Developer Says S. Florida Could Be Bigger Than Vegas

Sun Sentinel: The developer behind a plan to build the world's largest casino on the Miami waterfront predicts gamblers will spend more in South Florida than they do in the Las Vegas Strip, the kind of grand transformation that now has the mayor of Miami rethinking his support of the project.

The Malaysian-based Genting Group released a one-page summary of an economic study it commissioned saying the addition of three 5,200-room casino resorts would generate as much as $6 billion in gambling revenue a year. The Vegas Strip, long considered the hub of American gambing, generated $5.7 billion last year, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

The striking numbers come on the heels of a letter by Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado to Genting Chairman K.T. Lim that rolls back the mayor's previous embrace of the company's planned Resorts World Miami casino resort on the city waterfront.

"I believe that your proposed project may be one of the best things that ever happened to our community -- or the worst,'' wrote Regalado, who in June presented Kim with the key to the city shortly after Genting paid $236 million for the Miami Herald's waterfront headquarters. "It is too early in its planning to tell."

The mayor's Nov. 8 letter calls for both Miami and Genting to "stop and think and work together, carefully and unrushed, to avoid any problems that may develop" with the massive project, which would include 5,200 rooms and nearly four times as much gambling space as the largest casino in Vegas. Genting issued a statement Wednesday saying it was "working closely with authorities at all levels of government" as it moves forward with the proposed development.

Genting hired Spectrum Gaming Group to prepare an economic study on bringing three casino resorts to South Florida. On Wednesday Genting released a one-page letter by Spectrum stating three casino resorts would generate between $4.5 billion and $6 billion in casino winnings a year. The letter does not make the Strip comparision, but Spectrum managing director Michael Pollock said it's reasonable to imagine South Florida eclipsing Sin City.

"You've certainly got the population,'' Pollock said. "You've got the tourism infrastructure. You've got access to multiple markets -- many of which are untapped by gaming, such as Latin America."

Pollock said the study was based on three resorts the same size as Resorts World Miami. That would mean world's three largest casinos would operate in South Florida. The letter was released the same day Genting executives made their case in front of a Senate committee considering a industry-backed bill that would allow three casino resorts to open in South Florida.

In an interview, Regalado said his letter does not reflect a change in his position, and that the Resorts World Miami project would not be too large for the city as long as Genting can address traffic woes and new strains on city services.

"It could be manageable,'' he said. "But we just need to understand what kind of impact it will have."

Regalado's newest statement is "gratifying" to business leader Norman Braman who recently met with the mayor urging him to reconsider his views on gambling.

"I think it gets back to the more that people really think this through, the more they realize and understand all the pitfalls that casino gambling will bring to this community," Braman said. "I don't think Tomas Regalado wants his legacy stained by being instrumental in bringing casino gambling to this community."

Braman, who recently engineered the successful recall of Miami Mayor Carlos Alvarez, said he will make it his mission to defeat the casino gambling bill and the potential of three destination resort casinos in South Florida. He said he's received an flood of calls in the last few weeks from other community leaders interested in supporting his efforts.

"I will do whatever is necessary to prevent casino gambling from coming into this community," Braman said. "People now are really waking up to what's happening.This is an assault on our quality of life."

Disney Fighting Florida's Casino Bill

Orlando Sentinel: The biggest challenger standing between Miami and casinos is a mouse.

Walt Disney World, the giant resort near Orlando whose four theme parks draw more than 45 million visitors a year, has made preventing "destination" casinos a top priority. And few, if any, businesses carry as much weight in Florida as Disney, which employs more than 60,000 workers, generates nearly $600 million a year in tax revenue — and doled out more than $2 million to political candidates and causes during the past election cycle.

Some analysts say Disney — and, by extension, Orlando's entire tourism industry — has good reason to be wary of casinos. Though adult-oriented resorts in South Florida are unlikely to appeal to Disney's core audience of families with young children, they could siphon away travelers in narrower segments that are also important to the resort, from South Americans to conventions to weddings.

"Disney has lots of little pockets or niches that they're really good at getting market share in. And it adds up," said Duncan Dickson, a professor at the University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management. "Disney doesn't want another Las Vegas anywhere close to them. Who needs the competition?"

Disney has always opposed efforts to expand gambling.

The Walt Disney Co., one of the most brand-protective companies on the planet, does not want to jeopardize its kid-friendly reputation by any association whatsoever with casinos and the taboo images they often conjure. The company's cruise line is the only major operator to sail ships without onboard casinos, which are typically one of the biggest generators of on-board spending.

"We've studied this issue carefully and remain opposed for many reasons," said Disney spokesman Mike Griffin, "including the fact that it is inconsistent with Florida's brand as a family-friendly destination and with the efforts we've long supported to diversify Florida's economy through research, innovation and entrepreneurship."

The legislation to be considered in Tallahassee would authorize three "destination" casinos in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Each would boast a luxury hotel, shops, restaurants, convention space and casinos with every major game, from blackjack to roulette and craps. Any company awarded a casino license would have to spend at least $2 billion building the facility.

Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts, both based in Las Vegas, and Genting, a Malaysian-based resort developer, are among the companies expected to seek licenses. Genting has already spent more than $300 million to buy bay-front property in downtown Miami and has announced plans for a $3.8 billion resort.

All have promised they will create thousands of jobs in South Florida, making the deal attractive to lawmakers hoping to lower the state's 10.6 percent unemployment rate.

Analysts say anyone that invests that much capital to build a resort also will have to spend lavishly to market the property. At a minimum, that will force Disney to ramp up its own spending on advertising, eroding its profit margins.

"Anytime you've got to fight and compete with more marketing dollars, which you know these folks have in abundance, it makes Disney's job that much harder to battle against," said Vicki Johnson, a tourism-marketing expert in Orlando.

More specifically, casinos could prove attractive draws in key markets for Disney. Executives at Genting, for instance, have said they would market heavily in Latin America.

Latin America — particularly Brazil, its biggest country — has become one of Disney World's most valuable markets in recent years. This summer, even as overall attendance at the resort was about flat with a year ago, Disney officials said traffic from Brazil was up by a double-digit percentage.

Though Disney doesn't disclose exact attendance numbers, national data show that visitation from Brazil is up 27 percent to more than 833,000 so far this year. And though Miami is the most popular destination for South American travelers, Orlando is growing more rapidly.

Disney says its business from Brazil is predominantly family-leisure travel, the group least likely to be swayed by casinos. But some industry followers say lavish resorts, when combined with the boutique shopping already in Miami, might be enough to peel away some of that business, especially Brazilians with older children or none at all.

"All of a sudden, it really cuts into their [Disney's] South American markets," Johnson said.

Group meetings and conventions business is also a growing profit center for Disney, which has nearly 470,000 square feet of meeting space spread among its hotels. It also routinely picks up lucrative private parties and other business tied to shows using Orange County's massive, publicly owned convention center.

Finally, allowing casinos in South Florida could lead to pressure to build more in other parts of the state. Already, some hoteliers in Orlando — led by Harris Rosen, owner of three major convention hotels — have made rumblings about bringing casinos to Central Florida. And officials at Port Canaveral — Disney Cruise Line's home port — are interested in casinos, too.

"Once they get their foot in the door, what's next? Orange County is going to say, 'Well, if it's legal in Dade County, why isn't it legal here?' " said Dickson, the UCF professor.

Disney has worked to enlist broader business groups to fight the casino legislation, most notably the Florida Chamber of Commerce, even though more than half of the businesses represented on the chamber's board of directors say they are neutral on the issue.

And the opposition from Disney has put casino boosters on the defensive during the past few days.

"Florida's identity cannot be changed because one casino or two destination resorts open in Miami-Dade County," said state Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, who is sponsoring the casino legislation in the Florida House of Representatives.

"Florida will always be the Sunshine State," he added. "The dominant trademark of Florida will always be Disney World. I don't think they have anything to worry about when it comes to that."

Flash Mob Surprises Hotel Guests

MSNBC: On Friday, diners at the Quinn’s on the Beach restaurant at the Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort, outside Naples, Fla., experienced something a little different with their pan-seared snapper and peel-and-eat shrimp: a flash mob, a seemingly impromptu but well-choreographed dance attack (video below) by several dozen students from a local high school.

Dancing to the music of Sonora Carruseles, the students salsa danced their way along the beach to the surprise of patrons.

“It was a chance for our students to do something different for homecoming,” said Leigh Anne Bates, principal of the First Baptist Academy. “Flash mobs are a part of pop culture, and this just seemed like a cool thing to do.”

The group was the first to take advantage of the resort’s new Mobbed at Marco Island group package, in which guests can engage in the sort of “flash mob” dance numbers seen on YouTube or television shows such as “Glee” and “Modern Family.”

The idea was conceived in June as a way to enliven a Marriott company meeting at the resort. “The first speaker was about to kick off the general session, the music started and people broke out into dance,” said Bob Pfeffer, the resort’s director of sales and marketing, who helped organize the event. “It was a shock at first, but a lot of people in the audience joined in.”

Rolled out for the public last week, the package costs $10 to $35 per participating guest, which includes a choreographer to teach the moves, a videographer to shoot the event and the resulting DVD. It can be customized for business and leisure groups, involve guests and/or resort employees and include special occasion-specific add-ons.

“How fun would it be if a couple went to our recreation hut on the beach and suddenly the music starts?” said Pfeffer. “The staff breaks out in a dance — maybe they’re all wearing T-shirts that say will you marry him — and the guy proposes?”

While skeptics may consider the flash-mob angle a gimmick, Pfeffer disagrees, citing the viral nature of dance-themed group events, such as “Jill and Kevin’s Big Day,” the insanely popular YouTube wedding video that’s received a whopping 69.9 million hits since it was posted two years ago.

It’s all about creating memories, he told msnbc.com. “Whether it’s a gimmick or not is in the eye of the beholder.”

“Hotels are trying to set themselves apart from all the other properties that people can choose to go to,” said hospitality consultant Scott Brush. “They’re trying to say, ‘Here, you can do this or that; there you can’t.’ Weddings, bar mitzvahs, quinceañeras — people are always looking for the opportunity to do something different.”

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Legoland Florida Ready for Soft Opening

Orlando Sentinel: The rides at Legoland Florida are up and ready to roll, as Central Florida's newest theme park prepares for its first guests this weekend — the contractors who built the park and the families of the park's 1,000 employees.

Legoland doesn't open to the public until Oct. 15., but the Winter Haven park is nearly ready, with rides in working order, landscaping all but complete, and hundreds of Lego sculptures scattered throughout the property, waiting to be discovered by eager eyes.

"We're in full training mode. Our merchandise people are filling in the stores, our food people are practicing food preparation," Jill Swidler, the park's marketing director, said Wednesday. "So we'll be ready to go Oct. 15."

Legoland conducted a brief, technical rehearsal Wednesday of part of its water-ski show, the first time the show has been done in full costume. Dubbed "The Battle for Brickbeard's Bounty," the show includes a boxy Lego pirate named Brickbeard and the "spicy and brave" heroine, Ms. Miranda, who defends Legoland's happy harbor with her Lego soldiers and a pirate-eating shark named Sawtooth. The show set comes complete with a large-scale model of a Lego pirate ship.

"We actually have a Lego ship that we modeled this after," said Marc Kish, project manager for Nassal, the Orlando company that built the set piece. "We had to make sure every line and every seam and every placement is true."

The park also gave members of the media a sneak peek of Lego City, with its Boating School, Ford Driving School and Lego City Rescue Academy — a firefighter-inspired race that pits family against family in a bid to battle a burning building.

"The rides at Legoland are really special rides in that, instead of being a passive participant, you're an active participant," said Bill Vollbrecht, the park's senior project designer. "Everything they do, it's hands on. They drive the car — there's no track. They drive the boat on open water."

The park's Lego Technic Test Track was also ready Wednesday. The steel roller coaster offers a high-rise view of the park before riders plunge down a 45-foot drop.

Legoland said it will soon begin selling discount tickets at area Publix Super Markets. At $60 for adults and $50 for children, the tickets cost $15 less than those purchased at the gate and $5 less than pre-opening prices available online.

Park officials also expressed confidence in their annual-pass sales, saying area residents are already clamoring to get into the attraction.

"Our pass sales are going through the roof, totally exceeding our expectations," Swidler said. "We know the locals are totally excited to get in here."

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Imagine Life Without the Mouse

Tampa Bay Online: Standing in the spooky darkness of the Haunted Mansion, Paul and Sherrye Archer wait their turn to enter the Magic Kingdom attraction at Walt Disney World.

The mansion filled with ghoulish illusions has been one of the Archers' favorite spots inside the park for the 19 years they have owned season passes. Disney World is the Valrico couple's escape from the pressure of their teaching jobs. Only an hour's drive from their front door, the four parks serve as weekend getaways several times a year.

Their set-in-concrete routine for every Magic Kingdom visit: a beeline to Adventureland and the Splash Mountain ride — their favorite — followed by the rib-rumbling Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Then the mansion, lunch, a dessert and the Buzz Lightyear laser shooting gallery.

Inside the mansion's dark entrance lobby, a narrator speaks in a mortician's ominous monotone. Sherrye, 61, whispers the script word-for-word. "Your cadaverous pallor betrays an aura of foreboding, almost as though you sense a disquieting metamorphosis. Is this haunted room actually stretching? Or is it your imagination?"

Ah, imagination. The foundation upon which Walter Elias Disney built his entertainment empire. It was imagination that brought a whistling Mickey Mouse to the movie screen, then to TV and then to a land named after Disney in Anaheim, Calif. And it was imagination that led Disney to buy 30,000 acres of mosquito-choked scrubland in the middle of Florida with the idea of building a themed resort where visitors could spend money on rides, in restaurants and at hotels, immersed in a world of his creation.

It would take a Disney-size imagination to ponder what Orlando and Florida would be like if that first shovel of dirt hadn't been turned to build the Magic Kingdom. As the park marks its 40th year in business Saturday, it maintains its spot as the most popular theme park in the world, with an estimated 17 million visitors a year who spill into Orlando and use it as an entry point for exploring the rest of the peninsula.

"You're talking about the 500-pound gorilla in terms of tourism," said Mark Bonn, a professor at Florida State University's College of Business and president of Bonn Marketing Research. "Historically, we were promoted as a sun and sand and ski destination," Bonn said. "That all changed in a hurry when the Magic Kingdom opened."

Bonn's company has been tracking visitors for the city of Tampa for 17 years. His numbers show that 20 percent of the tourists who visit Tampa and St. Petersburg come here because of Disney and the other Orlando attractions it paved the way for. "If you were to take away 20 percent of spending in Hillsborough County, it would be a devastating loss," Bonn said. "Disney was the engine that started it all."

There are stories about why Walt Disney chose to build a duplicate park in Florida. One often-told tale is that Disney saw an employee, or "cast member," dressed in cowboy garb strolling through the futuristic Tomorrowland at Disneyland. For the big-picture Disney, who framed the construction of Disneyland with a cinematographer's eye, the contrast ruined his intended illusion. A theme park built properly would have tunnels for cast members to move without being seen, an innovation he used at Magic Kingdom.

The other story mixes illusion with money: When Disneyland was built outside Anaheim, Disney didn't anticipate the hoards of stores and rundown hotels it would attract outside the gates. As they surrounded the park, it limited any chance to expand. "He wanted them to be immersed and not see a 7-Eleven outside the gates of the Magic Kingdom," said Matt Roseboom, owner and publisher of Orlando Attractions Magazine. "He bought enough land to do just that."

After scouting other places in the United States and within Florida, Disney started scooping up land through dummy corporations to keep prices low. The Florida Project, as he called it, was intended to build Progress City, a concept that became Epcot and the town of Celebration.

Florida was all about big projects then. An hour away, billions of dollars were being spent to launch men into space at Cape Canaveral. In 1962, the nearby Kissimmee River was being straightened and drained to make way for grazing land and agriculture. In 1964, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began digging the Cross Florida Barge Canal to give ships a shortcut between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

"When you think about that time frame in Florida, you had a climate that was conducive to having a year-round operation like they had in California," Disney historian Dave Herbst said. "And they had the ability to buy a lot of land at a manageable price."

Using its considerable lobbying power, the company negotiated with the state to grant it eminent domain over the property to avoid the red tape of building in Osceola and Orange counties. The Reedy Creek Improvement District — overseen, managed and policed by Disney officials — was created. After Disney died from cancer in 1966, his brother Roy took over the project, nudging it toward a first phase of construction that included the Magic Kingdom, the Contemporary and Polynesian resorts, golf courses, a campground and a monorail.

When Lakeland residents William "Bill" Windsor Jr. and his wife, Marty, were picked from the opening day crowd of 10,000 visitors to be the first to see Magic Kingdom, along with their toddler sons Jay and Lee, there was no way to predict the park's explosive growth. That 43-square-mile property now consists of four theme parks, two water parks, 33 resorts and hotels, a shopping district, a sports complex and a boardwalk. There remains ample room for parks and resorts if demand grows. Its success spawned similar versions in France and Japan.

So large was Disney's economic gravity back then that SeaWorld duplicated its San Diego theme park with an Orlando version in 1973. Universal Orlando more closely mimicked the Disney model in 1990, with what later became multiple parks and resorts. The three cemented the region as the world's top tourist destination.

A Disney-commissioned study released in April estimates that the Disney property generates $18.2 billion in annual economic activity in Florida, totaling 2.5 percent of the state's gross domestic product. The study by Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics showed Disney employs 62,000 who earn an aggregate of $1.8 billion. Statewide, 160,000 jobs lead back to Disney: one out of every 50 jobs in Florida. That doesn't include the millions of dollars that have flowed to Tampa or St. Petersburg as travelers filter through. Or the construction workers that built houses and widened Interstate 4 and Florida's Turnpike.

Disney and Florida have become so synonymous that marketing money spent by the company to draw visitors acts as de facto promotion for the rest of the state, economist Bonn said. The state has a $25 million tourism marketing budget, while Disney spends $250 million to promote its attractions.

Without Cinderella's Castle, there's no reason to assume Orlando would be the 29th-busiest airport in the world, according to Airports Council International. There's nothing to suggest "the I-4 corridor" would have become so coveted in national politics. "There would be no Orlando Magic basketball team," Bonn said, joking. "Funny how they got that name, eh? What would they have called them, the Orlando Oranges?"

Roseboom recently broke the news in his attractions magazine that Disney plans to feature a land in its Animal Kingdom park dedicated to "Avatar," the largest-grossing movie ever.

Without the Magic Kingdom, Herbst never would have left his job as a sports copy editor for the Pittsburgh Press to become a Disney historian. He will retire this year after 30 years. In 1977, he begrudgingly took a trip to Magic Kingdom instead of visiting his grandmother.

"My friends loved Disney," Herbst said. "They said, 'You have to go to Walt Disney World.' My response was, "Why? We have Kennywood!' "

After two days in the Magic Kingdom, he told his wife while driving north on Interstate 95, "I'm going to work there someday.

"I was seeing myself as the guy on the horse-drawn trolley or some fun little job," Herbst said. "I immediately sent a crazy letter to them after we got home. I got back a letter that said, 'Thank you for your interest.'"

Four years later, he was a cast member.

Paul Archer worked as a cast member in the mid-1970s, sweeping up trash along Magic Kingdom's impeccably clean Main Street U.S.A. His favorite park is Epcot: Once you have swept up after the horses, it changes your view of Magic Kingdom, he said. Archer, 55, owns no Mickey Mouse-adorned apparel. His wife once bought them matching Mickey Mouse outfits during a Disney cruise. He wore it. "Once," he said, flatly.

The couple, who met as physical education teachers and coaches at schools in Palm Bay, spend thousands of dollars a year at the park. Married for more than 20 years, they have no children but enjoy seeing the parks through the eyes of their relatives' kids.

Paul, a physical education teacher at Corpus Christi Catholic School in Temple Terrace, runs the Disney Marathon each year through the streets of the theme parks and resorts. Sherrye, who teaches physical education at Stowers Elementary in Lithia, wears her oversized Minnie Mouse hand to wave goodbye to students at the end of the school year. They rarely buy souvenirs.

One time in 2005, they broke that rule. They got through the front gate of Magic Kingdom at opening time and ran to their beloved Splash Mountain. As the first two riders of the day, they went down the water toboggan alone. Twice. They plunked down $15 for the 5- by 8-inch souvenir photo. It sits in a frame on their mantel. "That was the best day at the park ever," she said. "I'll never forget that."

Not everyone has been entranced by Disney's magic, though. Members of the I Hate Disney World page on Facebook, for example, see the resort as "a blight on the fetid swampland it was built on."

"It makes your average refugee camp look like a garden party," the page says. "The most accursed place on Earth."

In 2008, Newark Star-Ledger parenting columnist Peggy O'Crowley bemoaned a trip to Magic Kingdom, confessing her boredom and saying her kids were equally underwhelmed. "The heat, the long lines for rides, the $5 hot dogs, the plastic castle, the adults wearing Goofy or Mickey ears … it was all too much for us," she wrote.

Disney fans swarmed to the newspaper's website to defend the resort. "I am guessing if there was one of the seven dwarfs you admire and resemble the most it would be Grumpy," one wrote.

The definitive anti-Mouse screed remains Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen's 83-page book, "Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World." Published in 1998, the book has become the Rosetta stone for despising the Disneyfication of Florida and the country.

Hiaasen attacks the company for what he sees as its manhandling of the Legislature to get its way, for destroying the environmental purity of Central Florida and for insisting that nature is something to be managed instead of nurtured.

"Disney is so good at being good," Hiaasen writes, "that it manifests an evil; so uniformly efficient and courteous, so dependably clean and conscientious, so unfailingly entertaining that it's unreal, and therefore is an agent of pure wickedness. Imagine promoting a universe in which raw Nature doesn't fit because it doesn't measure up."

Disney has responded to critics with efforts to tout its recycling efforts. Visitors staying at resort hotels are asked to conserve towels to reduce water use. Attractions at Animal Kingdom and Epcot tout the wisdom of being ecologically minded.

But even critics know Disney isn't leaving Florida anytime soon. Consider those big projects that emerged about the time Magic Kingdom was built. NASA this year stopped sending people into space from Cape Canaveral. The Kissimmee River straightening is being undone to rectify damage to the region and to the Everglades. The uncompleted barge canal didn't see the end of the first Nixon administration and is now a greenway named for its most strident opponent.

Magic Kingdom, on the other hand, will add a village of new princess-themed attractions to Fantasyland next year. And Disney Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo announced Thursday the company's plan to expand into India. Shanghai Disney is slated to open in 2015.

Disney endures.

Clearwater Aquarium to Host 'Dolphin Tale' Screening

WTSP: Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA) is pleased to announce it will give 100 lucky children, military and their families free tickets to the afternoon special screening of Dolphin Tale at Ruth Eckerd Hall on September 21st, prior to the September 23rd theater release date. Families will be selected based on need and their connection to Winter and her story of survival. Each chosen family will receive four free tickets valued at $200.

Based on the true and inspiring story of Winter the Dolphin, Dolphin Tale brings to the big screen the stories of both a young boy, Sawyer, and a military veteran, Kyle, who are inspired by Winter and her own fight for survival. In reality, hundreds of kids and wounded veterans have visited CMA to meet Winter and draw inspiration from her. This contest and ticket give-away celebrates the spirit and determination shown by both Winter and those she has helped to overcome their personal challenges!

One of these amazing children is ten-year-old Aidan Schmitz who lives in St. Petersburg. Aidan has a lot in common with Winter. Aidan has Fibular Hemimelia and was born with only one bone in her lower leg. As a result, she had to have her foot amputated and now has a prosthetic leg. Now Aidan can keep up with her siblings. After meeting Winter, Aidan says she now has a new best friend. Mom, Tricia, shares, "Winter has positively impacted Aidan's life in many ways. One way is by helping Aidan realize she is not alone. Aidan used to complain that she was tired about answering questions about her leg. Since meeting Winter, and seeing that every day Winter shows her tail and lets people meet her, Aidan doesn't complain anymore. In fact, she is more willing than ever to talk about it!" Aidan will help CMA kick off the ticket give-away by visiting Winter.

How to Submit an entry:

Interested participants should submit a photo and explanation of why they should receive tickets, to contest@cmaquarium.org. Submission deadline is September 14, 2011 at noon and the recipients will be announced and posted to SeeWinter.com thru September 16, 2011. Visit www.SeeWinter.com for more information.

First Look at Legoland Florida's Park Map

Legoland Florida Map -- Click to Enlarge

Attractions Magazine: Legoland Florida started welcoming guests to their front gate this weekend to pick up their annual passes. Although the gates to get in Florida’s newest theme park are not yet open, those picking up their passes had the opportunity to buy some Lego merchandise, get a park map and meet a couple of Lego characters.

The line to pick up passes was very long on Friday and Saturday. Most waited about two hours. But Legoland officials were doing all they could to keep guests comfortable. They were offering rides to and from guest’s cars, handing out free water and they set up as many tents and fans as they could find.

Since everyone getting a pass needs to be present (because your photo is on your pass), a kids play area was set up full of Legos.

Legoland Florida officially opens on Oct. 15, 2011. Annual passholders are invited to preview the park from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 10, 12 and 13. AAA members can purchase tickets for $34.99 to preview the park on Oct. 7 or 8.

Universal Orlando Attendance Jumps 41 Percent

OrlandoSentinel: Harry Potter continued to draw legions of fans to Universal Orlando this spring, as resort attendance leapt 41 percent from a year ago.

Nearly 3.6 million people visited Universal Orlando's two theme parks during the second quarter of the year, an increase of more than 1 million from the same period in 2010. 

The results capped the busiest 12 months ever for Orlando's No. 2 theme-park resort, which has drawn enormous crowds since opening the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The $265 million collection of rides, shops and eateries themed around the magical universe created by author J.K. Rowling opened June 18, 2010, in Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park.

Almost 13.4 million people have visited Universal since June 2010, according to regulatory filings. Universal Orlando's annual attendance record is 12.1 million, set in 2004. 

A spokesman for Universal Orlando declined to comment Monday. But executives at parent company Comcast Corp. praised the resort during a conference call last week to discuss the cable company's second-quarter earnings.

"We are very pleased with the park's performance," Comcast Chief Financial Officer Michael Angelakis told analysts.

Universal also continued to ring up record sales during the second quarter, as travelers paid higher prices to get into its parks and bought magic wands, mugs of butter beer and other Harry Potter paraphernalia. Resort revenue jumped 61 percent for the quarter, from $243.5 million to $392.2 million.

Universal gained in every category of spending, regulatory filings show. Ticket revenue rose 57.5 percent, food and beverage sales jumped 53 percent and merchandise revenue soared 82 percent.

The resort's total profit for the quarter was $97.8 million, up from just $2.8 million a year ago.

Universal, which in May unveiled plans to convert an existing simulator ride into a new attraction based on the animated film "Despicable Me," bumped up its capital budget for the year. Universal now estimates it will spend $100 million on capital improvements in 2011, up from an earlier estimate of $80 million.

Comcast said second-quarter attendance and guest spending also rose at its other U.S. theme park, Universal Studios Hollywood, thanks to the popularity of a King Kong attraction that opened last summer.

The Philadelphia-based cable company, through its NBCUniversal media business, last month became Universal Orlando's sole owner. NBCUniversal paid $1.025 billion to buy the 50 percent of Universal Orlando that it didn't already own from The Blackstone Group.

"We think our theme parks represent a great growth opportunity and we are doing well currently on both coasts with Harry Potter in Orlando and King Kong in Hollywood," NBCUniversal President Steve Burke said on last week's Comcast conference call.

Florida Keys Underwater Art Exhibit Now Open

CBNNews: Scuba diving and art shows don't typically go hand-in-hand. However, one artist's new exhibit is changing that.

Austrian art photographer Andreas Franke's latest exhibit is making waves off the coast of Florida.

The photographer recently debuted the first underwater art show the state has ever seen, giving art enthusiasts an opportunity to see art and scuba dive all at the same time.

"We need to find a gallery, but where's the right gallery? Just ended up with the idea. Okay, bring it back to Florida to the keys and on the Vandenberg. So nobody did it before," he said.

The exhibit includes a dozen digitally composed images.

The artist photographed ship wreckage and added digital elements to create the artwork.

The pieces are being displayed at the site of the wreckage, a former U.S. Air Force missile tracking ship that has become an artificial reef.

To see the exhibit, all you have to do is dive 93-feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean near the Florida Keys.

Castle Wars at Central Florida Theme Parks

Orlando Sentinel: Cinderella is losing her longtime monopoly on theme-park castles in Central Florida.

Harry Potter broke the spell last year, when Universal Orlando opened a replica of Hogwarts Castle (left) as the centerpiece of its Wizarding World attractions area.

Now, Legoland Florida is constructing a giant building-block castle in Winter Haven that will hold a Medieval Dragon Coaster. Soon even Walt Disney World will get in on the act, when it gives Cinderella Castle a couple of next-door neighbors in its Magic Kingdom theme park. The park's expanded Fantasyland, now under construction, is to include Eric's castle from Disney's "The Little Mermaid" and the Beast's castle from "Beauty and the Beast."

That's a lot of castle competition for a tourist destination that for decades was home to just one very famous, fantastical fortress.

The newest theme-park castle, at Legoland Florida, was inspired by one of the first building-block kits in Lego's construction series, which debuted in 1979. In the 32 years since, Lego has always had some sort of castle-themed blocks on the market for children who want to create a Medieval masterpiece.

"All those elements you see on the castle are direct pulls from Lego products," said Bill Vollbrecht, the park designer for Legoland Florida, which is scheduled to open in October. "In all Lego parks, that's the centerpiece to the park — the 'Castle Hill' area."

Legoland's castle will hold one of the franchise's most popular rides: the Dragon Coaster. It takes guests on a slow tour of the castle's six rooms, in which Lego figures appear as castle guards, the court jester, the wizard Merlin and a giant dragon. Guests then embark on a "pink-knuckle" coaster ride that swirls in and about the castle.

"It's full of Lego models and detail and sounds, and it's one of those things you want to do over and over again," Vollbrecht said.

Universal's castle, Hogwarts, is also home to Wizarding World's signature ride: Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

"Hogwarts Castle is the physical and emotional anchor for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It casts a very real and powerful presence over the entire area," Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said. "You can see the awe in our guests' faces when they first discover it."

Universal hasn't disclosed the actual height of its Hogwarts, which is in its Islands of Adventure theme park, saying only that the castle was designed and built in a way to make it appear more than 700 feet tall.

Disney World's two new castles are expected to make their first formal appearance within the next year or two. Both are designed to capitalize on the popularity of Disney's "princess" movies.

The anchor attraction of the Fantasyland expansion, Under the Sea — Journey of the Little Mermaid, will include a replica of the castle home of Prince Eric, the human with whom the mermaid Ariel falls in love.

"Cinderella's castle will always, of course, be the shining star and the icon for the Magic Kingdom, but when we looked at 'The Little Mermaid,' we thought, 'Wow, a great icon is Prince Eric's castle, and that would be a great starting point for this journey for us to travel under the sea," Disney Imagineer Chris Beatty said in a recently released video introducing the attraction.

Meanwhile, construction is already under way on the Beast's castle, another Fantasyland element. A replica of the castle will sit atop the "Beauty and the Beast"-inspired Be Our Guest Restaurant, set to open in late 2012.

Also, as part of the same expansion, other Disney princesses will get a castle-like home in Princess Fairytale Hall, which will include a royal court where the characters meet with park guests.

"We want our guests to feel completely immersed in the treasured stories we're telling as part of the Fanstasyland expansion," said Disney spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez. "Castles are an integral part of sharing the stories of Disney princesses, just as colorful circus tents will create a sense of place for the Storybook Circus area of the expansion."

Space Coast Tourism Sector Smiling

Florida Today: The launch of space tourism in the post-shuttle era got good reviews, as big crowds watched the Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft lift off Friday afternoon.

It is a relatively high-profile mission, and thousands of spectators crowded into two viewing sites at Kennedy Space Center to watch Juno launch from Cape Canavera Air Force Station. More than 1,000 of them were waiting outside the KSC Visitor Complex when it opened at 7 a.m. to be assured of getting a bus pass for the Apollo/Saturn V Center, the closest public viewing area for this launch.

Revenue from rocket launches will help the tourism sector bridge the gap between last month's end of the space shuttle program and the first launch of the still- undetermined program that will take its place. Hotels, restaurants, retailers, museums and other attractions all benefit from tourists coming to the area.

"Visitor attendance was double what a normal August day would be," KSC Visitor Complex spokeswoman Andrea Farmer said. "We blew away our expectations for attendance."

Among the spectators was 22-year-old Lakini Yogeswaran of Paris, who is working at World Disney World this summer.

"I was off today, so I was really happy to come there to see the launch,"said Yogeswaran, a college student majoring in information systems. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Chhaya Patel, 60, of Orlando brought her granddaughter and her brother-in-law, who is visiting from Manchester, England.

"It's a great experience," Patel said.

KSC Visitor Complex Sales and Marketing Director John Stine said the complex did extensive marketing in newspaper ads, on its Website, through email blasts, through promotions at local hotels and on social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to promote experiencing the Juno launch. The complex also had Juno-themed events at the complex on the two days leading up to the launch, including appearances by Bill Nye ("The Science Guy"), who is executive director of The Planetary Society.

The setups at the Apollo/Saturn V Center and at the visitor complex's Shuttle Plaza area included prelaunch commentary from NASA and from mission control. At the Shuttle Plaza, there also was a live feed from NASA-TV-- paralleling what has been done for shuttle launches.

Stine said the pre-launch events attracted strong crowds, including many families with children, and the visitor complex plans to have expanded programs centered on the launch of missions to the moon in September and to Mars in November.

"It tells people that a lot of cool things are happening, and NASA continues to actively explore into the solar system," Stine said.

Nancy Evans, director of sales at the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott in Titusville and Melbourne, said her 96-room Titusville hotel was sold out on Thursday and Friday night, largely because of tourists and space industry employees in town for the Juno launch. If it wasn't for the launch, Evans said, 40 percent to 50 percent of the rooms would have been vacant those days.

"It is excellent business for us," Evans said. "It makes a direct impact on our employees' pay" by giving housekeepers and front-desk staff more hours of work.

"I'm very pleased we are promoting these launches," Evans said, citing efforts by the KSC Visitor Complex and the Space Coast Office of Tourism.

The visitor complex area wasn't the only one to get viewers for the Juno launch.

Ken Broun and his daughter, Katelyn, were among spectators watching from Jetty Park in the Port Canaveral area.

They drove down Wednesday from Virginia Beach, where Ken, 57, is an astronomy professor at Tidewater Community College, and Katelyn, 22, is a college student. They plan to stay until Sunday.

"It gives me some experiences coming here to talk about in class," Ken Broun said, adding that he hopes to be back to the Space Coast for the Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory launch, scheduled for Nov. 25.

Atlanta resident Jeff Trew celebrated his 52nd birthday with his wife and two daughters, watching from the bleachers outside the Apollo/Saturn V Center as Juno launched.

Shuttle Gone, Space Coast Looks to Eco-Tourism

Orlando Sentinel: Kayaking in the Mosquito Lagoon on a moonless summer night reveals blazing stars and comets — not in the sky but in waters thick with "bioluminescent" plankton. When mullet jump out of the water, they look like rockets shooting off. Though the mullet themselves aren't that visible, they churn up a trail of liquid pyrotechnics, and their splashdowns trigger more sprays of light from the jostled plankton.

It's a startling and compelling display. And it could play a role in shoring up Brevard County's economy as thousands of better-paying jobs and a reliable stream of tourism vanished with last month's retirement of the space-shuttle program.

"We have to think along those lines," said Elisabeth Mahan, co-owner with her husband of A Day Away Kayak Tours. "There's no other option on the plate."

North Brevard County has its popular Cocoa Beach, cruise ships that dock at Port Canaveral and other seaside attractions.

Now county, city and chamber-of-commerce leaders are ramping up programs and marketing to capitalize on tourism lured by the attractions of nature, including roseate spoonbills at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, redfish in the Indian River and sunrises at Canaveral National Seashore.

Mahan thinks the timing to push eco-tourism is right, as the nation has a growing appetite for the outdoors. In her sixth year of business, the number of customers has increased by an average of more than 30 percent annually and topped 7,000 last year.

"If you had tried this 15 years ago, it wouldn't go. It wasn't in the front of the American mind-set," Mahan said. "Now we live in such an electronic age, sitting in front of computers for hours. People are sick of the electronics, sick of concrete, and outdoor eco-recreation has become cool."

Eco-tourism is definitely not passive, air-conditioned and bugless, especially at the aptly named Mosquito Lagoon. It's also not always cooperative; the bioluminescent plankton are best during the summer, peaking in August but sometimes taking a night off. Like fireflies, the tiny organisms naturally secrete chemicals that mix and create light.

Yet on a on a recent muggy evening, 20 kayakers paying the adult price of $34 and dousing themselves with bug spray happily paddled out at sunset to hunt for bioluminescent hot spots. Their no-pain, no-gain attitude is common.

Marcia Gaedcke, president of the Titusville Area Chamber of Commerce, recently joined a Canaveral National Seashore nighttime sea-turtle-nesting tour, routinely booked to capacity far in advance. "To be honest, it was almost miserable at the start," Gaedcke said of the mosquitoes and heat.

But those irritations were forgotten when aloggerhead turtle climbed out of the surf, dug a hole, laid 100 eggs and returned to the sea. "Oh, my gosh, how cool is that?" Gaedcke said. "It was such an experience."

In short, Brevard leaders say they are beginning to better appreciate a notion counterintuitive to longtime residents that people will come and spend money for adventure not in spite of having to sweat and swat bugs but because they get to.

"We are a destination, and our challenge is to starting acting like a destination," Gaedcke said.

Laurilee Thompson, owner of Dixie Crossroads Seafood Restaurant in Titusville and outspoken advocate for eco-tourism, said space shuttles were a "free gift" to north Brevard's economy. "Having the shuttle launches guaranteed that no matter what happened, we wouldn't have to spend a dime on marketing, and we would still fill up the hotels," Thompson said.

But when the shuttle program ended in July with the final Atlantis mission, much of that gift was taken away. Tourism spending for launches and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center has been nearly $50 million annually, according the Space Coast Office of Tourism.

Now, more marketing of eco-tourism is becoming evident in very different ways. For starters, the newly rebuilt and much taller Max Brewer Bridge at the edge of Titusville is getting praise as a gateway and an awesome place to view Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is stirring excitement by proposing to finally open the St. Johns National Wildlife Refuge to the public, which could link other public lands into a huge conservation tract and bird-watching mecca along the St. Johns River. The emerging St. Johns River-to-Sea Loop, a bike trail of more than 250 miles through five counties, originally was planned to travel only a few miles into north Brevard County.

"When we saw that, we said the southern end of the loop needs to run through a city, and it needs to be Titusville," Titusville Mayor Jim Tulley said. "We worked hard and got the route changed so that Titusville is part of the loop."

Even folks who long made their living with the space program are trying to find a new way with the eco-tourism push. Dean Pettit was laid off two weeks ago after 31 years at Kennedy Space Center. At 52, he immediately went full time managing a website he created, spacecoastoutdoors.net, as a guide to the best- and least-known nature recreation.

"Titusville has relied for too long on the space center," said Pettit, who grew up fishing and boating in Brevard. "If I can help bring diversity to our economy, I think that's a good thing even when NASA starts up again."

Legoland Florida Begins 100 Day Countdown

Tampa Bay Online: Lego lovers, the countdown has begun. There are fewer than 100 days until the grand opening of Florida's newest theme park, Legoland Florida.

The overhaul of the historic theme park Cypress Gardens into an interactive attraction will be completed Oct. 15. The company showed off some of its progress this week at the 150-acre theme park as workers installed exhibits geared toward families with children ages 2-12.

Legoland Florida will be the Danish-owned Lego Group's second U.S. park, and it pays homage to the colorful plastic building blocks for children.

Some of the original Cypress Gardens will remain. Earlier this year, park officials said the water ski show will remain, but with a new pirate twist. But many new rides and attractions will fill the park.

From The Royal Joust to Lego Technic Test Track Coaster, various rides are now being snapped together by busy construction crews. On The Royal Joust, kids ride Lego-themed horses through medieval scenes and encounter other riders in a simulated joust. Lego Technic Test Track is the park's roller coaster that lets riders race a Lego Technic vehicle along a wildly twisting track.

Unlike other theme parks, such as Walt Disney World or Universal Studios, this park is entirely focused on families with young children.

One-day admission to the park is $65 for ages 13 to 59 and $55 for ages 3 to 12 and 60 and older. A standard annual pass for all ages is $99. A premium annual pass, which includes parking and discounts on food and merchandise, is $159 for adults and $129 for children and seniors. Parking will cost $12.

Tourism Flourishing in Southwest Florida

It may not be the traditional tourism season in southwest Florida, but 2011 is proving to be a bounce back year just one summer after the oil disaster in the Gulf.

Florida's Siesta Beach Named Nation's Best

Tampabay.com: Dr. Beach has announced his No. 1 pick for this year, and Sarasota County's Siesta Beach has the honors. The annual survey by Florida International University professor Steven Leatherman, aka Dr. Beach, named the wide slice of brilliant white sand and warm, emerald water on the state's s southwest Gulf coast as the best beach in the United States.

“The sand is like sugar,” said Leatherman, director of FIU’s Laboratory for Coastal Research. “Some people can’t believe it. You have to bring sunglasses because it’s so bright. It’s super soft, super fine. They claim to have the finest, whitest sand in the world, and I can’t argue with that.”

Previously, the 40 acres of almost pure quartz crystal sand on the Siesta Key barrier island was runner-up in Leatherman’s rankings the past two years and was third in 2008. San Diego’s Coronado Beach was runner-up this year. Rounding out the top 10 were:

No. 3, Kahanamoku Beach in Waikiki, Honolulu
No. 4, Main Beach, East Hampton, N.Y.
No. 5, Cape Hatteras in North Carolina
No. 6, St. George Island State Park, Florida Panhandle
No. 7, Beachwalker Park, Kiawah Island, S.C.
No. 8, Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod, Mass.
No. 9, Waimanalo Bay Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii
No. 10, Cape Florida State Park near Miami

Leatherman ranks beaches on 50 criteria, including the look and feel of the sand, water quality, weather, facilities and crowds.Florida's beaches typically rank high in the survey, and in fact two local beaches have won: Caladesi Island in 2008 and Fort DeSoto in 2005. Both have been retired from the list and are now in his hall of fame.

Legoland Florida to Open October 15

Tampa Bay Online: Legoland Florida has named Oct. 15 as the opening day for its kid-focused amusement park in Polk County.

The 150-acre theme park will cater to kids of ages 2 to 12 with more than 50 rides, from roller coasters to race cars, as well as family-focused shows and attractions. The park is being built southeast of Winter Haven on the former site of longtime Florida attraction Cypress Gardens.

Legoland Florida is the second park in the U.S. built by the Danish-owned company known for its signature plastic building blocks and stubby action figures. The first park is in Carlsbad, Calif., and there are also Legolands in Great Britain, Germany and Denmark, where parent company Lego Group is based. Another Legoland is under development in Malaysia.

Among the features of the Florida attraction are rides geared toward younger children, for instance, a merry-go-round over the water where kids and parents sit on jet-ski-like mounts, armed with sprayers to soak anyone nearby.

Some former Cypress Gardens features will remain, including the historic water-ski show area, now remade into a "Pirate's Cove." Park staff members are now test-driving special wetsuits for skiers that make them look like actual Lego action figures, yet let them jump and fly around.

"So far, it looks really cool, like pirates in mini-figure costumes," said Jill Swidler, marketing manager for Legoland. "It's completely different than it was before with Cypress Gardens."

There are also Lego building areas, miniature Lego versions of famous buildings and streetscapes, and a birthday pavilion. Kids can also tour a factory where they'll see automated machines punch out interlocking Lego blocks and stubby action figures. Building the Lego landscapes will probably take more than 50 million bricks, Swidler said.

There's also a "Castle Hill" area with an indoor/outdoor roller coaster and an area where kids can compete in simulated horseback jousts. A Duplo area focuses on the youngest of park visitors, with toys to fly and drive through a mini town built to their size.

One-day admission to the park is $65 for ages 13 to 59 and $55 for ages 3 to 12 and 60 and older. A standard annual pass for all ages is $99. A premium annual pass, which includes parking and discounts on food and merchandise, is $159 for adults, and $129 for children and seniors. Parking will cost $12.

The park also unveiled a new online reservations system to make the vacation booking experience easier. Travelers can now book tickets, accommodations, airlines and rental cars through the Legoland Florida website.

For instance, the online system now offers a two-bedroom suite at the Nickelodeon Suites Resort on the weekend of Nov. 5 for $139 per night and a two-bedroom at the Holiday Inn Winter Haven for $126 per night.

Busch Gardens Set to Unveil 'Cheetah Hunt'

In less than 2 weeks, Busch Gardens in Tampa will open it's highly anticipated new roller coaster called Cheetah Hunt.

Cheetah Hunt is different from other coasters in that instead of using gravity to propel the ride, magnetic force will be used at three different launch points along the 4,429 feet of track. Launch point 1 will propel riders to 30 mph, launch point 2 to 60 mph and launch point 3 to 40 mph. The coaster stays close to the ground to give guests the experience of a cheetah sprinting across the plains.

The ride's companion attraction, Cheetah Run, will feature about a dozen live cheetahs, a 250-foot straightaway for them to run, and observation windows so visitors can watch.

The attraction is scheduled to open May 27. Following is a point-of-view silent video of the ride:

British Tourist Hailed As a Hero

Helen Beard and Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demmings

Daily Mail: She went to the U.S. as a holidaymaker but will return to Britain as a hero after catching a baby girl who was plummeting from a fourth-floor hotel balcony.

And (on Friday) Helen Beard, from Worksop, Nottinghamshire, was honoured for her actions by being awarded the Orange County Sheriff Office's Medal of Merit.

The 44-year-old was on holiday with her husband and two children in Orlando, Florida, when 16-month-old Jah-Nea Myles fell through the railings. Miss Beard rushed to save the infant when she spotted her dangling from the balcony railings at the hotel. Despite the heroic act Miss Beard said she didn’t consider herself a hero.

'It feels a bit daunting to be here for something that was instinctive,' she said as she accepted her award from Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demming. 'It felt like it was something anyone would have done and I feel honoured to be recognised in this way.'

The little girl hit the third-floor railing on the way down, but miraculously survived without so much as a bruise. She was even described as 'playful' afterwards. 'It was a very surreal event,' Miss Beard said. 'Luckily I had my flat shoes on and I managed to run over and catch her as she lost her grip.

'It all happened so quickly. And I just sat with her and tried to calm her down. Everyone was panicking around me because it was very hectic.'

The baby's 20-year-old mother, Helena, said: 'I'm thanking the Lord above right now for saving my child's life. I'm also thanking that lady because she was an angel sent from Heaven.'

Eye witness Kristell Friesen said: 'We heard everybody screaming and just thought they were having a good time at the pool, and they all started running toward the first floor on the ground. This woman was right under the balcony, held out her arms and caught her. Everyone was just happy.'

A spokesman for Orange County Sheriff's Office described it simply as 'a miracle.'

Miss Beard, 44, told deputies she was by the pool at around 11pm when she looked up and saw a child hanging from the fourth-floor railing. She ran underneath the child in the hope of saving her and watched as Jah-Nea fell, hitting the third-floor railing on the way down. As other tourists screamed, Miss Beard held out her arms and caught the little girl.

Meanwhile the child's mother heard screaming and rushed out to the balcony. She looked down to see her daughter in Miss Beard's arms.

Miss Beard was very modest about her life saving heroics and was grateful the girl did not suffer any injuries. 'She really did not like all the attention with so many people congratulating her,' said a hotel worker. 'To be honest, she seemed a little embarrassed by it all.'

The child's mother said: 'She's perfectly fine. Not a scratch on her body.' Jah-Nea and her mother live in Longwood, Florida, but they were staying at the hotel on holiday. They were joined by Miss Holt, a friend from North Carolina, who was staying in the room next door with a friend.

The Florida Department of Children and Families are investigating, but no criminal charges were pending in the immediate aftermath of the incident.

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Preview: SeaWorld's 'One Ocean' Show

SeaWorld’s newest killer whale attraction "One Ocean" opens today. One Ocean replaces the popular “Believe" show more than one year after trainer Dawn Brancheau drowned after being pulled into the water by Tilikum the killer whale.

Tilikum grabbed Dawn by her ponytail and dragged her underwater, killing her in February 2010. SeaWorld decided to end "Believe" after Brancheau’s death. Ever since the incident, SeaWorld trainers can't swim with the whales and new safety bars are in place near performing pools. Trainers will have to keep their hair in buns during the “One Ocean” performance.

“The show is going to be highlighting killer whales in ways we've never seen before,” said Kelly Flaherty Clark, director of animal training.

Sarasota Offering 'Water For Elephants' Packages

Orlando Sentinal: The upcoming release of “Water For Elephants,” starring Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson, will bring the golden age of the circus to the big screen. That’s a marketing opportunity for Sarasota County, the “Home of the American Circus” for its longtime association with the Ringling Bros. outfit.

Sarasota County is celebrating the film with travel packages that allow visitors to experience the area’s rich circus heritage. The Ringling Brothers circus kept their winter headquarters in Sarasota County from 1927 to 1992, and the area offers a variety of circus-related attractions including:

• The Ringling Museum, home of the world’s largest miniature circus.

• Cà d’Zan, the grand Mediterranean revival estate that was John and Mable Ringling’s winter home.

• Legendary circus performer Tito Gaona’s trapeze school.

• Circus Sarasota, with performances throughout February.

• The Sailor Circus, a youth circus with performances in April and December. Former circus performers serve as coaches.

Sarasota Circus Experience

• Book any 7-night stay at the Elephant Pool Vacation Home in Sarasota (complete with custom elephant-shaped pool)

• Receive two (2) complimentary adult tickets to The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art

• Receive two (2) complimentary $25 gift certificates to The Blue Dolphin Cafe on St. Armand’s Circle

Valid now through April 30, 2011. For reservations, call 800-237-9505.