A Tale of Two Hotels
The Marriott Downtown Orlando is in quite a nice location. If you are a fan of the NBA this is conveniently located across the street from the Amway Arena where the Orlando Magic play. They played the Washington Bullets the night we arrived, but I was too tired to think about looking into tickets. There is a civic cinter of some sort also located across the street where a local ballet production of The Nutcracker is playing.
Amway Arena as seen from my room on the 15th floor.
A look at our room and all of our baggage. No light travelling here.
Rugrats watching the cartoon channel. The hotel also had a lovely breakfast buffet. We pigged out the two mornings we stayed there.
For the first day we went to EPCOT. I always have enjoyed this park. When we went to pay for the tickets we learned that you can add on to your tickets within two weeks of the purchase. This is nice as it provides the visitor a lot of flexibility. And as you add more days the price is much cheaper. Once you get beyond four days the addtional days only cost two bucks a day. Another thing to do when purchasing tickets is make sure they know if you have a special celebration. Our anniversary is near and they gave the missus and I both button to wear announcing our celebration. This has been nice as the staff often greets us with a congratulations. When we visited the American area in the Nations area of EPCOT they actually gave us a certificate to commemorate the day. They also had us call a special number where Mickey and the gang wished us a happy anniversary too. Really was a cute gretting. And then we were given premium seating for the show.
Here is the cert they gave us. Made us feel really special.
On Sunday we visited Universal Studios’ City Streets. The missus wanted to meet a pair of her work mates from IBM. We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. The food was fair, but I loved the atmosphere and all of the rock and roll items on display. After lunch we moved to the Hilton Grand Vacations Club resort on International Drive.
This resort provides us a lovely suite. The kids loved the extra space and the opportunity to not hear my snores at night.
The dining room table is a lovely place to have breakfast and dinner. Behind it there is a full kitchen with the utensils we need for cooking. And they have Starbucks coffee for us as well. I like this place.
Beyond this door lay the bedroom for the missus and I. The kids had a sofa bed to rest upon.
There was a huge tub with whirl pool and a walk in shower that allowed me to stretch my arms out fully without touching the sides. I enjoy this bathroom a great deal.
And there are two sinks to speed things up in the morning. Quite nice marble upon these counters here.
The kids discovered they could hook up the X-Box here. After spending a bit too much time at lunch with out excellent companies we decided to chill out in the room rather than go to MGM Studios. Later in the evening we visted Disney Downtown. There are many shops located here. They have the best Disney store located here. If you should come this way, you really owe it to yourself to visit the Disney Downtown. There is no fee to enter this area and you should not miss it.
December 26th, 2007 at 1:05 am
waiting to see more interesting pictures coming up from the Disneyland!
December 26th, 2007 at 1:35 am
premium seating? woo-hoo! and looks like really nice resort you’re staying at, too. did you have a good Christmas?
Happy Boxing Day!
December 26th, 2007 at 2:22 am
MERRY CHRISTMAS, SA, and a Happy NEW YEAR to you & family!
December 26th, 2007 at 3:13 am
So many pillows on the bed. Good place for pillow fight~
December 26th, 2007 at 5:43 am
Happy Boxing Day!!
December 26th, 2007 at 6:27 am
That looks like such fun! I’ve never taken a long family holiday - my mum’s a bit travelphobic. Hahaha.
December 26th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Nice hotel!!
have more fun!
I hope you got the Christmas greeting sms from me.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:00 am
Happy Boxing day!! Is that a beer in your hand??? That stuff can give you a beer belly you know ;p
SA: No beer. haha That is my cell phone which is used for taking the picture.
December 26th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
isnt bathrooms the most important? hehehhe i love big spacious bathrooms..just feels so nice n clean! =D
December 26th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Happy New Year, SA!
Nice hotels in US give starbucks - when mrkat was staying in westin denver, he had 2 bags of it. And he doesnt even take coffee!!
December 26th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
Hmm.. did my comment go through??
December 27th, 2007 at 12:25 am
whats EPCOT?
SA: EPCOT is one of the Disney them parks. It stands for experimental protocol community of tomorrow. Though our tram driver informed us that it meant every person comes out tired. Both names work for me.
December 27th, 2007 at 2:58 am
Good to travel during this time of the year. Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year 2008!
December 27th, 2007 at 3:30 am
Merry Belated Christmas, Happy New 2008 Year and Happy Early Anniversary!!!
December 27th, 2007 at 10:16 am
I like that bathroom. yeah, I thought you were holding a can of brewsky
have a great trip.
December 28th, 2007 at 4:25 am
EEE!i wanna go TOO!DISNEYLAND!
:-D~~
December 28th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Merry Christmas to you SA! hey, I love taking pics of the washroom too when I visit hotels!
December 28th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
What a trip..!! i was breathless reading your experiences..
December 28th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
wow, the suite looks really nice… and I didn’t know tat u snore too
December 30th, 2007 at 5:13 am
Happy New Year, Jerry.
To the missus and the family, best wishes too.
December 31st, 2007 at 5:55 am
New Year is a time to look forward to our futures and to cherish our families and friends.
Wishing you a new year…..
lit up with good times, bursting with fun and sparkling with a whole lot of joy!
December 31st, 2007 at 6:54 am
HAPPY NEW YEAR, Jerry.
Hope you have a great year ahead
December 31st, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Happy new year!
December 31st, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Hippy New Year, SA!!!! Ooohla!!!
January 1st, 2008 at 12:44 am
Happy New Year Simple American man!
Hope this will be another good year for you and your folks
January 1st, 2008 at 11:58 am
Happy New Year to you and your family!
January 1st, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Happy 2008, Simple Yank! may the year brings you plenty of love & laughter!
January 1st, 2008 at 8:33 pm
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:41 pm
cant wait to see the disneyland pix!!
anyway, hope it’s not too late to wish u a happy new year! may 2008 be more productive n your new year resolution[s] come true. 
*xoxoxo*
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:47 am
boooo!!! SA, you’re still on vacation?
January 4th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I wanna go….. *snif* *snif*
January 6th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
happy new year, SA! sounds like you got 2 nice hotels to stay at, and plenty of fun things to do during the day!
January 9th, 2008 at 11:18 am
SA!!!! where are chu?? must send out posse already if you don’t post!
January 10th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
hey you!!! happy new year!! missed visiting your blog!
January 10th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
someone’s missssiiiinnnnggggg! still on holidays? am gonna send out a SWAT team soon
happy new year and happy holidays, have fun, but come back soon!
January 11th, 2008 at 10:46 am
where have u been???
:(
have not seen you since last year…heh
January 11th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
You are a hard man to keep track of! Now at word press, eh? You are a ramblin’ man!
January 14th, 2008 at 9:16 am
boobooBOOOOOOO!!!! come out and play SA!!!! where where are chu chuchuchuuuuuu *echo echo*
January 14th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
*knock knock*
anybody homeeeeee??
WRITE!! hehehe =D
January 16th, 2008 at 6:08 am
hey amigo!!! feliz año nuevo!! happy new year!!! i am glad you enjoy the trip and the hotel!! Marriots are nice! i belong to them too at work jiji!!
hey! who’s that on the other side of the mirror?lol!!
MUACKS MUACKS i wish you so much happiness this year 2008!!!
January 17th, 2008 at 8:01 am
Hellloooooo…. mighty long holiday you are having.. unless you are actively involved in the presidential primaries…
January 17th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Happy New YEar… Where are you?? Everything alright?? Still Recovering from your holiday ??
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:40 pm
HHHEEELLLLLLOOOOOOOOO ????!! Anybody home??
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:05 am
it has been almost 1 mth since ur last post!
at least post a comment
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:49 pm
LOL people, SA is alive! i was about to track down all his american friends too. he scared the wits outta me. he must be spanked. he is just too busy. he must pay for it of course. *wink* jokingggg. happies working Simple American!
*leaves a trail of HUGs for him to come back in*
(please ignore that trail and WORK SOME MORE k?)
January 24th, 2008 at 1:16 am
do take care okies SA!!
we were all so worried! thanks mistipurple!! =D
January 24th, 2008 at 2:51 am
Jerry! Stop fooling around man.
January 25th, 2008 at 4:52 am
*ding dong* anybody home?
February 11th, 2008 at 11:04 am
What a lovely vacation. And photos all taken using your mobile phone?
Kids didn’t mind sharing a room intinially when you were in Disney? I hope mine won’t mind, as this really saves some $.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:01 am
Thanks for post, it’s very interesting. But have you better quality / size pics?
:)
March 6th, 2008 at 4:52 am
very nice..from the photos, I must say that you gotta be enjoying yourself there..;)