Vacation Club

Happy Anniversary Animal Kingdom! Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park is 15 years old today, appropriately on Earth Day. Different from its very conceptualization from any of the other Disney theme parks, Animal Kingdom has a mission to celebrate the world’s animals, wildlife, domestic, cartoon, and extinct animals alike. Animal Kingdom is also the theme and inspiration for some of the most popular Disney Vacation Club timeshares and is home to the only Disney timeshare where giraffe and zebra graze.

But what is it that makes the theme park at Animal Kingdom so special and distinctive?

First let’s start with the fact that the park is huge, (500-acres) large enough to fit the other three Orlando Disney parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios) inside its perimeter. Today’s Animal Kingdom is divided into 7 areas: Africa, Asia, Camp Minnie-Mickey, Dinoland U.S.A, Discovery Island, the Oasis, and Rafiki’s Planet Watch. Each area has its own flavor, own attractions and rides, and yet all have the committed theme of education and conservation.

If you visited Animal Kingdom during its early days, you would be very surprised at the park you find today. Vastly more developed than it was on April 22, 1998, the park is now home to some of Disney World’s most popular attractions. Two of the unique experiences at Animal Kingdom are the Wild Africa Trek, which takes place six times daily and the Sunrise Safari, which is available to guests who stay in the concierge level at Animal Kingdom Lodge’s Jambo House.

Animal Kingdom Lodge, includes two sections, Kidani Village and Jambo House, with a ranging savanna surrounding much of the complex. Themed to showcase African culture, heritage, and design, Kidani Village and Jambo House offer Disney Vacation Club owners and guests the rare opportunity to view animals and big game in natural habitat, either from savanna-facing rooms  or one of the many observation areas.

Imagine enjoying your breakfast, while viewing the giraffes nibbling leaves on the trees outside your balcony. Think of sharing the moment with your  family as you relax at sunset with a view of zebra, kudu, and impala on the savanna where they graze. Disney Vacation Club timeshare at Animal Kingdom is truly unlike timeshare ownership anywhere else, and although they are often snapped up quickly, you can even find Disney timeshare resales and rentals at Animal Kingdom on our websites at resale market pricing.

The team at Travel To Go vacation club helped make the Rady Children’s Heart Institute’s 29th Annual Heart party on February 12, 2013 in San Diego, California, a little more special. Working as volunteers, five employees from Travel To Go helped with registration and the “Fishing Game” booth as part of the party’s themed event, “A Day at the Carnival.” 

As one recently hired  Travel To Go vacation club employee explained, “As a new employee of Travel To Go, I was excited about the opportunity to volunteer.  I had a great time helping with the booth and it was especially great to see how everyone worked together for such a great cause.  It is even more exciting to work for a company that cares about others, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Carlos Delgado, Media Contact for Rady Children’s Hospital adds, “The heart party is important as it gives patients the chance to just come out and have fun.  It gives them the chance be human and celebrate their progress.  The event is planned and hosted by staff and volunteers and would certainly not be possible without the generosity and support of volunteers such as those that volunteered on behalf of Travel To Go.”

The Rady Children’s Heart Institute is the largest pediatric and cardiology program in San Diego. The Institute provides comprehensive cardiac services and state-of-the-art specialized care for infants, adolescents and some adult patients.  Each year, the annual event is a time for patients and physicians to reunite and share their experiences.

Our guest blogger is Tommy Middaugh, Executive Vice President of Travel To Go. Tommy shares more about Travel To Go’s use of radio and the plan to broadcast live, in partnership with Carry-On Travel Connections, from ARDA World 2013. As Tommy explains, “Collaborating with our distributors to educate consumers about the value perspective  an flexiblity of private membership travel programs to our distributors‘ markets helps to add confirmation and credibility to the demographic sectors in which our distributors are located. We are excited to be part of the innovate ideas our distributors create.” 

From Tommy Middaugh, Travel To Go, Travel Services and Vacation Club Products Provider:

“We live in changing times.  Watching the analytics of an ever evolving industry and staying one step ahead of the shifts is the goal of Travel To Go”

Travel To Go has taken a “hands on” approach at partnering with our distributors in their philosophy of educating the public on the benefits   of our private membership programs.

Recently I was approached by Joe Miller and Kimper Morris of Carry-On Travel Connections to assist them with a radio marketing campaign they wanted to do in the Charlotte North Carolina area.  I have had some experience in the past with this type of brand identification marketing to enhance the productivity of our response to mail and telephone solicitation.  “Collaborating with our distributors to educate consumers about the value perspective and flexibility of private membership travel programs to our distributors’ markets helps to add confirmation and credibility in the demographic sectors in which our distributors are located.  We are excited to be part of these innovative programs.”

I flew out to the radio station upon their request and  found the perfect match In WGIV’s format.

The end result was immediate action to the phones and booking, but the educational benefits to the public was received with open arms.

Joe then invited me to participate in another three shows with them.  The second one was as equally productive.  It gives us an opportunity to provide concept education on our industry to the public, as well as the side benefit of instant tour bookings and enhanced direct marketing response. The video segments will be available on the Travel To Go YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/MyTravelToGo.

You are invited to come meet us and register for a Cruise for two aboard the Royal Caribbean Cruise lines at the Travel To Go booth at ARDA WORLD Convention on April 9^th in Fort Lauderdale.  At noon eastern you will have an opportunity to see this in action.  We will be participating in a video simulcast with Atiya Harris, Shuvar Rodgers from WGIV 103.3 in Charlotte, Joe Miller from Carry-On Travel Connections and myself broadcasting live from ARDA and WGIV’s local and internet stations during the “Money Talks Show”.  We will also broadcasting through Travel To Go’s social media networks.  Or you may listen in via this link: http://player.liquidcompass.net/p/WGIVFM.

When you think about fresh new approaches in communications technology, radio may not be the first platform that comes to mind. But radio is exactly the technology Travel To Go, one of America’s largest providers of travel services and vacation club products, is putting to work to better educate vacationers about timeshare, vacation ownership, and vacation club products.

And why not? Radio may have been around awhile, but it still has a powerful and pervasive  outreach. One in four people in the US today listen to the radio throughout their work day and nearly 100 percent of all drivers listen to the radio for at least a portion of the time they are in their vehicle. Now multiply the impact of radio by the capability to make a live radio show “everlasting” simply by publishing your recordings to the web. Suddenly, it makes sense that Travel To Go, always an innovator in the delivery of travel services and vacation club products, is hitting the airwaves and taking advantage of radio’s extensive online reach to help educate and share the real message of vacation clubs and how they differ from the traditional timeshare product.

A Chance for Consumers to Truly Understand the Vacation Club Product

The Travel To Go radio shows, which began airing last week, feature Tommy Middaugh, the company’s Executive Vice President and will also include representatives of some of the company’s many distributors and industry partners. Middaugh uses the broadcasts to examine and address the impact the challenging economy has had on the public’s vacation patterns and vacation budget decisions. Specifically Middaugh looks to explain the many ways the travel and vacation ownership industries are responding to the needs and choices of today’s consumer. 

Utilizing the intimate, conversational format of radio, the radio broadcasts become a powerful way to take the vacation club message directly to the consumer. Travel To Go can now easily share information about amazing values available in the travel marketplace — vacation products that Middaugh describes as, “hidden gems …  resorts  that aren’t available through the public networks (the online travel agencies that travelers are accustomed to using) and where we can get consumers values up to 70 to 75 percent off.” 

Describing radio as an engaging medium, Middaugh says, “We’re building product knowledge with the consumer, bringing transparency to the industry, and building credibility. And we are taking it to the next level with video podcasts of these segments.”

The video segments are available on the Travel To Go YouTube Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/MyTravelToGo). Travel To Go,  always an “out-of-the-box” travel solutions provider, will also be going live from this year’s American Resort Development Association convention, ARDA World 2013.

Tomorrow, The Timeshare Authority blog will feature, Part II in this series, when Tommy Middaugh will be our guest writer, sharing more of his insights about the hands on approach Travel To Go is taking to communicate the message of the vacation club product in a changing industry.