faline
05-17-2016, 07:50 AM
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
It is a very rainy, gloomy raw day in Boston. I hoped the weather on the other end will be much nicer. My phone says the temperature is 46 degrees and the weather is listed as light rain. Our destination for today is Disney's Vero Beach resort where it is currently 73 degrees and mostly clear. That certainly sounds like a vast improvement.
Our flight is not until 10 this morning. We had been hearing about extremely long waits to get through security and, in fact, Jet Blue sent an e-mail message last evening suggesting we arrive at least two hours before our flight to allow for delays in security.
Well, in less than an hour on this morning, we left our home, made our way to the airport, checked our bags, and breezed through security. It didn't hurt that we both received TSA precheck status allowing us into the much shorter and less scrutinized line at the security checkpoint. On the other hand, we have four hours to wait for our flight!!
We stop in a restaurant and have a leisurely breakfast. Service is slow but, today, that is not an issue for us. Still, once breakfast is done, there is three hours to wait for our flight. We find a place to settle in with a window overlooking a number of gates so we can watch planes as they arrive and depart.
Around 9, we wander over to our gate. Our captain is a bit tardy in his arrival and someone has left a powered wheelchair on the ramp to the plane. Those issues resolved, we are quickly boarded. We push off from the gate right at 10 am and have a smooth flight into Orlando.
After collecting our luggage, we head over to Thrifty to pick up our rental car. By time we leave the garage, it is pouring but the shower is brief and the rest of our trip to Vero Beach is rain free though there are certainly clouds in the area.
There is construction in the area of our desired exit and not well marked is the need to enter a service road on the right to access the exit. Therefore, we sail right on by our exit while on the "wrong" road. We need to stay on the highway for another 9 miles until we get to the next exit. This causes us to lose another half an hour on the road and it is just about 4 pm when we pull up to the front doors of Vero Beach.
No-one is waiting for service at the counter when I arrive and I quickly have my room assignment and keys. We pull around the corner to the under the building garage, unload our luggage and bring it up to our second floor room. I was told that we are in a newly refurbished room. Since we have never been here before, I have no comparison to what the room looked before.
We have a second floor ocean view room with a small lanai. Lovely!! Although we prefer having a king bed, we get by with the smaller bed for the few nights we are here. The room is nicely done. The safe is a generous size. Overall, though, it is a duplicate of any of the vacation club studio rooms. A few observations - the tub/shower has no shelf for soap or other needed items such as shampoo bottles. You are limited to putting these items on the top of the tub surface. The toilet tissue holder is a real stretch to reach from the toilet. It took a long time for hot water to reach the shower/tub (but this only occurred the first time we used it. Following that, the hot water was available right away.)
Since we have not had any lunch, we are quite hungry. We drop a few things in the safe and head out in search of food. We end up ordering burgers and fries from the pool area quick service location. At least our bellies are full!!
We want to pick up a few items so we find a nearby Publix and head over there. Returning to our room, we unpack and then decide to visit the Green Cabin Room which is a lounge just steps from the door to our room. We settle in at a table on the outside porch which has a lovely ocean view. From here, we have drinks along with a divine chocolate covered cheesecake (which we share) while watching the ocean, the Pelicans swooping along the surface in search of their next meal, and a bunny rabbit on the lawn below. Before we leave, a shower moves in and it begins to pour.
Back in our room, we opt not to sit on our lanai this evening as we are both quite tired. Additionally, we received a phone message from the front desk informing us that it is turtle nesting season and, since any source of light other than what naturally comes from the ocean may confuse the turtles, we are asked to tightly close our drapes by 9 pm. Overnight, we receive another message on our phone asking us to refrain from walking on the beach after dark to avoid interfering with the turtle nesting process.
It is a very rainy, gloomy raw day in Boston. I hoped the weather on the other end will be much nicer. My phone says the temperature is 46 degrees and the weather is listed as light rain. Our destination for today is Disney's Vero Beach resort where it is currently 73 degrees and mostly clear. That certainly sounds like a vast improvement.
Our flight is not until 10 this morning. We had been hearing about extremely long waits to get through security and, in fact, Jet Blue sent an e-mail message last evening suggesting we arrive at least two hours before our flight to allow for delays in security.
Well, in less than an hour on this morning, we left our home, made our way to the airport, checked our bags, and breezed through security. It didn't hurt that we both received TSA precheck status allowing us into the much shorter and less scrutinized line at the security checkpoint. On the other hand, we have four hours to wait for our flight!!
We stop in a restaurant and have a leisurely breakfast. Service is slow but, today, that is not an issue for us. Still, once breakfast is done, there is three hours to wait for our flight. We find a place to settle in with a window overlooking a number of gates so we can watch planes as they arrive and depart.
Around 9, we wander over to our gate. Our captain is a bit tardy in his arrival and someone has left a powered wheelchair on the ramp to the plane. Those issues resolved, we are quickly boarded. We push off from the gate right at 10 am and have a smooth flight into Orlando.
After collecting our luggage, we head over to Thrifty to pick up our rental car. By time we leave the garage, it is pouring but the shower is brief and the rest of our trip to Vero Beach is rain free though there are certainly clouds in the area.
There is construction in the area of our desired exit and not well marked is the need to enter a service road on the right to access the exit. Therefore, we sail right on by our exit while on the "wrong" road. We need to stay on the highway for another 9 miles until we get to the next exit. This causes us to lose another half an hour on the road and it is just about 4 pm when we pull up to the front doors of Vero Beach.
No-one is waiting for service at the counter when I arrive and I quickly have my room assignment and keys. We pull around the corner to the under the building garage, unload our luggage and bring it up to our second floor room. I was told that we are in a newly refurbished room. Since we have never been here before, I have no comparison to what the room looked before.
We have a second floor ocean view room with a small lanai. Lovely!! Although we prefer having a king bed, we get by with the smaller bed for the few nights we are here. The room is nicely done. The safe is a generous size. Overall, though, it is a duplicate of any of the vacation club studio rooms. A few observations - the tub/shower has no shelf for soap or other needed items such as shampoo bottles. You are limited to putting these items on the top of the tub surface. The toilet tissue holder is a real stretch to reach from the toilet. It took a long time for hot water to reach the shower/tub (but this only occurred the first time we used it. Following that, the hot water was available right away.)
Since we have not had any lunch, we are quite hungry. We drop a few things in the safe and head out in search of food. We end up ordering burgers and fries from the pool area quick service location. At least our bellies are full!!
We want to pick up a few items so we find a nearby Publix and head over there. Returning to our room, we unpack and then decide to visit the Green Cabin Room which is a lounge just steps from the door to our room. We settle in at a table on the outside porch which has a lovely ocean view. From here, we have drinks along with a divine chocolate covered cheesecake (which we share) while watching the ocean, the Pelicans swooping along the surface in search of their next meal, and a bunny rabbit on the lawn below. Before we leave, a shower moves in and it begins to pour.
Back in our room, we opt not to sit on our lanai this evening as we are both quite tired. Additionally, we received a phone message from the front desk informing us that it is turtle nesting season and, since any source of light other than what naturally comes from the ocean may confuse the turtles, we are asked to tightly close our drapes by 9 pm. Overnight, we receive another message on our phone asking us to refrain from walking on the beach after dark to avoid interfering with the turtle nesting process.