Central Travel - Administration
4540 Heatherdowns Blvd
Toledo OH 43614
Office Phone: 419-897-2070
800-633-5577
Patty Albright, CTC
Interests & Specialties
Patty began her travel career in 1981. She joined Central travel in 1982 and specialized in international and corporate travel. She completed The Certified Travel Consulate Course (CTC) from the Travel Institute. After taking a hiatus to raise her family she has returned to Central Travel as the Manager of our Promenade Office. Patty has also completed the Disney College of Knowledge. She experienced numerous trips to Walt Disney World in Orlando with her children and most recently with her grandson.
Expert Bio
My greatest joy in working on your vacation is taking the stress out of the process! I love working on every detail of a trip and that's why I returned to Central Travel after taking a break to raise my family. It means so much to me when my clients send their friends and families to me for all their vacation experiences. I have had the privilege of traveling all over the world and my favorite destination is Capri, Italy and my best traveling companion is my 8-year-old grandson.
Some of her favorite destinations include:
Patty has experienced many Caribbean Cruises. She has sailed with Carnival Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean. Her most recent cruising experience was a Princess Cruise Line Alaskan Cruise-Tour. Her other travel experiences include many islands in the Caribbean including Jamaica, Aruba, Puerto Rico, St Maarten, Bahamas, St. Thomas and St. John, Haiti, Mexico and Hawaii. Her favorite European countries include Austria, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and England.
MY ADVENTURES
My family recently spent a delightful time in Walt Disney World!
I promised my grandson this trip so we decided to visit all four parks. We stayed in a one bedroom villa at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. There are two lodges at the resort Kidani and Jambo. We stayed at Jambo Lodge. The villa sleeps five and we were very comfortable with the space. We had a full kitchen, washer and dryer and very large bathroom with a lot of storage and a large balcony that overlooked the pool. Our villa was very clean and well equipped for a family.
The Jambo House is the grander of the two lodges. Kidani village is reserved for Disney Vacation Club guests. I did shuttle over to take a look (shuttles run back and forth every 10 mins.). Kidani has basketball and tennis courts and I was told the villas run a little larger. Jambo guests can use the facilities they can shuttle or walk over (1/2 mile). The Jambo House has the larger pool. It is zero entry pool with a water slide. The pool has four to five lifeguards on duty until it closes at 11pm. The pool area was always busy, but we always managed to find a lounge chair somewhere and people were very nice about moving around for families to sit together.
Jambo house has three restaurants. Jiko featuring South African cuisine. Boma featuring East African cuisine and the Mara with American cuisine. The second level of the hotel has a savanna lookout area where you can sit and watch the animals. This is a big resort so we did a lot of walking. Overall I feel a great resort for multi-generational family. There are a lot of areas you can sit and relax and watch the animals. They offer a Starlight Safari with night vision goggles. This runs every night between the two lodges with a cost of $89.00 per person. You must be eight years or older to participate. There were daily activities in the lobby and different areas of the resort. You can do anything from making African bangles to Mickey tie die t-shirts. Jambo Lodge offers Zahanati Spa and Fitness Center for guests. I was told it is one of the best gyms on the Disney properties. The hotel has a nice gift shop/grocery store that provides just about anything you might need.
We visited Magic Kingdom on a Wednesday, Epcot on Thursday. We actually saw more characters here than the other parks. I totally recommend the food and drinks at the France Pavillon.The Norway Pavilion offers great dessert options as well. On Friday we visited Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Both parks were very crowded.
At Animal Kingdom Park, the Avatar ride had over a two hour wait along with Kali River Rapids. We did see a lot of animals including tigers, lions, monkeys, gorillas just to name a few. Due to long lines we didn’t ride any of the attractions. We did a lot of walking and enjoyed the animals and enjoyed all the flora and exotic settings.
We purchased three day hopper passes and we only took advantage of the hopper on the last day to see both Hollywood and Animal Kingdom. We used the park shuttles every day and the longest wait time we had was 10 minutes. It was very fast and convenient. We averaged 10-16 miles of walking a day. If I ever go back I would rethink paying extra for the hopper passes.
More Adventures from Patty Albright, CTC ...
I recently experienced an Alaska Cruise Tour with Princess. We sailed on the Majestic and visited Fairbanks, Denali, Whittier, Glacier Bay, Skagway, Ketchikan and Vancouver.
We stayed two nights at the Princess Wilderness Riverside Lodge. The rooms were nice and spacious and very clean. The gardens and walking paths along the river were absolutely beautiful. Huge cabbage, kohlrabi and sunflowers were stunning. My friends from Austria were amazed how much the gardens looked like theirs back home.
On our free day we rented a car and drove to Chena Hot Springs. I’m glad we did instead of tour as we were able to stop at different spots along the way and the scenery was amazing. We did spot a mother moose and her baby in the Hot Springs area.
The next day we started off on Riverboat Discovery Alaskan Sternwheeler. We had beautiful weather and everyone seemed to really enjoy this. We saw Iditarod dogs and an old Indian village. They served coffee and freshly made blueberry donuts in the morning and in the afternoon a salmon dip with crackers. It was very organized and ran very smoothly. After lunch we boarded our bus and headed south to Princess Denali Wilderness Lodge. The morning Denali tour that is included was interesting and informative.
The next morning we left for train to Whittier - I enjoyed every minute of the 8 plus hour train ride from Denali to Whittier. It rained for most of the ride, but it was still beautiful. The seating was very comfortable and the open dome rail car made it fun watching the scenery change as we headed south. We exited the train and crossed the street for ship embarkation. Within 15 minutes of exiting train we were stepping on to the Majestic Princess.
The Majestic is a beautiful ship! I really enjoyed the design and layout. We had mid ship balcony cabin on Marina Deck (15). It was a very convenient location. Our first two days were scenic sailing Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. We saw dozens of whales (humpback and a few orca), sea lions and sea otters from our balcony. Deck 17 has an indoor pool and the front of the ship is a great area to sit and admire the scenery. The area is sectioned into private areas and we sat and ordered drinks and food (with medallion app) and never had to leave our spot.
Our first port was Skagway, but changed a few weeks prior to Icy Strait Point. The natives called it Icy Point. Wildlife lovers will love this port. We saw numerous whales from our balcony. We had booked a whale watch excursion prior to arrival and we saw brown bear and were very close to a family of sea lions napping and playing on a buoy. We also saw more sea otters and seals. The shoreline was lined with starfish. The island has 700 habitants and over 4000 brown bears. It is very beautiful area.
Once you disembark the ship you take a short gondola ride over to the town. Of course, there is shopping and I found some very unique items here. After the day was over I really wasn’t disappointed we missed Skagway.
Juneau was our next port and we spent the most time there. Some of the group went fishing and others went whale watching. I spent the day exploring the town and it was very easy to get around. I passed the governor’s house and a museum and other historical landmarks and many shops.
Our third stop and my favorite was Ketchikan. Unfortunately, we had the least amount of time there. Our group booked an excursion at George Inlet Lodge as a few had been there before. It is a 20 minute bus ride from the cruise ship to the lodge. We then boarded an enclosed boat and cruised the inlet. We passed an old cannery and learned some history about the area. We also saw how a crab pot is lifted and lowered back in. The scenery was worth the drive. After the cruise we ate Dungeness Crab in the Lodge and it was the best crab I’ve ever had. The excursion left us very little time to do much of anything else. This town has quite a unique charm.
Our cruise ended in Vancouver. I did book the hop on hop off excursion with airport transfer since we had a full day in Vancouver. I highly recommend it. Our bags were taken directly from the cruise port to a holding area at the airport. The bus stops at different areas all over Vancouver and you can get off and spend as much time as you want in one area and if you download the app you can see where all the buses are so you know when to head to the pickup area. When you are ready to go to the airport you take the bus back to the cruise port and hop on the Sky Train and it takes you right to the airport. We claimed our bags and checked in for our flights. The gardens and parks are absolutely beautiful and worth seeing even for one day.
I would be happy to assist you with your Alaska adventure!
