Al's Blog – Advice You Can't Refuse

You can now see these baby reticulated giraffes at Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay. (The term “reticulated” refers to the giraffe’s net-like pattern of spots.) They are about 3 months old now, both born in April, but they have been kept private so they can be monitored to make sure they are healthy and growing properly.  Moms Chloe and Tesa, and Sterling, the proud dad of both babies, will have some help from the rest of the herd now that they are all together, bringing the total number of  giraffes to 17.

The calves are 6 foot tall already!  Baby giraffes can grow 9 inches during the first month, and continue to grow at enormous rates during the first year.  They were around 147 pounds when born and will grow to be between 15-18 feet tall and 2,600-4,000 pounds!

Check out this cute video posted by Sea World Parks and Entertainment (previously Worlds of Discovery) on YouTube of a young giraffe playing with an ostrich.   And, see them in person at Busch Gardens’ 65-acre Serengeti Plain, a naturalistic habitat featuring a diverse population of free-roaming African animals like zebras, white rhinos and more!

And, don’t forget about those other little ones born earlier this year at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. That rare baby Gorilla, white-cheeked Gibbon, and white rhino are sure to have grown a lot now that they’re a few months old, it would be great to get to see them romping and playing!

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!

The creation of Earth Day, which actually started 40 years ago in 1970, is widely considered to be the beginning of the modern environmental movement.  The goal is to increase awareness regarding our environment, as well as to urge people into action to do everything they can to help to save our planet.  Local events taking place in Central Florida include the Central Florida Earth Day festival, which is taking place this Saturday, April 24, 2010 at beautiful Lake Eola in downtown Orlando.  There will be a variety of vendors, as well as guest speakers and live music.

Our local theme parks are also doing what they can to get involved:

A team of Walt Disney World volunteers spent last weekend pulling trash from an Orlando lake, in a volunteer effort designed to mark Earth Day.  Disney said more than 100 of its company “VoluntEARS” pulled nearly two tons of debris from Lake Fran, a 70-acre lake in Orlando’s MetroWest neighborhood. The trash collected included a water heater, two bicycles and construction materials.  Maybe if more people were concerned about the Earth, there wouldn’t be so much trashed dumped in our lakes!  I hope everyone becomes more aware of how his or her actions affect the planet.

On April 22, Disney fans will have several ways to celebrate Earth Day: Guests at Disney’s Animal Kingdom can “Party for the Planet” during a park-wide celebration. They will be able to learn what they can do to make their back yards wildlife-friendly and discover other ways to conserve wildlife and help our environment.  There will be special entertainment in the park on Thursday.

Also on April 22^nd, the Disney nature film OCEANS debuts in theaters across the nation.   Pierce Brosnan narrates the journey, in which cameras dive deep beneath the seas, and Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato sing the title song, “Make a Wave.”  For each guest who sees OCEANS during opening week, Disney will make a donation to save coral reefs.

See the trailer (follows shortly after a commercial) here: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid73681729001?bclid=73546938001&bctid=77078979001

Finally, DisneyStore.com has launched the Disney Earth Day Boutique with products such as T-shirts, water bottles and stuffed animals. For every reusable tote that is purchased, Disney will donate $1 to the Nature Conservancy.

Disney is also inspiring its Imagineering team to go green.  The third annual WDI Green Art Show shows off creative expression of cast members while emphasizing recycled materials. The objects range from traditional art materials to re-purposed vertical blinds.

The SeaWorld Parks are also getting involved by promoting environmental excellence.  SeaWorld and Busch Gardens have awarded nearly 160 winning schools and/or organizations and almost $1.8 million dollars as part of this program since its inception in 1993.

Some highlights from the eight winning teams for 2010:

• A robot who collects garbage from the ocean, engineered by a Georgia high school science club
• A system that turns waste cooking oil into biofuel, developed by a Rhode Island middle school group
• A K-12 campus that processes paper and plastic, all according to industry standards, and runs a profitable business in doing so.

SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment awards the winning groups with $10,000 to further their environmental efforts — plus a fun and educational trip to Busch Gardens Tampa, where they will feed giraffes by hand, meet rhinos up close, and learn about conservation initiatives supported by SeaWorld and Busch Gardens.  Wow!  Kids these days are much more environmentally conscious than I was at that age!  I guess Earth Day is working!