Radisson Suite Hotel Oceanfront

There's an inherent problem with hotel hopping. I mean beyond the problem of your wife threatening to leave you if she has to pack up for the twentieth consecutive morning. Excluding that issue, the biggest drawback I run into when bouncing around hotels is that sometimes we find ourselves in a place that we'd simply like to stay in for a while. A place where we'd like to spend a week, a month, or maybe change the locks and see what kind of court order it would take the hotel to actually get us out of there. That's the kind of place that we found ourselves in at the Radisson Suite Hotel Oceanfront in Melbourne, Florida.

Strangely, the Radisson isn't necessarily our kind of hotel. We're used to suites that are a little larger, amenities that are a little newer, and things like breakfast and appetizers being complimentary and available throughout the day. They say location can make up for a lot though, and if there's one word in their name that rings true, it's "Oceanfront".

There's something about true beachfront properties that just makes me never want to leave. Playing in the waves, walking on the beach, watching the turtles, leaving the patio door open so I can hear the surf crash as I fall asleep...these are the kind of things that make me fall in love with a hotel. It doesn't hurt when the beach is deserted enough that I can pretend I'm a billionaire with my own private island, leaving me free to act as uninhibited as I please.

Stupid paparazzi...

As a bonus, not only do you get this fantastic beach area, but when you stay at the Radisson Oceanfront, you also get a room. We had a bunk bed suite which we figured, when combined with the pull-out couch in the room, would give us plenty of room for everybody to sleep. The bunk beds weren't ideal for us however, as the top bunk is so close to the ceiling that neither of our girls felt comfortable sleeping in it. We ended up letting my daughter's stuffed animals sleep up there, but I'm pretty sure even they had to duck getting in and out of the bed.

The living room had plenty of room for us to set up our air mattress though, so giving up the top bunk wasn't that big of a deal... 

...and I guess if we really had to, Lori and I could have shared our room with one of the kids.

It's a sleep number bed. I have no idea how to work it, but it was comfy.

I don't know if they're half way through a renovation, but the living room had a nice flat screen, while the bedroom TV could use a little updating.

And while you're updating, the bathroom was a little small for a "family suite".

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that this was the hotel where we found the needle in the guest services book. I wanted to just throw it out, but Lori told me that needles have to be disposed of differently, so I took the needle down to the front desk. The level of mortification and apology was exactly what I would expect it to be, and for me that was plenty. No compensation was requested, offered, or in my opinion, necessary.

None of these things however, really had any bearing on the enjoyment of our stay. It was easily our family's favorite hotel of our Florida trip, and if we were to return to either Orlando or Miami, I'm pretty sure we'd tack on a few days to spend back in Melbourne. We have great memories of our time there, and if you want to forget about anything negative, just leave your curtains open when you fall asleep. The sunrise in the morning is beautiful, and you'll swear you can see all the way to the Bahamas. 

Written by Steve Pratt

Keeping Clear of the Key Deer

I've talked a lot about my wife's quest to see wild alligators while we were in Florida, but I was looking for a different animal when we traveled through the Florida Keys...

This is a Key Deer, and it's just about the cutest thing you're ever going to see. They're kind of like a mini-deer, growing only to a maximum of 30 inches tall and weighing about the same as my neighbors cat (About 50-60 pounds. It's a really big cat!). Only found in the Florida Keys, there's just 500-800 of them left in the world, making them a very endangered species.

Do you want to know why they're an endangered species? It's because they think they own the freakin' place! We figured that the best place to find Key Deer would be in the 8,500 acre Key Deer Refuge (makes sense right?) at the north end of Big Pine Key, so we went up there and hiked around. Nothing.

We were told that Key Deer were often found around the Blue Hole, so we went there. Nothing.

We gave up and went for lunch at the No Name Pub. Jackpot! Key Deer everywhere. On the road. In people's front yard. Leading parades of traffic down the main street. You couldn't miss them, although you're legally required to make sure you do if you're driving. 

In fact, I'm pretty sure that their endangered species status can be entirely blamed on their habit of leaping from the bushes to the side of the road, forcing you to slam on your brakes, and then giving you a look of "Ahem. Key Deer crossing here." If my kids did that to me they wouldn't be endangered, they'd be extinct.

If you're in the Florida Keys, stop by Big Pine Key and look around for some Key Deer. You probably won't have to look too hard, but if you're having trouble finding some, try Tropical Bay Estates. I hear they like to hang out there in the summer.

This post is a part of Photo Friday at Delicious Baby and Friday Daydreamin at R We There Yet Mom. If you didn't get here from one of those sites, you should really go check them out. There's people there who wouldn't have bothered going to the Key Deer Refuge, they would have just gone straight to the pub. Actually, there's probably a lot of those people. 

Written by Steve Pratt

Turtles in the Morning

My wife woke me early in the morning on our first full day at the Radisson in Melbourne, Florida, and told me to come out on the balcony of our room. Thinking that perhaps she had noticed that the Bahamas were moving as well, I happily followed her out the sliding door, ready to roll my eyes in disbelief at her naivety. Sadly, my wife can tell the difference between a cruise ship and a massive island, so I remain the only member of our family to confuse those two. What my wife wanted to show me, was this:

A Mama sea turtle had made the long trek to the back of the beach to lay her eggs sometime during the night, and now was frantically burying the nest so that she could get back to the ocean before the sun came up. 

OK, so maybe "frantically" is a bit of an exaggeration. It sure seemed like a lot of work for the turtle though. When we got to play with the turtles in Hawaii at Laniakea Beach, everything they did seemed so effortless. Apparently it's a very different story when they're up on the sand.

Eventually the turtle decided that the nest had enough sand piled on top of it, and turned to start making her way back towards the ocean. Alas, in the world of beach-going turtles, timing is everything. Just as our heroine made her break for the water, trouble came down the beach.

I'll admit that I was a little worried about how the dog would react to the turtle, but this was a well behaved dog. His owner walked him a fair distance away from the turtle, sat him down, and told him to stay. And he did. It was a very impressive display of self-control by the dog, and it left his owner free to watch and admire the beauty of the Mama turtle making her way back to the ocean...

...and to get in the way of my video.


This post is a part of Travel Photo Thursday over at Budget Travelers Sandbox. If you didn't get here from there, you should really head on over and check out some of the amazing travel pictures that get posted on Thursdays. I'll bet some of them would actually be able to change the angle on a video without it seeming like they were shooting from a vibrating bed.  


Written by Steve Pratt

Disneyland at Night

Despite the fact that it seems I'm always getting up early to go to Disneyland, I think my favorite time to be in the park is after dark. I love spending nighttime at Disneyland (Don't confuse that with spending all night at Disneyland. That didn't go too well.) and you get to see things that you just can't see during the day.

For instance, World of Color - only at night.

Sneaking out for a moonlight canoe ride with your boyfriend - only at night.

Father celebrating daughter's sneaking out by setting off fireworks and dancing with a turtle (???) - only at night.

Castle covered in icicles even though it's still over 80°F out - only at night.

Girl riding Dumbo while demonstrating McKayla's "not impressed" face - definitely only at night.

This post is a part of Wordless Wednesday over at Focused on the Magic. If you didn't get here from there, you should really head on over and check out some of the fantastic people that hang out there on Wednesdays. Most of them will probably react much differently than King Triton when their daughters start trying to sneak out at night. I know when my daughters try it, there will be absolutely no dancing with turtles.


Written by Steve Pratt

Hyatt Regency Bonaventure

Like anybody, my kids remember their favorite hotels. Unlike most people though, the way they remember them usually has very little to do with the room itself. They remember the Fairmont Scottsdale as the hotel where you had to keep the doors closed or the rabbits would come in. The Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas sticks in their memory as "The hotel that can't count to two" after taking three attempts to place us into a room with two beds instead of one (The third room still only had one bed, but since it was a high roller suite, we decided to quit complaining.) Now, my kids have a new hotel they remember. They Hyatt Regency Bonaventure has been endowed with the title of "That place that gave us the extra room, then took it back". It's not the catchiest of titles, but sadly it's fairly accurate.

The rooms we got to keep

Briefly, what happened was that we booked a room at the Hyatt Bonaventure, and used a confirmed upgrade certificate to move into a 1BR suite. When we arrived at the hotel, we were told that they had taken the liberty of upgrading us, and sure enough when we arrived at the room it was set up as a 2BR suite. The paperwork however, said 1BR. A couple of days ago I asked you brilliant readers whether or not you would have asked about the extra room and about 50% of you said you'd ask. I won't be asking that half of you for advice again, as I did ask and the front desk said that it must have been a mistake and that they would send somebody over right away to fix it. My kids dream of each having their own bed for a couple of nights disappeared behind a locked door, and the Hyatt Bonaventure reserved it's nickname in my kids memories.

The room we had to give back. A lot neater isn't it?

So since you'll hear nothing else from my children, it's left to me to point out the things that I really did like about the Hyatt Regency Bonaventure, and there were quite a few. For starters, the location. The Hyatt Bonaventure consists of several buildings, but the vast majority of them back onto a stream which separates the hotel property from a golf course. Our room was on the ground floor, which meant that we had a patio where we could sit and watch the stream pass by, or amuse ourselves watching the local bird population trying to catch itself a snack in the river. As it was summer, the center part of the day was far too hot for golfers, so only early in the morning or later in the evening would the quiet be disturbed by shouts of "@#%$ing stupid game!"

The room also had a large kitchen area, which is somewhat lost on me. Once you get past the fridge that I can keep my Diet Coke in, I'm kind of lost in that space.

Besides, who would want to make their own food when the breakfast buffet is included free for Hyatt Diamond members.

The breakfast buffet did end unreasonably early by my children's standards however. I mean, you can't really expect them to get up by 11am can you? Even for food they couldn't do it, but the restaurant staff very graciously gave us boxes of danishes to take back to the room for our children to enjoy, when they finally did awaken.

Of course, once my kids did finally awaken, they did what all teenagers do first thing in the morning. They tested the internet.

The internet speed wasn't bad, but Hyatt Bonaventure does belong to the incredibly evil club of "Hotels that charge for Wi-Fi access". It's provided free to Hyatt members with a minimum of Platinum status, but if I wasn't a Diamond member, paying for Wi-Fi would be enough to send me in search of another place to stay.

Which is a shame, because I enjoyed our time at the Hyatt Bonaventure. Sure they teased my kids, but if that was a crime I would have been locked up long ago. The setting is beautiful, the resort is very kid friendly, and the room (at least the one they let us keep) was very comfortable and a good size for our family. Throw in the fact that the hotel is located five minutes from both the Sawgrass Outlet Mall and the Sawgrass Recreation Park, and I'm pretty sure my wife would have good things to say about this hotel as well. In fact, the list of positives about this hotel is really rather large. Too bad that's not how it's going to be remembered.

Written by Steve Pratt