November 2009 Newsletter

Hi Subscriber, welcome to the November 2009 newsletter of the Florida Review & Travel Guide.

There is no book review this month but hopefully normal service will resume next month! In the meantime there is plenty of other Florida news, mostly good but some not so good.

Busch Entertainment Parks Sold

Big news of the month is the sale of the Busch Entertainment Corporation parks to the Blackstone Group for around $2.7 billion (see below for more details).

Increased Parking Charges

Walt Disney World increased their parking charges during October from $12 a day to $14 a day for cars. A few days later, Universal Orlando raised their prices by the same amount.

Remember to retain your car parking ticket if you park-hop at Walt Disney World as the parking charge is for the whole day, not per park visit so if you drive to a different Disney park during the day, just present your valid parking ticket to avoid having to pay again.

The same principle applies with the Orlando Flex ticket if you are visiting say Universal Studios and SeaWorld.

For a summary of all the major theme park parking charges, click here.

New Disney Weekday Residents Pass

Walt Disney World have announced a new weekday Florida Residents annual pass for $169 (plus tax) for adults and $149 (plus tax) for children. The adult Weekday Select Pass is $80 cheaper than the Florida Residents Seasonal Annual Pass.

It gives you access to the four main theme parks, namely Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom, but it comes with a few strings attached:

• only valid Monday through Friday
• blackout dates around Christmas/New Year, Easter/Spring Break and peak summer vacation time
• no complimentary parking

For details of all Disney theme park ticket prices, click here.

New One Dollar Coins

Walt Disney World are involved in a pilot scheme for another new $1 coin. From now until the end of the year, you may be given a new Native American $1 coin in change when buying food or souvenirs at selected outlets in the Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

These new $1 coins are being minted alongside the US presidential series of $1 coins that first appeared in 2007.

For more details of US currency and coins, click here.

Latest Hotel Deals

We are now subscribing to BookingWiz to give you the latest Florida deals each month.


TOP TRAVEL DEALS ( Showing over 20 top Florida deals ) ... Click to VIEW ALL DEALS

Flight - $120 & Up: Low Rates on Roundtrip* Airfare to Ft Myers .... Trips Now Online Travel Deals
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Flight - $146 & Up: Low Rates on Roundtrip* Airfare to Orlando .... Trips Now Online Travel Deals
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Hotel - Clearwater/Tampa/St. Pete: All Marriott Brand Hotels & Resorts On Sale! From $79 .... Marriott International - Modem Media
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Hotel - Daytona Beach Shores: November Sale on Beachfront Studios & Condos - $426 Per Week! .... Endless Vacation Rentals
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Hotel - Florida Panhandle: $138/nt for Prestigious Beaches of South Walton Condos! .... Garrett Realty
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Hotel - Ft Lauderdale: AAA 10% Savings at Hyatt Place Near Air & Cruise Ports .... Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale
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Hotel - Ft. Lauderdale/West Palm: Low Rates at Marriott Brand Hotels & Resorts - From $69 .... Marriott International - Modem Media
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Hotel - Lake Buena Vista: Discounted Stays at All Luxury & Budget Marriott Brand Hotels - From $74 .... Marriott International - Modem Media
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Hotel - Miami: Discounted Luxury & Budget Stays at All Marriott Brand Hotels - From $69 .... Marriott International - Modem Media
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Hotel - Orlando: 20% Off Luxury 1 & 2 Bedroom Condos Adjacent to Disney World - $127 .... Wyndham Bonnet Creek
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Hotel - Orlando: Discounted Luxury & Budget Stays at All Marriott Brand Hotels - From $74 .... Marriott International - Modem Media
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Hotel - Orlando: October Bargain on 2-Bdrm Resort Condos Near Disney - $426 Per Week! .... Endless Vacation Rentals
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Hotel - Save 15% on Fla. Gulf Coast: Family Fall Fling - Weekly Bookings! .... Sandcastle Escapes
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Hotel - Save 40% in Orlando: Shopping Extravaganza Near Disney - $99 .... The Florida Hotel & Conference Center
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Hotel - South Florida & The Keys: All Marriott Brand Hotels & Resorts On Sale! From $89 .... Marriott International - Modem Media
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Hotel - South Florida: FallFest Great Outdoors Package at Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa - $174 .... Sanibel Harbour
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Hotel - South Florida: Unlimited Golf for Two + Daily Breakfast & Cocktails - $179 .... Hutchinson Island Marriott Beach Resort & Marina
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Gasoline Prices

No sooner had petrol prices fallen, than they rose again and average pump prices in Orlando are up 30 cents on last month at around $2.73 a gallon for regular.

You can always find the latest pump prices at GasPriceWatch.com.

TravelZoo Weekly Newsletter

Have you heard of the TravelZoo weekly top 20 deals newsletter? By signing up to their free newsletter, you receive their top 20 holiday deals each and every week with cheap flights, cruises and ferries, rail tickets, car hire, hotels and villas, tours and packages and last minute deals.

Each week, TravelZoo sift through 1000s of internet offers to bring you the best deals, no matter where you live.

$299 -- Weeklong Stay at Orlando Resort Near Disney-- As seen on Travelzoo's Top 20

The Busch Entertainment Corporation parks have been sold to the Blackstone Group for around $2.7 billion.

It was no secret that InBev who bought out Anheuser-Busch were looking to offload the theme parks division to claw back some of the money spent in acquiring Anheuser-Busch in the first place.

The Blackstone Group is a New York private equity company and through their investment funds they already own a 50% stake in Universal Orlando as well as the UK amusement park operator, Merlin Entertainments Group, who run Legoland and Madame Tussauds.

All told 10 theme parks are involved in the deal including Florida's SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Adventure Island, Discovery Cove and Aquatica.

As part of the deal, the Busch name will be retained as well as serving Anheuser-Busch beers but the Clydesdale horses will leave SeaWorld and return to Anheuser-Busch.

Blackstone have said that the new Busch Entertainment company will retain its own identity and operate separately from the other Blackstone Group amusement park companies.

For more information on SeaWorld, click here.

New Travel Promotion Act

Since the terrorist attacks of 2001, and the subsequent tightening of security at the US borders, the number of international visitors to the USA has dropped significantly. There were more than 1/2 million fewer international visitors to the USA in 2008 than there were in 2000.

A new bill called the Travel Promotion Act has been put toward to create a non-profit body to promote travel to the USA and better explain the security policies to attract more foreign travellers. The bill passed the House and the Senate and now goes back to the Senate before going to the White House for final ratification. All very laudable.

The interesting part is how this is all going to be funded. The estimated $200 million a year to run this campaign will be split 50/50 between voluntary contributions from the travel industry and a tax levied on visitors from the 35 countries that are exempt from the current visa regulations; i.e. most of Western Europe.

So the idea appears to be to tax the majority of the international visitors; i.e the very people the USA are trying to convince to visit the USA in the first place. If the bill is passed, then in future, international visa-waiver visitors will have to pay $10 each for the privilege of entering the USA on top of all the other taxes built into travelling these days.

Just run that by me again?

Disney Cruise Lines held a launch event in New York to publicise some of the latest details about their newest cruise ship, the Disney Dream.

The Disney Dream's maiden voyage is planned for January 26, 2011 and she will sail from Port Canaveral to a number of destinations in the Caribbean. This will allow the Disney Wonder to start cruises to Alaska the same year and the Disney Magic will again spend the summer cruising the Mediterranean.

Disney's latest cruise ship will feature a number of innovative new ideas including a water coaster and virtual portholes.

Aquaduck Water Coaster

The Aquaduck is the first water coaster to ever be built on a cruise ship and will be 765 feet long. A swing out section will allow you to fly out over the edge of the ship, some 150 feet above the water level. It should be truly amazing.

Virtual Portholes

Another first is the idea of virtual portholes on inside staterooms. Instead of staring at a blank wall, guests will be able to see realtime views of the ocean outside in high definition. You may even catch a glimpse of animated Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse or Peach the starfish from the film "Finding Nemo".

Other Features

Special areas will be allocated to different age groups so young children up to the age of 10 will have their own Disney's Oceaneer Club and teens in the age brackets 11 to 13 and 14 to 17 will also be able to enjoy themselves in their own exclusive environments.

Of course adults will also be well catered for in The District, a nighttime entertainment area.

To read more about cruising from Florida, click here.

As the life of the Space Shuttle programme comes to an end, NASA launched the first ever Ares I-X space vehicle during October.

There is considerable debate taking place at the moment about the future of NASA's Ares space programme but NASA are currently pushing ahead with the Ares tests.

After some delays due to marginal weather conditions, NASA successfully launched Ares from the newly-modified Launch Complex 39B. Launch pad 39A remains for the few remaining shuttle launches.

The Ares I-X test vehicle which is the world's tallest rocket at 327 feet, accelerated to Mach 4.76, just below hypersonic speed and reached a sub-orbital altitude of 150,000 feet during the two minute test flight.

The flight was not without its problems though. At least one of the three parachutes on one of the first-stage boosters did not deploy correctly and the booster was damaged when it splashed down in the sea. There was also more damage to the launch pad than would be expected.

For more information on the Ares and Constellation Programme, click here.

November and December 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 November 2009 (SeaWorld Shamu Believe Show) and December 2009 (Pinewood Estate at Bok Tower) are ready to download now.

Note that some of the larger files can be up to 600k 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 November or December 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...

With Halloween out of the way, all of Florida switches from scary mode to festive mode with Thanksgiving and Christmas on the horizon. This month there are two public holidays; on November 11, it is Veterans Day and then on Thursday, November 26 it is Thanksgiving.

This means that all the major theme parks are going to be very busy Thanksgiving week, especially as the parks start to unveil their festive season celebrations.

However, once the Thanksgiving weekend is over, the parks then become very quiet until the Christmas/New Year Holiday season, which makes it a great time to visit as the weather is still quite good and all the Christmas decorations are up and the theme parks are in full swing with their Holiday season activities.

As with last month, there are a number of local county fairs throughout the state celebrating the fall.

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

Temperatures in November look like being normal for the time of year; i.e. a bit cooler than October but with above average rainfall. Across the State you can expect daytime temperatures in the low 70s/mid 80s.

In the north around Pensacola and Jacksonville, daytime temperatures will be in the low/mid 70s with plenty of sunshine and little chance of rain. Night-time temperatures will be in the high 40s/high 50s.

Across the Central region, the weather outlook is warmer but wetter with the chance of the odd thunderstorm. Temperatures will be in the mid 70s/mid 80s during the day, dropping to mid 50s/mid 60s over night.

Down in Miami and the Keys, again there will also be thunderstorms and showers. Temperatures will be in the high 70s/high 80s during the day and high 60s/low 70s overnight.

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.

Zagat are publishing their annual surveys of Miami and its restaurants in a series of four books, plus the latest editions of The Hassle-Free Walt Disney World Vacation and Universal Orlando both by Kelly Monaghan.

Florida November Book list

• Ditch of Dreams: The Cross Florida Barge Canal and the Struggle for Florida's Future by Steven Noll and David Tegeder
• 2010 Miami Zagat.com & Book Pack
• The Hassle-Free Walt Disney World Vacation 2010, 9th Edition by Steven M Barrett
• Universal Orlando, 2010 Edition: The Ultimate Guide to the Ultimate Theme Park Adventure by Kelly Monaghan
• Fun with the Family Florida, 7th edition: Hundreds of Ideas for Day Trips with the Kids by Stephen Morrill and Adele Woodyard
• Insiders' Guide to Florida Keys and Key West, 14th edition by Nancy Toppino
• Insiders' Guide: Key West in Your Pocket: Your Guide to an Hour, a Day, or a Weekend in Key West by Nancy Toppino
• 2010 Miami Beach Restaurants (Pocket Guide)
• 2010 Palm Beach Restaurants (Pocket Guide)
• Frommer's Miami & the Keys Day by Day by Lesley Abravanel
• Florida Cowboys: Keepers of the Last Frontier
• Orlando Berlitz Pocket Guide
• 2010 Miami/So Florida (Zagatsurvey: Miami, South Florida Restaurants)
• It Happened in Florida, 2nd edition : Thirty Remarkable Events that Shaped History by E. Lynne Wright
• Paddling Everglades National Park: A Guide to the Best Paddling Adventures by Loretta Lynn Leda
• City Streets: Miami FL South Beach to Aventura Map Laminated by American Map
• Exploring Florida's Botanical Wonders: A Guide to Ancient Trees, Unique Flora, and Wildflower Walks by Sandra Friend
• Florida: Florida and the Modern Civil Rights Movement by Irvin D.S. Winsboro

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

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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