also delivered plastic silverware that looked like it was made with metal, wet ones to cleanup afterwards, and hard candy.

The cost (after our annual pass discount) was around $14 per person. If that sounds like a lot of money for dinner in Disney World? You may need to adjust your expectations because $14 is not a bad price for an adult dinner (teenage boys eat more than adults do).

Disney Springs: Deluxe Burger

We decided to see what the long lines were all about and eat dinner at Deluxe Burger in Disney Springs.

Deluxe Burger is a walk up counter service. After your order they bring the food to your table.
First thing you have to know: they keep selling burgers regardless of whether there is available tables. If the line is out the door? You may want to scope out a table first.
Cost was around $15 per person for large burgers, ample fries, and a drink.
The dinning area is rustic with additional seating on the porch (there is probably more seating outside than in).

We ordered our burgers "well" and they were a little dry, but that was fixed with some ketchup. I ordered the BBQ Burger that was topped with lettuce, bacon, onion rings, and BBQ sauce.

Conclusion: downtown Disney was filled with sit down restaurants and was sparse on affordable (affordable in Disney terms) family dinning options. For my family, Deluxe Burger is a welcomed addition to Disney Springs.

Bonanza MiniGolf on Rt 192

Bonanza is a mining themed mini golf on Rt 192 in Kissimme.

The theming of this miniature was excellent, but we visited after a rain shower and several of the holes were flooded.

 We got into the evening and the large flood lights attracted swarms of  bugs that attacked us.

 The bugs were so bad that we decided to skip some holes and end the game early.

 Therefore, I would recommend two things if you visit this miniature golf. (1) don't visit at night ad (2) don't visit after a rain storm.

You can watch us play a little of the game by clicking here.

Ohana Pineapple Drink

If you have ever visited the Polynesian Resort at Disney World you might have seen guests drinking from a pineapple.

We had to learn what the attraction was, so we ordered one.

It has two kinds of rum, fruit juice, and a ton of ice. The combination makes a very freshing and chilly fruit juice flavored beverage. My wife and I split one because they are very large. The perfect drink for a hot humid summer Florida say!

Squidlips Review

After our trip to Fishlips for dinner, we decided we had to try the original: Squidlips.

There are several squidlips to choose from in the Melbourne area. We picked the one right off route 1A1. This is a large restaurant with a big covered outside deck that was being remodeled during our trip.

 The deck connects to a long dock that extends out into the water.

You can feed the fish from the dock, which show up by the bucket load!

 

There were so many fish, you could have easily reached down and grabbed your dinner.

Humans aren't the only ones to realize that. We had a family of dolphins some up to the dock to get some dinner before swimming back out to the waters.

 

The restaurant itself was being remodeled, so, I can't be too critical of it. There is some necessary updates, and it appears those are getting addressed. The inside of the restaurant has two "wings", one with a bar and one that is just dinning room. The bar had a good crowd in it. Our area was completely empty.

 We thought it odd they couldn't make a mudslide drink, nor did they have salsa and chips (two staples).  I ordered the clamboat platter that came with fries.

 

My wife ordered the shrimp

 

Both meals were excellent. The waitress was excellent. The view was excellent. I would enjoy returning to Squidlips someday after they get finished with the construction.

Cocoa Beach Pier

We spent an evening at the Cocoa Beach Pier

 The pier stretches a long ways into the ocean and is filled with restaurants, bars, and shops.

The beach area has six sand volleyball courts and is watched over by life guards (although we arrived at 5:30 and the life guards had left even though there remained plenty of people on the beach).

The surf is different at this part of the ocean versus the ocean in front of our condo. At our condo, the beach slopes deeply quickly, causing the waves to break around fifteen feet out. At this part of the beach it is much more shallow. You could be thirty feet out into the surf and you aren't at knee deep. That means the waves break way early and then roll up onto the shore.

The long wave breaks were enjoyed by the surfers. There were dozens of them around the pier trying to catch really good waves.

 

The pier itself has bars, restaurants, and a gift shop. There is also an arcade, although most of the games in the arcade were broken. There are plenty of places to sit at tables on the pier to dine, or benches to sit at to watch the surf. If you take the pier all the way to the end, you'll find the outside tiki bar.

 

 

We decided to eat dinner at Pelicans and got a great window seat overlooking the water. My wife ordered the shrimp skewers, which came with "sidewinder" French fries.

I ordered a cheeseburger with bacon and a fried egg on it.

 The boys had hamburger and fries and grilled cheese. The restaurant was very nice, but a little pricey. I get it - we are paying for the view, and the view was magnificent.