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Tag: Aquatica

Ep 38 – Living the Florida Life with Dani of This Florida Life/Bay Lake Society

Dani of This Florida Life joins us today for our Main Event. She gives an industry insider perspective on the hospitality bubble and what it means for the future of Orlando. Plus she talks Bay Lake Society and much more. Richie stops by for The Punch List where we cover the recent rape at Downtown Disney, the new peer-reviewed study on captive killer whales, Ripley’s expansion plans to Africa, and recent construction announcements around Orlando.

Macau casino giant Galaxy Entertainment is buying 5% in SBM to diversify into other markets, Macau performance under expectations. Galaxy Ent shares are down 46% due to Macau’s performance. Hong Kong hotel occupancy rates down for the 9th straight month. China’s economy is off. Japan’s shrank last quarter, “a soft patch.” Does all of this point to a bubble in Orlando? Dani weighs in during the Main Event.

Show Notes

Hosts

Ken

Lissa

Special Guest – Dani of This Florida Life

Recording Dates: Punch List- July 26, 2015 | The Main Event- July 21, 2015

The Punch List

Ken Recommends- Resort Loop episode with Len Testa

Rape at HOB

Carjacking near DTD

HKDL’s Golden Mickeys show had its final performance this past weekend. How long till MK gets a show like this? Earvengers talked about this a few weeks ago.

Fantasmic testing reserved seats, rows and sections.

Comcast revenue skyrockets.

Iconic Daytona Speedway sign is removed

Orlando ranks 10th for fastest growing hotel market 4.5% growth in Orlando.

  • Davidson County, Tenn., which includes the Nashville metropolitan area, with 6.7 percent growth. Hillsborough County came in second overall with 6.12 percent growth. Employment in Orange County, FL reached 49,724 in 2014, up from 47,583 recorded for the previous year.

New peer reviewed study on Killer Whales released in the Journal of Mammalogy by the Oxford University Press. It found no difference in life expectancy between SEAS whales and wild populations. And found wild calf survival rates of Southern Resident killer whales to be significantly less that SEAS (79.9% vs 96.6%).

New apartments announced for the SWO area. Part of the Marriott Grande Pines Golf Club redo. $40 Million, 282 units

Orange County proposes mixed use development on 28 acres beside Aquatica.

$7.2 Billion in real estate sales across Orlando in the last 12 months.

Joshua Wallack may help pay for SLR/I-Drive ped bridge

Orlando HQ’d Ripley’s returns to Africa for the first time since 1933 when Robert Ripley visited. New 12 city traveling show stops by shopping malls in South Africa.

Last week we talked about the Tripadvisor Top 25 Theme Parks. E-Ticket Report did an excellent rundown of all 25 parks and gave insights into the American parks on the list.

The Main Event

Bay Lake Society

Ken Recommends- Dani’s Trader Sam’s article on Touring Plans

Dani Recommends- The Boathouse

Mango’s Orlando

iSquare Orlando

Dani Recommends- When visiting Orlando take a ride on SunRail on the day you visit Florida Mall

Dani Recommends- Park Ave in Winter Park

Dani Recommends- Downtown Sanford

Dani Recommends- Wekiva Island

Closing Remarks

Next week I’ll joining a new podcast. He Says, She Says. A Disney talking podcast. Follow along on Twitter @DisneyTalking

Speaking of podcasts check out The Park Blogger had a great show with Lite’em and Hyde this past week. WDW Today did an excellent job with their offsite episode last week, I give them a thumbs up for that but wish they had focused more on I-Drive, Park Ave and maybe even some places like downtown Sanford.

Happy birthday to space flight at Cape Canaveral. 65 years ago this past week.

Next week we’ll have John Frost of The Disney Blog joining us!

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Ep 33 – May’s Big Rewind with Epcod, Elvenage and Sir Owen Disney

After a whirlwind month of announcements and news we gather some theme parks fan to break it all down. Sir Owen Disney, Epcod and Elvenage join Jake, Richie and Ken to discuss their takes on all of this past month’s news. The future of SeaWorld, the chances of Skyplex actually ever happening and the role of Value Resorts at the modern Walt Disney Role all come up. Hot takes on the latest news, reviews of Tomorrowland, gambling’s impact on Florida, and a lot more in the news round-up episode.

 

Show Info

Hosts
Special Guests
Recording Date
  • May 30, 2015
Music

 

Show Notes

News Round-Up from May
I-Drive and Surrounding Area-
Disney-
SEAS –
UOR-

 

Additional Notes

Wisconsin Dells- Noah’s Ark Water Park (with non-tube rides)

Ken’s M&M Star Wars treats

Camden Park

Darien Lake

Little Amerricka in Wisconsin

Epcod’s Tomorrowland rampage One | Two | Three | Four | Five

OTR’s tweet regarding Volcano Bay stucco work

Mr Brian in Orlando’s sad trip to I-Drive 360 (Broken exhibits at SEALife One | Views from The Orlando Eye One, Two)

Ken Recommends- Tin Roof at I-Drive 360

Florida Citrus Tower

Jack Recommends- #OrlandoEye on Instagram

#AskSeaWorld’s utter failure on Twitter

Sir Owen Disney Recommends- Christmas at SeaWorld

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OTR – Ep 23 – Diamond Signals and Settling Dirt

On this grab bag of news Ken and Kyle talk about the latest news from the Disneyland 60th Anniversary with what they expect from it to make its way eastward. Night of Joy and Mardi Gras is discussed. They give an update to Universal’s rumored water park. They touch on some pretty big local hotel rumors and news before finishing out the episode with news on Circus World’s reunion, Enzi at BGT, Aqutica’s $8 tickets and Tin Roof Orlando marketing strategy.

 

Show Info

Ken Storey

Kyle

Recorded Jan 29, 2015

 

Show Notes

UFOs in West Palm Beach

Rick Scott statement from Nov 20 on Florida’s record tourism numbers

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OTR – Ep 17 – The Countdown is On

We’re back with another episode of our hospitality podcast. This week the guys are getting ready for next week’s massive IAAPA convention that’s coming to town.

The OTR crew gets ready for IAAPA with a round-up of all the recent news including: #OtterGate, Construction at SEAS parks, Downtown Disney, Flamingo Crossing, I-Square, I-Drive 360. Kyle’s wardrobe choices are questioned, Ken calls 80% of IAAPA monotonous and then the guys get confused talking about Christmas at the Magic Kingdom.

Show Info

Hosts

Bob from Pixels at the Parks
Ken Storey
Viktor from The BGT Buzz
Kyle (Our host and reporter live on I-Drive)

Production

Episode Producer- Bob
Recorded- November 9th, 2014

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OTR – SideChat 6 – Ken and the Amazing Technicolor Megamall

On this week’s SideChat Ken convinces the guys to talk about malls some more. First the Megamall is covered, then the guys talk about the future of The Florida Mall. Mentions of the outlet malls, Fashion Square and West Edmonton are all included. Then Kyle and Ken talk about their favorite local movie theaters before the inevitable Taco Bell mentions. Then the guys talk Tampa’s hotels, retail and what Tampa needs.

Show Info

Hosts

Bob
Ken
Kyle

Production

Episode Producer – Bob
Recorded – Aug 26, 2014

Show Notes

  • Oh boy, Ken is back to talking about malls…
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