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Archive for the ‘Orlando Theme Parks’ Category


Get Your Wrestling Fix in Orlando

Dec 1, 2009 Author: admin | Filed under: Disney, Orlando Theme Parks

Love it or hate it, wrestling has one of the biggest and most loyal fanbase in the history of sports - or more appropriately, sports entertainment. Whether you grew up watching WCW or WWF (now called WWE) there are plenty of kids that grew up liking wrestling who continued to like it through adulthood. If you’ve ever been to the Orlando theme parks you’re sure to have seen people wearing Stone Cold Steve Austin or John Cena t-shirts. Well did you know that you can actually see wrestling live in Orlando?

TNA, or Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, films its shows and Pay-Per-Views (PPV) live at Universal Studios Orlando. TNA features a six-sided ring, the high-flying X Division (where you can see crazy stunts and flips) and the TNA Knockouts, their women’s division. Plenty of wrestling stars that have come from WCW and WWE are now part of TNA and you can see them all live at Soundstage 21 August through December. Kurt Angle, Sting, Mick Foley, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christie Hemme and Awesome Kong are all part of the superstar lineup TNA brings to you throughout the year.

The best part is that getting into the show, even Pay-Per-View, is completely free! All you have to do is purchase a ticket to Universal Studios Orlando and you are game to get a seat for all of the TNA action, so why not get a discount Universal ticket and save some cash while you’re at it? Tapings go on through the year but October is the busiest month with fve shows. November features TNA’s PPV “Turning Point” on the 15th. While you don’t need a ticket, seating is first come first serve so make sure you get there on time. Because of the subject matter you might see at a TNA show, you have to be 14 years of age and older to get in. We recommend showing up about an hour early just so you can grab a prime seat. Doors open at 6 for the regular 6:30 tapings and at 6:45 for their PPV shows. PPV’s also have pre-show tapings at 7:30 until the show goes live from 8:00-11:00 pm. If you love wrestling, Universal Studios Orlando is the place for you!

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Who doesn’t love going to the movies? Better yet, who doesn’t love feeling like they are a part of the movies? This is what I love about Disney’s Hollywood Studios. There is a different kind of magic here at this Orlando theme park. While the Magic Kingdom gives you the fairytale feeling and Epcot takes you to foreign lands and the future, Disney’s Hollywood Studios gives you a variety of attractions that aren’t only a ton of fun, but they’re interactive as well.

Stunts are a huge part of movies, especially all the big action flicks. At the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Show Spectacular you get to see some of the best scenes from the legendary Indiana Jones movies recreated right before your eyes. Whether it’s fighting under a revolving plane with deadly propellers or escaping from a large rolling rock you’ll get to watch “Indy” perform the stunts from the edge of your seat.

If you’re a fan of the Muppets like I am, Muppetvision 3D is a Disney Hollywood Studio’s classic. You’ll get to see your favorite Muppets characters go on a comedic adventure as they search for a runaway Gonzo. Right between Muppetvision 3D and the classic Sci-Fi Diner is Star Tours. Now, as of October this ride is going to be closing for renovation. I’m sad to see it go, despite the complaints most people have about the ride being outdated. Sure, it is a bit outdated but there is also a huge element of nostalgia to it. I know Star Tours II will be incredible (opening in 2011) but I will miss the original ride.

Speaking of nostalgia, no trip to Disney’s Hollywood Studios is complete without a visit to The Great Movie Ride. It isn’t as thrilling as the Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster or Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror, but seeing a glimpse of the old animatronics re-telling the stories of classic movies like Casablanca and Alien as you head to your final destination of the movie montage set to some of the greatest soundtracks of all time. It may sound cheesy, but that ride always makes me remember why I love movies so much. They can touch Star Tours, but I really hope The Great Movie Ride stays the same. Sometimes nostalgia is a good thing.

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Even though we live in Florida and don’t get any snow, Orlando does become quite chilly during the winter months. This time of the year is your last chance to get to the Orlando water parks before it becomes chilly outside. If you’re a fan of Blizzard Beach, you’d better get your discount tickets quick. As of January 10, 2010, Blizzard Beach will be closing for refurbishment until March of 2010. Blizzard Beach is one of the world’s most popular water parks. With its ski resort theme and scary slides Disney guests love to cool off and have fun at this great Disney theme park. If you’re in the mood for a classic, you can always check out Typhoon Lagoon, where you can learn to surf and swim with the sharks.

There’s also Wet ‘n Wild. This Orlando water park was voted the best water park in America by Amusement Business magazine, and when you go you will see why! The water slides at Wet ‘n Wild go from kid-friendly to downright terrifying. On the Bomb Bay, you rocket down a water slide at a near vertical angle from 76 feet up in the air. If you would rather take it easy you can check out the lazy river or try your hand at wake skating or knee skiing over at the Wake Zone.

If you want to check out one of the newest water parks to open up in the Orlando area, look no further than SeaWorld’s Aquatica. This brand new water park opened up last year in March and is decorated with bright colors and tribal imagery modeled after the indigenous cultures of New Zealand and Australia. The park’s most famous slide is the Dolphin Plunge. Here you can slide down a clear tube that dips through a pool of beautiful Commerson’s dolphins. For a little bit of friendly competition you can head to the Taumata Racer. This is a partially-enclosed waterslide that features eight lanes set side by side so you can race other guests of this great water park.

Whichever park you decide to get to make sure you make it there soon, because the chilly weather is right around the corner!

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IN THE WILD: More than a new guestroom wing of Kidani Village, a Disney Vacation Club property, is scheduled to open Sept. 1. The new Pembe Savanna, adjacent to the expansion, will treat Kidani guests to a rare look at okapis, a typically shy animal closely related to the giraffe. The distinctly marked okapis, along with red river hogs, impala, waterbuck, blue cranes and spur-winged geese, will claim Pembe Savanna as their new home. The new six-acre savannah anchors the Kidani Village expansion featuring 160 two-bedroom equivalent vacation villas. The additional rooms complete the build-out of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas for a total of 449 two-bedroom equivalent vacation villas at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. (Gene Duncan, photographer)

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On March 31, 1959, August A. Busch Jr. officially dedicated Busch Gardens, which was, at that time, an admission-free hospitality facility for the nearby Anheuser-Busch manufacturing plant. Fifty years later, the manufacturing plant has long since closed, but the hospitality facility has developed into a bustling Tampa theme park filled with exhilarating roller coasters, beautiful landscapes, and exotic animal experiences.

To mark its successful history, the park has opened an incredible new historical exhibit next to the Clydesdale Hamlet. In the exhibit, guests can browse various displays featuring hundreds of memorabilia items and photographs marking every major event and attraction at the park over the past fifty years. Among them is a 100-foot memory wall featuring a photograph of Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio taken the day she started work at the park’s Zagora Café, a photograph of the day dozens of couples got married as they rode Kumba, and opening day aerial photographs that show the abandoned Army airbase runways that today lurk hidden near Adventure Island.

The park put out a call among its staffers for people to bring in any memorabilia they had lying around, and employees responded in force. One accounting clerk brought in her old belly dancer costume from when she was a snake charmer at the park, while others brought in painted gremlins from the Gnome Village, which had been serving as doorstops in the corporate offices. Other items now on display were dug up from the park’s archives, including conceptual art of rides like Montu, which was initially planned to be a coaster built inside a giant Egyptian pyramid.

The search for memorabilia is still ongoing as the exhibit, which will be on display at least through the end of the year, expands; by this summer, it will include video anecdotes from park veterans and former executives.

The exhibit is certainly a valuable look at the history of a park that has grown to become one of Orlando’s most popular, with six roller coasters, 2,000 animals, and 3,000 employees running the operations. Among the attractions at the Africa-themed Busch Gardens Tampa are Sheikra, North America’s first dive coaster which sends riders 200 feet up, then 90 degrees straight down; Kumba, a breathtaking ride featuring a 135-foot drop, 360 degree spirals, and one of the world’s largest vertical loops; Montu, one of the tallest and longest inverted roller coasters in the world; Gwazi, a wooden coaster with two interwoven tracks; and the Scorpion, featuring a 60-foot drop and 360-degree loop at incredible speeds.

Busch Gardens also offers countless animal encounters, available in habitats like Serengeti Plain, featuring hundreds of exotic African animals; Myombe Reserve, a lush forest filled with gorillas and chimpanzees; the Bird Gardens, containing almost 500 tropical birds; and Lory Landing, a domed habitat showcasing a variety of brilliantly colored birds. These exciting habitats, along with shows, tours, and other experiences, ensure that Busch Gardens will be Florida favorite for yet another 50 years.

If you’ve never visited Busch Gardens, don’t wait until its next bicentennial; make some time to explore this beloved Tampa theme park during your next vacation, and save on your adventure by purchasing discount Busch Gardens tickets from DWTickets.com.

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If you love daytime soaps, yearn to be part of some Hollywood magic, or simply need an excuse to go to an Orlando theme park, you’ll be interested to know that CBS daytime drama Guiding Light will be filming at Universal Orlando all week long. Our fair city is no stranger to the spotlights of TV – SeaWorld Orlando recently played host to tapings of Wheel of Fortune – and the Universal parks will join the queue of parks that have held tapings this year with TV shoots running through Friday, March 20.

Guiding Light, which is the longest-running drama on television with an eight-decade run, will be shooting at various spots at Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Universal CityWalk, and other spots within the park. Fans will be able to see the footage in multiple episodes airing from April 24 through May 4, but they’ll also be able to watch from behind the set at Universal while shooting is underway this week. Crew members, of course, will prevent anyone from getting too close, but park guests will be seen in the background of various shots. So if you’re well-placed and oblivious enough, you could be on the show!

The taping begins each day before the park opens, and shooting is fast-paced, with the cast and crew moving from location to location quite a few times in one day. Many residents of Orlando were cast as extras for the episodes in an open casting call that took place earlier in the month at CityWalk’s Groove nightclub.

Universal Orlando stars as itself in the episodes’ scripts, which mainly involve Bill (played by Daniel Cosgrove) whisking Lizzie (played by Marcy Rylan) away to the park to rekindle their love. Bill wants to give Lizzie the childhood she never had as a Spaulding, but Lizzie’s family and friends are never far behind.

If you can’t stop by Universal this week to watch the shoots, don’t fret – when filming wraps on Friday, the cast of Guiding Light will continue to stick around for Mardi Gras and a day of autograph sessions with fans in front of Fear Factor Live. On Saturday, March 21, the cast will be signing autographs from 10 am to 5 pm, starting with a full cast session and Q&A exclusive to annual passholders from 10 am to 11 am and followed by one hour sessions with select cast members through the rest of the day.

Then at Mardi Gras on Saturday night, the entire cast will appear in the evening’s parade at 8 pm. Several actors will be throwing beads to fans, and Kim Zimmer and Robert Newman (who play Reva and Josh, respectively), will be the king and queen of the parade.

There’s no extra cost to watch the filming, attend a signing, or catch the Mardi Gras fun at Universal; only regular admission is needed. So if you’re an avid fan of the show, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to meet the cast and watch them in action. Score your Universal Orlando tickets here at DWTickets.com and you’ll be ready for your close-up with Guiding Light.

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