Carbon Freeze Me Experience

Several of you know my love affair for everything StarWars related. I totally love that Hollywood Studios have StarWars Weekend (this 2012 year will be from May 18th to June 10th). So, you cannot even fanthom the excitement for the following news from Disney about the brand-spanking new experience "Carbon-Freeze Me":

"Using state-of-the-art imaging technology, this experience casts your likeness as a three-dimensional, eight-inch figurine. At the Carbon-Freezing Chamber (located adjacent to The American Idol Experience), several cameras will capture multiple angles of your face. The images are then reconstructed in a computer for processing, and in approximately four weeks, the completed figurine is shipped directly to your house. "

If you are a Jedi at heart, then this will be a no-brainer. This is like any boyhood dream where you really wanna be Han Solo, the only thing missing there's no Princess Leia in that awesome Jabba the Hutt outfit (you all know what i am refering)!

Perhaps you are asking me about pricing....and here's where the marketing machine from Disney kicks-in:

"Each carbonite figurine is $99.95 (plus shipping). You can order additional figurines using the same image scan for $74.95 each. The replica figurine can be hung on a wall, just like the gangster Jabba the Hutt did in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. Guests also receive a light-up wristband."

For those members of the "Rebellion" eager to get their hands on this, some extra info:

"The experience will officially open on May 18 with the launch of Star Wars Weekends.Reservations are required and can be made starting Monday, May 7 by calling 407-WDW-TECH (407-939-8324)."

As usual in this type of experiences, Disney has some cancellation policies, so make sure to call and get acquainted with those before you purchase this incredible experience! Can't wait to call and make sure to get my very own personal Carbonite "Me", not even Sith Lord Vader can't get me away from this one!

May the force be with you all Jedis!

Turtle Trek at SeaWorld Guest Review

Finally, one of the newest attractions of SeaWorld Orlando opened, Turtle Trek!

What an amazing experience! You get to see and be immerse in a world like no other. As you enter into the attraction, you’ll be welcomed by the “water stream” arch. At the end of the walk-way, you’ll see the doors leading to the first exhibit, which holds the Manatees. Here, you’ll feel as if you have enter into their world. Hanging from the ceiling, you’ll see little informative strips that shows the different species of manatees as well as other fishes that roams in their aquarium. Those animals are enormous and huge, but they are very docile and gentle. Then, you’ll be escorted to our next exhibit, which has the turtles. What an awesome exhibits, with different species of turtle, including a couple of huge sea turtles that were pretty awesome.

It’s in this exhibit that our SeaWorld expert starts introducing the third portion of this attraction, which is truly the highlight. She starts asking the crowd different questions in regards to turtles, and also how to make sure we can help them so they don’t become extincts. One interesting fact is that, the sea turtle makes about 100 eggs and from this, only 1 in 10 makes it to the open water. Not only they got enemies at the time they hatch, but also once in the water they have other enemies, natural and man-made. Our expert shows us the trapping nets that the US Government wants the fishermen to use use when catching fishes, this one is pretty cool cause it has a nice little back door that only turtles can go out from.

Once the doors open, you are headed into a room which has a dome on top. From here, you’ll experience the fascinating story of one turtle from hatching to going back again to the place where she born. And let me tell you, if you have a beating heart, you’ll be having tears (uh-hum “a little dust”) in your eyes. You will feel like if you are the turtle. The 3-d is impressive, and to top it all off the 360-degrees angle makes you feel as if you are right there. The sights and the sounds will make vivid the scenes and appreciate more what this lovely animals go thru. Not only that, but the message is loud and clear, to be a “hero” participating in the conservation.

Once outside, you’ll go thru the outside section of the same exhibit where the turtles and manatees are. This will give you a better angle from the top to see another sight of these lovable animals. Plus, for the nintendo/PS3/XBox crowd there’s a video game where you play the turtle and have to ditch the different obstacles that you can find at the sea.

This is a wonderful addition to SeaWorld and another one of those attractions that will be a definite favorite one. Stay tuned, tho, cause SeaWorld will open next year another fully immersive attraction called “Antarctica – Empire of the Penguin”.

B.B. Kings Classic Soul Dinner

One of the newest shows in the Central Florida area is at a long time classic in Pointe Orlando. If you’re down here on vacation and you are visiting the theme parks then a dinner show is a great way to end your night after a long day at the parks. Instead of going back and wasting your vacation time in the hotel you can kick back for a delicious meal and enjoy even more entertainment. It’s the perfect way to end any night, vacation or not!

We walked into B.B. Kings Classic Soul Dinner not knowing what to expect, so just about anything they threw our way would be a surprise. When we got in we were quickly seated and treated to some delicious appetizers that came free with the show ticket. I got catfish bites and my friend got fried pickles, both equally tasty. After that they brought us out our salads before moving to the main course. They had three selections on the menu, but since there was only two of us we got filet mignon and some ribs which came with a full half a chicken.

After we were totally stuffed we were served a fine dessert, but the whole time we were eating the band was have a grand old time on stage. They were singing and playing the blues like it was nobody’s business. Down front the other guests (Not us) were dancing to the beat on the dance floor with drinks in hand.

If you are looking for a fun night out with lots of energetic fun then this is the place to be. With dancing, singing, an open bar and awesome southern food it can’t get any better. The great atmosphere and good food is what I call a good night.

Avatarland

There have been very few successful kickstarts to theme-parks in the Orlando área based on movies or themes to date. Until recently, hype over new areas of a park have been relatively minimal. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has been a HUGE success in the re-inventing and refreshing of Universal’s Islands of Adventure(IOA). Hugely based on Disney’s recent purchase of Marvel Studios, IOA has spent the last couple years struggling and in need of a new addition. Soon after the last Harry Potter film was sent into production, the park decided that the fanbase for that was vast. And why not ride the coat-tales of the number one international grossing movie of all time? Soon after, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was born; sending park attendance to record breaking heights within the first month of its opening.

But what about other failing parks in the area? Even Disney had record lows in it’s Animal Kingdom park the last few years, and has been looking to revamp and refresh the parks atmosphere. Even through the opening of Everest, Animal Kingdoms one and only Roller Coaster, the park received very little increase after the first few weeks of its opening. So what could Disney do to refresh it’s age old park? James Cameron, and his team at Lightstorm Entertainment have been offered rights to build a very large Avatar Themed section of Animal Kingdom. By 2017, guests will be able to experience the sights, sounds, and feel of Pandora, the planet that the film is based out of. Having the highest grossing film internationally (Before Deathly Hollows pt. 2) caught Disney’s eye, and they decided that this would be their new venture as a company. James Cameron walked the park with his lead designer to get a feel of what he was getting into, and left very encouraged. He mentioned that Animal Kingdom was a perfect place for guests to experience both natural, and supernatural creatures in a world they may not be entirely accustomed to.

We’re more than excited to see what James has in store for this project, and working side by side with the same engineering team that brought you Star Tours, and Tomorrowland, guests can rest assured that this Avatar Universe will be unlike anything they have ever stepped into before. Hype has been building, and more people have spoken out at the excitement than expected. Disney is ready, James is ready, we are ready, how about you? Are you ready?

Flower and Garden Festival

For 19 years Epcot has been in relation with HGTV to bring events throughout the park. From Epcots fabulous Wine Festival to the International Flower and Garden Festival. This year is the International Flower and Garden Festival. It’s a 75 day festival that runs through May 20. It has hundreds of experts there ready and will to explain any and every question you may have about planning, building, growing, or maintaining your home’s landscape. The park is springing to life with colorful displays, garden workshops, and over 100 HUGE character topiaries that turn Epcot into something you’ve never seen or experienced before. Your senses are sure to be buzzing with the different smells, sights, and even tastes that Epcot is offering at this year’s festival.

The festival Centerpiece is HGTV’s interactive, and hands on displays and showcases. Guests will be able to walk through displays with experts on hand ready and willing to explain why and how these displays are created, as well as give you advice and pointers for your home and garden. Whether you’re in the planning stage, or just need ideas, experts are on hand to help you. HGTV is providing numerous shows and demos throughout the park, and at various times that will be located on your park map to fit into the busy schedule and also allow time to visit the other attractions inside of Epcot.

And while this may all seem very adult oriented, don’t fret. HGTV is offering multiple rides and attractions for the kids as well. Based on the upcoming DVD and BLUERAY release “Pixie Hollow”, Test Track’s main entrance is offering a hands on display garden featuring topiaries of your kids favorite fairy and pixie characters from multiple Disney films, as well as Pixie Hollow. This is designed for kids aged from 2 to 5 years old, but provides entertainment for people of all ages. There are two different “play gardens” that fuse a playground with a garden, with themes from Toy Story, to Disneyworld. This allows kids to get in on the flower action while still enjoying the themes they’ve come to love. Bambi’s Butterfly house immerses children into a world of color and abstraction. They are thrown into a world with hundreds of different species of butterflies, with over thousands of them in an interactive environment. They also throw in a mix of everyone’s favorite Bambi characters displayed as colorful Topiaries.

If you’re native to Florida (or if you’re not) and are looking for something different, this is the place to go. The range of entertainment is vast, the displays and demos are colorful, and the knowledge is endless. This is definitely a great chance of pace from the tradition Epcot (If you’re a florida resident), or a great addition to it (If you’re not!). Make sure you don’t pass this opportunity up. If you get the chance to visit this festival, take it.

New Fantasyland soft opening

One thing I should say from the get-go is that I love Disney. One of my favorite theme parks is Disney's Magic Kingdom! It has my favorite ride of all time: It’s a Small World (the one with the song that everyone has a love-hate relationship).

One indelible memory I have inside of any Disney park, it was the moment when my precious sister (minus one front tooth) and very small little me hopped into "Dumbo". It was a happy moment, we were sitting together and then she was pushing the button, and the flying elephant was going up and down. Besides the shaking, and the little stomp when you pressed the button, you cannot wait to do it again and enjoy that moment where you can feel the entire world stop and you just laughing with so much joy!

Fast forward 30-years after that event and I couldn’t resist calling my sister, while I was doing some video-chatting, and I was inside Dumbo! But this one wasn’t any ordinary Dumbo, it was the new revamped one that just opened at the new Fantasyland!!!

Disney just opened one section of the new refurbished Fantasyland, which includes Dumbo and The Barnstormer. The last one has Goofy “The Great Goofini” as the title character. This whole area will have the section name of Storybook Circus. To get here, you can take the railroad and get off in the Fantasyland Station. Once you get off, you'll see in the upper board that this place is called Carolwood Park, which is another nod to Walt Disney (Carolwood Pacific was the name he used for the railroad in his backyard).

Only in Disney you'll feel like you are your younger-self again. It was surreal, I was feeling like my little me and it was a flood of memories and wanted to share them with my sister. She was like "oh my god! I can’t believe it!" and then suddenly she was teary eyes and telling me that in her next trip we'll ride Dumbo together!

One More Disney Day

So all I hear about lately is that Disney is having their leap year celebration. The “One More Disney Day” is supposed to be a huge event, but since its announcement a few months back it has been all hush hush and no one has gotten the scoop on what’s going to happen.

Well, Disney has finally revealed some special entertainment for the 24 hour One More Disney Day event. Since the park is going to be open through the night most guests are really excited about getting to ride their favorite rides when the sun goes down. Something you don’t usually get to do at the theme parks. You can expect to see enthusiasts like me planning ahead of time to get into specific rides that just seem awesome in the night air.

As for the extra additions to the schedule you can find an electrical parade full of lights and your favorite characters at 10pm as well as midnight. There will be a welcome show at 5:50 am as well as a Main Street Trolley that will make its appearance several times throughout the day. There will also be a castle projection show at 5:30am, right before the end of the day, which is rumored to have a special surprise.

Finally there will be a variety of Leap Year characters that will be around the theme park throughout the day, meaning you can take a picture with these characters on a special day, something no one else will get to do come 6:00am in the morning. It pretty much means your pictures are collector’s items.

I hope to catch you guys at the event because you can rest assured I will be there!