HHI - April

[missymouseworld]

Trying to decide on switching things up a bit and not doing a WDW vacation in 2017 and vacationing at Hilton Head Island resort in April. For anyone who has been there in the beginning to mid-April timeframe, will it be warm enough for pool/beach?

I currently have a reservation at BWV for April, but my 7 month window will be opening up soon, and wanted to have enough info to persuade the family to take a "parks" break.

Thanks. :mickey:

[faline]

According to what I can find, the average high for April is 75 and the average low is 55. Of course, for this to be the average, a number of days would be higher than 75 and a number lower than 75. I would also guess the later part of the month would be warmer than the start of the month.

[Basket Mommy]

We own our DVC points at HHI and loved the island so much we bought a vacation home there last summer. March and April are warm. The ocean might be a little chilly, but the weather will be nice (possibly windy) for sitting on the beach. Of course, being Disney, the pool at the resort will be heated. We swam there 2 Thanksgivings ago when it was low 50s outside, but the pool was warm enough. Last year when we went down 2 weeks before Thanksgiving to put up the Christmas tree, we were doing our decoration shopping at Target with 85 degree heat outside. I know November isn't the same as April, but it's really only SUPER cold on the island in January & February.

[missymouseworld]

Sounds like nice weather..... not really "beach" people/ocean water not my thing and probably wouldn't spend a lot of time there but the pool will be nice as long as it's heated and it's sunny out. My youngest son is really looking forward to the fishing and activities. We stayed at Vero once and he really enjoyed all the pool activities and other activities they offered, so I am assuming they have that at HHI too.

Are there some restaurants within walking distance of the resort?

[Basket Mommy]

Are there some restaurants within walking distance of the resort?

Besides the quick service you can get at Disney, there are a few in the marina area outside the Disney resort. Scott's Fish Market, San Miguel's (Mexican), Bistro 17 (French) and Bucci's (Italian) are all easily reached. Ela's Blue Water Grill is there, too. There is a shuttle from the Disney/Shelter Cove area over to the shopping center that has a Kroger, Poseidon's Restaurant (seafood), New York City Pizza & a great breakfast/lunch place called The French Bakery. On the other side of Kroger is Giuseppi's Pizza, and there are two places to get dessert/frozen treats - Kilwin's (ice cream, chocolates, fudge, etc.) and Orange Leaf (froyo). Backyard Burgers & World of Beer are two other eateries that can be reached via the shuttle. Doughboy's Pizza is our favorite on the island, and they deliver, if you want pizza. Our other favorites on the island are Sea Shack (which looks like a dump, but has the best and most affordable seafood on the island), Santa Fe (a little pricey, but great Southwestern Food) and One Hot Mama's, which has burgers, ribs, BBQ & wings. And don't forget to get a Dole Whip at Disney's Beach House!

[missymouseworld]

Great information....thanks so much!

[TheDuckRocks]

You will not go hungry when in the Hilton Head Island/Bluffton area! Last count I read was well over 200 restaurants. When you check-in they will give you a magazine with tons of info on the various dining locations, if they don't ask for one. A few of our favorites are drive to places but well worth the time - Gruby's NY Deli (best deli food that we have found in the south), the Chart House (for somewhere a bit upscale), Scull Creek Boathouse, Chow Daddy's, and Hudson's on the Dock to name just a few. If you want to watch your budget, early bird specials and coupons are plentiful. Have a great time.

[Simba's Mom]

Trying to decide on switching things up a bit and not doing a WDW vacation in 2017 and vacationing at Hilton Head Island resort in April. For anyone who has been there in the beginning to mid-April timeframe, will it be warm enough for pool/beach?

I currently have a reservation at BWV for April, but my 7 month window will be opening up soon, and wanted to have enough info to persuade the family to take a "parks" break.

Thanks. :mickey:

We were there in April once, but late in the month so I really can't comment on your weather. It seemed very warm to us, but we usually go for Thanksgiving, so of course, April would seem warmer. The one thing I will caution you about is to check on when Good Friday is. We made the mistake of trying to go out to dinner that night, and all the seafood restaurants were PACKED. Best to plan to stay in on Good Friday. And if your stay overlaps the Heritage Golf Classic (ours did), don't worry about that. Just avoid Sea Pines-the lines getting in and out of the gate were very long! Outside Sea Pines was fine.

[Basket Mommy]

You will not go hungry when in the Hilton Head Island/Bluffton area! Last count I read was well over 200 restaurants. When you check-in they will give you a magazine with tons of info on the various dining locations, if they don't ask for one. A few of our favorites are drive to places but well worth the time - Gruby's NY Deli (best deli food that we have found in the south), the Chart House (for somewhere a bit upscale), Scull Creek Boathouse, Chow Daddy's, and Hudson's on the Dock to name just a few. If you want to watch your budget, early bird specials and coupons are plentiful. Have a great time.

Gruby's has a delicious Reuben! They're only open for breakfast and lunch. Island Bagel has delicious bagels made fresh daily. And Skull Creek is a very popular place with tourists. Go early (around 5). I find the food okay, but the drinks are very weak for the price. If it's not too windy, eat outside on the deck. It can get warm inside. Hudson's has delicious gumbo, and they have some of the freshest seafood on the island. According to the charter fisherman we go out with sometimes, Hudson's gets a lot of their seafood local, but most from Savannah. Skip Hugo's (rude, rude, rude) and the seafood buffet at Gillan's (used to be Kingfisher, right outside the Disney gate.)

[TheDuckRocks]

Hudson's gets a lot of their seafood local, but most from Savannah. Skip Hugo's (rude, rude, rude) and the seafood buffet at Gillan's (used to be Kingfisher, right outside the Disney gate.)

Savannah is only a 40 minute drive and when you live in an area that is nowhere near the ocean, that's fresh. Interesting how everyone has different experiences at restaurants - we have eaten at Hugo's a number of times now and have always had over and above friendly, excellent service. I'm so glad to see Kingfisher gone! The food was never anything special, the only time we would go there was when we were tired at the end of the day and too lazy to go anywhere further away. Last time we ate there it was so filthy, dirty it was hard to believe the health department didn't close them down.

[Basket Mommy]

Savannah is only a 40 minute drive and when you live in an area that is nowhere near the ocean, that's fresh. Interesting how everyone has different experiences at restaurants - we have eaten at Hugo's a number of times now and have always had over and above friendly, excellent service. I'm so glad to see Kingfisher gone! The food was never anything special, the only time we would go there was when we were tired at the end of the day and too lazy to go anywhere further away. Last time we ate there it was so filthy, dirty it was hard to believe the health department didn't close them down.

I love Hudson's. When we go out fishing, they will prepare what we catch. And I wasn't complaining about the fish coming from Savannah. Our charter captain says that local fishermen aren't allowed to sell direct to restaurants anymore, so I'm not surprised that they don't get a lot of local fish. Savannah is close enough for me!

We got Thanksgiving dinner from Hugo's a couple of times, and it was good, so we tried to eat there last year. The website said they close at 10 pm, so we went for a late dinner at 8:45. We walked in and were greeted, the guy grabbed the menus to seat us, and the guy that ended up being our waiter walked buy, stopped right in front of us and said, "Seriously?" then kept walking. We asked if everything was okay, and he said, "Well, we stop seating at 9." I said, "It's 8:45, and your website says you close at 10. We told him we could leave, but he said we should stay. I wish we hadn't. The waiter acted as if we were inconveniencing him the entire meal. He started by telling us everything that was unavailable on the menu because they were getting ready to close. Hubby wanted a salad - "the salad station is already shut down because we were closing up." We ordered iced tea - HEAVY SIGH - "I have to make some more because we were getting ready to close." He brought rolls and told us we could have more if we were willing to wait for them to heat the oven and bake more. Then at the end, he asked if we wanted dessert. This was after we watched him lecture the table beside us all through their tableside dessert preparation (evidently they had come in moments before we did.) He was INCREDULOUS that we didn't want dessert. We told him that he had made us feel incredibly unwelcome and we were ready to go. I mean, it was just the rudest waiter I've ever had serve me. We offered to leave when he said they were about to close. He practically begged us to stay, then made sure we KNEW how much TROUBLE he was going to because we walked in as they were getting ready to close. I would've never even have gone if the website hadn't said they closed at 10 pm. It was Saturday night, during spring break, and just about every other popular restaurant was open until 10 or 11 pm. We didn't think twice about going late, as we usually do during peak times in HHI. I'll never go back.

And yes about Kingfisher. We ate there once in 2010 and we all agreed that it should be on Restaurant Impossible or some show like that. It was awful. Rumor is it's the same people trying to reinvent the restaurant. I haven't been back. It was a comedy club for awhile, and when I was in HHI last week I noticed that it's now a seafood buffet called Gillan's.

[TheDuckRocks]

Hugo's - wow, wow, wow!!! I would never go back either. We always eat there early and have only ever had female wait people. I will be aware of grumpy and beyond rude waiters on future visits though.
We were down in March and noticed the name change at Kingfisher's. The place was packed, I hoped that meant new owners/clean restaurant. If not I bet they still have the grease stains on the carpet and dust bunnies on the lightening fixtures.