Theme park and attraction news, rumors and videos.
Long-time theme park performer and show developer Ron Scheider has released an autobiography. Entitled, From Dreamer to Dreamfinder: A Life and Lessons Learned in 40 Years Behind a Name Tag, the book is currently available in paperback and ebook formats from all major retailers. [Read more…]
EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to the first of many guest columns highlighting theme park memories. This column started out as Retro Orlando by Audrey Brown, but we’ve renamed it and expanded it to include theme park and attraction memories outside the Orlando area. This first Amusement Musings is by Audrey’s sister and her experiences with little Audrey (pictured above, at right) at Six Flags St. Louis in 1987. [Read more…]
Column by Audrey Brown
Usually when I write about an extinct attraction, my column is filled with wishful thinking. If only I could go back, I muse on and on. It’s rare that a beloved attraction from the past actually gets the resurrection that the smattering of fans like me petition for. But sometimes, and usually when you least expect it, it actually happens. [Read more…]
Column by Audrey Brown
Photos by JeffLangeDVD.com
I can’t tell you how often I have an internal debate about what to write for Retro Orlando. Mostly because it’s tempting as a writer to feel the pressure to always write something new. But in a column about rides and shows that are long gone, that’s an impossible goal. So this month, I decided to give in and go with it. After all, the louder the buzz on the Internet about attractions now gone, the more beloved they were. Consider this a part of your group therapy for theme park nostalgia.
What I really want to talk about this month is Dreamfinder, the beloved and bearded magician that used to accompany everyone’s favorite purple dragon, Figment. [Read more…]
Column by Audrey Brown
Movies are king when it comes to theme park merchandising, ticket sales and advertising. As early as Aladdin, the Genie was off to Disney World after being freed. Stop for a second and just try to imagine Disney World or Universal Studios without movie tie-ins – it’s impossible. But not so long ago, television was the best way for theme parks to get the word out about a new parade, ride or special event. [Read more…]
Column by Audrey Brown
I went back to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay this month, for the first time in more than 20 years. One of my recent columns was dedicated to the patchwork quilt of memory that was my distant recollection of Busch Gardens. I remembered the pale pinks of stucco walls, the animal habitats of Sea Otters and parrots, but more than anything else, I remembered selected images of my family members. Mostly from shared moments during our day at the park in the late ’80s. [Read more…]
Column by Audrey Brown
Not that I want to hone in on Andy Rooney’s territory, but there was once a time when getting to an Orlando tourist attraction was half the fun. At risk of having to start a sentence with the phrase, “You know, in my day…” I do want to say that in the early ’80s, part of the joy of vacation was the adventure of transportation and encountering the unexpected. [Read more…]
By Audrey Brown
This month’s Retro Orlando is a bit more broad than usual. I typically try to take a look back at rides I can remember with perfect clarity, detail for detail. But I stumbled across some old vacation pictures that got me thinking about Busch Gardens. [Read more…]
By Audrey Brown
This month’s Retro Orlando isn’t exactly about an attraction. It’s about a restaurant. A restaurant that once held a mythical status similar to that of an attraction, one created and tested in Orlando, and one that surely picked up attributes from the theme park town where its parent company decided to launch their creation. I’m talking about the glory that once was The Olive Garden. [Read more…]
By Audrey Brown
Photos by Jeff Lange of jefflangedvd.com
There was one ride throughout all of my visits to Walt Disney World that I could always count on for a line-free experience. Granted, it could’ve been a fluke that across all my visits there was no waiting, but I also think most people just didn’t have much interest in the Delta Dreamflight at the Magic Kingdom. But I did. My cousins and I would bolt away from our mothers after exiting the Carousel of Progress and run to Delta Dreamflight where we would fly through the empty line and board by ourselves. [Read more…]