I just got back from a wonderful Disney vacation that I want to tell
you about. There were no walk-around characters from Disney animated films,
no theme parks, or no themed, piped-in music everywhere you turn. And
only one barely there gift shop. There were nature classes that kept children
enthralled, quiet storytelling that did the same, and a summer-camp atmosphere.
Yes, it was a Disney vacation. I’m not kidding.
I spent a great week with friends at Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort.
Located 30 miles from Savannah International Airport in South Carolina,
it is the only Disney Vacation Club resort built outside Florida.
There are still some common Disney traits that you can find at the resort:
Decorative and hidden Mickeys, hidden tributes, attention to detail, friendly
staff (including international and American students on the college program),
great guest service, and that family-friendly atmosphere that lets parents
worry less and enjoy more.
An artificial topiary of Bambi and Thumper replaced the original live
Tigger and Pooh topiaries at the main entrance. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
The resort lies on Longview Island, a 15-acre piece of land in Broad
Creek at Shelter Cove near the approximate center of Hilton Head Island.
In addition, a shuttle bus runs regularly (or you can walk, bike, or drive
your own car) to Disney’s Beach House, modeled after an old U.S. Life
Saving Service station, where you can eat lunch, have a drink, play in
an arcade, swim in their H-shaped pool, or walk down onto the wide ocean
beach.
Characters
Christopher, the resort naturalist, explains various types of sharks.
Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
Our three families and our children, ages 8, 5-and-a-half and 3, all
enjoyed the activities together. Separately and together, we attended
several sessions with Christopher, the resort naturalist. These sessions
included talks about sea turtles and sharks, a chance to look through
a solar telescope, a beach walk, and a guided walk through the marsh.
Christopher was very animated and very good with children, yet he managed
to also keep the adults engaged and impart interesting tidbits of knowledge
about the subject. One of my friends, an experienced scuba diver who has
studied sharks and sea turtles, expressed surprise that even he learned
new facts at the sessions.
B’lou Crabbe picks out a tune on the banjo. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
What can one say about B’lou Crabbe? A great entertainer, a talented
musician, an engaging storyteller, and a guy who just loves what he’s
doing. A South Carolina native who had a successful professional career,
he discovered that he really loves entertaining people: playing music,
telling stories, doing sleight-of-hand tricks, and even making balloon
animals. Once a street-corner colleague of Andy Mation, who now performs
at the Disney-MGM Studios, B’lou came to the attention of Disney when
they were looking for someone to perform “table magic” tricks
at the Rose & Crown Pub & Dining Room at Epcot. Recognizing his multi-faceted
talents, they decided that DVC’s resort on Hilton Head was the perfect
place for him to be, and he agreed with that assessment.
B’lou tells stories and plays music for groups of guests, hosts events
with Shadow (more on her later), plays background music and then engages
the children at the weekly Shrimp Boil, and even teaches complete klutzes
to juggle. You cannot help but smile after talking to this friendly, soft-spoken
man.
B’lou Crabbe gives a private lesson in the art of playing fiddlesticks.
Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
Shadow is the resort’s mascot. The legend goes that as a puppy, she was
the property of the man who sold Longview Island to Disney. When Disney
was building the resort, the dog kept seeming to pop up wherever she was
not supposed to be. After causing much mischief, she eventually gained
the affection of the construction crew and the Imagineers. By the time
the resort opened in 1996, nobody could bear the thought of removing her
from her home.
Shadow’s pawprints decorate the foyer of each villa. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
Because Disney was concerned that people would be upset to see a dog
running around when pets are not allowed at the resort, for many years
the only sign of Shadow was a dog house at the Live Oak Lodge, paw prints
in many locations (including the foyer areas of each villa), a doggie
hammock at Community Hall, and a few other hints. However, so many people
were upset that they could not actually get to meet Shadow herself that
Disney eventually began having opportunities to meet Shadow.
The week that we were there, Shadow was out on two days for different
events. One day, she appeared for “Shadow’s Funny Bunny Hunt,”
where Shadow and B’lou Crabbe led a hunt through the resort to look for
marsh rabbits. Two days later, she came out for Shadow’s Tales, a meet-and-greet
in which B’lou told the legend of Shadow, along with a few tall tales
about her, while children petted the dog. After the stories, B’lou and
Shadow gave all in attendance the opportunity to take a picture with them.
(No Disney photographers were present to offer high-priced “official”
photos—your camera only.)
Shadow patiently allows children to pet her. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
The longest-tenured employee at the resort (except for Shadow), Chef
Gordon is part of the Recreation department, rather than Food & Beverage.
Since the food offerings are limited, there’s no real need for the high-profile
gourmet chef to design cuisine for mass consumption. Instead, Gordon leads
tours, gives cooking classes, and prepares special private meals for guests.
MousePlanet columnist Sue Holland wrote about the “Private Affair”
last year (link).
Chef Gordon talks about the Mickey statue at Live Oak Lodge during Member
Day “Behind Ears” resort tour. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
Summer Camp
The resort’s summer camp feel comes from a combination of the boisterousness
of young recreation staff, a variety of arts and crafts opportunities
and other fun events such as pool games and campfires, and the rustic
appearance (originally modeled after a hunting lodge, then rethemed to
fishing after it was decided that hunting would not go over as well with
Disney fans).
The arts and crafts projects, many at additional cost, allow children
to make projects such as birdfeeders, “Shadow’s Doghouse” (graham
cracker houses decorated with frosting and candy), and gyotaku shirts.
Gyotaku is the ancient art of Japanese fish printing, originally a way
to prove the size of caught fish when they had to be cut up and preserved
before returning to shore. Now, children get to paint a local fish (Atlantic
croaker in our case) and have the image transferred to a shirt.
Guests can paint their name or other messages on their Gyotaku T-shirts.
Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
We discovered from Ross, the recreation staffer for our session, that
the fish are frozen between gyotaku sessions, and are used until they
are no longer viable for painting. At that point, they are returned to
the marsh to continue the great circle of life, and new fish join the
rotation. As it turned out, four of the 12 fish used in our class were
deemed to have reached their end, and we got to see their return to nature
in a little ceremony called “shooting fish into the marsh with a
slingshot.”
Using a slingshot similar to those used to shoot prizes into the stands
at sports events, three members of the recreation staff shot the fish
(with remnants of the non-toxic acrylic paint still on them) into the
marsh. One fish broke into two or three parts and only went a couple of
feet. As they gathered the pieces and prepared to relaunch it, the recreation
staff continued the summer camp atmosphere, singing “and the rockets’
red glare, the fish bursting in air…” Definitely not something
that you would see at one of the Walt Disney World resorts.
Michael, Gregor, and Nicole lead a demonstration of the Chiki-Chiki. Photo
by Mark Goldhaber.
The campfire really lets the cornball rise to new heights. Each campfire
opens with the ringing of a ship’s bell, followed by the “Chiki-Chiki.”
This competitive “dance” is extremely silly and allows people
to get into the spirit. While the version played at the pool games allows
for organized “freestyle” segments, guests are on their own
for the campfire version unless they organize themselves. Our group of
friends earned laughter and applause by improvising a “Chiki, Chiki,
Chiki, Chiki, Chiki Room” freestyle segment.
Following that, additional audience participation songs and stories are
sung and performed, followed by the big draw, the s’mores. One s’more—made
with two graham cracker squares, two Hershey bar segments, and two fire-toasted
marshmallows—suffices for most guests, though some keep going back
for more. Some just toast/burn the marshmallows and eat them without making
the s’more.
Andrew, Linda and Ross (a different Ross than from our gyotaku session)
entertain the troops at another campfire. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
The small size of the resort requires a smaller staff, though the group
there largely appears to be long-tenured and very friendly with one another.
For guests as well, the resort is very friendly, and even if you’re nervous
about meeting new people, the small size of the resort means that you’ll
keep seeing the same people over and over, which will eventually lead
to conversation. Of course the conversation sometimes turns subversive,
and we were really glad that the recreation staff (who double as lifeguards
at the pools) had a good sense of humor about being thrown into the pool
by our small group (which formed from conversations in the pool) when
they were not on duty.
Hidden Mickeys crop up in many of the signs decorating the buildings.
This sign with a hidden Mickey in the lower right-hand quadrant also honors
Peter S. Rummell, who was the head of Disney Vacation Development when
the resort opened. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
The resort is not without its faults, though. Both food locations are
counter service, with the location at the main resort open from 8 a.m.
to 4 p.m. and the beach house location open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The
limited hours and limited menu mean that guests are largely dependent
on either dining out or using their own kitchen facilities (for one-,
two- and three-bedroom units), or microwaves and mini-fridges (for studios)
for meals, especially dinner. Not to worry, though, as Hilton Head Island
is loaded with quality eateries.
If you are looking for resort-specific merchandise, pickings are pretty
slim. There’s as much, if not more, Walt Disney World merchandise as there
is Hilton Head Island Resort merchandise.
Even feedback for the resort should be sent to Walt Disney World Guest
Communications. It’s the red-headed stepchild of the DVC resort system,
yet it manages to entertain, educate, and provide relaxation.
Staff contracted from outside vendors leave their own hidden Mickeys around
the resort. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
Due to the small staff, maintenance is sometimes overworked. Philip does
a great job of “fixing everything,” as Chef Gordon puts it,
but it sometimes requires very long hours. He made a late-night house
call when our air conditioner went on the blink, and was still working
on the unit the following afternoon. The resort provides a Disney response
to problems, though. A faulty toaster was replaced by a better model shortly
after a phone call to the front desk. When Philip determined that the
air conditioner could not be fixed quickly, we received two floor fans
to help keep the room cool until repairs could be made, and additional
guest recovery was made on that issue.
There’s so much more to say about this resort, but we’ll save it for
another time.
We went into the vacation thinking that it might be a nice one-time visit
to a different location and left feeling that it was a place that we’d
like to return to. A summer camp run by Disney. What a great idea!
