enclave suites

hi everyone going to the enclave suites, like a lot of people we were a bit worried about previous reviews but we had no problems at all,

when we got there we asked for a room with a pool view but were told there was none left so they gave us a free upgrade to aroom with a balcony and a massive terrace overlooking a lake and wet and wild, it might be worth asking,also found the room very clean and spacious, the hotel is also on a great location in the middle of international drive.

enjoy your holiday.

enclave suites

Thanks Charlie, we are due there mid October and had began to worry a bit after reading some of the reviews! We aren%26#39;t expecting a palace but we havent paid a fortune and just want to use it as a base. Good to hear a little bit of positive feedback about the place.

enclave suites

hi, glad to hear you had a trouble free stay. we are staying there

at the end of this month and have been fretting about this place .

scince i booked the hotel/ holiday as a suprize i felt i had ruined the holiday before we even get there, but i am hopful now that things will be ok.

deb

just back. friends there at present. They e mailed in advance with room request and it was available on arrival. Got a newly refurbished room and love it.

Oh its great to hear good reviews about Enclave suites!! I%26#39;ve booked here for Sept and was starting to dread going!!! There are also a few new good reviews posted in the last few days!! Yippee, I can start looking forward to my holiday now :)

transport to bush gardens

hi off to florida on sunday the 8th july first time going but theres 13 of us going in total with only 2 of us not been before

my question is i want to go to busch gardens but the rest of the partys been and didnt like it it was raining etc so im going to have to make my own way there is there transport to get there ie cheap cheap from kiss ime or one of the disney parks?

transport to bush gardens

Hi went 05 and we of oct07.its great. when you book to go ther is a free bus that takes you.Were are you staying, because the bus picks up on international drive i cant remember wer it was now.You phone the number that is on the leaflet you get about busch gardens to book seats on bus,and they will tell you were to go for bus it leaves about 8.00. you can not just turn up you wont get seats.,your hotel should be able to help you as well.hope this helps . angie

transport to bush gardens

see im staying in a villa with the rest of the group we have a car but if its just 2 of us going theres no point asking them to drive us

ill get a leaflet when am there then

There%26#39;s a shuttle that leaves from SeaWorld to Busch Gardens, but you must book this far in advance, I believe.

Song of the Sea, Sanibel Inn, or Sundial Beach Resort - HELP

I have narrowed our search for a room to these 3 properties, and they all look good to me. We would want to be right on the beach with a beachfront view, if possible. Any advice would be appreciated to help me decide where my husband and I could spend a few relaxing days in August before driving down to Key West for a few days. (Any advice in Key West is welcome too!) Thanks in advance. Trip Advisor members are always so helpful!

Song of the Sea, Sanibel Inn, or Sundial Beach Resort - HELP

right on the beach - or just about

Buildings A, E and K only at Sundial. Building L to T have deep setbacks from the beach. Other buildings between B and J are various distances from the beach, so with mostly blocked views or views between buildings.

Sanibel Inn - beachfront suite. Just be aware that second floor rooms there and at Song of the Seas require climbing stairs. Ellington%26#39;s has live jazz.

Song of the Sea - beachfront suite- is next door to Sanibel Inn but I believe you%26#39;ll find the square footage of the units might be less. Ask on both.

If you select Sundial be sure to confirm a true one bedroom or you may find yourself with a large studio instead. I doubt you%26#39;ll get closer to the sand than there, but it will have the most kids. It will also have the most pools to choose from, not just the main pool. Largest, liveliest and noisiest. All units privately owned and decorated.

Sanibel Inn is larger than Song of the Sea and have a broader range of accommodations. Song of the Sea is widely regarded as a good adult choice, but is so small that families with kids can be disruptive to other guests. Luckily, that does not happen all that often. No restaurant, but you can go next door to Ellington%26#39;s for food and entertainment.

Song of the Sea, Sanibel Inn, or Sundial Beach Resort - HELP

Thanks, Tourmaline, for the info. Looks like any one of them would be great! Any other advice out there? Accomodations, restaurants?

Thanks, Tourmaline, for the info. Looks like any one of them would be great! Any other advice out there? Accomodations, restaurants?

Restaurants:

Fun, good food and well priced is Doc Ford%26#39;s. More %26#39;upscale%26#39; would be Trader%26#39;s, Sunset Grill and Mad Hatter on Sanibel and Old Captiva House on Captiva. Good bad type food - Sanibel Grill and Lazy Flamingo. Good take out - Andrea%26#39;s and East End Deli. Good breakfast - Sanibel Cafe in Tahitian Gardens and Anmy%26#39;s Over Easy at the end of Periwinkle Way. On the water - Grandma Dot%26#39;s [closes early off season, no a/c and very informal], Thistle Lodge at Casa Ybel, Mad Hatter.

see www.cuisine-scene.com for sample menus.

Our stay at the Sundial in mid-June was quiet--even with a kid along for part of the time! The beach was never what I would call crowded and in the afternoon the beach was often nearly empty. Aim for buildings A, E or K and you will be steps from the beach. The main resort area--where the guests have booked through the resort and get beach umbrellas and other guests services provided--looked to be more lively but we heard no noise.

Doc Ford%26#39;s is a great place for for an evening meal. The proscuitto wrapped shrimp are barbecued and very good. We really enjoyed McT%26#39;s as well. Andrea%26#39;s has an incredible upscale take-out selection. Think gourmet deli although there are also a number of hot entree selections too. We packed a couple of spur of the moment picnics from there and ate on the beach. We liked the Island Cow too. It%26#39;s busy and bustling but has good food and a fun island atmosphere.

We stayed in building I at the Sundial last September and had a great experience. It was a ';Gulf View'; and worked perfectly for us, but we weren%26#39;t adament on having the beach view.

Unlike most posters, we weren%26#39;t enormous Doc Ford%26#39;s or Bubble Room fans. To each their own. We really enjoyed the Lighthouse for breakfast, the Sanibel Steakhouse, and the Lazy Flamingo. Can%26#39;t wait to go back and try more.

We%26#39;re planning on taking the Sea Key West Ferry from Ft. Myers to Key West for our honeymoon. We%26#39;re staying at the Angelina Guesthouse in Key West, but thats probably not the best place for kids if that is what you%26#39;re looking for (nor is it beachfront). Good luck!

For a quiet less resort oriented stay in terms of fees for service I recommend Sandalfoot, Sanibel Moorings, or Sanibel Arms West.

Basically they have awesome staff in the office but no staff on property like pool or beach staff, maids, and such. They are fully equipped and in some cases decked out condo units. You can view the individual units online at the sites.

All have pools, tennis and other distinguishing amenities, like sun deck, screened pool, shuffle board, dock space on the canals, canoe, kayak, library, wireless internet, laundry rooms or washer/dryer in the room, dvd%26#39;s, screened balconies, some are all beach view rooms.

Worth checking out. All rent for as little as three and two days.

and dont forget about the $25.00 per day/per adult resort fees

that LXR is charging to access that BIG pool....

I wish george was around with the BIG salad!

At LXR Sundial Resort

City of Sanibel official postings

Hi,

not wishing to step on anybody%26#39;s toes, (especially S and T) , because you folks do a great job ,and just to keep postings on forum to specific items and queeries folks can sign up for regular e mails from www.mysanibel.com.

These will give full info on beach conditions and bridge openings etc. as well as special items such as footage of Nile monitors taken by the Police dept.

What do you think?

City of Sanibel official postings

We tried to get the link to the city set up as a ';sticky'; on top of the forum but apparently TA didn%26#39;t go for it...

City of Sanibel official postings

Regulars know this. I used to post the www.mysanibel.com link with each beach report. Casual info seekers don%26#39;t seem to bother. Regulars seem to subscribe. I mention it often but it is definitely worth mentioning again.

All press releases can be found at:

www.mysanibel.com and you can subscribe to an email service that will automatically deliver the city%26#39;s press releases to your chosen email address.

To get that on a sticky is a big deal and I haven%26#39;t gotten around to jumping thru those hoops yet.

Keep trying T. If anyone can you are the one.

I am wondering if we can%26#39;t suggest that people google Sanibel Island for more information. Because then they will find the City, the Chamber and the VCB.

NO don%26#39;t say the G word!

travel city direct vouchers

i have just received my tcd vouchers for the ultimate disney tickets. it says that you exchange the voucher for the disney tickets at the customers service desks in the parks. does anyone know if the disney resort hotels will exchange them as we are staying at Port Orleans. and it would be handier if we could change them before the first morning when we want to hit the parks.

Thanks

wendy 27a

travel city direct vouchers

Hi

We stayed at the All star resort on our last trip, we had ticket vouchers and they had to be exchanged at the park as the resort hotel couldn%26#39;t issue park tickets.

Ste.

travel city direct vouchers

unless its changed recently, they have to be exchanged at the park, its a bit of a hastle and cos your going at a busy time you will have to queue but its only the once, just get to the park earlier than planned for the first day.

how long does accjlast

short trip, long trip report?

I think the trip report is longer than the trip….sorry

IT WAS CROWDED! Geez, seems to get worse every year. Can%26#39;t wait for the kids to get old enough (soon) to go in the off season again!

Due to limited time as this was actually the 3rd part of our vacation (Vegas and Gainesville preceded it), we bought the 3 day park hoppers with water park options to Disney and a one day ticket to Sea World. Both are good values for Florida residents....

Concentrated 2 days hopping at the parks visiting ';new attractions';, ones that are scheduled to close/change soon and/or favorites. And did both Disney water parks…everyone preferred Typhoon Lagoon, by the way.

Animal Kingdoms new Evererest ride is very cool to look at but much tamer than expected to ride? Sorta cheesy special effects too considering all the hype. Wasn%26#39;t really impressed.

MGM%26#39;s Fantasmic show is very good. We had never seen the ';whole'; thing before, but this time we did the special dinner package at Hollywood and Vine to get reserved seats. Much different than the one in Calf, but not sure if it’s better? The dinner was well worth the money too as it is a pretty good buffet although if you don%26#39;t like BBQ sauce, you may disagree as most dishes had same on them. The new stunt car show was also good...but it is very hot in the stadium and there are only 3 shows a day so you can’t go later in the afternoon when it’s cooler which would be preferable. We fast passed Tower of Terror and the Rockin Roller Coaster so that was good, but most everything else had a very long wait time. And there is no shade anywhere in this park as I remember every time ';after we get to this park'; so it%26#39;s very hot. Caught the ';Walt Disney'; history attraction and movie here as usual and it%26#39;s never crowded, although it%26#39;s very worth while?

MK; only went at about noon time to miss the terrible crowds when it 1st opens and left at about 6pm to avoid the crowds at closing (parked at Epcot and took the monorail each way). The ';new'; Pirates ride is really the same except for a couple of figures from the movies. The Star Wars ride still needs to be retired (only went as it was ';Star Wars weekend';), got stuck on Splash Mountain for nearly 1-1/2 hours as it broke down 5 times during our ride...but we got several ';good anytime/anywhere'; fast passes when we got off due to same which we used wisely!

Epcot; fast passed Soarin 2X as it%26#39;s so good, but the screen is very dirty and same is evident during the ride which can diminish the “soarin feeling”. Saw the Canada movie probably for the last time as it%26#39;s scheduled to be closed and/or replaced...too bad as it%26#39;s a favorite of ours (but not many other peoples). Space Ship Earth is being rehabbed, but the ride itself is still pretty much the same (sans the AT %26amp; T logos, etc), but they have finished the interactive area at the exit which is a big improvement over what was there before (nothing). The food at the Seasons food court in the Land Pavilion is much better than it was previously and the Chinese stir fry was actually the best Chinese food I’ve had in Orlando in a few years. Sadly the fireworks show has been changed and although still quite good, it’s not as good as before.

Sea Worlds new Shamu show isn’t nearly as good as the old show. It seems to emphasize the trainers more than the killer whales which makes no sense? The only day it rained while we were in Orlando was at Sea World and it helped to clear out a lot of the crowds. The dolphin interactive feeding/petting area is roped off now and appears to be only for those who want to shell out the $5 for a couple of sardines to feed same. Lunch at the SeaFire Inn was actually pretty good for counter service (the Mahi Mahi %26amp; grilled chicken were both much better than average) and they had a “dueling pianos” show which was entertaining, but not loud enough to be disruptive.

Ate at the Olive Garden….sorry don’t get the appeal. Very bland, generic Italian food from a chain restaurant. Had a surprisingly good steak at Black Angus as did everyone in our party. Ate at the Kobe steak house which was good %26amp; fun. Tried the Chinese buffet next to the Gooding’s market next to the Mercado (which is all but closed down by the way) and they had a very large selection of nearly everything you could want, but everything was very non-descript…not good, not bad. Ate at Sonny’s BBQ in Apopka and it’s still the best tasting BBQ in Orlando in my opinion.

Overall a shorter than usual trip with ups and downs (got rear ended our first day there so drove around with the rear bumper duct taped on just to be safe…the car goes in the shop tomorrow), the La Quinta on International Drive was fine but is starting to show it’s age a bit, but the housekeeping was improved, everything/everywhere was very very crowded, bargains are still to be had but take some searching these days….demand is exceeding supply, the weather was great as it only rained one day but the locals are feeling the effects of the drought, service seemed to be better than our previous few visits…hope it continues and it sure is better than visiting Gainesville (niece’s graduation ceremonies was the only reason for that visit).

short trip, long trip report?

Enjoyed your report and have learnt one thing.........Stick to off peak times!!!!!

short trip, long trip report?

thanks for the report

makeup art

Locals--Zoning Question?

Just got back from a week in Destin. A question for Joe Manny or other locals. I noticed that somehow you folks have manged to keep the chain restaurants to one location per chain, i.e, one McDonald%26#39;s in Destin, and one in Miramar Beach etc. Kind of re-freshing not seeing a MickyD%26#39;s on every corner. So how did you do it? Second question- I noticed that some beach houses still have hurricane damage from two years ago, they look abandoned. What%26#39;s the deal with that, seems like the zoning code would force the owner to fix it up or the city would fix it or tear it down. I know insurance settlements sometimes take forever but its been two years and it appears that building supplies are plentiful again. Just curious as to what is going on. We really enjoyed our week in your wonderful area, Joe Manny- we went fishing and caught 12 red snappers and one huge grouper!

Locals--Zoning Question?

Who%26#39;s Joe Manny?

Not sure who eats at mickey ds, certainly not me.

There are demo orders in place for some damaged beach properties. Permitting can be a red tape nightmare.

Congrats on the fish, sounds like a great catch!

Locals--Zoning Question?

Sorry Joe, I know you are Joe Mammy, I apologize on mis-spelling your name. Have a great day! And thanks for posting all the great local info on this forum.