Spring Break had finally arrived, a day late for us because of our de-icing debacle in Traverse City. All that was behind us as we pulled into the Dreams / Secrets driveway. The bellhop took our bags and brought a welcome Margarita and vacation was on! The check-in process was quick and lurking nearby was vacation club lady. Ostensibly she welcomes you to the resort and talks about the activities and all the wonderful things you can do, but her #1 job is to wrangle you into the vacation club seminar. To each their own, but we passed and meandered to our room, margaritas in hand.
Our second floor had a beautiful view of the pools and ocean framed by palm trees. You'll notice that the pool area was very busy. Dreams suffers from the plague of most all-inclusive resorts, the seat savers. These nefarious types got to the pool at 7:00 AM to put a towel on a chair they won't use for four more hours but want to make sure you don't get it. It's annoying and I chose not to do that on my early morning walks - I have my faults, like rabid personal aggrandizement, but selfishness isn't usually one of them. Seat saving is probably not one of the great sins, so those people will only be in the First Circle of Hell.
But really, I prefer the beach, so the seat savers didn't affect my vacation in the slightest - I just like to mock them. (Mocking is one of my super powers.) We were always able to get a spot by the ocean next to the tent where they rented Wave Runners and parasailing experiences. The downside of beachside seats at Dreams are the hawkers that roam up and down the beach selling their Chinese-made Mexican crafts. It wasn't bad because a simple "no" and they would keep walking, just something to be aware of. Waiters were nearby to keep you well-hydrated on those warm spring days. And remember to tip. It's an all-inclusive and not strictly necessary, but it's the nice thing to do.
In between beach sellers, we could watch the waves roll in from the ocean, the planes leaving the airport and the Wave Runners shooting along the coast. In the distance we could see main stretch of Puerto Vallarta where the malacon stretches between hotel row and the beach. We didn't get that far south - maybe next time. We were content to relax and enjoy some sunshine, something sorely lacking in Michigan during the spring (a.k.a. Winter Part 2).
Walks on the beach are required. All laying and no movement make Scott a fat boy. Though we discovered that we needed to be on the lookout for dangerous wildlife lurking about. At any moment, a crocodile could rise up out of a watery channel and yank us into the murky depths of Puerto Vallarta.
And if you bring your pig to the beach, you have to be extra careful because crocodiles love pig. Or I assume so, because a pig is just uncooked bacon.
And entertainment! Who doesn't love a good Beatles show? I sure do. To the music of The Beatles, dancers jumped, lifted and twirled around the stage all while quickly doing costume changes. I quite liked the show, and I'll never hear "Twist and Shout" the same way. Not only will I remember the parade scene from "Ferris Bueler's Day Off", I will also remember dancing to it in an amphitheater in Puerto Vallarta. We often miss these shows, strangely tired after a day of doing almost nothing, but I'm very glad we stayed up for it.
Third only to the warm weather and the limitless booze, food is the reason to visit the all-inclusives. Dreams Vallarta Bay does have ala carte restaurants, though I can only speak to one, Himitsu, the hibachi restaurant. Dreams is a reservation-free resort which I loved because most all-inclusive resorts required reservations for the ala carte, and those reservations meant spending valuable beach time waiting for the inevitably slow person ahead of you to make their reservation. Himitsu is the only restaurant there that requires reservations since seating is very limited, so if you see a line of people at the front desk at 10:00 AM, they are hibachi fans. And you should be, too, so jump in that line.
Oh, alright. I know you are just begging for pictures of the buffet and food and I just can't say no to you people - remember me at Christmas.
I spent many happy moments perusing through the many stations at the buffet. Salad, meats, pastas, Mexican specialties - so many options, so little room in my stomach. Speaking of filling up my stomach...
This is just a sampling of one of the many meals. The grilled fish was quite tasty, and if there was guacamole in the building, it was on my plate. Notice the one piece of cauliflower - you can't say I didn't eat vegetables.
The outdoor seating area at the buffet was a lovely little spot, especially nice if you could score a shady area which we always managed to do, probably the good karma we accumulated by not being a seat saver. But the interior spots were also nice if you managed to not get stuck to a screaming child. Again, we were fortunate in that respect, a most appreciated respite. Out or in, the servers were never far away to bring me a Dos Equis Amber, my beer of choice while in Mexico.
We only spent three nights at the Dreams Vallarta Bay because of the Traverse City de-icing situation stealing a vacation day from us. But what little time we did spend there was a nice pre-vacation vacation before our week at Dreams Bahia Mita, which is coming soon. Oh, the anticipation!