WellsWorld on the radio: Travel goodies for Christmasts

Disneyworld's present: New Fantasyland

Cinderella's Castle is joined by the Beast's. Photos © by Judy Wells.

 Belle tells her story with visitors' help, the Beast stalks through his castle while diners enjoy French cuisine, Ariel takes humans on a trip under the sea and two identical Dumbos fly over a new recreation of a 1930s circus.

At Epcot, guests design their dream drives then take them for a spin on the Chevrolet Test Track.  Meanwhile, at Downtown Disney, Splittsville provides bowling, booze, sushi and more to keglers. 

Merry Christmas, Disney devotees. New worlds to visit.

Pros offer bargains

Bid for seven-nights at Morgan Bay Beach Resort, St. Lucia.

What: The Society of American Travel Writers' annual on-line auction is open to all with bargains to be had in travel packages, photography and travel writing courses.

Fairmont St. Andrews

Windjammer Cruise

For instance, a six-day Windjammer Cruise or a four-night luxury Nile cruise, stays in Abu Dhabi or St. Andrews, family packages in the Smokies or Legoland, hip and historic hotels.

Hotel Matilda, San Miguel Allende, Mexico

                                                                                         
When: Now through 11:45 p.m. (EST) Dec. 30, 2012.

How: http://auctions.readysetauction.com/societyofamericantra/

Happy bidding.

Dine IN Gingerbread

Great Wolf Lodge, Pocono Mountains.

What: Have breakfast, lunch or dinner in a Life-Sized Gingerbread House.

Where: Snowland in all 11 locations of Great Wolf Lodge, the largest family of indoor waterpark resorts. This includes resorts in North Carolina, Washington State, Virginia, Texas, Ohio and the Pocono Mountains, PA.

When: Now through Dec. 25, 2012

How:  Book a stay and pay a $20 seating fee which goes to Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Bet you won't be able to pass up dessert.

Ultimate Outdoor Experience: Camping overnight in Antarctica

Camp on the White Continent  in 2013.

What: Sign up for camping overnight when booking any of five different 2013 cruises to Antarctica aboard Hurtigruten's MS Fram -

• 10-day "Classic Expedition" focuses solely on Antarctica, sailing through the Drake Passage to landings that immerse guests in the remote landscape and exotic wildlife of The White Continent.

• 13-day "Polar Circle Expedition," similar to the 10-day experience, spends its extra days traveling as far south as the Antarctic Circle.

• 13-day "Weddell Sea Expedition" follows the path forged by British Captain James Weddell, who reached 74º latitude in 1823 - a first for explorations;

• 17-day "Christmas Expedition" celebrates the season with traditional carols, festive meals, Santa Claus visits and a New Year's gala and includes the Falklands and South Georgia;

• 19-day "In the Realm of the Great Explorers" explores the areas visited by Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, and takes in the sub-Arctic eco-system of the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia.

Details: Each camping night is limited to 15 in two-person tents. Campers are accompanied by expedition guides and will be supplied with cold-weather gear, but all is weather permitting.  Should more than 15 sign up, a lottery will be held determine who participates. A second camping experience can be scheduled if weather and land conditions permit.

Your neighbors.

Cost: The night of camping is $500 per person; cruises start from $5,327 to $10,321.

www.hurtigruten.us.

You've got to admit this is the gift for anyone who has everything. Talk about bragging rights.

Tickets to Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance

Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance. Photo © by Judy Wells.

What: One of the nation's top gathering of automotive collectibles from classic town cars to world-famous racers.

When: March 8-10, 2013; Concours display March 10.

How: Buy tickets now and save. Advance adult tickets are $55, at the gate $70. You the ages 12-18 $30 in advance, $35 at the gate.

Buy: www.amelia concours.org.

Reduced winter rates for Grand Canyon and Zion Lodge

Grand Canyon in winter.

What: Grand Canyon -  $85 a night at Maswik Lodge South, $115 per night at Maswik Lodge North. Now through March 7, 2013, excluding Dec. 21-31, 2012.
           El Tovar Romance package - $380 plus tax for one night, a bottle of California sparkling wine, and dinner for two with a bottle of Grand Canyon label wine. Available now through Feb. 14, 2013, excluding Dec. 22 through Jan. 1, 2013. Use promo code "romance".

www.grandcanyonlodges.com 

Zion with a smattering of snow.

What: Winter Magic in Zion at Zion Lodge - $89 standard room, $109 Western cabin, $119 for a suite, with breakfast for two, Sunday-Thursday. Available through March 15, 2013.

www.zionlodge.com

Special holiday rate at JIA

What: Economy Lot 3 at Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) opens from Dec. 21 through Jan. 5 - or until the lot fills - for a flat fee of $20.

Details: It's first come, first served with the fee payable by cash or credit card upon entry. Travelers are advised to arrive at least two hours before their flight in case the lot is full and they have to find alternative parking. Options include Economy Lots 1 and 2, $5 a day; daily surface lot, $8 a day; Daily Garage, $14 a day, and Hourly Garage, $18 a day.  

Picking someone up? Wait in the free courtesy lot next to the JAA administration building and have your traveler call after picking up their luggage.

Give or get an Oxford education

The Quad, Christ Church, Oxford.

What: Learn something new in one of the world's most prestigious centers of learning. Study a variety of topics from the operas of Verdi to quantum mechanics or mythical animals during a one-week residence and savor the Oxford experience.

Where: Christ Church, Oxford University, England.

Cost: Tuition, accommodations and all meals are included for approximately $1,885 (US). Private bathroom will add to cost.

When: One-week periods from June 30 to August 10. Registration deadline is May 1, but the most popular courses fill early.

www.conted.ox.ac.uk/oxfordexperience,

Splurgiferous Family Christmas 

Shangri-La Hotel, Paris

If money is no object, spend it before we go over the Fiscal Cliff and taxes go up.

 What: Head to Shangri-La Hotel, Paris for the Noel en Famile package, a two- night minimum stay in an Eiffel Premier Suite for parents and a connecting room for the children including a Christmas tree to decorate, breakfasts and tea, a two-hour tour of Paris in a horse-drawn carriage and VIP treatment at Studio Harcourt where movie stars go for portraits. Champagne for adults, fruit juice for children, professional makeup sessions and a two-hour photo session for four or six people. A framed portrait, a low-res digital copy plus a book and 50 greeting cards. You could also set the session in your suites around the Christmas tree.

Price: Approximately $11,674 (US) per night, but that includes value-added tax, visitor taxes and service.

Book: www.shangri-la.com/paris/

10 Tips for Booking a Nattional Park Lodge Room at the Minute

Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park.

Concessioner Xanterra Parks & Resorts operates seven lodges in Grand Canyon National Park, nine lodges in Yellowstone National Park, Zion Lodge in Zion National Park, two lodges in Crater Lake National Park and two lodges in Death Valley National Park. The company also operates Grand Canyon Railway and Grand Canyon Railway Hotel in Williams, Ariz., 65 miles from the entrance to the Grand Canyon.

“Advance bookings for national park lodges are strong this summer, so the key to successfully reserving a room in a park at the last minute is to be both flexible and persistent,” said Dave Hartvigsen, vice president of sales and marketing for Xanterra. "With a little bit of flexibility and some good luck, last-minute travelers can still book rooms at national park lodges.”

Hartvigsen's tips for planning a last-minute national park vacation.

1. Do your homework. Familiarize yourself with web sites and bookmark reservations pages.  Visit Xanterra's web site at www.xanterra.com for general information on the parks operated by Xanterra as well as lodging descriptions, rates and availability. Another good source of information on national parks is the National Park Service website at www.nps.gov.

2. Check room availability and book rooms online. Rooms can be booked online at www.YellowstoneNationalParkLodges.com, www.grandcanyonlodges.com, www.zionlodge.com, , www.craterlakelodges.com and www.furnacecreekresort.com (Death Valley).  Booking online is usually the quickest way to book a lodge room.

3. Be flexible with travel dates. Lodges can be booked up to 13 months in advance of a travel date. Because many people do make their plans far in advance, they will occasionally have to change or cancel existing reservations because of schedule conflicts or for other reasons. Travelers who are flexible with their travel dates stand the best chance of getting a room on short notice.

4. Be flexible with lodge choices. Grand Canyon’s El Tovar and Yellowstone’s Old Faithful Inn are often travelers’ first choice of lodging, so the rooms in those two historic hotels are typically the first to sell out in those parks. More than 70 percent of the lodge rooms at the Grand Canyon are located off-rim in Maswik and Yavapai lodges, however, and both are comfortable locations that are barely a 10-minute walk from the canyon rim. Yellowstone has lodges situated in a variety of locations throughout the park. No matter where in a park travelers stay they can always experience the famous grand dames of the parks by visiting the lobbies or enjoying a meal in their dining rooms.

5. Be strategic. International tour operators reserve blocks of rooms up to two years in advance in anticipation of selling these rooms as part of tour packages to the United States. If all the rooms are not sold, operators must release them for resale 30 days out. Want to travel on July 30? Book first thing on the morning of June 30.

6. Be persistent. Rooms open up - and are often very quickly re-booked - every day. The quickest way to check availability is by going to the web site and following the link for reservations. Bookmark the web site and check it frequently to see if rooms have become available.

7. Travel when families don’t. There is often more room availability during the first two weeks of June, the last two weeks of August or the first two weeks of September. Families with schoolchildren are either winding down after the end of school or gearing up for the beginning of school, so those periods -- although still considered peak season -- are a little slower than the rest of the summer.

8. Just show up. Travelers who arrive between noon and 6 p.m. often find last-minute rooms available. Once in a park, the front desk at any lodge can check availability for all rooms within the park.

9. Make dining and activity reservations too. If you are successful booking a room, take a moment to also reserve activities and make dinner reservations. Dining rooms do fill, so if you want a meal in one of the lodges, plan ahead. Popular activities like the Old West Cookout at Yellowstone's Roosevelt Lodge fill up fast too. Phone numbers for meal and activity reservations can be easily found on all Xanterra web sites.

10. Book a package. Yellowstone offers a variety of packages including multi-day “Adventure” and “Lodging & Learning” packages that include accommodations, some meals and a variety of park experiences. Grand Canyon Railway also features packages that include train travel and accommodations.

Read about Yellowstone and Grand Canyon experiences at my other blog, Travel on the Level: 
travelonthelevel.blogspot.com/.../nature-rules-at-yellowstone-national...
Travel on the Level: blogspot.com/2011/11/grand-canyon.html
travelonthelevel.blogspot.com/.../railroading-into-grand-canyon.html
travelonthelevel.blogspot.com/2011/10/grand-canyon.html