JoEllen
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 21, 1999
Tanque Verde Ranch April 7 12
My 17 yr old DD and I decided to take an exchange to TVR for Spring Break this year as an alternative to our usual trip to WDW. I had read great feedback from DIS trip reports about this place and DD was anxious to try something new.
We flew out of Seattle rain on Saturday morning and arrived to sunny Tucson about 11:00. Denny the groundskeeping manager from the ranch was there to meet us in baggage claim. We made a quick stop at a Safeway to get Propel and beer and arrived at the ranch 45 minutes later. We checked in and were happily surprised that our room was ready. Then headed to the dining room for lunch and were on our first trail ride by 2:00. That evening a Cowboy Cookout was scheduled down in the Cottonwood Grove. They had picnic tables circled around numerous campfires with twinkly lights strung thru the trees. A live cowboy band played while people piled their plates with steak, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, salads, and a dessert buffet to die for. Later that evening they had a couple teach the Two Step and Western Swing in a large dance room.
We were given a daily program of the days activities and every evening at dinner the program lady came by your table to sign you up for the next days events. Events such as breakfast trail rides, riding lessons, walk or lope trail rides, riding check tests, nature hikes, mountain bike hikes and tennis clinics. And this was just for the adults! From what other families told us, the kids program was great and kids could even eat in their own dining room if they chose to.
We found that we loved the riding and DD passed a few check tests and was out riding with the intermediate riders right away. I was content to stay on my walking trail rides and enjoy the desert which was in full bloom for Spring. We had made arrangements to play golf one day in Tucson and it was very easy to rent a car from Enterprise who will drop it at the ranch and pick it up when youre ready.
Some of the things we really liked about the Ranch:
1) Food! All meals are included and this is a 4 star restaurant with a great chef. I dont even want to weigh myself now that were back.
2) Activities You can be as busy as you want to be. You can split up to do what you want and be assured your family will have something they want to do too.
3) Pool They had a very nice outdoor and indoor pool. Both were popular and you had to get there early some days to get a chair.
4) Seating for Meals You could choose to sit alone or at the larger tables with other families. We chose to mingle and met some great families and were thoughtfully seated with families that had older children so DD met kids to hang out with right away.
5) Diversity of the guests We met a lot of European families and DD made friends with girls from Ireland and England that she plans to stay in contact with. There is a board posted by the dining room that has everyones name on it, where theyre from and how many times theyve been to TVR. Most names were repeat visitors and one family had been there 30 times!
6) Quality of the employees We were so impressed with how friendly the staff was from the wranglers to the nature guides you could tell they all really loved what they did.
Some things to be aware of:
1) Room quality Many of the rooms are very outdated. I would not recommend Standard rooms unless you really dont care about the room and are more interested in the activities. The rooms in Quail Hollow are very nice and we switched to these on Monday when we could contact Member Services and pay more points for an upgrade.
2) This is a real Ranch with over 200 horses and lots of riders. While we were there we saw two people get thrown off their horse. You and youre family can get hurt.
3) There are no TVs in the rooms. This seemed to bother a few families that we had meals with. They do have satellite radio in the rooms and have WiFi if you have your laptop.
If you have any questions, please ask. My DD and I went into this vacation with expectations rather low but looking forward to something new to try. By the end of our stay, DD had surprised herself at how well she did in her riding tests and more confidence in trying things on her own. I would definitely recommend TVR to anyone who loves physical activity or nature.
My 17 yr old DD and I decided to take an exchange to TVR for Spring Break this year as an alternative to our usual trip to WDW. I had read great feedback from DIS trip reports about this place and DD was anxious to try something new.
We flew out of Seattle rain on Saturday morning and arrived to sunny Tucson about 11:00. Denny the groundskeeping manager from the ranch was there to meet us in baggage claim. We made a quick stop at a Safeway to get Propel and beer and arrived at the ranch 45 minutes later. We checked in and were happily surprised that our room was ready. Then headed to the dining room for lunch and were on our first trail ride by 2:00. That evening a Cowboy Cookout was scheduled down in the Cottonwood Grove. They had picnic tables circled around numerous campfires with twinkly lights strung thru the trees. A live cowboy band played while people piled their plates with steak, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, salads, and a dessert buffet to die for. Later that evening they had a couple teach the Two Step and Western Swing in a large dance room.
We were given a daily program of the days activities and every evening at dinner the program lady came by your table to sign you up for the next days events. Events such as breakfast trail rides, riding lessons, walk or lope trail rides, riding check tests, nature hikes, mountain bike hikes and tennis clinics. And this was just for the adults! From what other families told us, the kids program was great and kids could even eat in their own dining room if they chose to.
We found that we loved the riding and DD passed a few check tests and was out riding with the intermediate riders right away. I was content to stay on my walking trail rides and enjoy the desert which was in full bloom for Spring. We had made arrangements to play golf one day in Tucson and it was very easy to rent a car from Enterprise who will drop it at the ranch and pick it up when youre ready.
Some of the things we really liked about the Ranch:
1) Food! All meals are included and this is a 4 star restaurant with a great chef. I dont even want to weigh myself now that were back.
2) Activities You can be as busy as you want to be. You can split up to do what you want and be assured your family will have something they want to do too.
3) Pool They had a very nice outdoor and indoor pool. Both were popular and you had to get there early some days to get a chair.
4) Seating for Meals You could choose to sit alone or at the larger tables with other families. We chose to mingle and met some great families and were thoughtfully seated with families that had older children so DD met kids to hang out with right away.
5) Diversity of the guests We met a lot of European families and DD made friends with girls from Ireland and England that she plans to stay in contact with. There is a board posted by the dining room that has everyones name on it, where theyre from and how many times theyve been to TVR. Most names were repeat visitors and one family had been there 30 times!
6) Quality of the employees We were so impressed with how friendly the staff was from the wranglers to the nature guides you could tell they all really loved what they did.
Some things to be aware of:
1) Room quality Many of the rooms are very outdated. I would not recommend Standard rooms unless you really dont care about the room and are more interested in the activities. The rooms in Quail Hollow are very nice and we switched to these on Monday when we could contact Member Services and pay more points for an upgrade.
2) This is a real Ranch with over 200 horses and lots of riders. While we were there we saw two people get thrown off their horse. You and youre family can get hurt.
3) There are no TVs in the rooms. This seemed to bother a few families that we had meals with. They do have satellite radio in the rooms and have WiFi if you have your laptop.
If you have any questions, please ask. My DD and I went into this vacation with expectations rather low but looking forward to something new to try. By the end of our stay, DD had surprised herself at how well she did in her riding tests and more confidence in trying things on her own. I would definitely recommend TVR to anyone who loves physical activity or nature.
Hooray!
