Stargazer65
Disney Honorary Bus Driver since 2009
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2020
This was an unusual Disney trip for us. We are not really people that are into swimming or laying on the beach for very long. There is nothing really within walking distance outside the resort, so for us a car was a necessity. Thankfully, we had one since we drove from CT down to the Florida Keys last week, and now we are driving up the coast to spend a week at Vero Beach Resort…
Day 1
The morning of checking-in we left our hotel in Key Largo and drove all the way to the Flamingo Visitor Center in south Everglades. So the majority of our check-in day was spent sightseeing elsewhere. We rolled in at almost 11PM day off check-in. Very Friendly front desk ladies greeted and welcomed us. We got to our One bedroom villa on the second floor of building 14. Checked out the balcony, had a view of the courtyard. Can hear the ocean but not see it, due to the vegetation and such.
Day 2
Slept in late, then got up and lounged in the soaking tub for a spell (very nice – it doesn’t have jets but I’m not a big fan of the noisy jetted tubs anyway). Went to pick up breakfast for me and my wife at the marketplace. She’s a mickey waffle and cappuccino fanatic. Sadly, mickey waffles and cappuccino do not exist at the marketplace, but you can order them for takeout at the main restaurant which is pretty easy and fast as well.
We planned to have dinner with family that lives at Boynton Beach (which is a two hour drive from VBR). On the way there we drove to Lake Okeechobee which we had never seen before. Got back to our room at 11PM once again.
Day 3
Slept in late again, made some coffee and oatmeal in the room this morning. Today is a relax and laundry day, but we planned to do brunch and dinner in Sebastian (15 minute drive).
Brunch was at Café Latte da – Cute place, like going over to your Grandma’s for coffee, very homey. We told the owner what we wanted, and she pulled stuff out of the refrigerator and prepared it in the kitchen which was right in front of us. We sat around in rocking chairs and chatted with the owner and other guests.
Went home, spent the afternoon doing laundry and walking around the resort, then went to dinner.
Dinner was at Squid Lips – Our second time here, they remodeled a little since 2021, pier was gone because of the hurricane they said. They are rebuilding. I love the place, we had conch fritters and seafood lasagna for dinner.
Day 4
Slept in late, went to Wind and Waves for brunch. I had Loco Moco which I love. This is served with bacon fried rice, which was good if a tad salty.
Today we rented bikes for the day. We rode the jungle trail road from start to finish in both directions. Did some sightseeing at the nature trails around this area.
Dinner - We went to Marsh Landing Restaurant in Fellsmere (about a 25 minute drive...this was on recommendation from a local). This is a good old southern comfort food restaurant. Excellent! We had frog legs, alligator, catfish, blackened shrimp, grits, collard greens, okra, etc…
Day 5
Slept in late, picked up breakfast at the marketplace. Today we booked a tour of the Piper factory in Vero Beach at 11:00AM. This was an excellent tour of the whole airplane construction facility with history and such, almost two hours long.
Afterwards we went to a coffee shop in Vero Beach for lunch. For those of you not aware, the town of Vero Beach is actually a 15 minute drive from the resort.
Lunch at Rio Coco Café in downtown Vero Beach – Excellent, we had cappuccino and protein bowls. Lots of comfy chairs to sit and relax.
After this we walked from the Café over to the Indian River Citrus Museum. Learned lots of interesting history about Florida and Citrus industry there.
We decided to go to Squid Lips for dinner again (3rd time), because there’s a lot to like on the menu.
Day 6
Slept in late (see a pattern here?). We picked up breakfast at the marketplace, ate leftovers for lunch, and generally made a lazy morning/early afternoon around the resort. I reserved two slots at an activity late afternoon called “Let’s Make a Bourbon Cocktail” at the Green Cabin Room. This was a good time, we learned about bourbon, drank and made bourbon cocktails. They were doing this about every day with other spirits as well (rum, tequila, etc…). There was food at this also, sliders and chips, enough that we didn’t need dinner later. It cost about 50 dollars a person, this included about 3 or 4 drinks and the food. You may expect to get a little tipsy at this (YMMV – you may get more than a little tipsy, my wife didn’t finish all her drinks out of caution, whereas I finished mine and walked fine afterwards). We stayed at the Green Cabin Room afterwards to play a group game, then we walked around until sunset. We also laid out on a hammock near villa building 12 and got bitten profusely by no-see-ums. Went back to our room and used the soaking tub.
Day 7
Slept in late, picked up takeout at the Wind and Waves and ate in our room. This afternoon we decided to go to the Navy UDT-Seal Museum in Fort Pierce (about a half hour drive). This was well worth it, and we spent two hours there. Following this we drove south along the coast for some sightseeing. We drove all the way to Jupiter, ending up at the Blowing Rocks Nature Preserve in Jupiter. This was about an hour and half drive from the resort. They close early, I recommend getting there earlier than we did there is lots to see, lots of trails to follow. We had dinner at the Dune Dog Café in Jupiter (very popular place, had some good barbecued ribs there) and drove home and packed up since we had an early departure for WDW planned.
Day 8
Departed early, today is a check-in day at Riviera Resort at WDW, I’ll follow-up with what we did today on a separate trip report.
That's about it for this report. I'm not much of a picture taker, my wife is a shutterbug. Maybe I can get some pictures from her to add to this later. Let me know if you have questions!
Day 1
The morning of checking-in we left our hotel in Key Largo and drove all the way to the Flamingo Visitor Center in south Everglades. So the majority of our check-in day was spent sightseeing elsewhere. We rolled in at almost 11PM day off check-in. Very Friendly front desk ladies greeted and welcomed us. We got to our One bedroom villa on the second floor of building 14. Checked out the balcony, had a view of the courtyard. Can hear the ocean but not see it, due to the vegetation and such.
Day 2
Slept in late, then got up and lounged in the soaking tub for a spell (very nice – it doesn’t have jets but I’m not a big fan of the noisy jetted tubs anyway). Went to pick up breakfast for me and my wife at the marketplace. She’s a mickey waffle and cappuccino fanatic. Sadly, mickey waffles and cappuccino do not exist at the marketplace, but you can order them for takeout at the main restaurant which is pretty easy and fast as well.
We planned to have dinner with family that lives at Boynton Beach (which is a two hour drive from VBR). On the way there we drove to Lake Okeechobee which we had never seen before. Got back to our room at 11PM once again.
Day 3
Slept in late again, made some coffee and oatmeal in the room this morning. Today is a relax and laundry day, but we planned to do brunch and dinner in Sebastian (15 minute drive).
Brunch was at Café Latte da – Cute place, like going over to your Grandma’s for coffee, very homey. We told the owner what we wanted, and she pulled stuff out of the refrigerator and prepared it in the kitchen which was right in front of us. We sat around in rocking chairs and chatted with the owner and other guests.
Went home, spent the afternoon doing laundry and walking around the resort, then went to dinner.
Dinner was at Squid Lips – Our second time here, they remodeled a little since 2021, pier was gone because of the hurricane they said. They are rebuilding. I love the place, we had conch fritters and seafood lasagna for dinner.
Day 4
Slept in late, went to Wind and Waves for brunch. I had Loco Moco which I love. This is served with bacon fried rice, which was good if a tad salty.
Today we rented bikes for the day. We rode the jungle trail road from start to finish in both directions. Did some sightseeing at the nature trails around this area.
Dinner - We went to Marsh Landing Restaurant in Fellsmere (about a 25 minute drive...this was on recommendation from a local). This is a good old southern comfort food restaurant. Excellent! We had frog legs, alligator, catfish, blackened shrimp, grits, collard greens, okra, etc…
Day 5
Slept in late, picked up breakfast at the marketplace. Today we booked a tour of the Piper factory in Vero Beach at 11:00AM. This was an excellent tour of the whole airplane construction facility with history and such, almost two hours long.
Afterwards we went to a coffee shop in Vero Beach for lunch. For those of you not aware, the town of Vero Beach is actually a 15 minute drive from the resort.
Lunch at Rio Coco Café in downtown Vero Beach – Excellent, we had cappuccino and protein bowls. Lots of comfy chairs to sit and relax.
After this we walked from the Café over to the Indian River Citrus Museum. Learned lots of interesting history about Florida and Citrus industry there.
We decided to go to Squid Lips for dinner again (3rd time), because there’s a lot to like on the menu.
Day 6
Slept in late (see a pattern here?). We picked up breakfast at the marketplace, ate leftovers for lunch, and generally made a lazy morning/early afternoon around the resort. I reserved two slots at an activity late afternoon called “Let’s Make a Bourbon Cocktail” at the Green Cabin Room. This was a good time, we learned about bourbon, drank and made bourbon cocktails. They were doing this about every day with other spirits as well (rum, tequila, etc…). There was food at this also, sliders and chips, enough that we didn’t need dinner later. It cost about 50 dollars a person, this included about 3 or 4 drinks and the food. You may expect to get a little tipsy at this (YMMV – you may get more than a little tipsy, my wife didn’t finish all her drinks out of caution, whereas I finished mine and walked fine afterwards). We stayed at the Green Cabin Room afterwards to play a group game, then we walked around until sunset. We also laid out on a hammock near villa building 12 and got bitten profusely by no-see-ums. Went back to our room and used the soaking tub.
Day 7
Slept in late, picked up takeout at the Wind and Waves and ate in our room. This afternoon we decided to go to the Navy UDT-Seal Museum in Fort Pierce (about a half hour drive). This was well worth it, and we spent two hours there. Following this we drove south along the coast for some sightseeing. We drove all the way to Jupiter, ending up at the Blowing Rocks Nature Preserve in Jupiter. This was about an hour and half drive from the resort. They close early, I recommend getting there earlier than we did there is lots to see, lots of trails to follow. We had dinner at the Dune Dog Café in Jupiter (very popular place, had some good barbecued ribs there) and drove home and packed up since we had an early departure for WDW planned.
Day 8
Departed early, today is a check-in day at Riviera Resort at WDW, I’ll follow-up with what we did today on a separate trip report.
That's about it for this report. I'm not much of a picture taker, my wife is a shutterbug. Maybe I can get some pictures from her to add to this later. Let me know if you have questions!
Vero looks a great place to start. Maybe we’ll put in front of WDW trip too.
