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.