DAY 1 – Wednesday 5/5/21
Who: Sue (62), DVC Member
SB (63), husband
Pete & Judy (60’s), DVC friends
Chris (34), son
Amanda (32), daughter-in-law
Ari (4), grandson

Plan: Drive to HHI, Poseidon

Actual: This morning SB had a 7:30 appointment for labwork, and although I’d planned on leaving for Hilton Head somewhere between 9 & 10, he was antsy and ready to go right away. He’d packed up all his stuff, too. So, in the interest of compromise,
I suggested we leave around 8:30. We’re most likely going to be sitting around up there waiting for the villa to be ready, but we’ll just have to deal with it.

We ended up leaving by 8, and stopped at Waffle House for breakfast about an hour away. Breakfast was quick and tasty, and we were back on the road. We made one more stop for a Frosty for SB – he was craving ice cream and that’s not easy to find
just after breakfast <g>. We pulled into Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort right around 12:30. Chris’ family stopped in Savannah for an early lunch somewhere and arrived around 1:30. Pete & Judy arrived by 2, and their friggin’ room was ready!

Pete & Judy were hungry so we walked over to Tide Me Over and they shared a chicken & waffles meal. It’s so disappointing to still see there are no tables or barstools out there – you get your food and then have to go downstairs or inside the ugly
Community Hall to eat. They limit capacity at the Mercantile, so some of us had to wait to go inside. Also, on the way out we saw the pool was at capacity, so people have to wait for that too! Amanda was disappointed in that, since afternoon is a good
time for Ari to use the pool (morning is beach time).

The chicken & waffles looked pretty good, and SB bought beers for the guys (at the Mercantile). Judy picked up a glass of wine in there (small plastic bottle). We caught up while they ate, and finally I got our room ready text. I did get the top floor,
but no marsh view & not in the location I prefer. But, we’ll deal with it.

We left Community Hall and moved the cars and then dragged everything upstairs to the villa. Unpacking actually went quickly. I called housekeeping for extra blankets, and around 3:30 checked in with Pete & Judy. They’d just come back from Kroger,
and said their room stinks of cigarette smoke (this is a no-smoking resort). He asked what to do and I suggested he physically walk down to the front desk and tell them he expects them to make this right by the time he gets back from dinner. Maybe they
can get an air scrubber or something in there to clear the stench out. The resort’s sold out, so moving isn’t likely.

Chris, Amanda, Ari, SB & I headed over to Poseidon around 4. The happy hour is only at the bar (which was pretty much full) and at the 4-5 high-top tables next to the bar. Fortunately, 2 tables were empty and we were able to push them together to make
a table to fit all of us. We ordered drinks, and Chris ordered the pimento cheese as an appetizer. They also ordered Ari’s kids meal as well (mac & cheese). By the time the food arrived Pete & Judy had joined us.

We had a great time, and mostly everyone had happy hour food. Amanda got the spicy chicken sliders, forgetting how extremely spicy they are. Chris, Pete & SB each got the shrimp salad BLT sliders, and SB also added the hush puppies w/honey butter and a
cup of New England clam chowder. Judy got mussels, and I had the pimento cheese. It was all excellent! However, checking out both Amanda & I couldn’t get the Serg app to recognize our check. After sending the manager over she eventually found out
it was currently not working for any of the locations. She took our names and phone numbers to manually add the points to our loyalty thing and said it should be there in a few days.

After eating Chris & SB took Ari over to the park and SB let Ari hit some baseballs while Chris fielded. Baseball is one of the sports Ari is involved in, and he seems to be good at any sport he tries. Pete & Judy headed back to the resort after
Poseidon and the rest of us went to Kroger to buy groceries for the trip. Kroger was quite busy, but the whole island is a lot busier than it was last December. It’s nothing compared to the mob scene it will be in a few weeks though.

We bought our groceries and headed back to the resort, where we used a cart to bring it all over to the villa in one trip. Amanda & I went over to the pool area to get a movie for Ari and we picked up pool towels for everyone to use at the beach
tomorrow. When we came back SB was laying in the bedroom watching CNN or something on the tv and the rest of us sat out in the living room area. Ari was the least tired of all of us – frankly I couldn’t wait for “bedtime” so the day could come
to a close <g>.

Today other than having to wait 2 hours after arrival for the room to be ready, it was a great day. It’s very disappointing about Pete & Judy’s room – I would not be happy!!! The resort said they’re doing “the best we can” but that’s
bullcrap. The housekeeper should have noticed the disgusting smoke and alerted people so the previous guests were contacted & fined. I’d be willing to bet none of that ever happened.

Tomorrow we’re headed to the beach in the morning! After that if we want to play any of the recreation with Ari after dinner we’ll have to pick up the items (golf clubs/ball, horseshoes, etc) prior to 4pm when they close – and we’re not sure if
the stuff will have to be returned by then. Dinner will probably be happy hour at Skull Creek Dockside – nothing like sitting outside by the water with great food & drinks!

Sue/WDW1972

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On 5/5/2021 6:26 PM, Sue/WDW1972 wrote:

Actual: This morning SB had a 7:30 appointment for labwork, and
although I’d planned on leaving for Hilton Head somewhere between 9 &
10, he was antsy and ready to go right away. He’d packed up all his
stuff, too. So, in the interest of compromise, I suggested we leave
around 8:30. We’re most likely going to be sitting around up there
waiting for the villa to be ready, but we’ll just have to deal with
it.

We ended up leaving by 8

LOL! So much for compromise!

stopped at Waffle House for breakfast about an hour away. Breakfast
was quick and tasty

Yep, that's the great thing about Waffle House. I prefer to stop there
instead of fast-food restaurants when traveling.

Pete & Judy were hungry so we walked over to Tide Me Over and they
shared a chicken & waffles meal. It’s so disappointing to still see
there are no tables or barstools out there – you get your food and
then have to go downstairs or inside the ugly Community Hall to eat.
They limit capacity at the Mercantile, so some of us had to wait to
go inside. Also, on the way out we saw the pool was at capacity, so
people have to wait for that too! Amanda was disappointed in that,
since afternoon is a good time for Ari to use the pool (morning is
beach time).

Disney lawyers at work!

We left Community Hall and moved the cars and then dragged everything upstairs to the villa. Unpacking actually went quickly. I called housekeeping for extra blankets, and around 3:30 checked in with Pete
& Judy. They’d just come back from Kroger, and said their room
stinks of cigarette smoke (this is a no-smoking resort). He asked
what to do and I suggested he physically walk down to the front desk
and tell them he expects them to make this right by the time he gets
back from dinner. Maybe they can get an air scrubber or something in
there to clear the stench out. The resort’s sold out, so moving
isn’t likely.

Wow, that would be totally unacceptable! I,d do exactly as you
suggested, but I suspect all they will do is spray some scent to try
covering it up, which would be just as bad for me - I can't stand
artificial scents, either.

Chris, Amanda, Ari, SB & I headed over to Poseidon around 4. The
happy hour is only at the bar (which was pretty much full) and at the
4-5 high-top tables next to the bar. Fortunately, 2 tables were
empty and we were able to push them together to make a table to fit
all of us.

Oh dear! You don't dare do that around here! We have strict health
department regulations to fight COVID which means that some restaurants
can seat a max of 6 per table, some can seat a max of 8. Some require
all seated at a table for more than 4 to be from the same household,
others will allow mixed household seating, but only at separate tables (wait...doesn't that mean...). And in all cases, only restaurant staff
is allowed to move tables, and most of of the time they won't as they
have already created their available 6 or 8-top setups and changing that
could spread COVID and kill somebody. Yeah, that's a bit
tongue-in-cheek, but those are actually the policies of several
restaurants that we visit. Of course none of this is a health
department regulation (except limiting seating to a max of 8 per table),
but they all use that as an excuse.

After eating Chris & SB took Ari over to the park and SB let Ari hit
some baseballs while Chris fielded. Baseball is one of the sports
Ari is involved in, and he seems to be good at any sport he tries.

Dang, cute good looks and talent!

Today other than having to wait 2 hours after arrival for the room to
be ready, it was a great day.

You should've hung around back at home longer and not gotten such an
early start! :-P

It’s very disappointing about Pete &
Judy’s room – I would not be happy!!! The resort said they’re doing “the best we can” but that’s bullcrap. The housekeeper should have noticed the disgusting smoke and alerted people so the previous
guests were contacted & fined. I’d be willing to bet none of that
ever happened.

Or they did fine the previous guests and just didn't do anything about it.



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