Luxe savings in Florida: New summer discount packages at One Ocean Resort

by Leigh Caldwell on

One Ocean Resort Hotel & Spa near Jacksonville, Florida, is offering two summer packages that could save you up to 39 percent at the luxury property this summer.

The Summer T-Time package is $271 and includes one night in an ocean view, non-balcony room, two rounds of golf at nearby Queen’s Harbor Golf and Country Club and valet parking.

The Summer Fun in the Sun package is $277 and includes one night in an ocean view, non-balcony room, a $100 spa credit and valet parking.

The resort is also waving its resort fee for both packages.

I recently toured One Ocean in Atlantic Beach. The whole property is decorated in the colors of the ocean and the sand, and the place is filled with water-themed art. It all reflects the white-sand beach right outside.

There is a particularly gorgeous walkway into One Ocean’s restaurant, Azurea, that does the under-the-sea thing in the most sophisticated way I’ve ever seen.

One Ocean has an interesting take on personal concierge service, which the company calls its docent program. Guests are contacted before their stay to provide feedback on their tastes.

Guest rooms are stocked with your favorite snacks and drinks, and the hotel will deliver your favorite newspaper to your room each morning.

Docents are available on each floor of the hotel to cater to the guests, doing everything from unpacking and steaming clothing to offering excursion advice and booking dinner reservations.

The One Ocean Spa is completely luxurious with the same “elegant ocean” feel. It’s the only resort in the area with oceanfront treatment rooms.

The summer packages are available from June through September.

Disney’s new Animation-themed resort reflects success of two recent hotel trends

by Leigh Caldwell on

A 35-foot-tall model of King Triton, the patriarch in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” will be the centerpiece of the new Disney’s Art of Animation Resort at Walt Disney World.

The 2,000-room hotel will have four wings, themed around four Disney movies that have become new classics over the past 20 years: “The Little Mermaid,” “The Lion King.” Finding Nemo,” and “Cars.”

The Art of Animation Resort demonstrates the success of Disney’s recent experiments with two different hotel trends, family suites and specially themed rooms.

At Disney’s All-Star Music Resort, the company converted rooms into 192 family suites in 2006. The rooms include both a living room and a bedroom and sleep up to six, thanks to a sleeper sofa and a chair and ottoman that each convert to a twin bed in the living room.

Disney has always had suites in its higher end “Deluxe” hotels, but the All-Star Music suites and the new suites at Art of Animation will be in Disney’s “Value” hotel category. Value resorts have smaller, motel-style rooms, but they still incorporate that magical Disney theming in over-the-top public areas, like swimming pools and lobbies.

Rates at Disney’s value resorts often rival off-site hotel prices. Regular hotel rooms that sleep up to four at value resorts currently start at $82 per night. The current family suites start at $190.

“This resort was designed with the needs of families in mind, as we continue the Disney tradition of providing a great guest experience for every taste and budget,” said Eric Jacobson, senior vice president of Disney Imagineering. In 2008, Disney World unveiled its first themed rooms, the Pirates of the Caribbean rooms at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort. The rooms have pirate-ship beds, treasure-chest themed furniture and a swashbuckling curtain. Earlier this year, the Orlando Sentinel reported that the pirate-themed rooms, which were located in what was the least popular area of the Caribbean Beach Resort, have now become the most requested rooms.

Specially themed rooms have become popular in Orlando in recent years, with the nearby Nickelodeon Suites Resort offering rooms featuring Spongebob Squarepants and Dora the Explorer. The Loews Resorts at Universal Orlando have also ventured into themed rooms, with Dr. Seuss and Jurassic Park-themed suites.

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort will have courtyards with “larger-than-life” icons from the four featured animated films. It is being built adjacent to Disney’s Pop Century Resort, off Osceola Parkway east of Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Walt Disney World had prepped the site and started a couple of buildings there a few years back, when it was the planned second phase of the Pop Century Resort. But those plans were abandoned following the 2001 recession, and the buildings have sat empty and unfinished since then.

This will be Disney World’s 26th resort, and the first new hotel at Walt Disney World in seven years. (Disney has built three new vacation ownership resorts in the interim.)

The news of a new Disney hotel has energized Central Florida, with many believing that this is Disney’s vote of confidence that the tourism-supported economy here is turning around. Ground will be broken on the project later this summer, and it is expected to create as many as 800 jobs.

“This project also underscores our optimism about the future, as we continue to invest in new experiences for our guests around the globe,” said Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is projected to open by the end of 2012.

Walt Disney World to build new value resort

by Leigh Caldwell on

Walt Disney World says construction will begin this summer on its first new hotel in seven years.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Disney’s Art of Animation Resort will largely consist of “family suites” that sleep up to six people.

There’s no word on how Disney’s family suites will be configured, but other resorts that offer family suites typically have a larger room that includes a partially walled off space outfitted for children, with bunk beds and a separate television.

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort will be built on a site that was once planned as a second phase of Disney’s Pop Century Resort, called “The Legendary Years.”

Walt Disney World has two partially built structures on the property. Construction on them was halted when Disney abandoned plans for Pop Century’s second phase several years ago.

The new resort will celebrate animation with themed sections from its movies, including “The Lion King” and “Cars,” according to the Sentinel’s report.

The hotel will be considered a “value” resort, Disney’s term for its lower priced properties, where rooms currently start at $82 per night. It is expected to open in 2012.

Florida state officials take steps to stem oil spills’ impact on tourism

by Leigh Caldwell on

For now at least, none of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is affecting Florida’s beaches. And that’s exactly the message that state officials are trying to get out to keep vacationers from changing their plans.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist spent the weekend off-shore fishing off the coast of Destin, telling TV station WJHG, “The weather’s gorgeous. There’s not any oil on the beaches at all.”

And Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is asking BP, the owner of the drilling rig that’s causing the spill, to fund a global advertising campaign to tell potential travelers that Florida is still open for business.

“We must aggressively advertise that Florida’s beaches remain clean and our seafood is safe,” Sink wrote in a letter to BP officials.

Visit Florida, the state’s tourism marketing agency, is providing live updates on the oil spill’s impact for visitors.

Officials representing the Florida Keys and Miami-Fort Lauderdale area are also worried about the oil spill’s impact. State and federal representatives met with scientists Monday in Broward County to discuss the possibility that the oil might hit their beaches, too.

The Miami Herald reports that Monday, the spill was about 80 miles from the Gulf’s “loop current,” an area that could carry the oil into the Florida Keys and around to the East Coast.

Broward County tourism director Nicki Grossman told the Herald that hotels in her area are getting “hundreds” of calls a day regarding the oil spill. If oil hits Broward beaches this summer, it could mean $10 million a day in lost revenue, Grossman said.

Universal Orlando announces summer concert series

by Leigh Caldwell on

Train (“Drops of Jupiter”), Rob Thomas (Matchbox 20) and Counting Crows (“Round Here”) will perform on Saturday nights this summer at Universal Orlando Resort.

It’s the second year for the Summer Concert Series, with seven concerts planned on Saturday nights between June 12 and July 17.

The concerts happen inside the Universal Studios Florida theme park, and they are free with theme park admission.

There’s some great balance in the list of artists performing. Several decades of stardom are represented, which should draw in folks of all ages. (This 30-something will definitely be there on July 17!) Here is the full lineup:

  • June 12, Train
  • June 19, Pitbull
  • June 26, Earth, Wind and Fire
  • July 3, Pat Benatar and REO Speewagon
  • July 10, Rob Thomas
  • July 17, Counting Crows

Universal Orlando has one of the best outdoor concert venues at any theme park, anywhere. Music Plaza opened last year right in front of the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster.