The demise of Pleasure Island

After 19 years of operation, the end of an era for a part of Disney World's has arrived. On September 27, 2008, Pleasure Island has closed it's doors forever.

Last Saturday, the remaining venues/ nightclubs closed their doors including Adventurer's Club, Comedy Warehouse, 8Trax, Mannequins Dance Palace, BET SoundStage Club, and Motion.

Rumor has it that guests implored a greater retail shopping and restaurant experience. That could be partially true, but most likely, part of the legacy of wholesome entertainment has been replaced with profitability.

Perhaps their rival Universal's City Walk and the local street gangs that were hanging out in the theme park had something to do with it's demise.

Once upon a time, the area known as downtown Disney was incially the MarketPlace or Shopping Village promoted as a pleasant shopping area. Later it became a ticketed area offering a quit different experience.

Back in the glory days of Pleasure Island when Comedy Warehouse and Adventurer's Club were the local buzz word, it represented a unique quality of Disney entertainment.

Some speculate that guests found it an unpleasant experience to travel on foot between the MarketPlace and the West Side by navigating around the Island.

But sudden the atmosphere changed when Disney stopped the New Year's Eve midnight celebration and removed the Westend soundstage.

Here is a quote from Steve Russo:

"I know that Disney is a business, and, like many businesses, they expect every nook and cranny of their enterprise to be profitable. I would hope that, just this once, they might look beyond the profitability of each establishment and recognize that unique entertainment offerings which improve the guests' experience might be best left alone."

Halloween at SeaWorld

Get ready for Spooktacular activities this weekend as SeaWorld winds up its annual holloween spectacular. SeaWorld is offering safe trick-or-treat for children with it's friendly fantasy sea characters.

This year the parks walkways will be dressed up with it's fanta-seas zones with meet-an-greet exhibits including Sesame Street's "The Count." Many new themes will be unveiled including holloween breakfast, holloween music, and trick-or-treat activities.

Audition for Wheel of Fortune

Fans from everywhere will show up at SeaWorld

This weekend, fans will show up at SeaWorld to apply for a shot on the Wheel of Fortune that will film several episondes in December. Visitors will have chance to fill out applications starting Saturday & Sunday from 2 to 6:00pm at the Wheelsmobile.

Each visitor will be given and opportunity to play a simulated version of the tv gameshow to determine if they are a viable contestant. Sessions starring Vanna White will begin taping December 11-15 at Bayside Stadium in SeaWorld.

It's going to be a madhouse when thousands of fans show up in front of the stage to apply for an opportunity to be a contestant on the Wheel of Fortune. Fans that show up will be brought up in groups of five to participate in a short version of the speed-up round and win prizes.

Hopefully, the famous game-player Esperanza will give it a spin this weekend.

Celebrate your birthday with Disney

Disney wants to celebrate your birthday this year superseeding the Year of a Million Dreams promotion ending Dec 31, 2008. What can you get on your birthday? When you bring your photo id and a license, Disney will grant you access to one of it's major theme parks for the day abosolutely free during 2009.

Disney wants to capitalize on the growing trend of celebration vacation to mark the most important milestones in your life. This birthday celebration totals $75 dollars on a family vacation to Disney World Orlando, and Anaheim California.

The push is to get more native Floridians to visit the park with a family member who normally would not want to spend the money. People on 4oth birthday, 25 year anniversay, or bar mitzvah tend to splurge more on these important celebrations.

Disney's time-share kingdom grows

Disney is taking some monumental steps forward by aggressively selling time share. Currently, the Disney vacation Club is battling some of the strongest financial headwinds.

Confirming suspicions that the 15-story building rising beyond Magic Kingdom was timeshare related, Disney finally revealed its plans for Bay Lake Tower. Disney who probably is having difficulty booking the secluded 60 Treehouse villas, is now trying to sell them as time shares.

By 2009, Celebration which has 350,000 members will sell more time shares during this year. With the slumping economy, lack of consumer confidence, big ticket items like timeshare are harder to sell. Could the kingdom be experiencing a real collapse since its inception in October 1, 1971?

According to Disney's spokesman Jim Lewis, Disney is providing a unique experience with these two timeshare resorts. Much of the excitement comes from the new Bay Lake tower that is linked to the Contemporary Resort by the fifth floor. Some of these units at Treehouse Villas will sell for the premium price of $18,000, which consist of 60 elevated homes at Saratog Springs.

The Bay Lake Towers with it's unique curved symmetry was design to complement it's larger brother the Contemporary Resort. Some of the final touches like wall-length windows providing panoramic views of the Magic Kingdom are hoped to make the Treehouse Villas the most sought after in the world.

Is Hanna's latest shift good for Florida?

Tonight, Hanna's latest shift could mean cyclone type winds for the east coast of Florida. Officials at the Kennedy Space Center don't seem to be concerned based on their plans to roll Atlantis onto the launch pad.

During one of the most intense hurricane seasons, Hanna is among a trio of storms to blast the carolina coastline next week. While Hanna moves to the North, Ike is churning in the central Atlantic with 145 mph winds as a category 4 hurricane.


Ike is a storm to be respected and is heading to the Bahammas as a catostrophic hurricane. No one is quite sure how it will affect Florida by it's projected path would be to slam the east coast some time next week.

Is the Hollween Horror to intense at Universal?

Universal's new campaign swing featuring the goul "Bloody Mary" does not seem to be getting tourists attention on I-4 in Orlando. These new billboards along the Orlando corridor attempts to elevate it's drive-by vieweres to a new level of provocation. Some groups like Metro Mommies are attempting to tone down Universals billboard adds as going to far regarding violence and blood.

This years after hours ticket will feature the icon Bloody Mary which is a ghost that can be summoned through mirros and she is often seen as a devil dripping in blood. Over 80 billboards for it's 17 anual horror-fest where employed to seduce viewers.

One such Metro mommy has written a letter to Universal Studios to dumb down their billboards due to it's potential influence on her children 3 & 9 months old. Each year Universal turns up the intensity with it's ungodly glamorized images of violence and cruelty influenced by the powers of darkness.

Universal's ungodly executives contend that their motives are purely entertainment and that there may be other options for these billboards.

Perhaps these billboard advertisement will not improve until one of Orlando's hoodlums plays out one of these billboards in real life provoking a violent crime in the Orlando community. Then maybe Universal will get the message.

Operating hours for Cypress Gardens 2008

Fall operating hours


Sunday 10:10am - 6:00pm
Monday - closed
Tuesday - closed
Wednesday - closed
Thursday - closed
Friday 10:00am - 6:00pm
Saturday 10:00am - 7:00pm

Splash Island

Sunday 10:00am - 5:00pm
Friday 10:00am - 6:00pm
Saturday 10:00am - 7:00pm

Some indicators suggest strong travel bookings for 2008

Despite the economic status this year surrounding fuel prices, some agencies are reporting strong bookings. Expedia Trendwatch reports concluded that Americans booking hotels has not diminished this year compared with previous data.

Hotel bookings had increased by 10% reported Expedia in the second quarter. Expedia Travel Trendwatch denied the fact that Americans are staying home more this year according to it's own statistics.

Orlando, Las Vegas and New York City where the three most visited cities in the first 6 months of 2008. During this historically slow season, the Orlando County Convention has launched a 6 million dollar campaign from now until Nov 15, 08 offering special discounts for over 120 businesses in Orlando.

Get ready for Fun Spot Jr. to open Oct 1st an inflatable version of it's two sisters located near International Drive and U.S. Highway 192 located in Kissimmee.

Coming this Friday and Saturday, Night of Joy Disney World and Rock the Universe Universal Studios are winding up for another weekend of dualing music festivals. Both of these programs are designed to target the teens and young adult markets. Hollywood studios Night of Joy is gearing up for a high octane activities including rides and theme parks normally hosted by Magic Kingdom.