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Tag: Walt Disney World

Ep 49 – The Big Blue Super Long Whale of Show With Eric Davis

SeaWorld is the focus of today’s main event when Eric Davis stops in to talk about the recent ruling from the California Coastal Commission that might mean an end to breeding in SeaWorld’s original park. The future of the company, orcas in captivity, that bizarre social media day earlier this year and more discussed in the firework filled conversation.

During the Punch List Robert and Ken talk about the recent monorail breakdown at WDW, the abrupt closure of the CSI exhibit, new hotels proposed for 192, OSHA’s rulings on the WDW Speedway accident, and that 400 acres that’s about to go up for sale. Southern cooking, Pitbull, Ferrari World, and I-4’s newest exit ramp are all worked into the conversation.

Show Notes

Hosts

Recording Date: 10-12-15

The Punch List Music

The Main Event Music

Eric Davis Speech Song | Speech

Closing Song

Punch List

  1. Monorail breaks down at WDW
  2. CSI, 7220 abruptly shuts down
  3. Jungleland might reopen
  4. 3 Hotels proposed for Osceola Heritage Sq
  5. Legoland movie attraction
  6. OSHA fines Petty Holdings $7,000, cites them in WDW speedway death
  7. I-4 exit ramp to Disney Springs opens
  8. New Chocolate shop coming to Disney Springs
  9. Chef Art Smith opening Florida themed restaurant at Disney Springs
  10. Club Disney dance party coming to DHS
  11. Disney announces Port Canaveral as home port for 3 ships in 2017
  12. Holland Cruises announces new make your own wine program aboard cruises from Port Everglades, Ft. Lauderdale
  13. Pitbull named Norwegian Escape’s ‘godfather’
  14. Blackjack agreement about to expire
  15. Over 400 acres in tourist district is going up to auction
  16. More details emerge regarding the I-Drive Marriott golf course near SWO
    • Residential portion include 260 single family homes, 176 townhomes and 700 apartment homes.
    • 423 single family homes/townhomes approved on Oct 8
  17. UOR confirms Hulk refurb will be done by B&M
  18. HHN Orl expands Scareactor dining experience
  19. iSq site work begins, their Twitter becomes active

Things We Loved This Week

Not Mentioned But Still Loved-

Events

Oct 9-31- Underground Vampire Bar at DRIP

Oct 17- African Penguin Awareness Day at BGT

Oct 17- Brian Miser (The Human Fuse) will be fired from bar to bar in a cannon in downtown Orlando to promote Captain Morgan’s Cannon Blast Bar Crawl (at Wall St Plaza)

Oct 17- Orlando Creative City Project

Oct 24- Cows ‘n Cabs in Winter Park

Oct 30-31- Swan & Dolphin Food & Wine Classic

Nov 13-15 Winter Park Concours d’Elegance

Nov 14-22 Festival of the Trees at OMA (tickets on sale now)

Nov 20-22- Latin Baseball Festival at WWOS

Dec 5, 12, 19, 26 Barista Bootcamp at the 4 Seasons Orlando

 

Main Event

Behind The Thrills – CCC bans breeding at San Diego, what’s next?

SeaWorld announces new position for Matt Rearden (former VP of Business Affairs) as Sr Business Development Officer

SEAS disappeared from the Fla Dept of Education website briefly

Journey to Atlantis Texas

Blue World ProjectOBJ

Awesome Ocean

Unofficial SeaWorld Podcast

SeaWorld Erin Sea McKinney

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Ep 48 – GREAT SCOTT!

Singles now outnumber married adults in the US. Today we talk with a single guy who just spent a week on vacation in Orlando. How does being alone affect how you tour the parks? Plus his impressions on WDW, UOR, HHN and Orlando in general. During the Punch List we cover OMA’s big announcement, WDW ticket prices, New Smyrna Beach’s new paid parking plan, dog days at Legoland, Parliament House’s big finical mess and more. We also talk about Watch Me Eat’s latest review of a Chinese buffet and the latest food news from around the region.

Show Notes

Hosts

Recording Dates: Main Event- 10-6-15 | Punch List- 10-5-15

Music – The Punch List Music | The Main Event Music | Closing Song

Punch List

Events

Oct 9 – Jake’s Beer Fest at Royal Pacific

Oct 9-31- Underground Vampire Bar at DRIP

Oct 31-31- Swan & Dolphin Food & Wine Classic

Nov 13-15 Winter Park Concours d’Elegance

Nov 20-22- Latin Baseball Festival at WWOS

Dec 5, 12, 19, 26 Barista Bootcamp at the 4 Seasons Orlando

Main Event

Scotty’s 360 video of Illuminations

Sloppy Taco Palace

Scotty at WDW

Scotty at UOR

He Says, She Says Podcast

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Ep 44 – Tim Grassey’s Great Big Beautiful WDW Rumor Round-Up

Today we skip the news and instead bring the longest interview we’ve ever done with over an hour and half of uninterrupted Tim Grassey goodness. The show covers almost every single rumor currently circling Walt Disney World with a few new ones as well. Tim gives details on why Joe Rohde says he doubts Giant Pandas will ever come to DAK, why Tim thinks Osborne Lights might be moving to DTD and how accurate these Frontierland rumors are. Some Universal comparisons are brought into the conversation and at the end of the interview Ken asks ‘What? No love for Ferris Wheels or alligators?’ Not today Ken, not today.

Show Notes

Hosts

Recording Date: 9-1-2015

Music- Main Event Intro

The Punch List

While we skip The Punch List on today’s episode here a few of the bigger tourism stories from the past week.

Wet n Wild sues to stop drainage into the man-made lake

Artegon Cinemark getting $3 Million upgrade

Smart City fined $750,000 for blocking Wi-Fi signals (Smart City is the telecom provider of OCCC)

World’s largest arcade game being built-in OSC during Maker Faire Orlando

Pearl Seas Cruise Line announces cruise from Port of Palm Beach to Cuba

Florida Ports Council Elects New Chairman

Space Coast Office of Tourism to step up promotions next year

Former Miami Detective says now is the time to legalize prostitution

Pitbull partners with Visit Florida as our state’s newest brand ambassador 

St. Augustine celebrates 450th Anniversary with new distillery

Jungle Cruise Sunrise Safari Breakfast at DL

Now along with Magicbands Disney will ship you luggage tags when you book a hotel room at WDW 

Robot butlers hired at Aloft hotels

DreamWorks leaves Disney distribution deal, is DW headed to UOR?

Events

Magical Dining Month– Now through Sept 30

M.C. Escher at Dali Museum now through Jan 3

O-Town Mac Down for GKTW – Sept 12

The Pineapple Ball – Oct 17

Cast of Willy Wonka coming to Spooky Empire – Oct 30- Nov 1

The Main Event

WDW Theme Parks

E-Ticket Report

Tim Grassey Recommends- Keys to the Kingdom Tour

Gregory of UUOP’s question

Joe Rohde’s Instagram post regarding Dinorama

WDW Theme Parks Giant Panda info

Bungalower’s question

Winter Park’s former Pig Sculpture

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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 35 – HUGE Rumors, Big Fire and Tall Tower

On today’s show we have a full Punch List with a hotel fire, Skyplex gets FAA approval, The Orlando Eye gets evacuated, more bad news at Artegon and rumors say Fun Spot is about to open their checkbook. Then Kyle and Ken share recent trip reports of when they hosted out-of-town guests. Kyle gives details on touring at DHS and DAK with pregnant guests then Ken talks about I-Drive 360, Artegon and Port Canaveral’s Exploration Tower. Richie, Jay, Jake and Griffin throw in their hot takes during The Punch List and everyone leaves hoping the NBC Media Center is just a bad dream.

Show Notes

Hosts

Song 1

Song 2

Recording Dates- Punch List – July 5, 2015 | Main Event – July 1, 2015

Punch List

Avanti Resort fire

Orlando Eye broke down

Skyscraper at Skyplex gets FAA approval

Fun Spot news

Old Town’s redo

Toby Keith’s at Artegon closes

Chipotle is coming to OIA

Where were the crowds on the 4th at UOR?

NBC Media Center pics

Main Event

Frozen Summer Fun

DAK poop

I-Drive 360

Exploration Tower at Port Canaveral

Florida Beer Company

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