Epcot Rocks This Fall With Food and Wine Festival

It is time once again for Epcot to rock your fall with their annual Food and Wine Festival which brings tourists and locals alike together for a few weeks of amazing wine and dining. This year there is going to be some great music and pop talent to rock your nights away as you enjoy your afternoon at Epcot Center.

Here is the tentative lineup:
Sept. 25-27 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (“You & Me & The Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby)”
Sept. 28-29 Richard Marx ("Hold On to the Nights")
Sept. 30-Oct. 3 Starship starring Mickey Thomas (“We Built This City”)
Oct. 4-6 En Vogue (“Free Your Mind”)
Oct. 7-8 Better Than Ezra ("Good")
Oct. 9-11 Sister Hazel (“All for You”)
Oct. 12-13 Kool & The Gang (“Celebration”)
Oct. 14-16 Spyro Gyra (“Morning Dance”)
Oct. 17-18 Jon Secada (“Just Another Day”)
Oct. 19-20 Sister Sledge ("We Are Family")
Oct. 21-22 Vanessa Carlton ("A Thousand Miles")
Oct. 23-25 Taylor Dayne ("Tell It to My Heart")
Oct. 26-28 Boyz II Men (“Motownphilly”)
Oct. 29-31 John Waite ("Missing You")
Nov. 1-2 Night Ranger (“Sister Christian”)
Nov. 3-5 Billy Ocean ("Caribbean Queen")
Nov. 6-8 Los Lobos (“La Bamba”)

If you plan on attending this year's Food and Wine Festival at Epcot Center, you may want to grab your tickets early as some of the more popular acts many bring large crowds that can sell out the park. Grab your Epcot Center tickets today and plan your Central Florida Vacation with Florida Orlando Tickets today.

Congrats to The Magic - Disney World vs Disneyland NBA Rivalry

The Orlando Magic finished their season this past Sunday as the Los Angeles Lakes defeated Dwight Howard and company at the Amway Arena to win the series 4-1. The playoff run was great for the City of Orlando as well as all of Central Florida with local hot spots staying open for later hours and experiencing a burst in business on game nights.

Amway Arena wasn't the only attraction playing home to a great competition during the NBA Finals. Walt Disney World President Meg Crofton and Disneyland President Ed Grier were also involved in their own little wager. Below is the press release:

ANAHEIM, Calif. and LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla., June 3 /PRNewswire/ — Walt Disney World President Meg Crofton and Disneyland President Ed Grier are squaring off – all in fun – as their local teams, the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers, head for the NBA Finals.

With both Disney parks asking guests “What Will You Celebrate?” in 2009, Grier and Crofton are getting in the act, making a celebratory wager on the outcome of the NBA Finals:

If the Magic win, Grier will walk down Main Street, U.S.A., at Disneyland park wearing a pair of specially made Mickey Mouse ears in Magic blue and silver. If the Lakers win, Crofton will don a pair of Lakers’ purple and gold mouse ears and walk down Main Street, U.S.A. at Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom.

“The Lakers are going to make your team very Grumpy this week,” predicted Grier to Crofton.

“But we have ‘Magic’ on our side,” countered Crofton. “And isn’t that what Disney is all about?”

Crofton and Grier went through their respective parks Wednesday looking for supporters. Grier shot some hoops with Donald and Pluto in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland, while Crofton (along with Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale) drummed up Orlando Magic support in front of Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World Resort.

The park presidents even pledged to turn the lights of their respective castles to their team colors in celebration of the historic pairing.

Unfortunately Crofton will have to wear a pair of Lakers’ mouse ears and walk down Main Street, U.S.A. at Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom. Maybe next year!

Congrats to the Magic and their historic season!

Space Mountain to Close for Renovation

According to the Orlando Sentinel one of the most reputable amusement rides in the world, Space Mountain, will be closed for a makeover. The ride will close on April 19th and will not open again until the end of 2009.

This decision is bound to leave Space Mountain fans, such as myself, curious and a little concerned. While I am sure that they are going to be making the ride even more enjoyable, I can't help but wonder if they are going to change a lot of things about it. If you recall, there has been some issues with the ride ever since an elderly man was killed on it in December of 2006. Although the problems were never Disney or Space Mountain's fault (they all had preexisting conditions), it certainly didn't help Disney's reputation.

All in all, whatever they are doing to the historic roller coaster I'm sure will be well worth the wait. While the ride is down, please remember that the Magic Kingdom has a plethora of other rides to keep you entertained. The Magic Kingdom has always been the magical place that I have never been able to everything I wanted all in one day. There is just way too much to do there.

Even without Space Mountain, grabbing a pair of Disney Tickets will give you the adventure of a lifetime!

What are you going to do next? I'm Going to Disney World!

Chances are, many of you have heard this popular phrase at one point or another. When someone wins a big game, graduates from college, or hits the lottery, there something inside them that yearns to ride on "Its a Small World" and get a hug from the coolest mouse on the planet, Mickey. But where did this tradition come from? Was it organic? Did people just start saying it because that's how they really felt? The answer may surprise you.

What if I told you the origin of the phrase was created by none other than two people who had just completed one of the greatest accomplishments of their time? That's right. Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, who are most known for piloting the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or re-fueling, were greeted right after they landed and asked "What are you going to do next?" Their answer was simple, "Well, we're going to Disneyland."

Seeing as how this was a very popular interview (heard by people all over the world), the phrase immediately caught the attention of Jane Eisner, wife of then Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Once she heard it, a light bulb went off. She immediately called her husband and told him the phrase would make an excellent advertising campaign.

Wasting no time, Michael Eisner decided that Superbowl XXI on January 25, 1987 would be the perfect time to showcase their new campaign. Starting with former NFL superstar Phil Simms (who received a reportedly $75,000 for his participation) as the first athlete to ever be a part of this infamous advertising campaign, the rest was history.

Since then, the campaign has targeted the best of the best in every sport (even some non-athlete celebrities), and upon winning, had them say "I'm going to Disney World!"

Here are a few of the people that also participated over the years:

• Magic Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA Finals (1987)
• Al MacInnis, Calgary Flames, Stanley Cup Finals (1989)
• Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls, NBA Finals (1991)
• Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals, Major League Baseball home run record (1998)
• Tom Brady, New England Patriots, Super Bowl XXXVI (2002)
• David Cook, Season 7 American Idol winner (2008)
• Bruce Springsteen, Super Bowl Half-Time Show (2009)

So next time you see see a celebrity answer the question "What are you doing next?" with "I'm going to Disney World", you'll know exactly how that campaign started and what they're getting out of it. (FYI In subsequent years, Disney reportedly has offered $50,000,000 to athletes and other stars for participating in the ads and appearing at one of its theme parks).

-Florida Orlando Tickets Team

Disney Marathon Weekend

(photo by mjkmjk)

This past weekend, Walt Disney World hosted the Disney Marathon weekend and with it came some great stories, actions and accomplishments. Here are some of the highlights:

• Adriano Bastos of Sao Paulo, Brazil, won his fifth consecutive Disney Marathon men’s championship Sunday
  
• Lisa Mizutani of Tsukuba, Japan won her first title in the women’s division. 
  
• The event begins and ends at Epcot Center
  
• The Orlando Sentinel has video from the winners on their YouTube page
  
• "Kiddie Korner"was unveiled where kids can play games, watch movies and get their faces painted. Runners and fans had the ability to attend a magical breakfast or dinner with many of Disney's famous characters on Friday or Saturday at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.
  
• Jeff Civillico attempted to juggle 3 balls while running the entire 26.2 miles of the Disney Marathon. It's called JOGGLING (jogging + juggling). We are unsure if he made it! He was running to support Team ASK Athletes for Special Kids.  
  
• 45,000 people registered for the events during the weekend from the 9-11th. 
  

If you have any other fun stats or interesting tidbits about the Disney World Marathon weekend we would love to hear from you. Please leave your thoughts in the comments. 

-Florida Orlando Tickets

Disney Plays Host to Holiday Wishes

11 year old Brock Waidman, a High School Musical and Make A Wish Foundation Recipient from Oregon, got to bring his family across the country to Orlando for the holidays. The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Oregon aims to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions and to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. Since its inception, the chapter has helped to grant the wishes of more than 2,000 local children, including Brock.

This was a joyous experience as Brock got to see behind the scenes action and meet cast members from Hollywood Studios and the High School Musical show. He also got to share Christmas with Mickey, Minnie, Santa and the whole Disney gang.

For more information about the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Oregon, visit www.orwish.org.

For more information on how you can visit the place where memories are made and lives are changed, visit Florida Orlando Tickets online.

Disney's Create Your Own Santa Video

I was floating around Twitter, looking for people heading to Disney today and I cam across a link for Disney Family Santa's Nice List. The idea is simple, upload a photo of your child, friend, family member and you will receive a personalized video message from Santa.

This is a great little treat for kids to believe in the magical power of Disney and Santa Claus. The link also has some great holiday recipes and is Christmas Central, Christmas Cards and Winter Getaways for your Disney Family needs.

For those of you in Orlando and looking for a real Santa, the Orlando JobSpot has put together a little list of places to see Big Red around the city.