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

Hundreds of guests enjoyed an afternoon in the sun and the chance to meet over 75 Reality TV stars from TV shows like “Survivor”, “The Amazing Race”, “Big Brother”, “The Bachelor”, The Bachelorette”, “Expedition Impossible”, and several other shows earlier today. It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon but best of all, the event raised a lot of money Kissimmee based charity “Give Kids The World”.

The story of Give Kids The World begins with a little girl,  a wish and the desire of one man to make that wish come true.

The little girl’s name was Amy. Amy had leukemia and one wish – to visit the theme parks in Orlando. To facilitate Amy’s wish, the request of a complimentary stay was made to a respected hotelier. As he had done many times before, the hotelier gladly obliged and Amy’s wish was that much closer to being realized. Sadly, the remainder of Amy’s travel plans took too long to arrange and her wish was never granted; Amy had passed away. Time simply ran out.

This unfulfilled wish inspired a man, the hotelier, to make a vow that no child in need would ever be failed again. That man was Henri Landwirth and his desire to ensure that Amy’s story would never repeat itself is where the story of Give Kids The World begins.

The Village:
Landwirth enlisted the support of colleagues in the hospitality industry, including our world-famous theme parks, to assist him in bringing these special families to Central Florida within 24 hours if need be. He called the project “Give Kids The World,” because that is just what he intended to do – provide memorable, magical, cost-free experiences to children with life-threatening illnesses and their families.

As the program expanded and the number of families continued to grow, it was apparent that Give Kids The World would need to create a place that could better serve the special needs of our families. The gates of Give Kids The World Village opened in 1989.

Today the Village is a 70-acre resort complete with over 100 villa accommodations, entertainment attractions, whimsical venues, and fun specifically designed for children with special needs.

With the help of many generous individuals, corporations and partnering wish-granting organizations, Give Kids The World has welcomed more than 93,000 families from all 50 states and over 65 countries.

Saturday Signing:

The day began at the hotel as the reality TV stars gathered around the swimming pool for some photos and after that they moved onto the Celebration Town Tavern in Downtown Celebration for the autograph signing session. The session started a little late, but no-one really seemed to mind and it went on until all guests had a commemorative poster signed by all of the stars in attendance.

It was a fabulous day and we would like to thank the stars who gave of their time to travel from all over the country to benefit the charity and to all the great fans we met and who patiently lined up to meet their hero’s and heroines. Can’t wait to do it all again next year!

More photo’s are here… make sure you click “LIKE” and then navigate to “Photo Albums”… enjoy!

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Here’s some video:

Over 70 stars from realty TV shows “Survivor,” “The Amazing Race”, “Big Brother,” Expedition Impossible”, “The Bachelor”, The Bachelorette as well as others from the TV world are in Celebration, Kissimmee this weekend and they will all be available to meet at the Celebration Town Center as part of their Summer Sidewalk Sale, with proceeds going to Give Kids the World.

The weekend event includes autograph signings with the reality stars, a private VIP Sponsor Party, a treasure hunt, and a Party with the Stars. The Sidewalk Sale begins with the “Sales Survivor Treasure Hunt,” which will have participants using a treasure map to navigate through Celebration Town Center in search of clues, in order to become the Sole Survivor and win $500 worth in cash and prizes.

A small $15 donation to Give Kids the World will give guests access to the autograph-signing area, where over 70 reality TV stars will be available for autographs and photos on Saturday, July 30, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Guests who make an additional donation of $25 can attend the Party with the Stars at Celebration Town Tavern at 10 p.m., and receive two drink tickets, finger foods, and entertainment, in addition to a chance to mingle with the stars.

Here’s the full schedule of events:

Friday July 29, 2011:

Treasure Hunt Challenge Begins – Get your map at any of the Town Center restaurants and use the clues to navigate around town and solve the puzzle. One lucky “Sole Survivor” name will be drawn to win over $500 in cash and prizes.

Saturday July 30, 2011:

3:00 – 6:00 PM Autograph Signing in Downtown Celebration (Celebration Town Tavern)
For the Autograph Signing on Saturday- $15.00 donation to Give Kids The World gets you into the autograph area for photos and autographs with the stars. Includes a commemorative poster. Turn in a Completed Treasure Map and receive $5 off autograph line. (Due to the volume of guests and the charity donation, Autographs will be limited to one autograph item per person)

10:00 PM Celebration Town Tavern – Land Lovers Luau
Come party with the stars of “Survivor” “Big Brother” and “The Amazing Race” and other hit reality shows in this one-of-a-kind Luau themed party . For the Party Saturday Night: $25.00 donation to Give Kids The World gets you two drink tickets, finger food and admission to the party. Available at the door only on Saturday Night. NO advance tickets sold (except for part of the hotel package)

Sunday July 31st:
Last Day to return Treasure Maps to be eligible to win.

Here’s the list of stars attending the event this weekend:
Angie Swindell-Big Brother 10
Annie Whittington “The Saboteur” -Big Brother 12
Andrea Boehlke- Survivor Redemption Island
Aras Baskauskas- Survivor Panama (WINNER)
Ashley Trainer-Survivor Samoa
Ashley Underwood-Survivor Redemption Island
Ben Henry (Benry)- Survivor Nicaragua
“Big Tom”-Survivor Africa and All-Stars
Billy Garcia-Survivor Cook Islands
Bob Crowley- Survivor Gabon (WINNER)
Bobby Jon Drinkard-Survivor Palau and Guatemala
Bobby Mason- Survivor Panama
Brenda Lowe-Survivor Nicaragua
Brian Corridan-Survivor Guatemala
Bruce Kanegai-Survivor Panama
Caite Upton-The Amazing Race 16
Carolina Eastwood-Survivor Tocantins
Cao Boi-Survivor Cook Island
Chase Rice-Survivor Nicaragua
Chris Daugherty- Survivor Vanuatu (WINNER)
Chris Nordhorn “The Phantom”- The Bachelorette Season 6
Courtney Yates- Survivor China and Survivor Heroes vs Villains
Christa Hastie- Survivor Pearl Islands
Cristina Coria-Survivor Cook Islands
Dakota Lamas- Leave it to Lamas
David Murphy-Survivor Redemption Island
Denise Martin-Survivor China
Dr. Carl Bilancione-Survivor Africa
Earl Cole- Survivor Fiji (WINNER)
Eliza Orlins- Survivor Vanuatu and Survivor Micronesia
Eric Sanchez-The Amazing Race 9 & All-Stars (WINNER)
Eric Stein “America’s Player”- Big Brother 8
Erik Reichenbach-Survivor Micronesia
Gillian Larson- Survivor Gabon
Hayden Moss- Big Brother 12 (WINNER)
Holly Hoffman-Survivor Nicaragua
James Clement-Survivor China, Micronesia, Heroes vs. Villains
James Miller- Survivor Palau
James Thomas (JT)- Survivor Tocantins (WINNER) Survivor Heroes vs. Villains
Jane Bright-Survivor Nicaragua
Jodi Wincheski- The Amazing Race 14
Jordan Pious- The Amazing Race 16 (WINNER)
Julie Berry-Survivor Vanuatu
Ken and Tina Greene- The Amazing Race 13
Krista Klumpp- Survivor Redemption Island
Lane Elenburg-Big Brother 12
Lea Masters “Sarge”- Survivor Vanuatu
Leslie Neace-Survivor China
Marissa May- The Bachelor
Mark Long-MTV personality/host
Matthew”Sash” Lenahan-Survivor Nicaragua
Michael Bortone “Mikey B”-Survivor Micronesia
Natalie Tenerreli-Survivor Redemption Island
Natalie White-Survivor Samoa (WINNER)
Nick Peterson-Current Reality Star
Russell Hantz-Survivor Samoa, Heroes vs. Villains, Redemption Island
Sandra Diaz-Twine- Survivor Pearl Island (WINNER), & Survivor Heroes vs. Villains (WINNER)
Spencer Duhm- Survivor Tocantins
Stephen Fishbach-Survivor Tocantins
Tanya Vance- Survivor Thailand
Teri and Ian- The Amazing Race 3 and The Amazing Race All-Stars
Terry Deitz-Survivor Panama
Tina Wesson- Survivor-The Australian Outback (WINNER) and All-Stars
Todd Herzog- Survivor China (WINNER)
Twila Tanner-Survivor Vanuatu
Tyanna Alvarado- The Apprentice 10
Wendy Jo DeSmidt-Kohloff- Survivor Nicaragua
Yve Rojas-Survivor Nicaragua

Other Special Guests
Jareb Dauplaise-Transformers 2, MTV’s The Hard Times of RJ Berger
Kyle Kaplan- 10 Things I Hate About You, Hannah Montana and more
Liz Lee- MTV’s “My Life As Liz”
Maiara Walsh- Desperate Housewives, Mean Girls 2
Trent Garrett-All My Children

More photo’s from the VIP party are here and remember to click “LIKE” on our Facebook page if you haven’t already done so.  Please, if you are in town, do go to Celebration this weekend if you can and support a terrific charity. Give Kids The World means so much to so many!

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Early last Saturday morning, SeaWorld’s animal experts and rescue team transported a young pilot whale to Orlando to the park’s new Cetacean Rehabilitation Facility. The 9-foot, nearly 600-pound whale was being cared for in Key Largo, Florida, by SeaWorld staff and other volunteers after it and 20 other pilot whales beached themselves in the lower Florida Keys in early May.

SeaWorld Orlando was chosen after the National Marine Fisheries Service and other animal experts considered the two-year-old female whale to be a “dependent calf” that could not be returned to the wild. The young whale was in dire need of extensive hands-on treatment and was in need of a home and some  long-term care.

In order to make the five-hour trip to Orlando, the whale was carefully placed in a stretcher and then into a large, water-filled transport unit in a cooled truck. The whale was then continually monitored by park animal experts and chief veterinarian, Dr. Chris Dold, during the trip.  Dold said:  “It’s still too early to tell her long-term prognosis, but she traveled well, she’s getting settled into her new surroundings, and we’re cautiously optimistic about her future.”

Upon reaching Orlando, the pilot whale was carefully moved into SeaWorld’s new, 40,000-gallon rehabilitation pool, a facility designed specifically to rehabilitate whales and dolphins rescued from the wild. At the facility, the park’s animal experts will monitor the whale round the clock, performing physical examinations and additional testing. SeaWorld’s goal is to have her join the company’s other pilot whales in the near term and ultimately to release her back to the wild in the future.

As a footnote, SeaWorld has been instrumental in rescuing and caring for over 18,000 animals over the years. It’s a timely reminder of some of the very much unnoticed work that the company does and for which all animal lovers should be grateful.

Here’s some video of the events:

After a whirlwind eight month romance, American Idol winner Lee DeWyze got down on bended knee just recently to propose to his girlfriend model/actress Jonna Walsh here at Disney World in Florida. 25 year old, DeWyze went all out for the July 16 proposal as he chartered a private yacht and poured champagne for his 26-year-old lady love. The singer waited until fireworks went off in the sky to make his move.

“I’m excited,” DeWyze said. “Jonna is a Disney freak. They were playing love songs on the boat and I got down on my knee and asked her. I had a speech prepared but it all went out the window so I just asked her. She started crying and I said, “Is that a yes?”

The engagement comes after they enjoyed a whirlwind romance since last October. The happy couple met whilst shooting a video for his single Sweet Serendipity and are now planning a fall 2012 wedding.

Congratulations to Lee and Jonna… Orlando is a great place to get engaged or married…and we wish them all the very best for the future.

It’s summer in Florida. Daytime temperatures are regularly pushing into the high 90s. What’s a vacationer to do to cool off?

Answer = Visit one of our great water parks.

At Walt Disney World Resort, you can choose between a mountain ski retreat or a tropical getaway to take the proverbial plunge into water fun at two of the most popular water parks in North America:

Like a surfside playground left behind by a “great storm” for modern-day Swiss Family Robinsons, Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon features breaking waves, saltwater snorkeling pool, water coaster thrill ride attraction with gushing water surges; and

Disney’s Blizzard Beach offers all the spine-chilling thrills of a northern ski resort, whether it’s bobsledding down the “snowy” slopes of Mt. Gushmore or plunging straight down Summit Plummet at up to 55 mph.

During the spring, summer and fall vacation periods, both parks are open daily, offering a cool break from theme park fun.

Located near Downtown Disney West Side, the 61-acre Typhoon Lagoon includes several major features, including Crush ‘n’ Gusher, the first-ever water coaster thrill ride attraction in Central Florida; a man-made watershed mountain with eight twisting-and-turning water slides and roaring streams; a two-and-one-half-acre wave-making lagoon with surfing-size waves, and a 362,000-gallon saltwater pool, Shark Reef, where snorkelers swim fin-to-fin with exotic marine life including butterfly fish, French angels, tangs, groupers and even bonnethead and leopard sharks.

The park also features a water playground for children, sunny beaches and lazy streams surrounding a 95-foot mountain, a shop that provides necessary underwater equipment for Shark Reef (including life jackets, masks and snorkels), changing areas, lockers, showers, a picnic area and two restaurants which serve up everything from specialty sandwiches and salads to cookies and ice cream in waffle cones.

Meantime, while the 66-acre Blizzard Beach has all the look of a northern ski resort, it is in fact strictly tropical — and the ice is limited to the soft drinks. The most eye-catching attractions can be found on the slopes of Mt. Gushmore, the 90-foot snow-capped mountain that is home to Downhill Double Dipper, the only side-by-side racing water slides that stand 50 feet high and 200 feet long. Guests will travel up to 25 mph, twisting and turning before shooting out through a curtain of water.

Mt. Gushmore also features slalom courses, toboggan and water sled runs and the awesome, 120-foot-high Summit Plummet — one of the nation’s tallest, fastest free-fall speed slides, visible from almost anywhere in the park. From Summit Plummet’s “ski jump” tower, it’s a breathtaking high-speed 55 mph plunge straight down to a splash landing at the base of the mountain.

Next to Summit Plummet is the tall but less steep Slush Gusher, a speed slide that drops guests through a snow-banked mountain gully. Mt. Gushmore’s other attractions include Teamboat Springs, the world’s longest family white-water raft ride takes six-passenger rafts down a twisting 1,200-foot series of rushing water falls; Toboggan Racer, an 8-lane water slide that sends guests racing over exhilarating dips as they descend the “snowy” slope, and more.

The sandy beach below Mt. Gushmore offers a large wave pool, a lazy river, two snack bars, a polar pub lodge, and a pre-teen and children’s play area.

The Village at the Blizzard Beach entrance houses guest services such as a complimentary life jacket pickup, locker rentals, first aid, merchandise and a restaurant.

Available at Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon for day-long rental, Beachcomber Shacks and Polar Patios are premium spaces that put a roof or a large umbrella over guests’ heads, provide upscale Adirondack seating for relaxation, put beverages to quench a whole days’ thirsts at guests’ fingertips, and give them a service attendant who does the leg work if they want to purchase food from the a la carte menu.

Keep cool this Summer…enjoy a visit to a Disney water park.

Seven popular HGTV celebrities will offer the inside scoop on home entertaining at weekend seminars during the 45-day 16th Epcot International Food & Wine Festival running Sept. 30-Nov. 13. Each Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the festival a top HGTV personality will appear at The Festival Center in Future World to share his or her own secrets to throwing a perfect party.

“Design stars from the network will talk about home entertaining,” said Michael Jenner, festival manager. “Think about the way interior decorators design a room … and imagine that same creative process brought to the dinner table. It’ll be a great way to get ready for all the holidays coming up.”

Here’s the lineup (subject to change):

* Sept. 30-Oct. 2 – Vern Yip, “HGTV Design Star” and “HGTV Urban Oasis”
* Oct. 7-9 – Monica Pedersen, “Designed to Sell”
* Oct. 14-16 – Erin Loechner, “Design Happens”
* Oct. 21-23 – Taniya Nayak, “Designed to Sell”
* Oct. 28-30 – Kim Stoegbauer, “On-line Party Inspiration”
* Nov. 4-6 – Lisa LaPorta, “Designed to Sell”
* Nov. 11-13 – Emily Henderson, “Secrets From a Stylist” and “HGTV Design Star,” winner Season 5 “Design Star”

The appearances are included with Epcot admission.

Maybe it was the Orlando heat. Maybe it was the pitch . Maybe it was just a pre-season friendly. Whatever it was, it was quite simply an outstanding performance by Orlando City to beat their English Premiership opposition, Newcastle United tonight.

Truth be told, the scoreline didn’t do the game justice. Orlando were quite simply the better side and they out fought, out played and out gunned Newcastle.  In short, they really should have won by more than a 1-0 scoreline.

Many arriving at the stadium tonight expected an easy Newcastle win and the locals were hoping the scoreline would be kept respectable as per the 3-1 loss to Bolton a week ago. Instead, they witnessed a performance to be proud of and Newcastle and their admirable fans will leave feeling very disappointed with their side’s performance.

The lead up to the game started among odd circumstances as staff at the Citrus Bowl worked long and hard through the night to rip up the expensive newly laid grass surface that Newcastle had previously demanded before the game. Normally the Citrus Bowl has an artificial surface and while Bolton were OK to play on it last week, Newcastle were not. At a cost of over $100,000, Orlando City officials made the decision to install the grass after the Bolton game but when United manager Alan Pardew saw the new surface yesterday he was far from impressed. Up came the grass and Newcastle then agreed to play on the original surface.

The game opened with Orlando on the ascendancy and Newcastle misplacing pass after pass . Orlando controlled the game and by the 25th minute had racked up 4 or 5 corners to nil from Newcastle.  Slowly but surely Newcastle started to have more of the ball as the half went on but for all their approach play, they simply couldn’t find a way past a resolute Orlando defence.

The second half started in much the same way as the first half and around the hour mark, Orlando began to play with some real venom and began throwing everything they had at the men in black and white stripes. Twice they shaved a post as Max Griffin and Lewis Neal went close before Kevin Molino delivered the crucial blow in the 75th minute.  It was a move created by Orlando’s Dennis Chin who rolled a neat ball to the oncoming Molino and he delivered a clinical finish into the right hand corner of the net.

Minutes later, it was almost 2-0 to Orlando as Molino again broke from the right only to see his shot saved, somewhat luckily, by Forster in the Newcastle net, who really didn’t seem to know what had happened as it hit his hand and flew away for a corner.

Newcastle were clearly provoked by the upstarts of Orlando and decided they had better try and find an equaliser….and they did, so they thought, as Haris Vuckic slotted home a James Tavernier pass only to look up and see the flag up for offside. In truth though, it was the only real opportunity the Magpies created. They were never at the races and although this may have only been a pre-season friendly for them, their traveling fans would have expected so much more from them.

In the end it was a great night for Orlando and manager Adrian Heath can be very proud of his players. “Everything happens for a reason. I am just excited to be here,” said Molino at the post-game press conference. “It was an incredible feeling to score against Newcastle. I’m just happy that I am here.”

Keep playing like that and this team may well attract the attention of the MLS.

Teams:

Orlando City: Miguel Gallardo, Jerome Mechalk, Kieron Bernard, Rob Valentino, Jack Traynor. Jamie Watson (46th), Yordany Alarez, Luke Bode, Lewis Neal. Max Griffin (74th), Matt Luzunaris (79th). Subs- Sean Kelley, Wes Allen, Adama Mbengue, Justin Fojo, Kevin Molino (46th), Charlie Campbell (79th), Ian Fuller, Dennis Chin (74th), Devorn Jorsling.

Newcastle United: Fraser Forster, Ryan Taylor (25th), Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini (C), James Tavernier. Dan Gosling (70th), Alan Smith (73rd), Cheik Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez. Peter Lovenkrands (73rd), Leon Best (73rd). Subs- Steve Harper, Tim Krul, Jose Enrique (25th), Mehdi Abeid (73rd), Haris Vuckic (70th), Demba Ba (73rd), Shola Ameobi (73rd).

Attendance:  10,889

More photo’s here.

English Premier League giants Newcastle United are in Orlando this weekend and they’re busy preparing for a game against Orlando City tomorrow night, Saturday 23rd July. This morning they held a training session at Thunder Field which is across the road from the Citrus Bowl as the Bowl is undergoing a renovation prior to the game with a grass field being laid on top of the artificial turf. Here’s some photos from the training session:

(Photo’s courtesy of our good friend Philip Podskalan of hotshotzstudio.com)

Space shuttle Atlantis landed back on Earth right on time around 6am this morning. It brought to a close America’s 30-year orbiter program and it was a bitter sweet moment for everyone in Central Florida who heard the sonic booms for the final time.

The vehicle looked majestic as it swept into the Kennedy Space Center, its wheels touching the runway just before the local sunrise.

Among their achievements, NASA’s space shuttles were instrumental in building the space station, and were used to launch the Hubble telescope.

“The space shuttle changed the way we view the world and it changed the way we view the Universe,” said commander Chris Ferguson on landing. “There’s a lot of emotion today but one thing’s indisputable: America’s not going to stop exploring,” he radioed to mission control.

Retirement of Nasa’s iconic shuttle fleet was ordered by the US government, in part due to the high cost of maintaining the ships and for the first time in nearly five decades it leaves the country with no means of putting astronauts in orbit.

The US space agency’s intention is to invite the private sector to provide it with space transport services, and a number of commercial ventures already have crew ships in development but these are unlikely to be ready to fly for at least three or four years. In the interim, Nasa will rely on the Russians to ferry its people to and from the International Space Station (ISS).

Despite the dark skies over Florida’s Space Coast, large crowds came out to try to glimpse Atlantis as it made its historic return from orbit. Two thousand people were gathered at the landing strip itself, but even in Texas, where mission control is sited, they mingled outside the gates of the Johnson Space Center.

The de-orbit track brought Atlantis across central Florida and the Titusville-Mims area before a hard bank to the left put the vehicle on a line to Runway 15 at Kennedy.

Commander Ferguson, a veteran of two previous shuttle missions was at the controls, with his pilot Doug Hurley alongside him. Mission specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim were sitting directly behind on the flightdeck.

Their ship’s rear wheels touched the ground at 0556 local time (0956 GMT; 1056 BST), and the vehicle was stationary under a minute later. It concluded a 13-day re-supply mission to the ISS.

The return of Atlantis marked a moment of high emotion for Florida’s Space Coast – not least because it will trigger a big lay-off of contractor staff. More than 3,000 people involved in shuttle operations will  lose their jobs this week.

Mindful of this, Nasa Administrator and former astronaut Charles Bolden was quick to thank programme staff in the speeches that followed the landing.

“I want everybody who was involved in this to feel incredibly proud of what you did and what your role was,” he said. “Like me, [the crew of Atlantis] got to do the flying but we owe an incredible debt of gratitude to the thousands, literally tens of thousands, of folks all around the country who made all this possible.”

The orbiter programme does not officially end for a month, but even then it is likely to take a couple of years to close all activities, such as the archiving of decades of shuttle engineering data.

For Atlantis, its retirement will be spent as a static display at the Kennedy visitor complex.

The Discovery and Endeavour shuttles, which made their final flights earlier this year, will go to the Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia and the California Science Center in Los Angeles, respectively.

Nasa hopes to invest money saved from shuttle operations in a new spaceship and rocket that can take humans beyond the ISS to destinations such as the Moon, asteroids and Mars. The conical ship, known as Orion, has already been defined and is in an advanced stage of development.

So there we have it, the end of an era. Very much a bittersweet day.

Do you love Central Florida’s roller coasters? Or do you hate them and never want to ride?

Roller coasters may cause thrills for some and anxiety for others but how you react to them could be a reflection on the way you deal with everyday life according to Dr. Howard Belkin from Michigan.

According to Dr. Belkin, if you life is full of ups and downs, enduring that on a ride and coming out just fine gives you a sense of accomplishment. Watch this video and see if you agree:

And here’s 10 more reasons why life resembles a roller coaster ride

1. Both start with a big drop.
2. Both have ups and downs.
3. It doesn’t really matter if you sit in the front or the back — everyone has a similar experience.
4. Both require participation – watching just isn’t the same.
5. Both can be fun one minute and terrifying the next.
6. Both can make you scream and throw up.
7. Both are more fun when shared with others.
8. Both require that you follow the rules for your safety.
9. Both came in many shapes, designs, and colors.
10. Both go very fast and don’t last long enough.