Discussion
Thought I’d give a little holiday report after ten days in Florida summer.
Summer wasn’t ideal as we always like to go away in late October when the depression of winter starts showing but we got married this month and our son starts school in September so a decent holiday beckoned. Looking at a price for say Canaries, or another location we went to last year in Sardinia price wise for the villa and flights we were looking about 25% more so thought as he’s nearing five we could make some memories and just make the most of it, also With the hurricane season starting it always felt like we needed to get out before July/august.
Reservations about this time of year were the heat and crowds, and god was it humid at times and sweaty, going into any AC felt like an absolute dream, even the bogs get AC’d out there which I never particularly noticed. Crowd wise it wasn’t that busy yet, a few people said it was still early on in the holidays. Also another reservation was damage after last year storm season, you’d never had noticed tbh, a lot of construction was happening on AMI house wise but all shops/restaurants were mostly open.
Destination - Bradenton, Sarasota, we had a nice villa 30 mins outside of the coast on the east side of bradenton right on the i75 which was great for getting out of bradenton but was a tad boring driving to the Gulf side. Villas didn’t seem available closer to the gulf with the nicer pools etc but I think next time I’ll be closer to the coast.
We did day trips out to Sea World, Busch (Twice yes twice more on this later) and down the coast a bit to Myakka to find some big horrible green things.
Trip started with BA out of Gatwick, I had economy outbound and premium back, that was 1800 and felt that BA were very good compared to Virgin (I worked for Virgin 10 odd years ago), last time we did long haul was with Virgin and maybe improvements this was down to new planes available (this was the 777) but service was good, the food good and entertainment system had massively improved with the times on the planes now. Our four year old was very happy and not too bored and the backend of the plane half full so I got to use three seats in luxury. Premium experience was good on the way back, food option had all gone by the time they got to my seats, but still a good meal. Seats were good enough to get a couple of hours kip, not sure I could had slept much in economy.
We stayed in a villa with pool on Tara Golf and Country club, managed to squeeze in the sticks in and get two rounds, one at a public and one round on Tara GC that was a private CC, boy you notice the difference with the private club.
I didn’t have the energy to get another round in, body was wrecked from the driving/running around but was happy with that much golf. I also did take fishing gear with me, not successful but tough to get the right hours in with the beach being 30 mins away and my son knackered at the end of the day to do dusk. Not a lot did get seen being caught in the day.
Bradenton and Anna Maria Island was a fantastic location and we were the only brits heard/seen for the times we went over to AMI but I must say, however brash you think the yanks can be I found the whole experience very reserved and had zero issues with locals, everyone was having a great time. Driving around you had tonnes of golf carts but everyone was just chilled, would definitely goto this island again.
Drove down to Sarasota at the bottom of siesta key for a morning, beach on Lido Key was quite harsh sand.
Restaurants were good service and always out in good time, I think we had a few meals that felt expensive in the 80-100USD price bracket but that included drinks and , service charge and of course you’ll never get a small portion or poor meal. Some of the seafood around AMI was fantastic, mahi mahi, grouper, you just can’t beat it. Few BBQ spots, and we had a Grill in the villa so that was used a few times.
Supermarkets were the biggest shock, Publix was nuts pricing for Ribeyes and other decent meats nothing seemed under 5 USD in that store even say a pack of bagels or, no idea why beef has got to these prices. We used it for convenience as it was 3 mins away but probably should had used a Walmart in hindsight. Fk me though the Hoagies with Boar branded meat they do in Publix are top drawer, I will miss these.
We drove over to the parks for two days (and the extra day), now the bit about Busch…..
Sea world and Busch were doing half price tickets for memorial a few weeks ago, and crowd wise, it wasn’t too bad, about 60% full on ride waits with 30/45 min for some of them and a lot of barriers to walk through, the big drop one in Busch had no wait time, easy to see why when going on it LOL. I couldn’t get on all the rides, didn’t seem fair as my son’s not your average 4 year old at 48 inches so kicked off when daddy wanted a go on one, but it was fine.
Busch we’d never done and was much better than Sea world, sea world was full of more chavvier clientele but I think that comes with the Orlando experience. Definitely unimpressed with Seaward.
Rides at Busch were ten times better and the Seaworld sealife side is now non existent it felt, all down to the PC brigade I expect.
IRON GWAZI yes you where we did have the only bit of trouble…..last ride of the day, we ended up behind a meth head couple that were about 18 in the queue, off there rockers, kept bumping up at quiet sections in the queue pretending to have a snog……eventually pissed someone off and I think the staff asked them to leave but they didn’t…we sat down on the coaster and it appeared they’d been asked and still not left so security came….then the Police who they decided to point blank argue with and argue it was “unfair”, it was weird when the cops came, zero authority still, then as soon as they had backup (weirdly one in normal clothes) they got cuffed and dragged off…..while we were sitting in the coaster lol…..
Anyway, the next bit of trouble…..WARNING when going on the fastest, highest, bendiest ride in North America maybe secure your phone hey…..
That was the end of that, I had the Find my phone on and knew it was alive so optimistically waited with another 5 seemingly optimistic idiots also losing phones all day looking at find my phone. A few did get them back in one piece, and We got off the ride at 5ish and the park closed at 8 where they had an hour to search in daylight, didn’t feel like I’d have much luck, a few other phones came in, one was from the same ride but not mine, we ended up getting out there about 9pm absolutely gutted, I have gadget insurance and lost the whole days photos but it was the split second idiotic moment that annoyed me most and the fact it was late with the son knackered….anyway, I checked the next day on find my phone and it had moved to a different area!!! So back to Busch I go to retrieve it, which was an hour away. Pictures speak for themselves, claim pending! I cannot believe the phone still operated unbelievable really.
Shopping was I thought better than expected, don’t bother with Ellenton outlets, they had an American Eagle, GAP but that was about it, the outlets seem dead on there feet with brands that don’t seem fashionable as much now, maybe it was just this one. We stopped for dinner in Lakeland and Aeropostle did Buy ONE shorts/shirts/trousers get TWO free, ridiculous stock up opportunity.
I’ll spare you the details but My wardrobe is full of a lot of clothes from previous visits so it’ll be well stocked.
It was my birthday as well so treated myself to a GoPro 13, that was 30/40 quid off the UK with exchange rate.
Golf gear was a non starter in PGA store, Golf Galaxy etc, all of it was much the same price as the UK, looked for a pair of shoes in my size in stores locally but not available, saw a lot of Travis Matthew over there and checked prices the UK and they had a mega sale on old lines so it arrived before we got home!
With retail it will be interesting to see the differences over the next few years with Mr T’s tariffs.
As this is a car forum I thought id chip in, never really remember there being so many Pickups on the road, lot of State number plates seen with snowbirds travelling down, I saw a few Rivians that will be interesting to see how they’d fair over here, headlights look a bit marmite though. Bronco’s seemed very popular, I guess the name holds stead and it offers a good smaller SUV alternative. Lot of Dodges seen and the Musk mess truck thingy. I had a CX50 for the rental, felt like a much better SUV than the Sportage we have, it was a 2.7L and got 350 out of a tank, gearbox was a bit spongey. I spent 100USD doing about 1000 miles. It was about 2.75 to 3.20 a gallon at the moment. Didn’t see a lot of people charging cars lol.
Sure I’ve missed some things but here are some touristy pictures.
It’ll be the only holiday now until the end of next year, I think If I can afford to get back over we will as.
![](https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/327645/202506215848284?resize=720[/img]</a> <a href="https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/327645/20250621585031" Target="_blank" >[img]https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/327645/20250621585031?resize=720)
Summer wasn’t ideal as we always like to go away in late October when the depression of winter starts showing but we got married this month and our son starts school in September so a decent holiday beckoned. Looking at a price for say Canaries, or another location we went to last year in Sardinia price wise for the villa and flights we were looking about 25% more so thought as he’s nearing five we could make some memories and just make the most of it, also With the hurricane season starting it always felt like we needed to get out before July/august.
Reservations about this time of year were the heat and crowds, and god was it humid at times and sweaty, going into any AC felt like an absolute dream, even the bogs get AC’d out there which I never particularly noticed. Crowd wise it wasn’t that busy yet, a few people said it was still early on in the holidays. Also another reservation was damage after last year storm season, you’d never had noticed tbh, a lot of construction was happening on AMI house wise but all shops/restaurants were mostly open.
Destination - Bradenton, Sarasota, we had a nice villa 30 mins outside of the coast on the east side of bradenton right on the i75 which was great for getting out of bradenton but was a tad boring driving to the Gulf side. Villas didn’t seem available closer to the gulf with the nicer pools etc but I think next time I’ll be closer to the coast.
We did day trips out to Sea World, Busch (Twice yes twice more on this later) and down the coast a bit to Myakka to find some big horrible green things.
Trip started with BA out of Gatwick, I had economy outbound and premium back, that was 1800 and felt that BA were very good compared to Virgin (I worked for Virgin 10 odd years ago), last time we did long haul was with Virgin and maybe improvements this was down to new planes available (this was the 777) but service was good, the food good and entertainment system had massively improved with the times on the planes now. Our four year old was very happy and not too bored and the backend of the plane half full so I got to use three seats in luxury. Premium experience was good on the way back, food option had all gone by the time they got to my seats, but still a good meal. Seats were good enough to get a couple of hours kip, not sure I could had slept much in economy.
We stayed in a villa with pool on Tara Golf and Country club, managed to squeeze in the sticks in and get two rounds, one at a public and one round on Tara GC that was a private CC, boy you notice the difference with the private club.
I didn’t have the energy to get another round in, body was wrecked from the driving/running around but was happy with that much golf. I also did take fishing gear with me, not successful but tough to get the right hours in with the beach being 30 mins away and my son knackered at the end of the day to do dusk. Not a lot did get seen being caught in the day.
Bradenton and Anna Maria Island was a fantastic location and we were the only brits heard/seen for the times we went over to AMI but I must say, however brash you think the yanks can be I found the whole experience very reserved and had zero issues with locals, everyone was having a great time. Driving around you had tonnes of golf carts but everyone was just chilled, would definitely goto this island again.
Drove down to Sarasota at the bottom of siesta key for a morning, beach on Lido Key was quite harsh sand.
Restaurants were good service and always out in good time, I think we had a few meals that felt expensive in the 80-100USD price bracket but that included drinks and , service charge and of course you’ll never get a small portion or poor meal. Some of the seafood around AMI was fantastic, mahi mahi, grouper, you just can’t beat it. Few BBQ spots, and we had a Grill in the villa so that was used a few times.
Supermarkets were the biggest shock, Publix was nuts pricing for Ribeyes and other decent meats nothing seemed under 5 USD in that store even say a pack of bagels or, no idea why beef has got to these prices. We used it for convenience as it was 3 mins away but probably should had used a Walmart in hindsight. Fk me though the Hoagies with Boar branded meat they do in Publix are top drawer, I will miss these.
We drove over to the parks for two days (and the extra day), now the bit about Busch…..
Sea world and Busch were doing half price tickets for memorial a few weeks ago, and crowd wise, it wasn’t too bad, about 60% full on ride waits with 30/45 min for some of them and a lot of barriers to walk through, the big drop one in Busch had no wait time, easy to see why when going on it LOL. I couldn’t get on all the rides, didn’t seem fair as my son’s not your average 4 year old at 48 inches so kicked off when daddy wanted a go on one, but it was fine.
Busch we’d never done and was much better than Sea world, sea world was full of more chavvier clientele but I think that comes with the Orlando experience. Definitely unimpressed with Seaward.
Rides at Busch were ten times better and the Seaworld sealife side is now non existent it felt, all down to the PC brigade I expect.
IRON GWAZI yes you where we did have the only bit of trouble…..last ride of the day, we ended up behind a meth head couple that were about 18 in the queue, off there rockers, kept bumping up at quiet sections in the queue pretending to have a snog……eventually pissed someone off and I think the staff asked them to leave but they didn’t…we sat down on the coaster and it appeared they’d been asked and still not left so security came….then the Police who they decided to point blank argue with and argue it was “unfair”, it was weird when the cops came, zero authority still, then as soon as they had backup (weirdly one in normal clothes) they got cuffed and dragged off…..while we were sitting in the coaster lol…..
Anyway, the next bit of trouble…..WARNING when going on the fastest, highest, bendiest ride in North America maybe secure your phone hey…..
That was the end of that, I had the Find my phone on and knew it was alive so optimistically waited with another 5 seemingly optimistic idiots also losing phones all day looking at find my phone. A few did get them back in one piece, and We got off the ride at 5ish and the park closed at 8 where they had an hour to search in daylight, didn’t feel like I’d have much luck, a few other phones came in, one was from the same ride but not mine, we ended up getting out there about 9pm absolutely gutted, I have gadget insurance and lost the whole days photos but it was the split second idiotic moment that annoyed me most and the fact it was late with the son knackered….anyway, I checked the next day on find my phone and it had moved to a different area!!! So back to Busch I go to retrieve it, which was an hour away. Pictures speak for themselves, claim pending! I cannot believe the phone still operated unbelievable really.
Shopping was I thought better than expected, don’t bother with Ellenton outlets, they had an American Eagle, GAP but that was about it, the outlets seem dead on there feet with brands that don’t seem fashionable as much now, maybe it was just this one. We stopped for dinner in Lakeland and Aeropostle did Buy ONE shorts/shirts/trousers get TWO free, ridiculous stock up opportunity.
I’ll spare you the details but My wardrobe is full of a lot of clothes from previous visits so it’ll be well stocked.
It was my birthday as well so treated myself to a GoPro 13, that was 30/40 quid off the UK with exchange rate.
Golf gear was a non starter in PGA store, Golf Galaxy etc, all of it was much the same price as the UK, looked for a pair of shoes in my size in stores locally but not available, saw a lot of Travis Matthew over there and checked prices the UK and they had a mega sale on old lines so it arrived before we got home!
With retail it will be interesting to see the differences over the next few years with Mr T’s tariffs.
As this is a car forum I thought id chip in, never really remember there being so many Pickups on the road, lot of State number plates seen with snowbirds travelling down, I saw a few Rivians that will be interesting to see how they’d fair over here, headlights look a bit marmite though. Bronco’s seemed very popular, I guess the name holds stead and it offers a good smaller SUV alternative. Lot of Dodges seen and the Musk mess truck thingy. I had a CX50 for the rental, felt like a much better SUV than the Sportage we have, it was a 2.7L and got 350 out of a tank, gearbox was a bit spongey. I spent 100USD doing about 1000 miles. It was about 2.75 to 3.20 a gallon at the moment. Didn’t see a lot of people charging cars lol.
Sure I’ve missed some things but here are some touristy pictures.
It’ll be the only holiday now until the end of next year, I think If I can afford to get back over we will as.
I found a few bargains. The retail there hits different to the UK, silly things like no bag costs.
Outlpppets seemed to be full of immigrants sucking up early bargins tbh.
A few other shops were decent stuff at ok value, Old Navy had a 50% off and and a mountain warehouse type place called LL Beans had some nice stuff for the autumn. Other issue was finding winter stuff in florid no chance!
Also questionable if this new batch of clothes will last as long based on quality.
Outlpppets seemed to be full of immigrants sucking up early bargins tbh.
A few other shops were decent stuff at ok value, Old Navy had a 50% off and and a mountain warehouse type place called LL Beans had some nice stuff for the autumn. Other issue was finding winter stuff in florid no chance!
Also questionable if this new batch of clothes will last as long based on quality.
Bradenton Pier is rebuilt.
We never even got to Bean Point end, a bit of lunch was the highest location we got in Ginny and Jane.
Parking was SO good on this location, funny that you could either park outside the little restaurant areas of Bradenton Beach for free or it was 15USD an hour next door to the shops/restaurants lol
Definitely a spot to revisit, however I'd want a place closer to the beaches. Palma Sola looked like it had a selection of villas.
Also seemed to be a large amount of development work happening south of Palma Sola.
We never even got to Bean Point end, a bit of lunch was the highest location we got in Ginny and Jane.
Parking was SO good on this location, funny that you could either park outside the little restaurant areas of Bradenton Beach for free or it was 15USD an hour next door to the shops/restaurants lol
Definitely a spot to revisit, however I'd want a place closer to the beaches. Palma Sola looked like it had a selection of villas.
Also seemed to be a large amount of development work happening south of Palma Sola.
Edited by fourstardan on Sunday 22 June 20:30
Nice write up, sorry about the phone!
I love that part of the world, used to spend all summer on Longboat Key as a kid, now take my kids over there as often as possible.
Great part of the world for golf too, and not an enormous rip off, definitely worth taking your clubs if you can as club hire can be more than the green fee.
Iron Gwazi is fantastic.
I love that part of the world, used to spend all summer on Longboat Key as a kid, now take my kids over there as often as possible.
Great part of the world for golf too, and not an enormous rip off, definitely worth taking your clubs if you can as club hire can be more than the green fee.
Iron Gwazi is fantastic.
AB said:
Nice write up, sorry about the phone!
I love that part of the world, used to spend all summer on Longboat Key as a kid, now take my kids over there as often as possible.
Great part of the world for golf too, and not an enormous rip off, definitely worth taking your clubs if you can as club hire can be more than the green fee.
Iron Gwazi is fantastic.
Golf wasn't high prices thats for sure, I put something down with a bit more detail on the Golf Thread here. I had clubs in luggage allowance as our son doesn't need a full case.I love that part of the world, used to spend all summer on Longboat Key as a kid, now take my kids over there as often as possible.
Great part of the world for golf too, and not an enormous rip off, definitely worth taking your clubs if you can as club hire can be more than the green fee.
Iron Gwazi is fantastic.
We went on a dolphin trip, that was a bit of a stroke of luck actually as we booked it then got cancelled and I think they ended up running it at a loss as we had a whole boat to ourselves. He took us down the back of Longboat Key, Jim Davis' house, Garth Brooks house...(he didn't get the football joke)
Gwazi was mate, the phone will be claimed as I got gadget insurance, I knew a disaster would happen at some point on holiday.
All the time I was driving about on the key sections I just couldn't imagine hurricanes wiping through.
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