Holiday Inn Archives - Your Mileage May Vary

Hotel Review: Holiday Inn Orlando – Disney Springs Area

Back in 1973, shortly after the opening of Disney World in Orlando, four high rise hotels opened on Disney property. These weren’t highly themed Disney hotels like the Polynesian or Contemporary. Instead, these were regular hotels run by well-known chains at the time such as TraveLodge and Howard Johnson’s.

The Howard Johnson’s was eventually bought by Marriott and run as a Courtyard property until 2003. In a case of the worst/best timing of buying a hotel, it was sold and turned into a Holiday Inn in December of that year, only to be massively damaged by Hurricane Charley in August of 2004. It didn’t reopen until 2010 after a $35 million dollar renovation. It just went through another renovation in 2018.

The Holiday Inn is now one of the Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels. While they are not run by Disney, they are still on Disney property. The benefits afforded to these hotels is the reason we booked a night here on the opening weekend of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Disney Hollywood Studios.

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Where Can You Stay Near Universal Orlando With Points?

The Universal Orlando Resort has become its own vacation destination, with three theme parks (well, two theme parks and a water park), a shopping and dining district and a slew of on (and slightly off) property hotels. If you’re a Harry Potter fan or are totally into Halloween Horror Nights, finding the closest hotel to Universal Orlando might be crucial to your vacation plans.

Here’s a list of places you’re able to stay near Universal Orlando using your hotel program points (or free night certificates) to pay for the room:

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Six Reasons You Should Consider Getting The IHG Premier Card

When it comes to hotel loyalty programs, IHG Reward Club is one of the easier ones to understand. You earn points that you can redeem for hotel rooms. That’s pretty much it. No worrying about if you’re supposed to get a suite upgrade (you’re not) or a free breakfast (not unless everyone at the hotel gets one anyway).

Their co-brand credit card shares that no-nonsense sensibility. You don’t have to choose between multiple tiers of cards like you do when getting a Marriott or Hilton credit card. IHG only offers one card. But that single card offers some pretty great benefits for a reasonable annual fee which makes it a great card to consider adding to your collection.

Here are six reasons you should consider getting the IHG Rewards Club Premier credit card from Chase:

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The Hotels Near Walt Disney World (WDW) Where You Can Use Your IHG Credit Card Free Night

One of the big changes that happened when the IHG Rewards Club Premier card was launched was the introduction of a cap on the free night certificate earned every year on your card anniversary. While the certificate was previously good at any IHG property, it’s now only good at IHG hotels with a redemption point level of 40,000 points or less. While that may take away your ability to use the certificate at many luxury hotels in big cities, there’s still many hotels where you can get a free night. Several of those hotels are right outside of Walt Disney World (WDW) property.

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Disney Area Hotel Sale For First Responders Expanded To Other Professions

When you hear the term “first responders,” you usually think of paramedics, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), police officers, firefighters and rescuers. Well, the Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels apparently think that list should be a little bit longer, so to hail these American heroes, they’re offering their First Responder Sale to U.S. citizens in those professions, as well as to doctors, nurses and 911 dispatchers.

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