Leisure … more than a word, it's a lifestyle

Well…it’s Father’s Day…so Happy Father’s Day to all you Dad’s out there!

For me, as a Dad of two rapidly growing daughters it’s usually a day to sit down and relax while watching the US Open Championship. This year is no exception and I have to say I’m thoroughly enjoying watch the battle over at Pebble Beach as the leader board is changing hands.

An awful start by overnight leader Dustin Johnson has seen him throw his 3 shot lead away and now there’s a battle at the top between the big guns of Els, Mickelson, Woods, Love and the lesser known McDowell and Havret. It’s great stuff set against a magnificent backdrop of crashing waves and blue sea.

Golf, of course, is a favorite pastime for many fathers through out the world and that set me thinking about the wonderful Walt Disney World Courses we have here in Central Florida.

Walt Disney World has 5 golf courses on property and what better way is there for Dad to spend Father’s Day than to hot the golf course with the family?

The two most famous courses and home to the PGA Tour later in the year are Disney’s Magnolia and Palm golf courses. Both courses are located by Disney’s Polynesian Resort and the Magnolia is the longest course that Disney offers. It is a classic course that features a tranquil setting and beautiful Magnolia trees throughout the course.

Disney’s Palm course is a very challenging course and the woodlands of Florida often come into play. it’s here you can sometimes see deer and other wildlife not to mention the odd alligator relaxing in the sandtraps!

Disney’s Lake Buena Vista Golf Course is located near Downtown Disney and encompasses the
classic country club feeling. Lake Buena Vista, is one of very few courses that has hosted a PGA Tour event, an LPGA Tour event and a USGA event. A beautiful course that winds through pines with the Villas of Old Key West in the background

Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course – This course is probably the best course for families that are looking for a course that is “children-friendly”. Oak Trail, is a 9 hole, par 36, walking course, that features a beautiful setting and a chance for the family to enjoy a day of fun golf.

Disney’s Osprey Ridge Golf Course – This course is rated at one of the best in Florida with a rating of 4 ½ out of 5 stars. Osprey Ridge is for golfers who enjoy a challenge as the 18-hole course features 7,101 yards and is a par 72. Osprey Ridge is a beautiful course that slices through a stunning setting of the Audubon Cooperative Wildlife Sanctuary.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be Father’s Day in order to play golf…everyday is a beautiful day to play the great game while you are in Orlando!

US OPEN UPDATE : Congratulations to Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell – 110th US Open Champion.

Well, it’s open… 23 minutes late and finally the curtain we have been waiting to drop dropped! Harry Potter himself came out to greet the waiting hordes and was accompanied by other cast members to open the new attraction.

The first guests to see the newly opened section of Islands of Adventure theme park were some schoolkids from several elementary schools in Virginia, Denver, Oklahoma and Texas. A few fireworks then went off and guests were then invited by Harry Potter to enjoy the park. Let the fun begin!

10.15m UPDATE:

Universal has said there is a 4-6hr wait from Toon Lagoon… LOL! Yes,
there are wait times from TOON LAGOON!!!!

10.30am UPDATE:

Forbidden Journey now has a 16 hour wait!!The line goes all the way out into Citywalk!!!

11.15am UPDATE:

The lines continue to build outside Islands of Adventure.

11.30am UPDATE:

Just got news that Universal closed the doors at 11.00AM. Some people were very unhappy about it.

2.15pm UPDATE:

Reports coming in that the Forbidden Journey ride has broken down.

2.30pm UPDATE:

Our reporter on the ground reports:

“2 girls fist fighting in front of families & huge line. Humanity goes crazy over Boy Wizard. Security going crazy.”"Crowds are insane right now. Ride is already @ a 120 mins wait & crowds are all the way @ the Hard Rock Cafe.”"Suit telling our portion of the crowd that it’s 4 hrs to get in from the IOA gates.”"News from the queue! Line jumpers in Lost Continent cause “mini riot” and get escorted out”

3.00pm UPDATE :

“The FJ ride is still working, the line for Potter wraps around the whole park. The lines for the other stuff are getting long now. cat in the hat is 45 and Spidey is 85 … Universal did not plan this well at all.”

Here’s a video from this morning…

6.00pm UPDATE

Here’s more photo’s of the lines around City Walk today

Just 15 minutes to go until the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter…and the excitement is building… here’s a couple of photo’s … the first shows the line at around 5.30am this morning and then the second is a photo of the line leading to the Wizarding World…

After three years of anticipation and hype, at 9.00am today, Universal Orlando will formally throw open the doors at its Islands of Adventure theme park to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The spectacular addition has cost over $200 million and is a fantastically detailed collection of rides, shops and eateries. The new addition is expected to lure millions of new visitors to Universal Orlando in the coming months as the resort becomes home to all things Potter.

It’s a remarkable rise considering the first Harry Potter book was only published in 1997. Since then the franchise has catapulted itself into one of the most commercially successful entertainment properties of all time. The book has more than 400 million copies in print and has raised  more than $5.4 billion in global box-office receipts.

Interestingly, the seventh and final volume in the book series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published three years ago, and author J.K. Rowling has no plan to write more Potter books, aside from a possible encyclopedia about Potter’s magical universe. The eighth and final film, Deathly Hallows, has been split Deathly Hallows into two parts by Warner Bros, and is to be released next year.

Universal Orlando has informed us that it is planning to open its parking garage at 5:30am this morning to handle the first of what are expected to become daily crushes of visitors to Wizarding World this summer. Further, it has erected a large screen near the entrance of Islands of Adventure to let as many guests as possible watch a grand-opening spectacle which is scheduled for 9 a.m. today in Wizarding World.

Universal officials remain tight-lipped about what’s in store and who will attend the event, but if you are unable to make it don’t worry as the event is being streamed live online. That said, we do expect some of the stars behind the franchise to be in attendance though and many of them including Rowling and actor Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) are already in Orlando so it would be very odd if they didn’t make an appearance!

More during the day as we get it.The Live Event Feed is here and it begins at 9.00 EDT:

http://www.grandopeningwebevent.com

And don’t forget our own “Wizards of Leisure” offer… and details on how you can join in the fun are below:

Wizards of Leisure Offer

In celebration of the opening of the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park, Florida Leisure Vacation Homes will supply two adult tickets to Universal’s Islands of Adventure to any guest making a reservation this week for 5 nights or more. This is a $156.72 value!!

You get :

2 tickets to Universal’s Islands of Adventure Theme Park

Includes entrance to Wizarding World of Harry Potter

with any 5 nights or longer vacation home reservation

So make your reservation NOW! Remember, you must make a reservation for 2010, this week for 5 nights of more to qualify. To make a reservation for your next Orlando vacation, simply visit our web site FloridaLeisure.com or call our hotline on 1-800-760-1114 and quote “Wizards of Leisure”

We’re one day from the official opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter but the stars were out in force last night as they attended Universal Orlando’s grand opening celebration last night.  The theme park doesn’t officially open to the public until tomorrow, but Universal brought in the stars of the film and conductor/composer John Williams to kick start things and make sure the new attraction sets off with a bang.

Though many of the stars of the “Harry Potter” films have come to see the park over the past several months, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, James and Oliver Phelps, Bonnie Wright, Matthew Lewis and Warwick Davis were given a special tour of Wizarding World’s many attractions on Wednesday so they would be primed to speak about them.

“It’s not even odd,” Radcliffe said about seeing the world he spent the past decade working on in film represented as a real place in hot and humid Orlando. “It’s absolutely fantastic. I couldn’t be more impressed.”

The group had some disagreements about which was the best ride however. Radcliffe and Grint said the twin roller coasters in Dragon Challenge were their favorite, while Lewis, Wright and the Phelps loved Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey the most.

Like everyone who has seen the new park, the stars seemed most impressed by the amount of detail making Hogwarts and Hogsmeade come to life, creating an experience they couldn’t even have on the movie set.

“It’s just total immersion into the world,” Lewis said. “In 100 years, it’s still going to be here. It’s a little weird for me.”

The actors said they loved the rides, which include two roller coasters (Flight of the Hippogriffs and Dragon Challenge) and a visual experience (Forbidden Journey). It was the first roller-coaster ride for Davis. Grint shared that his coaster-riding technique was to hold on for dear life, while Felton said that he keeps his hands in the air, screaming for his life. Radcliffe had a very specific procedure: Make sure the harness is extra tight; try to keep his eyes open for as long as possible, and make the longest, most prolonged scream possible. When he gets off, his experience isn’t complete unless all his hair is swept to one side.

Though she did not speak to the press and was kept well hidden at the event, “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling did make an appearance at the grand opening. Williams conducted the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in a special presentation of the various themes he had written for the “Harry Potter” film series. In the end, the stars seemed to think Universal had left no magical stone unturned in the creation of the Wizarding World. So that’s their verdict… it’s now over to you…

Today is one of the biggest days in the golfing world… it’s the first round of the US Open.

The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States.  It is the second of the four “majors” in golf and is always staged in the middle of June by the United States Golf Association (USGA).  The event is scheduled so that, if there are no weather delays, the final round is played on the third Sunday, which also happens to be Father’s Day. 

The U.S. Open is staged at a variety of courses and set up in such a way that scoring is always very difficult with a premium placed on accurate driving. U.S. Open play is normally characterized by tight scoring at or around par by the leaders, with the winner emerging at around even par.

The one major difference with the U.S. Open is it is the only one of the four major championships that does not go immediately to a playoff if two or more players are tied at the end of the four rounds. Instead, the players play a fifth 18-hole round the following day (Monday), but if a tie still exists after the round, then a sudden death playoff is held. Only three times has the U.S. Open gone to sudden death after the playoff round, most recently in 2008 when Tiger Woods defeated Rocco Mediate on the first playoff hole at Torrey Pines.

This year the event returns to one of my favorite courses, Pebble Beach. Pebble Beach Golf Links is  located in on the Monterey Peninsular in California and is one of four courses in the coastal community of Pebble Beach. The other courses are The Links at Spanish Bay, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and Del Monte Gof Course.

Pebble Beach is one of the most beautiful courses in the world. It hugs the rugged coastline and has wide open views of the ocean. In 2001 it became the first public course (i.e. open to the general public for play) to be selected as the No.1 Golf Course in America by Golf Digest but greens fees are among the highest in the world, currently at $495 (plus $35 cart fee for non-resort guests) per round.

Pebble Beach has hosted the U.S. Open four times and has an exceptionally distinguished set of Open Champions including Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tom Kite and Tiger Woods.  It was also the venue of the 1977 PGA Championship which was won by Lanny Wadkins.

So, who’s in the running this year? Well, the last two weeks have seen English victors on the PGA Tour with Justin Rose and Lee Westwood winning the Memorial and the St. Jude Classic respectively. Both Rose and Westwood are in fine form and you can expect a challenge from both of them.

The sentimental pick, particularly after his performance at the British Open in 2009, is Tom Watson but other notables and those who usually challenge for honors are Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington and Jim Furyk. Then, of course, there’s the best player in the world, and if Tiger Woods can recapture his wayward form in 2010 then it’s hard to see past the title going to one of these nine names.

There’s much to look forward to… let the action begin.

I made a quick trip to Downtown Disney yesterday afternoon and considering we’re supposed to be in an economic downturn, I was amazed to see so many people in the Lego Imagination Center. It looked like great business and a lot of folks having some serious fun!

I was also amazed to see that the store opens at 9.30am everyday the week and closes at 11pm Sunday thru Thursday with Friday and Saturday getting extensions to 11.30pm! Are kids really up this late…even on vacation? I know when I was young (OK, quit the jokes right now!) I had to be in bed by 8pm after having a bath! How times have changed.

The LEGO store is also open every day of the year, including holidays, so if you’ve forgotten that gift for someone young and special, then this is a great option!

The store features new “WOW” models, like a 12-foot T-Rex and larger than life Titan XP Robot. It has special portholes that showcase LEGO motion activated scenes. Inside the store is a gigantic Pick A Brick wall – the world’s largest – featuring bricks of every conceivable color and variety and there’s even a newly improved demonstration area with hands-on events, like mural construction and beat-the-clock building contests.

Throughout the store, not to forget outside as well,  are giant statues made from LEGO. In the courtyard that’s just outside this shop, kids can walk up to the varioius kiosks and build their own LEGO creations. The LEGO playground is a fabulous place for young people to hang out and have a blast (as long as they’re supervised by a parent or guardian ) and this really is one of the coolest activities for kids in the Downtown Disney area.

Naturally, it’s here you can also purchase virtually every LEGO play set currently available, plus LEGO-themed clothing and souvenirs and judging from what I saw, I guess LEGO might just be a recession proof business! It was a wonderful sight to see… and now I know where everyone’s hanging out!

Here’s a short video I filmed on my visit… and yes, notice the rain clouds were rolling in…it’s been pretty warm here the last few days and we need something to cool us all off!

Make sure you check back often as we’ll be following the latest news on the opening of Legoland in 2011. We previously discussed it here. You can also sign up for regular updates as we’ll be keeping close eyes on all the latest developments. Just enter your email address and your first/last names in the box below and we’ll send you the info as and when we get it.

My second book of the year is now out on Amazon.com and at other leading book stores. It’s called “Florida Vacation Home Owners – 5 Big Mistakes To Avoid When Selecting A Property Management Company” and it’s targeted at those folks who own a vacation home in Florida.

The vacation rental management business in Central Florida is a $4.1 Billion business that hardly anyone has heard of but once found, vacation rentals are THE only way to go when staying in Orlando. Unfortunately, as in all industries, there are a few bad eggs and the quickest way for a vacation to go wrong is when a home owner appoints the wrong property manager.

When that happens, guests are usually left to fend for themselves and that’s why I wrote this short book, so that owners have more information when selecting a new property manager. It’s full of hints and tips as a result of over 15 years of experience I have within this industry.

When you consider that most property managers leave or go out of business within three years, then it’s important for owners to know their property is being properly looked after and that their guests are enjoying the vacation of a lifetime.  The book is deliberately priced at a very affordable $9.95 because I wanted to ensure as many homeowners took advantage of it as possible.

My first book of the year was released in April and has been doing well. It’s called “What You Must Know About Buying Your Vacation Home” and is available at Amazon .com for $12.95.

It’s a big week here in Orlando as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter officially opens on Friday. The soft opening has gone well and from all reports,the new section of Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park is a fabulous enhancement to Central Florida’s world famous attractions.

Nothing official has been announced by Universal, but rumors are spreading that some of the stars from the Harry Potter film series will be at the grand opening next Friday. In mid-May, Potter stars Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), and Oliver and James Phelps (Fred and George Weasley) visited The Wizarding World and it’s rumored that one or two may well return for the official opening.

There’s currently many rumors flying around and the biggest one is that Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe and James and Oliver Phelps are coming. It is also rumored that  John Williams, the composer of the films, will be at the grand opening with a full choir and orchestra.

The media events begin on Wednesday and run through Friday. Some of the events, like the grand opening Friday morning, will be open to the public, while other events during the three days may remain private. It’s possible some celebrities could be at one event and not others. Major media from all over the world are expected to attend and NBC’s Today Show will be broadcasting live Friday morning.

It promises to be a fun time… so we’re going to add to it…. we’re doing our own “Wizards of Leisure” offer… and details on how you can join in the fun are below:

Wizards of Leisure Offer

In celebration of the opening of the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park, Florida Leisure Vacation Homes will supply two adult tickets to Universal’s Islands of Adventure to any guest making a reservation this week for 5 nights or more. This is a $156.72 value!!

You get :

2 tickets to Universal’s Islands of Adventure Theme Park

Includes entrance to Wizarding World of Harry Potter

So make your reservation NOW! Remember, you must make a reservation for 2010, this week for 5 nights of more to qualify. To make a reservation for your next Orlando vacation, simply visit our web site FloridaLeisure.com or call our hotline 1-800-760-1114

Well, the game two nations were looking forward to ended in a 1-1 draw. England took an early 4 minute lead through Liverpool’s Steve Gerrard but then an absolute howler of a mistake from England goalkeeper Robert Green handed an unlikely goal to the USA just before half time.

Clint Dempsey twisted and turned 25 yards out and wriggled free of his marker to hit a low shot goalwards. It looked comfortable for Green to deal with, but somehow the ball slipped through his attempted grasp and before he could get back in time, it rolled agonisingly over the line. Incredible.

Second half England looked the more likely to take the lead but the US actually had the best chance as Jozy Altidore skint Jamie Carragher down the left side before cutting inside and firing a shot goalwards that Robert Green manged to deflect on to the post.

England had plenty of the ball and created some decent chances but man of the match, Tim Howard was up to everything England could throw at him.

So 1 point goes to each team in Group C and we move on.