(view from my room! Squee!)
We traded our Marriott Orlando timeshare for a week in Sanibel Island last week and we are so happy we did! I love to research cool things to do online when we vacation someplace new, so why not write my own list?
We bought our Orlando timeshare about 5 years ago and have never traded before. The process for trading was so scary because we didn't know what we would get! Last spring we chose a window of 4 weeks and about 7 resorts for our 2013 vacation, submitted our selections and sat back and waited...and waited...
No joke, Christmas morning an email came in at 5:30 am with the news that our trade had been accepted! We were told that we could go to Tortuga Beach Club (a Hilton run resort) in April 2013. Great! I hope...
When we got there we were pleasantly surprised with the room - it was a two story townhouse with the bedrooms upstairs. Tons of space! Look around...
A large kitchen:
A living room with lots of seating and a screened in porch attached by sliders:
The master bedroom was HUGE and had a comfortable king-sized bed (what a treat):
The kids' room also had a king and a single bed, plenty of room (it was too messy to photograph within 10 minutes).
We opened the slider in my bedroom and discovered we were ocean-front with a fantastic view!
The resort had a great pool/hot tub I forgot to photograph, and some activities planned for the kids each day. I loved the fact that our rooms came with two beach chairs and that we could rent additional chairs or an umbrella for $1 a day! There was a huge bin of beach toys for the kids to use while there. That makes life so much easier when you fly with limited luggage space.
The pool rec room had ping pong and frozen drinks from 2-4 each afternoon and even a night of babysitting so parents could go out for an adult night mid-week. The resort was pretty quiet, not a lot of hustle and bustle and all the staff we encountered were so friendly and helpful.
On Wednesday or Thursday I'll share where we ate and shopped and some other fun things we did while there. Do you have any great Sanibel Island memories? Favorite places?
Wow that is quite the distance from Orlando! But it looks absolutely beautiful! It's funny because we have been only to Sanibel Island and are currently trying to plan a family vacation to Orlando! lol The kids are a bit older now so I think we are going to do Universal Studios and Epcot! :)
ReplyDeleteFound your page enlightening though, and for anyone else in MY shoes haha here's a website I've been using that has been a real time and life saver while planing this vacation for 6 of us! :S
http://discountattractions.com/attractions/universal-studios-orlando-2188
Thanks again for the post! :)
I was a bit disappointed in Sanibel when I went last year - after hearing so much hype about it. I expected superb shells, but they were ordinary. I enjoyed Ft Myers beach much more. I am currently on the east coast of Fla on Hutchinson Island for a few weeks- Actually, any beach is enjoyable to me!
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the shells, the shelling didn't seem extraordinary to me. My kids liked the live creatures they would see at low tide, conch, starfish, hermit crabs, even some rays swam past us!
DeleteWe were there with friends, but I might have been bored if it was only us.
I've been to the area and visited the Ding Dong Reserve . We loved it. We have cousins in Ft Myers , so everytime we visit them, we visit the reserve. Never tire of it. I find getting in and out of Sanibel a little trying.. but I should relax , we are there to vacation, right??
ReplyDeleteWe went to that reserve too! I think it was Ding Darling.
Delete