Tropical Palms Blog: RV Resort, Cottages, Vacation Home Rentals in Orlando, Florida near Disney

Ask anyone he works with about Jack Sowers and you get pretty much the same answer that Marci Martinez our front desk manager offered when we started to research this article about Tropical Palms’ most iconic figure.

“We just love him. He’s always smiling. Everyday he wishes everyone a great day and he does whatever he can to make it one.”

That may be because the one-time football coach knows something about teamwork and getting the best from everyone he works with.

“My most important job is to make everyone that comes to stay here and everyone on the team that works here feel important and welcome at the resort,” Jack says.

It’s a lesson he learned at his first career, teaching and coaching, back in Ohio, where he was born. “I grew up in southeastern Ohio, the rocky part. That’s what first got me interested in geology.”

So interested that after graduating from Ohio University he went west, visiting several mountain ranges and National Parks including the Rockies, the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Mt. Hood, and more. Jack spent only a few months on that first trip, but its effect has lasted a lifetime.

He returned to Ohio, got a second Bachelor’s degree in education to go along with his degree in geology and, with the desire to share his passion for the earth sciences, settled into teaching. He soon took on the job coaching football at Nelsonville High and then Nelsonville/York when the schools merged. It was a small school in a small town, but Jack turned it into a state football powerhouse, a tradition that continues today.

In 1985, after 28 years in the classroom, Jack married his lovely bride, Patricia and the newly weds decided to relocate to Florida.
“We just decided that being faced with new challenges would be invigorating and give us something new to look forward to. And that’s exactly what it’s been,” Jack says.

The couple relocated to Central Florida and Jack went back to the classroom at Gateway High School and Valencia Community College. He hadn’t lost any of his enthusiasm or gift with students. In 1988 and ’89 he was named Teacher of the Year at Gateway and in 1990 Osceola County Teacher of the Year. When he finally retired in 1996 he had spent 39 years in the classroom and 30 years as a coach.

“The highlight of those years, the highlight of my life was when the Nelsonville/York Buckeyes won the Ohio High School State Football Championship in 1981. It was a real example of what can be accomplished when you work together as a team,” Jack says with obvious pride.

He came to Tropical in 2005 and he brought his passion for teamwork here with him. Starting as a site consultant matching motor homes with the most appropriate site, his role has evolved into that of resort ambassador. He brings his warm smile and upbeat spirit to everything he does, from greeting visitors when they arrive to showing them around the resort and making sure they’re comfortably settled. There’s also the sense of team spirit he helps engender in everyone on the team, encouraging everyone by his example to always do their best.

“Making sure every guest is treated like they’re special is a challenge and it takes teamwork to accomplish that,” Jack explains. “One of the most important things I can do to meet that challenge is to make everyone on the team feel they’re important and contributing and to make our guests feel important and wanted here at Tropical Palms.”

Still teaching and coaching, Jack has helped turned Tropical Palms into one of Florida’s powerhouse RV parks and vacation home resorts.

Looking for the perfect family fun adventure this Thanksgiving holiday? Try making your way through the six-acre Corn Maze, the half-acre Mini Maze, the Mist Maze, or the Labyrinth. It’s a fun and games experience for the whole family that’s perfect holiday fare. And it’s happening at Scott’s Maze Adventure at the Long & Scott’s Farm in Zellwood, just 30 miles northwest of Orlando.

Learn more at the website »

We’ll have traditional Thanksgiving dinners on the 25th with seating at 12:00 and 1:30. Please call for reservations. Rather stay by the poolside? We’ll be serving Hot Turkey sandwiches with all the fixings. Then, on the 26th, we kick off the holiday season with a tree lighting ceremony, hay rides and family photos with Santa and his elves. The elves also plan to do some caroling around the park.

Visit the website for more info »

Summer kicked off with a Memorial Day parade, lots of family friendly poolside activities and an alligator in the pool. Rest assured – the gator was just part of the entertainment and a great time was had by all. Denise Gioia-Mestre summed it up best on our Facebook page when she wrote, “Had an awesome Memorial Day weekend… can’t wait to come back for 4th of July!”

Echoing Denise’s sentiment, lots of folks did come back and we enjoyed one of our busiest, best and most fun summers ever. Just ask Pam Mackie. When Pam, a member of the Activities Team, wasn’t helping coordinate events, she was in the Poolside Cafe helping out – and she was kept busy, very busy. “I was serving maybe 200 frozen smoothies a day, 300 orders of fries and I can’t tell you how many hamburgers, hotdogs and sandwiches.”

The next big weekend was the 4th of July. “We may have had a little rain, but we didn’t let it dampen anyone’s spirit,” Pam says. “The celebration was a big hit, especially with Andy doing his usual spectacular job of keeping everyone entertained and involved in games and contests poolside. Though I’ve got to admit, we did have a little scare when Sandy Jo Kessler-Heller’s parrot, Patches, was lost – especially with the gator show we had,” Pam laughs, relieved by the outcome. Thanks to Jason and the Ackerman family the parrot was safely returned to his perch.

“Another of our big special events was our Christmas in July celebration. Some of the team dressed up as Santa’s helpers and we had a Christmas in July Elf Parade. Lots of guests decorated their cottages and RVs with lights and lawn ornaments. It was cool. Needless to say, the kids loved all the festivities and the chance to interact with the animals at a special hands-on show. But the real favorite was the Elf Hay Ride,” Pam tells us.

“Of course, we had our serious moments too. As part of Christmas in July, we put together care packages for our troops that contained CDs, magazines phone cards and the like. We’re really grateful for the service of our armed forces and were happy we could send them a little something from home. Staff Sgt. Johnson of the US Marine Corp. came by to pick up the packages and meet our guests. It was a special moment for everyone.”

“I know one of the favorite events was our Choc-o-holic Weekend,” Pam says. “It sure was with my kids.”

“We ran chocolate down the inflatable slide instead of water and when the kids reached bottom we squirted them with water guns filled with more chocolate.” Andy Fronczak, a member of the Activities Team and the man responsible for much of the fun, recounted with his usual enthusiasm.

Pam says that for her little ones the Oreo cookie-stacking contest was fun and quite a challenge when the frosting between the cookies started melting. “Though I don’t think they minded licking it all up one little bit.”

In August our Circus Circus Weekend was another big hit with guests. We had our weekend water slide, funnel fry straws, cotton candy, face painting, clown cones and a circus campsite-decorating contest. The winner won a free weekend stay. We even had something the circus doesn’t have – poolside entertainment.

According to Dave Heller, one of our guests, a particular favorite with the kids was the Dunk Tank and seeing one of our most popular team members, Luke Frazer, fall in. The kids loved seeing him get soaked. And Luke seemed to enjoy it as much as they did.

The official end of summer – but not of the fun – came on Labor Day. We had our big celebratory parade where everyone dressed up their golf carts and bikes, a 2-2-2-2 breakfast, an old-fashioned BBQ complete with a pudding pie-eating contest. And as always, there was non-stop music and a four-star dive-in-movie poolside.

We want to thank our terrific team for all their labors this summer and all our guests for joining us. And we promise everyone planning to join us for this winter’s season just as many good times. Oh, yeah!

The Kissimmee Rodeo
Bull riding, barrel racing, calf roping, and bucking broncs. That’s right, pardner, we’re talking rodeo! So saddle up Old Paint and mosey on over to the Kissimmee Sports Arena and get a taste of the old west and a look into the exciting lives of cowboys and cowgirls. It’s great family entertainment and it’s just down the road. Check out the schedule and learn more at kissimmeerodeo.com.

To support the work of the Pink Heals Tour, the firemen who travel the country in pink fire trucks to raise awareness of the fight against breast cancer, the team wore pink t-shirts and, along with our guests, conducted a bake sale that raised $233. We hope all of you will find a way to contribute to the fight to find a cure and defeat this disease.

Pink Heals website »

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month website »

“Though it was over almost as soon as it began, few incidents were as frightening as that lost child,” according to Chris. “Mom was setting the table outside their RV for lunch. Her three year old was supposed to be helping her. Mom turned around for an instant, just an instant, and the little one was gone.

“Our Walkie-Talkies lit up like a Christmas tree. Within minutes everyone on the team was all over the place, scouring the park. It might have seemed like an eternity to Mom, but it was only a few minutes before the little one was found. Wouldn’t you know it; she was down at the Lake playing in mud. Mom didn’t know whether to hug the life out of her or ground her for the rest of the summer.”

Chris is proud of the way her team can be counted on to react quickly in an emergency, but even more so for the compassion they show.  “We had guests that had come from Canada. Within a few hours of their arrival they had quite an unexpected emergency – the woman had a heart attack. Our team was on it immediately. An ambulance was called and arrived, fortunately within a very few minutes. While his wife stayed in the hospital, the team banded together to take care of her husband.

“We hooked him up with a pharmacy, helped with insurance faxes, and even took turns making and bringing meals to him so he’d have one less thing to worry about when he got home from the hospital. Jack Sowers, our longtime greeter, and a Tropical legend, made daily visits to make sure he was getting along. We enjoyed looking after him, but we were a lot happier when the misses was back home and doing fine. They’ve already booked again for this coming winter.”

The subject of winter brings a smile to Chris’ face. “Of course, there are all kinds of emergencies,” she says. “Like the night the team saved Christmas. It was Christmas eve and some folks were just returning from Old Town. It was after dark and our guests were a little disoriented as to where to find their RV site. One of our helpful team members asked if they knew what site they were looking for and they said they were not sure of the number. It would be a shame to be lost on Christmas eve so the team member offered to radio the front desk for the location. They asked the guest for their last name and they said Rudolph. We all had a good laugh that we had saved Christmas when we helped Rudolph find his way on Christmas eve!”

But the team does believe in helping whenever they can. “We put ourselves in our guests shoes,” Chris explains. “Whether they’re park model owners, RVers, or renters, they just want to enjoy the resort and their time here with us. Our job is to make sure that happens. It is just part of being mindful and responsive to their needs.”

Just how responsive, Chris tells us, is exemplified by a call one member of the maintenance team took. It was from a frantic young mother who was certain her little one had flushed the car keys down the toilet. One of our maintenance men responded and with a smile – only slightly forced – filtered through the tank, sadly to no avail.

A few hours later she found our maintenance man, thanked him profusely for his efforts and explained that she had just found them where she’d left them – on the dashboard of her car. She went to hug him in thanks, but thought the better of it. He had just finished putting her tank back together. To his everlasting credit, he just kept smiling.”

Sometimes that thoughtfulness and good spirit also goes out to non-human guests at Tropical, Chris tells us. “Last year, we kept seeing a scruffy black dog around. He didn’t seem to belong to anyone and he always seemed too scared to come out from under any of the cottages he would hide under. Finally, one of our Clean Team women, Brenda, coaxed him out, took him home and adopted him. He was nicknamed Stinky by the team, but that didn’t stop Brenda from loving him and giving him a home. Only problem, Stinky only speaks English, Brenda only speaks Spanish, so getting Stinky to listen to anything is a real problem. But they’re working on it.”

Our staff keeps working on keeping our guests happy, going that extra mile in an emergency. “We want people who want to make other people happy. We can teach skills, we can’t teach attitude. What’s great is the team is always happy to help, and that attitude carries over to our guests. It’s a big part of what makes Tropical Palms such a special place.”

We first heard about Stephanie Kulig and Everett Scott on radio Magic 107. Stephanie was born with Amino Acid Defect and at 4 developed Multiple Sclerosis and Muscular Dystophy. She’s overcome it all, but medical expenses left no money for the wedding she always dreamed of. Magic 107 asked for help – we’ve responded with a vacation cottage for the couple’s honeymoon.

Learn more at Magic 107′s website »