The country’s premier Halloween event has announced the 2010 dates and ticket prices, so get ready, horror fans — Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights celebrates 20 years of fear in 2010. This is THE event for horror aficionados and it is rumored to be better than ever. It’s not for the faint of heart and definitely not for younger children (stay tuned for a blog post about Disney’s Not-So-Scary Halloween event, coming soon), but if you want excellent haunted houses, creepy atmosphere and monsters galore, it is definitely the event for you. Get your tickets sooner rather than later, especially if you want to go on a Friday or Saturday night or close to Halloween itself — Halloween Horror Nights sells out early for high-capacity dates and will be crowded with both tourists and locals, who often buy Frequent Fear and Frequent Fear Plus passes so they can hit the houses once a week during the 24-week run.

Halloween Horror Nights is not included in your regular Universal Orlando ticket price, though you can get a Stay and Scream add on for slightly less than the regular HHN pass costs. HHN is a special event with its own tickets, starting at .99 base. Express Pass access is also available and it’s highly recommended — on weekend nights, you can find yourself waiting upwards of 90 minutes per house, and with an anticipated TEN houses this year, that’s a lot of line time. The HHN Express Pass is available for an additional fee, which ranges from .99 to a whopping .99 for high-demand nights (like the Saturday of Halloween weekend).

A great way to go is to take advantage of Universal Orlando’s Gory Getaway packages. Starting at 9 per person, this deal gets you:

* 3-Night accommodations at a Universal Partner Hotel
* 2-Day Base Ticket to both Universal Orlando theme parks – one theme park, per day
* Early Park Admission to Islands of Adventure before the rest of the general public
* 1-Night admission to Halloween Horror Nights
* Access to live entertainment venues at Universal CityWalk®
* One 5”x7” souvenir photograph

You can upgrade to an on-site hotel for an additional fee. For more information, go to the Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights tickets page.

There are discounts available for Florida residents and Universal Annual Pass holders, with savings of up for per ticket, making this option — if you have it — very worthwhile. For those of us without those kinds of options, though, it’s time to open the wallet wide. Think of it this way — you can practice your screaming as you pay for the tickets.

Halloween Horror Nights 2010 will run on the following dates:
September 24, 25, 30
October 1-3, 7-10, 14-17, 20-24, 27-31, 2010

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As of today — September 6, 2010 — enjoying the magic of a Walt Disney World theme park is going to make a bigger dent in your wallet. The theme park giant has raised ticket prices across the board, despite a still-precarious economy and their own recent trend of offering discounted packages and perks. From today, a one-day, one-park pass for all guests 10 and up will cost , up from . It’s for a one-day, one-park for kids aged 3-9 — luckily, it’s still free for kids under 3 years old. Multi-day passes and annual passes are also getting a price increase — here’s the breakdown, from the Walt Disney World blog itself:

Competing parks like Sea World and Universal Studios Orlando have not yet announced a similar increase in their prices. Let’s hope they stay that way.

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A vacation in Walt Disney World is all kinds of fun, but it can also cost all kinds of money. There’s the cost of the vacation itself (hotel, travel costs), tickets to the parks, meals, endless souvenirs, sunscreen, and snacks, to name but a few. But there are some free ways to entertain yourself in the Happiest Place on Earth too. Here are a five fun ways to spend part of the day or all of it, without dipping into your rapidly-thinning wallet.

1. Downtown Disney — as long as you can trust yourself to window shop and you avoid the tempting treats and restaurants, it’s actually very easy to while away some pleasant and cost-free hours wandering Downtown Disney. The Westside is more modern and more varied. You can find everything from candy bars to designer sunglasses and clothes, so window shopping is a must. There is also House of Blues, where live shows featuring top artists are a nearly daily occurrence and fans have been known to haunt the stage door in the hope of grabbing a photo and an autograph during daytime sound checks. Check out the other side of things at Disney Marketplace (once known as Disney Village). The shops here are more Disney-focused, notably the massive World of Disney. There is also a Lego store complete with huge, intricate Lego sculptures outside where you can feel free to touch and poke and take pictures. Inside the store are tables full of those iconic plastic bricks, where customers of all ages are encouraged to build and play.

2. Disney Hotels — Disney theming extends much father than just the theme parks. The Walt Disney World Resort includes 19 hotels, all beautifully decorated and well worth their own visits. This is especially true during the holiday season, when some of the hotels even offer special tours of the more spectacular sites. Take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom hotels, like the Polynesian or the Grand Floridian, or take a walk to the EPCOT resorts like the Boardwalk or The Yacht Club. The Animal Kingdom Lodge even has its own Savannah views, with animals that live specifically on the hotel’s property. A short walk from Downtown Disney is Hotel Row and are even more hotels whose grounds also offer a lovely way to while away from time. All the hotels — both Disney property and the Hotel Row properties (including The Royal Plaza and the Hilton — check out the turtles in the Hilton’s pond!) There are shops and restaurants in all of the hotels, so take your time and explore.

3. Boats and Monorails — The Disney Water transportation and monorails cost nothing to ride, though once you arrive at the parks you’ll need tickets to go inside, and while the rides are short, they can be pleasant and relaxing. The monorail in particular can be a great respite on boiling hot days; it’s always cool and comfortable inside the monorail! You can even request to ride in the front car along with the driver and you’ll receive your own pin when you’re done!

4. The Boardwalk — A short walk from EPCOT or just a Disney bus ride away is the Boardwalk, a line of shops and restaurants modeled after the classic East Coast boardwalks. It’s a quarter of a mile long and is on the border of Crescent Lake, one of the many man-mad lakes at the Walt Disney World Resort. The Boardwalk offers food, drinks, shopping and entertainment. It’s a great place to wander and people watch, and things definitely heat up at night with street performers, street vendors and entertainment. A lot of it is free, so take a walk on the Boardwalk and enjoy the sights.

5. Celebration — Take a Disney shuttle from the theme parks to Celebration, the planned community just minutes from the parks themselves and home to approximately 8000 lucky (and definitely upper-upper middle class and higher) home owners. Celebration has small-town atmosphere and a quaint downtown area that includes some great restaurants, interesting shops and a movie theater. There’s also the romantic and lovely Celebration Hotel, with a charming lobby reminiscent of early 20th century inns. Check out the piano bar, too.

Summer is the perfect time for reconnecting with family and friends and making memories that will last a lifetime. And now, SeaWorld Orlando is rolling out an offer that comes at the perfect time for vacations and allows families the chance to make a real difference for wildlife conservation.

Now through December 31, with each full-paid, SeaWorld Orlando single-day, adult admission purchased online, any child age 12 and under gets a .00 admission, all of which goes to fund non-profit organizations that are working right now on wildlife conservation projects. Families even can choose which wildlife conservation effort receives their donation.

“This offer makes it easy for families and friends to reconnect during a vacation, a getaway or even just a day trip to one of our parks,” said Jim Atchison, President and Chief Executive Officer for SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. “At SeaWorld, families experience amazing up-close animal connections that can’t be found any place else. And we believe a greater respect for the world we share follows a visit to one of our parks.”

“We know the economy’s been tough for everyone, but more than ever before, everyone needs to spend time together,” Atchison said. “We think families also will have fun deciding which wildlife conservation project gets their donation, too. It’s a wonderful way for kids to learn about the work that goes on to save animals in the wild.”

For important details on this offer and to buy tickets, go to SeaWorldCares.com.

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I have always had a problem with taking photos. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, and since the advent of the digital camera, I take a huge number of them everywhere I can. The problem with me always taking them is that I am not in many of them. Disney’s Photo pass is a great way to remedy the situation.

To take full advantage of the service, the first thing to do when you get to one of the parks is find a Photo pass cast member and get your ID card. They’re not hard to find, there are always some at the entrances to the parks, waiting to get a shot of you and the family as you start a new Disney adventure. It only takes a moment or two as they snap away, then you can head off into the park and fun that waits.

Photo pass cast members are all over the parks at the best photo op positions. Sure, I have a ton of pictures of the Castle, but I need new ones every trip. The photo pass cast member got a great shot of my family in front of the castle. We also happened to find a cast member set up on the Tomorrowland side of the Castle, and that shot was a nice change in perspective. I have some great shots in some really interesting locals around the parks that I might have missed. And with cast members being as friendly as they are, they worked with my family to get great, creative shots that really gave my photo album a different kick. Best of all, they will even take photos with my personal camera, so I always have a spot in my vacation photos (as if all my souvenirs didn’t prove I was there!). They also have photo pass cast members at most of the character meet and greets, so you’ll never miss a special moment. Just be sure to hand them you photo pass ID card every time you stop.

The fun with the photo pass doesn’t end when you leave the park. You can view, edit and purchase any shots from the comfort of your home computer. The website has different options for photo boarders, you can even add in your favorite characters in case you missed them in person. If you don’t want to purchase individual prints, you can get a photo CD which includes the original and photo shopped pictures. You can even upload your own photos and create a scrapbook style photo album they print and send, which saved me from doing it!

Even if you don’t buy anything from the PhotoPass, it’s fun to play with the pictures and relive the wonderful memories. It’s also nice to get someone else to take the picture for a change.

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A mere 45 minutes from the parks awaits a lush paradise that is an unexpected surprise. Wekiva Springs State park is a different kind of Florida, the closest you can come to what things were like centuries ago, long before theme parks and interstates and Starbucks. Wekiva is part of the Florida State Park system and it prides itself on being ” a glimpse of what Central Florida looked like when Timucuan Indians fished and hunted these lands.”

Wekiva is a wonderful break from the ordinary, often hectic rush of an Orlando theme park vacation. Wekiva has acres and acres for you to explore at your leisure. There are trails for hiking, walking, bicycling, and horseback riding. You can take a kayak or canoe (rentals available at the park) ride on the often crystal clear water for glimpses of wildlife both on land and beneath the shimmering surface — animals like Alligators, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Limpkins, Little Blue Herons, Tricolored Herons, Woodpeckers, Swallow-tailed Kites, Florida Black Bears, White-tailed Deer, River Otters, and Fox are just some of what you may see. Swimming and snorkeling is available year-round as well, since the spring maintain a natural temperature of 72 degrees no matter what the air temp is–that’s refreshing in the hottest Florida summer and still comfortable during cool Orlando winters. Just remember this is a State Park, not a theme park — all animals are wild animals and you always swim/snorkel at your own risk. I’d stick with the kayaks, myself, but the more adventurous out there might think differently.

Wekiva is one of my favorite places in the Orlando area. It’s a peaceful, beautiful haven, the perfect place to relax and get away from all stresses, even the ones vacations sometimes bring. And at a carload, it’s a real bargain. This is a day trip well worth making time for, especially with the new Nature Center where you can learn about Florida history as well as local flora and fauna. There are even live wildlife specimens if you’re not brave enough to hit the trails on your own. You can bring your own food to Wekiva too, so grab a picnic basket or a loaded backpack; there are also a few concession stands serving snacks and basics.

If you go to Wekiva, be sure to pack plenty of sunblock, bottled water and insect repellent; the Florida sun is strong and the bugs can be plentiful. A small first aid kit isn’t a bad idea either, especially for inexperienced hikers. In my opinion, the best way to spend time at Wekiva is relaxing near the big spring swimming hole, stretched out on a blanket with a good book, with perhaps the occasional walk along the 18-mile boardwalk to try to spy some lurking wildlife. Bring your camera, bring a blanket, bring the family. This is the Orlando area at its most unexpected. Make time for it if you can.

Wekiwa Springs State Park\

1800 Wekiwa Circle

Apopka, Florida 32712

(407) 884-2008

Wekiwa Springs State Park


*Photographs credit of The Florida Department of Environmental Protection

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