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

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber is coming to Orlando on March 1 to discuss the City Beautiful as a future potential MLS expansion market.  Garber will meet with the club’s owners, community leaders including Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, as well as the Orlando City fans and media, in a packed day of meetings.

“We are looking forward to Commissioner Garber’s visit, it is a pivotal day for our MLS expansion aspirations. I would encourage all our fans to come to the town hall meeting at Mojo’s and show the Commissioner our City’s passion for soccer” said Phil Rawlins, Orlando City Soccer President.

Garber’s visit is the next step in Orlando City’s goal to become a future MLS expansion club.  He will meet with Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and other community leaders to discuss several aspects of Orlando City’s future plans. The visit comes at an apt time as all eyes will be on Orlando this weekend as the NBA All Star game hits town while several of our sporting leaders at a forum luncheon yesterday championed the city as one with the potential to become one of the top American sports cities.

Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins (pictured above) said  “We have the opportunity to be one of the great sports towns in America.”

Martins was among five panelists for “Florida Forward: Building a Better Sports Town,” a forum held at Church Street Station presented by the Orlando Sentinel and UCF’s Metropolitan Center for Regional Studies. UCF president Dr. John Hitt (pictured below left), retired NFL player and former Disney Sports Executive Reggie William ([pictured below right), Orlando City Soccer Club owner Phil Rawlins and two-time Olympic softball gold medalist Dr. Dot Richardson also participated in the well attended event.

Among their recommendations were to generate more money and publicity for the region by upgrading facilities, building new venues and hosting higher-profile amateur events.

"Taxpayers don't understand the economic impact, so let's make sure they get it," said Richardson (pictured above), a Colonial High grad and former director of the National Training Center in Clermont.

Martins said Orlando could bring in $50 million to $100 million by hosting premier amateur sports events, such as the SEC basketball tournament and the U.S. Gymnastics and U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

"The investment that we make into our facilities will pay off hundredfold with the economic impact it can have on our community," said Martins, who also cited the need to renovate the Citrus Bowl to keep the Capital One and Champs Sports college football bowl games. "It means just as much to bring those national events to our community as it does to have a championship team'' he added.

Richardson said the National Training Center will host 206 college softball teams between now and April, generating $8.2 million for hotels, restaurants and shops for Central Florida. She said adding new facilities and improving existing ones could lead to more events.

"Hopefully in talking and education about what sports can do for all of us gets these venues to the scale we need," Richardson said.

Rawlins (pictured above) meanwhile stated that he was confident a refurbished Citrus Bowl would help Orlando City's bid to become a Major League Soccer franchise, which would bring an increase in exposure, tickets and corporate sponsorship. He added that a soccer specific stadium would ultimately be needed to satisfy the MLS but that the investment to provide that was relatively small when MLS crowd sizes are taken into account.

"It's a major economic impact, and I don't think the average sports fan in the community has really quite got that message quite yet,'' Rawlins said. "The possibilities and opportunities in Central Florida in terms of sports are endless.''

We echo those words and when you consider that this weekend sees the NBA All Star game, the Disney Pro-Soccer tournament staring 6 MLS teams and the Daytona 500 all taking part in Central Florida, you can really understand the current drive to capitalize on the sporting world. In days of economic turbulence, this at least gives us some hope for a brighter future and some light at the end of the tunnel.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer remarked: "Orlando is truly an international city with an increasingly diverse population that draws from soccer obsessed countries in Europe, South and Central America.That growth, combined with our long history of support for professional and college sports makes Orlando a natural fit as an MLS city."

Commissioner Garber (pictured above) still seems to be hedging his bets however as he said: “While New York City remains the League’s focus for our 20^th Club, it’s important to continue evaluating future options as we continue to grow the League.  This growth has been built on a foundation of strategic expansion strategies and a growing passionate soccer fan base across North America.  As such, I’ve been impressed with Orlando City’s success on- and off-the-field and look forward to meeting with local supporters and speaking directly with key public officials about the future of professional soccer in Orlando.”

Capping his visit will be a town hall meeting with Orlando City fans at Mojo Bar and Grill at 12:30 p.m on Thursday 1st March and the  meeting is open to the public with doors opening at 11:30 a.m. In short, this could be the most important meeting in the short history of Orlando City Soccer and the club is urging as many fans as possible to attend to make their feelings known and show their support for MLS soccer in Orlando. We'll be there...hope to see you too!

Here's some video from the "Building A Better Sports Town" forum meeting...

It’s a great time of year for a round of golf in Orlando as the weather is so absolutely perfect. Former Orlando Magic stars Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson and Bo Outlaw know a thing or two about playing golf at this time of year and that’s why they’ve agreed to be among two dozen celebrities coming to Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Golf Club this Friday to participate in the All-Star Celebrity Golf Invitational.

The event will also feature NFL Hall of Famer Darrell Green as well as former N’Sync vocalist Chris Kilpatrick who will tee it up to help the Arnold Palmer Foundation charities such as Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Arnold Palmer Prostrate Center, Arnold Palmer Pavilion and Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies.

Anthony Anderson (Law & Order – pictured above) is host for the Feb. 24 event, which will draw from some of the celebrities slated to be in town for NBA All-Star weekend and they’ll play Bay Hill under near-championship conditions, less than a month before the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational that starts week commencing 19 March.

Bay Hill is close to the heart of many Orlando folks but none more so than Arnold Palmer. It was in 1965 that he won a charity event on what was then an unknown course. It was on that day he fell in love with Orlando and with the course and in 1970 the process began to call it his own. It has been his winter home ever since and by 1979 he created a tournament that became a PGA Tour event that to this day still attracts one of the strongest fields of any PGA championship.

We’ll be bringing you coverage of the event as the day progresses so make sure you check back regularly!

Just minutes before taking the stage at Busch Gardens’ Bands, Brew & BBQ festival on Sunday, Feb. 19, former Poison frontman and reality TV star Bret Michaels met the most popular – and hairiest – of Busch Gardens’ Animal Ambassadors team, Harry the sloth.

Thanks to its thick, shaggy hair, the sloth has an unusual, symbiotic relationship with algae, which grows on its coat and aids in camouflaging the sloth as it hangs from tree branches.

The Busch Gardens’ zoo educators also brought a young southern ground hornbill named Tufts to meet Michaels and his band backstage.

Michaels’ 2010 album, Custom Built, rose to the top of Billboard’s Hard Rock list at #1 and his current “Get Your Rock On” tour is selling out venues across the country. He also took the reality television world by storm in the past few years on VH1’s “Rock of Love,” the 2010 docu-series “Bret Michaels: Life As I Know It” and as the winning contestant on the third season of Donald Trump’s NBC hit, “Celebrity Apprentice.”

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay combines world-class thrill rides, live entertainment and one of North America’s largest zoos in an unforgettable adventure for the whole family. This year, the park’s smokin’ hot Bands, Brew & BBQ festival fills every weekend, February 11 – March 4, with unlimited sampling of more than 80 specialty and craft beers, saucy barbeque from some of the bay area’s most popular restaurants and live concerts with the biggest names in classic rock, including 38 Special on Feb. 26 and REO Speedwagon on March 4.

Wow! An amazing MegaCon 2012 wraps up today and judging from the attendance on Saturday, we can expect another bumper size crowd. I’ve been attending this event off and on for a few years, mainly to see what costumes most folks can dream up year after year, but the sheer volume of people attending the convention yesterday was something I had never seen at this event before.

For those that don’t know, this is THE event of the year for science fiction, fantasy and comic book fans in Orlando. This year has seen some very special guests attend the show, not least of all the legendary Stan Lee (pictured below),  the American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.

Lee co-created Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor and many other fictional characters in comic books. He was inducted into the comic book  industry’s Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame  in 1995.

Also appearing and proving just as popular is Tom Felton, (pictured above left) best known for playing the role of Drace Malfoy in the Harry Potter film series. Other celebrities you can rub shoulders with are Bruce Boxleitner (TRON & Tron:Legacy),  Daniel Logan (Star Wars), the lovely Charisma Carpenter (Buffy the Vampire Slayer – pictured above right with me) and many more.

The convention also features hundreds of booths filled with collectibles, comic books, toys, apparel and merchandise and there are some great panel discussions, Q&A sessions, auctions and demonstrations. Among the highlights of the final day will be a Q&A with Stan Lee at 11.30am, a session with Charisma Carpenter and Nicholas Brendan at 2.20pm as they discuss their respective roles on two of Joss Wheldon’s critically claimed TV series and a rowdy afternoon chat with Esiner nominated comics scribe Brian Clevinger who investigates how werewolves, aliens and conspiracy theorists ruin our love lives!

There’s a lot to see and do, so make sure you head along to Orange County Convention Center on International Drive early. And, there’s lots more photos on our www.Facebook.com/FloridaLeisure page.

Here’s some video from yesterday:

In 1962, NASA’s Project Mercury made history by sending an American into orbit for the first time. To mark the 50^th anniversary of this historic achievement, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is inviting the public to a celebration that will be headlined by Mercury astronauts John Glenn (pictured above left) and Scott Carpenter (pictured above right), the first two Americans to orbit Earth.

The 50^th anniversary event, entitled “Celebrating 50 Years of Americans in Orbit,” will feature a full day of activities on Saturday, Feb. 18 including:

• United Launch Alliance (ULA) presentation discussing the Atlas rocket used to launch astronauts into space during the Mercury program
• Space-themed artwork display created by area students
• NASA exhibitions providing guests with a vision of the future of human spaceflight
• “On the Shoulders of Giants” Program

“On the Shoulders of Giants” Program featuring John Glenn and Scott Carpenter

The highlight of the anniversary event will begin at 6:30 p.m. when special guests Senator John Glenn and Scott Carpenter participate in a ceremony honoring all of those who made Project Mercury possible. The “On the Shoulders of Giants” program will not only give attendees the opportunity to see the first two Americans in orbit, but it will also allow those who attend to see Glenn and Carpenter sign an artifact to be placed on permanent display. In addition, musical entertainment will be provided before and after the presentation.

Tickets will be provided at Guest Information for the first 750 people interested in the program for bleacher-style seating. Seating will begin at 5:30 p.m. All guests are encouraged to attend the program, and can bring folding chairs or blankets due to the limited availability of seating.

Ticket Information

• Guests who spend the day at KSCVC with admission or an annual pass can enjoy each of the celebration events, including the 6:30 p.m. program.
• A $15 program-only ticket is available for those who did not purchase admission or an annual pass during the day and will be valid from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. on February 18, 2012. Tickets can be purchased on the day-of, or by clicking below.

Guests wishing to learn more about Project Mercury may also be interested in adding the “Cape Canaveral: Then & Now” guided tour to their admission package. This tour takes guests to the original Cape Canaveral launch sites associated with the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. For reservations or for more information about the “Cape Canaveral: Then & Now” tour, please call 866-737-5235 or click here.

The “Celebrating 50 Years of Americans in Orbit” event is being sponsored by United Launch Alliance.

Here’s some video:

Universal Orlando’s Blue Man Group show is taking its unique and captivating brand of live entertainment to another level – complete with a new show environment, new music, new technology and new experiences.

This morning, I got to preview the new show that is opening to the public next Friday, February 24. The show will take guests on an incredible journey where they’ll join the Blue Men as they discover, engage and explore the world’s obsession with cutting-edge technology.  New sections include Blue Men interacting with “GiPads” (think Gigantic iPads), a funny and perceptive look at contemporary modes of communication; and a pulsating new finale featuring an original Blue Man Group music score that will have guests jumping to their feet.

“Many of our audience’s favorite pieces, including ‘Paint Drumming’ and ‘Gum Balls/Marshmallows’ will continue to be a part of the production – and yes, the first few rows will still need to wear ponchos,” added Phil Stanton, (pictured above) Blue Man Group co-founder. “But we have developed some brand new elements of the show that provide a larger-than-life, rousing, interactive experience that I hope will really speak to all cultures and give some of our most devoted fans a new reason to check us out again.”

“The heart of our show is, and always has been, the Blue Man, and his inquisitive, wide-eyed take on the world,” said Chris Wink, who co-founded Blue Man Group with Phil Stanton and Matt Goldman. “Our team of artists at Blue Man Productions has created fun, even astounding new visual aspects of the show, and our music team has given us a great new sound. We are really excited to incorporate these elements into the show at Universal Orlando Resort “

“This show will take one of Universal Orlando’s most popular experiences to a whole new level,” said Alice Norsworthy, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Universal Orlando Resort.  “It’s the perfect complement to the incredible entertainment we offer at our destination.”

Several of the signature moments that have made Blue Man Group one of today’s best-loved theatrical productions will remain in the show, although in most cases, they have also been updated.  And as always, the production will fuse innovative theatrical spectacle with improvisation and vaudeville-inspired comedy, art, science and irresistible music performed by the Blue Man Group live band.

For more information about Blue Man Group at Universal Orlando Resort – or to purchase tickets – visit www.universalorlando.com/blueman.

More photos here.

Love is in the air and with a romantic overlay for Valentine’s month, a new segment of the “The Magic, The Memories, and You!” projection show on Cinderella Castle is debuting for Walt Disney World Resort guests. For the first half of Valentine’s month, until Feb. 15, some of the most romantic moments in Disney animation will inspire the special show. The iconic castle in Magic Kingdom will be covered in red roses for one sequence and turned into a beautiful, star-filled sky for another. During part of the show, spectacular stained-glass windows will grace the façades, depicting the stories of Cinderella, Snow White and Belle. “The Magic, The Memories, and You!” is a part of Disney’s “Let the Memories Begin” in 2012.

Also in town today was entertainer Paula Abdul who posed with Minnie Mouse at Disney’s Hollywood Studios park . For the day, Minnie Mouse wore her special “Valentine’s Day” dress, with white hearts replacing her usual white polka dots.

Meanwhile over at SeaWorld, there was some love at the Shamu show….

MegaCon, the science fiction, fantasy and comic book convention returns to Orlando this weekend, Feb. 17 to 19, 2012, at the Orange County Convention Center. The event will feature celebrity appearances and photo-ops, panels and presentations, merchandise and collectibles and more.

The convention also features hundreds of booths filled with collectibles, comic books, toys, apparel and merchandise. There will be a variety of panels, auctions and demonstrations but perhaps most fun will actually be watching all the fans in their costumes!

This year’s line up of celebrity appearances include Stan Lee (Marvel Comics – pictured above), Bruce Boxleitner (TRON & Tron:Legacy), Tom Felton (Harry Potter), Daniel Logan (Star Wars), Charisma Carpenter (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and many more.

Show Hours:
Friday, Feb. 17 — 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 18 — 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 19 — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Advance online tickets are $24.49 for the day and $58.04 for all three days. Children 10 and under are free. For more information or to purchase tickets online click here.

First Lady Michelle Obama, Disney Channel stars Debby Ryan (“Jessie”), Roshon Fegan (“Shake It Up”), and Disney XD stars Doc Shaw and Kelsey Chow (“Pair of Kings”) and Olivia Holt (“Kickin’ It”), and the hugely popular “Phineas and Ferb” character Perry the Platypus, along with choreographer Rosero McCoy, joined nearly 1,500 kids and families at an event to get kids moving at Disney’s Magic of Healthy Living & “Let’s Move!” celebration at ESPN Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World Resort earlier today.

During the event, the First Lady, Disney stars and kids danced “The Platypus Walk,” a catchy spy-surf-rock song and dance that encourages fun physical activity. The event marks the second anniversary of “Let’s Move!,” the First Lady’s initiative to inspire healthier living, and Disney’s Magic of Healthy Living, a Company-wide initiative designed to encourage kids and families to lead healthier and active lifestyles.

Here’s some video:

This morning I wandered along to SeaWorld to take a preview of the new, first of its kind attraction, Turtle Trek. It was an interesting visit that lasted around 45 minutes as I took a look at the new state of the art dome that will house the animated film that guests will no doubt come to love and enjoy.

The fully domed theater has a powerful stereoscopic projection system and that allows for a seamless, 3-D virtual environment that goes all around the dome, including over the heads of guests. A fine silver coating on the dome allows each screen to focus the projection light back toward the guests and each fleck of silver is like a tiny mirror.

The 3D/360 degree film will showcase the epic journey of one sea turtle. No animal’s life journey is more extraordinary than that of a sea turtle. From hatching on a beach and then making a mad dash to open waters to the dangers and hazards they face as they mature and return to the very same beach where they lay their own eggs, their tales of life underwater have in the past been very difficult to tell.

In the same way that Sea World brought attention to the plight of the manatee, the park will showcase the vulnerable sea turtle when the attraction opens in the spring of 2012. The animated film will play its part in this and it goes well beyond the concept of high definition or even virtual reality as each frame of the film has approximately 26 million individual pixels … more than 13 times what is normally considered “high-definition.” The film will be shown at 60 frames per second which is twice as fast as the human mind can register movement and combined with the dome and the powerful projection system, the result will be one of the sharpest and most spectacular 3-D films ever created.

The movie began on the artist’s drawing board and every movement of every creature was animated independently, from our hero, the sea turtle, to thousands of fish right down to the smallest anemone. More than 12 species of sea animals will be brought to life in the movie and the astonishing thing is that the movie is actually two films that run together simultaneously to create the 3-D effect.

The six minute movie really will be incredible and you won’t find it on Netflix anytime soon… as it is nearly 950GB and would take you nearly three months to download even if you had enough storage space available. In fact, to give you some idea of how huge it is, if you were to try and create a full length film at this resolution and complexity, it would take you nearly five years to download!

34 projectors and 360,000 lumens of light will fill the 3-D, 360 degree movie dome and that’s more than 15 times a typical digital movie theater projection system. Nearly a kilometer of fiber optic cable carries the video date to the projectors and the sound system includes 22 discrete audio channels that will be mixed on site. This then allows for 3-D sound and pinpoint placement of audio effects.

Pretty neat eh? Well consider this, your own surround system at home will usually be a 5.1 arrangement with 5 sound channels and 1 channel for low frequency effects… the sound system at TurtleTrek is 18.4 and is rated at an amazing 32,000 watts!

So that’s the dome and the movie but it’s only part of the allure of TurtleTrek as the whole experience will feature two massive, naturalistic saltwater and freshwater habitats which will be the home to both sea turtles and manatees. Turtle Trek will become home to a variety of adult and juvenile sea turtles, including hawksbill, Kemp’s, loggerhead and green sea turtles. Guests will be able to view these exquisite creatures gliding past them from above or from a below water window. The manatees, believed to be four West Indian manatees to be housed in the location, can also be seen from above or below the water as they swim or graze on a leafy snack. Each of the gentle giants in the exhibit will have come from the SeaWorld rescue program.

Sea turtles are truly a global species found in temperate and tropical seas worldwide and they have survived in the seas for over 200 million years. The TurtleTrek residents though, have been deemed non-releasable by the Florida government, due to genetics, illness or being orphaned. Since 1973, SeaWorld Orlando has rescued, cared for and returned hundreds of endangered manatees and since 1980 it has returned more than 1,200 sea turtles back to their natural waters.

It really is a fantastic effort and SeaWorld is determined to continue educating the public while  helping ill, injured, orphaned and abandoned animals in need. To date, over four decades of SeaWorld activity has seen more than 20,000 animals rescued by the park’s animal experts including whales, dolphins, sea lions, manatees, sea turtles and birds… essentially, the equivalent of helping one animal a day, everyday, for 45 years. It’s why we at Florida Leisure are proud to support SeaWorld and their incredible staff. It’s also why we emphasize a visit to SeaWorld Orlando as both adults and children benefit from the experience. Not only is it fun, but it is very educational and you can’t help but learn something about the world we live in.

We look forward to the opening of TurtleTrek and look forward to bringing you more news and stories from SeaWorld Orlando… so keep checking back on this blog every week!

Here’s some video of construction progress: