Most families will arrive
into Orlando via air travel. Most likely you will arrive at Orlando International Airport. All the national
carriers and a majority of the international ones fly into MCO.
From the Orlando Airport
you have easily accessible car rental. Information about these
different agencies could be found here. This lists OIA's on-site rental agencies, as
well as links to all other rental companies.
The weather in Orlando is very
unpredictable. It can be sunny one moment and stormy the next.
The storms, however, never last too long. In the summer the
temperatures are fairly consistent. Highs are usually in the 90's
and lows in the 70's. In the winter the highs are in the 70's to
80's and lows in the 50's to 60's.
DISCOUNT
ATTRACTION TICKETS
When purchasing area Attraction Tickets, a method
of last resort should be to buy them at the park entrance. Anyone
can usually purchase discount tickets from a variety of sources.
We recommend the Ventura Holiday and Vacation Center off of
Oceola Parkway in Kissimmee, Fl. They can be reached at phone
(407) 344-0030 and fax (407) 344-2927. You may also ask them
about other vacation items.
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While your staying in our lovely
home there are many entertaining options for your time.
- Of course, everyone already knows about Walt Disney
World. We'll just let you explore the Disney HomePage. Here
you can find links to The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and the
MGM Studio Theme Park.
- Wet
'n Wild added its third major slide in three years
when the Surge made its debut in April. The $3 million
Surge, Florida's biggest and longest multi-passenger
water ride, sends groups of five people twisting and
turning through more than 580 feet of curves. The journey
starts from a six-story tower topped by a 50-foot
geodesic dome. Last year Wet 'n Wild introduced the Bomb
Bay, a ride that plunges thrill-seekers down a 76-foot
slide. That followed the $1 million Bubba Tub. Bubba Tub
sends up to five riders splashing and dipping down a
river the length of a football field. Wet 'n Wild is open
year-round and features heated pools.
- Church
Street Station, Orlando's downtown entertainment
complex, celebrates its 20th
anniversary with a Historical Tour of the Station. The
Tour features the history of Orlando's original railroad
depot, antiques like the 1865 phone booth made from a
French church confessional box, and an old-fashioned
sing-a-long with Rosie O'Grady's Banjo Man.
- Medieval
Times Dinner Theater & Tournament and Medieval
Life Village offers a close-up
view of authentic medieval artifacts and replicas of
torture devices from the Middle Ages in its Museum of
Torture. The walk-through dungeon features the stretch
rack, head crusher, spiked interrogation chair and
hanging coffin. The museum is open one hour before and 30
minutes following evening shows. Medieval Times,
America's original jousting knights tournament,
celebrated its 10th year in Orlando in 1994.
- Nickelodeon Studios,
a network devoted to kid's programming, launches Gullah
Gullah Island and U to U this fall. Gullah Gullah Island
is a Nick Junior show for preschoolers emphasizing
storytelling, games and friendship. U to U is an
interactive show with call-in and write-in contests to
promote active viewing. Guests get to watch tapings
weekdays on Nickelodeon's behind-the-scenes tour. It's
the perfect place for children to be a part of a studio
audience or audition for one of Nick's programs. Slime,
goo and gak are Nick hallmarks.
- Orlando Science Center
features Science In Toyland and Earthquirks during the
holidays. Playtime means science at Science In Toyland
where guests get to design spinning tops and build models
of real or imaginary bugs. When people play and ask
questions, they are behaving like scientists. Science in
Toyland runs through Jan. 22. Earthquirks showcases
science that will shake you up. Guests may build and test
their block structures on earthquake tables or explore
continents on the move. Earthquirks runs through Dec. 31.
- Planet Hollywood, a movie and television-themed
restaurant owned in part by Arnold Schwarzenegger and
Sylvester Stallone, will open during the holidays next to
Walt Disney World's Pleasure
Island complex. The 400-seat entertainment restaurant
will be filled with movie memorabilia and holograms of
stars. Planet Hollywood will feature a private screening
room and conference facilities.
- Sea
World of Florida, Orlando's world-renowned marine
life park, celebrates its 20th anniversary with a package
of new shows including The Big Splash Bash in the new
Nautilus Theatre; Mermaids, Myths & Monsters
explosive nighttime extravaganza; Shamu: Close Up, a
killer whale breeding and research habitat; and a new
killer whale show. Sea World also added two
behind-the-scenes Sea Safan Guided Tours that give guests
an opportunity to interact with unique animals and learn
about the ecosystems they live in and Sea World's Animal
Rescue, Rehabilitation and Release program. The park
announced the addition of Wild Arctic, an adventure
featuring a simulated flight over the frozen North and
real-life encounters with the animals that live there.
Wild Arctic, the largest undertaking in the history of
any Anheuser- Busch theme park.
- Terror on
Church Street, a permanent haunted house attraction,
recently opened a new wing of horrifying adventure. At
the corner of Orange Avenue and Church Street in downtown
Orlando, this ghostly labyrinth ushers visitors through a
nightmare journey of fear, featuring 23 individual
theatrical sets and scenes and creating the ultimate
experience in horror. Within the 20,000-square foot
attraction, state-of-the-art sound and visual techniques
are set to provide Halloween thrills year-round. Get set
to be frightened!
- Universal Studios Florida
gets into the holiday spirit with decorations and
entertainment
throughout the park. Look for “snow" in Florida
at Universal's New York set. Universal recently opened
its all-new Dynamite Nights Stuntacular lagoon show. The
stunt show features daredevil boat pilots, death defying
stunts, pyrotechnics and a 60-foot boat jump through a
three-story inferno. Jaws puts guests in the water for a
fiery nightmare as they are pursued by the perfect
predator. The city of "Bedrock" came to life
this fall as Universal added Backstage With The
Flintstones. This exhibit includes sets and props from
the film and has Flintstones characters Fred, Barney,
Betty, Wilma and Dino interacting with guests. Network
and syndicated TV shows seaQuest DSV, Fortune Hunter and
The News are being filmed throughout the fall at
Universal.
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ALSO IN THE CENTRAL FLORIDA
AREA ARE:
- Busch
Gardens, in nearby Tampa, opened the Hollywood On Ice
show at its Moroccan Palace Theatre. The show presents
the history of Hollywood with scenes from silent films,
horror movies, classic musicals, James Bond films and an
"extravagant" finale. Busch Gardens recently
opened Kumba, the largest, fastest steel roller coaster
in the southeast. Kumba, which means "roar,"
features three first-of-its- kind elements including a
diving loop, a camelback 360-degree spiral and the
world's largest loop.
- Carnival Cruise Lines
now sails the Fun Ship Fantasy from Central Florida's
Port Canaveral to the Bahamas. Carnival also offers
cruises combined with Orlando vacations. The Fantasy
includes a health club, Galleria Shopping Mall and
continuous movies. Visitors may spend the evenings
gambling in the Club 21 Casino, dancing in the
Electricity Discotheque, enjoying a Las Vegas-style revue
or relaxing on deck.
- Cypress Gardens, known for its botanical displays and
water skiing, showcase several all- new attractions
including the Masters of The Wind birds of prey program,
Garden of Lights Holiday Festival, Wildlife Sculpture
Series and Annual Poinsettia and Chrysanthemum festivals
during the holiday season. Masters of The Wind premiered
in October giving guests an opportunity come face-to-face
with bald eagles, falcons and vultures in an educational
program. The Garden of Lights, Nov.25 - Jan.8, is a
magical fantasyland of holiday sights and sounds with
more than 400,000 sparkling lights and 150 animated
scenes including Home For The Holidays, a dazzling new
musical production. The Wildlife Sculpture Series opens
Nov.1 with more than 30 life-sized figures of bronze,
steel, iron and sandstone in a garden display. The tenth
annual Chrysanthemum Festival runs through November with
2 million mum buds in the largest display of its kind in
North America. The Poinsettia Festival takes center stage
Nov.25 - Jan.8 with bubbling waterfalls, reindeer
topiaries and holiday trees featuring 40,000 red, pink
and white poinsettia blooms.
- Kennedy
Space Center's Spaceport USA recently premiered a
third IMAX film. Destiny In
Space, narrated by actor Leonard Nimoy of “Star
Trek" fame, delves into the challenges of space
exploration with footage from nine space shuttle flights.
IMAX produces images that are ten times the size of
convention motion pictures. The Center also recently
completed a full-size replica of the Space Shuttle and a
full-scale model of one module of NASA's proposed space
station. Also featured at Spaceport USA is the Astronaut
Memorial. The 42-foot polished granite monument features
a rotating space mirror that reflects astronauts' names
into the sky so they appear to float among the clouds.
Spaceport opened the 44,000-square foot Center for Space
Education in April. The Center's mission is to promote
excellence in space education, math and science by
presenting programs that stimulate student interest in
these fields.
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