Saturday, January 11, 2014

Disney Breaks Ground on Avatar:The World of Pandora Project

Disney's Animal Kingdom started the process of becoming a much larger, full day park experience this week with the official groundbreaking for a new area themed to James Cameron's Avatar.  The ceremony took place in the now closed Camp Minnie Mickey area with Tom Staggs (Chairman of Disney Parks and Resorts), and leaders from Lightstorm Entertainment. James Camerons absence is a little peculiar, and may show a shift in how Disney intends to create and present the new area.

Leaders from Disney and Lightstorm
The new environment is going to be large with multiple attractions, restaurants, and merchandise locations, as well as many opportunities to snap some great photos. The themed environment will take over the old Camp Minnie Mickey as well as a huge section of backstage that was utilized for storage at the property. Disney actually started the process months ago with the closing of the highly popular show Festival of The Lion King which will be getting a new home closer to Harambe.

Future home to Avatar
Disney promises to take entertainment to a new level with the entire area of Pandora being one of the most immersive that Disney has ever provided. Bio-Luminescent plant life, floating mountains, and stunning landscapes will transport guests from Orlando Florida to the planet of Pandora home to indigenous Na'Vi .

Confirmed at this time are two E-Ticket attractions (Disney lingo for really awesome) of which one will be a boat ride through the forests of Pandora, and the other a signature attraction simulating flight on the back of a banshee soaring through the skies of the Na'Vi world.

Boat ride concept art
Banshee Ride concept art

Concept art of entrance to Pandora

James Cameron, Tom Staggs, and Joe Rohed with Pandora model
 The new area is expected to open in mid 2017 and should be an amazing experience for guests of all ages. Stay tuned for more details as they are made available.

Enjoy!!

#pandora , #disney , #animalkingdom , #orlando

Friday, January 10, 2014

The Marvel Experience program details and artwork released.

(Time for our new weekly Friday update, that's right boy and girls, we will be updating the Theme park Whispers site every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this year (with more updates if needed) for your enjoyment!!)

2014 promises to be an amazing year for the parks here in Orlando. Universal will open a new game changing area with Harry Potter: Diagon Alley, Disney will take us on an amazing ride through the Mines of the Seven Dwarfs,  Seaworlds Aquatica is scheduled to open the worlds tallest, fastest, water slide, and the Orlando Eye is set to change the look and shopping available on International drive. Mondays update will start a series based on 2014 openings and we will kick it off with Universal's new Potter Project.

Today we will explore something that is not located in the theme parks in Orlando but is going to be a "do not miss" event if you are lucky enough to be close to an area that will host, get ready... The Marvel Experience!

Disney is really going to WOW guests with this attraction and it may be an indication of things to come in their theme parks worldwide. Contract restraints with Universal NBC do not allow Disney to use most of its major super hero characters east of the Mississippi in a permanent attraction. Disney however, resourceful as always, has found a way to tour their intellectual property and still fulfill the contract. So grab your favorite Marvel comic book and lets head into the world of super heroes, super villains, and high tech gadgetry.

Artist rendering of the S.H.I.E.L.D. complex

The Marvel Experience is a $30 million dollar interactive extravaganza that is going to amaze visitors with exhibits, 3D animated short films, digital projects, virtual simulators, merchandise and super hero meet and greets, with photo opportunities galore.

S.H.I.E.L.D. (short for Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law Enforcement Division) is the organization responsible for the safety of our planet in the Marvel universe. The organization works hand in hand with super heroes to insure peace reigns worldwide and unseen threats stay at bay.

Since the Avengers saved the world from Loki and his evil Chitauri army, the public wants to know more about super heroes and how they fit into our society.  S.H.I.E.L.D. will be providing a first hand look at some of these heroes and operations worldwide that have been kept secret for years, and they have will be deploying a mobile command center to do so.

Utilizing a 2 acre foot print with over 80,000 square feet of exhibit space The Marvel Experience will take you through a series of inter-connected domes that are central to a singular story line.High tech imagery, advanced fabricated sets, and live actors will all play part in this attraction providing a guest experience like none other.  Details and tour dates will follow soon, but we already rank this as one of the major theme park connected experiences of 2014!!

Enjoy!!

Monday, December 23, 2013

Rumor: Planet Hollywood Hotel to I-Drive..PHABULOUS!!

2010 was the year that Planet Hollywood announced that it would be opening more (the first and only one is in LasVegas), Planet Hollywood Hotels. The end of 2014 is here and no hotels have opened or have even been rumored heavily until now.

Filing for new trademarks to be used in the city of Orlando, Planet Hollywood Int. has now made it un-official that it is looking to do something in the Resort and Resort services realm of the hospitality industry here in O-Town! The words phabulous and phamous are both used at the Planet Hollywood Las Vegas location and now are being trademarked for use here in connection with a new project.

Phabulous!!
The owner of the trademark is listed as Planet Hollywood Orlando and not Caesars Entertainment which operates and owns the property in Vegas. The filing sounds promising and this combined with the Wyndham Hotel announcement of plans to renovate the Wyndham Orlando Resort connected to the new Orlando Eye project (the new name for I-Drive Live) it looks as if the rumor we posted last year may be finally working toward a solid project.  The Orlando Business Journal quoted a well-known developer earlier this year as stating a new PH Hotel would be going up on the I-Drive area, and the statement seems to be true.

Wyndham Orlando Resort on I-Drive
Wyndham has announced that it will be turning an area of the resort rooms into shops, renovating all the guest rooms, and building a new high rise tower, all centered around a central theme.  I also have been told by inside sources that the current Planet Hollywood's future at the new Disney Springs location has still not been finalized.  So that being said I think that Planet Hollywood's move to the I-Drive location would be a logical one and a nice addition to the Orlando Eye line up!

Once again this is just rumor and until the official announcement but I would say paperwork and moves by Orlando's Planet Hollywood International seem to indicate we could be seeing that type of announcement soon!


Sunday, December 8, 2013

Rumor: Jekyll and Hyde soon to be at CityWalk?

Universal may be soon adding one of the hottest concepts from Times Square in New York to its CityWalk line up.  The word on the street is the new club/restaurant that is taking the place of the Latin Quarters old stomping grounds is going to be a new Jekyll and Hyde Club location!!

I for one am looking forward to this, and hope that the rumor mill is true.  This would be a perfect addition to the Orlando themed restaurant scene, providing a more adult oriented environment for eating and drinking during the evening hours, yet be a new lunch venue for the entire family.

The tarp covering the old Latin Quarter location started coming down this week revealing a very Gothic looking structure that would be perfect for The Jekyll and Hyde Clubs second location here in the U.S.

Twitter Photo
Details should be released this week,  but all indications are we are about to get a great new themed club to the CityWalk scene....Check out the link below for more information on the Times Square location.

Enjoy!

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Are you Naughty or Nice?

Universal Orlando has the answer to that age old question we get asked at this time of year: Are you Naughty or Nice? Starting the weekend of December 6th 2013 Universal will help us celebrate the most festive time of year by allowing us to be both!!

Universals holiday happenings include floats from the Macy's Day Parade direct from New York, the tale of a heartless Grinch that is changed by finding the true meaning of Christmas, and free concerts by the number one selling Christmas group of all time Manhiem Steamroller!!

Be sure to head over to Universal and see these amazing events. Crowds will be large so plan accordingly, but hey its the Holidays, enjoy the cheer with your family and a few thousand of your closest friends!!

+UOR Orlando

Happy Birthday Mr. Disney!!

On this day 112 years ago, December 5th 1901 to be exact, a little boy was born in Chicago and was named Walter Elias Disney.

The small child's greatness would not be seen for years to come, but in the end Walt Disney would change forever the way we are entertained. He would form many of our ideas of right and wrong, warm our hearts, and make us smile through animated characters that would stay with us for a lifetime.

Walt would grow into adulthood by joining the military at 16, and after his service to his country would pack up all of his belongings in a suitcase and with 40 dollars in his pocket head to a town known as Hollywood.

Walter Elias Disney
He was a man that was driven by perfection, demanded only the best from his team, worked many long hours and was generous sometimes to a fault.  He created a lucky rabbit named Oswald to which he lost the rights, and then on a train ride home created a cartoon mouse named Mortimer who, at the request of his wife, would later be renamed to a little mouse known to the world as Mickey.

Walt Disney driving his children to school
He was a man that drove his children to school every day, cherished the family dog and loved the meals his wife would cook for him. Once while sitting on a park bench watching his children and other families reactions to different rides at a small dirty carnival, Walt envisioned a place that would exist where parents and children could enjoy time together,  a place that was always clean and the staff was always smiling, this place would be called Disneyland.

Disneyland 1957 Park Map



Mr. Disney would start an entertainment mammoth that would change the face of one city called Anaheim, and on the other side of the country be the backbone to make another city, Orlando, the number one tourist destination on planet Earth.

Disney comes to Florida

Walt Disney would continue in life winning more academy awards and nominations than any other person in history, walking home 22 Academy Awards and 59 nominations. He was a die hard American, creating most of the animated war propaganda films for the U.S. Government during his career, and he aided a small government operation known as NASA develop documentaries about space programs.

Walt Disney was a visionary, an innovator, and a catalyst for virtually all projects of the Disney company even to this day. His legacy is one that still brings joy, amazement, and memories to this little rock we call home.

Happy Birthday Walt!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Arabian Nights Dinner Show to Close

The owners of Arabian Nights Dinner show have announced that the last performance of their long running dinner show will take place on December 31st of 2013. The show is one of the longest running in Orlando having reached the 25 year mark in 2013.

Arabian Nights 


Mark Miller stated that changes in business are the reason for the closure adding, "the marketplace is demanding a cheaper product than we can provide".

I feel it is important to note that the growth of the major parks, and their ability to keep guests on property at night, probably means we can expect to see a decline in nighttime dinner shows that are not part of the resort experience provided by Disney and Universal.

The show was a wonderful display of talent, acrobatics, and some of the most beautiful equine to ever be displayed in a show of this nature. Best of luck to the staff and team that helped to put on this production through the years, you will be missed.

During the month of December Florida Residents receive half price admission.