By Jeffrey A. Rendall, Photos by Jeffrey A. Rendall
First, Hang your hat at Marriott’s Harbour Lake Resort, then hit the parks (if you want).
A day after attending our first major league spring training game ever, we thought we’d try another matchup since it wasn’t likely we’d get another chance to watch live major league baseball for… well, a long time.
But first, after a three-plus hour drive from Palm Beach to Orlando the previous day, we checked into Marriott’s Harbour Lake resort, right smack in the middle of much of Orlando’s theme park utopia.
Proximity: 5.2 miles from Walt Disney World, 6.8 miles from Universal Orlando Resort, and 13 miles from Orlando International Airport.
We’d booked the reservation with Harbour Lake a couple months previous using some of our timeshare points stash to effectuate a pretty easy exchange. Our experience with Orlando had taught us that there are so many resorts there that timeshare companies are sometimes begging to fill up their space, so getting a place like Harbour Lake wouldn’t be a problem.
We reserved a two-bedroom villa complete with the amenities you’d expect from a first-rate timeshare company like Marriott, including pools, several attractive “common areas” and enough sitting space to chill and opportunities to spend money if you’re so inclined. Harbour Lake also offered a fairly decent miniature golf course as part of its enticements, and the feel of the resort wasn’t all that apart from that of a cruise ship on land.
Though the pool slide wasn’t all that great. Too slow, said the younger members of our party.
Harbour Lake’s website provides location and additional details.
We didn’t take advantage of a good portion of what Harbour Lake offered to visitors. Frankly, we didn’t spend much time there. We were too busy going places and touring stuff to fully partake of the resort. There was a restaurant/snack bar there. We didn’t use it.
The resort looked to be about 25-30 years old and was well-maintained by Marriott, always a good choice when exchanging your timeshare points. The rooms were spacious and well appointed, though the light switches took some time to get used to. The master bedroom included a spacious walk-in shower. These were a step up from cruise ship stateroom amenities.
One comment. Our villa was on the second floor, facing east looking out over a man-made lake. All-in-all, a nice view. But the room was just above the HVAC compressors for the building, and the constant humming and whirring of the units was a nuisance at night. They sounded a little like the white noise “sound machine” my grandson uses to help him sleep.
The mattress wasn’t great either, though it might’ve just been my preference. I’ve never had chronic back pain, but I know a good mattress when I sleep on one.
Would I stay at Harbour Lake again? Yes. Its central location to the theme parks alone made it attractive, though the traffic surrounding the resort was tough to navigate during rush hours. There was a Publix and Costco not far from the resort and there were a number of barbecues we could’ve used if we’d wanted to grill our own meals. Marriott’s extras are a benefit, for sure.
Harbour Lake was right next door to Sea World and close to the Aquatica water park. Plenty of local entertainment choices. It was also about ten minutes from Disney Springs, a great (though expensive) place to find restaurants and shops and… spend as much money as you can tolerate.
Baseball spring training, Part II – Tigers and Braves bring out the crowd.
After devoting hours to driving to Palm Beach the previous day, after a little research, we opted for the spring training facility closest (at least by appearances) to our place of vacation residence.
We searched the Major League Baseball website and found that the Detroit Tigers’ spring home was in Lakeland, Florida, about an hour’s drive from central Orlando. Convenient to I-4, Lakeland was an easy jaunt to navigate, though the traffic held us up a little bit. Not too bad. Central 
Florida is renowned for vacationers, but it should be just as notorious for traffic. Lots of it.
Upon locating Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium, we immediately sensed a different atmosphere from the day before. The Tigers were set to take on the Atlanta Braves, a team that enjoys quite a following in the region around Atlanta. There was a good-sized Tigers home contingent as well, and we estimated there were about three times as many baseball fans in attendance at Publix Field than there were at Cacti Park in Palm Beach only a day earlier.
Getting through security was much tighter than the day before, though I was the only one flagged for additional metal detector scrutiny. “Do you have a bad knee?” The man asked, perhaps wondering if I had metal in my leg. Or perhaps it was my magnetic personality. Not sure. But they were nice about it.
Getting tickets wasn’t a problem in Lakeland, either, though there weren’t any free hot dogs and drinks put forward as an enticement to sit in the upper echelons of the stadium, which were in the shade from the start. The seating sections weren’t packed, though there were fewer empty seats this day.
We weren’t in time to catch batting practice, so the players from both teams weren’t at all close to where our seats were. And the ushers checked tickets, too, so no sneaking closer to the action, at least right away. The tickets were $26 apiece, and we’d paid $15 for parking. An in-game food purchase (a slice of Little Ceasars’ pizza) and a large water bottle was $18.50. So attending a game at Publix Park set us back over a hundred bucks (for three).
But the major league baseball skill and atmosphere made it a worthwhile buy. The Braves scored a few runs and ended up ahead. Frankly, we didn’t pay all that much attention to the balls and strikes. It was fun just to be there on vacation, outdoors and in the presence of skilled ball players – and fans that appreciated seeing ball clubs preparing for the lengthy regular season.
And if you think about it, you can get yourself a souvenir just by being nice to someone. How?
One of the Atlanta Braves got a solid single in the second or third inning. My son looked up his name and saw that the guy played left field. So the enterprising college student went down by the unguarded railing and called out to the professional, commending him for the great hit he’d just had in the Braves’ at-bat.
We looked on in astonishment – and amusement – as the player caught a fly and then tossed the ball towards my enterprising son. What a great way to get a ball! The ball was underthrown, though the ball boy picked up the errant sphere and brought it to my son. It’s a bit of memorabilia he’ll always have to remind us of that afternoon.
Family time meant more to us than the results of the game, though we recognized a few of the players and will be looking for them when the season starts. Who knows, both the Tigers and Braves will likely have competitive ball clubs. It wouldn’t be that shocking to see either team go far this season.
And we could say that we saw them… months before.
For its part, Lakeland looked like a nice community, though we didn’t travel through all that much of it. Central Florida is fairly densely populated, no doubt because of the impressive tourist draws of the Orlando area.
Grapefruit League baseball wasn’t quite what we expected, but was surely worth putting on our vacation calendar. If we’re in the vicinity in the future, we’ll go to another game or two. Maybe we can add to our baseball souvenir stash!
Next: Avoiding Disney at the Titanic Artifact Exhibition
Florida Spring Part I – Family friendly major league baseball spring training and why we decided to avoid Disney: https://www.golfintheusa.com/2041-2/