Hi Thrill Seekers,
With 2013 coming to an end I thought it was time for contemplation on what has been an amazing year. Unlike other industries I’ve written in, the theme park World is endlessly exciting. When news is announced the buzz surrounding it is amazing, even the slightest rumour has legs. A great example of this has been the hype in 2013 surrounds the next phase of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, its provided me with countless posts and an exclusive…but the amazing part is that Universal haven’t actually unveiled much!
In this post I thought I’d reflect on my personal highlights of 2013, starting with this blog.
Attraction-Ticket.info
This year we’ve added 200 unique articles to this blog, all written by the staff at Orlando Attraction Tickets. We could of hired (as some do) professional writers and PR companies to do this for us but we truly believe that the personal touch our own staff can add is worth the effort. 200 posts represents an increase per month of an additional 10 posts when compared year on year.
In principle I am the Editor of this site, my number 1 highlight has been the popularity and growth of our blog. The site has become so popular that eternally we treat it as a separate brand. Its also opened doors for me which leads me too….
Opening of SeaWorld’s Antarctica Empire of the Penguins
SeaWorld’s newest attraction was their largest in recent history and represented a huge investment. I was very fortunate to be invited along for the secret press launch in Orlando. I got to see first hand how the new Land would work and got to ride the main attraction before any other members of the public. I wrote about the experience here.
Not only did I get to attend the launch but I was also lucky enough to be given a guided tour of all the parks owned by SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment including Discovery Cove. Busch Gardens Tampa, Aquatica and SeaWorld.
Asking a Wizarding question
Again due to the blog’s popularity I was invited to a media event hosted by Universal. It coincided with this years World Travel Market and was primarily about their new hotel.
However they did mention a tiny bit of Potter news which I was lucky enough to report on, I wrote about it here, I also plucked up enough courage to ask a question regarding Ollivanders. Universal confirmed for the first time that a larger Ollivanders would find a home at Diagon Alley. I wrote about this and several dedicated Potter websites cited my article within their own posts.
New website
This year Orlando Attraction Tickets launched a complete redesign of the website. I was asked for my input on the design and due to the strength of the blog we were given a large slot on the homepage and additional links within the site to push our content. I was particularly happy to see that the big bosses valued the work we were doing.
Halloween Horror Nights
I met John Landis!!!!!!…… Thriller video, American Werewolf in London!!! Michael Jackson’s friend…. John Landis…. Amazeballs!
You can read more about it here
So there you have it, 5 of my highlights of 2013. I’m looking forward to 2014 and fingers crossed a sneaky trip to Diagon Alley 😉
Smiles included…
Jamie
