In This Issue Welcome Florida Water Parks Top Beaches Book Review - The Complete Florida Beach Guide New Park Rides Free Monthly Desktop Wallpaper June events Weather forecast

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

It is nearly three years now since this newsletter started and a lot has changed in that time, some good and some bad. This month, the theme is water which is perhaps ironic considering the terrible wildfires that have swept Florida during May.

Tourism on the up

The price of petrol (gas) shows no sign of slowing down with some gas stations in Florida now showing an unbelievable $4 per gallon. Despite this inexorable rise in the price of fuel and the global economic squeeze, the number of tourists visiting Florida in the first quarter of 2008 has actually gone up.

Official figures show 23.8 million visitors in the first quarter, an increase of 3.4 percent on the same period last year. More Floridians are taking vacation trips in state and Canadian visitor numbers were up by 6.6 percent though international visitors were only up 2 percent, less than the overall average.

Air travel squeeze

Many US carriers are cutting flights to save costs as their fuel bills spiral ever upwards and now some are starting to charge for the first checked bag as well as the second.

American Airlines will start charging $15 each way for the first checked in bag from June 15 though it may not affect international flights or those travellers paying full fare or in the upper levels of their frequent flyer programs. They had previously announced a $25 surcharge for a second checked bag.

It is not clear at this stage if other domestic US carriers will follow suit. Expect to see airlines clamping down on carry-on luggage as passengers try to avoid the additional surcharges.

Latest Hurricane predictions

The National Climate Prediction Center have announced their early predictions for the 2008 hurricane season which officially starts today, June 1. They are forecasting between 12 and 16 named storms with six to nine becoming hurricanes. Of those, they also estimate there could be between two and five major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher).

All the predictions so far, suggest 2008 will be a little above average but like all forecasts, they are not always accurate. As always, when vacationing in Florida, make sure you take note of any instructions regarding evacuation routes etc.

To read more about this year's hurricane season forecasts, click here.

Space Shuttle Discovery

By the time you read this, NASA should have launched their next shuttle mission to the International Space Station. The 26th mission to the International Space Station will deliver the large Kibo science Exploration Agency as well as some much needed parts to repair the onboard toilet.

The Space Shuttle Discovery is due to blast off from the Kennedy Space Center at 5:02 pm EDT on May 31.

To read more about NASA launches, click here.

New web sites

This month also sees our launch of two new web sites.

One of the up and coming destinations particularly for Europeans is Dubai. With it's year round sunshine and incredible building program of new luxury hotels and theme parks it is fast becoming a force to reckon with in the future tourist destination stakes.

Why not visit our new sister site, the Dubai Review & Travel Guide for independent advice on vacationing in Dubai.

If you live in the UK and are looking for costume jewellery for proms, cruises, weddings or any special occasion, then visit Princess Jewellery for a beautiful range of inexpensive diamante jewellery.

Florida books published in June

Another relatively quiet month when it comes to Florida books including a couple that have been delayed from previous months:

• Raising Cane in the 'Glades: The Global Sugar Trade and the Transformation of Florida
• DogFriendly.com's East Coast Dog Travel Guide : The Complete Dog-friendly Travel Guide to New England, New York, the Mid-atlantic States, the Southeast and Florida
• Frommer's Florida with Your Family: Theme Park Fun to Sunny Beach Getaways by Lesley Anne Rose
• The Captain's Guide to Wrecks and Reefs: Florida's East & West Coast; Florida's Keys; The Bahamas
• Landmark Visitors Guide Orlando & Central Florida
• Hidden Florida Keys and Everglades : Including Key Largo and Key West
• Tampa Bay & Florida's West Coast

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

If you want to cool off during the hot summer months and you don't fancy a trip to the beach, one of the best places to go is one of Florida's many water parks.

No matter where you stay in Florida, you won't be far from one of the bigger water parks:

• Adventure Island, next to Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay *
• Adventure Landing Shipwreck Island, Jacksonville Beach *
• Aquatica, SeaWorld's water park, Orlando
• Big Kahuna's Water & Adventure Park, Destin *
• Blizzard Beach, Disney World Orlando
• Buccaneer Bay inside Weeki Wachee Springs *
• Calypso Bay Waterpark, Royal Palm Beach
• Coconut Cove Waterpark, Boca Raton
• Daytona Lagoon, Daytona Beach *
• Discovery Cove, next to SeaWorld Orlando
• Gator Gully Splash Park inside Gatorland, Kissimmee
• Rapids Water Park, West Palm Beach *
• Sam's Surf City Water Park, Pensacola *
• Shipwreck Island, Panama City Beach *
• Splash Island inside Cypress Gardens, Winter Haven
• Sun Splash Family Waterpark, Cape Coral *
• Typhoon Lagoon, Disney World Orlando
• Wet 'n Wild, Orlando
• Wild Waters at Silver Springs, Ocala *

Note that many of Florida's water parks close during the winter months, usually from around September/October time through to March (marked with an asterisk *).

Others like Disney's Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon close for just a couple of months for maintenance though Disney always ensure that one park is open.

During the summer months, you may also find that water parks close for safety reasons, when there is inclement weather such as thunderstorms in the area.

As well as the major water parks, there are also loads of smaller water parks, often in local city parks such as the newly opened Grapeland Water Park (Black Beard's Beach), Miami City's first water park.

Though not on the same scale as some of the big Orlando water parks, admission charges to many of the city water parks range between only $5 and $10.

Don't forget that many of the other main theme parks also have water rides in them and some parks like Cypress Gardens, Gatorland and Weeki Wachee Springs include admission to their water park in the main theme park price of entry.

Ron Jon are planning to open the world's first Surfpark, the Ron Jon Surfpark at Festival Bay on International Drive in Orlando, some time in 2008/2009.

It is likely to be developed in two phases with a mid-sized surf pool with 30 to 40 yard rides being opened in the first phase as well as a deep-water Flowrider for real surfboards and bodyboards, a surf school, bar/restaurant, beach and event stage.

In the second phase, a larger pro pool with 6 to 8 foot waves and 60 to 80 yard rides will be added.

There is also a water park at Ron Jon's vacation club Cape Caribe Resort between Port Canaveral and Cocoa Beach.

Two familiar water park landmarks have closed in recent years; Disney's River Country closed in 2001 and Water Mania in Kissimmee, closed in 2005.

To read more about Florida's water parks, click here.

For the second year running, Professor Stephen Leatherman (Dr Beach) from Florida International University has ranked three of Florida's beaches in the top ten of his annual America's Best Beaches survey.

This year the top spot goes to Caladesi Island State Park in Dunedin/Clearwater (which was ranked second last year), Siesta Beach in Sarasota ranked third and Cape Florida State Park near Miami ranked ninth.

Caladesi Island State Park is fairly remote as most visitors arrive by ferry; a 15 minute ride which helps maintain it's unspoilt atmosphere. However, it does still have restrooms, showers, canoe and beach chair rentals and a snack bar.

Only swimming beaches are considered and previous winners are automatically excluded from the latest survey.

Previous Florida winners are Fort DeSoto Park, North Beach in St Petersburg in 2005, St. Joseph Peninsula State Park in 2002, St. Andrews SRA (State Recreation Area) in 1995, Grayton Beach SRA in 1994 and Bahia Honda SRA in 1992. Only Hawaii can boast more winners than Florida.

The first edition of The Complete Florida Beach Guide is written by Mary and Bill Burnham who have also written the Florida Keys Paddling Atlas and several travel books on Virginia.

It is part of the Wild Florida series published by University Press of Florida; other titles include 50 Great Walks in Florida, Hiking the Florida Trail (1,100 Miles, 78 Days, Two Pairs of Boots, and One Heck of an Adventure), Fishing Florida's Flats (A Guide to Bonefish, Tarpon, Permit, and Much More), Hiker's Guide to the Sunshine State, 30 Eco-Trips in Florida: The Best Nature Excursions (and How to Leave Only Your Footprints).

There are over 400 beaches in Florida, and no matter where you are staying, you will never be far from a beach, typically no more than an hours drive.

The Complete Florida Beach Guide is arranged by region and the authors have visited every one of the beaches featured.

Each listing includes directions on how to get there, what parking is available and fees, any facilities like restrooms, showers and picnicking, whether the beach is handicap accessible, whether pets are allowed and most importantly whether there are any lifeguards.

An authority on the best beaches, Professor Stephen Leatherman (Dr Beach) from Florida International University gave his review as "Provides information that cannot be obtained elsewhere in one source. This is info that beach guests would like to have".

To read the complete review of The Complete Florida Beach Guide, click here.

Two of Orlando's major theme parks launched new rides based on television shows and films during May and SeaWorld gave more details of their planned Manta roller coaster which is due to open in Summer 2009 (more details next month).

The Simpsons Ride

At Universal Studios, the Simpsons Ride has opened in the former "Back to the Future: The Ride" building with it's 80 foot diameter dome IMAX projection system.

The new ride features similar open top "cars" but this time is set in a cartoon theme park called "Krustyland" after The Simpsons' TV clown. The ride lasts around six minutes and all the original TV actors do the voice overs.

You get to ride a virtual rollercoaster and various other types of theme parks rides and stunt shows with the typical Simpsons mayhem you would expect thrown in for good measure with the arrival of Sideshow Bob, fresh out of prison. Look out for parodies of Pirates of the Caribbean and the Shamu killer whale show !!

Toy Story Mania

Meanwhile over at Disney's Hollywood Studios, the former "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" building has re-opened as Toy Story Mania.

Here you ride in four seater cars; two and two, back to back wearing 3D glasses whilst characters from the original Pixar Toy Story film, Buzz Lightyear, Hamm the pig and Bo Peep introduce the various midway (funfair) game booths.

Each rider has a spring-action shooter cannon which you use to 'shoot' or 'throw' at various high-definition cartoon targets like sheep, ducks, chickens, balloons and plates. Clever interactive features include smells, sounds and effects like blasts of air when you pop balloons.

Every target you hit scores points against the clock and at the end of the ride you can compare your score against your fellow rider and see the best scores of the day and all time. The ride lasts about five minutes.

Also, don't miss the Mr. Potato Head animatronic character outside the ride who interacts with passers by in a similar way to the amazing Crush character in the Epcot attraction, Turtle Talk with Crush, from another Pixar film, Finding Nemo.

To read more about Universal Studios, click here or Disney's Hollywood Studios, click here.

June and July 2008 desktop wallpaper calendars

The free Florida desktop wallpaper calendars are now available in widescreen format as well as standard format so if you have a widescreen monitor you can now download a new widescreen calendar.

Free desktop calendars for June 2008 (Planet Hollywood at Downtown Disney) and July 2008 (Clearwater Beach) 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 June or July 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...

Father's Day is on Sunday, June 15 but there are no public holidays in June.

Several of the early summer theme park events like the Pirate & Princess Party at Disney's Magic Kingdom and the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival are coming to an end.

Over at SeaWorld you can enjoy the new SeaWorld AfterDark entertainment with Shamu Rocks, the high energy Shamu show/rock n roll concert plus Shamu Rocks Dinner Buffet, the new night time Bayside Ski Jam with stunt kites and fireworks, Mistify fireworks, laser and water show and new this year, Sea Lions Tonite where Clyde and Seemore plus friends parody other SeaWorld shows.

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

May witnessed some very dry spells this year with over a hundred wildfires breaking out, particularly in Central Florida near the Atlantic coast.

For June, temperatures are expected to continue to rise with plenty of sunshine and clouds plus the threat of thunderstorms, more as you head south.

In the north around Pensacola and Jacksonville, on the west coast daytime temperatures will be in the high 80s/high 90s and the nights will be a lot warmer in the low/high 70s. On the east coast daytime temperatures will be in the low 80s/low 90s but at night it could drop to the low/high 70s.

Across the Central region, it will similar with high 80s/low 90s during the day dropping to high 60s/low 70s over night. Tampa could see low 90s during the day but cooler nights in the high 60s.

Down in Miami and the Keys, temperatures are a lot more consistent with mid to high 80s during the day and mid 70s/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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