Destination: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Dates: April 3-12, 2009
Travelers: Ross, Shelli, Riley (9) and Sydney (8)
Time to escape the long Minnesota winter with a trip to a warm, tropical beach destination! We began our vacation with a night at the Days Inn Eagan where we got a room and parking for the 9 days. I get great rates at the Days Inn, and their service is top notch. We appreciate the breakfast in the morning. There is always fruit and coffee available no matter how early you have to catch their airport shuttle. We requested a 5:45am wake-up call, which came at the same time our cell phone’s alarm went off. We got cleaned up and headed to breakfast, then caught the 7am shuttle to the airport. We flew Northwest Airlines. Check in was quick, security was uneventful, and soon we were in the sky on our way to Mexico.
We arrived on time in Puerto Vallarta and cleared customs. The kids were excited to add another stamp to their passports. We found our luggage and headed out to find our transfers. Ross and I learned from our recent trip to the Mayan Riviera how to truly avoid the time share folks. Keep your eyes on the doors straight ahead of you and don’t tell anyone anything! The time share people will ask “what hotel are you staying at” and say “here is your transfer, seniorita” but it’s part of their ploy. Go past the time share people and look to the right for the people dressed in uniforms holding signs with your travel company on it like Funjet Vacations, MLT Vacations, Apple Vacations, etc. We found ours immediately and were escorted outside to a 12 passenger van. Since we were the only passengers there heading south, we were the only ones in the van. Very nice! We always debate about paying for the private transfer upgrade. Here we got it just out of luck.
The drive to our hotel was fine. We drove right past the Malecon on the way, and our driver showed us a few places worth spending more time at. We arrived at Dreams Puerto Vallarta in about 20 minutes. Check in took a little longer that I (or really, the kids) would have liked, but we got to our room, 1623, soon enough. Our room was in the Dreams Tower (the older tower) on the 6th floor. All rooms at Dreams Puerto Vallarta have oceanfront views, meaning one wall of our room was glass with a full on view of the shore and water. It was nice. We had 2 very comfortable double beds, a desk and chair, a small sofa, round coffee table and another chair, armoire with the TV, DVD player, coffee maker and drawers, large closet with shelves, a few hangers and an electronic safe, and an adequate bathroom with nice amenities. The air conditioning worked well. We were very comfortable in our room and had plenty of space.
We loved that there are no wristbands required at Dreams. The hotel is set on a beach cove between two mountains that make their way to the ocean. The beach is private since there is no way for outsiders to access the beach other than through the main lobby. The beach was nice and clean. The water was warm. The waves were big enough for the kids to enjoy hours and hours of boogie boarding. Beach vendors were very nice and respectful. A simple “no, gracias” was all it took and they were on their way. They were friendly and were not a problem at all. We spent most of our time on the beach, but did go to the main pool one day. Pool chairs are very, very limited. By 8am most of the pool chairs had towels and other personal belonging on them already. Many sat that way all day, never really being used, which is a shame. Beach towels were always available. We rented boogie boards from the activities desk and played a few games of giant chess and ping pong. There are two other pools, too. One is a quiet pool next to the main pool. It is smaller with a few chairs and in the shade. This is one of the areas used for wedding receptions. The other is in front of the Club Tower and is the adults only infinity pool.
We mostly ate at the World Café Buffet but could have chosen to dine at the Oceana (seafood), El Patio (Mexican), Seaside Grill (steakhouse) or Portofino (adults only gourmet.) We also used room service, which the kids thought was great! We often grabbed a burger or hotdog from the beach grill during the day. No reservations needed for any restaurant and the dress codes were pretty relaxed.
We took a taxi to the Malecon on Sunday afternoon. The Malecon is a beachfront shopping area very popular with locals and tourists alike. We looked at the different sculptures and sand art along the way. The sand art was incredible. They were building The Last Supper scene while we were there. Pretty incredible. We did some shopping, got some ice cream and got Sydney’s hair braided. It was a nice little trip. The taxi from Dreams to the Malecon was $5.
We took a taxi to the Vallarta Zoo in Mismaloya. The taxi cost $12 each way. Entrance into the zoo was $10 per adult and $5 per child. It was also $5 per bag of food to feed the zoo animals. We fed monkeys, raccoons, camels, flamingos, giraffes, fish, parrots, tucans, hippos, horses, zebras, bunnies, warthogs, and more. The absolute highlight of the day at the zoo was playing with the tiger cub and black panther cub! For $10 each, we got to go sit in a fenced in area and literally play with and pet a 3 week old Siberian tiger cub and a 4 week old black panther cub. We spent at least 15 minutes with them. It was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity! Worth every penny!
We really enjoyed our stay at Dreams Vallarta. The private beach was incredible, the oceanfront rooms were nice and the atmosphere was perfect. We'd definitely stay here again!