Longboat Key

Last week I was in Orlando for work. I was staying in one of the hotels on Disney property. Now, I haven't been to Disney World in what must be 20 years (boy does that make me sound old), but it sure is different from what I remember. The property is unbelievably large! My hotel was right across the road from Downtown Disney, which is filled with overpriced restaurants and shops selling candy, toys, souvenirs, etc. Next to Downtown Disney is Pleasure Island, a place for adults filled with bars/nightclubs. You have to pay cover at the , but they sell these passes at the entrance that allow you to bar hop for a flat fee (or a tiered pricing structure for 3, 5 or all bars).

One thing that I couldn't help but notice was how expensive everything on the Disney property was. Looking at the menus of the restaurants in Downtown Disney (Fulton's Crab House, Portobello Yacht Club) the prices must have been at least 30-50% more than non-Disney places, for the same food. It makes me kinda sad to think that there are lots of kids that won't ever get to visit Disney World because it's too expensive... Or if they do get to go, they'll just see all these fun things in the stores, at the many kiosks throughout the area, or candy/treats that are out of their family's budget. But then again - this is something that pretty much everyone has to learn at some point in their lives. There are very few people in this world that actually have more money than they can spend in their lifetime. We all need to learn to live within our means.

Since Christopher's parents were renting a condo on Longboat Key for the month of January, we thought it would be nice to visit them for a few days. So after I wrapped things up in Orlando, I drove my little rental Saturn ION towards the Gulf coast to visit them and Christopher flew into Sarasota from Buffalo. Their condo overlooks the beach, so we went for nice walks up and down the beach and enjoyed wonderful sunsets each evening. We also played 27 holes of golf - 18 holes at Oak Ford which was recommended by Golf Digest for its value and we thought it was a great course for the money. In typical Florida-fashion, we also enjoyed a fantastic Early Bird Special at Cafe on the Bay - dinner for 2 (3 course meal) plus a bottle of wine for $42.97 - highly recommended! We also went for a light dinner at Euphemia Haye so we had enough room to enjoy their extensive dessert selection.