SeaWorld and Busch Gardens will turn up the heat with the Viva La Música concert series each weekend in March.

Viva La Música is a Hispanic event that blends live performances from award-winning Latin artists with “el sabor” (the flavor) of the heritage. In addition to the music, the event will including authentic Latin cuisine plus arts and crafts.

Saturdays at SeaWorld
March 6 – Victor Manuelle
March 13 – Oscar D’León
March 20 – Sergio Vargas
March 27 – Grupomanía

Sundays at Busch Gardens
March 7 – Luis Enrique
March 14 – Zion & Lennox
March 21 – India
March 28 – Milly Quezada

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit SeaWorldOrlando.com or BuschGardensTampa.com.

By Chris Ollendorf

Are you or someone in your family serving in the military? Do you or they have an urge to visit a theme park? Well then you’re in luck. Here are just two of many great offers to help you out.

Hi. My Name is Chris Ollendorf and I will be writing about special deals for tickets and other discounted offers around the attractions area. There is a lot to cover so I will be posting regularly.

Anheuser-Busch has extended their “Here’s to the Heroes” military tribute through 2010. The tribute program has provided free admission to SeaWorld and Busch Gardens for more than four million members of the U.S. and coalition armed forces and their families since February of 2005.

The program provides a single day’s free admission for the service member and as many as three of his or her direct dependents to the following: SeaWorld Orlando, San Diego, or San Antonio, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay or Williamsburg, Sesame Place, Water Country USA and Adventure Island.

Any active duty, active reserve, ready reserve service member or National Guardsman representing any of the five service branches is entitled to free admission under the program. He or she need only register, either online at www.herosalute.com or in the entrance plaza of a participating park, and show a Department of Defense photo ID. Also included in the offer are members of foreign military forces serving in the coalitions in Iraq or Afghanistan or attached to American units in the U.S. for training.

Here’s to the Heroes is the fourth tribute to military personnel offered by the company since Yellow Ribbon Summer welcomed service members home from the Gulf War in 1991. Since then, nearly seven million have taken advantage of this offer from SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment.

Now for the bad news… Inactive, standby and retired reserve members, military retirees, U.S. Merchant Marine and civilian Department of Defense workers are ineligible for the program. This program does not include Discovery Cove or Aquatica.

Another great offer is for Kennedy Space Center. They too are extending their own “Salute to America’s Heroes” offer to U.S. military personnel through April 30. Active duty military service members, including activated members of the National Guard and Reservists, will enjoy complimentary admission to the Visitor Complex and discounted ticket offers for family members and friends.

Complimentary tickets for active military members and discounted tickets for family and friends are available at participating military base ITT travel offices. Active military members must present a valid military photo I.D.

Complimentary admission includes the new Shuttle Launch Experience, the Kennedy Space Center Tour, 3D IMAX space films, Astronaut Encounter and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, featuring historic spacecraft, simulator rides and the world’s largest collection of personal astronaut mementos.

Admission tickets are valid for a second day free at the Visitor Complex, if used within a seven-day period. Active military members will also receive a 10 percent discount on retail and food items at the Visitor Complex.

More bad news: This discount is not valid for special ticketed events, including launches or special events and remember, proof of ID is required.

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex opens at 9 a.m. Closing times vary by season. For more information, call 321-449-4444 or visit www.KennedySpaceCenter.com

That’s all for this weeks ticket news I will post again when I have some more great discounts to share. Enjoy the ride, and remember, no flash photography.

• Christopher Ollendorf is just your average Orlando guy who loves the theme parks. He has worked in the retail field for most of his life but spent 15 years of that time working for Walt Disney World. At Disney, he worked in entertainment, guest services, retail management, front desk and training. He’s had extensive experience selling theme park tickets.

Have you ever wondered how much concentration it takes for someone like Jack Hanna or Julie Scardina to do a television interview while holding a cute but squirmy animal? How do you focus on what you’re saying when you’ve got an owl monkey nuzzling your neck or a bush baby climbing on your head? The new Animal Connections experience at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay gives guests the opportunity to find out first hand what it takes to be an Animal Ambassador.

The 30-minute experience treats each new talent like a television star. Upon arriving, the guest is assigned a personal “production assistant” to guide them through their on-camera experience. After shooting a “head shot,” the guest is escorted to wardrobe and given the opportunity to freshen their makeup and hair in the green room.

Depending on whether the guest chooses “African Adventure” or “Rainforest Discovery,” they will be assigned one of Animal Connections’ furry or feathered co-stars, which include lemurs, owl monkeys, bush babies, macaws, porcupines and other exotic species. They are given several minutes to study a script full of facts about the animal they’ll be presenting.

Then it’s into the studio, where green-screen technology places the guest into his or her animal’s natural habitat. After taking a few minutes to acclimate to the animal, the script scrolls on the teleprompter, and the director rolls camera. A one-way glass allows friends and relatives to view the taping and take photos of their star’s performance.

Whether the guest gets it in one take or has to try a few more times, the result is a DVD of the performance bookended with some Busch Gardens animal footage.

Animal Connections is $29.99 per taping, which guests can do alone or as a couple. The price includes a DVD of the performance. It is located in the Crown Colony Plaza area of the park, between Edge of Africa and Egypt, where the Clydesdale horses used to be housed.

SeaWorld Orlando is expected to also add a green-screen video attraction once their horses leave the stables at the end of this month. This attraction is rumored to allow guests to have their faces painted and be superimposed on a safari adventure.

Both Busch Gardens and Seaworld announced that they would no longer have horses on display when The Blackstone Group purchased the parks from the Anheuser-Busch InBev company last year.

It’s a musical weekend in Central Florida. You have your choice between three big name musical acts as three different theme parks kick off their concert series.

Mardi Gras starts tomorrow at Universal Studios with KC and the Sunshine Band, Bands, Brew & BBQ starts tomorrow at SeaWorld with LeAnn Rimes, and Busch Gardens will hold their Bands, Brew & BBQ on Sunday with Dennis DeYoung. If you time it right, you could catch all three.

Here’s the upcoming musical line-up:

Bands, Brew & BBQ at SeaWorld
Feb. 6 – LeAnn Rimes
Feb. 13 – Montgomery Gentry
Feb. 20 – John Rich of Big & Rich
Feb. 27 – Yes

The festival starts at 11 a.m. The concerts start at 4 p.m.

Mardi Gras at Universal Studios
Saturday, Feb. 6 – KC and the Sunshine Band
Saturday, Feb. 13 – Heart
Sunday, Feb. 14 – Kool & the Gang
Saturday, Feb. 20 – Blondie
Saturday, Feb. 27 – Dierks Bentley
Saturday, March 6 – Akon
Saturday, March 13 – Aretha Franklin
Saturday, March 20 – Miranda Lambert
Saturday, March 27 – 3 Doors Down
Saturday, April 3 – Beach Boys
Friday, April 9 – Sheryl Crow
Saturday, April 10 – Flo Rida
Saturday, April 17 – Chicago

The Feb. 6 to March 20 and April 17 concerts start at 8:30 p.m. The March 27 to April 10 concerts start at 9:30 p.m.
The Mardi Gras parade starts a half-hour before the concerts.

Bands, Brew & BBQ at Busch Gardens
Feb. 7 – Dennis DeYoung: The Music of Styx
Feb. 14 – Willie Nelson
Feb. 21 – Huey Lewis and the News
Feb. 28 – Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo

The festival starts at 11:30 a.m. The concerts start at 4 p.m.

All three events also offer food and other entertainment in addition to the concerts. All of the concerts and festivities are included with theme park admission.

Busch Gardens is also in the middle of their Real Music Concert Series. Click Here for more information.

For more information:
Bands, Brew & BBQ at SeaWorld and Busch Gardens
Mardi Gras at Universal Studios

As I was scouring the Internet for stories for the recently released Winter issue of Orlando Attractions Magazine, I came across a press release announcing the closing of a fan favorite at Bush Gardens in Williamsburg, Va., the Big Bad Wolf. The press release was a few months old, July 24, 2009, but for some reason, it caught my attention. The Big Bad Wolf celebrated its 25th anniversary, and perhaps a bit sadly, the end of its service life. It closed on Sept. 7, 2009.

The Big Bad Wolf was the first suspended roller coaster. At the close of the first decade of the 21st century, the ride was no longer the biggest, fastest, nor longest of its type. But it was a fan favorite, having carried more than 29 millions riders in its 25 years.

The Arrow Dynamics ride was an innovative design that fully utilized the beautiful Virginia landscape situated in the Oktoberfest section of the park. Arrow Dynamics incidentally, was the company that designed The Matterhorn at Disneyland and The Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point, but unfortunately went bankrupt in 2002. They also designed the transport systems in a few rides you may have hear of in Disneyland: Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World, and The Haunted Mansion.

Unfortunately, I was never blessed with the opportunity to take on the Big Bad Wolf. That actually was also true of media producer Rob Warren of Rockford, Ill. I say, “was” true because when the same press release flashed across his computer screen, Rob decided to do something about it – two words: road trip! The resulting 13 minute, 28 second video embodies the passion that many of us feel toward roller coasters and amusement parks. Enjoy.

Video posted with permission from Rob Warren. You can find out more about him by visiting his Web site.

• Andy Guinigundo is the author of the Out of The Loop column in “Orlando Attractions Magazine”. Out of the Loop keeps you up-to-date with attraction news outside of Central Florida. Andy lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife and three daughters. He grew up frequenting theme parks around Ohio and making trips to Orlando with his family. While for most of the year, he’s out of the Orlando loop, he tries to visit Florida at least once a year.

The Real Music Concert Series continues at Busch Gardens Thursdays through Saturdays with big band, pop and rock ‘n roll from some of music’s most memorable eras.

In January, classic sounds of the ‘30s and ‘40s big-band era were featured. The last of this series runs today through Saturday with The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Then, starting next week, some of the rock ‘n roll artists who defined the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s will perform:

Feb 3 to 6: Paul Revere & The Raiders
Feb 10 to 13: Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone
Feb 17 to 20: John Davidson
Feb 24 to 27: Chubby Checker & The Wild Cats
Mar 3 to 6: The Osmond Brothers
Mar 10 to 13: Davy Jones (pictured above)
Mar 17 to 20: The 5th Dimension


Showtimes are 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., with the Stanleyville Theater opening a half-hour prior to each show. Reservation tickets are required to guarantee a seat, and are available at the front gate until 11 a.m. each show date. The complimentary reservation tickets are also available near the Stanleyville Theater prior to each show. The Real Music Concert Series is included with regular park admission or any valid Passport membership.

Here’s a video of Davy Jones performing during the Flower Power concert series at Epcot’s International Flower & Garden Festival last October:

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and its waterpark, Adventure Island, are now featured in Street View on Google Maps.

Virtual visits are now available to all 10 SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment locations, including the SeaWorld parks in Orlando, San Antonio and San Diego; Discovery Cove, a swim-with-dolphins resort, and Aquatica, SeaWorld’s waterpark, both in Orlando; Busch Gardens and Water Country USA, both in Williamsburg; and Sesame Place in Langhorne, Penn.

In Tampa, nearly every inch of Busch Gardens was mapped using one of Google’s “Trikes.” A state-of-the-art camera automatically gathered photographs from the back of a modified bicycle. Google software then blended the images, creating the interactive and moveable 360-degree scenes Street View is known for.

“I began thinking about building a bicycle-based Street View system after realizing how many great places around the world aren’t accessible by car, but still would be perfect to include in Street View on Google Maps. The immensely popular SeaWorld parks are perfect examples of fun and interesting locations that our Trike can add to Google Maps, benefiting families and tourists around the world,” said Dan Ratner, Senior Mechanical Engineer on the Street View team & creator of the Trike.

All of the Central Florida theme parks except Disney’s are available on Google Street View (Busch Gardens, SeaWorld and Universal). Viewers can start by going to maps.google.com and searching for the park name. Then drag the orange “Pegman” icon (found at the top left of the map) for a “walking tour.”

View Larger Map

The 2009 Daytona 500 champion Matt Kenseth visited Busch Gardens Tampa Bay recently to test his strength in a tug-of-war with a bengal tiger and hand-feed giraffes on the parks Serengeti Plain.

Kenseth drives the No. 17 Crown Royal Ford for Roush Fenway Racing and is getting ready to defend his victory in NASCARs most prestigious race, the Daytona 500, on Sunday, Feb. 14. He is trying to become the first back-to-back winner of the Daytona 500 since 1995.

This spring, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay will welcome families to an all-new, Sesame Street-themed play land. Sesame Street Safari of Fun will be filled with kid-size rides, water fun, shows and adventures that celebrate the spirit of Africa.

“This new attraction is going to be unlike anything families have encountered before, with unique African-inspired costumes for Elmo, Big Bird and their friends, and exciting adventures for families to share,” said Donnie Mills, Busch Gardens’ executive vice president and general manager. “With the addition of Sesame Street Safari of Fun, Busch Gardens truly has something for all ages, and this new destination in the park is certain to be a hit among families and kids.”

One highlight of the area is a new junior roller coaster designed for parents and children to ride together. “Air Grover” is full of mini-dives and twisty turns as families soar through the Sahara. “Oscar’s Swamp Stomp” provides cool water fun, and “Bert & Ernie’s Water Hole” is a wet adventure filled with bubblers, geysers, jets, dumping buckets and more. “Big Bird’s 123-Smile with Me” photography studio gives kids the chance to share a hug and a smile with Sesame Street friends, and musical performances bring safari tales to life.

The new destination for family-friendly adventure is being created where Land of the Dragons exists, and will double the area’s current size to 2.5 acres.

In addition to the rides and play areas, families will also be able to watch their favorite characters on the big screen. “Sesame Street presents Lights, Camera, Imagination!” will run in the park’s 4-D theater, located in Timbuktu. The fun-filled, 4-D movie brings Sesame Street Muppets’ adventures to life with zany 3-D gags and special effects like wind, water and jump-out-of-your-seat surprises.

Families will be able to share breakfast and lunch with Elmo and his friends on select days at an outdoor dining facility adjacent to Sesame Street Safari of Fun.

Rides and Play Areas



Air Grover: A junior coaster full of turns, mini-dives for parents and kids to ride together.

The Count’s Zambezi Rally: A kid-size car ride that takes you on a jaunt through desert and tribal trails.

Zoe-Patra & the Hippos of the Nile: A splashy flume ride through the famed river.

Snuffy’s Elephant Romp: Fly around and around and up and down on Snuffy’s fun friends.

Elmo’s Safari Go-Round: A tribal-inspired carousel with Elmo and his friends.

Rosita’s Djembe Fly-Away: A swing ride through the jungle that sends kids whirling above the African canopy.

Big Bird’s Whirly Birdie: It’s funny side up on Big Bird’s delightfully playful Ferris wheel ride.

Telly’s Jungle Jam: Explore sounds, shapes and shadows in this naturally engaging play area for kids of all abilities.

Elmo’s Treehouse Trek: A three-story hideaway to play hide-n-seek and get a bird’s eye view of the entire play land.

Cookie Monster’s Canopy Crawl: Climb, crawl and explore this three-story net climb.

Slimey’s Sahara Sand: A fun-filled, sand-filled beachy oasis where kids can frolic in the coolest desert around.

Oscar’s Swamp Stomp: Stomp, splash and play in Oscar’s delightfully cool water play area.

Bert & Ernie’s Watering Hole: A water adventure filled with bubblers, geysers, jets, dumping buckets and more.

Sunny Day Theater: Musical performances bring tales of adventure to life.

Sesame Street presents “Lights, Camera, Imagination!”: A 4-D movie that brings the Sesame Street Muppets’ adventures to life with zany 3-D gags and special effects like wind, water and jump-out-of-your-seat surprises. Plays in 4-D theater in Timbuktu area of the park.

Dining

Dine with Elmo and Friends: Share breakfast or lunch with Elmo and his friends on select days at an outdoor dining facility adjacent to Sesame Street Safari of Fun.

Snack-n-Getti Tribal Treats: Tasty treats to keep your energy up.

Shopping

Abby Cadabby’s Treasure Hut: A bazaar of unique items, including tons of safari treasures and Sesame Street gifts you can’t find any place else.

Cookie Monster’s Trading Post: Looks like Cookie Monster’s cravings have gone beyond sweets. Check out his trading post full of safari-inspired fun gifts.

Photo Ops

Air Grover Ride Photos

Big Bird’s 123-Smile with Me: Meet and greet the Sesame Street characters.

Vice President of Design & Engineering Mark Rose chats with Bif, the construction-worker Muppet, sharing details of the construction of Busch Gardens’ new Sesame Street Safari of Fun area during a media hard-hat tour on Thursday. After the presentation, Rose led the media on a tour of the construction site (top photo).

There’s a lot going on for New Year’s Eve, but not all of the parks will be having special events or fireworks at midnight. Here’s a list of the special New Year’s Eve events. But be warned that it’s the busiest day of the year and many of the parks may close when they reach capacity. All of the events are included with your park admission except for the party at CityWalk.

Magic Kingdom
“Fantasy in the Sky” fireworks (11:50 p.m.)
Park hours: 8 a.m.-2 a.m.

Epcot
Special version of “IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth” (7:30 and 11:40 p.m.)
Park hours: 9 a.m.-1 a.m.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Live performances by in-park band “Mulch, Sweat and Shears,” back-to-back with a DJ at Mickey’s Sorcerer’s Hat. (Mulch, Sweat and Shears sets are 8, 9, 10 and 11 p.m.; DJ starts at 6:30 p.m.)
A special “Lights, Camera, Happy New Year” fireworks show starring Mulch, Sweat and Shears (11:55 p.m.)
Park hours: 8 a.m.-midnight

SeaWorld
Michael Andrew and his Atomic Big Band will perform the best in pop, Latin and swing music. At the stroke of midnight, a vibrant fireworks show will celebrate the New Year.
Park hours: 9 a.m.-1 a.m.

Universal CityWalk
The Temptations and The Four Tops will perform along with a street-wide celebration, with live entertainment and DJ’s in CityWalk’s nightclubs. An all-you-can-eat gourmet menu will also be available, featuring filet mignon, jumbo shrimp, desserts and more. When the clock strikes midnight, guests will welcome the new year with party favors, confetti bursts and a champagne toast.
Tickets are $129.99 plus tax per person. Special discounts are available for annual passholders.

Busch Gardens
Fireworks will help ring in the new year at Gwazi Park.
Park hours: 9 a.m.-1 a.m.