Attraction Tickets News – Page 3 – Orlando Attraction Tickets blog

November 21, 2016January 11, 2017

Pandora – The World Of Avatar Opening Summer 2017!

Hey Thrill Seekers,

The highly anticipated addition to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Pandora – The World of Avatar has been confirmed to be opening this summer! Eeeekk!!

Check out this video update: 10/01/2017

Back in 2011 Disney had begun plans to build the first Avatar themed land at Walt Disney World – with its main emphasis being all about living in harmony with nature – Animal Kingdom was the perfect location. James Cameron, the filmmaker for the Avatar films has previously stated:

“I’m chomping at the bit to start work with Disney’s legendary Imagineers to bring our AVATAR universe to life. Our goal is to go beyond current boundaries of technical innovation and experiential storytelling, and give park goers the chance to see, hear, and touch the world of AVATAR with an unprecedented sense of reality.”

As well as recently learning that this land is opening in the summer of 2017 Disney have also released a few very intriguing images relating to the new land. My favourite being of the bridge that will connect Pandora – The World of Avatar with the rest of Animal Kingdom. The scaffolding has been removed from around the bridge!! (no i’m not crazy and i’m not excited over scaffolding) The chairman of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Bob Chapek has actually released a photograph of the bridge in all its glory! Bam.

The storyline developed by Walt Disney Imagineering and Lightstorm Entertainment has given the idea that the bridge was built during the time when a ‘destructive company called the RDA’ entered Pandora and now that they’re long gone nature has begun to break down all evidence of their unwanted presence.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom is a park that “honours animals and natural environments real, ancient and imagined.” The story behind the bridge appears to be the first glimpse we have of how out of this world the new land is actually going to be. There will be loads of cool, realistic details throughout the whole adventure such as Na’vi artifacts that you should look out for during your visit.

Disney have also released images of what some of the restaurants, shops and attractions the land is looking to entail.

Pandora – The World of Avatar is said to include a flight simulator based banshee attraction as well as a boat ride through the landscape of Pandora. Disney want guests to be able to experience two new excursions that will take ‘adventure’ to a whole new level. Na’vi River Journey is a family friendly ride which will enable visitors to travel down a sacred river which is hidden within a bioluminescent rainforest. The journey will end in an encounter with a Na’vi Shaman. The Avatar Flight of Passage excursion will allow guests to experience the incredible feeling of riding on a Banshee over the world of Pandora. Sound amazing doesn’t it?!

At night the land will take on a whole new image with ‘bioluminescent flora and special nighttime immersive programming.’ (now if all of those long words went straight over your head like they did mine then just take a look at the picture below to see how unreal it is going to be) Basically the ground is set to literally glow beneath your feet!

Imagineer Joe Rohde stated:

“We want the world of Pandora to be believable,” Jon said. “When visitors come to Pandora they’ll experience and they’ll believe — and they’ll look at the world a little bit differently.”

So if you’re like me and physically cannot wait for this magical land to open then the good news is there’s not long to wait now! Summer just can’t come quick enough. The whole land when it opens is set to ‘transport guests to a visually stunning world complete with floating mountains and bioluminescent plants.’ How unreal does that sound?!

Smiles Included..

Jess

November 15, 2016

Skyledge Confirmed To Be Added To The Skyplex Complex

Hey Thrill Seekers,

Just when you thought Skyplex couldn’t sound any better the guys behind it have just announced another sky-high attraction that is most definitely not for the faint hearted! Thrill seekers.. meet Skyledge and Skyledge.. meet thrill seekers. Sounds terrifying doesn’t it, well I will let you be the judge.

This attraction will allow visitors the opportunity to walk around the OUTSIDE of the Skyscraper tower a mere 600 feet above the ground ;). My initial thought was literally ‘why?!’ But then after I calmed down a bit I thought, imagine the breath taking views. You’ll not only be able to see the whole of International Drive but you’ll be able to gaze over Orlando for a whole 30 minutes. The Skyledge is the Americas first attraction of its kind with the nearest, similar one being in Canada.

The developer of Skyplex Joshua Wallack said the following in a statement:

“The world’s tallest rollercoaster, the world’s tallest drop ride, and now we’re launching an experience that feels like you are flying.”

The best bit? No stairs! Florida’s highest glass elevator will whisk you straight up to the top where you will find yourself at the observation desk. You will then be tethered to a overhead railing ready to leave the observation desk and begin walking around the whole outside of the tower for 30 minutes, bearing in mind the only thing you have to hold on to is the side of the tower itself!! Don’t worry, it is sure to be extremely safe and you will be safety briefed beforehand.

So not only will SkyPlex house a 500 foot polercoaster, 450 foot Skyfall drop coaster, 600 foot zip line, a Skysurf park, go-kart tracks, a 450 room hotel and many many entertainment and retail centers but it will now boast the opportunity for guests to literally dance in the clouds.

Now, I know if I ever got the opportunity to do this I would grab it with both hands. As petrified as I would be, once I manage to move my trembling legs I reckon it will be one of the best experiences ever!! How many people do you know who can say they’ve stood 600 feet above International Drive?!

Smiles Included…

Jess

November 10, 2016

Kennedy Space Center Open New Attraction Tomorrow!!

Hey Thrill Seekers,

Kennedy Space Center are opening a new attraction called Heroes & Legends featuring the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame® presented by Boeing®!

The brand spanking new Heroes & Legends will be the first attraction that guests to Kennedy Space Center will encounter when they arrive at the visitor complex. Opening on the 11^th November 2016 this attraction has been designed to touch the hearts and minds of the next generation of space explorers, it aims to bring to life the weird and wonderful stories of America’s first space explorers. Heroes & Legends featuring the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame® presented by Boeing® will allow visitors to feel as though they are actually experiencing the missions themselves.

Early space artifacts from the Mercury and Gemini programs will be brought to life by holograms and it will almost feel like reality! Inside the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame you will have the chance to get to know 93 heroes and legendary astronauts. The new Heroes & Legends attraction will be incorporated into the Rocket Garden which will give visitors a new and elevated perspective of the huge collection of historic rockets that Kennedy Space Center has to offer.

You will enter the new building via a ‘sweeping ramp’ entrance, sounds fancy doesn’t it?! It is described as a “stimulating journey to the stars” which will feature a slingshot manoeuvre through Kennedy Space Centers iconic Rocket Garden.

The Heroes & Legends attraction will feature three different experiences.

The first experience includes a 360 degree discovery bay where guests can explore what it means to be a ‘hero’. This will last around 7 minutes. It also includes a 4D ‘multisensory experience’ which will allow guests to stand on a platform overlooking Planet Earth and find themselves amongst the company of astronauts, cool ay?! The use of lighting and effects including fog, mist, water spray and wind alongside some incredibly realistic images will give you the sensation of actually being in space!!

The next stage is always my favourite part of visiting any museum type attraction.. the interactive bit!! This floor is home to loads of cool stuff such as holograms and interactive media which will give access to a whole new way to interact with artifacts and memorabilia. You will also get to watch a virtual Wally Schirra climb into his spacecraft!

The final experience inside Heroes & Legends is the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. Set out in a cool, round building, the hall of fame comes equipped with a 365 degree video cylinder that has interactive stations. You will also have a great photo opportunity where you can pose with some of the legends that you met throughout your journey.

Another highlight of the experience is a theatre which is designed to make guests feel as though they are floating in space as legendary astronauts including Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Jim Lovell and Neil Armstrong invite you to join in their epic journeys into the vast unknown.

Protze – the New Chief Operating Officer of Kennedy Space Center has said:

“The opportunity to learn about the amazing attributes of our heroes behind the … historical events that have shaped the way we look at space, the world and the future, will not only entertain and inspire guests, but lay the groundwork for their interactions throughout the rest of the complex, We consider Heroes & Legends a ‘launch pad’ for our visitors that really sets the stage for their full-day experience here.”

Visitors are welcome to join the festivities for the grand opening of Heroes and Legends, featuring the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, on November 11, 2016 at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Don’t forget you can purchase your admission tickets and transport through us.

With technology improving at the rate it is i wouldn’t be surprised if the next attraction from Kennedy Space Center is on the moon itself!

Smiles Included,

Jess

November 8, 2016

Universal announce a new hotel

Hey Thrill Seekers,

As if Universal didn’t have enough hotels, right?!

The new Aventura Hotel is set to open in Summer 2018, 16 storeys high. With a glass design, the sunshine and clouds in the beautiful Florida sky will reflect off the stunning hotel.

Inspired by the loft/attic lobby style, the inside of this hotel will wow you so much that you won’t want to leave. Using the lobby bar to get yourself a beverage, you can check into your room which will keep you calm and relaxed with all of the natural colours that it’s decorated with.

Where is Aventura hotel going to be located I hear you ask. Aventura will be just next door to Universal’s Loews Sapphire Falls resort which is also walking distance to Universal Studios, Universal’s Islands of Adventure and Universal’s Volcano Bay (opening June 2017).

If you’re looking to have your dinner in your resort, you will have plenty of choices with the food hall on the lobby level to have a family meal or you can even take your pick and take it up to your room.

In the evening if you’re looking for a chilled evening, set yourself up in the hotel’s pool or poolside hot tub and enjoy the pool bar while the kids are enjoying themselves in the nearby splash pad. Fun for all the family, of course!

So we’ve covered the outside, the inside and nearby, but we can’t be forgetting the roof top bar! That’s right, who doesn’t get excited about a roof top bar?! You can sip on your tasty cocktails while looking out across Florida and even be able to see the tip of Krakatau (Volcano Bay’s centerpiece).

With the busy days that you will be enduring at the parks, what better way to start your day than with a Starbucks Coffee on your way out of the lobby!

Don’t forget that staying in any Universal resort means you will receive early park admission as well as complimentary on-site transportation to the Universal parks.

Rumour has it that Universal will be taking some early bookings in just a few months, so keep your eyes and ears peeled!

Smiles Included…

Louise

November 4, 2016

Revised Wet ‘n Wild Opening Hours

Hey Thrill Seekers,

As we all know, sadly Universals Wet ‘N Wild is permanently closing on the 31st December 2016. Due to this closure there has been some changes to the operating calendar for the remainder of this year.

From November onward Wet ‘n Wild will be closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays. There is however an exception to this as the park will remain open every day during the weeks of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“Wet ‘n Wild will be open each day of the week except Wednesdays and Thursdays for the remainder of the year. As an exception, it will be open November 23-24 and December 28-29 during normal park operating hours of 11am-5pm. This partial, seasonal, adjust of hours is common in the water park industry.”

Wet ‘n Wild will be closed on the following dates:

November – 2nd, 3rd, 9th, 10th, 16th, 17th, 30th.

December – 1st, 7th, 8th, 14th, 15th, 21st, 22nd.

The parks operating hours will be 11am – 5pm for all of the dates that it is open with the exception of the 26th December – 31st December where it will be open between the hours of 10am – 5pm.

Wet ’n Wild opened in 1977 (this was waaaaay before i was born!!) and has been owned by Universal since 1998. Upon announcing the closure Universal stated:

“Since its opening in 1977, Wet ‘n Wild Orlando has been a place where guests have created wonderful memories. As America’s first water park, Wet ‘n Wild has been the birthplace of numerous innovations that are now considered a common part of the water park experience.”

It will be very sad to see Wet ‘n Wild close at the end of the year and if you’re wanting to visit again one last time before it closes for good, or if you haven’t ever been to Wet ‘n Wild but want to be able to experience it before it’s gone forever then don’t forget to purchase one of our Universal 3 Park Bonus tickets.

Smiles Included,

Jess

July 16, 2015

Tripadvisor Release Their Top U.S. Attractions, Look Who Dominates!

Hey Thrill Seekers,

You all know we’re very pro-Orlando, we love the place and can’t speak highly enough about it however you’d expect that from a company called Orlando Attraction Tickets but sometimes its nice to see that you’re not the only one who rates it so highly.

Enter the largest travel review platform in the World, Tripadvisor who recently revealed their top 25 Amusement Parks… Lets see how Florida faired;

1) Universal’s Islands of Adventure

2) Discovery Cove

3) Disney’s Magic Kingdom

4) Universal Studios Hollywood

5) Disney’s Hollywood Studios

6) Universal Studios Orlando

7) Europa-Park Germany

8) Disneyland California

9) Beto Carrero World Brazil

10) PortAventura Park Spain

11) Disney’s Animal Kingdom

12) Tivoli Denmark

13) Disneyland Paris

14) Cedar Point Amusement Park Ohio

15) SeaWorld Orlando

16) Disney’s Epcot Orlando

17) Busch Gardens Tampa

18) Universal Studios Singapore

19) Dollywood Tennessee

20) Gardaland Park Italy

21) Disney California Adventure Park Anaheim

22) Six Flags Magic Mountain Los Angeles

23) Ocean Park Hong Kong

24) Silver Dollar City Missouri

25) Walt Disney Studio’s France

A great list and fantastic to see one of my all time favourite parks leading the way. 9 out of the 25 can all be visited on your Florida holiday and shows that Florida dominates the amusement industry still.

With even more great things coming to Orlando in 2016 & 2017 I can’t see this dominance ending anytime soon. 🙂

Smiles included…

Jamie

July 25, 2013July 26, 2013

Orlando Attraction Tickets Nominated For A Travolution Award

Morning Thrill Seekers,

2013 is turning out to be a pretty good year for Orlando Attraction Tickets not only did the launch of our new site go down well with customers (we are currently over 200% up on last year) but its being received well by the Travel Industry.

Last month we were nominated for a British Travel Award and today we’ve found out we’ve been nominated for a Travolution award in the category of Best Attraction Website.

Travolution_finalist 2013 We are very proud to be nominated especially as the design of our site is so different when compared to others within our space. We took a bit of a gamble and I hope on the night this gamble proves to be a wise choice 🙂

About the Travolution Awards

The Travolution awards are unique in recognising companies, brands and individuals who excel in the fields of online travel distribution, digital marketing and technology. Judged by a panel of proven business leaders, experts and entrepreneurs, they are the UK travel industry’s highest accolade for innovation and excellence online. Companies and brands compete in a select number of categories, whilst entrepreneurs and rising stars are honoured in the individual awards.

The winner of each category will be announced at the evening ceremony on 17^th October at The Troxy in London.

Fingers crossed it will have Smiles included…

Jamie

June 4, 2013

2012 Theme Park Attendance Results

Afternoon Thrill Seekers,

Today see’s the release of the annual Theme Park attendance report detailing 2012’s most popular parks based on footfall. Globally 2012 was a very positive year for the World of theme parks with attendance up by 5.2%.

Here at Orlando Attraction Tickets our interest is obviously North America so we’ve concentrated just on Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld Parks.

Disney

Disney continues to be the World leader up 4.7% on 2011 with a total attendance of 126,479,000.

Magic Kingdom remains the number 1 park in the World with an annual attendance of 17,536,000 up 2.3% year on year.

Epcot welcomed in 11,063,000 visitors in 2012 making it the 6th most popular park in the World up 2.2%.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom is positioned 7th with an impressive 9,998,000 visitors, again up by 2.2%.

Disney Hollywood Studios also up 2.2% on 2011 comes in 8th with 9,912,000 taking Disney’s total Florida footfall to 38,552,300!

Universal

A very strong 2012 for Universal saw them up globally 7.9% with annual visitors up to 34,515,000.

Universal Islands of Adventure home to Harry Potter, had a strong 2012 with visitors up 4% to 7,981,000 this gave it a global positioning of 10th.

Universal Studios had 6,195,000 million visitors in 2012 up 2.5% on 2011. With the launch of Transformers the ride 3D and the Simpsons expansion, Universal will be looking for a better performance in 2013.

SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment

SeaWorld Orlando ended 2012 up 3% on 2011 with visitors totalling 5,358,000 giving it a global position of 19th.

Busch Gardens Tampa one of my personal favourite parks came in at position 23 up 1.5% with visitors hitting 4,348,000.

Here is the list of the top 20 Theme Parks in the USA

top theme parks

Which is your favourite park?

Smiles included…

Jamie

April 10, 2013

Senate Approves Bill To Increase Penalty For Fraudulent Theme Park Ticket Sales

Morning Thrill Seekers,

Representatives of Disney, Universal and SeaWorld were present on reseller Monday to see the U.S. senate approve a bill to further penalise the selling of fraudulent Orlando Attraction Tickets.

Under the new bill (SB 394), people or vendors who are caught selling multipark or multi-day tickets after they have already been used (regardless of the amount of time), will face a fine ranging from no more than $500 to a maximum of $10,000.

The bill also altered the law so that repeated violations will be treated as a felony instead of a misdemeanor.

All the major theme park owners have been very vocal when it comes to illegal re-sellers and have consistently stated that penalties have not been severe enough to deter fraud.

The new bill also extends the term “theme park tickets” to include new technologies such as Disney’s MyMagic+ project.

Alan Hays, Umatilla Republican Senator said

Right now, it’s protecting the consumers, those unsuspecting visitors who think they’re buying a legitimate ticket only to find when they get to the gate that the ticket is expired or is non transferrable or some other horrible thing

Possibly the most interesting part of the bill was the amendment to the ownership of a theme park ticket which has altered from “personal property” to being “licenses” restricted by the original seller.

Remember pre-purchasing your Orlando Attraction Tickets before you go can not only save you money but is also the safest way.

regards,

Jamie

March 4, 2013

Could We Be Getting Close To A Queue-Less Theme Park

Afternoon Thrill Seekers,

Did you know that on average visitors to Orlando Theme Parks spend $6.00 per hour! So it makes sense for Theme Park operators to come up with a way to reduce queue times.

Disney at present are working on and implementing a wireless RFID -enabled bracelet for guests that will act just as Disney FastPass does, and virtually queue for you. Disney have invested quite a hefty chunk of cash in to this technology in the hope to keep people moving fluidly throughout the park and of course spend more money.

With Disney being the market leaders its pretty much a safe bet to assume that its rivals (Universal, SeaWorld, LEGOLAND etc) are also looking in to similar queue busting technology. With the rise of smartphones and WIFI enabled parks its quite easy to imagine a time when customers could virtually queue for a ride before they even reach the park or whilst enjoying lunch!

So why stop there? If you can virtually queue for a ride then why not add the ability to jump to the front of the queue, you’d pay a premium for this but additional revenue is always good for a park. You could pre-order your food from your favourite restaurant and virtually pick your table, or purchase your merchandise and select a time to collect it.

So how close are we to a theme park with no queue’s? Pretty close I’d say, but can theme parks keep their guests entertained while their virtual selves are queueing?

regards,

Jamie,