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Kid Tested, Parent Approved at The Vinoy Renaissance Resort & Golf Club

Disclosure: Our stay was comped in order to facilitate our review. Opinions are our own.

TheVinoy

I don’t think I’ve ever been on a vacation with just me and the boys but as 2015 ended we decided to get away for a few days, just the three of us. It has been a long, tough year and we wanted to take a couple days to refresh ourselves for 2016. We stayed at The Vinoy Renaissance Resort & Golf Club in St. Petersburg, Florida, just a few hours from our home in Orlando. We have never been to St. Petersburg so we were really excited to learn about all the fun things to do there like the Clearwater Marine Aquarium where the rescued dolphins, sea turtles, and other marine rescued animals who reside there including Winter, the Dolphin from Dolphin Tale 1 & 2. We also thought the Great Explorations children’s museum might be a fun place to check out since they offer all types of hands-on exhibits, but it was The Dali Museum that won our hearts.

The Vinoy Renaissance Resort & Golf Club

The Vinoy Renaissance Resort

If you haven’t been to St. Petersburg, FL then you probably have never seen this majestic looking hotel located in the heart of Downtown St. Pete. The resort is in walking distance of all the kid-friendly historical attractions as well as on the water and near great parks, museums, bike trails and a fishing pier. But you don’t have to leave The Vinoy to have a fun time with the kids as they also offer tennis lessons, golf lessons, bike rentals and a family sailing school. You can even have one of their navigators pack a lunch for your family and go off to explore. It’s simply amazing.

History of Vinoy and Design Collage

My youngest loved sneaking around in stealth mode as the seniors did warm up exercises in the early hours of the day. There was really quite a turn out too and their instructor did a great job. It was, however, embarrassing because as these poor people were doing their exercises in the pool James kept making “fart noises” in the water and they weren’t sure where it was coming from… He and I also spent a lot of time reading about the history of The Vinoy.  They even have a historian who does tours and can tell you about how the resort went from the place to be for high society in the 20s and 30s to an abandoned building and back again. I loved reading about it all and seeing artifacts. I have to admit they did a remarkable job and it’s amazing to see the original beams being used today.

Dining at Marchand’s Bar & Grill

Marchands Breakfast Buffet

Whether you decide to try their huge breakfast buffet or an evening dinner, you shouldn’t be disappointed. There is a lot to choose from for breakfast, including an omelet station and a variety of Italian meats. If you are more of a fruit fan there is that too and some fresh buttery croissants that pair nicely. We took a tour of their breakfast bar, but we opted for a quick grab from the Veranda Cafe since we were coming back for dinner later in the evening.

Dinner Marchands The Vinoy Collage

The experience was great, the service above and beyond and I have to say they have the most incredible Corn Chowder I have ever tasted. I would drive the 3 hours go to there just for that alone!


 Our stay was something I will treasure forever. It isn’t often that mom gets to go away with her boys and spend a weekend and it was the first time for us. Our visit to the Dali museum and the places we ate, the gorgeous resort and everything was something out of a fairytale for me. This vacation was Kid Tested, Parent Approved!

The Vinoy Renaissance St Pete-07712 The Vinoy Renaissance St Pete-07727 The Vinoy Renaissance St Pete-07812

Looking for the perfect place to bring the kids?

The Vinoy Renaissance Resort & Golf Club

Comments

  1. Mary Ambrosino says

    It sounds like a good time was had by all. I especially want to go to the Dali museum and the resort looks like the perfect base of operations.

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