A Few Recent Bird/Wildlife Shots from the S. Fla Wetlands

i have decided to make it a vacation, going to fly into orlando friday 3/4, rent a car and drive down to boca raton, stay until sunday after lunch time, driving back up to wdw around 1 pm, that should get me into the world around 4 pm or so, right when rooms are supposed to be ready, staying at disney until friday 3/11. going to book boardwalk within next couple of weeks since it is a home resort window. after all, why not make use of a flight to florida. karen may be coming with me
 
Sounds like a good plan. If you come all the way down here, might as well make a few stops in Florida. Let me know if you need help or have questions about a particular hotel down here when booking - I can let you know if the area has anything near, if it's a good area or mixed (generally there aren't any BAD areas around here, except central Delray Beach just east of I95...and north Boynton Beach near Lake Worth. Most other places around here range from middle class to obscenely rich. Of course, we're still way far off so no need to worry about planning quite yet!
 
Great minds think alike! I'll probably be doing the same thing and by that I mean extending my trip to spend some time at Disney and Universal. Easter isn't until sometime in April so we're in the clear for missing the Easter vacation crowds.

Karl will definitely be coming down for the bird part of the trip. I'll most likely drive down so I will have my car. I have no idea about hotels in that area of Florida. I don't know if Gary is interested in coordinating bird hotels so that we're staying in the same one. That would make meeting up much easier.

I'm thinking that at some point Karl will want to fly back from Orlando while I stay and do a Disney/Universal run.

The one thing that I do know is that I'll definitely be staying off site for the Disney portion of the trip. I may even book Cabana Bay which is my favorite hotel at Universal. I'm so sick of all the shenanigans at the Disney value resorts and by that I mean things like no housekeeping during your stay and random room checks by security, which are ridiculous. Disney is charging premium prices for the values and you're basically staying in a cinder block hospital room with crappy amenities.

It will be fun to find out info about southern Florida as we plan this adventure. I really appreciate Justin's input on this part of the trip so thank you for that!

Is @ddindy interested in joining us for "Avian Pixelmania"?

~Joanie
 
That area should be fine safety wise. Not the most exciting landscape - it's mostly just suburban/office/strip mall area right next to the freeway and train station. There are walking paths over to the train station from the hotels, and also allowing you to cross UNDER the very wide and busy Yamato Rd (which runs up to 10 lanes wide) to you can get to the restaurant/strip malls on the south side of the road just west of the hotel - lots of fast foods/cafes/etc there. Definitely would be an easy drive to the wetlands - just take Yamato west to Jog Road, then north - will take you straight to Wakodahatchee, or you move one block west to Hagen Ranch Road anywhere north of Atlantic Blvd to get you to Green Cay. For Peaceful Waters, Loxahatchee, etc, just stay on Yamato west all the way to SR 441 then head north.
I stayed at the Embassy Suites hotel in that same spot, right next to the Marriott, during Hurricane Wilma, when we lost power for 10 days - after 7 days without power I couldn't take it anymore and that hotel had generators, so I could read at night and take hot showers! There are 4 hotels all squeezed in there together in that same spot - with the TownePlace suites and a Holiday Inn. There's also a Hampton Inn a bit west of there on Yamato that would also be good - a slightly quieter location away from the freeway and train. The intersection of Yamato Rd and Military Trail is about a mile from my house.
 
i would recommend anyone planning on attending south florida bird mania make room reservations right now, a lot of the boca area hotels are already sold out for next march, i'll make mine later today and post up what the unofficial bird mania hotel is
 
That should work OK. You're right off the Turnpike there. Middle-class area, lots of restaurants and stores around. That Holiday Inn has been around as long as I can remember - I go back to 1975 in Boca...and it was there then! Back when my company was hosting a celebrity golf tournament, we would have our pre-tournament auction and after party there - they used to have a place called Rose's Ballpark Cafe run by Pete Rose, who did a radio show from the restaurant...most of the people in our celebrity tournament were baseball players and other sports figures so the connection was obvious. The Cafe is gone now. Right down the street was Wilt Chamberlain's restaurant...it's gone now too. I think the hotel has a newer building and the old original one - hopefully the older one's been renovated, otherwise request the newer one.
 
I made my reservation.
Holiday Inn Express Boca Raton-West, an IHG Hotel
8144 Glades Rd | Boca Raton, FL, 33434

Karl and I are driving down and checking in on Thursday March 3rd and checking out on Monday the 7th. I'll be headed up to Orlando after that. I'll have to think about where I'll stay in Orlando but it probably won't be on site at a Disney hotel. The quality has gone down so much and the prices have skyrocketed for what you get.

~Joanie
 
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I finally got off the proverbial pin dropping "Pot" and made a reservation for Karl and I at Hawthorne Suites Lake Buena Vista (on Palm Parkway near Disney springs ) for Monday March 7th to Monday March 14th after Bird-Mania. With Taxes (there are no resort or parking fees) I paid a total of $952.56 for 7 nights so that is 136.08 per night for a Suite with a full kitchen, minus the oven. These are not the fanciest accommodations as the resort is showing it's age but it has a nice pool, the amenities I use, and no resort/parking fees, plus the housekeeping is good. That price let's me stay longer and I get what I am paying for versus at Disney where things are getting totally out of hand at the resorts.

It pays to join the Wyndham loyalty rewards program and book early.

Easter is on Sunday APRIL 17th so there are no worries fighting those crowds.

Flower and Garden traditionally starts the first Wednesday of March so we are covered there. Unfortunately I find Flower and Garden very boring and I'd love to be around during the Festival of the (F)Arts as that sounds cooler.

The really exciting news is that Mardi Gras at Universal will start on March 1st 2022 and that is one banging party so I am happy to be there again.

~Joanie
 
Joanie Eddis-Koch said:
I finally got off the proverbial pin dropping "Pot" and made a reservation for Karl and I at Hawthorne Suites Lake Buena Vista (on Palm Parkway near Disney springs ) for Monday March 7th to Monday March 14th after Bird-Mania. With Taxes (there are no resort or parking fees) I paid a total of $952.56 for 7 nights so that is 136.08 per night for a Suite with a full kitchen, minus the oven. These are not the fanciest accommodations as the resort is showing it's age but it has a nice pool, the amenities I use, and no resort/parking fees, plus the housekeeping is good. That price let's me stay longer and I get what I am paying for versus at Disney where things are getting totally out of hand at the resorts.

It pays to join the Wyndham loyalty rewards program and book early.

Easter is on Sunday APRIL 17th so there are no worries fighting those crowds.

Flower and Garden traditionally starts the first Wednesday of March so we are covered there. Unfortunately I find Flower and Garden very boring and I'd love to be around during the Festival of the (F)Arts as that sounds cooler.

The really exciting news is that Mardi Gras at Universal will start on March 1st 2022 and that is one banging party so I am happy to be there again.

~Joanie
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I’ll have to check into Wyndham Resorts. Is it in close proximity to Disney and US? Is Mardi Gras all month of March? I believe we’re looking at March 8-15 or March 15-22 next year.
 
I may go ahead and take Friday March 4th off of work - that way, I can do the wetlands with you guys on Friday and Saturday - depending on how much more you want to squeeze in, the main stops will be Green Cay and Wakodahatchee Wetlands, but Arthur Marshall and Peaceful Waters could also be alternates for 1/2 day on one of the days. I have rather an abundance of vacation days built up, thanks to Covid!
 
i may be driving down, not because i like long drives on I-95, but due to the ferocious cost of rental cars right now, that added to my airfare round trip is more $ than i would spend driving it. i can do it taking 1 extra day off, and again like many i have a pretty good stockpile of time from nowhere to go in 2020. if i take wed off i can be in boca raton friday by 12. other wise by late afternoon. this decision does not have to be made until september when southwest puts up march schedules and then i can get a car quote
 
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