March 8, 2013 - On the Go in MCO

Spring Break Kicks Off With A New Season at Busch Garden’s Adventure Island

Splash into spring when Adventure Island begins its 2013 season of fun in the sun on Saturday, March 9, 2013. It’s time again to splash in the wave pool, amble down the Rambling Bayou, race down speed slides, including Everglides® and Riptide, or just kick back on the beach amidst a tropical Key West setting,

The best value to visit all season long is the Adventure Island Weekday Pass.

Play weekdays all season long – Enjoy unlimited weekday access to Adventure Island during the 2013 season with no blackout dates.
Valid Mondays through Fridays, March 11 through Sept. 2, 2013
Purchase at AdventureIsland.com, at the Adventure Island or Busch Gardens front gates or by calling 1-888-800-5447.
The Adventure Island Weekday Pass is $51 for adults and children.

ISLAND NIGHTS RETURNS IN SUMMER

When the sun goes down, the fun heats up at Adventure Island® during Island Nights, a sunset celebration every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night from June 13 to Aug. 10. From 5 to 9 p.m. the energy revs up with music and games on the beach, entertainment and tropical-inspired cuisine, in addition to all the thrilling slides, tube rides and water-drenched fun of Adventure Island®.

CABANAS To make the most of your Adventure Island® visit, rent a cabana for a shaded, exclusive spot for your family and friends to gather throughout the day. Each cabana includes four chaise lounges, a locker, a mini-fridge with assorted drinks and four souvenir towels. Daily rental prices range from $99.99 to $189.99, based on the time of year.

ADVENTURE ISLAND

From the moment guests enter Adventure Island®, they are immersed in a Key West-themed paradise. The 40-acre water park features thrilling slides and tube rides, including Riptide, Wahoo Run®, Key West Rapids, Runaway Rapids, Everglides®, Calypso Coaster, Aruba Tuba, Caribbean Corkscrew®, Water Moccasin and Gulf Scream. Guests can also kick back on the beach or in the 17,000-square-foot wave pool, play on professional sand volleyball courts, breeze through the tropical gift shop or let the current sweep them through a half-mile of lush landscapes and tropical waterfalls on the Rambling Bayou.

Visit AdventureIsland.com for daily operating hours. Single-day admission tickets for Adventure Island® are $46 for adults and $42 for children. Children ages 2 and younger are free, and all children must be accompanied by an adult. All prices are per person, plus tax. Park hours are subject to change. Visit AdventureIsland.com for more information.

LEGOLAND Florida Water Park Opening For Second Year With Great New Additions

LEGOLAND Florida Splashes Into A Second Year Of Water Park Fun

With Twice As Many Lego Bricks

LEGOLAND Water Park Opens March 9, 2013

Mermaids, sharks and divers, oh my! LEGOLAND^® Florida Water Park splashes into a second year of family fun with twice as many LEGO^® bricks for all to enjoy. Two million LEGO bricks have been added since its debut last year bringing the total to an astounding four million LEGO bricks found in impressive models throughout the water park. Opening for the season on March 9, the LEGOLAND Water Park is unique in that it is specifically geared toward families with children ages two to 12 offering interactive, water play fun for the most timid of tikes to the boldest of tweens.

In addition to LEGO seahorses, clams, surfers and shells now displayed throughout, the new features at the LEGOLAND Water Park include:

Build-A-Raft River Entrance: A new brightly-colored LEGO entrance now greets guests as they enter this distinctive 1,000-foot lazy river experience where families can test their creativity by building their own LEGO rafts.
LEGO Moby Dick: While floating along the Build-A-Raft River, families will be fascinated by Moby Dick, a ferocious whale made famous in American literature. LEGO Moby Dick is made of 200,879 LEGO DUPLO^®bricks.
LEGO Wave Pool: The 583,000-gallon, crystal-clear wave pool is now decked-out with an amazing display of bright, cascading blue waves with two new LEGO models:
- LEGO Shark, made of 248,642 bricks, is found among the waves searching for friends.
- LEGO Scuba Diver, made of 86,233 bricks, finds himself face-to-face with a fiercely friendly LEGO Shark.
LEGO Mermaid: The entrance of the LEGOLAND Water Park now provides an impressive exhibit of intermittent water spouts and playful bubbles that burst from a LEGO Mermaid standing 15 ft tall. LEGO Mermaid is made of 176,210 bricks.
Waveside Grill: A new dining option can be found near the LEGO Wave Pool serving up delicious hot dogs and more.

“The LEGOLAND Water Park offers a distinct experience as its various elements are specifically designed for the safety and enjoyment of families with small children,” said LEGOLAND Florida General Manager Adrian Jones. “As we open the doors for our second year, we are thrilled that we are now offering even more exciting features for guests to enjoy.”

In addition to its newest features, the LEGOLAND Water Park is home to the DUPLO^® Splash Safari with toddler-sized slides and a zero-depth wading pool, the Joker Soaker water playground, with a riot of brightly colored ladders, levers, pumps and slides, imagination stations and five slippery-fast water slides that will thrill families all day long.

The best way to experience LEGOLAND Florida and the Water Park is with a Florida Resident Annual Pass for just $99, plus tax. Pass members will receive unlimited admission for 12 months to LEGOLAND Florida and the LEGOLAND Water Park along with other Merlin U.S. attractions including LEGOLAND California Resort & Water Park, LEGOLAND Discovery Centers, Sea Life Centers and Madame Tussauds with no black-out dates. The LEGOLAND Florida Resident Annual Pass also includes admission into special events throughout the year including Red, Brick & Boom, Brick-or-Treat, Christmas Bricktacular and Kid’s New Year’s Eve. Additionally, pass members will enjoy free parking and discounts on all food and merchandise throughout the year.

For the most current information on LEGOLAND Florida and to purchase tickets, visit www.LEGOLAND.com.

Oz The Great and Powerful Review

I thought that I should begin my Oz the Great and Powerful review with some disclaimers:

I love the original Wizard of Oz!
I was super excited for a week straight when I found out I was going to an early viewing to see “Oz The Great and Powerful”, no lie.
I’m not sure how appropriate this movie is for kids. I’m not a parent, but some of the things said were kind of grown-uppish and those dang monkeys are way scarier than before!
While I’m going to do my best to not talk about any spoilers, this is the warning, just in case you feel as though there is a spoiler in the mix, but I don’t think there is.

Like I said, I am definitely apart of the group that LOVES Wizard of Oz. I grew up watching it and I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve seen it over the years.

As soon as I found out that a ‘new’ Oz movie was being made I freaked out and then promptly forgot about it because I didn’t want to watch any trailers before seeing the movie. I did, however, make sure that it wasn’t going to be a remake. And that it is not, thankfully.

But before we get to that, I feel I need to mention how great it was to see the Monsters University trailer on the big screen! Oh and we also saw the Iron Man 3 trailer.

Oscar “Oz” Diggs is a magician in a small circus. He’s an egotistical ladies man who tries to impress pretty much any girl he meets. While part of me wanted to not like him, that just couldn’t happen.

Oz gets swept away from the circus he’s traveling with and makes it to the bright and beautiful Land of Oz where he meets an Oz local and he gets filled in on what the current status of Oz is.

After making his journey to Oz (have you lost count as to how many times I’ve said Oz yet?), he meets all three witches and we find out all three have very different personalities and all get along with Oz in very different ways – keep in mind, he’s being himself when it comes to how he talks to them.

After his trip through the Dark Forest, Oz realizes he has to work his magic…literally. And while you think Oz’s trickery can only get him so far, he truly is great and powerful.

There were some twist and turns that I honestly didn’t see coming. But getting introduced to some likable and even some unlikable (in a good way) characters makes for a great movie. When we meet the people of Oz I felt like I was back in my childhood home watching Wizard of Oz.

All in all, I loved this movie. I chuckled and laughed throughout the movie, one liners always tend to get me.

I loved that we get to see the beginning of Oz, the man and Oz, the land. There was even some little added tie-ins to Wizard of Oz –a lion shows up and scarecrows…does that mean I missed a tin man? Guess I need to see it again to be sure!

Oh and yes, there are a TON of computer-animated backgrounds, but that’s part of what kept me glued to the movie and feeling like I was actually in Land of Oz.

The 3D elements in this were great. Nothing overwhelming. Certain bits and pieces were perfect for 3D! This is the first movie in a while where I thought the 3D actually worked overall.

The cast was very well put together and I feel like everything worked amazingly. I will be seeing “Oz The Great and Powerful” again in theaters and it will be added into my “to watch over-and-over again” movie rotation as soon as it’s released on DVD.

Total number of times the “O” word was used: 22

httpv://youtu.be/708jhvxEQvg