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Central Florida News - (6/2/09) Certainly there has got to be a Screamscape reader out there who wants to win a 67-Day Vacation Stay in Orlando. Yes, that was not a type... I said 67 Days. The local tourism board is running a promotion to find a couple willing and able to stay in Orlando that long and post online video and travel blogs all about the experience as they take in every single Orlando area attraction over that time period as part of the 67 Days of Smiles promotion.
  (5/29/09) If you’ve read my site for any length of time, you’ve probably come across the occasional warning comments against the invasion of Stilt Walkers in Orlando. Seriously... it’s almost a law or something that every time a park there puts on a special event, they have to have at least 2 or more of them on site. They’re always present... always watching us from up above... even at the new DJ entertainment thingie they’ve got going in the old Pleasure Island area at Disney.
  Now imagine the horror when I read the latest press release from Cirque Du Soleil that talks about an attempt to reclaim the Guinness World Record for having the most people simultaneously walking on stilts on June 16th. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Cirque itself, they will hold stilt walking events in Orlando, Las Vegas, New York, Montreal (Canada), Fortaleza (Brazil), Lisbon (Portugal), Macau (China), Nagoya (Japan) and Tokyo (Japan). In Orlando they’ve gone so far as to invite the Mayor to come down to the La Nouba theater on that day where he will proclaim it Stilt Walker Day. Ok... I lied, it will be proclaimed Cirque du Soleil Day in Orlando, but the rest... it’s like a recipe for Stilt Walker Armageddon. Beware I tell you... Beware!
  (4/30/09) Florida law makers just voted 40-0 in favor of keeping theme park related Blueprints filed to the government as “confidential” and not a matter of public record.
  (4/15/09) While we really don’t know much yet about the new owner of Magical Midway, one of our readers did a little research on Blackbear Two, LLC. and discovered it is registered to a Brian Mirfin and formed just this past December. A little research in Mr Mirfin shows that he’s involved with the Daytona Slingshot, Bungee Mania and a few other small Florida area attractions, so Magical Midway is up their alley.
  (4/14/09) A photo update from late March shows off Fun Spot USA below all the SeaWorld photos, as they work to install a few new rides, such as the new Zamperla Surf’s Up that was under construction. They also stopped into Magical Midway which had an interesting sign up that stated, “Magical Midway LLC. is now Black Bear Two, LLC.”, which went on to say how they aren’t accepting any old comp passes. So do new rides come with a new owner? Anyone know more? If anything, they’ve removed a few things so far.
  (4/3/09) A local area reader went by Fun Spot USA the other day and reported in on the latest changes. The park looks to be putting in a brand new “Surfs Up” ride from Zamperla Meanwhile lots of other refurb work is going on around the park, sprucing things up before the busy summer season.
  (3/30/09) Do you know the Top 5 Central Florida rides involved in lawsuits over the past five years? You may think you can guess, but the truth may surprise you as the Orlando Sentinel counts them down. Coming in at the #1 spot as the ride that causes the most lawsuits of them all is none-other than Ripsaw Falls (Islands of Adventure) which was involved in 7 lawsuits in the last five years. Make the jump to see the rest...
  (3/19/09) Johnny Upsidedown dropped by Fun Spot USA the other day and noticed that the park has now installed the new kiddie coaster. The weird bit of news however is the new G-Force 150 ride that had yet to even open has now been completely removed from the site. Vanished… gone… like into the Bermuda Triangle gone. Anyone know just what happened?
  (3/1/09) Despite the website promoting the Alligator Ambush as new this year, I’ve been told that the slide was actually opened last year.
  (2/27/09) Wild Waters waterpark at Silver Springs is promoting a new attraction this year called Alligator Ambush, which appears to be one of those large Cannon Bowl slides with a giant alligator figure in the middle.
  (2/24/09) Parts and pieces of an old and kinda beat-up looking kiddie coaster have been spotted on the back of a truck at Fun Spot USA. Jump on over to Johnny Upsidedown to have a peek at these and the new G-Force 150 ride that has now begun testing and may open in the near future.
  (1/27/09) Less than a year after it opened the Mona Lisa Condo Hotel in Celebration has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. To date, it seems they were only able to sell 30% of the units and owes over $36 million.
  (1/14/09) According to the Orlando Sentinel a new ZipLine attraction has opened in Osceola County at Forever Florida, with the attraction designed to work with the flat Florida landscape. They’ve got a good video showing off the ZipLine in action.
  (1/9/09) The Holy Land Experience is living the high life with their tax-free exemption status it seems and has dropped an amazing $17.6 million to purchase a 7 acre office complex next to the park. To be fair, this purchase is really coming from the park’s new owners, Trinity Broadcasting Network, who would like to eventually build a television studio there. It’s worth noting that the park itself is only 15 acres, so depending on how they eventually redevelop the property that could add some significant expansion space for the park.
  (12/29/08) The SunSentinel has compiled a list of what each of the Central Florida theme parks has planned for New Years Eve.
  (12/18/08) According to a release from the Gaylord Palms, they are now offering anyone with a season pass to Disney, Universal or the Busch parks either a free child’s admission or a half-priced adult admission to see Ice! with the purchase of a regular priced ticket. You can read all the details on the offer here and see all the details about this year’s sixth annual Ice! at Gaylord Palms, where you talk a walk-through tour of this wonderful display always kept at a frosty 9º.
  (12/11/08) According to the OBJ several big projects for Orlando are now on hold due to the economy problems. Of course some of the most obvious victims are the numerous Condo towers and Condo-Hotel projects, which have been questionable for the last couple of years when the real estate market started to flounder. The article lists seven major project as now being officially “On Hold” including: The Great Orlando Wheel, Grand National, Blue Rose Resort, Palazzo del Lago, CityMark and the Douglas Grand International.
  Other projects are still pushing ahead however like the new 35-story expansion tower for the Peabody and the renovation and expansion of the Prime Outlets mall.
  (11/28/08) Remember those pictures from a few months ago about a new indoor Funspot location? The site is now open inside the Osceola Square Mall and was renamed as Fun Spot JR. It’s pretty much a large arcade as well as a large room full of giant inflatable for kids to climb and slide on.
  

  (11/24/08) According to RCPro, Old Town USA has set up something new called G-Force 150 to replace the old G-Force Dragsters. They describe it as a combination of motion simulator and a launched roller coaster combined with a number of special effects in the enclosed cabin. Make the jump to see the pictures.
  (11/13/08) While we had previously heard that the old G-Force Dragsters from Fun Spot USA were going to be moving to a new local area location, it looks like the deal must have fallen apart because the ride system is now up for sale. Or at least half of it appears to be up for sale, as seen in this odd-listing at Ital International that seems to only talk about selling off the half of the ride that used the newer 5-seat car that was added last year. So perhaps the other half is going somewhere else still… anyone know for sure?
  (11/12/08) When Dixie Stampede closed down suddenly in Orlando earlier this year, it was mentioned that they had simply received an offer too good to refuse from the nearby Orlando Premium Outlet mall. According to the Orlando Sentinel this week, that offer has fallen apart and the mall has decided not to pursue the deal any longer. Dixie Stampede says that they are looking for a new buyer to take the property and have no intention of moving the show back into the building. However… they also say that they are still looking into finding a new location in “Central Florida” to build a new dinner theater. So for now the old Dixie Stampede building will continue to sit empty, though with it’s prime location near Disney World, I’m sure someone can think of something good to do with it. 
  (7/8/08) For anyone planning a future visit to Florida’s theme parks and hoping to catch a Shuttle Launch while your in town NASA has set the dates for the final Shuttle missions for 2009 and 2010 before they retire the fleet.
  (5/30/08) It was heavily hinted at last year but now the Schussler Creative, the people behind the creation of Rainforest Café, T-Rex and the Yak & Yeti, have mentioned on their website for the Hot Dog Hall of Fame restaurant concept to say that the first one “will be featured in a major theme park in Orlando” before being expanded out to the rest of the world. Given their previous relationship with putting restaurants on Disney property I’ve got to assume that they may team up again. More on this when we find out. In the meantime, take a look at their other restaurant concepts in development… you’ll likely see a few more pop up in O-Town too.
  The various restaurant concepts include ideas like America’s Roadhouse, the odd Aeroblue concept (not sure how to describe it), Musical Gardens (fine dining in outdoor garden atmosphere), Dynasty (Asian food in a highly themed Chinese palace). A couple of more highly themed ideas that stood out to me were the Winter Wonderland idea of an eatery in a year-round winter environment serving cold-weather comfort food and The Sorcerer’s Kitchen, a magic school themed restaurant.

Great Orlando Wheel - On Hold - (12/11/08) An article in the OBJ mentioned that the Wheel project was now officially “On Hold”.
  (6/25/08) The Great Wheel Corporation has announced that construction will soon begin on the Great Orlando Wheel project. When it is finished in 2010, it will stand 400 feet tall and be placed on a 20 acre piece at 6503 Westwood Blvd, not far from SeaWorld and the Convention Center. The wheel will feature 24 air conditioned cabins (38 feet by 16 feet) able to carry 40 passengers each on a 30 minute long ride. Surrounding the wheel will be a “flight terminal” complex housing restaurants, bars and retail shops. There is also a video promotion for the wheel I’ve embedded below as well.

  (6/20/08) According to the Orlando Sentinel, execs from the Great Wheel Corp. will be in Orlando next week to make a major announcement about the Orlando project. From the sounds of things they will break ground and begin full construction on Wednesday.
  (6/20/08) If the latest rumor is true, we may finally get to hear a bit more about the proposed Great Orlando Wheel project starting to move forward. If they still want to make that 2009 opening date, they are going to have to start construction soon.
  (9/3/07) The Orlando Business Journal reports that the Great Orlando Wheel company has purchased a piece of land for $38 million. The giant wheel with air conditioned cabins is planned to be part of a greater resort complex planned for the site which is just across the Beachline Expressway from the original Convention Center on Westwood. The wheel itself, which they hope to open by 2009, will cost between $40-60 million and stand just under 400 feet tall. 
  (6/29/07) Plans are in the works by the Great Wheel Corp to bring a 400 foot tall giant wheel to Orlando by late 2009. The wheel will hold 960 guests at once in enclosed air conditioned pods and take 30 minutes to complete a single rotation. The location is said to be on a piece of land connected to the convention center by a bridge over the Beachline Expressway, which puts it near SeaWorld as well if it’s the site I think it is on Westwood. There is also talk of a new Venetian themed hotel that could be placed next to the giant wheel and bridge to the convention center from Buena Vista Corp.

Nickelodeon Family Suites - (5/29/08) The Nickelodeon Family Suites in Orlando has announced that they have just soft-opened a new 4-D Theater attraction in the resort, with the official grand opening to take place in late June. There will be several different films offered: Spongebob 4D, Extreme Log Ride 4D and Dinosaur 4D with more on the way. And of course, no Nickelodeon experience would be complete without slime. Guests will get an ooze-filled virtual sliming before each film!”
  On a side note, I find it very interesting that a resort that, according to a statement last year, was on the verge of losing their Nick branding in March 2009 would make such a unique capital investment, so I’d expect that we may hear more about the future of the resort in the near future as well.
  (6/4/07) I received a statement today from Joanna Roses, the Senior Director of Corporate Communications at Nickelodeon who confirmed that the Nickelodeon Family Suites by Holiday Inn in Orlando will continue to operate until their contract expires in March 2009. “Nothing in Orlando will change for now. The hotel will still be operated/managed by Miller Global Properties. We’re exploring many different options relative to how we can best take advantage of this great asset in conjunction with our new partnership and new concept.” However, I was previously aware that Miller Global Properties was the owner / operator of the Orlando resort however, as they are also the third partner in the new Nickelodeon / Marriott deal. It kind of makes me wonder if they might just re-franchise and re-brand the Holiday Inn as a Marriott to keep it in place, perhaps dropping in some new capital to expand and add new features to the existing property to bring it into the same vision concept as the new Marriott resorts in development.
  (6/1/07) It wasn’t that long ago when the Nickelodeon Family Suites by Holiday Inn opened up for business near not far from Disney World, but it seems the Nick characters could be evicted by 2009. According to a report in the Orlando Sentinel about the new licensing deal signed between Marriott and Nickelodeon to create a series of resorts around the world, it mentioned that the current licensing deal between the Holiday Inn and Nickelodeon will expire in 2009.

Peabody Expansion - (7/11/07) The Orlando Sentinel reports that the long delayed expansion of the Peabody hotel is now ready to move forward once again this fall. By 2010 the Peabody will feature a new 140,000 square-feet meeting space facility on the southern side and a new 750 room 32-story hotel tower on the north side.

The Square - (10/4/07) I noticed that the Mercado is now coming down and being demolished.
  (8/31/07) Unicorp is set to announce their full plans for The Square, to be built on the Mercado site, sometime next week according to the OBJ. Demolition of the Mercado is set to begin within the month.
  (6/26/08) Plans for The Mercado area along I-Drive seem to have changed. Instead of a large resort hotel project (Aqua), it will instead become The Square, a 20-acre 350,000 square-foot retail center. Some kind of “signature water feature” will be placed in the center of The Square that will feature a show using lighting, lasers and music. The developer (Unicorp) has set aside room for 2,000 hotel rooms and is talking to various developers about building on the site.