Bilmar Beach Resort (Treasure Island), Orlando

...She came up with the Bilmar Beach Resort in Treasure Island , near St Petersburg, or St Pete's as the natives call it. It is west of Orlando and is called the Gulf Coast.

We had never been that way before, but we thought we would give it a try.
We landed at Stanford airport nearer to Orlando, we couldn't change the flights and set off for Treasure Island.

It's hard to remember how long it took us to get there, ...
...Island was actually 1 hours drive away from Busch Gardens.
We even had to cross a little toll bridge to get there.
When we eventually arrived at the hotel we were in for a pleasant surprise.
It was all lit up and looked lovely, we checked in without queuing, the lady on reception was most friendly but then again most Americans are.

We found plenty of space in the carpark, all we had to do was find the room.
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A few years ago my husband and I decided to go back to Orlando . We hired a private Villa from someone advertising in the Private Villa magazine.
After various conversations we went ahead and booked it.
A few weeks before we were due to fly out there , the owner phoned me to say she had overlapped two of the days and that someone else would still be in the Villa. She said to pay £100 less than the actual cost to put towards somewhere else.
We could have been awkward about this but, we decided to kill two birds with one stone and stay nearer Tampa for Busch gardens.
I went to the travel agent and asked them to look for somewhere nearby.
She came up with the Bilmar Beach Resort in Treasure Island , near St Petersburg, or St Pete's as the natives call it. It is west of Orlando and is called the Gulf Coast.

We had never been that way before, but we thought we would give it a try.
We landed at Stanford airport nearer to Orlando, we couldn't change the flights and set off for Treasure Island.

It's hard to remember how long it took us to get there, but I think it was about 2 hours.
Treasure Island was actually 1 hours drive away from Busch Gardens.
We even had to cross a little toll bridge to get there.
When we eventually arrived at the hotel we were in for a pleasant surprise.
It was all lit up and looked lovely, we checked in without queuing, the lady on reception was most friendly but then again most Americans are.

We found plenty of space in the carpark, all we had to do was find the room.
At first going in the lift and seeing the corridors of the building seemed a bit shabby.
The walls were painted pink, they looked a bit tacky. Most hotels in America have corridors which remind you of Butlins Chalets years ago, they don't look very appealing, until you open the door that is...

Oh my word I exclaimed when we unlocked the door.
The first thing to catch my eye was the view of the White beach through the window. No wonder they called it the Beach resort.
I was so happy I started jumping up and down on the bed. My husband thought I was mad until he saw it and joined in with me.
It was a good job nobody knew us below.

We had booked the room for two nights and at £50 a room was well worth it, if not just for the view.
The room was an Efficiency which meant it was like a bedsit but larger.
We had two enormous Queen size beds, their beds are always much larger than ours.
All around the beds were mirrors which made the room look larger (and my bum).
We had a liitle kitchenette with microwave, fridge,coffee maker, TV,breakfast bar and basket furniture.

The bathroom was lovely, they always leave plenty of toiletries , handy to have if you can't be bothered unpacking straight away.
There was a hairdryer,loo, bath and power shower.

The balcony looked over the sea and the gorgeous beach, the beach stretched for miles with hardly anyone on it.
You could imagine them filming baywatch here.
We had stainless steel furniture on the balcony,consisting of a table and a couple of chairs.
I wish we could have stayed forever.

At breakfast time we went out of the building into the main reception area and someone was always there to greet you.
They would show you to your table and then someone else would take your order.
For the time we were there, we had a very friendly waitress serving us, she was intrigued by our accents,she asked us how our day had been etc.
That's what I like about the USA, they make more of a fuss over you than in Britain.
For the two mornings we were there, we had toast, egg, bacon, and sausage, followed by fruit juice and endless coffee.
You always get free refills of coffee.
As for egg, there must be hundreds of different ways of cooking it, easy over, over easy, sunny side up, scrambled, poached, just give me the bleedin egg, I sometimes felt like saying.
Then they would start on the toast, wheat, white, sourdough, it's good having a choice, but sometimes it gets on your nerves.

The breakfast was served in pleasant surroundings, there weren't too many people around so we got served fairly quickly.
It cost about £7.00 for both of us.

Time to look around after breakfast. there was two swimming pools,of which one we could see from our balcony, that was also overlooking the beach, there was also a Jacuzzi.
Just inside the reception area was a boutique, I peeped in but it looked expensive, so I didn't bother going in.

Further down was the Grog Shoppe Restaurant and Lounge, we poked our noses in there and there was a Dixie Jazz band on, not our scene though.
You could get a meal, have a cocktail or dance the night away.
Apparently there was a Beach bar, but we didn't see this.

One night we ventured out, directly across the road was a little open air bar, it looked like fun. We sat at the bar decorated in straw, and thatched roof and pulled up a high stool.
We got cold beers and Pina Coladas (My favourite). We sat talking to the locals. There was an inside bar adjoined to it where there was blasting music coming out from the doors.
we decided to stay outside, it was warm but dullish.
The barman said they have had forest fires all week. later on in the week once we had got to orlando the smoke lifted.

The hotel was very handy for loads of different restaurants and shops, all within walking distance.
Right across the road was a massive store,I think it was open all night, it sold absolutely anything you wanted.
There were nightspots just down the road, all had live bands on.

We didn't find it a noisy resort, even in the month of July 1998.

I would love to go back, it's a shame we only had two nights there, we didn't really see any of the surrounding area.

 

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