Morning Thrill Seekers,
Apologies we’ve been a bit quiet this week but its all been for a good
cause, we’ve been at World Travel Market meeting new potential suppliers and chatting about 2014 with old ones.
On Monday we were at the Universal Press Conference breaking the news about the Leaky Cauldron which was subsequently picked up by several other blogs, some who had the good grace to credit us as the source and others who didn’t (poor etiquette). We discovered through some questioning that The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Diagon Alley will have an Ollivanders of its own , which will be bigger than the one located in Hogsmeade.
On Tuesday we had the pleasure of sitting down with Kennedy Space Center. The guys had a good year even though they were adversely affected by the U.S. government’s inability to agree on budgets. Their massive investment in Atlantis , reportedly $100 million, has been met with positive reviews and they are keen to attract more visitors especially in the year of Potter. We hope to have them up and running on Orlando Attraction Tickets very soon.
On the same day we met up with the guys at Universal, they were rightly buzzing off what has been a very impressive 2013, the opening of Transformers and the Simpson’s Land at Universal Studios has helped raise footfall at the park which had been slightly overshadowed by the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure. Obviously they are extremely positive about 2014, the new expansion to the Wizarding World is a sure fire hit but not without worry, the first incarnation has proved to be so popular the bar is set very high to at least match that with Diagon Alley. I tried my very best to pry an opening date from them but “Summer 2014” was the best I could muster.
On the same day we also met up with the representative of Wonder Works, for those of you unfamiliar, Wonder Works situated right on International Drive, has a similar feel to Ripleys believe it or not. A real fun, family oriented attraction which is a pleasant break if you suffer from coaster fatigue. Talks went well and I expect to have them on sale very shortly.
On the Wednesday we met up with SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment who gave us an interesting update on how their new attraction Antarctica Empire of the Penguins has done in 2013 (very well) and then updated us on their new projects due to open in 2014, Falcons Fury at Busch Gardens and the yet to be named tall slide at Aquatica. With SeaWorld not giving away much information about the slide, Falcons Fury caught our imagination, Busch Gardens is one of my favourite parks in the World and i’ve been lucky enough to visit it numerous times. Falcons Fury definitely gives me an excuse to go back, I can’t think of any other drop ride that positions the visitor face down. 🙂
We spoke to SeaWorld about offering some of their additional tours including Dine with Shamu and Serengeti Safari on a prepaid contract and fingers crossed this should go through in the next couple of weeks which I’m pretty excited about.
We spoke to LEGOLAND Florida who told us a few details about their upcoming projects, unfortunately no specific dates were mentioned but we can look forward to a Madame Tussauds, an Orlando Eye (modelled on the London Eye), Sea Life Aquarium and a hotel!!! So lots of things happening. 2014 rates were negotiated and should be on the site very soon.
I think thats pretty much it, all our other suppliers were met pre-WTM. So with exsisting suppliers and new partners getting onboard 2014 is looking bright.
Smiles included…
Gavin
