In This Issue Welcome Epcot SpaceShip Earth Florida Lightning Safety Book Review - Unofficial Guide to WDW 2008 Halloween Events Free Monthly Desktop Wallpaper August events Weather forecast

Hi subscriber, welcome to the August newsletter of the Florida Review & Travel Guide.

Welcome news for motorists as fuel (gas) prices start to drop across Florida with average prices now around $2.80 per gallon down from over $3 a gallon a couple of months ago.

The Starliner

The problems that had delayed the re-opening of the Starliner roller coaster at Cypress Gardens Adventure Park have been resolved and the vintage wooden coaster is now up and running.

The 1963 Starliner is one of only four wooden coasters still operational in Florida, the others being the Triple Hurricane (opened in 2004 and named after hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne) also at Cypress Gardens, Gwanzi which is a new dual wooden coaster (built in 1999) at Busch Gardens and the Dania Beach Hurricane (built in 2000) at the Boomers park in Fort Lauderdale.

Cirque du Soleil

Florida residents can get a discount on some of the cheaper La Nouba show tickets at Downtown Disney, starting August 1. Tickets normally costing $63 are reduced to $49 and those costing $79 are reduced to $63 but the top priced tickets remain unaffected.

Florida books published in August

There are a whole host of new books for August as all the major publishers start releasing their 2008 editions:

• Moon Florida Camping : The Complete Guide to Tent and Rv Camping
• Frommer's 2008 Walt Disney World & Orlando
• Fodor's Walt Disney World With Kids 2008 : With Universal Orlando and Seaworld (reviewed last month)
• Everything Family Guide to Coastal Florida : St. Augustine, Miami, the Keys, Panama City and All the Hot Spots in Between!
• Everything Family Guide to the Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Studios, and Greater Orlando : A Complete Guide to the Best Hotels, Restaurants, Parks, and Must-see Attractions
• Florida Keys Paddling Atlas
• The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2008 (reviewed this month)

All these books can be found in our new Florida book directories for US and UK visitors.

SpaceShip Earth has been undergoing some changes of late as the new sponsor, Siemens AG make their mark on the iconic Epcot attraction. In fact the ride will be closed for most of the rest of this year whilst minor updates are made to the exhibits inside.

The biggest changes at the moment are to be seen on the outside though. When Disney decided to erect the large mast alongside the giant 180 ft (55 m) high silver geosphere as part of the Millennium celebrations, many purists were horrified about the visual spoiling of such a beautiful structure.

Well, Disney have decided to take down the Mickey Mouse hand, wand and Epcot logo and work has already started on dismantling the framework.

The other obvious feature as you approach the main entrance to Epcot is the Leave a Legacy exhibit which consists of 30 sculptured and polished granite monoliths ranging in height from 3 ft to 19 ft rising up out of the ground, mirroring the supporting legs of Spaceship Earth in the background.

Things are changing here as well, as the subscriptions office has closed so one must assume that there will not be any more plaques added to the monument.    Read more...

As August approaches, Florida moves into the more intense part of the hurricane season and also the lightning season. So far this year, there has not been much tropical storm activity but that could change at any time.

Each year in the US, a similar number of people die from being struck by lightning as die from tornadoes. Florida is dubbed the lightning capital of the US and with good reason; on average 9 people die each year in Florida from lightning related incidents.

The area alongside Interstate 4 between Orlando and St. Petersburg is known as "Lightning Alley" and sees more lightning strikes per year (with an average of 120 thunderstorm days) than anywhere in the whole of the US.

With frequent thunderstorms forecast for August, it makes sense to take extra precautions.

The best advice is to seek cover if you see a storm approaching; either inside a building or a vehicle, do not wait for it to get too close before looking for shelter. Lightning can strike up to 10 miles away from where it is raining, so even if it not raining where you are, if you can hear thunder, then you could be in range.

When under cover, keep away from doors and windows and of course electrical equipment like computers, televisions or corded telephones. It goes without saying that you should also keep away from pools, hot tubs and any other water or plumbing.

You should then stay under cover until 30 minutes after the storm has passed; i.e. when you can no longer hear any thunder, as many deaths actually occur after the storm appears to have passed.

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2008 by Bob Sehlinger is published in August by John Wiley & Sons. Each year, this Unofficial guide by Bob Sehlinger continues to grow and now runs to over 850 pages and is one of the definitive guides to the Walt Disney World Resort.

If you take your visit to the Walt Disney World Resort seriously then the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World is the book for you. Though it does not have the gloss and visual appeal of some other guides, what it lacks in colour photographs it more than makes up for in sheer volume of information and facts.

We first bought this book back in the early 90's and it is invaluable in helping you make better use of your time with hints and tips on how to beat the crowds and see the shows with the minimum of wait times.

Bob Sehlinger and his team of editors interviewed 9,000 families to get their views on each of the rides, shows and restaurants and each attraction is described in detail and rated for different age groups from pre-school right up to seniors with details of type of ride, best times to go, duration of ride, loading times.

There is also a companion website which gives you up to the minute details on predicted crowd levels, updates to the book, latest WDW news and a subscription touring guide service.   Read more...

If you like being scared witless, then you will enjoy Halloween in Florida, particularly if you head for one of the special Halloween nights organised by Universal Studios or Busch Gardens.

From September through to early November, all the major theme parks put on special Halloween events. A couple of them, like the Shamu's Halloween Spooktacular at SeaWorld and Phobia at Cypress Gardens are designed with young children in mind and in fact are included in the standard day admission ticket.

Disney's Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom is also a family orientated event but does require a separate ticket admission. At all the family events, you are encouraged to dress up in costumes and go 'trick-or-treating'.

At the other end of the scale are Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios and Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens. There are clues in the names of these events and they are very much geared up to adults and are definitely not suitable for young children. Like Disney, you need to buy a separate admission ticket but you are not allowed to dress up, that is strictly for cast members only.

This year, Universal are bringing wonderful characters like Jason, Freddy Krueger and Leatherface from the films "Friday the 13th", "Nightmare on Elm Street" and the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"to haunt you.   Read more...

August and September 2007 desktop wallpaper calendars

Free desktop calendars for August 2007 (Giant Panda topiary at the China Pavilion in Epcot) and September 2007 (Manatee statue at SeaWorld) are ready to download now.

Note that some of the larger files can be 200-300k in size so if you are on a modem dialup line it will take a few minutes to download.

To view and then download the Florida free desktop wallpaper for August or September now, click here.

Also don't forget if you are looking for inspiration on what to do on your Florida vacation, why not take advantage of our collection of free brochures where you will find information on many activities including golfing vacations, eco-tours, scuba diving and Caribbean cruises.    Read more...

There are no public holidays in August but as soon as August is finished, it is Labor Day on September 3.

Even though many of Florida's school kids will be returning to school after their Summer break this month, there will still be many out of state holiday makers around so the parks and beaches will still be crowded.

If you are a NASA fan, then August could be a great month for you. At the moment there are plans to launch four rockets during August including the next shuttle launch which will be the Space Shuttle Endeavour which is due to blast off on August 7.

If you have young children, then you may be interested in one of Disney's Pirate & Princess Parties at Disney's Magic Kingdom which are re-launched this month. They originally started earlier this year as part of Disney's Year of a Million Dreams celebrations.

The Sounds Like Summer Concert Series concludes this month in the open-air America Gardens Theatre at Epcot with the last of the tribute bands for Elton John and Chicago.

For full coverage of August events throughout the State of Florida, click here.

Temperatures in August are expected to be slightly above average for the time of year with average rainfall.

August is expected to start with thunderstorms across the whole state and high levels of humidity. The formation of Tropical Storm Chantal at the end of July is timely reminder that with the arrival of August the likelyhood of hurricanes increases.

In the North, around Pensacola and Jacksonville, temperatures will be in the mid 80s to mid 90s during the day with night-time temperatures in the mid to high 70s.

Temperatures across the Central region will be similar to the North but with less likelihood of storms as the month goes on.

Down South in Miami and the Keys, the temperatures will be up in the high 80s to low 90s during the day and high 70s to low 80s over night.

To check out the rest of the weather for all of Florida including a live weather map, monthly temperature and rainfall charts across the State and the latest hurricane news, click here.

We plan to bring you a newsletter on the first day of each month with details of upcoming events and news from across Florida.

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