Disney Theme Parks Reward People Who Volunteer

Vacationing at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando is always a fun, exciting and extremely memorable experience. In fact, there's so much to see and do there, a family can spend several weeks exploring The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom, and all of the other activities within the WDW Resort, and never have a chance to experience everything.

The WDW Resort is always growing and evolving. So, each time someone returns, they're sure to find something new. Yet one thing always remains consistent - many of the rides, shows and attractions within the Disney theme parks are designed to tap into our imaginations and inspire us.

I just returned from a visit to the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando (which is one of my favorite vacation destinations), and participated in the launch of the "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" program. This program was designed to inspire one million people to do at least one day's worth of volunteering this year. In exchange, Disney will award each volunteer with a free, one-day ticket to a Disney Word or Disneyland theme park.

If you're interested in registering for this program, visit www.disneyparks.com. You can choose to volunteer at any of more than 10,000 organizations nationwide. So far, more than 600,000 people have registered to participate in the "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" program.

During my Disney visit, I learned about some exciting new attractions and events happening at The Walt Disney World Resort over the next few years. For example, they're expanding Fantasyland within The Magic Kingdom, creating a one-of-a-kind resort for dogs (so people can travel with their pets to Disney World), and they're launching new cruise ships as part of Disney Cruise Lines -- but that's only the beginning!

This coming summer, the classic Main Street Electrical Parade will be relaunched within The Magic Kingdom, followed by an all-new fireworks display. And, they're relaunching the entire ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex this month. Oh, and in 2011, they're redesigning the popular Star Tours attractions (located within Disney's Hollywood Studios). And if you're a fan of Tower of Terror, you'll soon notice some all-new special effects being added to that thrill ride.

Thanks to a wide range of discounts and promotions offered by Disney, there's never been a better time to experience a WDW vacation! For example, you can save 25 to 40 percent off of standard rates for WDW Resort hotels between April 11th and June 3, 2010. Check out the DisneyWorld.com website for details, or call (407) W-DISNEY.

Here's Just Some of What's New and Exciting In Orlando

Okay, so I just spent a few days in Orlando working on a new travel guide for Thomas Cook, and I had the opportunity to revisit all of the major theme parks, as well as a handful of lesser known and independent attractions in the Orlando area. 

First off, if you're traveling with a family, for about the same price as a standard, three-star hotel room (one room with two beds, some basic furniture, one bathroom and a television), you could stay in a large, multi-bedroom condo located just minutes away from Disney World, Universal Orlando and/or Seaworld. 

All-Star Vacation Homes (800-659-2579) offers a collection of multi-bedroom condos, complete with living room, full-size kitchen, laundry facilities, multiple bathrooms, a dining area, and in many cases a private patio and swimming pool. These condos are clean, extremely spacious, comfortable, and ideal for families or extended families that want affordable, but highly functional accommodations. 

I have stayed with All-Star Vacation Homes twice now (at two different properties located in the Orlando area), and my stays have been top-notch. I highly recommend this as a viable alternative to a traditional hotel.

Another option which I've written about here is a stay at one of the Marriott Vacation Clubs in the Orlando area. These are timeshare resort properties, however, non-owners can book nights at these resorts for about the same price as a standard three-star hotel. With several different timeshare properties in the Orlando area (with several that are literally walking distance to Seaworld), you can enjoy spacious, clean and affordable accommodations and full resort amenities. It's a perfect option for families.

During this most recent trip to Orlando, I spent time visiting some of the smaller area attractions, like Gatorland and SkyVenture, and I want to recommend both of these attractions!

Gatorland is a perfect place for families to spend a half-day. It's a family-owned attraction that's been around for decades, but they've recently expanded and remodeled. This attraction offers a wonderful opportunity to get up-close with alligators. You'll experience many different exhibits, plus a handful of fun-filled and entertaining shows. Gatorland is affordable, less commercial than the major theme parks, but offers a very enjoyable experience, especially for kids and teens.

Admission to Gatorland is just $22.99 per adult and $14.99 per child, but the food and souvenirs are very affordable, plus the parking is free. The attraction is open daily from 9:00am to 5:00pm. For details, call 800-393-JAWS or visit www.Gatorland.com.

For teenagers and adults, SkyVenture offers indoor skydiving that's thrilling, but not scary. The one-hour experience includes all of the training and equipment you'll need. No experience is necessary. This includes about three minutes actually "flying" within the indoor skydiving tunnel. 

While you'll have the sensation of actually skydiving, when you're placed within the massive wind tunnel, you're never more than a few feet off of the ground, plus, you're always in the tunnel with a professional skydiver/instructor. This is an incredible experience that should not be missed while you're in Orlando. Plan on the entire experience lasting about an hour.

The "Intro To Flying" package is priced at $44.95 per person. It provides a wonderful introduction to the world of "body flight" and includes two to three minutes of actually flying on a 125mph column of air. Group packages and different solo flight packages are available. Call 800-SKY-FUN-1 or visit the SkyVenture website for details - www.skyventureorlando.com.

Meanwhile, if you'll be visiting the Walt Disney World Resort, be sure to check out the new American Idol Experience attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios. If you're a singer, consider auditioning in the morning. Or, if you're just a fan of the show, you can experience the interactive attraction as an audience member. It really is the closest thing possible to being at an actual American Idol live show in Hollywood. 

The entire "experience" lasts about 45 minutes, but you'll need to arrive at the theatre at least 20 to 30 minutes prior to the posted show time. Don't worry, you'll be entertained by video performance clips from past American Idol seasons.

Disney and the American Idol producers put a lot of money and effort into creating this extremely impressive attraction. It's well worth experiencing...and when you're done, head over to The Brown Derby restaurant and taste their awesome cobb salad.

Over at Universal Orlando, within the Universal Studios Florida theme park, the new ride/attraction based upon The Simpsons should not be missed. It's probably the best and most impressive ride/attraction within this park, whether or not you're a fan of the animated series. They're also hard at work building a new roller coaster that'll take guests around this theme park at lightening speed. The Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket coaster should be opening later this year. 

In between Universal Studios Florida and the Islands of Adventure theme parks is the new Blue Man Group show, which is presented once or twice each evening. If you're not familiar with Blue Man Group, it's hard to explain this upbeat musical show. Basically, the performers are covered in blue paint and wear black outfits, as they perform music using very unusual instruments. The show can be a bit loud at times, and it's very unusual, albeit very entertaining.

While it won't be open until 2010, within Island of Adventure, the new Harry Potter attraction is under construction and that looks like it'll be extremely impressive. So, if you're planning your Orlando trip for 2010, be sure to leave time to check out that attraction.

Over at SeaWorld in Orlando, the Believe show in Shamu Stadium (see photo above) continues to be the park's main attraction. It's a heartwarming and spectacular show featuring killer whales and their trainers. However, in time for Memorial Day, this park is opening a new roller coaster, called Manta that looks like it'll quickly become a favorite ride amongst thrill seekers.

Manta is inspired by the underwater flight of manta sea creatures. Riders will get strapped into this coaster and fly face-down in a horizontal position underneath the belly of the coaster. You'll experience flight at 60 mph through four inversions on 3,359 feet of track.

For adults, teens and kids alike, Orlando's theme parks always offer new and exciting attractions, and a seemingly endless supply of ways to experience a memorable and fun-filled vacation. The trick is to pace yourself and plan ahead to insure you have the opportunity to see and do everything on your agenda.

While all of the theme parks are offering money-saving admission tickets and package deals, some of which include accommodations and/or meals, if you're looking to save money on many of Orlando's smaller attractions, be sure to pick up an Go Orlando Card, which for a pre-determined number of days (one, two, three, five or seven), offers unlimited discounted admission to over a dozen popular museums and attractions. 

The Go Orlando Card offers a discount of up to 35 percent off of standard admission prices. Call 866-628-9036 or visit the Go Orlando Card website for details.

Hyatt Better Caters to Business Travelers, While Marriott Offers Families A New Hotel Alternative

Business travelers will soon find their stays at Hyatt Hotels and Resorts more comfortable. In fact, when business travelers reserve the new Hyatt Business Plan accommodations at any of more than 190 participating hotels and resorts worldwide, they can expect a variety of new amenities included with their stay, such as:

* A full breakfast for one guest each day
* Free high-speed Internet access for one computer
* Bottle of water (replenished daily)
* Daily newspaper
* One pressed shirt or blouse (per room, per day, during business hours)
* Unlimited local, toll-free and long distance calls to the U.S. and Canada

In addition, between now and April 30, 2009, Hyatt Gold Passport members who stay eight nights will earn 20,000 bonus points redeemable for free nights at Hyatt Hotels and Resorts around the world.

Hyatt Hotels and Resorts have always been a popular choice amongst frequent business travelers, but these new amenities and incentives will help make each stay more comfortable, affordable and productive.

For more information, or to make a reservation, call (800) 233-1234 or visit www.hyattbusinessplan.com.

Hyatt isn't the only hotel and resort chain taking steps to cater to a specific audience. For families traveling with kids and teens, for example, Marriott Vacation Club has begun making its timeshare vacation properties available for nightly or weekly stays to non-owners.

For about the price of a standard (typically small) three-star hotel room at or near any popular vacation destination, guests at any Marriott Vacation Club timeshare property will enjoy very spacious, two or three bedroom accommodations, a full kitchen, living room and multiple bathrooms. Most also offer in-room laundry facilities, plus access to all of the resort's services and amenities - swimming pools, tennis courts, spa, restaurants, golf, gym, etc.

I recently stayed at a Marriott Vacation Club property in Orlando for a week and found it to be extremely comfortable. The two bedroom accommodations were clean, modern, spacious, well-decorated and the location was very convenient to Disney World, Universal Studios, SeaWorld and International Drive. In fact, the property was located about a 1/4 mile from SeaWorld. 

In addition to the accommodations being top-notch, the resort also has a wide range of on-property activities, including a fully supervised activities program for kids and teens. All this is now available to non-owners, typically at very affordable rates (compared to a typical hotel).

Instead of staying in a small hotel room, any family should consider staying at a Marriott Vacation Club timeshare property (even if they're not an owner). In addition to offering affordable nightly or weekly rates, you'll have plenty of extra space and more privacy. For a family, just having two bathrooms and multiple televisions can relieve some stress. Plus, you can save money by utilizing the full kitchen to prepare breakfasts and lunches (instead of dining out). With the in-room laundry facilities, you can also pack less, which means you can travel with less luggage.

For additional information about booking nightly or weekly accommodations at any of the more than 49 Marriott Vacation Club properties, visit http://www.marriott.com or call (800) 845-5279. While you'll probably be invited to participate in a timeshare sales pitch as a nightly or weekly guest, you are not obligated to attend.

Kooza: Cirque du Soleil Visits Boston & DC

Now a worldwide phenomenon, Cirque du Soleil has been experienced by more than 80 million spectators to date. This year, the Quebec-based organization is simultaneously producing 17 extremely unique shows, including several resident shows in Las Vegas, one in Orlando, plus multiple touring shows that are currently visiting U.S. cities (as well as cities abroad).

During your next visit to Las Vegas, treat yourself to at least one incredible night of entertainment by experiencing KA, Love, Zumanity, "O," Mystere or Criss Angel Believe. These shows are all performed in theaters that were custom-built to house the multi-million dollar productions, all of which are truly breathtaking. When visiting The Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, don't miss La Nouba (the Cirque du Soliel resident show presented within a custom-built theater in the Downtown Disney area.)

One thing to understand about Cirque du Soleil is that while many of the shows are family-friendly and feature incredibly entertaining and often extremely unusual circus-like acts, these shows are designed to appeal to adults. Each resident and touring show is extremely unique and offers a vastly different entertainment experience.

Currently in Boston (its next stop is Washington, DC, starting on October 30th), Cirque du Soleil Kooza is a touring show that's presented within a massive circus tent. 

This show returns Cirque du Soleil to its roots. It expertly combines state of the art lighting and sound effects with original music (performed live), spectacular sets (which become part of the show), unusual and colorful costumes, plus breathtaking acrobatic performances, classic clowning, juggling and plenty of non-stop thrills as nine unique acts are presented.

When you think of a circus, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus or The Big Apple Circus might come to mind. These are wonderful shows for kids, teens and adults, but Cirque du Soleil's Kooza can best be described a collection of traditional circus acts on steroids...In other words, you've probably never seen anything like the amazing acts that are presented, even if you've seen many of the other Cirque du Soleil shows. The performers are world class and what transpires before your eyes will keep you on the edge of your seat. Yes, it's that amazing!

Tickets for Kooza range in price from $55.00 to $125.00, plus special VIP seating is available for $215.00. Discounted children's tickets (for kids, ages 2 to 12), as well as student and senior citizen tickets are available. However, in my opinion, Kooza is not suitable for kids under the age of 10.

If you're looking for an amazing and memorable night of entertainment to celebrate a special occasion, to impress an important business client, or to spend quality time with your loved ones, reserve your Kooza tickets online or call (800) 678-5440. The show's length is two hours and 40-minutes (including a 30 minute intermission).

Over the years, I've had the opportunity to see most of the different Cirque du Soleil shows, including those in Las Vegas and Orlando, and several different touring shows in various U.S. cities. I must admit that Kooza is as spectacular as all of the other Cirque du Soleil shows, but this one has a more traditional (albeit extremely incredible) circus feel that I strongly recommend seeing firsthand - not on DVD. 

If you've never experienced a Cirque du Soleil show in-person, and you happen to be in Boston or Washington, DC, check out Kooza...You won't be disappointed!!!