Anyone want to share a room at Orlando's Merpalooza?????

[Mahi Mermaid]

It would seriously help me out and other mers too! We could do 4 to a room and split the price! Plus I'm a lone mer- no one is here in North Carolina so it would also help me to meet other wonderful mermaids and not have to drag my boyfriend along hahaha

[Winged Mermaid]

Just be sure to check on the pricing differences first! Depending on the hotel, sometimes it's just as much per person, because as the number of people staying in the room goes up so does the price of the room per night.

[Merman Dan]

No one is here in North Carolina? I am a North Carolina merman but I will be vacationing at Topsail Beach during MerPalooza. With luck, Mermaid Parties will be done with my tail and my 8-year old daughter's tail in time for the trip. My wife is a professional Photographer, so with luck we'll get some photos on the beach. :)

[Mahi Mermaid]

that's so awesome, yeah I live a half hour from Topsail!

[Spindrift]

I have a hotel room that I'm willing to share, unless I can make my friend finally agree to commit to coming. I'll post in this thread what happens.

[Mermaid Citrine]

Hi Krystal ! I was just coming on here to look for that....I've just decided I would like to go since that weekend is mostly clear for me and my boyfriend is not thrilled about going so I'd rather go with someone who wants to go. We can share a room and I was also thinking it would be awesome to get a group to drive to that beautiful Crystal/Rainbow river (I think its 1-2 hrs from orlando) to get some underwater footage where so many other lovely mers have done.
I don't check this page often, please email me at veganmermaidcitrine@Gmail.com and we can talk about rooming ! :)
or get at me on facebook.com/MermaidCitrine

Thanks !

Rebecca aka Mermaid Citrine



It would seriously help me out and other mers too! We could do 4 to a room and split the price! Plus I'm a lone mer- no one is here in North Carolina so it would also help me to meet other wonderful mermaids and not have to drag my boyfriend along hahaha

[Mermaid Gosalyn]

Hi there, I'm a total noob here but I would be interested in sharing a room for Merpalooza. Anyone have any ideas on hotels to stay at and rates?

[Siren of the Sea]

Oh man, I will have to check Merpolooza out though there's a 99% chance I can't go. :P Anyhoo, I live in NC, and Topsail is within a reasonable distance; we went once, and might go again this summer/fall. :)

*edit* Oh darn, August 11th is busy for us. As is the week after. :(

[Mahi Mermaid]

Oh man, I will have to check Merpolooza out though there's a 99% chance I can't go. :P Anyhoo, I live in NC, and Topsail is within a reasonable distance; we went once, and might go again this summer/fall. :)

*edit* Oh darn, August 11th is busy for us. As is the week after. :(


Where at in NC are you? I'm in Wilmington! I would love to get together with you if you're close!

[Mahi Mermaid]

OK Looks like Mermaid Citrine and I are sharing a room-- if you're wanting to do 3 or 4 to a room with us-- let one of us know. We are looking at 10 Aug to 13 Aug

You should also make reservations at the actual hotel where the event is, International Palms Resort and Conf Center in Orlando

[Angel the Little Merman]

Wow unexpected, at least Wyndham is a drive down from Marriot.

[Mermaid Gosalyn]

So the deal for the hotel block is no good at the Palms anymore? What if you have already booked your stay?

[mermanjr]

Please see Steph's post below... Please note the location is the Wyndham.

Stephanie will explain what happend since she can explain it better than I can in writing. :)
If you have already booked a room at the previous location, they WILL totally refund you so that you can make the switch..


Basically, the change came do to a contract dispute (not giving us privacy with our pool) AND very unwilling Manager - Guy did not support mermaids whatsoever...

We will not have our event at a place that we are not CELEBRATED. The Wyndham is great, a nicer place in total and WANTS us there...

Stephanie will give you all the details on what went down but this is just the short version. Thanks.

[Mahi Mermaid]

Ive been on the phone for over a half hour with the Wyndham...no oone will answer!

[mermanjr]

Our contact will be available Monday to work anything you need out. I assure you. His name is John Staub and he is in sales/catering.

You can always call Stephanie using the hot line on the website. She can try to cut through the red tape if you have any more trouble.
:)

[Stephanie Sims]

HELLO MER FRIENDS AND ATTENTION ALL MERPALOOZA 2012 GUESTS

On Tuesday, July 24, 2012, after a sudden phone request by our meeting coordinator at International Palms Resort (old event site) to come in to the International Palms to finalize details on layout, etc., we had a meeting with the newly appointed Director of Sales and Marketing there, Marshall Thompson mthompson@internationalpalms.com. Hold on to that email - you may want to use it. After keeping us there overnight asking us details and pulling up info he had researched on Mermaiding, the nest morning he informed our representatives that he was NOT interested in having MerPalooza 2012 at the facility, even though it had been long contracted and paid, because, in his opinion, EVERYONE associated with this hobby was quote "fruity", new age treehuggers and he felt we might offend other hotel guests with our mere presence.

Let me say that the prior Sales Manager we originally contracted with was the BEST and was more than friendly, willing to make the ONE pool there exclusive to us for the evening and the next morning, etc. That gentleman left the resort suddenly...so that is why the need for the new contact to review the details and speak to us. Doesn't matter, the new person, Marshall, was not going to honor our agreement or treat any of us honorably.

We were told that the event was not what they wanted to support also for the reason that "THOSE MERMAID PEOPLE" support gay and lesbian rights... and that is not something he can tolerate and did NOT want “THOSE” type of people at his facility, to such an extent that many reservations were not being kept or accepted for more than a week... We know of one group that lived in Orlando, and went in person and the resort would not take their money...And this was about a WEEK before Marshall called us.

LET ME SAY that MerPalooza is a family friendly event, both by day and night. But yes, we support PEOPLE. All people.

For those of you who know me, I think you might agree that I am an extremely soft spoken and professional person...This man yelled at me and insulted all of us with his "darkness" and hate. As a whole, everyone involved in MerPalooza 2012 was insulted, offended and it was felt that the event site must be moved IMMEDIATELY and that is exactly what has been done. We feared if we tried to stay with the original plan, our guests would NOT have been treated well.

We have friends at the Wyndham Orlando and at the thought of hearing what we went through, they opened their doors and a block of rooms for us, effective Thursday, and they listened. WOW it sure does feel nice to be welcomed by a facility that WANTS us there. I WANT and DEMAND that our guests be treated royally, and the Wyndham can do that. They are familiar with being welcoming to military, social, ethnic, niche groups and they are FIRST CLASS ALL THE WAY. The place is gorgeous, so much of a step up - Photos added to the web site by tomorrow evening... and it's only half a mile down the road from the original location.

This move, we felt, was the only way we can protect our guests to be sure that none of you were exposed to this bigotry and his bias.

If you have a reservation at this facility, PLEASE cancel ASAP!!! You're still in your allotted time and the Wyndham promises to make the switch easy. For those who have not made reservations, please do so ASAP, as rooms will book fast here!!! We look forward to an INCREDIBLE event at our new facility, Wyndham Orlando Resort, 407-355-3612. The room rate is still $79.00 and the management, staff and all of us look forward to making MerPalooza 2012 an event to remember. When booking your reservations, please remember to mention the group name, MerPalooza, to get our block rate.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 813-716-6767 or 813-892-5502.
Also, see MerPalooza.com for all updated information.
Thank you and we look forward to seeing you on August 11th!!

[Stephanie Sims]

So the deal for the hotel block is no good at the Palms anymore? What if you have already booked your stay?
&&The good news is that we called so far about half of the folks who had booked rooms ... and it's my mission to call the rest by the end of the night tomorrow, No, the Palms, if you read above...is not the place to stay if you can at all help it. I only know of one person who is stuck there, as her room stay was packaged in with her airline tickets. The new spot is less than half a mile form the old one. I do PROFUSELY apologize for any inconvenience, but if you read above, you will see why there was a very real need. In addition to you, the guests, major media is coming to this event. We could not be in a situation where we did not get represented properly or treated well. This is definitely a step up.