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

Just recently a great new book was released that covers some of the hidden facts behind Walt Disney World. The amount of research that went into this book has been incredible and Disney expert and author, Susan Veness told me  “it’s taken around 20 years to put together”.

Susan Veness & Nigel Worrall

It’s a fascinating read and certainly makes you look at Walt Disney World in a different way. It’s amazing how things were planned out and then delivered to become the wonderful place we see today. Susan covers so much in her book that you’re sure to be spell bound.

Make sure you get yourself a copy of the book and discover over 600 secrets of Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom … it’s fantastic.

Testing Manta Video

ORLANDO – SeaWorld Orlando tested the state’s first flying coaster.

Engineers at the theme park tested the new roller coaster, Manta, Thursday.

Manta is expected to give thrill seekers the feeling that they are hanging underneath what appears to be a giant manta ray.

Manta is set to open to the public May 22.

I’ve just finished eating my lunch and for the first time in ages I was actually able to sit down and read the newspaper while doing so. I now wish I hadn’t bothered.

Here’s why; apparently in just two weeks since Orlando turned on the cameras for red light running over 1,100 drivers have been ticketed. That’s right 1,100 drivers putting others at risk!

And yet we get morons like Michele Biecker saying “I hate this city” and addressing her envelope with the payment inside to “City of Orlando Thieves”. Then we get so called intelligent people like Greg Mauz , a traffic safety researcher for 22 years, coming out with “Where’s the problem? Fatalities from red light violations comprise a mere 2 per cent of all U.S. fatalities (about 925 of 43,000).”

“Where’s the problem?” ” a mere 2 per cent” indeed. What kind of moron thinks that it is acceptable that 925 die needlessly each year?

I don’t often agree with what the City of Orlando does but on this topic it is bang on the mark. 1,100 drivers in two weeks says everything about why this action was necessary. 1,100 drivers at just seven intersections… let’s role out more camera’s and catch these morons that jeopardise our familes.

As for you Ms. Biecker… please move.

Sometimes in life something happens that really gets under your skin. This happened to me over the last week when some hack called David Whitley at the Orlando Slantinel went over the top in accusing Tiger Woods of being the most selfish athlete on the planet.

Here’s what Whitley had to say in his article on June 19 after Tiger had secured a remarkable U.S. Open win: “In case there is still any doubt, Tiger Woods just proved he is the most spectacular, determined, stoic and admirable athlete on the planet. He may also be the most selfish. But not in the sense that he hoards fame and money and gazes in the mirror all day. All high achievers must focus on themselves and how to succeed. It’s just that Tiger was so bent on winning the U.S. Open that he discounted the consequences. Not just for himself, but for his sport. He is the sport. And now he’s not.”

It’s hard to beat that for claptrap but there it was… in black and white. Well Mr. Whitley, I have news for you; 1) Tiger Woods is not the sport and 2) what he did showed the whole world how to overcome adversity. Not to run away from challenges and not to allow something like this to detract from what you really want in life.

Sure, Tiger could have taken the easy way out. He might even have contrived to miss that putt on Sunday night to save himself from the play off but winners simply don’t do that. The lessons that Tiger handed out over the weekend and on Monday 16th June were there for all to see… life sometimes throws you a curve ball but its how you handle adversity that really matters.

The other lesson Tiger handed out is that only you can be true to yourself and do what you want to do. Whitley prattles on “What if he’d done permanent damage to the knee, the kind that will curtail his career?” … as if Tiger now has to answer to cretins like this about what he does with his life and his career.

So, the footnote is that Tiger yesterday had his reconstructive surgery and that Dr. Thomas D. Rosenberg and Dr. Vernon J. Cooley are ‘pleased with the results’. Tiger seems happy as well and is looking forward to working through the rehabilitation and training.

Yes, he’s going to be away for a while… but in doing so golf will carry on as it did before Tiger. Many people will still enjoy their golf and the game will continue to flourish… OK, so the media have lost an icon for a short while and dare I suggest that maybe it’s people like Whitley who are actually the selfish ones… after all they’ll now have to work for their living and find stories about other golfers instead. Hard times indeed.

An estimated 1.24 million visitors to Central Florida each year stay in resort homes in Osceola County alone, and spend more than $1 billion. Adding in what the homes’ owners spend, that grows to roughly $1.7 billion as it ripples through the economy, according to a report released Thursday.

The report, commissioned by the Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau and prepared by the Dick Pope Sr. Institute for Tourism Studies at the University of Central Florida, surveyed the county’s vacation-home owners, guests and management companies and asked them about their spending habits, among other things.

“I think that is a great indication of how vibrant the vacation-rental market is in the Central Florida area,” said Jeff Chase, executive director of the Central Florida Vacation Rental Managers Association. “That’s an amazing number.”

Nigel Worrall of Florida Leisure Vacation Homes also welcomed the report and made the following observation: 

“Maybe this is the wake up call that Osceola County needs in order to acknowledge the contribution vacation homes make to the area and to the tax base?

Polk County have had the data for years and in 2005 when the last economic impact survey was done there, it was shown that the economic impact of the vacation home industry was $1.6 Billion. Put that together with Osceola and you now have a number in the region of $3.3 Billion.

If you then consider that Lake County has an increasing number of vacation homes and then add in the small number in Orange County, you are probably talking about an industry worth over $4 BILLION to the local economy. ”
The report provides one of the first comprehensive pictures of the effect vacation homes have on the local tourism economy. Long existing in the shadow of the hotel industry, which is monitored by several travel-research companies, resort-home rentals have not been extensively studied.

“At the moment, there’s just simply no organization tracking them,” said Daryl Cronk, director of research for the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau. “The vacation-home industry is still relatively fragmented compared to the hotel industry.”

The homes’ owners, according to the study, generate $554 million in direct, indirect and “induced” spending each year — the “ripple effect” often cited by economists. Their renters generate more than $1.1 billion in such spending.

Throughout Central Florida, the tourism industry overall is thought to contribute $30 billion to the economy each year, according to the Orlando/Orange County CVB.

Based on licenses issued by Osceola County, the study identified at least 7,811 vacation homes in the county. As part of the report, 40 homeowners were surveyed, along with 113 guests and 15 resort-home property managers. Because of the small size of the samples, the authors cautioned that the results needed to be “interpreted with caution.”

Those who rent vacation homes in Osceola tend to be repeat visitors: More than 70 percent said they have visited the destination at least three times. They travel in larger-than-normal groups — seven people — and spend an average of eight days in the county.

The county’s vacation homes support 20,625 jobs throughout the economy, with an average annual wage of $29,886. The industry generates $172 million in indirect business taxes, including $96 million that stayed with local and state governments.

The study also compared the habits of the vacation-home owners with those of their renters.

Renters tend to spend big on accommodations during a typical visit — an average of $2,566 — and also shell out an average of more than $1,500 at the area’s theme parks. The homes’ owners, on the other hand, direct more money toward food and beverages — $1,803 per party per visit — and an average of $862 on shopping, almost $300 more than renters do.

“It turned out to be very fascinating numbers,” said Tad Hara, an associate professor with the University of Central Florida who contributed to the report. “I don’t think anybody else had done something like this before.”

When I was growing up one of my favorite things was The Harlem Globetrotters.  Cartoon show, Gilligan’s Island, Scooby Doo and then seeing them live at Wembley … they were cool and awesome.  I never really knew much about their history … until last week when there was a special about them on Biography Channel.  After watching that, I said to my wife, next time they are on tour in Orlando we must go and take our son to see them … well surprise, surprise they are actually in Orlando this coming Tuesday at the new UCF arena. 

Harlem Globetrotters

NEW UCF ARENA , ORLANDO, FL
Tue, Mar 4, 2008 07:00 PM

For the unitiated, here is a potted history of the fabulous Harlem Globetrotters … 82 years young.

Today they are best known for ball-handling and comedy routines, but the Globetrotters have a long history of serious basketball play, and their beginnings were modest.

The Harlem Globetrotters have played in over 115 countries for more than 120 million fans. They have scored over 20,000 victories, and only 332 losses. They surpass every other team in the history of sports for number of games played. Today they are best known for their wildly-entertaining comedic routines and ball-handling skills on the court, and of course that famous song, “Sweet Georgia Brown.” But the Harlem Globetrotters have a long history of serious basketball play and their beginnings were modest.
Founded in 1926 in Chicago by a 24 year-old named Abe Saperstein, the original team was called the “Savoy Big Five,” named after Chicago’s famous Savoy Ballroom, where they played many of their early games. The first game they ever played was in Hinckley, Illinois on January 7, 1927, during which the team sported jerseys with the words “‘NEW YORK” printed on them, to give the impression that they were from the city. Eventually their name evolved from “Savoy Big Five” to “Saperstein’s New York Globetrotters” to the “Harlem New York Globetrotters” and finally just the “Harlem Globetrotters,” all in an effort to make it clear that they were an all-black team that traveled the world. In fact, they didn’t actually play a game in Harlem until 1968.
By 1934, eight years after their founding, the Globetrotters had played 1,000 games. This was quite a feat for an all-black team at the time — professional teams were “whites only,” so Saperstein had to work very hard to book games for his team. Saperstein acted as owner, manager, coach, publicity agent and even substitute for the team. With each passing year the Harlem Globetrotters’ playing strengthened, their popularity increased, and their tours lengthened. By 1936, they hit Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Montana, Washington, and North and South Dakota.
In 1939 the Globetrotters played in their first professional basketball championship tournament. They lost to the New York Renaissance (the Rens), but would return year after year to be victorious. 1939 also saw the beginnings of the now-classic Globetrotters’ antics. During a regular season game they were leading an opponent 112 to 5. The lead was so outrageous that it made for a boring game, so team members entertained themselves and the crowd by being a little silly. The crowd loved it and Saperstein was pleased. He told his team that the clowning around was acceptable, only after they had secured a safe lead.
Saving their comic routines for strong-lead games, the Globetrotters continued serious ball play. 1946 saw both the team’s first overseas trip to the US Territory of Hawaii, and the establishment of the National Basketball Association (NBA), which was a “whites only” league that allowed game play against the all-black Globetrotters. From this point on, the Globetrotters toured internationally and would also, throughout the 50s, continuously compete against NBA teams.
In 1951, the Globetrotters were called upon by the US State Department to help counteract a communist youth rally in East Germany. They played in the Allied section of Berlin to an enthusiastic crowd. In following years they played for three different popes, for the Hollywood cameras during the making of the 1951 film “The Harlem Globetrotters,” on the Ed Sullivan show and for sold-out crowds in the USSR and Eastern Europe. In 1958, they won their ninth-straight World Series of Basketball, and in 1959 they achieved their 7,000th career game and finished the season undefeated. They had risen to become one of the finest basketball teams in the world.
A turning point came when the NBA broke their “whites only” ruling in 1950, and began to draft black players. This made it more difficult for Saperstein to keep the competitive edge in the Globetrotters, because many black players began to receive flashy offers from the NBA. Nonetheless, by the time owner Abe Saperstein passed away in 1966, the Globetrotters had played 8,945 games, in more than 1,200 cities and 82 foreign countries. They were known as serious athletes, but their image was evolving towards an entertainment troupe and national icon.
This reached a height during CBS’s 1970s production of a cartoon called “The Harlem Globetrotter Show” — later “The Harlem Globetrotter Popcorn Machine” show — and with Globetrotter “appearances” on Scooby-Doo. President Gerald Ford called them “America’s Ambassadors of Goodwill.” In the 80’s they were given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of American Social History opened a permanent exhibit honoring them.
In 1985, the Globetrotters signed the first woman to play official basketball with men, Olympic gold medalist Lynette Woodard. In 1996 two Globetrotters, Michael “Wild Thing” Wilson and Fred “Preacher” Smith set a Guinness World Record for dunking at 11 feet and 8 inches.
Today there are at least three different Harlem Globetrotters teams touring the country. In September of 2002 the Harlem Globetrotters were inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. They continue to entertain across the country and, more recently, in an effort to gain back some of their serious ball-playing reputation, they have scheduled games against college teams and pick-up teams like Magic Johnson’s All Stars. “Sweet Georgia Brown” is still playing and so are the Harlem Globetrotters.

It’s Saturday morning and I’m  surfing the web,  I found this article on our local Channel 9 news channel website that brought absolute joy and gratefulness to my heart, but at the same time complete sadness. So, I thought I’d share…

In Castalian Springs, Tenn., authorities are still marveling at finding 11-month-old Kyson Stowell alive, lying face down in the mud and 150 yards from where his home once stood.

“It looked like a baby doll,” said David Harmon, a firefighter who had already combed the field once looking for survivors. “He was laying there motionless … and he took a breath of air and started crying.”

The body of the boy’s mother was found in the same field.

The child was discharged from a hospital Thursday and was in the care of his grandparents.

The extent of the damage was still being tallied Thursday in Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, two days after the storms.

The death toll in Tennessee’s Macon County now stands at 14, Macon County Mayor Shelvy Linville told CNN.

Of the 59 people killed, 34 of those were in Tennessee. The deaths also include 13 in Arkansas, seven in Kentucky and five in Alabama, emergency officials said.

Tornadoes pulled houses from foundations, pummeled mobile homes and collapsed warehouses.

Residents are preparing to tackle cleanup in the five states ravaged by the nation’s deadliest set of twisters in more than two decades.

Emergency teams, utility workers and insurance representatives streamed into five southern states hard-hit by tornadoes earlier in the week.

Officials were only beginning to tally how much the tornadoes would cost.

President George W. Bush will travel to Tennessee Friday to assess damage and try to comfort residents.

Offering federal support, he said, “Prayers can help and so can the government.”

“Our administration is reaching out to state officials,” Bush said Wednesday, adding that he spoke with the governors of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. “I wanted them to know that this government will help them; but more importantly, I wanted them to be able to tell the people in their states that the American people hold them up and — hold those who suffer up in prayer. This was a bad storm that affected a lot of people in a variety of states.”

Rescue crews have moved door to door to find victims of Tuesday night’s twisters. They were unleashed by a storm that swept through Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama. Teams from Federal Emergency Management Agency have been sent to the region and activated an emergency center in Georgia.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen surveyed the damage from a helicopter and said, “It looks like the Lord took a Brillo pad and scrubbed the ground.”

A company spokesman said no one was killed in a huge explosion at a natural gas pumping plant in Tennessee.

The Nisource Gas Transmission spokesman said no one was working at the plant Tuesday night when it erupted in flames. He said a tornado likely hit the plant, causing the fire.

About 200 yards from the edge of the gas plant, Bonnie and Frank Brawner picked through the rubble of their home for photographs and other personal items. The storm sheared off the second story of the home and the remaining ceiling over the first floor was partially caved in.

“We had a beautiful neighborhood, now it’s hell,” said Bonnie Brawner, 80.

The nearby Castilian Springs post office was destroyed, and there was one confirmed death, WSMV-TV in Nashville reported.

The mention of the name orlando evokes so many images; Mickey and Minnie, the spectacular theme parks, the scare-you-to-death thrill rides, the natural beauty, the world class accommodations, the great restaurants-on and on it goes. From orlando Sea world, to disney World orlando to Universal Studios orlando-orlando has it all!

Most of all orlando spells a great fun family vacation that will never be forgotten. Why have family vacations in Orlando? Orlando is the quintessential family vacation spot in the united states and perhaps the entire world with more to keep the entire family going full speed for literally weeks.

Don’t let the other 50 plus million visitors from around the world slow you down. Of the top ten amusement parks in the U.S., orlando only has seven-three got away somehow! Are the amusements parks the reason orlando is the premier family vacation destination in the country?

There are nearly 120,000 hotel rooms, suites, resorts, vacation homes and other lodging accommodations to take care of the hoards of visitors from around the globe year round. And that number is growing as we speak. Are the world class accommodations the reason orlando is the premier family vacation destination in the country?

As of this writing there are over 5300 orlando restaurants with the number growing by the minute. The words “theme restaurant” must have been coined for orlando. If there is a world class theme restaurant anywhere in the country it probably is in orlando.

Please note that theme restaurants are famous for their atmosphere and the experience of putting you in another time and place for a few hours NOT necessarily for their culinary excellence. The two concepts are almost always mutually exclusive. Are the world class culinary and themed restaurants the reason why orlando is the premier family vacation destination in the country?

Or the world class shopping-is that the reason it is so popular. Can you imagine having 50 million visitor a year, the retail shops to support that traffic?

No it is not any one of these things by itself-it is the whole package! The 90 plus theme parks and other attractions, the world class accommodations, the fabulous themed restaurants, great shopping, toss in some great weather, mix with 50 million of your closest friends and you have a recipe for a fun family vacation beyond compare-ORLANDO!

For more information check the links below.

Jack Krohn is a free lance writer. He has traveled extensively to europe, throughout the southwest and hawaii. He has had Diabetes, Pre-diabetes and Syndrome X for nearly fifteen years. He speaks from the experiences he has had during that time.

Tigger, one-eyed gator, cat urine top another weird year for news in Florida

The Associated Press

Saturday, December 22, 2007

TALLAHASSEE, Florida: Florida well-known for its theme parks and beaches, has another — more dubious — distinction, a tendency toward bizarre news and 2007 was no exception.

There was the battle over former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith’s body, the city manager who was fired after he became a she, the university student who shouted “Don’t Tase me, bro!” as officers jolted him with a Taser and the astronaut love triangle involving the woman who drove 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers), allegedly using diapers to save time, to confront a romantic rival.

But beyond those headline makers, there was more. So much more.

At Walt Disney World in Orlando, the cartoon character Tigger (which had beat a groping charge a few years ago) was accused of hitting a 14-year-old boy at the theme park, but was let off despite the fact the father had it on videotape.

Two-time NASCAR Busch Series champion Martin Truex Jr. made matters worse for himself after he was caught urinating on a car. Asked by a police officer if the relief was worth a $100 (€70) fine, he held out a $100 bill only to be charged with disorderly intoxication.

As always there were plenty of strange stories fueled by alcohol.

Proving that drinking and driving still do not mix: a 30-year-old woman taking driving lessons ran over her instructor, who had to be airlifted to a hospital. Her blood-alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit.

Then there was the mug shot of a 41-year-old woman arrested in Tampa on driving while intoxicated charges whose T-shirt read, “I’m not an alcoholic, I’m a drunk. Alcoholics go to meetings.”

In the town of Largo, in an alcohol induced oddity, police were left scratching their heads after being called to a bar disturbance only to have one intoxicated man call for help saying he was surrounded by police.

Speaking of head scratchers, a substitute teacher got in trouble in the Orlando area for bringing a handgun on school property after someone reported he was using the gun to scratch his head while pulling into the parking lot.

In other school weapons crime, a 10-year-old girl faced a felony charge in Ocala after she brought a kitchen knife to school to cut the steak she brought for lunch.

Two Tampa-area middle-schoolers were arrested on charges they tried to poison their science teacher by pouring a fabric freshener into her soda.

And there was trouble on the way to school, too. A Tampa-area mom was sentenced to a year in jail after boarding a school bus and telling her daughter to fight another girl. In Jacksonville, authorities charged another mom with pulling a gun at a school bus stop because her son was being bullied.

As always there were plenty of dumb crimes to report.

A man with no arms and one leg who refused to stop driving was sentenced in Pasco County to five years in prison after the latest in a long list of driving offenses.

A former felon swapping his old clothes for new ones in a department store dressing room was caught because his old prison ID badge was in the pants he left behind.

A Tampa-area woman was charged with faking her teenage daughter’s death to scam a medical clinic out of $500 (€348) for funeral expenses, proving she did not learn anything during the two years she spent in prison for faking her husband’s death to collect insurance four years earlier.

A man trying to rob a pharmacy got stuck in an air shaft for 10 hours. He said he was trying to retrieve a cat. Authorities did not believe him.

A burglary suspect fleeing Miccosukee Tribe police jumped into a lake where signs warn “Danger Live Alligators.” He was killed by an alligator.

Of course, there are always plenty of strange stories involving alligators in Florida.

A man golfing in Venice reached down to retrieve his errant shot from a pond when a one-eyed alligator reached up and grabbed his arm, pulling him in. He freed himself by punching the gator. In another attack, a man in a wet suit retrieving balls from a golf course lake to resell them was bitten on the foot by a 7-foot (2-meter) gator.

Rounding out animal attacks was a 62-year-old man who saved himself from a rabid bobcat by strangling the animal.

For pet lovers, there was the story of the man who was arrested after authorities found about 300 cats in his home, which was covered in feces 2 and 3 inches (5 and 8 centimeters) deep.

Others were more tragic. The owner of an exotic animal farm in Wewahitchka died after an 1,800-pound (816-kilogram) camel sat on her as a local television station filmed a feature story.

In Hillsborough County, deputies did not believe a woman when she said the vial they found in her purse contained dried cat urine, not methamphetamine. They should have. She sat in jail for two months until a test proved she was telling the truth. Drug charges were dropped.

As for weird police stories.

Orlando-area police gave away sneakers for people who turned in guns and got a little more than they expected when a man exchanged a 4-foot-long (1.2-meter-long) surface-to-air missile launcher for Reebok sneakers for his young daughter.

There were robbers with a heart. An Altamonte Springs gunman let a convenience store clerk call 911 during a robbery because she said she might be having a heart attack. He then stole $30 (€21) and cigarettes saying as he left, “You have a good day. I’m sorry this had to happen.”

Giving new meaning to the phrase he never knew what hit him, a man in St. Lucie County went to the hospital and told doctors he woke up with a bad headache. He speculated his wife may have elbowed him in his sleep. Doctors quickly found the cause of the pain — a bullet. The couple confessed the wife sleeps with a loaded gun under her pillow and accidentally shot her husband when a burglar alarm went off.

And finally, one man found out that the cost of college graduation can be almost as expensive as getting the diploma. The 24-year-old man celebrated his graduation from Georgia Tech at a Panhandle strip club and ran up an American Express bill totaling $53,000 (€36,857) — more than five semesters of out-of-state tuition at the school. When his dad saw the bill, he called authorities and complained the club took advantage of his son.

Former “Baywatch” star and Playboy model Pamela Anderson has apparently reconciled with her third husband just three days after filing for divorce to end their two-month marriage.

In a divorce petition filed on Friday in Los Angeles, Anderson, 40, cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the breakdown of her marriage to Rick Salomon — best known as Paris Hilton’s partner in a 2003 sex tape.

But on Monday, Anderson wrote cryptically in her Web site diary: “We’re working things out.”

What a great pity…. looks like all of us at Florida Leisure Vacation Homes get to miss out on hosting her honeymoon for her fourth marriage.

C’est la vie.