Acquires Controlling Stake in PH Towers Westgate for Vacation

Resort Finance America, LLC today announced that it has acquired a controlling interest in PH Towers Westgate in Las Vegas, Nevada from Westgate Resorts​. RFA, which is owned by Centerbridge Capital Partners, L.P. and management, will provide asset management services for this project through its Lantern Asset Management affiliate. RFA has appointed Hilton Grand Vacations to rebrand the property and provide vacation ownership sales and marketing services.Florida vacation ownership sales and marketing services at the property. All future deeded real estate interests sold will include membership in Hilton Grand Vacations Club, providing owners with distinctive global travel advantages and membership in the renowned Hilton Honors​ guest loyalty program featuring more than 3,750 hotels across ten leading brands worldwide.
                                                  

                                                                             Hilton Grand Vacations Company, LLC, is a division of Hilton Worldwide, recognized as the leading global hospitality company. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, Hilton Grand Vacations develops, markets and operates a system of brand name, high-quality vacation ownership resorts in select vacation destinations.

In Florida vacation rentals there located 27 resorts and over 400,000 owners worldwide,Westgate Resorts is the largest privately owned timeshare company in the world and one of the largest resort developers in the United States.They provides affordable luxury vacation accommodations and exchange opportunities through exclusive affiliation with Interval International, which offers worldwide travel.For information and directions from your Florida vacation villa, ask your concierge at  Luxurious villas

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Boy Loses Battle With Cancer While On Dream Trip To Disney World

Saturday would have marked the second meeting in recent weeks between three-year-old Parker Karsan and Mickey Mouse.

The little boy loved Mickey. Recently, he got to hang out with Mickey during his family's vacation in Florida.

The Karsans made tracks for the Sunshine State last week after friends got in touch with the Dream Come True foundation.

Family friend Randy Plessor was one of the people who helped to make the trip a reality.

"The thing that we really prayed about, to give him that trip, happened," said Plessor.

"He had a very good time, enjoyed the trip as a whole and passed away on Tuesday morning," said Parker's dad, Shawn.

Soon, it'll be Mickey who's on the move. He's expected at a party for Parker on Saturday.

The terrible diagnosis came last summer. And then in October, the family's home in Bethlehem Township, Northampton County, was heavily damaged by a fire.

The Disney vacation was a much-needed getaway. Parker, along with his parents, older brother and sister, rubbed elbows with Disney princesses, checked out the rides, and even dug into some ice cream.

But on Wednesday, Parker's parents had to get on a plane to bring their little boy home. They're making plans for a funeral on Friday. But they're also planning that party.

On his Facebook page, Parker's father said:

"Parker always made the best of his situations and that is how we intend to continue to lead our lives."

Plessor said the party will be a celebration of Parker's life.

"We're going to have games and parties, dances going on, bands, and giveaways," said Plessor.

All proceeds from "Parker's Party" on Saturday at the Petersville Rod and Gun Club in Bath will go to his family.

LINK: Pray For Parker 

Book yourself one of the Orlando villas or the Florida holiday rentals to have a great vacation

Disney says it generates $18.2 billion annual ripple effect in Florida

Walt Disney World and its related businesses in Florida generate an estimated $18.2 billion a year in economic activity and are responsible for more than one of every 50 jobs in the state, according to an impact study paid for by the giant resort.

The report, released Wednesday, found that Disney's theme-park operations in the state — which include Disney World, Disney Cruise Line and its Disney Vacation Club time-share business — account for 2.5 percent of Florida's cumulative gross domestic product.

"It was 40 years ago, in the fall of 1971, that we opened the gates of Walt Disney World. And we've been growing ever since," Disney World President Meg Crofton said at a Disney-organized breakfast in the Orlando Museum of Art to present the results to local government, business and civic leaders.

The eye-popping numbers stem from a report prepared by Arduin, Laffer & Moore, a Republican consulting firm whose partners include a budget director to former Gov. Jeb Bush, an economic adviser to former President Ronald Reagan, and the founder of the conservative Club for Growth political group. The firm examined data from Disney's 2009 fiscal year, which ended Oct. 3, 2009.

Disney released a two-page summary of its findings. The company would not release the full report because, it said, the report includes proprietary financial information.

The researchers found that Disney paid out nearly $1.8 billion in compensation to more than 59,000 workers in 2009. That equates to an average annual salary of approximately $30,508.

Disney said the researchers did not determine the median — or midpoint — salary for its workers. The average salary can be distorted by a small number of exceptionally high or low earners; Disney's senior-most executives in Florida are paid annual bonuses that in some cases have exceeded $1 million in a single year.

In addition to the wages paid, Disney purchased $2.3 billion worth of goods and services during the year, according the report, including an estimated $900 million from vendors in Florida. And third-party businesses operating on Disney property generated almost $600 million in sales, while vacationers to Disney spent another $1.7 billion at off-site businesses.

In all, that amounted to a cumulative direct economic impact of $6.3 billion. When researchers used computer models to include additional, "indirect and induced" impacts from Disney's operations, they said the total economic effect swelled to $18.2 billion and approximately 161,000 jobs.

For as big as Disney's presence has become in Florida since opening the Magic Kingdom four decades ago, the look of the company's growth has changed dramatically in recent years.

The company hasn't built a new theme park in Orlando since 1998, when it opened Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney World's fourth park. It has in recent years focused instead on wringing more revenue from its existing assets — capturing more of its guests' total vacation spending and luring new travelers to its parks — and moving into new businesses, such as cruises.

Disney executives say there is still ample room to grow through those strategies.

"I can tell you, it will still be significant, the potential future impacts," Al Weiss, the president of global operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said in an interview after the presentation.

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Florida arrest over "Bloody Valentine's Day" threat

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida man who allegedly wished his girlfriend a "Happy bloody Valentine's Day" and threatened to cut off her head with a knife and choke her with a belt was arrested by police, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office said on Monday.

Nathan Hemby, 33, of Key Largo was arrested on Sunday after his 50-year-old girlfriend dialed 911 after locking herself in the bathroom. She told officers he had been threatening her in recent days with a knife, a box cutter and a screwdriver.

According to the victim's testimony cited in the sheriff's office report, she said he held his hand over her mouth, put the knife to her throat and told her he was going to cut off her head and "grind up her body to sell for meat."

She said he had also threatened to choke her with leather belts hanging on the wall of their apartment and had taken a pair of her underwear, telling her he was going to "add it to his collection of the other girls he had to do this to."

The officers who responded to the call discovered her underwear tucked in the back of his shorts and the weapons and belts described were all found in the apartment.

Giant Oak to get Florida vacation

It seems not only are the public waiting to holiday in Florida Villas but also the giant oak

Drew Coontz, assistant to trainer Chris Block, was all smiles Saturday morning a day after GIANT OAK (Giant's Causeway) brought the month of November to a successful close for the barn.

"I'm on cloud nine," Coontz said. "It's like winning the (Kentucky) Oaks (G1) and (Kentucky) Derby (G1)."

Giant Oak's victory in Friday's Clark H. (G1) via disqualification of Successful Dan (Successful Appeal) came on the heels of a Thanksgiving Day victory in the Falls City H. (G2) by the Block-trained Dundalk Dust (Military).

"He is doing great this morning and he will leave for Ocala tomorrow morning for some time off," Coontz said of Giant Oak, who will eventually be sent to Fair Grounds for a second shot at the New Orleans H. (G2) on March 26. The four-year-old finished fifth in the 2010 running of that race.

Giant Oak gave the Illinois-based Block stable its third stakes victory of the meet. Askbut I Won'ttell (Horse Chestnut [SAf]) had won the Cardinal H. (G3) on November 7.

"When I came here with Giant Oak (in early November before the Breeders' Cup), I had two horses waiting for me," Coontz said. "One was Askbut I Won'ttell and the other horse (Wulfgar [War Chant]) ran on the Friday night (November 19) program and got claimed."

The only Block runner that shipped in for a stakes and did not take home a major check was Mister Marti Gras (Belong to Me), who finished fifth in the Commonwealth Turf (G3) on November 13.

The Block runners shared the west end of Barn 48 with trainer Tony Reinstedler's stable.

"This was the spot to be in," Coontz said. "We did great, and Tony had four winners and two seconds from six starters. This was the right barn."

While Coontz and company were floating on cloud nine, a few barns away trainer David Fawkes was getting ready to drive DUKE OF MISCHIEF (Graeme Hall) back to South Florida after the colt was elevated to fifth on the disqualification of DEMARCATION (Gulch).

Duke of Mischief pressed the pressed from his outside post position (11) and was with the leaders until things got tight in the upper stretch.

"I thought he was maybe a little too close early, but then I saw :49 (:48 4/5) for the half-mile and I thought we might be all right," Fawkes said. "But then he got in tight in the stretch and he just doesn't like to be in a spot like that."

Fawkes said that Duke of Mischief came out of the race fine and would get some time off before possibly pointing to the Sunshine Millions at the end of January or possibly a return to the grass.

Finishing right behind Duke of Mischief was BRASS HAT (Prized), who was trying to become the fifth nine-year-old to win a Grade 1 race.

"That was just a tough field yesterday," trainer Buff Bradley said. "He had a safe trip and came back fine. He will take a couple of months off for a vacation, and if he stays healthy we would look at the Elkhorn (G2) at Keeneland in late April to start him back."

Meanwhile, trainer Paul McGee was wondering what might have after seeing both Demarcation and DUBIOUS MISS (E Dubai) with the leaders in upper stretch only to have the roof cave in when Demarcation caused the inference that led to his being placed last by the stewards.

"I really don't know what they were doing playing bumper cars at the three-sixteenths pole," McGee said. "(Jockey) Robby (Albarado) said he felt Dubious Miss was getting ready to explode and he was getting ready to set him down and then he gets walloped -- walloped by the home team."

McGee said both horses came out of the race in good order.

"I might give Demarcation some time off in Ocala," McGee said, "but he will eventually go to the Fair Grounds, where Dubious Miss will be."

Super Derby (G2) hero APART (Flatter), promoted to seventh after finishing eighth in the Clark, could eventually have a rematch with Giant Oak in the New Orleans 'Cap, according to trainer Al Stall Jr. The New Orleans native was interviewed Saturday morning by Jill Byrne on her paddock show at Churchill Downs, and Stall offered a humorous aside for the show.

"Whenever I got suspended, I was happy," said Stall, who would make use of the time by going right to Fair Grounds to watch the races. "Finally, they figured out that what they really had to do was making me sit on a bench in the hallway for six hours."