Ole Red Orlando

Date of Visit: December 13, 2023

I had been wanting to check out Ole Red the past several trips to Orlando and this trip we finally got around to it. We went for lunch, which turned out good with it being pretty much empty. However, it did end up meaning no live music, although they do play music videos on the screen above the stage.

For the starters, we had the Fried Pickles and the Southern Fried Cheese Curds. We enjoyed them both, but I really liked the Fried Pickles.

For the meal, Mik had the Honey Bee Hot Chicken & Waffles, which was enough for him to take home for dinner later. I had the Some Beach Fish Sandwich. Mom and Dad both had the Bluetick and Ahi Tuna burgers. It was all good other than we were not fans of the tots.

For dessert between the four of us we tried all 3 of the mason jar desserts, which included Banana Pudding, a Seasonal Cheesecake (white chocolate and cranberry), and Blake's Choice (peppermint mousse that day).The were all good, but probably the Banana Pudding was the favorite.

Overall we really enjoyed dining here and probably would do again. So often restaurants have the tables too close together to be able to get to the tables without people having to get out of their chairs and push them in and the table legs make it so Mik cannot roll up close. So it was a plus that neither of these things were issues here. It may be different when there are actually people here, but they did seem to purposely have the low top tables set up to be accessible when they were choosing were to seat us at one of the tables in front of the stage as the areas on the sides of the stage had more tables including high bar style areas.

 

Destination Info:

Ole Red Orlando

8417 International Dr

Orlando, Fl 32819

Orlando Auto Museum at Dezerland Park

Date of Visit: December 13, 2023

Trying to find things to do in Orlando that wasn't theme parks or mini golf and interested Mik, we found the Orlando Auto Museum. Mik still wasn't sure if he wanted to go, but after Dad and I accidentally ended up at Dezerland to play mini golf in the same complex (an old mall mostly now occupied by the auto museum) and saw a QR code for 25% off the auto museum, we were able to convince him to go later in our trip.

The museum starts with rooms by the decades ('20s, '30s, and '40s).

The '40s room was actually boats. Mik really liked the models and this room is a good example of how many of the rooms had things on display on the walls that were relevant to the room's theme.

One of the most unique cars on display was the longest limo.

There were several rooms of cars from different countries. This rooms did not really interest us mainly because there was very little signage telling you anything about them.

Mik enjoyed the Bat Cave room with the Batman vehicles.

Our favorite area was probably the Cars of the Stars as it contained vehicles from various movies. My favorite was Inspector Gadget.

Mik liked the Spider-man one.

But his favorite was probably the Indiana Jones display.

The other room Mik really enjoyed was the Military Pavilion, especially since he had worn his camo that day.

The Bond Museum was also impressive with vehicles organized chronologically by movie. There was also an area with a lot of different memorabilia related to Bond.

Overall the Orlando Auto Museum was an enjoyable experience and easy to roll through. There were definitely a lot of different vehicles to look at and we easily spent several hours going through it. However, I really did not like that there was very little signage to tell you anything about the vehicles. It felt like there was just as much signage by the few vehicles they have on display in the areas outside the museum, which Dad and I walked around after mini golfing there a few days before, as there is in the museum where there is a lot more on display.

Destination Info:
Orlando Auto Museum

5250 International Drive

Orlando Florida 32819

Glo Best Western Savannah-Gateway I-95

Date of Visit: January 6-7, 2023 

Georgia tends to be where we stay on the way down to Florida. We've done it probably half a dozen times and always end up at a different Best Western mostly in the Savannah area. This year we actually were going to stay in Richmond Hill again, but looking same night it did not have enough rooms available for us to book. The Glo Best Western Savannah-Gateway I-95 did and even had an accessible room, which ended up being good, especially when we then ended up with a much worse accessible DVC room when we got to Florida.

We really liked that the room had no carpeting. The space was also good for the wheelchair to maneuver throughout, although the bed was rather high.

There were barn doors for the bathroom with one on each side of the TV and dresser. The microwave was under the TV, although it was kind of odd that then the fridge was over under the desk, but it did make it an easier height if Mik had wanted to use and also left the desk mostly clear for using.

The bathroom was spacious with two sinks (one had towel shelf under, but other was open area under).

The toilet area layout was good and the grab bars worked well for Mik.

The shower was a little awkward with there being a rubber edging. I assume it was to help prevent water from ending up in the bathroom and it would not be hard to roll over, but it actually did not prevent flooding as the shower curtain being curved out seemed to be more of an issue and when I took a shower the bath mat outside of shower ended up soaked.

The chair with a little table was a nice feature. There was even an outlet and USB for power on the side of it.

The bench on the side of the bed near the window was also a great spot for putting luggage out of the way or even for extra seating.

Overall we all enjoyed this Best Western. The breakfast was a little disappointing in that there were no bananas and it was odd that the yogurt came out of a machine, but they did have a waffle maker.

Destination Info:

Glo Best Western Savannah-Gateway I-95

17005 Abercorn St

Savannah, GA 31419

Disney's Vero Beach Resort: 2-Bedroom Lock Off Accessible w/ Roll-in Shower

Date of Visit: January 7-14, 2023

To try something different, we stayed at Disney's Vero Beach instead of a Walt Disney World resort for our annual family trip this year.

Mik and I stayed in the studio part of the lock-off, which was accessible with grab bars, but had a tub. Only having the roll-in shower in the one bedroom was not a big deal as we just need it once or twice a trip. Unfortunately, the layout of the studio bathroom was such that Mik could not use it on his own. This was partially due to the grab bar only being on the right side, but it was also due to the path into the bathroom being by the toilet so we could not leave his wheelchair next to the toilet like we usually do for him to have something else to hold on to.

The studio was also immediately disappointing in that it is the smallest studio or hotel room we've ever encountered. I cannot imagine how one would use the room if you needed to fold out the couch into a bed as there is barely enough of a path through the room as is including you have to move the chair to be in the way of other paths in order to maybe fit by the bed and go out on the patio.

The other major issue is that there is pretty much nowhere to unpack and put your things as there is just eight about shoe size drawers to put your clothes in the dresser under the TV and just a little more room in the nightstand between the couch and bed. Then there was no where to put suitcases, but at least we had packed in a bag that rolls up and could use the couch as the place for the storage container we use for food, etc. I guess we may have been able to have some space in the closet if we asked them to take away the vacuum and crib, but it was very shallow and wouldn't have been of use for us.

The one bedroom side was better, but also lacked storage for the living room. Although in this case you do have some room in the laundry closet and we found a storage chest in the bedroom that we could move to give some drawers and a place to put a suitcase.

The kitchen area for the studio was also rather small. I guess a non-accessible might have the microwave up on that shelf, but as it did not the coffee pot ended up on the table making for even less surface area to put stuff.

The bathroom on the one bedroom side was better for Mik as the grab bar was on the left and he could use it. However, it was still an awkward set up with there barely being enough of a path between the sink and the shower. The sink being so close in front of the toilet also made it difficult to be able to help Mik without bumping your back on the sink.

The tub area of that bathroom was huge, though. Really seems they could have better used the space from this area to make the toilet area not such a hazard.

Mik did enjoy that the one bedroom only had carpet in the bedroom, so it was easy to roll around.

Mik also liked the huge TV in the living room. The design also gave a good amount of counter space and storage behind it in the kitchen, which was one area that did have adequate storage. In particular, we liked the fridge having ice and water in the door, although the water dispensing was extremely slow. We also had an issue with the light flickering every time we opened the fridge or freezer, but maintenance quickly fixed it once we remembered to report it on day three or so.

The dining room table was slightly disappointing to us as the circle shape made it hard to play Wingpsan. The light, however, can be a real hazard. On one of our last nights, Josh bumped it with his head when sitting down and the glass broke when it hit against another bulb. That was actually our third encounter with maintenance (the second had been fixing the toilet paper holder coming lose in the bathroom). Apparently, the lights breaking happens regularly as it is probably the best example of the poor design choices here. Also, we had to throw away two Dole whips due to the potential for glass ending up in them and they had replacements sent up to us.

Mik mostly spent the trip in the room as he was not into the beach, pool, or the nature reserves we went to for birdwatching. However, he did enjoy taking a walk one day and reading the info signs about turtles and some area history on the main path between the buildings.

We also enjoyed taking the walkway that goes under the street to access a treasure trail (not accessible as it is sandy and has parts even I had to duck to get through) and sports facilities (basketball, soccer, beach volleyball, tennis). The walkway is fun because it has Peter Pan characters painted on the wall and during the day the speakers play "You Can Fly!"

As a non-park vacation, we thought we would actually cook in the room more than usual. However, instead we found ourselves enjoying the quick service for lunch and almost all dinners as they had several rotating dinner specials that appealed to us. We also enjoyed being able to get Mickey pretzels and Dole whips, especially the Key Lime. Mik was disappointed, though, that they did not have Mickey waffles. We also found that the staff got to know you more like when you go on a cruise, which is not something we've ever experienced at the Walt Disney World resorts (probably mainly because we just do not spend much time at the resort beyond our room there).

Overall the family enjoyed the trip as a less structured and more relaxing vacation than doing the parks has become. We found the activities at the resort were fun including origami, mini golf, and checking out DVDs. In particular, I also enjoyed walking around the nature area across the street. Nora really enjoyed the water slide competitions. One night, the beach at the resort was also a great place to be able to see a SpaceX launch.

Although, we did not particularly like the room design, we would like to return and may even do it next year.

Destination Info:

Disney's Vero Beach Resort

9250 Island Grove Terrace

Vero Beach, FL 32963