6-Hour Timeshare Limbo.

[AwayWeGo]

A few times several years ago, we drove to Florida from Upper East Tennessee (home of old friends), taking I-26 east to I-95 south. The junction is in South Carolina. Ever since, the I-26 exits off I-95 have been our psychological halfway points to & from Florida by car.

We are OK with rental cars, so we'd choose flying & renting a car rather than going by Auto-Train. (Although I'd enjoy going by Auto-Train at least once, just for the experience.)

Do the rental car companies have an age cut-off for sr. citz. whom they consider too old to keep renting cars ? (Just wondering.)

Some neighborhood widow ladies (friends of the family), who were sisters-in-law, both had neighboring mobile homes in Pasco County FL where they stayed October through March each year. They went by Auto-Train (one in her Cadillac, the other in her Lincoln Town Car) faithfully every year until 1 time when they got lost driving between Sanford FL & Zephyrhills FL. After that, they quit being snowbirds.

Before the covid-19 shutdown, we signed up for a Wyndham promotion that included accommodations for 3 nights in exchange for attending a sales presentation. The deal expired before we could use it, twice, because we were unwilling to travel until the public health situation started to clear up. It was good of Wyndham to extend the use-by date twice in view of the extraordinary circumstances. We wound up staying in a Kissimmee hotel on a Wyndham voucher & taking the presentation at Bonnet Creek right after our 2 recent Kissimmee FL timeshare weeks. But when we were still putting together the plans for our trip, we considered signing up for Wyndham Lake Marion, because it looked super-nice & was in a perfect location halfway to Florida.

I guess we're in line for some free airline tickets in view of all the credit card reward points we accumulated over the covid-19 year of not going anywhere.

Maybe next time.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Sugarcubesea]

( Note: 6-hour Limbo is not a dance. )​

We had a great time this year, as usual, at Orlando & Kissimmee timeshares, although the covid-19 public health situation made us delay our planned January Florida trip till the end of February & the beginning of March.

We stayed in Florida 2 weeks plus part of a 3rd, but it was at at 2 different timeshare resorts plus 1 hotel -- meaning we had to fill 6-hour gaps between 10AM check-out & 4PM check-in on the Saturday when our 1st timeshare week ended & our 2nd timeshare week started, & again before check-in at our hotel after 10AM check-out from our 2nd timeshare week.

The problem was not so much what to do with the people as what to do with our stuff.

One Saturday we took the kids to see a new Disney-Pixar movie at Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney). After the show, we picked up a big bag of McDonald's chicken nuggets & French fries & had a poolside picnic at the timeshare resort where we were about to check in for our 2nd timeshare week. After lunch, the front desk let us check in even though our unit was not ready yet. The kids changed into their swimsuits in the pool restroom & enjoyed the pool all afternoon. By the time they were ready to dry off & change clothes, our units were ready & we had picked up our key cards.

Main problem was jamming all our stuff, plus 4 kids, plus the kids' stuff, into our compact station wagon. (We managed, but it was tight.)

Another problem was keeping refrigerated stuff from overheating & preventing frozen stuff from thawing.

We handled that by consuming all the frozen stuff before packing up & checking out. (Ice cream for breakfast is underrated.)

We didn't think of it till our 2nd timeshare week, but we made our own freeze-packs for keeping refrigerated stuff chilled by filling empty 2-liter soda bottles with water & freezing those solid in the freezer section of the timeshare fridge.

The simplest & easiest solution to the problem of the 6-hour gap would be staying 2 or 3 weeks in the same unit at the same timeshare resort (i.e., eliminating the need to check out & check in again). We've been able to do that in the past, sometimes, but arranging it is tricky because we usually limit ourselves to Last Call & Bonus Week reservation possibilities rather than using the full calendar of straight-points full-freight reservations.

PS: Semi-detailed accounts of our March 2021 Kissimmee FL timeshare stays (Vacation Villas at FantasyWorld & Vacation Village At Parkway) are now shown in the TUG Resort Reviews section.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Alan,
I love reading your posts about your TS adventures. I forgot to mention that in my other post

 

[Sugarcubesea]

A few times several years ago, we drove to Florida from Upper East Tennessee (home of old friends), taking I-26 east to I-95 south. The junction is in South Carolina. Ever since, the I-26 exits off I-95 have been our psychological halfway points to & from Florida by car.

We are OK with rental cars, so we'd choose flying & renting a car rather than going by Auto-Train. (Although I'd enjoy going by Auto-Train at least once, just for the experience.)

Do the rental car companies have an age cut-off for sr. citz. whom they consider too old to keep renting cars ? (Just wondering.)

Some neighborhood widow ladies (friends of the family), who were sisters-in-law, both had neighboring mobile homes in Pasco County FL where they stayed October through March each year. They went by Auto-Train (one in her Cadillac, the other in her Lincoln Town Car) faithfully every year until 1 time when they got lost driving between Sanford FL & Zephyrhills FL. After that, they quit being snowbirds.

Before the covid-19 shutdown, we signed up for a Wyndham promotion that included accommodations for 3 nights in exchange for attending a sales presentation. The deal expired before we could use it, twice, because we were unwilling to travel until the public health situation started to clear up. It was good of Wyndham to extend the use-by date twice in view of the extraordinary circumstances. We wound up staying in a Kissimmee hotel on a Wyndham voucher & taking the presentation at Bonnet Creek right after our 2 recent Kissimmee FL timeshare weeks. But when we were still putting together the plans for our trip, we considered signing up for Wyndham Lake Marion, because it looked super-nice & was in a perfect location halfway to Florida.

I guess we're in line for some free airline tickets in view of all the credit card reward points we accumulated over the covid-19 year of not going anywhere.

Maybe next time.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

I drove last year to Naples to help my aunt. I’m getting to old to do that again. Me and two cousins from Michigan went and we were all miserable. Thankfully we also have family in Atlanta so we drove day 1 straight through to Atlanta and stayed two nights at our cousins house. Then we drove to the panhandle and stayed the night in a hotel and then drove to Tampa and stayed the night at my nephews new house and then got to Naples. It was brutal

 

[dioxide45]

I drove last year to Naples to help my aunt. I’m getting to old to do that again. Me and two cousins from Michigan went and we were all miserable. Thankfully we also have family in Atlanta so we drove day 1 straight through to Atlanta and stayed two nights at our cousins house. Then we drove to the panhandle and stayed the night in a hotel and then drove to Tampa and stayed the night at my nephews new house and then got to Naples. It was brutal

To be fair, the panhandle is kind of out of the way...

 

[GoodTimes]

I also drive a 2012 Prius V. I don't think there's a better MPG : cubic foot of useful cargo space available. When she gives up the ghost I'll have to buy whatever the last year they made them was.

We deal with a similar issue to OP when we stay not-quite-locally. We don't want to buy things just for the trip when we have them at home, or throw things away before coming back, so we just bring a cooler and use similarly home-crafted ice bricks. The cooler frequently comes in handy on the trip, and an inexpensive getaway stays inexpensive.

Prius V here (2012) - the cargo box was a game changer. It gives the kids in the back seat plenty room. Also on many trips we are able to see out the back window.

 

[mdurette]

Ditto Westin. Or at least WKORV.

Add Orlando Marriotts to the list that have held bags, kept food cold and allowed use of facilities prior to check in

 

[Sugarcubesea]

To be fair, the panhandle is kind of out of the way...

Yep, I was napping and my cousin was driving and got a bit lost. It was very out of the way

 

[Talent312]

I drove last year to Naples to help my aunt. I’m getting to old to do that again.

At my age (here in the afterlife), I won't drive MT -6- hours in a day.

.

 

[Sugarcubesea]

At my age (here in the afterlife), I won't drive MT -6- hours in a day.

.

The three of us said we would never do that again and then my cousin Andrew who took the wrong turn and got us to the panhandle reminded me that he would probably have to help me and the hubby when we move down here in 5 years to get our cars down. My other cousin Doug pipes in and says ok we’re making an adventure out of then and taking a week to come down. We all lived close to each other growing up and my dad and their dads were brothers so we’ve been best buds since I was little.

 

[Inhislove]

Marriotts also allow you to hold cold food somewhere behind the front desk

 

[shorep]

People still drive station wagons?

Yep,we refuse to conform and call them silly names dreamt up by marketing&sales in car companies, my ford focus is an ESTATE car(english anglo saxon description),it annoys the dealership at service timeout hey,I pay the bill.!!!