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

If golf is your game, you won’t want to miss the experience of a round at Mystic Dunes Golf Club. Rated a 4 1/2 star course by Golf Digest magazine, Mystic Dunes is renowned as one of the most unique courses in all of Florida.

It’s located at the beautiful Mystic Dunes Resort & Golf Club, nestled on over 600 acres of rolling hills and lush tropical landscaping, just two miles from Walt Disney World® and minutes away from Orlando’s other major theme parks and attractions.

The course was designed by Champions Tour player and NBC golf analyst Gary Koch.  At 7,012 yards, the par 71 course is challenging yet fun for golfers of all skill levels.  It’s built on some of the highest elevations in the Central Florida area, and features two distinctly different layouts that take advantage of the resort’s unique topography.

The “low-country” style front nine is reminiscent of classic Carolina courses, meandering through native wetlands and marsh areas and bordering oak and cypress forests. The back nine features characteristics of a British Isles links course, with perimeter mounding, pot bunkers, and rolling fairways.

The unique greens at Mystic Dunes are reminiscent of Augusta National, with varying elevations that allow for an unlimited variety of shots and strategies.  Several of the par four holes rival the length of some of the longest seen in professional major championships, and a diabolical quartet of par threes seem to get more intense as the round progresses.  But don’t worry… the five sets of tee boxes offer golfers of all skill levels the ability to play from the distance that makes their round of golf enjoyable, and with just enough challenge to keep them on their toes.  And the meticulous course conditioning guarantees great playing conditions year-round.

The practice facility is a great place to warm up before your round, featuring a large driving range with grass teeing area and target greens, plus practice bunkers and putting and chipping greens.

All golf carts are outfitted with Par-View GPS to help golfers shape every shot and get the most out of their round, and the expansive Pro Shop offers the latest in golf equipment and fashion for men and women.

The friendly atmosphere of Kenzie’s, the restaurant and bar at the Mystic Dunes Clubhouse, is the perfect place to enjoy breakfast before your round, lunch on the outdoor terrace, or you can pick up an order to go at the turn.  After your round, it’s a great place to enjoy a cold beer or cocktail and catch up on the day’s sports, or stay for a casual dinner.

The clubhouse can also accommodate tournament and banquet events and weddings of up to 300 guests.  The outdoor verandah that wraps around the back of the clubhouse offers a spectacular view of the picturesque 18^th green and driving range; it’s absolutely gorgeous at dusk.

Whether visiting Orlando for a few days, a few weeks, or an extended stay, if you play golf you will want to make sure your itinerary includes a round at Mystic Dunes. If you’d like to see more photo’s…click on our Facebook page here. And here’s a short video tour…

Walt Disney World® Resort in Florida will wrap up the Epcot® International Flower & Garden Festival May 13 thru 15 with a celebration of Pixar’s 25th anniversary. It’s a great opportunity for guests to immerse themselves in the world of Pixar films and their characters.

Special Pixar Meet and Greets

And the Pixar fun will continue throughout World Showcase, where characters from Toy Story, Ratatouille and A Bug’s Life wait to greet guests in three areas of Epcot:

Future World

* Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story at Mission: SPACE
* Mater from Cars and Cars 2 at Test Track
* Living Coral Stiltwalkers at The Seas with Nemo and Friends and Crush at Turtle Talk with Crush

World Showcase

* Woody, Jessie and Bullseye from Toy Story at the American Adventure
* Flick, Atta, Gypsy Moth and stilt walking Slim from A Bug’s Life at the Art of Living Garden
* Remy and Emile from Ratatouille at France

World Showplace

* Mr. & Mrs. Incredible and FroZone from The Incredibles
* Lotso from Toy Story 3
* Mike, Sully, Boo and Smitty from Monster’s Inc.
* Carl, Russell and Dug from Up

Pixar Celebration Headquarters

World Showplace (located between the Canada and United Kingdom pavilion), will serve as the celebration headquarters. Inside, families can enjoy meet and greets with characters from The Incredibles, Toy Story 3, Monsters, Inc. and Up, and browse a photo gallery that calls out some of Pixar’s best Easter Eggs from past films. There also will be an art gallery that displays the creative work that went in to Pixar films.
Speaker Series

A special speaker series featuring talks by Oscar®-nominated Pixar producer Jonas Rivera, Oscar®-winning composer composer Michael Giacchino and Cars Franchise Guardian Jay Ward will also take place at World Showplace Saturday and Sunday.

Daily Speaker Series Schedule: May 14 – 15, 2011

* Noon: Jay Ward – (above left)
* 2:00 PM: Jonas Rivera – (above center)
* 4:00 PM: Michael Giacchino (above right)
* 6:00 PM: Special Presentation by Jay Ward, Jonas Rivera and Michael Giacchino

Activities

Kids also can play the Cars 2 Race Around World Showcase game, by picking up a booklet with clues that send them on a journey to specific World Showcase pavilions, where they’ll receive more clues, and receive a reward at the end.

The special experiences are included with Epcot admission.

Happy Easter to everyone.

Here’s a great picture of Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny ride in grand style down Main Street U.S.A. in the Magic Kingdom  The floppy-eared bunnies are among the highlights of Easter activities at the Walt Disney World Resort.

Pop singer Kesha Sebert, better known as Ke$ha, recently visited Magic Kingdom to help celebrate the Easter period. Here she poses with the White Rabbit from “Alice in Wonderland.”  Her debut single, “Tik Tok” , released in late 2009, reached number one in 11 countries. Her debut album, “Animal“, was released in January 2010 and debuted at number one in the US, Canada and Greece. By September 2010, Kesha had sold two million albums worldwide and released three more top ten singles from Animal.

Today is Earth Day and appropriately enough SeaWorld Orlando debuted its new killer whale show, “One Ocean” at 10.00 am this morning inside Shamu Stadium. The new show replaced the popular “Believe” show, which ran for five years, and judging from popular opinion among the audience, it seems that “One Ocean” is going to be just as big a hit if not bigger!

Both Jack Hanna (star of Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild & Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures) and Sea World President Terry Prather spoke at the opening ceremony about both the significance of Earth Day and the inspiring and educational message behind the show that both animals and humans are part of one world, with one ocean, and its future is in our hands to cherish and protect.

Just like any new Broadway production the show has a new set. The big TV screens from the former Believe show are still a part of the Shamu Stadium set but the iconic black and white Orca whale tail on the back of the 80 feet long by 30 feet tall 3-story set, has now developed a full color look and takes the form of an immense killer whale fluke. It incorporates the colors of the ocean’s spectrum… from cobalt blue, to aquamarine and even royal purple, while it reflects the vivid yellows and oranges of a sunrise over the sea. There are also dozens of hand-crafted, translucent animal figures adorning the towering set.

Another new and exciting part of the show are the fountains at the front of the stage. The show sports 35 different fountains that arch 50 feet across the pool and while Shamu plays with the fountains, guests get soaked by the chilly 53 to 56 degree water! Fun for some…

Completing the set is a fantastic new symphonic score that features three original songs intended to evoke a global stewardship message: “One Song,” “Side by Side,” and “We’re One.”

Today’s opening ceremony also featured a choir of nearly 600 people, young and old alike, dressed in colors from the show’s vibrant palette while Spencer Lee, an up and coming artist, who has made numerous TV appearances on shows like “Greek” and “Glee”, performed the show’s signature number, “One Song.”

The whales are the true stars of the show however, and “One Ocean” features spectacular whale behaviors, including thrilling high energy leaps and multiple whales performing simultaneously. The whales interact in new ways with their trainers, the audience, one another, and even the set itself. Particularly thoughtful is the fact that not only do the fountains provide such a dramatic effect for the show but they also serve as enrichment for the whales during play times throughout the day.

Overall the show promises to show SeaWorld guests how closely the human and animal worlds are connected. The message of caring and showing respect for the world we share is woven throughout the new show. More importantly it encourages guests to make a difference through their own everyday actions…and that’s a message we all need to hear more often. Here’s looking forward to a long and successful run for “One Ocean.”

There’s more pictures on www.Facebook.com/FloridaLeisure and featured below is a short video from the opening of “One Ocean” earlier today:

The newly remodeled Lego Imagination Center reopened on Tuesday so I went along to take a look at what the new store now looks like. The store is larger and features some new Disney Lego sculptures such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs seen below. (To see larger images simply click on the picture.)

There’s a large model of Maleficent in her dragon form on the east side of the store and a brave Lego man on horseback who seems ready for the fight while close by is the outside play area which has swapped sides from where it was before.

Facing the Downtown Disney lake  is a model of Buzz and Woody from Toy Story as they blast off.

Meanwhile inside the store it appears better laid out and much easier to get around. The only large sculpture to be found indoors now is the one you see below of Woody and there’s a brand new room where Lego classes will be taught and birthday parties can be held.

Of course, the wall of colored Lego is still available and this is always a big hit with kids wanting to build stuff.

And pictured above is Brickly the Sea Serpent who remains unchanged. There’s loads more photo’s on our Facebook page so click here to be taken to them… make sure you click “LIKE” to access all the photo’s. And finally, here’s some video of my trip…

Grammy Award-winning singer Lady Gaga paid a visit to the Evil Queen from Disney’s classic animated film “Snow White” at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World yesterday. Lady Gaga was in town for her sold-out show at the Amway Center on Friday night and then on Saturday she was spotted at the new princess room, in the Exposition Hall’s Town Square Theater on Main Street.

Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom is getting a new castle… Beast’s Castle, from Beauty and the Beast, is rising high over the park as part of the New Fantasyland. Fans of the parks Cinderella Castle shouldn’t worry about having their view distracted though, because the clever people at Disney are using a technique known as forced perspective architecture to make the structure look more grandiose in size than it appears in reality.

Beast’s Castle, will sit high above the mountains in the Fantasyland expansion and you can see the used of forced perspective in the following photos – (click on picture to see larger image):

Forced perspective works as a form of optical illusion essentially tricking the eye into believing a structure is much larger or taller than it really is. This is done by cleverly manipulating the size and scale of a building, based on the perspective it will be viewed from.

The company’s use of forced perspective started with Walt Disney during the construction of the Disneyland park in California and you can also see it at Disney World . It’s perhaps best seen at Magic Kingdom as you enter the park and you’ll notice your eye is immediately drawn up Main Street to Cinderella’s Castle. Walt paid special attention to the scale of each building along the way, as well as the specific shrubs and trees that flanked them, in order to create the best sense of height and drama.

As you can see in this side by side comparison between the artist rendering and the current construction, the castle sits high atop what eventually will be the Be Our Guest Restaurant, which is really the gateway to the castle’s interior. Here, the restaurant will offer quick-service lunches and table-service dinners inside the Beast’s elegant ballroom, gallery and mysterious “west-wing.”  The restaurant will comfortably seat 550 people changing from quick service by day to full table service dining by night.

The castle and restaurant are scheduled to open in late 2012, along with the rest of the New Fantasyland in phases that follow.

The Easter Bunny and his wife, Mrs. Bunny, have decided to visit the Walt Disney World Resort for some rest and relaxation in the days leading up to Easter’s annual holiday basket delivery. The Bunnies, who have spent the last few months painting eggs and stocking up on jelly beans, will spend their  vacation meeting and greeting families from April 17-23 at the Tour Guide Gardens, adjacent to City Hall at Magic Kingdom Park.

On Sunday, April 24, immediately after Easter’s whirlwind basket delivery is complete, the couple will celebrate by appearing in a special pre-parade that steps off 15 minutes prior to the park’s 3 p.m. All guests are welcome to visit them during this time and should remember that this is a limited engagement, so  hop on it!

Easter in Orlando can be a lot of  hoppin’ fun and here’s some special places where you can spot the Easter Bunny, hunt for Easter eggs or nestle in for an Easter Sunday meal.

Egg-static about Easter
The Mall at Millenia invites families to meet the Easter Bunny daily at the Orangerie Café (pictured) during normal mall hours through April 23.

The 47th annual Ron Jon Surf Shop Easter Surfing Festival will take place April 22-24. Enjoy the sun, surf and sand along beautiful Cocoa Beach, just one hour east of Orlando, as you watch championship surfers compete. An Easter egg hunt and surf demonstrations are part of the fun. Admission is free.

Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens presents “Hippity Hop Adventure” (pictured below) April 23-24 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Guests will have a chance to win candy and prizes at Bunny Stops along the adventure trail as they hunt for the Easter Bunny. Kids will receive free bunny tails to wear, enjoy crafts, a bounce house and more. Event is included with regular zoo admission, which is $11.95 for adults and $7.95 for kids 3-12.

Egg-traordinary Dining
At Downtown Disney: Fulton’s Crab House, Portobello and Wolfgang Puck Café are offering special Easter Sunday menus.

Forever Florida is hosting an Easter dinner at Cypress Restaurant on April 24. Safaris are available throughout the day and dinner seating is available from 11:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.