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A close getaway
By ERIC DEGGANS, Times Staff Writer © St. Petersburg Times, published May 21, 2000 PALM HARBOR -- It was, I admit, an unorthodox idea. After all, when people decide to get away for the weekend to a room costing $260 a night, they usually travel farther than a 40-minute drive. But that's all it took for my family to go from our home in St. Petersburg's Old Southeast neighborhood to the Westin Innisbrook Resort here. What my wife, three kids and I really needed was some luxury. We wanted a comfortable, plush spot to spend a long Easter weekend; high-class digs where we made no dinner, answered no phones and made no plans beyond what restaurant would get our money that night. I looked over the resort's glossy brochure as I made the reservation, imagining I was the confident dad in the photos, swinging a golf club one moment, strolling along a nature trail the next. This was where I could relax and be pampered, secure in the knowledge that we'd have little to do besides call for room service and walk to a nearby swimming pool. Unfortunately, the Westin Innisbrook didn't quite deliver on that simple promise. A caveat here: Westin's 1,000-acre property features four golf courses, with instructional programs, championship-level courses and the ability to reserve tee times up to a year in advance. Obviously, the resort has a focus. As a golf ignoramus, I could do little besides sample the driving range and look on as guys in spiked shoes and khaki pants traded tips on wind speed and swing form. So my observations spring from a different point of view: Rather than fret about tee times and cart availability, I worried about the kids' area and catching a tram to the restaurants -- perhaps just the periphery of Innisbrook. Turning into the resort's wooded campus off the crowded commercial strip along U.S. 19, we were impressed by the rolling hills and wide-open spaces. The gaudy world of Wendy's outlets and IHOPs faded quickly behind us, as the carefully kept landscaping lent a reserved, stately air. Check-in was uneventful, save for a slight snag. Though I had told the clerk when making my reservation that we needed a rollaway bed for my 8-year-old son, and the request was noted in the computer system, the clerk at the desk told me the resort was running low on beds (I couldn't help flashing on the old Seinfeld routine where he instructs a car rental agent on the need to honor a reservation after taking it). The staff was certain they could find a bed for us. Later, I came to realize I should have known better. The room was spacious and well-equipped, 980 square feet featuring a kitchen area (dishwasher, full refrigerator, full stove), large living room, patio with doors leading to the living room and bedroom, and a dining table large enough to fit our whole family. For my children, ages 4, 5 and 8, no attraction was more compelling than Innisbrook's six pools. Thirty minutes after unpacking, we were headed for the Loch Ness Pool and Spa, an impressive $3.4-million facility with two water slides, a sandy beach area, a spa with seating for 36 and a 15-foot waterfall. With a depth of just 4 feet, the Loch Ness is a perfect recreational spot for kids like ours, honed by years of swimming lessons but too small to trust in deeper water. A lunch of pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches and hamburgers set us back nearly $40 at the poolside grill, part of the price of being pampered. Back in the room, we were in for a surprise. The rollaway bed we had booked was not available after all. But, the staff said, they would be happy to book us into a two-bedroom suite -- at more than $400 per night. I explained to the front desk that, if I was willing to pay more than $400 a night for accommodations, I would have booked the two-bedroom suite in the first place. After much hemming and hawing, a pause and call back to me, I was told the staff would try to get a rollaway bed sent over from another hotel. A half-hour later, I was called again and assured they had found a bed and would deliver it. So far, I wasn't feeling relaxed. Dinner would probably help. We settled on the Iguana Cantina, one of six specialty restaurants on-site. To help guests navigate the vast resort, Innisbrook encourages the use of its trams, airport shuttle-size buses that stop by each of the 28 guest lodges. But trying to catch a tram at the dinner hour proved a challenge; on the third attempt to call in for a ride, we finally got through the crowded switchboard. We found the Iguana Cantina to be a small bar/restaurant, with a pool table and noisy arcade game crowding the edges of a small array of tables. Since there were no seats left for our five, we walked to an Italian restaurant that shares the building. With no reservations, we could expect to wait two hours for a table. Back to the room to get the car, and we drove on U.S. 19 to Cody's Original Roadhouse. There, I had a thick steak and tried not to dwell on the inconvenience. The next day proved a better experience. The Westin Innisbrook offers a wide range of facilities but few planned events. The Tennis and Fitness Center has 11 tennis courts, indoor racquetball courts, jogging and cycling trails (bicycle and fishing gear rentals were priced at $8 an hour, $18 per day or $45 per week), and aerobics classes. Across the road, the Recreation Center/Snack Bar served as headquarters for Camp Innisbrook, offering supervised fun for children ages 4 to 12 (at $28 per day), or parents could hang out with their children for family-oriented play. The Recreation Center was an older facility that seemed a cut below the adult-oriented areas. There were basketball hoops for kids of every size, a tetherball area, a large playground and a miniature golf course. But the miniature golf was a simple, ancient course in need of paint and some sweeping -- not quite what we expected after paying $16.50 to play. Camp Innisbrook offered a week of kid-oriented activities for Easter, and that day's highlight were the Easter egg hunts, with one competition held for kids ages 5 and younger and another for the older children. The camp's small staff did an admirable job of handling such events, organizing a small carnival that included pony rides, face painting, candy scrambles and a petting zoo. By sampling a regular flow of activities, kids and parents got a chance to meet each other and form brief friendships during their stay that brought added enjoyment. Dinner on the second night was highly anticipated. A look at the prices for Innisbrook's premiere restaurant, DY's Steak House, persuaded us to consider other options: With entrees topping $32.95, it seemed more a place for a mommy/daddy meal than the whole family, even considering the reduced-price children's menu. Instead, we called ahead to the Italian restaurant we had not waited for the previous night, Toscana Ristorante. Turns out, it was well worth the wait. Piped-in ballads by Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra set the mood at Toscana, a quality restaurant with a casual, relaxed atmosphere. Picture windows offered a panorama of a nearby golf course, and an efficient, personable staff made dining a pleasure. Hours later, were still marveling at the food, especially a rigatoni dish with Italian sausage that melted in your mouth. We barely noticed the $91 price tag, and we took home lots of leftovers as flavorful reminders. Settling down for our final night, we faced a final annoyance. With the kids asleep, my wife and I had hoped to enjoy a luxury we rarely get: watching a first-run movie. American Beauty was on the pay-per-view menu, and we hoped to spend the evening lost in its subversive story. But we were unable to access the video services system we had used just hours earlier to check our hotel bill and review restaurant selections. Turns out that the Westin Innisbrook had serious problems with an old television system; before long, our set wouldn't budge from cable channel 11. We couldn't even turn it off. I eventually pulled the channel selection unit's power plug out of the wall and plugged it back in, which allowed us to watch about half of the movie before the system went down again. At least we were not charged for what we did see. In all, the resort seemed pleasant enough, but with surprising lapses. The Westin Innisbrook may not have offered the hassle-free weekend we sought, but its lush greenery and relaxed atmosphere still provided a welcome relief from the bustle of everyday life. If you go
 © St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved. 
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