Travel Talk

A Popular Vacation Spot

Tis’ the season for vacations, and most people are taking advantage. Sundance Vacations employees know the importance of vacations; after all we are working for a vacation company. We also work very hard to make vacations more affordable and memorable to numerous families across the nation.

This year, a popular spot for vacationing is the Jersey Shore. The main attraction you ask? Most people would say, the boardwalk. In South Jersey alone, three resort towns have them, Atlantic City, Ocean City, and the Wildwoods. The Wildwoods, which consists of Wildwood, North Wildwood, and Wildwood Crest, hold a plethora of activities. The towns are widely known to have some of the finest beaches in New Jersey. At the shore, you will find boardwalk standbys in multiple amounts. From t-shirt shops and jewelry stores, to arcade casinos the shore provides it all. In addition to the boardwalk and beaches, Wildwood also offers amusement and water parks to entertain the family. Pizza, hoagies, ice cream, fudge, soft pretzels, and the ever so famous saltwater taffy dominate the boardwalk menu. Just the thought makes your mouth salivate.

Sundance Vacations occupies 22 vacation properties for your convenience at the Jersey Shore. Some include: Surrey Beach House (Voted “Best Shore Motel” by Philadelphia Daily News), Wildwood By the Sea, and Mali Kai to just name a few. As the archway in North Wildwood boasts, the shore is home to “the happiest people in the world.” 

Hopefully you’ll get a chance to vacation this summer, and if you do remember the Jersey Shore is waiting for your visit.

Have you visited the Jersey Shore? What was your favorite spot? What is your most memorable vacation?

Sundance Vacations Employee visits Ocean Village in West MD

I've just returned from my family’s annual vacation. This year we visited Ocean Village in West MD.  Our unit was a beautiful three bedroom, 3 bath, two story, very clean and in a very peaceful and serene location.  I was able to jog every morning around the resort without the fear of being mugged; this was a pleasant experience since I live in the hood. My five children, husband and I had a wonderful time. We all played tennis, poorly, but we played nonetheless.  There was also a gym, an indoor and outdoor pool, a Jacuzzi and a basketball court.

We visited the beautiful MD beaches as well as Rehoboth beach and their boardwalks. We ate at the ever-popular Green Turtle, which was absolutely delicious whether your going for a light seafood fare or your heavy-duty sliders, I know because being the parent of five; it is my God given right to try everything they order. We also ate at Salvatore's Italian restaurant that made all of their meals fresh and I mean from pasta to bread and pizza dough!!  It was very good and we were told by our waitress that we were the happiest family she ever had the pleasure of waiting on...of course we were, we were on our Sundance Vacations vacation, together!!  We ate at several other restaurants but these two were our favorites this year.

My four daughters were in heaven because they go to shop till' my husband and I dropped at all of the outlets!!  "But Mom, look how much money we saved you!!"  How can you argue that?

As we packed to go back home, six sad faces were asking me, "can we take one more vacation this summer and if not, where are we going next year?"  The six sad faces included my husbands, as usual!  I can't blame them I feel the same way!!

It's a tough job to try out these resorts so we can better assist our clients, but someone's gotta’ do it!!

Seriously, thank you Sundance Vacations for the opportunity and thank you TAN and Lani for the joy and ease in booking these vacations!!

-Judy Romanelli (Customer Service Manager for Sundance Vacations)

Sundance Vacations Employee visits Ocean City, Maryland

My family and I were fortunate enough to spend a week in Ocean City, MD at the Club Ocean Villa II. We started by attending the Sundance Vacations company picnic at Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom. It was a SPLASH! Now it was time to head down to the beach. I have two small children, ages four and five, who were very excited to be going on our first family vacation. The weather prediction was calling for warm to hot temperatures and sunshine all week. The kids usually dictate our plans around how long they can stay in the sun and stay awake, but we did more activities that we thought. Our unit overlooked the lagoon; we were on the second floor so the view was absolutely amazing. There was a private dock at the bottom of the stairs with a patio area where we chose a night to bar-b-que while doing some fishing and crabbing. With full kitchen available to us, I prepared a few meals at home. The private indoor/ outdoor pools were a lifesaver the first two days because the weather did get a bit hot, but the breeze from the water kept us cool at night. With the beach just a short walk away, we were able to enjoy making beautiful sand castles, swimming, and the hot sun every morning. We could see tons of people enjoying many water activities such as parasailing, fishing, riding jet ski's, wave runners, and boating. The only thing that was a must do on my to-do list for the week was to rent/ charter a boat and get my girls out onto the water and do some fishing, and have a nice family-style lunch.

We rented an affordable pontoon boat from Macky’s on the Waterfront. We set sail at 10:00am and went out for a four-hour cruise with some fishing and crabbing. My girlfriend and I ate a late lunch at Sandals "Jamaica USA" where we were able to enjoy Mojito’s as we dangled our feet in the ocean at the tiki area. We visited Jolly Rodgers Water and Amusement Park; and started that day in the water park. Once we entered the amusement park we discovered two of the major attractions were closed. A wonderful park attendant gladly reimbursed us with passes to their pier park.

We planned to spend our last day cruising along the shops of the boardwalk and indulging in a nice dinner at Melvin’s Steakhouse. However, the free pier passes held our attention as we spent the day along the beach and the boardwalk. We did devour a delicious meal at Melvin’s that evening. To sum it up, we had a wonderful week with great weather, great food, great company, and great family experiences. It is a vacation never to be forgotten! Our utmost thanks you to Sundance Vacations for bringing my family that much closer!

-Dyan McCarthy (Sundance Vacations Employee)

My Sundance Vacations Trip to Florida

Sundance Vacations employee Abby Wheeler just returned from a trip to Panama City Beach, Florida. If you're looking for a great time Panama City Beach, FL is the place to go. I enjoyed my first vacation of the year there and had an unbelievable time. The nights were an experience of their own. My friends and I enjoyed the Shaggy Marlin on our Saturday night where we rocked out to a band from Atlanta, Ga and danced to an amazing DJ. Also, for all you non-smokers the majority of the bars in Panama City Beach are non-smoking including the Shaggy Marlin.

We enjoyed the authentic Mexican restaurant for Cinco de Mayo where we enjoyed top shelf margaritas, quesadillas, nachos, and salsa. Panama City Beach is also a spot for Spring Breakers and bikers. I was amazed by the "Thunder Beach" rally while there I saw hundreds of bikers lining the main road. I missed out on the Spring Break festivities, but I heard it was one crazy time. MTV is also known for hosting one of their Spring Break spots in Panama City Beach, so you know its a good time! But, If you're looking for the kind of action I would recommend not planning your vacation during the months of April or May.

The beach was beautiful. (White sand, teal-green water) what more could you ask for? The peaceful, calm water was a relaxing experience especially after our crazy night at the Shaggy Marlin. The atmosphere coupled with the people in Panama City Beach was yet another unexpected experience.

Everyone was laid back and friendly. I enjoyed conversation with people from London, Boston, and Atlanta. I enjoyed myself so much I'm planning to go back this summer. So if you're looking for a relaxing, yet eventful time, Panama City Beach, FL is the place to go!

Abby Wheeler-Harrisburg, Pa-Sales Office

Wildwood By the Sea

Sundance Vacations employee Heather Henning visits Wildwood by the Sea. See post below.

A co-worker and I recently stayed at the Wildwood By the Sea in Wildwood, NJ. The condo was very clean, comfortable, nicely decorated, and located only half a block from the boardwalk and beach. Since we were so close to the boardwalk and the beach, we were able to leave our vehicle sit because everything was in walking distance. WE SAVED A LOT OF MONEY ON GASOLINE!

It was a great time browsing through all of the nifty shops. We went crazy buying clothes for ourselves and other unique gifts for our families. We found the boardwalk shoppes to be well stocked with fun beach apparel and a ton of other items that were very inexpensive.

We had unlimited choices of great restaurants within walking distance. We also have the option to cook meals if we wanted. We drove only 10 minutes to Cape May to have dinner at the Lobster House. The food was excellent! Every dish was fresh and perfectly prepared. The service was just as good as the food, absolutely outstanding! I highly recommend the Lobster House while visiting the Jersey Shore.

All in all we had a great experience. I cannot wait to visit again at the end of the summer. I might even take my fiance along this time!! 

-Heather Henning - Sundance Vacations, Harrisburg, Pa

How to see the Grand Canyon in one day!

Sundance Vacations’ travelers have a wide variety of choices including Arizona.  The Pointe Resort in Phoenix is a favorite.  So, if anyone is traveling to Arizona in the near future, read on for my recommendation on the absolute best way to see the Grand Canyon in one day.

We booked a tour with Westwind Airlines out of Scottsdale.  We took a short 1 ½ hour sight seeing flight over the Sonoran desert to the South Rim of the canyon where we landed at the Hualapai airport.  Within minutes we were weighed and escorted to the waiting helicopter. We took a thrilling ride above the ground and then dipped down below the rim where we landed on a small round flat patch next to the Colorado River.  A pontoon boat was waiting to take us on a short float on the brown murky river.

Seeing the canyon from the bottom looking up is an amazing experience (for one thing you can’t fall off) that many travelers don’t get the opportunity to do.  Our river guide told us about the age of the layers and the height of the world’s largest drainage ditch.  Five Stratosphere hotels would need to be stacked on top of each other to reach the rim.  We touched the river for good luck and returned to the chopper.

 

Skywalk

Back up on the rim we efficiently boarded a tour bus for the very short ride (about 5 minutes) to the Skywalk.  It’s a glass structure that extends out over the edge of the canyon.  All belongings are put in a locker and everyone wears booty’s to protect the glass from scratches.  It was scary and creepy and unnerving and scary and scary.   But my four year old reassured me, “It’s OK mommy, there’s glass to walk on, see.”  We posed for pictures that you have to buy, watched Native American dancers from the visiting Navajo tribe and took some additional photos of the canyon from the area.

Guano Point

We boarded another bus (they run about every 5 minutes) to Guano Point.  Yes, Guano- bat dung.  The point got it’s name from a cave at the base that was used to harvest guano for dynamite and women’s lipstick. The guano operation has been abandoned and the Hualapai tribe now operates a tourist point (probably much more profitable!!). I haven’t seen the entire 277 miles of the Grand Canyon but Guano point has to be the most amazing.  The point is very prominent so views of the canyon are almost 360°.  There are no railings and 1-3 people fall to their death at the Grand Canyon each year (mostly 20 year old males).  There is a safe road that goes out to the point and a café/restaurant that is operated by the tribe.  We enjoyed pulled beef on tortillas, corn bread, mac and cheese, corn on the cob and cinnamon apples at a picnic table under a large tent.

Show me the Money

The excursion cost about $500 per person but that includes the round trip sight seeing from Scottsdale, the helicopter, the Pontoon boat ride, the Skywalk entrance fee, clean and convenient bus transfers and all you can eat lunch at Guano Point.  You can see the canyon for a lot less but you’ll be disappointed!

The Alternative

We did it the “other”way several years ago.  We drove for hours in a car from Vegas (with my mother in law).  We visited the government owned National Park side instead of the capitalist Indian Reservation side.  At this time, private cars were still permitted to drive to the rim parking area.  I believe the government has nixed this because of excessive traffic- I think you board a bus now. We walked out to a railing and read a few small descriptive signs.  Yup, it’s a big hole in the ground.  It was so disappointing I was convinced that I didn’t need to see it again.  Luckily, my husband is quite the salesman because our second trip was awesome!  So, I recommend the splurge.  Come on, that’s why you save money on accommodations, so you can get out there and do stuff!

Re-inspired

I’m so re-inspired that I’m now considering a 6-10 day raft trip on the Colorado.  Those of you who have been reading the blog know that I’ve tumbled out the back of a raft twice on the Lehigh River.  So, John’s going to compare the drowning deaths on the Colorado with the 1-3 fatalities from falling per year to determine if I’m safer up on the rim or tumbling out the back of the raft on class x rapids.   Can you guess that he’s not as excited as I am about roughing it for 6-10 days?