SeaWorld Orlando’s new show “O Wondrous Night” features puppets…. yep it’s officially a trend. While Walt Disney World has owned the winter holidays since opening in 1971, the other major players in town are beginning to make some inroads into the lucrative tourist market with… Read More »SeaWorld Orlando Christmas Offerings Continue to Grow
Universal Orlando Resort’s Holiday festivities kick off this weekend with holiday entertainment for the entire family. Both parks will have events and decorations meant to keep the spirits bright with holiday offerings running Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011 through Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012. Grinchmas, at Islands… Read More »Universal Orlando Holiday Festivities Start This Weekend
Last year SeaWorld went all out for Christmas with a new Sea of Trees holiday lights show and decorations that rivaled anything Disney offered. The best part was that on the nights SeaWorld was open for Christmas, it was included with your regular admission. All that remains true in 2011, but they’re adding a show meant to bring a bit of Christmas tradition, similar to Candlelight Processional at EPCOT, to SeaWorld.
O Wondrous Night – The Story Greatest Never Told is a living nativity show that tells the Christmas Story through the eyes of the animals that were there. Think Finding Nemo – The Musical with nativity animals instead of fish. It promises to be a light-hearted and glorious celebration featuring a host of angels, animals and the true glory of Christmas.
The Disney Blog was invited in to get a taste of the show before it debuts on Nov 25th along side the rest of SeaWorld’s Holiday celebrations. Here’s a little video we were able to capture:
The 30 minute show will feature a magical moment where puppets are replaced by their real life counter parts. Songs were chosen to appeal to the young, with a Glee-like sensibility. The show will run twice per evening on the nights SeaWorld offers its Christmas Spectacular. It is staged in the 2,500-seat Nautilus Theater, home of “A’lure — The Call of the Ocean” show, which will continue still be seen during the day.
More about SeaWorld’s Christmas Spectacular below the jump:
This week I have a three part photo update featuring interesting changes, construction, and other fun facts from my recent travels around Walt Disney World. Let’s get right too it.
Yeah, Christmas is here and so is the merchandise. There is the usual selection, and some nice new stuff like this.
More work on the Facades along Main Street. It would be nice if they did something with this space so it sees more use. Nothing major, just a small plus or two.
Props from Sorcerers in the Magic Kingdom continue to pop up around the park. Another one was added near the Frontierland Shooting Gallery. I’ve heard that they’re doing soft testing, but nothing was going on when I was there.
Click image for Larger. The new Dumbo unit is already going in. It’s the unit closer to the train tracks, which I understand will spin counter the direction of the current unit.
In a year of bad political and economic news, I love to report stories like this. Animal care experts from SeaWorld Orlando released an adult loggerhead sea turtle yesterday morning at Lori Wilson Park just south of Cocoa Beach, FL. The turtle was rescued on March 14, 2011 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station by park personal and transported to SeaWorld Orlando for treatment. The turtle is approximately 20 yrs. old, 150 lbs. and is 2 feet and 4 inches long.
For 45 years, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment has helped animals, such as this sea turtle, in need. More than 20,000 animals have been rescued by their experts, and most of those animals are successfully treated and returned to the wild. SeaWorld’s animal rescue team is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Video of the moving release below the jump:
Read More »SeaWorld Orlando’s Animal Rescue Team releases loggerhead sea turtle
October Dedication event for LEGOLAND, Florida Coming hot on the heels of their second US theme park, Merlin Entertainments Group Ltd and GCDS Corporation just announced the selection of Nagoya, Japan as the preferred location for the seventh LEGOLAND park. Pending negotiations and permitting to operate… Read More »Nagoya selected as Location for LEGOLAND Theme Park
The castle projection show, The Magic, The Memories, and You! has been updated to include a Christmas segment. During the holiday segment, Cinderella Castle is seen to change into various holiday themes. This includes the Candy Cane theme above, a ginger bread house theme:
and a birthday cake theme…
…that’s nearly identical to the much debated 25th Anniversary Cake
One thing I was worried about was how the projection show would work with the holiday lights hanging on it, but you don’t even notice them at all.
I’ve embedded a full version of the show for your viewing pleasure below the jump:
Read More »Holiday Version of “The Magic, The Memories, and You” Wows at Disney World
The winter holidays are typically the toughest times for food banks and this year the demand is higher than ever. So it’s great to see Walt Disney World and its cast step up to make a big donation and a pledge of continued support to one of the great food banks here in Central Florida. Yesterday, Minnie Mouse joined Disney VoluntEARS to deliver bushels of green to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida in the form of a $500,000 gift for the organization’s expansion. Disney also pledged 20,000 pounds of fresh produce during the next year as part of the commitment.
The gift was part of Disney’s efforts to support organizations and programs that make a positive impact on children in the local community and will fund Second Harvest’s “Building Solutions to Hunger” capital campaign. The cash contribution will help the organization build a larger facility so it can accept and distribute significantly more food and reach more Central Floridians in need.
“We’re confident the new facility will help Second Harvest reach even more neighbors in need,” said Nancy Gidusko, director of community relations for Walt Disney World Resort. “Our goal is to help bring an end to hunger in this community, and we are proud to join with other generous donors to bring this new facility to life,”
Read More »Disney World Donates Green and Greens to Second Harvest