You don’t have to head to Hollywood to see live taping of your favorite shows. Two of the most popular television shows in the U.S. are coming to Orlando during the second week of April. NBC’s America’s Got Talent will be taping live performances at Hard Rock Live, from April 7-8. Talented singers from across the Sunshine State will showcase their skills to Howie Mandel, Sharon Osbourne, Piers Morgan, Nick Cannon and a public audience.Tickets are free, and the first taping begins Wednesday, April 7 at 1 p.m.. If you plan on going with a charitable group, you can register your organization at http://www.ocatv.com/group/.
In its fifth season, America’s Got Talent is a spin off of a British reality show where live performers vie for a million-dollar prize. The format is similar to American Idol, but with a wider range of contestants. In addition to singers, America’s Got Talent also features dancers, magicians, and comedians.
One of America’s longest-running game shows, Family Feud, is hosting tryouts to any families who will be in the Orlando area from April 7 to April 11. If you think your family is worthy of an appearance with John O’Hurely on Family Feud, sign-up your family for a tryout, you can email orlando@familytryouts.com or call, 323-762-8467.
Originally aired in 1976, Family Feud is a trivia game show where two families square-off in a challenge to guess the most popular answers to a variety of surveys. Other Universal Orlando events in April at include: Earth Week! April 19 – April 23, Mardi Gras concerts featuring Sheryl Crow on April 9, Flo Rida on April 10 and Chicago on April 17. Fans of live music will appreciate Harbor Nights Primavera on April 23 , a wine-tasting event with live jazz and complimentary cigars, hosted at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel.
With summer just around the corner, Disney is revealing its plans for one of its most popular nightly events: Summer Nightastic lightshows featuring fireworks and electrical parades. Summer days in Florida are known as some of the hottest during the year, but the nights are filled with more excitement than any other season.
Three main events highlight Summer Nightastic! The nightly electric light parade showcases some of the most popular characters in Disney movie history on floats covered with millions of lights. Originally started at Disney World California, the Main Street Electrical parade combines the tunes of a musical piece that was originally composed by Jean-Jaques Perry and Gershon Kingsley, titled Baroque Hoedown, a 1967. Animated characters in the light parade include Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Tinker Bell and Snow White. Memorable themes from Disney classics play as the floats progress through down the main street, accentuated with advanced audio equipment and new lighting technologies that create a pixie-dust effect on all the floats.
For firework lovers, the Magic Kingdom offers an incredibly vivid nightly show that features visual effects and this summer’s show will be presented in a format that’s never been seen in Disney World history. This summer will also mark the return of the Sounds Like Summer concert series at Epcot and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which will be open for extended hours to accommodate guests who want to stay for the music.
Summer Nightastic starts in June and continues through mid-August. Tourists who opt for the thrill rides at Hollywood Studios will get the chance to see new lighting effects and a new drop sequence in one of Hollywood Studious’ most popular rides: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Remember, nighttime events are a great way to finish your memorable experience at Disney World with your family. By the time the sun sets, Disney World and other theme parks are far less crowded than the middle of the day, and a nighttime concert or parade may be the perfect way to unwind with your family.
For the tourist who has seen enough of Mickey Mouse and Shamu for their visit, Gatorland offerse a unique experience to see the real Florida wildlife in its most active form. On four different nights, April 30, May 1, May 7 and May 8.
The 100-acre outdoor wildlife center and theme park is hosting Swamp Sunset Celebrations, which showcase baby-bird season at Gatorland. The park is home to hundreds of native birds, including egrets, spoonbills and wood storks that fly home to roost every night. Swamp Sunset Celebrations features live music, mixed drinks on the Nature Tower and select attractions such as the White Gator Swamp and Gator Gully Splash Park. There could also be a Bubba and Cooter sighting.
In addition to the American Alligators, other wildlife attractions at Gatorland include roseate spoonbills, flamingos,
Oh, and your flashlight is for shining into the eyes of the gators in the breeding marsh. You’ll see red.With admission prices at $15, Gatorland offers a family-friendly cheap alternative to the ajor theme parks in central Florida. It’s also an entertaining way to educate yourself and your kids. Other Gatorland events include a 2010 Workshop Weekend for beginner to intermediate photographers from April 24-25, with two seperate workshops for learning about the best techniques for shooting and processing wildlife images. The workshops are led by Robert Amoruso of Wildscape Images, an Arthur Morris “Birds as Art” approved instructor and workshop leader.
The Field Technique workshop is designed to help photographers of every skill level improve their image quality; both in composition and exposure under the direction of an experienced professional nature photographer. You’ll learn outdoor-specific techniques for ideal composition, backgrounds, image edges, head and light angle. They’ll also teach you how to use fill-flash to tame high-contrast images, and how to use your histogram and exposure compensation to obtain the correct exposure. Workshop pricing is set at a special introductory rate of only $50 per person (per day) and includes access to the Gatorland Rookery for that day.
Gatorland is located on South Orange Blossom Trail. For more information about the park you can visit www.gatorland.com or call 407-855-5496.
For those of us who like to sing in the shower without ashamedness, now is our big chance to strike it big with Walt Disney’s World’s “The American Idol Experience” at the Disney Hollywood Studios. You will get to feel like you are the smash hit ABC TV show, American Idol. You will take the role of a real contestant as you prepare to sing for your chance to your very own very own audition.
This is could be your big chance to perform in front of a live crowd that will applaud its favorite performers. At Walt Disney World’s “American Idol Experience”, you will truly be able to experience what it’s like to be on the popular show. Not only could you get to audition, but you will also get to your hair and make up done, and work with a vocal coach before your big performance.
The set that has been created for Walt Disney World’s “American Idol Experience” has been closely designed after the American Idol stage that is seen on television.
After an initial audition phase, some participants will have a chance to sing in front of a real live audience that gets to vote for their favorite singers. If you are the winner then you will receive a “Dream Ticket.” A “Dream Ticket” is your ticket to regional auditions of the American Idol TV show.
So, the next time you go to Disney be sure to bring you “A” game because this very well may be your chance at a ticket to the big time!
An interactive gift shop called Ridemakerz opened in Downtown Disney last week, replacing the long-time tenant, Virgin Megastore. Ridemakerz is the latest addition in a series of new attractions that were added as part of an ongoing effort to make Downtown Disney more family friendly compared to its earlier days, when Pleasure Island was the main attraction.
Ridemakerz gives car enthusiasts of every age a chance to customize a diecast medal car.Builders can choose classic hot rod muscle cars, such as There’s also $25 option to add a remote control. Popular models include: retro hot rods, fire engines, race cars, cab-over tow and dump trucks Ford Mustangs,Dodge Vipers, Dodge Challenger, Chevy Corvette and popular foreign models, like the Mini Cooper. Most models in the store cost from $10 to $32, depending on the body paint and body style.
Other new attractions at Walt Disney World this spring include the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival, which is free with regular admission to Epcot, from now until May 16. Highlights of the Flower & Garden festival include an extensive collection of topiary, a butterfly garden, live music and educational events that appeal to visitors of all ages.
Epcot visitors can spend their day browsing through millions of blooming flowers and get up close with hundreds of colorful butterflies inside Minnie’s Magnificent Butterfly Garden. If you visit the International Flower and Garden festival during the weekend, you can learn from the top horticulturists and botanists stationed around Garden Town Programs. The horticulturists share helpful gardening tips through live demos and public presentations of advanced gardening techniques from around the world. You’ll learn tips and tricks for new gardening tools and products to help you grow and maintain the perfect garden.
After a long walk through the gardens, you can kick back your legs and relax to the music at Gardens Theater, located next to the American Adventure Pavilion. Bands play live music from the 1960s and 1970s during the Flower Power Concert Series.
With Universal Studios Orlando focusing on the teenage thrill rider market and Walt Disney World focusing on the toddlers and elementary school aged children, you would think the Disney’s Magic Kingdom would be no place for a teenager. However don’t think that Disney has thrown in the towel when it comes to teenagers.
If you are going to the Disney Magic Kingdom for your family vacation and you are concerned about your teenager being bored at the Magic Kingdom, don’t worry about it. Disney has everything under control.
Here is a short list of rides descriptions at Disney’s Magic Kingdom that most teens enjoy:
• The Haunted Mansion – This is not necessarily a thrill coaster. In fact, there are no gut wrenching drops nor is there any high speed motion, but there are plenty of scary moments and scenes that keep most teens entertained.
• Thunder Mountain – Hold on to your hat on this one. This out door crazy train will leave you wanting more.
• Space Mountain – Ever been on an indoor roller coaster that is all in the dark? This space coaster makes you feel like your racing through space. This is one of Disney’s most popular rides. Make sure that you get your Speed Pass for this ride as line can be quite lengthy.
• Splash Mountain – I would not exactly call this one a roller coaster, but it sure has quite a drop. In fact, Disney takes pictures of you, as you go down the main hill of this log coaster. If you don’t like getting wet, then I would not set in the front seat. This ride is great for Florida’s Hot Summer days. As the ride proclaims, everyone has a laughing place.
If you like going to the Disney Epcot Center in Orlando and you like to eat a good Italian pizza with your family, then Walt Disney World has you and your family in mind. Construction workers have been quite busy at Epcot Center in the “Italy” portion of the theme park building a 14,000 square foot Italian Pizza Ristorante that has yet to be named. The newest Epcot Center restaurant will seat about three hundred customers and it also will have an optional outdoor dining area for guests. All meals will be served on genuine Italian plateware.
The Disney Corporation is creating this restaurant in true Italian fashion. The interior architecture includes gorgeous vaulted ceilings and piping hot wood burning pizza ovens.
Many local Orlando cooks complain about the Florida water and it’s effect on their tasty creations. It is generally believed that Florida water is a negative contributor on many recipes. The Disney World cooks seem to agree with them, as these pizzas will be prepared at this Italian Ristorante with water that closely assimilates the chemical composition of the water that is found in Naples, Italy. This is being done in order to produce a dough that best resembles the pizza dough found in Naples, Italy. Now if that is not a true Italian pizza, then what is?
Disney has not set an official opening date for the restaurant or at least they have not publicized it as of yet. It is generally believed that the restaurant will open in the late Fall of 2010.
There are so many theme parks in the Orlando, Florida area that are competing for your hard earned dollars. Most people coming to Orlando will make sure that they go to one or more of the major Walt Disney World Parks (Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center), possibly to Universal Studios and maybe to Sea World to see Shamu.
You may not know this but the theme parks can really take a lot out of you after a full day of walking , waiting, and eating. The Florida sun can be quite hot as well. Many people travel to Orlando thinking that they are going to go to a theme park each day that they are in Orlando. From my personal experience it is hard to do more than two straight days at the theme parks and you know that if it’s hard for adults, it especially hard on small children.
That is why I would recommend going to an easier park to conquer after you spend a full day at one of the major theme parks . You may not know this but the average vacationer at the Magic Kingdom walks about 10 miles in a full day. I would consider Sea World’s Aquatica such a theme park. Aquatica is Sea World’s version of a water park and it is true family fun. You may think that you are too old for a water park, but people of all ages thoroughly enjoy Aquatica. Here is a great article on Sea World Aquatica Tips for enjoying the theme park.
You can cover Aquatica in a little over 6 hours and of course, you can stay longer if you choose to and it really is fun for all ages of the family. It can also be quite relaxing as well. You can effortlessly float down rivers or lay out and get a tan while you read a book if you choose to.
The park does have water slides but they are not the type that leave you clinging to your very life. They are thrilling but they are by no means over the top.
After spending a full day at Disney, you will need to have sometime to recover and what better place to do it than at one of Orlando’s top water parks?
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