Category Archives: Florida

Return to Everglades Holiday Park

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The rain finally let up on Tuesday….sort of. It was still gray and overcast but I was scheduled for the Everglades tour. A big double Decker bus worked it’s way down Ocean Drive and stopped right in front of the Crescent Resort. My ride had arrived.

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I climbed to the open air top deck but the ride was only to the ticket office.   When it was my turn I was directed to a smaller van operated by “Luis”. When we finally headed out he had a full load. It was a good thing we were in the van too . The skies opened up and it began to pour!

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Just before we reached Everglades Holiday Park the rain stopped. It was still very overcast but at least it wasn’t raining. Even if it started to rain again, the airboats at Holiday Park as covered.

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Our pictures were taken as we stood inline and then it was time to board.

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I passed the time waiting getting a kick out of the local grackle. They were into everything!

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After a brief safely talk we were on our way.

The first thing I spotted was an Anhinga, the “snake bird” of the Everglades. They call it that because of its long neck.

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Next up were the cormorants perched on the warning sign.

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With no sun, alligators were in short supply. We only saw one.

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But we had fun with a family of Purple Gallinule.

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These funny birds walk on top of the vegetation.

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We had a whole family join us including a pretty young chick.

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On the way back to the dock we spotted a huge iguana perched in the trees.

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He was a beautiful specimen on the one hand, but kind of depressing on the other as this is an invasive species. Along with pythons they are wreaking havoc on the native animals of the Everglades.

 

Art deco

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Diamond Resorts Crescent Resort on South Beach is  located in the heart of the Art Deco district from 6th Street to 23rd Street. This is where one of the largest collections of Art Deco architecture in the world can be found, making for one of the most unique city skylines in the country.

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Ocean Drive is lined with Art Deco boutique hotels overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and Lummus Park. Originally constructed in the 1930s after the stock market collapse, you’ll notice that these hotels take up relatively small plots of land—they’re not the sweeping resorts that Carl Fisher previously erected overlooking Biscayne Bay or that Morris Lapidus would go on to design further up the beach—and many are only three to four stories tall. This was done intentionally because if the buildings had any more floors, they’d require elevators and be much more expensive to construct.

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The Crescent has an elevator. Its tiny! When I first arrived I watched another couple struggle to get their luggage and themselves into the tiny space. It didn’t work they had to split up . The husband went up with the luggage and the wife followed when the elevator came back down with the remaining small bags.

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I explored the elevator near the end of my stay. It takes you all the way to the rooftop on the 4th floor. That could have been a nice space if there had been chairs set out but the roof was just an empty, unused area. you could look to the roofs on either side and see tables, chairs umbrellas and guests lounging but not on our roof. At least not yet. Maybe in the future.

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I used the high vantage point to try to get some pictures of a parasailer as they passed by off South Beach.

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South Beach Miami

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I knew South beach would be a big change from Orlando. I wanted to get to south Florida so I could visit the Everglades again and maybe, schedules permitting, visit some relatives. The only condo available was right on Ocean Drive, South Beach. Part of me liked the sound of that and part of me reminded myself that South Beach is where the “Beautiful People” go to vacation.

The other drawback is the parking. It’s a minimum of $47.00/day to park so I would be stuck either taking public transportation, cabs or walking. I felt that paying more for parking than I was for a rental was not the smartest way to spend my vacation bucks. I was hoping there’d be some tours to take me where I wanted to go that might pick up at the resort.

My first surprise was the resort itself. I am used to Diamond Properties having large lobbies and a feeling of spaciousness but “Crescent Resort on South Beach” was tiny. It’s in the heart of the Art Deco district so there are restrictions on what they can do to the property.

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As for the service, the staff had the same welcoming attitude of all the other Diamond Properties I’ve visited. I arrived 2 hours before check in. It was raining and I’m sure I looked more like a drowned rat than a “beautiful people” but they were very gracious and  let me check in right away. Then they told me I could get a 20% discount at the Purple Penguin next door as they did not have a restaurant.

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Considering the weather this was a perfect solution.

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I was still fighting the cold I caught back in October while on vacation in San Antonio & New Orleans so I welcomed this dreary day as a “down day” so I could relax, nap and do nothing once I got checked in. I was glad I had a couple of books with me.

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My room was small but I loved the accent wall in the bedroom. It’s the same  color as my living room at home.

 

 

 

 

The Grand Finale

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Well those Osborne Family Lights were really over the top.  After taking our pictures we headed back to the Magic Kingdom to watch the light show on Cinderella’s Castle.

This was it, the last thing on the list, the real final night for me at the parks. Tomorrow I was headed to Miami to finish out my vacation. So far it had been a great time. South beach wouldn’t be this exciting, that was for sure.

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But what a finale the castle made!

Hollywood Studios- That’s a Wrap!

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Since this was the last season for The Osborne Family Lights, we were prepared for a big crowd. We arrived at Hollywood Studios well before the first show of the evening so there was time to enjoy a bit of “FROZEN”. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it turned out to be great fun.

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Make fun of me if you want but I love the songs from the movie, even “Let it Go”…with the frozen fractals all around…How many little kids do you know who understand that line?

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Anyway, I just love that song, Let it Go, Let it go,  Can’t hold it back any more!

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The Frozen Sing A Long was a great warm up for the Christmas light show. And it was time to head over there. The Osborne Family Light show at Disney originally started out in Arkansas.

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Starting out as a small display on one house the display eventually grew to 3 million lights covering 3 lots.. At that point the neighbors began to file complaints and eventually law suits alleging traffic problems and safety issues.

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The publicity from the court cases drew national attention which brought it to the attention of Walt Disney World who offered to put it on a “residential Street” in the back lot of Hollywood Studios.

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Residential Street was visited using the backlot tour’s tram vehicles. When the light display was in place, however, the tram tours would stop before sunset, allowing guests to walk among the displays. Initially the display was purely the original lights from the Osborne estate, but in subsequent years the display was augmented to its current size of over five million lights. The display’s Disney caretakers have also added a number of hidden Mickeys into the lights. The 2007 edition of the display featured over 40 of the icons.

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In 2004, the park began construction on a new arena for its upcoming Lights! Motors! Action! Extreme Stunt Show, set to open in 2005. Part of the construction included the demolition of Residential Street, thus necessitating another move of the display. The solution was to move it to another part of the park, the New York Street set (now known as the Streets of America). As part of the move, the Studios added an artificial snow effect to the display, made up of 33 snow machines that use 100 US gal (380 L) of fluid per evening.

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There have been several other upgrades and changes over the years but now it was time to pull the plug. This was to be the last year for the Osborne Family Light Display. With that announcement, Disney guaranteed there would be crowds every night as fans arrived in droves to experience the lights one last time.

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