Downtown Disney
Day 15 - August 24, 2002  
July 26, 2003

Downtown Disney
Cape May Cafe Breakfast
Check-in at Radisson Suite Resort
Clearwater Beach

 Drive to Clearwater Beach
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Summer SantaUp bright and early to get all the bags packed up and in the car.  Starting out with a bit of ‘Christmas’ shopping at Downtown Disney.  Today is the Annual Passholder 'Christmas in July' Event.  They are running specials on certain items and you get a discount of at least 10% at the Christmas Store, and Once Upon a Toy (!) 

We called bell services to take down our bags, and they quickly arrived and moved everything down to our car that was waiting to be filled up.  (I love Valet parking!) :-)  We headed out, and were at Downtown Disney in just a few minutes.  There were quite a few cars already (just 7:30am), and we headed in. 

Mr. PotatoheadThey had a table setup, and had everyone show their APs to get a wristband that got you into the stores.  They passed out flyers, that listed store names, and other specials that they were running.  Kristen was quite excited by the 'certain scrapbooking items 50% off' listing.  :-)  I wanted to head for the Toy Store first!

On the way we ran into Santa in his summertime outfit and Mr. Potato Head was there as well.  Then it was into the quite busy Toy Store.  I thought (briefly) about getting the special pin, but the line was a mile long, so I decided to pass.  It would of used up most of the 2 hour window for shopping, and Kristen would have NONE of that!  :-) 

I ended up getting that Monorail set I've been eyeing for a couple years now.  Regularly $60 - on sale for $42.  Not too shabby.  We also picked up the Tree of Life playset for the girls for Christmas (shhhhhh....)  Had them shipped home, which wasn't TOO bad since I didn't have to pay sales tax.  Still ate into a bit of the savings!  :-)

BCV Old CarsKristen went off to the Christmas store while I waited in line to pay.  It took FOREVER.  Really slow today.  People were buying ARMLOADS of stuff.  I couldn't believe how much stuff I saw flying off the shelves!  Thank goodness for those radios - I was quickly able to track her down after I left.  We bought a few items in the Christmas store (several more specials, and even a Disney Artist there signing his pieces).

Then it was off to World of Disney.  Here is where the scrapbooking supplies were, but only certain ones were 50% off.  Kristen still found a bunch that she wanted, and the girls found a couple more items that they liked.  I carried the bags (while thinking of ways to cram them in the carry-ons) and drank blue and pink Hot Cocoa (Free Samples).  It was actually quite good!

Family with Minnie MouseWe finished up JUST before the 9:30 deadline, and headed back to the Beach Club for our Cape May Cafe Breakfast with Goofy and friends.  There was little to no wait, and the buffet was excellent this morning.  We saw all the characters quickly, and then settled down to fill up on all the great breakfast goodies. 

Beach to the left of usWe said our goodbyes to the Beach Club, and headed on down the road for Clearwater Beach.  I figured on about a 2 hour drive, but it took a little over 3!  The traffic at times was HORRIBLE - especially on Route 60 into Clearwater Beach.  This area needs some SERIOUS roadwork to handle the traffic.  It was NOT the best start to our 2 days there, but we eventually made it through and found our hotel.

and Beach to the right!The Radisson Suite Resort at Sand Key was pretty nice.  It was not on the Ocean side, but across the street on the inlet side, right on the water.  It had a great pool, which was good, because our room wasn't ready until almost 5pm.  (I was getting annoyed with Clearwater at this point!)  After raising a bit of a fuss, they finally put us in another room that WAS ready.  (They had told me it would be an hour at 2:30!)





Playing in the surfDuring our wait we tried the pool and walked over to the Gulf.  The pool was great.  Nice and cool and no problem finding a couple chairs even though it was fairly busy.  After a bit here we headed for the ocean.  They ran a trolley occasionally, but we just walked.  It took about 10 minutes or so, and the beach is AMAZINGLY wide!  :-)  After Vero, it seemed like a vast desert, but we eventually found the water. 

Friendly beach bum parrotThe surf here was quite calm (which the girls really liked) and we had fun playing in the sand, swimming, and searching for seashells.

Headed back, and still no room.  (only 4:00)  Back to the pool, and then I went back at 5 and GOT a room.  :-)  The bellman quickly brought up our luggage, and I got a bit settled before bringing up the girls.  I forgot to take room pictures this time (sorry) but it was a suite room with a livingroom with pullout couch, wetbar, 1/2 fridge, TV and small desk followed by a small bathroom (standard) and hall closet which then lead into a bedroom with 2 double beds. Rainbow after Thunderstorm There was a nice balcony off the bedroom that looked out over the inlet.  VERY pretty.  We were so close to the water that it looked like we were ON the water unless you looked straight down.  From the front balcony (outside the front door) you could see the Gulf between the buildings on the other side of the street.  We probably would have ended up someplace else, but we picked here since it slept 6.  But my brother couldn't make it (new job) so we ended up with a nice big room for the 4 of us. 

View off balconyAfter getting cleaned up we went to dinner right there at the hotel restaurant.  It was very good, and we had a nice view out onto the inlet.  We watched the boats and sealife, and a BIG old thunderstorm come through.  Something kept poking its nose up about 20 yards off shore... Some thought it might be a Manatee, but we couldn't see it well enough to be sure.  It was fun watching for it though.  We explored just a bit, and headed off to bed early.  We wanted an early start at the beach/pool the next day.  After all that traffic getting here, I wanted to make sure we left in plenty of time to drive back to Orlando!  I called down and asked for a late checkout, and they said that 1pm would be OK (normal was 11pm).  I think they gave it to me since it took so long to get INTO the room in the first place! :-)


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