Florida Timeshare

The massive sinkhole that severely damaged the Orlando timeshare, Summer Bay Resort on Sunday evening (August 11), appears to be stable say officials today.

A 100-foot wide sinkhole collapsed Summer Bay Resort buildings numbers 103 and 104, which are connected by a breezeway and actually counted as one structure. The Orlando Sentinel reported that all of the timeshare units damaged were two-bedroom, two-bath units. Also impacted was building 105, which on Monday was condemned by officials.

First the most important news: no one was injured. But you can bet this is one Orlando timeshare vacation that the guests at Summer Bay Resort will never forget. More than 100 of the vacationers who were occupying the resort were rousted from bed around 11 PM on Sunday evening by the sound of the buildings beginning to break. Some described it as a sound, “like multiple people with aluminum baseball bats who were swinging them against the windows,” others likened the sound to cracking, popping, booms, or gunshots.

Whatever the noise seemed to be, it didn’t give the occupants of the buildings affected much time to respond. Most fled their timeshare units without pausing to collect car keys, medications, wallets, or other personal items. One couple and their child were even forced to break a window in order to escape when the doorway to their unit collapsed. The approximately 35 vacationers housed in buildings 103 and 14 can thank the resort’s onsite management and security for running through the corridors, banging on doors, and spreading the word to abandon the building immediately.

Within roughly 30 minutes of the successful evacuation, the building had buckled under its own weight, leaving, as one guest said, her belongings buried deep in the ground. Even occupants of building 105, which sustained little to no visible damage, were not immediately permitted to return to their units to collect their possessions.

Summer Bay Resort  is working with the timeshare owners and guests who have been displaced to arrange accommodations there at Summer Bay or in nearby properties. The Red Cross and other agencies are at the Summer Bay Resort timeshare, providing trauma counseling, and helping people with issues such as replacing driver licenses, credit cards, and other documents necessary for travel.

While Summer Bay Resort has not, as of the time this is being written, added any update to its website, it has posted the following statement on its Facebook page:

“In an unforeseeable natural disaster, one of the 26 buildings on our Summer Bay Resort property was affected by a sinkhole.

Thanks to the quick response of our staff and first responders, there were no injuries, and all guests were able to leave the building safely .We are working diligently to relocate and assess the needs of all of our guests.

Geologists are onsite assessing the area to ensure that the damage is contained.

If any current or future guests have any questions or concerns, please contact our customer service staff at 1-800-654-6102 or [email protected].

Thank you for your well wishes and continued support.”

Resort owner and President Paul Caldwell says,  “After the geologists’ initial survey here, they’ve indicated it is what they describe as a classic Florida sinkhole about 100 feet in diameter and on a preliminary basis, they do not have a concern that it is growing or will grow.” Caldwell adds, “We are open for business … we are attempting to make this as normal an experience for our guests and our team as we possibly can.”

Later today, the U.S. Geological Survey team is expected to have more specific information on the sinkhole’s stability. Summer Bay Resort is actually southwest of Orlando, a few miles from Walt Disney World, and located in the city of Clermont, one of the areas in Florida that is most susceptible to sinkholes. High levels of limestone in the soil and underground cavern formations  allow the soil to shift with  rising and falling ground water levels eroding the bedrock beneath the soil’s surface.

Summer Bay Resort occupies approximately 300-acres.

More on Summer Bay Timeshare from The Timeshare Authority blog:

• Summer Bay Resorts Timeshare Through the Eyes of an Owner

Disney rumors are not always accurate, but so many resources reference this one, it leads you to believe that it is the next big news for DVC timeshare. Earlier this summer, Disney filed permits with the South Florida Water Management District (one of the state of Florida’s five legislatively created agencies for overseeing water management issues) and the permits describe “a rehabilitation project at the Polynesian Resort.”

The language of the permit states: “The work to be conducted on this site includes new parking, vehicular circulation, pedestrian pathways, utilities and fire access. It also includes the installation of pilings along the neighboring lagoon that will support future structures, redesigned landscaping and new amenity areas to serve the building expansions for this resort hotel.”

But this is where it gets difficult to sort out fact from fiction. Some sources have the additional DVC timeshare project as a big build out that even includes grand timeshare villas built out over the water of the lagoon, with private docks for each villa. Other rumors say the project has already been greatly scaled back (before it is even begun) and only will be a renovation of existing accommodations there and an upgrade of amenities.

Expansion of DVC timeshares at the Polynesian Village certainly makes sense in terms of Disney Vacation Club logic. The Polynesian Village, which was the first resort open at Disney World (beating out the Contemporary Resort on opening day by minutes) is part of iconic Disney culture and was said to be a favorite project of Walt himself. And almost all of the current easy-park-access resort properties at Walt Disney World (via monorail or boat) have a timeshare component.

Trader Sam’s Will Be Part of the Fun

One detail does look like a certainty and that is that Walt Disney World’s Polynesian Resort will be home to Disney’s future Trader Sam’s. Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar has already found a home at the Disneyland Hotel (California). Immensely popular with Disneyland guests, Trader Sam’s is a classic tiki bar, with more charm and personality than it seems possible to pack into a single property.

You remember who Trader Sam is don’t you?

He’s the “(Shrunken) Head Salesman” you’ve known from your adventure’s on Disney’s Jungle Cruise. Profiled as a wheeler-dealer entrepreneur of the jungle, Trader Sam will make you a deal on anything in his eclectic collection, especially if you are interested in the purchase or trade of a few shrunken heads.

Supposedly, Trader Sam, with help from his friends at the Jungle Cruise Navigational Company, built and decorated his bar, rich with artifacts and bric-a-brac collected from his years as a jungle trader. True Disney fans can lose themselves exploring the minutiae of Disney history and pop culture details woven into the décor and story theme of Trader Sam’s. With a colorful drink menu, (all supposedly mixed from a base of “Sam’s Gorilla Grog”) and a menu of meal-worthy appetizers, Trader Sam’s will be a delightful addition to the Orlando park whether it winds up at the Polynesian Village or perhaps (as otherwise rumored) at Disney Springs.

We all love Disney, but let’s face it, sometimes the lines are long, the weather is hot, and at Disney World Orlando, there is always a chance for those summer afternoon showers. Which is why most of us would never consider attempting to ride all the rides in one single day during a Disney vacation, much less do what two guys from Parkeology.com have done.

Shane Lindsey and Ted (Teevtee) Tamburo set out to ride every ride in all four parks at Disney World in one day. And they did it … well they almost did it. There were the inevitable rides down for repairs and the rain-out that prevented them from tackling a few of the rides. To compensate, they rode other rides twice so that they would at least reach their target goal of 47 Disney park rides in a single day.

Billing their feat as WDW47, on June 16, 2013, Shane and Teevtee managed to ride 47 park rides within the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, in one day of normal park operational hours—a total of 16 hours. And what makes this even more amazing is that they did not tackle this in the way you might imagine. Rather than working their way systematically through one park and then another, they truly park hopped.

We are assuming that they used the Disney Fast Pass system to reduce the time they waited in line for some rides. This would also account for why they would find it more logical to jump from park to park, only to return later to a park they had previously visited. Although the video below tells a great deal of their story, they don’t reveal their strategy… and clearly they had one for this epic endeavor.

The average person on a Disney vacation in Orlando rides 8 rides per day, which works out perfectly for a Disney timeshare week. For anyone who doesn’t want to attempt the 16-hour pace it requires to accomplish a WDW47, 6 to 8 rides per day make it easy to also enjoy the shows, entertainment, shops and restaurants available in all the parks.

The new Marriott Golf Academy is a get-serious-about-your-game reason to be a Marriott Vacations timeshare owner. There is an academy at Marriott’s Shadow Ridge resort in Palm Desert, California and an academy at Marriott’s Grande Vista resort in Orlando, Florida. Since their launch last spring, (after Marriott Golf ended its longtime relationship with golf legend Nick Faldo), Marriott Golf Academy has been redefining its brand as a go-to resource for both serious golfers, recreational players, and golf newbies to tune up their games. (Read more here: New Golf Academy is Another Reason to Love Marriott Timeshare)

The Marriott Golf Academy at Marriott’s Shadow Ridge is set in the beautiful Coachella Valley, already a popular area for golfers. The Marriott timeshare resort there offers spacious villa accommodations, along with the eighteen-hole championship golf course, a world-class practice facility, a state-of-the-art swing studio, and a Club Fitter’s Workshop.™

The Marriott Golf Academy adjacent to Marriott’s Grande Vista includes a 35-acre instructional facility with full swing and short game areas, a 9-hole golf course, Swing Analysis Studio, Club Fitter’s Workshop™, plus it backs up to Marriott’s Grande Pines Golf Club.

At both Marriott Vacation Club resorts, you will find one-, two-, and three-bedroom timeshare villas and an abundance of amenities, to please all the non-golfers in the family. This summer, each of the two academies is offers a “Get Schooled & Stay Cool” golf instruction program. For more information on the golf school,  golfers should call 855-642-2369, or visit www.marriottgolfacademy.com.