Tag Archives: Florida Theme Parks

What’s new at Florida theme parks this summer?

ORLANDO – A theme park built with millions of Lego bricks, a cheetah habitat with a zero-to-60 mph roller coaster at Africa-themed Busch Gardens, and the first new killer whale show in five years at SeaWorld Orlando are among the big new attractions opening in central Florida this year.

The world’s fifth Legoland park, and the first one on the U.S. East Coast, is going up on the site of the old Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven, a 45-minute drive from the other large parks in Orlando. It is scheduled to open at an unspecified date in October.

Legoland Florida planners say 50 million of the iconic plastic building bricks will be incorporated into rides, statues and attractions geared toward children ages 2 to 12 and their families. The lineup will include four gentle roller coasters, but the park retains its famous botanical gardens and water ski show from Cypress Gardens, which was one of Florida’s first theme parks.

“Kids go crazy over Legos, and this is what kids anticipate seeing in a Lego world,” park manager Adrian Jones said recently. “It’s about rides, it’s about playing with Legos, it’s about building, it’s about interacting” with their surroundings.

The new environmentally themed Shamu show at SeaWorld called One Ocean debuted at the Orlando park in April, replacing the well-worn Believe show. Similar whale shows are scheduled to open at SeaWorld San Diego on Memorial Day weekend and at SeaWorld San Antonio in June.

According to SeaWorld, the show “features majestic killer whales as ambassadors of the sea, and the ocean as the center of the universe. … At the core of the show is the unifying message that both animals and humans are part of one world, with one ocean, and its future is in our hands to cherish and protect.”

One of the orcas that visitors to the Orlando park will see exhibiting his talents in the new show is Tilikum, the whale that killed drowned 40-year-old trainer Dawn Brancheau last year. Tilikum spent more than a year away from the exhibits but returned to the shows in April.

Trainers have not been in the pools with the whales since the accident in February 2010, but the parks are upgrading facilities with safety equipment and readying the animals for trainers to get back into the water. A firm date for that has not been announced, but SeaWorld officials said the new show was planned to incorporate “water work” with the trainers when the time was appropriate.

An hour away from Orlando, in Tampa, Busch Gardens is promoting its new Cheetah Hunt roller coaster that uses the force of repelling magnets to launch riders from zero to 60 mph in a matter of seconds, three different times during the ride.

Opening this summer, Cheetah Hunt will be the longest of the park’s coasters with 4,429 feet (1,350 meters) of track. It is the centerpiece of a new animal habitat area called Cheetah Run that will allow visitors to get up close to the lithe cats living there. They also can witness the world’s fastest land animal in action during daily sprints conducted by trainers.

Sticking with the Africa theme, new this year at Walt Disney World is an add-on experience at Animal Kingdom that allows guests to join a small group on a guided expedition to see the park’s wild animals on foot and by special vehicles. The cost of the Wild Africa Trek starts at $189 per person (in addition to park admission) and will vary seasonally. It is open to guests 8 and older.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios park reopened the venerable Star Tours ride this month with a new 3-D element and Star Wars-inspired story line for the deep space flight simulator. Also new at Disney World is a nighttime show during which photos of guests taken by park photographers during the day are projected in a huge slideshow on the outside of Cinderella Castle. The show is accompanied by music and fireworks.

Discovery Cove in Orlando debuts a new 2.5-acre (1-hectare) saltwater environment called Grand Reef, featuring white-sand beaches, underwater grottoes and a palm tree-lined island. Guests can don wetsuits and an underwater breathing apparatus to take an underwater walking tour along a path 10 feet below the surface through schools of tropical fish and past a 1 million-gallon (3.8 million liter) aquarium with 125 species of fish, rays, and sharks.

Florida theme parks have high hopes for 2011 after seeing modest attendance gains last year as the U.S. economy continued to recover from a crippling recession, said David Mandt, spokesman for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions.
“Certainly the conditions and consumer confidence are improving, and that will drive attendance to parks and attractions,” Mandt said. “There’s a lot to look forward to.”

One attraction that hopes to maintain its initial success is The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which was an immediate sensation when it opened last year in the Islands of Adventure park at Universal Orlando. The mini-park, featuring Hogwarts castle and a state-of-the-art coaster ride that simulates flying on brooms with Harry and his pals, gave Universal a big attendance boost last year while the crowds at the other central Florida parks stayed flat.

For Universal visitors, Aug. 18 will be the last chance to ride the Jimmy Neutron Nicktoon Blast, which is closing to make room for a 3-D ride based on the Despicable Me animated movie. And the popular Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride at Islands of Adventure is closing soon for a state-of-the-art retooling. The 3-D experience will be updated with high-definition animation and other details riders will be able to feel.

Enjoy!
Bill Cowie President
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Orlando Florida
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British-American Chamber of Commerce Advisory Board

Universal Orlando touts its best year ever at $92,000,000 profit!

Universal Orlando earned a company record $92 million in profit last year, more than twice what it made the previous year, the parent company reported Friday.

In advance of its fourth-quarter 2007 earnings report, which is to be filed next month with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Universal City Development Partners also announced that combined total attendance for its Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure theme parks was up 3 percent in 2007.

The company reported that Universal’s per-capita spending by visitors was up 6 percent last year compared with 2006. In addition to the theme parks, Universal Orlando operates the CityWalk entertainment district and is the site for three resort hotels.

For the previous year, 2006, the company had reported profit of about $42 million, combined paid attendance of 10.5 million and a total turnstile count of 11.2 million.

A 3 percent gate boost for 2007 would make it the first year since 2004 that the parks had an annual attendance increase.

In November, Universal reported that summer crowds in the third quarter were strong enough to overcome slight attendance declines that the parks had sustained during the first half of the year. That pushed Universal’s annual attendance, through the first nine months, 2 percent ahead of the 2006 pace. So Universal apparently posted an attendance gain in the fourth quarter, too, to achieve a final, 3 percent annual increase.

The Simpsons Get Their Own Ride at Universal Studios

Universal Studios has been known to operate a number of theme parks based on the movies it has produced over the years. In an attempt to further boost up its customers, Universal Studios has decided to build a new ride based on The Simpsons, which will be constructed in Orlando, Florida.

Universal Studios has chosen The Simpsons as an added attraction mainly because of its immense popularity and sturdy reputation over the past eighteen years, not to mention its award-winning prominence. "What we want to do is bring the Simpsons experience to our guests. They’re going to get to experience the Simpsons like they’ve never experienced the Simpsons before. They know and love them from the TV show, but they’ll actually be able to be a part of their world and have fun with them," Jennifer Sauer, Universal’s attraction designer, said.

According to officials, The Simpsons site is still currently in the design phase and conceptualizing stages although they assure that park guests will get the chance to enjoy an adventure-ride with Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, and will also be featuring the voices of the original Simpsons cast. The Simpsons site will be assembled on the Back to the Future site, a ride that was closed down at the end of March.

Universal Studios is just one of the companies that has taken advantage of the fame and popularity of The Simpsons. In line with its approaching movie, the popular convenience store chain 7-11 has previously proposed to transform eleven of their 4,700 stores into Kwik-E-Mart imitations, which would sell and promote Simpsons products like Buzz Cola, Squishee cups and Krusty’o cereals among others.

http://www.universalorlando.com/usf_attr_simpsons.html

New rides at SeaWorld Orlando for the kids! & a New NASA Shuttle Launch Experience at Kennedy Space Center

3 new childrens rides open at SeaWorld Orlando. SeaWorld have added three more rides to Shamu’s Happy Harbor.

The park has delivered a competitive message to its rivals, Disney and Universal stating that SeaWorld has the best kids attractions! Yesterday the three new experiences for kids opened their gates. They are as follows:

The Sea Carosel, The Flying Fiddler drop ride and the Ocean Commotion rocking boat ride. Shamu’s Happy Harbor has grown since 2005 and now incorporates a kids rollercoaster and the teacups to name just two!! This is coupled with the company going back to its roots, being a family theme park not just parents and teens. Everyone can come and have fun.

At the Kennedy Space center however more gentile rides are not to be found as the new Shuttle Experience ride blasts off!!

This new ride simulates a real shuttle launch in the most authentic way yet. The "Crew" experience the sensation of 3G’s – through various trickery including the seat pressure changing as well as subtle seat movements. At the moment the fastest thrill ride in the area is Mission: Space in Epcot which has passengers experiencing 1.5G’s….

The NASA ride will surely create a following as the passengers are "blasted into space" they hear, feel and see things as if they are travelling into space. The rocket boosters jettison and the main engine cuts off where there is decelerration from 3G’s to zero gravity as the ship glides in to the black abyss. What an awe inspiring sight. The ride finished with the revealing of the Earth through "open cargo doors" above as if the Shuttle is upside down orbiting the earth which moves overhead.

What a fantastic 5 minute ride, I would love to try it!

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First Disney World guide book by Zagat Survey

Zagat Walt Disney World Insiders Guide was published on April 25th and is the latest amongst the crowd of Disney guidebooks.

It may be the first to base ratings on the opinions of thousands of frequent customers. Zagat polled customers about everything, hotels, rides, restaurants etc!
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The survey polled 4,841 people by computer between Nov. 16th and Dec 3rd 2006. The average person surveyed had been to Disney World 36 times and 58% had annual or season passes.

Even though Disney World did not participate it is believed officials aren’t displeased.

Here are more findings:

Favorite Parks:
Magic Kingdom: 48%
Epcot: 36%
MGM Studios: 9%

Favorite Costumed Character:
Mickey Mouse: 37%
Goofy: 11%
Donald Duck: 6%

Most Popular Attractions:
Soarin’ (Epcot)
Rock and Roller Coaster (MGM)
Tower of Terror (MGM)

However Expedition Everest at Disneys Animal Kingdom (See out previous blog post with photo’s) received the highest average rating by adults and the Wishes Spectacular fireworks show at Magic Kingdom got the highest from the Kids.
I in fact went to Epcot last weekend and found it amazing, the test track would be one of my favorites. Soarin’ is great, but only lasts 5 minutes, hardly worth the 70 minute wait (this is in the off season) however it is spectacular.

Epcot is also known for is ’11 countries’ which you can visit, these include, Morocco, America (which happened to be the biggest..of course!), Norway, Germany.. etc.. but of course GREAT BRITAIN!

The Great Britain area was very cute, it combined typical town homes you would find in London with the kind of cute chocolate box Cotsworlds town. (if you have been to Stow-on-the Wold you will know what I mean.. or even Winchester in Hampshire!) There are a couple of pubs, a fish and chip shop and a few quaint country stores. Very authentic.

All in all Disney represents as always a fun day out!

Florida the variety state! Brit’s finding more to Florida

We all know that when the state of Florida comes to mind one of the first thoughts if Disney, SeaWorld and Universal Studios amongst others. Two Words: THEME PARKS.

However there is more to Florida, from the horse ranching country in the North, The Ocala National Forest, the rolling hills of Clermont and lakes of Lake and Polk County, the bright lights of Jacksonville and Miami, and the fishing city’s of Port Charlotte to the everglades and Keys in the south.

Florida is so much more that it first seems. Disney does own 27,000 acres of Central Florida, but the state is over 65,000 square miles! The margest cultural and metro area in the state is cosmopolitan Miami, the largest city by land area in the USA is located in Florida, Jacksonville spreading over 885 square miles. Also the St. John’s river that runs through Jacksonville is one of few rivers in the world that flows south to north. Lets not forget the Kennedy Space Center on the east coast.