In a ceremony full of LEGO bricks, LEGO sculptures, and VIPs, Merlin Entertainments officially announced the 2011 opening of LEGOland Florida. After spending a few years skulking around Central Florida considering various options, they settled on Cypress Gardens based on its rich history and the… Read More »More LEGOland Florida Details at official announcement
ABC has picked up two dramas and one comedy to help round out their schedule. Successful drama pilots, both from ABC Studios and both medical dramas, are “Off the Map” and “Body of Evidence”. Neither looks like a LOST replacement to me. The comedy is… Read More »ABC Picks Up Three New Shows
Florida’s oldest tourist attraction is about to become its newest. Merlin Entertainment will be building a new Legoland theme park at Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven, FL. Winter Haven is about a 45 minute drive from the Orlando attractions area, assuming light traffic. But that… Read More »Legoland Official, Memo Leaks Out
Merchants and business owners along Highway 192 in Osceola County have finally decided to get their act together. Prior to the latest economic meltdown, I wrote about signs of life in Central Florida’s most neglected tourist region. As you might guess, those improvements have been given back and the trend points even more down hill these days.
However the newly formed 192 Business Alliance has a plan to turn that around. The region will adopt a theme of…
“Orange Central” by painting the curbs or sidewalks orange. The theme would continue with a new public-transportation option consisting of two orange-colored shuttle buses. A new Web site would promote the area, and businesses would support the initiative with things like orange mints in their lobbies.
The 192 Business Alliance, the newly formed nonprofit group that drew up the plan, said something must be done, and quickly, to revive the sagging tourist strip west of Kissimmee. “We could have shuttle service here by spring break,” Brisson said. “We need something easy. We need something fast.”
It’s a good start, perhaps mints in the lobby is all that can be afforded in these times, but there are a few cracks in the plan.
Included in the strategy is a plan to build a sports complex focused on drawing amateur competition to the area. I’m a little skeptical of this idea. Have they not heard of ESPN’s Wide World of Sports? Disney is bound to take the lion share of the amateur sports business. That is ESPN WWOS’ whole focus and they can offer the ESPN brand and Disney magic, something Kissimmee can never match.
Perhaps the 192 Business Alliance is thinking that they would attract sports teams who would travel to central Florida and not compete on Disney property, but still package a vacation with their tournament by offering them a cheaper price for the same quality facilities, just without the ESPN experience. That could work, but I don’t see it as being a big driver, if it was, existing regional amateur sports facilities would be full already. Maybe they have a study that says differently.
Moving in on sports instead of convention business is an interesting angle, however think they need to be more ambitious. The name “Orange Central” is neither catchy, nor descriptive. Nobody is going to say, “let’s go down to Orange Central and see what’s going on.” But they’re on the right track, 192 does need better branding.
Follow me below the jump for a few more suggestions for the 192 Business Alliance and the Osceola County government to get moving on.
Disney and OHSA have settled the fine situation that resulted from its investigation of the July Monorail accident. Under the agreement, Disney agreed to correct all four safety violations cited by OSHA, including one lapse that the agency said contributed to the monorail crash. The… Read More »Fine for Monorail Accident reduced, excuse me?
Disney just announced the name of their Hawaiian Resort and for good measure, launched a web site as well. Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa, Ko Olina, Hawai‘i conveys the connection of the new resort to the islands. The new resort is scheduled to open Fall 2011.
Aulani, a Hawaiian phrase, means “the place that speaks for the great ones” or “the place that speaks with deep messages.” More updates and background information at the resort website: www.DisneyAulani.com
The full press release is below the jump:
Read More »Aulani is name of Disney’s Hawaii Resort at Ko Olina.
Artist William Bezek has a personal history with Disneyland. Much of his family including his Grandfather worked at Disneyland and he spent countless days in the park throughout his childhood. One of his favorite attractions was The Haunted Mansion, so it is not surprising when… Read More »Crafty Leota
Disney’s second theme park in Asia, Hong Kong Disneyland, is still struggling to gain traction in its market. They’ve just revealed the latest negative numbers in a string of years of negative numbers. Disney’s troubled Hong Kong Disneyland theme park made a net loss of… Read More »Hong Kong Disneyland Reveals Loss, but closes gap