Our next workaway was 8 minutes from Walt Disney World in the beautiful vacation home resort of Reunion.    .

Zara and Aaron were wonderful hosts.  They both worked from home, so we would meet each morning and figure out what we were doing for the day.  They were very pleasant and friendly.  Their house is beautiful and they are working really hard to get a quality Disney Theme in the house.

We stayed in an apartment above the garage.  It had a living room, small kitchen, bedroom and bath.  It  was separate from the house, allowing both our hosts and us privacy.

 

The main house consists of 3 floors.  The first floor is the kitchen and dining area.  Aaron worked on white washing a tongue and grooved wall to make it a unique focal point.  It was a lot of work but came out great.

 

There is one bedroom on the bottom floor which is the Treasure Island room.  This room is mostly complete and looks so cool.  I have never seen parrot lights before.

   

 

The 2nd floor has three bedrooms.  The master bedroom is not themed yet but is ear-marked as the Moana room.

The other two bedrooms are themed as Peter Pan and Tinker bell.  They both have great murals on one wall that really ties in the whole Disney idea.

The Peter Pan room was a unique ship bed and even a small alligator bench.  The lights are going to look like clouds but were not up yet.  Any little boy or girl would LOVE to stay in here sleeping in a pirate ship.

 

 

The Tinker Bell room is a little girl’s dream.  The bed is still under construction and will consist of 3 bunk beds with leaf covers over each one.  Even the curtains have ivy running up them and there is a “fairy” tree that has pink lights.  Renters will LOVE it.

 

 

There is also a bathroom on this floor that Zara is naming the Peter Pan bathroom.  She is putting greenery all over the walls and will have features that resembles tree limbs.  It is still a work in progress.  Not so sure how I feel about plastic greenery in a bathroom but it looks cool.

The 3rd floor is where the TV room (den) is.  It is designated to look like a Pirate Captain’s Quarters.  Zara has a way of finding cool appropriate accessories and a cool color scheme that really makes this the coolest room in the house.  The color scheme is very rich with dark browns and burgundy.  The wall will have paneling and beams to give the illusion of the inside of a ship’s hull.  It is still not done but we can’t wait to see pictures when it is done.

 

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So what did Mike and I do to help with this Disney magical getaway?

Here is a list below of the things we worked on…

We both…

  • painting base boards on 1st and 2nd floor

 

  • fixed up the Peter Pan room by patching holes and touched up the paint on walls and bed.

 

  •  painted doors and door casings  brown in the pirate’s den

  • Stained and painted wall boards that will be used to make the Pirate’s den resemble a ship’s hull.

 

Robin’s additional work…

  • painted the Tinker Bell room

 

  • painted the ceiling panel planks dark brown and ceiling panels burgundy in the pirate’s den.
  • This is a cool ceiling light that looks like candles flickering.

 

  • We did a lot of edge trim painting along the ceilings and floors.

 

  • We painted the exterior wall near the pool.

 

Mike’s other work…

  • sanded and varnished 3 different outdoor patio sets

  • sanded and stained the boards for the pirates den

  • painted the exterior patio around the pool and hot tub

 

  • sanded and painted the doors on first floor

 

  • cleaned up the red exterior the on main house and garage apartment

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The house is situated on a golf course and has wonderful sunset views.

The view on the other side of the house is of a multi million dollar home with a lazy river in the back, a movie theater, bowling alley, basketball court, etc. in the house.

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Here is a list of things we did in our time off…

Since this workaway was only 1 1/4 hours from our house in The Villages we decided to get a family doctor there and get all the necessary physical, mammogram, blood work, etc. done.   We also enjoyed visiting and having dinner with our friends and neighbors.

We contracted to have the landscaping redesigned at our house.  It is funny how we work all over the world but hire someone to do stuff at our own house – go figure. hahaha

We took an 8 hour drive up to North Carolina for a week to watch the Superbowl and spend David’s birthday with him and Tristen.  We had a really nice time and yes, ate all the appropriate junk food during the game.

We visited Disney World (Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom) – just because we bought a house in a retirement community doesn’t mean we are not kids at heart.

Went to Disney Springs 3 or 4 times for dinner and a boat ride to a few Disney Resorts (kids at heart remember?)

We ate at Jiko in the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  If you ever go here definitely find time to enjoy this restaurant..  It serves delicious African food, one of the best steaks I have ever had.  Even the bread was very different than any I have had and the cauliflower bisque was amazing.  Beware it is expensive.

We went to the Reunion hotel roof top restaurant for drinks and appetizers with Aaron and Zara a few times.  Got to see the Magic Kingdom fireworks from there and really enjoyed visiting with Aaron and Zara.

We also got to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the beach at the Polynesian Resort. Great place to watch the fireworks and you don’t even have to be a guest at the resort.

We thought we would visit Margarita Village Retirement community and their vacation resort to see what they were like.  Ok we admit it – we are parrot heads.  We were a little disappointed that the houses at the retirement community were very similar to the ones at their vacation rentals – way to close together and multi-level.  These houses were built for vacationers but there is a restaurant called Ford’s Garage which was pretty cool.  Even the napkins are oil rags with hose clamps.

 

bathroom sinks

 

 

Mike was in heaven with this next day off adventure.  We went to the Velocity Airplane factory in Sebastian Florida to see how the planes are made.  It was very interesting.  We were suppose to get a demo flight but the weather was not with us. Once Mike and the CEO hooked me on the coolness of the planes we ended up booking a reservation at the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) convention in Oshkosh, WI in July so Mike can get his aeronautic geek on – lol.  Actually the convention has been on Mike’s bucket list for at least 10 years.

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We truly enjoyed this workaway.  The work was fun and diverse, we had our own space and could cook for ourselves which helped us to eat right – the belly gets a little bigger when we don’t eat right, and Aaron and Zara are so pleasant and organized.

Next stops.. Visits to 2 former workawayers (Terlingua Texas and Kanab Utah), then to work on a boat at Pillar Point Marina in Half Moon Bay California.

Till next time…

In the spirit of Disney

“If you focus on what you left behind, you will never see what lies ahead.”  – Gusteau, Ratatouill