Florida Timeshare

In our September 6 blog post, titled, “Planning Your Orlando Timeshare Vacation”, I noted that Disney had banned their guests from using the two-wheeled, battery-powered individual people transporters, known as Segways. Disney, and other Orlando theme parks permit Segways, as does the City of Orlando, but use is restricted to authorized personnel, and not available to their paying customers.

In the October 14 edition of the Orlando Sentinel, an article stated that, “Advocates for the disabled are pushing Walt Disney World and SeaWorld Orlando to lift a ban on the use of Segways in the theme parks.”

The Disability Rights Advocates for Technology, known as DRAFT, is an organization that raises money to donate Segways to disabled US military veterans. As the article explained, many people with prosthetics, as well as people with disabilities that permit them to stand but not walk, benefit from the mobility Segways provide. An estimated 5,000 disabled people now use Segways to increase their mobility options.

In one further note, the Sentinel article stated that Disney runs paid, guided Segway tours of Epcot and the Fort Wilderness campground, however in response to our phone call, we were again told by a Disney customer service representative, that those tours have been suspended.

The Timeshare Owners Blog will keep you posted on the status of the Segway at Orlando theme parks.

Here are a few suggestions for enjoying Orlando timeshares on your next Florida vacation:

• Disney’s Beach Club Villas Resales
• Disney’s BoardWalk Villas Resales
• Disney’s Old Key West Resort Resales
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa Resales
• Disney’s Villas at Wilderness Lodge Resales
• Magic Tree Resort Resales
• Marriott’s Cypress Harbour Resales
• Marriott’s Grande Vista Resales
• Marriott’s Horizons of Orlando Resales
• Marriott’s Imperial Palm Villas Resales
• Marriott’s Royal Palms Resales
• Marriott’s Sabal Palms Resales
• Mystic Dunes Resort and Golf Club Resales

And here’s a You Tube video of Segways in use at Walt Disney World.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services regulates telemarketing within the state. Earlier this month, Scott Andrew Friedman of St. Petersburg, was arrested for running an unregistered telemarketing operation.

Friedman’s business, Premier Timeshare Vacations Inc, was contracting with consumers to advertise their timeshares for sale. The business was operating, despite not being registered by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and having received a cease-and-desist order directing them to stop telemarketing operations until the business was properly registered.

According to myfoxtampabay.com, Friedman was arrested and charged with, “telemarketing without a license and hiring unregistered sales people”. Both offenses are third-degree felonies.

Friedman’s arrest came only a few days after the Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement (OALE) arrested two Redington Shores men charged with the same felony acts as Friedman. James Ezell and Robert Vaughan were arrested regarding their business, US Properties Listings LLC, which contracted with consumers to sell advertising for vacant land and timeshares.

According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, agencies in both New Mexico and Florida had received numerous complaints about US Properties Listings LLC.

If you have a complaint against a Florida timeshare company or telemarketing company, you can file your complaint by calling the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services at 1-800-HELPFLA.

Sell My Timeshare NOW always enthusiastically supports efforts by regulatory agencies to keep the timeshare and timeshare resale industries upfront and above board.

For many people, September means that children are back in school and there will be no more extended vacation trips until the next school holiday. But for others, September is a great time to take advantage of vacation destinations, when weather is sometimes cooler and crowds are always smaller.

In case you are considering an Orlando timeshare vacation and a trip to Walt Disney World, here’s a good link to news about the Disney parks. You’ll notice that the AllEarsNet, also suggest September as a wonderful time to enjoy Disney and all the Orlando attractions.

And if you are going to Orlando—the timeshare capital of the world—then by all means look into the excellent opportunities in Orlando timeshare resales and Orlando timeshare rentals, whether you choose a Disney timeshare or one of the many other Orlando timeshare resorts in the Orlando-Kissimmee vacation area.

Here’s some other interesting information about Orlando, as you segue from summer into fall: On the TechDirt website, one of the forum readers recently made an interesting observation about Disney’s use of the Segway (those two-wheeled, battery-powered individual people transporters). As the writer pointed out: “…best use of Segways has got to be by parking lot attendants, especially at places like Disney World. These people walk back and forth, up and down the rows directing cars to their parking spaces. On a Segway, they’re still tall enough to be seen.”

Segways, produced by a company based right here in New Hampshire, work so well in busy tourist destinations that the City of Orlando plans to invest nearly one million dollars on Segways for “city ambassadors” who will wheel around the downtown area, providing information and assistance to tourists.

Sadly, the EPCOT Tour once offered to park guests, which included rental and use of a Segway, was discontinued. Now only park employees get to enjoy buzzing around the Disney parks on two-wheels

Say the word, “Hemingway”, and author Ernest Hemingway, a man as colorful as he was talented, quickly comes to mind. But did you know that the word “Hemingway””also refers to any six-toed domestic cat?

It seems that Ernest Hemingway acquired a six-toed cat from a sailor he met in Key West. Hemingway was quite fond of the polydactyl (the proper term for felines with more than five toes) and as a result, was delighted when many of its descendants were polydactyl’s too.

Now, I might have already known this interesting bit of trivia, if I had ever taken advantage of the opportunities in Key West timeshares. Key West is not only a great place to soak up some sun and just relax, it is also home to “Papa” Hemingway’s museum and it is just the type of picturesque locale that many visitors to the Keys include in an afternoon of sightseeing.

The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum is a tribute to the author’s life, especially the years he spent as a resident of Key West. Winner of both the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize, Hemingway lived in Key West for approximately ten years, between 1929 and 1939.

Today the museum is known for providing a glimpse into Hemingway’s life, an archive for some of his memorabilia and a home to the multi-generations of multi-toed felines that are descendants from Snowball, Hemingway’s original six-toed cat.

The Hemingway cats have been in the news lately because they are entangled in some government red tape. Last year, the US Department of Agriculture cited The Hemingway Museum for exhibiting cats without the proper credentials, namely an Animal Welfare License issued by the USDA. The position of the USDA is that the museum is exhibiting the cats (there are approximately 50 at last count) and like a zoo, must therefore keep the cats in cages. Other new articles suggest that the neighbors may simply be tired of living next door to such a large and growing cat population.

This blog posting includes several good links, so you can read more about the battle between the museum and government officials. But I’ve also included links to some wonderful Key West timeshare locations.

If you have been to Florida, but never been to the Keys, you have really missed a unique experience. And timeshare resales and timeshare rentals make an excellent way to enjoy the island lifestyle of Key Largo, Marathon and Key West.

Here’s a fun You Tube video of The Hemingway Home and Museum, that may make you want to book that Key West timeshare now and spend some time off the beaten path.