Al's Blog – Advice You Can't Refuse

Capone’s Dinner & Show Florida Resident Special
I have to start off with Al’s deal or I may end up in cement shoes. Visit any day of the week from Labor Day to September 30^th (excludes Saturdays) show your Florida identification and get adult tickets for only $22.99+tax – a savings of $29.00 off regular price. Reservations are required and space is limited.

Magic Your Way Tickets for Florida Residents
Magic Your Way Base Tickets give each member of your travel party entry to one Theme Park a day each day of your ticket.
• Adults save nearly $14.00 on a one day ticket at any park
• 10 years and older only $73.80 per park a savings of almost $14.00 per ticket
• Ages 3-9 $66.60 a savings of over $12.00 per ticket

Sea World
Now, Florida residents can Pay for LESS than a day, and come back all year (restrictions apply) to enjoy all the sights and splashes of SeaWorld Orlando with a 2010 SeaWorld Fun Card. Enjoy unlimited general admission through December 31, 2010 for only $69.95. How much fun can you have for LESS than the price of one day? Find out! Add Busch Gardens to your SeaWorld Fun Card and double your fun.

Nickelodeon Hotel Special Offer for Florida Residents
10% Off Food & Entertainment Credit

Florida resident Discounts at Staybridge Suites
One bedroom from $79.00-$119.00
Two bedroom two bath Suites from $99.00 to $119.00

Universal Orlando Florida Residents save up to $50.00
Visit Universal Orlando for a wide variety of Florida resident Deals

This is only a small selection of Florida Resident Deals. Tip: Go to your favorite search engine and type in “Orlando Florida resident specials” and you will find discounts for restaurants, theme parks, golf, lodging and dinner shows.

Take advantage of these deals because they will not last long so do your research and plan a bargain Orlando vacation!

With the difficult economy, area theme parks have been trying to find innovative ways to lure visitors.  Busch Gardens Tampa has recently introduced a new program that includes an all-you-can-eat ticket.  From now through Labor Day (9/6/10), you can purchase a single-day admission ticket that includes unlimited access at 6 participating restaurants.  Get up to 1 entrée, 1 side item or dessert, and 1 non-alcoholic beverage each time through the line.  This deal is for online ticket orders only and is good at these restaurants:

• Zagora Café
• Crown Colony Pizza
• Bengal Bistro
• Garden Gate Café
• Zambia Smokehouse (Excludes Baby Back Ribs)
• Desert Grill (Excludes Baby Back Ribs)

Tickets are $74.95 for adults and $64.95 for children ages 3-9 (Child tickets include kids meals only).  Tickets must be redeemed by September 30.  Now, you can have your theme park, and eat well too!

If you are a Disney Vacation Club Member, a Walt Disney World Annual Passholder or Season Passholder, you are invited to a special sale.  It happens July 24^th at Downtown Disney at the World of Disney.  The first 1,000 guests receive a free gift, and the specials include 50% off select merchandise, surprise markdowns, and doorbuster deals.  This is a good time to purchase gifts for the Disney fanatics in your life. Rarely does Disney discount their merchandise. The challenge will be to hide (or keep quiet about) your purchases until the holidays arrive so you can surprise everyone with your gifts!

You must show your Disney Pass or Vacation Club member card to enter the store and get the deals.  Oh, did I mention that you’d better be an Early Bird?  The special sale is from 6:30am to 9am.  Happy Shopping!

Volcano leaves tourists stranded in Central Florida

SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment is trying to make the best out of a bad situation for tourists stranded in Central Florida.  The problem started on April 14^th, when the 5,500-foot Eyjafjallajokull (no, I can’t pronounce that either) volcano erupted in Iceland.  It has sent volcanic ash as high as 36,000 feet.  The volcanic ash is made up of tiny particles of rock and glass that can damage many parts of an aircraft, including the windshield, wings and the ENGINE.

This eruption has caused chaos throughout the world as the thick cloud of ash has left 23 European countries prohibiting takeoffs and landings, and keeping overseas visitors in Central Florida with no way to get home.  About 16,000 flights on Saturday alone were expected to be canceled in European airspace.  This has caused personal turmoil, as well as economic turmoil throughout the world.  There are thousands of stranded tourists who have spent all their money on their vacation, and are now stranded and cannot get back home.  No one knows when this dangerous ash will clear.

A BIG ‘thank you’ to the SeaWorld Parks for helping make this unfortunate situation a little less painful for those lucky enough to be stranded in Central Florida.  SeaWorld said it would give a free one-day ticket to any tourist from the United Kingdom, Ireland or the European continent, as long as they could show a return airline ticket dated April 14 to April 21, or until normal flight schedules resume. The offer is valid at SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica or Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.

The SeaWorld parks are LOADS of fun for all ages!  SeaWorld Orlando has many awe-inspiring and entertaining shows, including ‘Clyde and Seamore take Pirate Island’, ‘Believe’, ‘Shamu Rocks’, ‘Pets Ahoy’, and many more.  They also have educational, but fun exhibits where you can get up close to some animals you might not ever see otherwise.  These include Shark Encounter, The Dolphin Nursery, Wild Arctic, Penguin Encounter, and many more!  You can even pet or feed a stingray at Stingray Lagoon.  If you are an adrenaline junkie, they have some great rides as well!  Kraken, Journey to Atlantis, and the new Manta are among some of the rides they offer.

If water parks are your thing, check out Aquatica. Whether your idea of water play is serene or extreme, you’ll find it on the state-of-the-art rides and slides at Aquatica. Find one here that’s just your speed.  They have something for teens and thrill-seekers, as well as Kata’s Kookaburra Cove for the little ones.

Or, you could check out Busch Gardens in Tampa.  Here, you can experience up-close encounters with amazing animals, live entertainment, take an unforgettable safari across the Serengeti Plains, and test your courage on pulse-pounding roller coasters. There is also news of a new baby giraffe being recently born!

The SeaWorld Parks have it all, and are fun for all ages!

It almost makes me wish I were a stranded tourist so I could take advantage of this offer!  At least I can claim a discount for being a FL resident (Georgia applies too). Not necessarily free, but at least I know when I’ll be able to go home.

A baby dolphin swims with it's mother at SeaWorld Orlando

My favorite theme park when my children were young was Busch Gardens. We’d get up early and make the drive to Tampa (about an hour), unload the car just as the park was opening. The first few years, we could get in an educational type experience walking through the Myombe Reserve viewing the apes and gorillas, then onto the rhinos and elephants and tropical birds. Then when us parents needed a break, we could hit the children area and let the little ones wear themselves out a little more. A few more tours and another break was in order, so we’d take the skyride or train around the park and view even more beautiful creatures of the Serengeti Plain.

As the kids grew older, we’d pile out of the car (mini-van) and quickly, THEY’D plan their route of rides to experience and off we’d go to Sheikra, Kumba, Scorpion, Gwazi and more. Even when my kids were teens, I loved Busch Gardens. I could find a nice quiet area of the park and read a book while they and their friends took to the roller coasters and water-soaking rides; and I’d sneak off for a free sample of suds!

Busch Gardens is doing a lot of good things. Last week 100 U.S. Navy recruits were sworn in at the park as part  of Navy Week. In February, a mother and daughter pair of western lowland gorillas, native to Africa and critically endangered were brought to the park for breeding. The new arrivals can be viewed at the Myombe Reserve habitat a 3-acre rain forest environment that opened in 1991. The theme park is also involved in sending a gift of about 1,000 tilapia to a nonprofit organization in Dade City dedicated to alleviating world hunger through sustainable fish farming. The fish will help the organization by replacing many they lost during the January freeze. It also helps Busch Gardens as they must clean up a lake used by their koi and have more tilapia than needed to eat the algae off the pond walls.

Reading about all of these “warm fuzzy” happenings at the attraction brought back such great memories. Going to Busch Gardens at least once a year was a tradition for my kids. If you have small children, NOW is a great time to begin this tradition for yourselves. Busch Gardens is offering a free pass for Florida preschoolers for the remainder of 2010! You must register online to get an e-ticket and at the gate prove the child’s date of birth (download the FAQs/rules). While they usually charge children starting at age 3, this special is available to kids who are 5 years old and younger. This promotion is in conjunction with the park’s Sesame Street Safari of Fun area, set to open March 27.

Busch Gardens is worth the drive. It’s a great theme park with activities for all ages. Educational and entertaining, you’ll be happy to open your family up to a possible new tradition. Um, wish my kids were little again…

Gatorland offers its visitors an upclose view of alligators and more.

Driving by Gatorland earlier this week, I was happy to see the parking lot FULL! And why not? It is a great time of the year to visit this Central Florida attraction.

You’d never know there was a fire in November 2006 that destroyed the gift shop and Godwin family home where Gatorland was born. A simple roadside attraction in 1965 now features over 19,000 square feet of retail, meeting and office space, pavilions and of course, the historic gator mouth entrance. This 110-acre theme park and wildlife preserve has lots of alligators to watch and observe, but they also give visitors a chance to see white alligators, crocodiles, snakes, flamingos, parrots and a barnyard full of critters. Besides, where else can you watch a man wrestle an alligator?

What I adore about this attraction is that it is not a high-tech flashy experience. It is educational, entertaining and “real.” The self-guided tour through Gatorland’s Swamp Walk gives visitors a glimpse of what much of Central Florida looked like many years ago – an unspoiled native Cypress swamp. It is nothing short of beautiful.

The “Alligator Capital of the World” is running a Florida Resident Special March 13 – May 2, 2010. Any resident ticket is only $9.99 (adult or child). If you are not a Florida resident, you still don’t have to pay full price. Seniors (55 & up) who visit before May 2 also get in for $9.99. You may also download their coupon and save $2.50 off any ticket. The best deal is for Central Florida teachers; they (and a guest) get in for FREE! If the discounted price isn’t enough, for the next few weeks, random prizes are being given away to guests that include a chance to feed the gators, drive the train and more!

Plan a trip to Gatorland. Walk through the mouth of the alligator and be pleasantly entertained by some of the fiercest creatures that live in the wild here in Central Florida. You’ll most likely learn something you didn’t know AND have a fond vacation memory for a lifetime.

At less than $25.00 per day this is an incredible deal. Regular one park tickets are $79.00 so you do the math! But you better move fast as this is a limited time offer.

You get the most popular attraction The Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, Disney Studios and Animal Kingdom. All of these theme parks are world class and kept in pristine condition.

The Magic Kingdom is what started the tourism industry in Orlando and it has done so much for the community. The jobs alone at the Walt Disney World make a tremendous impact on the city of Orlando. Then came Epcot Center the second theme park Disney brought to Orlando it’s trully a unique theme park there is nothing like it anywhere. Disney opened it’s third theme park Disney Studios and it is a delightful experience. From the theme of Disney Studios you know your going to get a behind the scene art of film making, loads of fabulous rides, roller coasters and the new American Idol Experience. disney’s most recently built park Animal Kingdom is a brilliant combination of exoctic animals, rides and so much more!

While your in Orlando Al hopes you find the time to visit his joint Capone’s Dinner & Show visit us at www.alcapones.com to discover the fun and action at Capone’s Dinner & Show.

The folks at Universal announced new ticket plans to capitalize on the highly anticipated  Wizarding World of Harry Potter scheduled to open this spring. Although Universal still has not announced an actual opening date instead calling for a spring 2010 debut. I think they are on schedule because of the timing of their new ticketing options. Gone is the 7 day unlimited parks admission ticket replaced with two, three and four day options. The new structure U Select is modeled after Disney ticket plans where you have your base cost but there are numerous add ons to increase the cost of daily admissions under the U Select ticket plan. A one day one park ticket price of $79.00 remains unchanged at both Universal Orlando Theme Parks. Prices on a per day basis drop dramatically with multi day tickets. Buy a 3 day ticket for $125.00 on line or abut $42.00 a day. Want to visit both parks in one day? It’ll cost you more.

There is so much excitement both domesticaly and internationally for Universal Orlandos new theme park within a theme park  Wizarding World of Harry Potter that Universal Orlando anticipates a surge in attendance and wants to take full advantage of the opprotunity. If Universal Orlando gets you for three or four days it will hurt occupancy at Disney’s hotels, motels and theme parks. One thing you can expect for sure is that prices on accomadations in the region will continue to be VERY low. Bad news for hotels but GREAT news for consumers.

I hope you will consider visiting our one of a kind prohibition era Dinner Show/Theater, Capone’s Dinner & Show if you visit the Orlando area. Find out more at www.alcapones.com

Yesterday I told you about a great deal Wet & Wild is offering so I thought it fitting to today to put the attraction spotlight on Wet and Wild. Wet and Wild is Orlando’s oldest water park, however it has consitently added new water thrill rides. If your main attraction to a water park is thrill rides then Wet and Wild is without a doubt your best choice in Orlando water parks.

Many discounts are available for Wet and Wild but with a gate price of $47.95 it’s still a good deal. My suggestion is to save some cash. Ticket resellers will offer Wet and Wild Ticket under gate price, they also have discount coupons in many of Orlando tourist magazines. Florida and Orlando residents may be well served to pay gate price because right now you get the rest of the year for FREE (excludes special events). The offers change and expire, these offers are available as of January 7th, 2010.

Wet and Wild also offers a tamer side with a beach and poolside areas to enjoy the sun plus a HUGE wave pool. There are also areas devoted to younger children with much milder water fun.

Wet and Wild is a great day time event! The gang at Capone’s Dinner & Show suggests visiting our one of a kind show experience  discover more @www.alcapones.com .

Although many visitors to Central Florida first think of Disney, Universal or Sea World as the first stop of their vacation, there just might be an option you’ve never even heard of – Discovery Cove. Yes, it is a part of Sea World, but this park is a stand-alone experience, and could be that unforgettable experience you’ve always wanted to have while on vacation but never thought of.

Discovery Cove offers two types of packages, a dolphin package and a non-dolphin package. Not that there aren’t several reasons to come to this park, but personally, I feel the dolphins MAKE this an experience unlike any other theme park. If you have the slightest interest in these spectacular creatures, you owe it to yourself to participate in the dolphin-swim.  If you’re really into dolphins, book their ‘trainer for the day’ experience. Otherwise you can still feed the birds, snorkel, wade with rays and see beautiful fish.

The package (starting at $199) includes everything for a full day – parking, gear, towels, lockers, breakfast, lunch, snacks and beverages. When you add up what you’d pay at other theme parks throughout an entire day, the cost doesn’t seem so extravagant. The dolphin swim is only a part of your day, and you’ll have plenty of time to explore the rest of the park – the Tropical Reef, Wind-Away River, Explorer’s Aviary and Serenity Bay.

The reason to start your vacation at Discovery Cove? When you make your reservation ask about passes to Sea World, Busch Gardens and Aquatica – their sister parks. You just might get to visit them for free! Who knew that the most memorable day of your vacation could be the start to so many other memorable experiences?! Another hint: Spend the extra money and purchase the video/photo package. Although this day will “live in your heart for years to come,” the video of you and your new best dolphin friend (or your child’s) is a way to re-live the first day of your best vacation over and over again.