Good news for fans of The Main Street Electrical Parade at Magic Kingdom. In early June, as part of Disney’s Summer Nightastic, The Main Street Electric Parade resumed. It was supposed to end on Aug. 14 with the Spectromagic nighttime parade’s returning but the Electrical Parade has been so popular with guests, that it’s now had its run extended at the Magic Kingdom.
While no end date has been announced for the Electrical Parade all the other elements of Summer Nightastic — Summer Nightastic Fireworks Spectacular, Tower of Terror Re-Imagined and the Rock ‘N’ Glow Dance Party are still due to end on August 14.
The Walt Disney Company has announced the sale of its Miramax film division for about $660m to a group of private equity investors. Disney has owned Miramax since 1993 when it bought the firm from Hollywood heavyweights Harvey and Bob Weinstein. The Weinstein brothers named the film company after their parents Miriam and Max and had attempted to buy Miramax back from Disney but were unsuccessful.
The new investors are a company called Filmyard and include construction magnate Ron Tutor and investment firm Colony Capital. Disney has been negotiating with potential buyers for months to sell the division, which has made films such as Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting and Shakespeare in Love.
“Although we are very proud of Miramax’s many accomplishments, our current strategy for Walt Disney Studios is to focus on the development of great motion pictures under the Disney, Pixar and Marvel brands,” Disney’s chief executive Robert Iger said.
Disney wants to concentrate on these family-orientated divisions, which produce popular films such as Toy Story, that also come with highly profitable merchandising opportunities.
Earlier this week, Disney bought the social gaming developer Playdom so it remains to see what they do with that but one thing that can never be denied is that Disney has an amazing ability to sell family films and all the merchandise that goes along with it.
It’s time to enter our Summer Sweepstakes and win a 4 Night Orlando Vacation in a Florida Leisure Vacation Home. It’s dead easy to enter and all you have to do to enter is go to www.Facebook.com/FloridaLeisure and hit the “Like” button and then the “Sweepstakes” tab to enter our competition. You could then be the lucky winner of a fabulous 4 night Orlando vacation.
It’s nice to stop and watch what goes on around you sometimes. I was again reminded about why we do what we do and what we provide to families, friends and guests… I think this short video explains it all. Not much else needs to be said.
I popped down to Clearwater Beach last week to check out how the Gulf oil crisis was affecting the area. I’d received several calls from reporters at various news outlets all wanting to know if it was affecting our business in any way so I decided it was worth the trip to find out what was happening. My last update was a month or so ago and I was further south in the Naples to St Petersburg area so I decided to head closer to home and check out what conditions were like for those folks wanting a quick day trip to the beach from their Orlando vacation home.
I arrived early in the morning as dawn was breaking and visited the famous Pier 60 area. Pier 60 is a great place for families as there is a fabulous play ground area for small kids, several exciting places to dine and of course, the wonderful white sand beach to enjoy.
Clearwater is a great place to visit for the day. You can enjoy plenty of time at the beach, have some marvelous meals for lunch or dinner, celebrate as you watch the sun go down in the evening and then head back to your vacation home and get ready to go again!
And…of course… there is no problem with oil in the Clearwater area!
I sent my eldest daughter, Rebecca, out to take a look at some of the going’s on at the theme parks just recently and she reported back to say that most parks still seem to have a lot of people in them. So much for the economic downturn.
It’s interesting that years ago in economic depressions we used to have food stamps and lines after lines just to get the basic necessities yet today the lines we see are for I-pads! At the end of the day, money is important but so is living life to the fullest and that seems to be the major mind shift I see . In the past people would scrimp and save to be able to afford a vacation whereas today, folks seem entitled to one and often run up their credit cards to do so. It worries me and I want to help do something about it… and you can help me by suggesting some things we can do at Florida Leisure to make sure you still enjoy your vacation but you don’t put yourself in economic jeopardy. Just leave a comment after this blog post with your ideas.
Back to Animal Kingdom. if you haven’t been then you are missing a treat. The park opened on 22 April 1998 and is actually the largest Disney theme park in the world coming in at around 500 acres. The park is themed around animal conservation and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. If you don’t know, it means they have met and exceeded the standards in education, conservation and research.
The Tree of Life is the center piece of the park and everything leads from that. The tree is 14 stories high at 145ft tall and 50 feet wide and the park is made up of seven themed areas; Oasis, Discovery Island, Camp Minnie-Mickey, Africa, Rafiki’s Planet Watch, Asia and DinoLand USA.
To enter the park you go through Oasis and it’s here you’ll encounter spoonbills, ducks, muntjacs, wallabies and giant anteaters. The Rainforest Cafe is also located near the entrance but be careful if you decide to eat here because you’ll need to present your ticket again to go back into the park.
Discovery Island is located at the center of the park and it’s here you’ll find the Tree of Life. The parks biggest gift shops and largest restaurants are located here and each has a different design theme. Also at Discovery Island is “It’s Tough To Be A Bug!” , a comical 4-D film featuring appearances by Flik and Hopper from “A Bug’s Life”.
Camp Mickey is a themed rustic summer camp and it’s here you can meet Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy and many others. The live stage show “Festival of the Lion King” is also located here.
Africa is my favorite area of the park. It is set in the fictional east African village of Harambe and this is where you’ll find some of the fabulous animal exhibits. The village is the namesake of the Harambe Wildlife Preserve which is the fictional home of Africa’s main attraction, Kilimanjaro Safaris and you’ll get a fabulous tour of that by clicking on the video down below. On the Kilimanjaro Safari you climb aboard an open sided safari vehicle and you set out on expedition to see numerous African animals as they freely roam through acres of savanna, rivers and rocky hills. You’ll see giraffes, hippos, African elephants and lions. Once you’ve done the safari you can then explore the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and trek into the forest in search of gorillas. It’s really quite amazing.
Rafiki’s Planet Watch is actually the one section of the park that isn’t connected to Discovery Island. It is instead connected to Africa and it’s here that you can board the Wildlife Express Train to visit Habitat Habit, Conservation Station and Affection Section. All great areas to learn more about efforts to protect endangered primates, conservation efforts supported by the Walt Disney Company and animal care facilities.
Asia is home to Maharajah Jungle Trek, where you can visit Komodo dragons, fruit bats, tapirs and tigers. It is also home to the Kali River Rapids and you will get soaked if you venture onto this fabulous ride. Expedition Everest is also located here and its a nerve wracking roller coaster ride through the Himalayas.
DinoLand USA is the place to learn more about dinosaurs and it is also home to “Finding Nemo – The Musical” that is located in the “Theater in the Wild” as well as DINOSAUR, a thrill ride taking you back through time to the late Cretaceous period. There’s also a great playground for the kids called Boneyard.
All in all, Animal Kingdom is a great place to visit and to enjoy. It has a lot of fun stuff but it’s also an educational experience and you can’t help but marvel at all this planet really has to offer when you stop to think about it. Enjoy the video:
I was just reading an article about foreign buyers literally invading the US to buy homes and I thought you’d like to see it if you haven’t already. It’s written by Steve Cook of Real Estate Economy Watch:
The number of American homes bought by foreign nationals has nearly doubled in the past year as falling property values and record numbers of distress sales encouraged immigrants and foreign investors to take advantage of affordable prices. With home purchases by American citizens plummeting in the wake of the tax credit, foreigners are now poised to gain an even larger ownership share of US properties.
Foreign purchases accounted for about four and a half percent of all USA sales between April 2009 and April 2010, according to a new study by the National Association of Realtors. For the twelve months ending April 2010, foreign purchases of U.S. residences totaled $64 billion. This is almost twice the $36 billion in foreign transactions that took place during the twelve months ending April 2009. The percent of dollar volume represented by foreign transactions increased from 4.3% in 2009 to 7.1% in 2010.
About half of foreign bought properties were purchased as primary residences, and the rest as vacation homes and investment properties. Most bought properties in suburban locales and cities. Only 14 percent of foreign buyers bought in resort areas. Two factors important to international clients when purchasing property in the U.S. are proximity to their home country and the convenience of air transportation. Florida typically attracts European, Canadian and South American buyers while the East Coast draws Europeans. The West Coast brings Asian buyers and the Southwest attracts Mexicans.
It’s an interesting read and while it somewhat reflects what is happening here in Central Florida, the availability of money for loans and mortgages remains grim. Cash buyers are scoring some great deals at the moment and I expect that trend to continue for quite a while yet.
In my book “What You Must Know About Buying Your Vacation Home” I talk about why vacation properties are still great investments and it’s absolutely true about residential property still being a good way to build wealth providing you buy right.
The one thing I find interesting is that most lenders have stopped lending to foreign nationals yet they still continue to buy in some volume. Imagine what might happen if one or two of lenders decided to lend again to foreigners instead of retreating into their Government sponsored safe hole. Maybe, just maybe, we’d see more distressed real estate purchased and that would then help values go up and the economy to recover faster? Just a thought.
One of the most popular vacation destinations in the world is Orlando, Florida. A huge reason why so many people visit this part of the world is because of the Walt Disney World resort and its theme parks. Walt Disney World resort is the world’s largest recreational resort and is located in both Lake Buena Vista and Kissimmee.
Kissimmee is located on the southern part of the Disney complex and it’s here that you’ll find most of the areas vacation rental homes. There are many advantages for renting a vacation home in Kissimmee but number one amongst them is the ability to enjoy a luxurious yet affordable vacation. The second reason is the fact that you are just moments away from enjoying the Disney experience as well as all the other local theme parks such as Sea World and Universal Orlando, not to mention all the other attractions that the area has to offer.
A stay in a vacation home is simply a far more luxurious vacation than compared to staying in a hotel. The home is far more inviting and has much more space than the typical hotel room or suite. You can relax in private without worrying about noisy neighbors, you have your own private pool to splash around in and you have an element of privacy that you just can’t get at a hotel.
Most vacation rental homes are conveniently located in quiet residential communities but just moments from the main area theme parks. A Kissimmee vacation home offers many perks that a hotel simply cannot. Things such as large screen TV’s, separate bedrooms, games rooms, home theaters, and two or maybe three large living areas top the list.
Cost is also a major consideration and if you are traveling with a large family then putting them up in several hotel rooms can get very expensive. Depending on the size of your family, you can rent a house with three bedrooms, or more, for around the same price of one hotel room and it is certainly a far better option than trying to cram everyone in to one hotel room. Just imagine the convenience of not having to wait for your turn to use the bathroom or watching what someone else wants to watch on TV as vacation homes usually have TV’s in each bedroom.
One major drawback of hotels is the fact that most hotel pools are situated outside in the open air and that means you may soon be the target of annoying insects or bugs. Each vacation rental house comes with a screened in lanai and pool area that prevents annoying pests from attacking you and this means all the family can enjoy relaxing and unwinding in comfort.
A fully functioning kitchen is also another benefit of vacationing in a rental home. Going out for every meal soon gets tiring not to mention very expensive. Vacation homes give you far more options than a hotel with a solitary restaurant that opens when the hotel says it will open. Naturally, you might fancy a lie in one morning and a kitchen allows you to eat what you want, when you want to eat it so there’s no missing breakfast. In fact, it’s just like being at home as you can get groceries from local stores and enjoy the feeling of being home away from home.
Vacation homes are also great places to come home to after a busy day at a theme park or visiting some local attraction. Sometimes you might just fancy a quiet night in and nothing can be better than ordering a pizza or cooking a sumptuous meal for the ones you love at the end of a busy day. Each vacation home is usually equipped with everything you might need for cooking and baking and preparing a meal on vacation is just one way to involve the whole family and have some fun.
Talking of family fun, most vacation homes also have a whole host of amenities that include cable TV, DVD players, broadband internet, video game systems, pool tables and a whole lot more for all the family to enjoy. Sometimes you may find that you’ll just not want to go out and that you just want to enjoy a day at home. Vacation home rentals really do give you lots of space to move around and live in and it’s not uncommon to feel like a King or Queen in a palace when you take a vacation in a rental home.
In fact, those that choose to vacation this way rarely go back to hotels afterwards so if you haven’t stayed in a vacation home before, this really is something you need to look into before your next trip.
