We let our Senior in High School pick our family vacation and she wanted to repeat our Disney World / AMI vacation from 2009. You can read about the Disney portion here.
Our AMI portion was April 1 to April 7.
We rented last minute [a month and a bit out] so it was slim pickings. Ended up at 210 Sun Plaza West through Mike Norman.
We came from a crazy hectic week at Disney World and hubby was sick the day we left to hit AMI…so we arrived after hours. It was sooo crowded with traffic coming into the island. Ugh…got our envelope and headed to the condo….and we can’t get in…So I call the after hours line and someone calls right back. They have the janitor put another set of keys out for us at the office so we drive back to get it…and back to condo… this key is trouble but it works. Whew.
Condo is nice. It’s as expected. What I didn’t know was there is a separate key to get to the stairwell and they only gave us 1….we are 5 people [3 teens 2 parents…] so if anyone wants to leave for a walk, hit the pool etc…..they did bring a second Sunday evening which helped but it should have been more. We asked for more but never received.
Other issue is the sofa bed…it’s terrible. Thankfully we brought an air bed but we did pay for sleeping for 6….
So Sunday we call and explain we need more stair keys and also the door key doesn’t work well…i think they brought another front door key but no more stair keys. this front door key works better but only hubby can really work it….Having only 2 door keys with 5 people that sometimes want to be different places doesn’t work that great. It’s ok if you have little kids but we had teens who wanted a little freedom…it worked for the most part. We just would text each other to get let in….just a heads up if you rent at Sun Plaza West to make sure everyone in your party gets a key…
So the front door key still gives issues…Mark finally came out Wednesday when it is so bad my husband can’t even work the lock. Super nice guy — he goes and gets a new lock but it doesn’t fit in the hole provided…so he calls a locksmith…who comes out later that day and finally just makes new keys that fit better [original copies were made wrong].
we never got more than 2 stair keys…we didn’t worry about that or the sofa bed…we really aren’t difficult people…the air mattress we brought was fine. Of course, It started leaking weds or so so the last 2 nights she slept on the flat sofa bed but was ok with it so there you go.
Those are my gripes about the place…now the positives….
Loved the screened porch. You could hear the ocean…it was awesome. We just had a peek a boo view which I knew but i was pleasantly surprised to have it. There was no furniture on the master bedroom open porch which was a shame but i left the slider door open and could hear the ocean as I slept. loved it.
The condo was perfectly fine for our needs. It wasn’t super updated but it was nice and well stocked. They do need to address the keys and the sofa bed and it would rate higher. Also there is an elevator which was great for groceries and if you don’t want to walk up 2 flights of stairs. It is parking level then level 1 then level 2. Oh and the last 2 days our stairwell wouldn’t open from the inside. No idea why but we had to go down the other hallway.
There was also a storage locker with plenty of beach toys, etc. which was a nice surprise. We enjoyed using the toys.
Location. The complex is right on the beach so that was great. Loved being able to take walks whenever or just hit the beach right there. My oldest ran every morning. My son brought his skate board and went to the skate park every day. It was really close. The first day my husband went with him but after that we let him go by himself as it was so close. He loved the freedom and working on his skills.
The pool was right by the tennis courts and was very warm. It was great later in the week when the temp dropped outside and the wind picked up as it was tucked away.
The trolley goes south on street in front and picks up / drops off at 58th and 53rd [this unit is at 56th] and then goes North from Duffys which is an easy 5 minute walk way.
Shopping/Dining nearby. I loved getting coffee right at Island Haus which is so close and there is shopping, Sun and Sand and Island Trader and a few more shops, right around the corner as well. Plus a good ice cream shop Small Town Creamery. And the skate park and Duffys…and Island Gourmet…and Eat Here.
So overall good location. I would probably stay around this area again.
The other time we went we stayed at Pine Ave [before it became so commercial] in a house which was nice but this was more convenient except for the trolley [it was right across street from Pine].
So sunsets were great most nights. Beaches were beautiful. We hit them all. They are all wonderful. The day we hit Coquina Beach there was a farmer’s market or something which was fun! Bridge street was fun although not as much shopping there as I thought. People were charming and friendly and wonderful. Bean Point is always amazing. It was too windy to swim to the little sandbar we liked last time…
Spring break definitely more crowded than early June but very nice. Weather was mostly perfect. Sat Sun Mon perfect. Tues Weds Thurs Friday winds picked up. Still beautiful but harder to hit the beach…Friday we walked on the beach and did lots of coughing as did others on the beach…red tide?
Trolley is always fun. The drivers are so friendly.
Restaurants:
City Pier. Live musician good food. Fun.
Rod n Reel. Small but great food. Good service. Great views.
Ugly Grouper. Lively crowd. Poor service. Fun corn hole while waiting. Good food.
Island Time Bar & Grill. Live musician. Good food and drinks. Good service.
Duffys. Delicious and cheap as always. Cash only. Meant to hit Skinnys too but didn’t.
Island Haus Coffee. 5350 Gulf Drive Great coffee and friendly service and patrons.
Poppos on Pine. Really good reasonable priced Mexican food.
Ice Cream. All good.
Two Scoops on Pine
Joes on Bridge
Small Town Creamery 5404 Marina Drive
We enjoyed hanging out together and reconnecting. Thanks for all the help. Any questions?
Trish's Travels 