April 2009 Newsletter

Hi subscriber, welcome to the April 2009 newsletter of the Florida Review & Travel Guide.

Amongst the never ending daily doom and gloom some good news; Cypress Gardens has reopened (see below).

Virgin Megastore Closing

Virgin Megastores are closing all six of their stores in the USA including the one at Downtown Disney. The Disney Megastore is the largest music store in the Southeast with over 300 listening stations but the fall in the number of people buying CDs and DVDs as more and more people download music and films, coupled with the weak economy are making bricks and mortar music stores uneconomical. The store will close on May 31 and Disney are looking for a new retailer to take over the space.

New Universal Studios Stage

Universal Orlando have opened a new permanent outdoor stage next to the new Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit coaster site, in time for this year's Mardi Gras concerts. The coaster will be opening shortly.

New Theme Park Restaurants

Universal CityWalk have opened three new casual dining venues for lunch and dinner on the upper level of CityWalk; Panda Express, Moe's Southwest Grill and the world's first Burger King Whopper Bar. The three restaurants together give customers a choice of Mexican, Chinese and American food under one roof.

Spoodles restaurant at Disney's Broadwalk is being replaced this fall by Kouzzina by Cat Cora, the celebrity chef.

Gasoline Prices

Average pump prices in Orlando are currently around $1.95 a gallon, about the same as last month. You can always find the latest pump prices at GasPriceWatch.com.

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Florida Books published in April

This April there is the latest edition of the mighty Beyond Disney plus a new edition of the popular "Backroads" series of day trips and weekend getaways (delayed from last month) and new amusing Walt Disney World travelogue book by veteran newspaper reporter Bill Burke. There are over 10 new books published this April including:

• Moon Tampa and St. Petersburg by Laura Reiley
• Mousejunkies!: Tips, Tales, and Tricks for a Disney World Fix: All You Need to Know for a Perfect Vacation by Bill Burke
• Backroads of Florida: Your Guide to Great Day Trips & Weekend Getaways by Paul M. Franklin and Nancy Joyce Mikula
• A Place to Be: Brazilian, Guatemalan, and Mexican Immigrants in Florida's New Destinations by Philip J. Williams, Timothy J.Steignenga and Manuel A. V&acutea;squez
• Florida Keys Street Map by American Map
• Native Bromeliads of Florida by Harry Luther and David Benzing
• Beyond Disney: The Unofficial Guide to Universal SeaWorld & the Best of Central Florida by Bob Sehlinger
• The Highwaymen Murals: Al Black's Concrete Dreams by Gary Monroe
• Greetings from Sarasota, Florida: Bradenton and Surrounding Communities by Donald D. Spencer
• Lighthouses: Maine to Florida by David Biggy
• The Imagineering Field Guide to Disney's Hollywood Studios

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

With its year round sunshine and warm climate, Florida is the perfect spot for outdoor sports.

If the ocean is your thing, then you can enjoy any number of water sports including swimming, surfing, diving, kayaking, wind surfing, sailing and fishing.

Swimming & Surfing

With so many beaches, places to swim are never far away. For surfing, the best area is around Cocoa Beach on the Atlantic Coast.

Boating

Florida has over 8,000 miles of coastline and 4,500 square miles of inland waters which makes it a paradise for boaters.

The Intracoastal Waterway runs 500 miles down the East coast of Florida to the Keys and provides sheltered cruising for a good part of its length.

The Okeechobee Waterway runs across the State from Sanibel Island on the Gulf Coast to Stuart on the Atlantic Coast.

For more information on other outdoor activities and sports including canoeing, diving & snorkelling, fishing, golf, walking & hiking, biking, tennis, horse riding and hunting, click here.

To compete with the Walt Disney World Resort and Disney Cruise Lines, the Universal Orlando Resort and Royal Caribbean International have launched their "Way More Than a Cruise" ultimate vacation package bringing together a theme park visit with a cruise.

These inclusive packages combine a three or four night stay at the Universal Orlando Resort with a Caribbean cruise. There are two choice of cruise; either a three or four night Bahamas cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas or a seven night Caribbean cruise aboard Freedom of the Seas.

The packages include all resort and shipboard accommodation, multi-day passes to both Universal theme parks, Universal Studios Florida and Universal's Islands of Adventure, complimentary access to selected live entertainment venues at Universal's CityWalk plus ground transfers between the airport, hotel, theme parks and the ship at Port Canaveral.

For more information on Universal Orlando Resort, click here.

Universal Orlando: The Ultimate Guide to the Ultimate Theme Park Adventure is the first book solely dedicated to the Universal Studios theme park resort in Florida, rather than being tacked on to one of the many guide books about the Walt Disney World Resort or Orlando. The first edition was published in March 2000 and it has been revised each year ever since.

With the opening of Islands of Adventure, Universal Orlando became a strong competitor to Walt Disney World and this book covers both the original Universal Studios Florida theme park, the second Islands of Adventure theme park and the CityWalk entertainment complex.

Kelly Monaghan is no stranger to Florida and is also the author of "SeaWorld, Discovery Cove & Aquatica: Orlando's Salute to the Seas" (reviewed last month) and "The Other Orlando: What To Do When You've Done Disney and Universal", published in 2009 and 2007 respectively as well as a contributor to "The Other Orlando" blog.

As the title suggests this book focuses on the two Universal theme parks in Orlando, Central Florida but it also covers CityWalk and the resort hotels and is one of the best books on Universal Orlando.

The book is divided into seven chapters; an introductory overview, followed by one chapter for each of the two theme parks plus a chapter on CityWalk, the Universal Resort hotels, other local hotels and dining at a glance, a summary of all the restaurants and cafes.

To read the complete review of Universal Orlando: The Ultimate Guide to the Ultimate Theme Park Adventure, click here.

The first metal has been cut on the two new Disney Cruise Lines ships at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany.

Disney have also taken the opportunity to release the names of the new ships, the Disney Dream will sail in 2011 and the Disney Fantasy in the following year, 2012. The two new ships will each be 128,000 tons with 1,250 staterooms.

The Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy will join their sister ships, the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder, doubling the Disney Cruise Line passenger capacity.

Currently, the Disney Wonder is sailing three and four night cruises to the Bahamas whilst the Disney Magic is sailing seven night cruises to the Eastern and Western Caribbean. In the Spring of 2010 the Disney Magic will head for Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.

To read more about cruising, click here.

Cypress Gardens, which closed for renovations in November last year has reopening on March 28 under the new name "Cypress Gardens and Splash Island Water Park". It will focus on the original botanical and topiary gardens and ski shows and the new water park along with festivals and concerts.

The former animals have been found new homes and the carnival and adventure rides including the roller coasters that were installed in 2004 are currently being removed.

Highlighting this new direction, there are separate admission gates and tickets for the gardens and the water park though it will be possible to buy a combined ticket. Ticket prices are about 40% less than the 2008 numbers and valid season tickets are being extended by four months to cover the time the park was shut.

To read more about Cypress Gardens, click here.

April and May 2009 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 April 2009 (Dinosaur at Disney's Animal Kingdom) and May 2009 (Pirate's Cove Adventure Golf, I-Drive) 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 April or May 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...

Easter Sunday is on April 12 so you can expect much busier theme parks around this time. At the Holy Land Experience, there are special Easter events.

Disney's Epcot continues their Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival with a series of concerts with classic acts from the 60s and 70s including The Turtles, Herman's Hermits starring Peter Noone, Harold Melvin's Blue Notes and Chubby Checker and the Wildcats.

There are plenty of concerts, air shows, car shows, county fairs and festivals this month including a number of Earth Day celebrations on April 22.
For full coverage of April events throughout the State of Florida, click here.

Temperatures in April will start to rise but expect a colder spell around the middle of the month but with below average rainfall.

In the north around Pensacola and Jacksonville, the month will be sunny but will start with the odd thunderstorm and outbreak of rain. Temperatures will be in the mid 60s/low 80s during the day with night-time temperatures in the mid 40s/mid 60s. It will be slightly warmer in the east.

Across the Central region, the weather outlook is a little warmer with plenty of sunshine and mid 70s/high 80s during the day, dropping to high 40s/mid 60s over night.

Down in Miami and the Keys, the temperatures are more consistent than the Central region with low 80s/high 80s during the day and mid 60s/mid 70s overnight. Expect more humidity.

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.

Copyright © 2009, Stephen Downs, Florida Review & Travel Guide. All rights reserved. Please do NOT reprint or host on your website without explicit permission from http://www.floridareview.co.uk.

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