Last year we were lucky enough to have a holiday in Florida, USA. As we were going with my sister and her family, including their Down Syndrome son (who was having his holiday of a lifetime, incidentally), we wanted to be in accommodation that was going to be near to them.
They had hired a luxury house, far beyond our price reach, so we chose a hotel from the Virgin Holidays brochure. My brother-in-law had a map of the area from a previous holiday, with all the hotels marked by number along each route. There were two that were quite close to the area they were staying in, so we looked at them both in the brochure, and decided that the Ramada Inn looked the nicest.
When we arrived at the Airport, we collected our luggage and hire car, and followed my brother-in-law to our hotel. He knew where it was, as it was on the road that they had to travel along to their own hired house.
It is situated right at the end of Highway 192, known as Irlo Bronson Highway, a 20 minute drive from the Airport.
The hotel had a drive and also some parking spaces at the front. We parked up, and entered the reception. The receptionist was very friendly, and we handed over the relevant booking paper work. We were given our key, or should I say key card, as it was a credit card type key that you swiped in the door lock, then we were shown a map of the complex and where our room was located.
The hotel has 198 rooms on 2 floors, which are in 4 buildings. They were set into a square, and in the centre of the square was the hotel outdoor pool and gardens. It does not have any lifts, so disabled people would have to ask for a ground floor room. Half the rooms faced the square overlooking the pool, while the rest were on the outside. Our room was on the outside, but we found this to our advantage because we could park right outside our room. You could choose a smoking or non smoking room.
All rooms had air conditioning, and believe me this was heaven. It was quite noisy, but we soon got used to it. The room was a bit poor in my opinion. It had no main light, just 2 side lights and a standard light. There was a double bed and single bed, table and 2 chairs, side board, arm chair, and a table between the 2 beds. It had a built in spacious cupboard for hanging clothes, but no door or curtain, and a dressing table with mirror and light.
It had an en suite bathroom with a bath and shower, sink and toilet. Towels were supplied by the hotel and were changed daily by the maid. She would also make the beds.
The best thing in the room was the TV with cable channels, and a video too. We found it fun watching Jerry Springer shows that we had not seen yet, and there were so many news programme’s, that we were spoilt for choice. Videos were available for hire at reception via a vending machine. They cost $3.20 a day.
Also in the room was a phone. Now, we needed to use this daily to keep in touch with my sister and her family, and local calls were free. I also managed to ring a friend in Tennessee that I had met in Uproar.co.uk. We had been friends for nearly 2 years, so it was great to chat on the phone with her at long last.
Apart from one other couple, we were the only English visitors. All the rest were Americans. All the staff were so friendly, and we made friends with the barmaid, Cindy, who loaned her child’s Pokemon video to my son. On our last night, she gave us a pitcher of beer, on the house.
We also noticed lots of Army jeeps and Fire-fighter trucks in the car park. We found out that they were staying at the hotel and were helping to fight local fires. I knew I was really in America when one of the Army Sergeants said to me: “Morning Ma’am”, and tipped his cap. Oh, the politeness, I was overwhelmed.
The hotel pool was very large. Oblong shaped, deeper at one end, shallow at the other. It was empty most days, as people were visiting the theme parks, but we decided that we would have a few days off from trudging around parks and spend our days by the pool in the sun. Towels were supplied in bins, and then you put them in another bin when you had finished with them. Sun loungers were supplied for free and there was plenty of shade, and also soft drink machines. There were ice machines too, and you could help yourself to ice at anytime.
I had a nasty accident in the pool. My leg slipped down the inside of the metal steps and I fell forward. My leg was in pain and I felt down to feel a huge lump. I thought my bone was poking through my skin! I regained control and looked about me, expecting to find the water red with blood, but there was none. I stayed in the water for 15 minutes while I regained enough strength to pull myself out. I was okay, and managed to walk. It didn’t seem as bad as I had thought.
When I returned to England, I still had a lump. My doctor told me that I was lucky that I stayed in the pool so long after it happened. It prevented swelling and bruising.
Watch out for slippy steps wherever you go on holiday.
The hotel did not mind that my sisters family came to swim in the hotel pool, or that they used the bar in the evenings.
After a few days, our phone was not working, so we called the maintenance man. Very polite and friendly. He couldn’t fix the problem, so after telling the staff the importance of the phone, they gladly moved us 2 rooms up.
We tried breakfast at the hotel on our first morning. There was toast, cereal, bacon and sausages, but no eggs, no tomatoes or beans, no mushrooms. Being one that does not want to do what Romans do when in Rome, I was definitely not going to have gravy for my breakfast! If you like gravy and grits for breakfast, then all you can eat for $2.99 is a bargain. Dinner was mainly steaks, pizza and burgers, so we ate elsewhere.
Don’t be too proud about cutting the coupons out of the brochures and magazines. All the Americans do it! You can save 10% on some meals, $1 off on others, and a 2 for 1 on others.
The hotel also sells tickets to the parks, and we purchased a 5 park ticket each. There is also a bus service running to Disney from here.
Highway 192 is miles long, and full of restaurants, shops, and hotels. The best place to have a breakfast is Sizzlers, about a 10 minute drive from the hotel. Here you can get the full English breakfast, as well as gravy and grits. All you can eat for $2.99. Coffee and coke refills are free everywhere.
Shoney’s is the place to eat dinner. Another all you can eat restaurant, serving an excellent range of meals from steaks to salads...and yes, gravy!
We had a great stay here, and I would definitely stay here again, even though it isn’t the best for luxury, we found the really friendly staff made up for it.
The price we paid was part of a package via Virgin Holidays, which included flights, car hire and hotel for 2 adults and one child, so it is difficult to say how much it cost just for the hotel. I would estimate that it is between £13 and £16 per room.
They did try to charge us $25 for the phone calls but apologised when I pointed out they were all local.