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On 12/11/2022 at 11:11 PM, codypet said:

Interesting considering I spent like $260 for a Busch Gardens/Adventure Island/Sea World/Aquatica Annual Pass.  Really shows the value of those passes.

Also a couple of things:  The photo of the no line is the back of the ticketing area before you reach security.  I assure you if she panned the camera 90 degrees to the left, you would have seen a crowd of people getting in.

The Story Time Sesame St show is a similar show to the Sea World on that's only offered once a day.  If she had stuck around for the "Let's Play" show it would have been far more entertaining.  Similarly, Sea World has an "Elmo Rocks" show that's pretty good and a very good parade.  My ex LOVED the ice skating show.  I've never been one for shows.  If this reviewer got there in late August I'm certain she got there right as a bunch of shows were being closed and rethemed for Howl-O-Scream.

Zambia Smokehouse is some of the best food in the park.  No additional notes.  This lady is wrong.

Also I don't get the sense that this person went on the train that takes you through the safari.  And I know she didn't go on the Skyride because that's been closed all year to make way for the new swing ride.  

I mean there is a lot of things that need improving at Busch Gardens (primarily from the service standpoint), but you kind of get what you pay for and I'm a cheapskate and I don't see a better value than the BG annual pass.  After watching that Defunctland video about lines, I really have no interest in going to Disney.  

does that annual pass get you into Howl O Scream by chance?

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6 hours ago, jrs2 said:

does that annual pass get you into Howl O Scream by chance?

Howl O Scream tix are $25 ea for you and up to 6 guests.

I mean free parking is worth it along with all the discounted food.  I know I went at least a dozen times this year.

Edited by codypet
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On 12/13/2022 at 5:05 PM, spenser1058 said:

It’s all moot. Everyone knows GATORLAND is the best!

I tell people all the time that pound-for-pound Gatorland is the best attraction in Central Florida.  I have never had anything but a wonderful time there.  It is educational, fun, interesting, helpful to animals, relaxing, very Florida-centric, and a bargain.

I don't expect Barb, Jimmy, & their 5 kids from Sheboygan, WI to save several years to travel all the way to Orlando and then skip WDW, Uni, & SeaWorld and go to Gatorland instead.  However, if they have an extra half day or day they need to fill instead of playing at the hotel pool it's easily one of the best places in town to go.  

Edited by HankStrong
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16 hours ago, codypet said:

Howl O Scream tix are $25 ea for you and up to 6 guests.

I mean free parking is worth it along with all the discounted food.  I know I went at least a dozen times this year.

do you mean that you just fork over $25 for up to six guests and yourself?

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Leave the roller coasters to Busch Gardens. Meanwhile, ZooTampa is looking at a $125 million expansion over the next 20 years:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/2022/12/15/tampa-zoo-planning-125m-expansion-with-link-hillsborough-river/

From The Tampa Bay Times 

This comes as Tampa’s Florida Aquarium is also expanding.
 

Edited by spenser1058
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  • 2 weeks later...

Haven't seen this mentioned anywhere, but over the NY Holiday weekend, the Orlando Eye malfunctioned and had an electrical issue that caused a power outage and stranded over 60 people on the ride for hours. They had to be rescued by the fire department. 

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orange-county/os-ne-icon-park-ferris-wheel-shutdown-guest-trapped-20230101-zz2jmugi7rhohcpbohmkt6c7eq-story.html

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/01/03/watch-drone-video-shows-62-rescued-after-the-wheel-at-icon-park-lost-power/

Methinks this is the end of ICON. 

Edited by dcluley98
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On 1/3/2023 at 8:23 PM, JFW657 said:

Goodness!!!! I hope it's not going to be visually impaired now!!!!

injuredeye.jpg

 

I wish Icon would put real ice-skating in the front lawn for the Winter. They would make so much more money then the carosaul that they put and would attract many people, even locals like me. Seems like orlando only has the fake ice skating outdoors. Sure itswarm out, byt you can still produce an ice skating rink in warm weather fairly easily. 

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27 minutes ago, shardoon said:

I wish Icon would put real ice-skating in the front lawn for the Winter. They would make so much more money then the carosaul that they put and would attract many people, even locals like me. Seems like orlando only has the fake ice skating outdoors. Sure itswarm out, byt you can still produce an ice skating rink in warm weather fairly easily. 

I went ice skating somewhere in Orlando back in the early 80's.

I'm thinking probably Pine Hills.

But it was indoors of course.

I didn't do very well either, BTW.  :( 

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On 1/7/2023 at 7:43 AM, shardoon said:

I wish Icon would put real ice-skating in the front lawn for the Winter. They would make so much more money then the carosaul that they put and would attract many people, even locals like me. Seems like orlando only has the fake ice skating outdoors. Sure itswarm out, byt you can still produce an ice skating rink in warm weather fairly easily. 

Disney Village had real ice skating back in the 90's in the Winter (Before it became Downtown Disney)

Winter Park used to have real ice skating until 2018.   (Oh man, want to set off a store owner on Park Ave?   Ask them what happened to the ice skating rink.  The owner of one of those businesses went on a 10 min rant on how stupid it was to get rid of it)

Edited by codypet
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On 1/7/2023 at 7:43 AM, shardoon said:

I wish Icon would put real ice-skating in the front lawn for the Winter. They would make so much more money then the carosaul that they put and would attract many people, even locals like me. Seems like orlando only has the fake ice skating outdoors. Sure itswarm out, byt you can still produce an ice skating rink in warm weather fairly easily. 

Around 10 years ago, Winter Park used to have a ice rink in the park for the winter, don't know when that stopped. Light Up UCF also wasn't going on this year, I assume that stopped during COVID, but wish it would have started up again. 

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3 hours ago, bqknight said:

Around 10 years ago, Winter Park used to have a ice rink in the park for the winter, don't know when that stopped. Light Up UCF also wasn't going on this year, I assume that stopped during COVID, but wish it would have started up again. 

Just saying, its a huge missed oppurtunity. Its not the same thing going to a sterile indoor facility in Maitland or Kissimmee. This will draw lots of people, tourists and locals alike to Icon Park. If anyone has links to the developer, please pass this along........ my kids would love it.......

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News came out today that Universal is planning a new theme park in Frisco Texas, as well as a smaller attraction in Las Vegas that is affiliated with the Area 15 project.  The Area 15 will be a smaller attraction focused on "horror" properties, based on established "Halloween Horror Nights" brand and maybe the "classic monsters" stuff at Epic Universe. It is interesting to me that they are partnering with Area 15, as that is slated to come to Orlando as a separate attraction near SeaWorld and Disney properties. 

https://www.insideuniversal.net/2023/01/universal-planning-mini-park-attractions-in-las-vegas-nevada-and-frisco-texas/

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21 hours ago, dcluley98 said:

News came out today that Universal is planning a new theme park in Frisco Texas, as well as a smaller attraction in Las Vegas that is affiliated with the Area 15 project.  The Area 15 will be a smaller attraction focused on "horror" properties, based on established "Halloween Horror Nights" brand and maybe the "classic monsters" stuff at Epic Universe. It is interesting to me that they are partnering with Area 15, as that is slated to come to Orlando as a separate attraction near SeaWorld and Disney properties. 

https://www.insideuniversal.net/2023/01/universal-planning-mini-park-attractions-in-las-vegas-nevada-and-frisco-texas/

https://area15.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/orlando-leasing-deck.pdf

yeah, I forgot about this.  it's on that site to the south of Cheesecake Factory, behind, more or less, Premium Outlets.  That looks to be pretty cool.

I always thought it would be cool if Universal was able to create a year-round HHN attraction theme park.  I am sure it would be popular.

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On 1/9/2023 at 9:15 AM, bqknight said:

Around 10 years ago, Winter Park used to have a ice rink in the park for the winter, don't know when that stopped. Light Up UCF also wasn't going on this year, I assume that stopped during COVID, but wish it would have started up again. 

Danny White killed Light Up UCF because he wanted basketball to be the star, not Light Up. It was very dumb. The new group didn't even know it existed but hopefully they bring it back.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/12/2023 at 3:33 PM, popsiclebrandon said:

Danny White killed Light Up UCF because he wanted basketball to be the star, not Light Up. It was very dumb. The new group didn't even know it existed but hopefully they bring it back.

I assumed it disappeared because of COVID, thats pretty dumb.

In other news, Disney has filed its site plan for its Lake Nona campus.

From OBJ:

As outlined, the six office buildings will total 1.46 million square feet in space, with buildings as small as 167,000 square feet and as big as 354,000 square feet.

The office buildings will range in height between four and seven stories. Per the project's entitlements, the maximum allowable height on the campus is 10 stories.

The two flex buildings will total 346,000 square feet — 100,000 and 246,000 square feet, respectively — and each are planned to be four stories in height, though a memo included with the project materials notes that the floor-to-floor height in those two buildings may exceed the 25-foot per-story standard.

The three parking garages each will be six stories tall and total 4,625 parking spaces.

The one-story central plant building is expected to be 20,000 square feet in size.
 

Full article (behind paywall) https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2023/01/23/disney-lake-nona-campus-new-plans-florida.html

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51 minutes ago, shardoon said:

Ok...BOOM!

So this would be the first major brand hotel proposing an upscale hotel property next to Universal.  Up until now, we've seen Four Seasons, Hilton/Waldorf, JW Marriott, the new Conrad Hilton under redevelopment/construction, and the proposed Fairmont property across Marriott World Center, all near WDW; you could include the Ritz/JW as being fairly close to the "attractions area" as well.  Add in the other hotel proposal that's in Miami already proposed for Daryl Carter & Palm Pkwy (forgot the name).

Hopefully this goes through and gets built.  This will be the first hotel property attracted to that zone by Epic U as well.  I hope it influences Universal and Loews to rethink whether they are planning cheaper outparcel hotels on the southern end of Epic U.  Helios will probably be mid to higher end in quality I gather...

This is also good for the OCCC- too bad it's not at Kirkman Road extension & Universal Blvd, to be more accessible by foot.

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On 1/23/2023 at 8:48 PM, aent said:

I assumed it disappeared because of COVID, thats pretty dumb.

In other news, Disney has filed its site plan for its Lake Nona campus.

From OBJ:

As outlined, the six office buildings will total 1.46 million square feet in space, with buildings as small as 167,000 square feet and as big as 354,000 square feet.

The office buildings will range in height between four and seven stories. Per the project's entitlements, the maximum allowable height on the campus is 10 stories.

The two flex buildings will total 346,000 square feet — 100,000 and 246,000 square feet, respectively — and each are planned to be four stories in height, though a memo included with the project materials notes that the floor-to-floor height in those two buildings may exceed the 25-foot per-story standard.

The three parking garages each will be six stories tall and total 4,625 parking spaces.

The one-story central plant building is expected to be 20,000 square feet in size.
 

Full article (behind paywall) https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2023/01/23/disney-lake-nona-campus-new-plans-florida.html

amazing.  How many square feet is Advent's campus at 414 & Forrest City Road?  This looks to be a similar project in scope and maybe larger.

and it is also amazing how neither Disney nor Advent have or had any interest of instead building a downtown high rise tower or complex.

You go to Nashville, and then you come back here and you think...WTF is wrong with DTO?  Is @spenser1058right again in his criticisms of City Hall?

The Aon Center in Chicago (Standard Oil, Big Stan, Amoco, etc) is 80 stories, 1,136 ft in height, and has like 1.2M sq ft.  And that is part of the problem with Orlando...the business is here...it's just not anywhere near DTO.

The over 25ft floor to floor height reminds me of the Richard J Daley Center, where the tower is like 662' but it's got less than 30 stories.  Pretty cool.  Now if the EA Building's lobby level had a 25' ceiling that would have been nice.

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