A taste of summer in the winter

 With timeshare points to burn and a direct flight from Manchester to Orlando, a quick trip to Florida during my February vacation was inevitable.  Our 11:00 Sunday morning flight enabled us to arrive at Hilton Grand Vacations Tuscany Village just in time for afternoon Happy Hour at the pool bar.  Once we got a few supplies for our room, we made a beeline over to Disney Springs, which was about a 10 minute drive from our location. 

We ate at Enzo's Hideaway Tunnel Bar - Disney's version of a speakeasy.  They had a nice little menu of craft cocktails, and the food was delicious.  In Disney fashion, the portions aren't overly large for the price, but who wants leftovers on vacation anyway?

Day 2 - Monday is for Manatees!  We got an early start and drove out to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville (which is near Cape Canaveral) for a Manatee/Dolphin tour with Florida-Adventurer.  Even the ride into the site was rewarding - we saw most of the different birds on this sign.  

We were the only ones booked for the 10 AM tour, and our tour guide Zach got us going right away. Right around the corner from the launch sight we entered a canal where a dolphin was hunting for his breakfast.  

After watching him for a bit, we entered a cove where about 20 manatees were just hanging out, doing their thing.  Some were even looking for a little tummy rub!  When we finally tore ourselves away from playing with our new pals, we also saw a raccoon at the water's edge, and a pelican scooping up the dolphin's leftovers - they will actually follow right above them to benefit from the hunters.  

We continued our coastal journey down to the Cocoa Beach Pier for lunch at the Rikki Tiki Tavern.  We were lucky enough to grab a seat at the water's edge.  Clear water and beautiful land and sea temps made for a perfect beach day, although parking at the pier was a little pricey.  The next time we go to visit our manatees, we'll stick closer to Titusville and Cape Canaveral.

Day 3 - Tuesday in Winter Park  This trip was beginning to look like a taste of the retired life.  We drove about a half hour north to Winter Park for their famous scenic boat ride, and we definitely brought the average age down by about 20 years. But, this pontoon boat ride wound through tropical canals and into their 5 different lakes.  

Lifestyles of the rich and famous provided most of the scenery, but the history of Rollins University and their many watersports made it very interesting- had I known at the time, I definitely would have considered it.  Fact: because there are so many water sports on the lakes, they actually relocate any alligators that move in. They keep the tree frogs though.

My lunch buddy

We drove over to Disney's Wilderness Lodge Resort for dinner that evening, Our original plan was to do a lap around to all of the Magic Kingdom resorts, but we had a (lucky) little change in plans.  After our meaty skillet dinners, we headed directly out to the boat launch to go over to the Contemporary Resort to watch the nightly fireworks.  Out timing was going to be a little close, so we sat in the front of the boat - we lucked out because the fireworks began as soon as we started moving.  

We were able to see the whole fireworks display, pulling up to the MK entrance just in time for the finale. We decided to just stay on the boat for the return ride instead of getting into the melee of people streaming out of the park. We were then rewarded with passing by the Electrical Water Pageant, a true Disney original. It was well worth the price of a tasty dinner for free Disney parking, another boat ride, and the night's entertainment!

Day 4 - More free Disney fun! We had a full day of walking and riding with a few surprises along the way. I did a bit of research to see where we would be able to walk from resort to resort. We would be parking at Disney Springs as it has free parking and was close to our resort. From there, we walked over to Saratoga Springs, which is a huge property, and it abuts a golf course. 

We wound our way through, and were able to pop over to the Treehouses, where my family stayed once back in the 70s! We then found a path to take take us over to the Old Key West resort. We entered toward the back of the resort; a nice couple waiting at the bus stop directed us to the pool area, as it is easy to get confused in the timeshare complexes. It was time for a little break, and this key lime/vanilla swirly hit the spot. And so did the free margarita (thanks to a friendly bartender named Jeff and a misbehaving cash register).

We had planned to visit Port Orleans after this, but there was no walking path to that resort, and the boat from Old Key West was only one way. We decided to save PO for the next time, and we took the bus over to Hollywood Studios for the next leg of our tour.

At Hollywood Studios, you can take the Skyliner to the Caribbean Beach Resort, the new Riviera Resort, or over to the Pop Century and Art of Animation Resorts.  

We got off at the CB resort and meandered through the resort over to the Riviera Resort.  From a distance, it was not overly impressive, honestly it seems a bit plain with the lack of much landscaping around the perimeter.  However, once we walked into their courtyard we were impressed.  It had a European feel to it, with two lovely pools and several lawn games in the meticulous front lawn.  

We headed directly to Bar Riva (recommended by the Old Key West bartender) for lunch, and were able to sit at the bar in two very comfy cushioned seats. The service was excellent, food was pretty good, a healthier menu than most. We decided this was surely a resort for Disney adults. And then, as we were heading back to the Skyliner to visit Pop Century, look who we bumped into!

We did our lap around Pop Century, trying to find all of the different decades, and our energy for walking was beginning to wane. We decided to take the bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge for a little giraffe break. And a little Samosa snack at Sanaa never hurt anyone.

Our final bus ride of the day was to return to Disney Springs - the bus can be painful, but it does provide some interesting people watching to add to our later conversations. Since it was around dinner time, we took our last lap around DS to see if anything struck our fancy. We ended up at the Dockside bar at the Boathouse at sunset. The last sun of the day was still warm, and the wine was cold. It was a perfect day. Total miles walked: 5.89 Total time: 8 hours