You may already know that my family is kinda into Walt Disney World, but you may wonder how the heck we found Disney in South Carolina. Well, about five years ago, I bought an ownership interest in Disney Vacation Club, a sort of timeshare thingy they have mainly at WDW. I get a certain number of points to spend every year, and they “buy” me different accommodations depending on how busy they are at a particular time of year, where I want to stay, and what size room I want. For instance, for my annual points, Mike and I could stay in a regular hotel room-sized room at Disney World for two weeks in early January, or we could get a three-bedroom unit for my whole family to stay in for Thanksgiving weekend. (There’s also sorts of complicated stuff with banking points ahead to a future year, or borrowing from a future year’s points, but that’s not important here.)
Since these accommodations are essentially paid for already, it gives us a lot of incentive to use them for vacations. So part of our decision to go to South Carolina was dictated by the fact that Disney Vacation Club operates a resort on Hilton Head Island.
One of the things I appreciate about the way Disney does hotels is what’s known as “theming”: instead of just straightforward interior decorating, there’s a story being told through all of the design elements of the property. Hilton Head is themed after a low country fishing lodge from the ’40s or ’50s; hence, there were standards playing softly in the background outside the entrance to the front desk area, and our room was decorated with nature prints and fishing photographs that suggested what one might accumulate after coming back to the same lodge year after year. And there’s always a Disney touch — from our balcony, we could see this sign for a supposed seafood company:
(In case you can’t see him, that’s Mickey from “Steamboat Willie” as captain.)
We splurged a bit on this trip and went with a one-bedroom unit, knowing that we’d probably spend more time in our room there than we do at Disney World, and would be more comfortable with room to spread out.
This rather crappy photo was taken from the entrance of our room, with the kitchen area (with full-sized fridge and oven!) just to the right, and the living area on the left. Turning to the left took us down a short hallway to the bedroom and bathroom area. We had access to our balcony from both rooms, and quite a lovely west-facing view.
I tell ya, I’m starting to get a little spoiled by Vacation Club accommodations. They’re really very nice: roomy, attractive, well-kept and pleasant. And they’re actually a pretty good value — some combination of my family members would have gone that often anyway, and I figure I’m about one more stay away from breaking even on the whole deal.
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