The excitement just keeps on building at Orlando’s world famous theme parks. It seems you never have to wait long for one of Orlando’s top parks to announce something new. This time it’s Universal Orlando that’s ready to make its next big splash.

The theme park announced a variety of new attractions set to open in 2012, including a new parade, an after-dark show, a new Blue Man Group show and more.

The new attractions should help Universal Studios regain some of the traffic it lost to sister park Islands of Adventure when it opened up the highly popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter in 2010.

The new “Universal’s Superstar Parade” becomes the park’s first daily parade event. The interactive parade will stop to allow characters, dancers and performers a chance to engage with spectators. Highlights include large floats, street performers and characters from “Dispicable Me,” “Dora the Explorer,” “SpongeBob Squarepants” and “Hop.”

Universal is also expanding its nighttime fun by adding “Universal’s Cinematic Spectacular: 100 Years of Movie Moments.” The end of the night event on the theme park’s lagoon offers a salute to Universal Pictures based on a movie history projected on both sides of a series of 30-foot by 30-foot waterfall curtains. The show also includes lasers, pyrotechnics, fountains and a special narration by actor Morgan Freeman.

Other new attractions at Universal include a revised Blue Man Group show and two new miniature golf courses at Universal CityWalk. Later this summer, the park will open a new attraction based on the film “Dispicable Me” called Dispicable Me Minion Mayhem. The park is also introducing new high tech adjustments to its popular Spider-Man ride such as some re-animation and a more vivid high definition projection system.

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Catch the beads. Catch the Music. Catch the Spirit. It’s all part of the fun and excitement of the annual Mardi Gras celebration at Universal Studios^® in Orlando!The whole family can join the party as the sights, sounds, and even the tastes of the Big Easy come back to Universal Orlando Resort on Saturdays and select nights from February 11 through April 14, 2012.

On Mardi Gras days, the fun begins every evening as a variety of unique performers take to the streets of Universal Studios. Head over to the French Quarter Courtyard to sample some authentic Cajun food and enjoy live music from bands straight out of New Orleans.

Then get ready for a spectacular parade filled with dazzling floats, colorful costumes and, of course, beads, beads and more beads being tossed from the floats into the crowd.

This year’s parade highlights the wonder and whimsy of planet Earth. A wide variety of floats help take guests on a breathtaking journey to different parts of the world to explore the beauty and diversity of our globe. Float designs include a riverboat, gator, New Orleans, deep blue sea, polar regions, rain forest, bayous & swamps, coral reef and more.

If that’s not enough, there’s also an electrifying concert, featuring some of the biggest names in music. Scheduled performers include:

• Sat, Feb. 11:  The B-52s
• Sat, Feb. 18:  Kelly Clarkson
• Sun, Feb. 19:  Boyz II Men
• Sat, Feb. 25:  Diana Ross
• Sat, March 3: [To be announced]
• Sat, March 10:  Big Time Rush
• Fri, March 16:   J. Cole
• Sat, March 17:  Jill Scott
• Fri, March 23:   Hot Chelle Rae
• Sat, March 24:  B.o.B
• Fri, March 30:  Plain White T’s
• Sat, March 31:  Prince Royce
• Sat: April 7:  Cyndi Lauper
• Sat, April 14:  KC & the Sunshine Band 

Even the littlest ones can enjoy Mardi Gras at Universal Orlando. Children get their own private parade experience at the Little Jester’s Parade Viewing Areas located next to the Terminator 2^®: 3-D attraction.

Children will also love the KidZone Mardi Pardi Krewe, located in Woody Woodpecker’s KidZone. This special party zone features free beads and a live stage show starring their favorite characters. Check out the daily shows at 11 am, 12 pm, 1 pm, 3 pm, 4 pm and 5 pm.

When the excitement dies down at Universal Studios, the party continues on at Universal CityWalk.

On Mardi Gras event nights, guests 21-and-older can use their Universal Studios theme park ticket or Annual Pass to receive free admission to the shopping and entertainment district’s seven unique clubs and bars. That includes admission to Pat O’Brien’s, an exact replica of the famed New Orleans club where it’s Mardi Gras every day of the year. CityWalk is open nightly til 2 am.

Mardi Gras parades and concerts are included in regular admission to Universal Studios. For more information, visit www.universalorlando.com/mardigras. Or go to http://www.westgatereservations.com/ for details on discount Orlando theme park tickets and discount Orlando vacation packages.

The sinking of the Titanic remains one of the most unforgettable tragedies in history as the world prepares to honor the 100^th anniversary of the ship’s fateful inaugural journey that ended after hitting an iceberg on April 15, 1912.

The Titanic Experience in Orlando is a unique attraction that utilizes actual relics and artifacts from the Titanic, as well as live, interactive interpretations by storytellers in period costume to capture and portray the sights, sounds and emotions of the luxurious ocean liner’s brief but storied history.

The 20,000 square foot museum features full scale replicas of the ship’s extraordinary Grand Staircase as well as a First Class Parlor Suite, Boilers, Verandah Café, Captain’s Bridge and more, all filled with authentic artifacts and historical treasures. Walk out onto the Promenade Deck where you’ll feel the chill of the cold Atlantic Ocean as you gaze at the stars.

The Titanic Exhibit showcases an extensive Underwater Room where you’ll find an 8-foot replica of the ship as she appears on the bottom of the Atlantic today.

Now, The Titanic Experience has recently incorporated nearly 100 new artifacts, including a 2-ton slab of steel from the ship’s hull, the second-largest piece ever recovered from the wreckage. Of the new items now on display, 21 have never before been viewed by the public. New artifacts include postcards, pieces of the ship, galley equipment, an unopened bottle of champagne, an engraved spittoon, copper décor from the Grand Staircase, playing cards and more.

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Orlando’s famous theme parks are filled with special high energy parades throughout the year. But when the Christmas holiday season arrives, one parade just seems bigger than all the rest.

The Macy’s Holiday Parade at Universal Studios Orlando is that parade. That’s because it features many of the same floats and giant inflatable balloon characters that are brought to life every year in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade through New York City.

Now in its 10^th year at Universal, the Macy’s parade experience begins as soon as the Thanksgiving Day parade ends when a variety of props and balloons are packed up and trucked from Manhattan to Orlando.

Upon arrival in Orlando, the balloons are re-filled with helium and stored in a Universal Studios sound stage ready to be paraded through the streets of the theme park throughout the holiday celebration that runs through Jan. 1.

The nightly parade is included with park admission and runs at 5 pm on Dec. 16 and Dec. 19-25, at 5:30 pm on Dec. 17-18, and at 8:00 pm on Dec. 26-31. In addition to the famed balloons, the parade features music, dancers, marching bands, stilt walkers, floats and, of course, Santa Claus!

Mannheim Steamroller is returning to Universal Studios for the holidays.

The Orlando theme park has announced its holiday plans and those plans include six concerts by the popular Mannheim Steamroller at Universal’s Music Plaza stage. The group, which also played at Universal last year, will host concerts on the first three Saturdays and Sundays of December - Dec. 3, 4, 10, 11, 17 & 18.

Another holiday classic at Universal also returns and the park is set to present Macy’s Holiday Parade. This is the 10^th year that giant balloons from Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade will make appearances in Orlando. Universal’s holiday celebrations begin Friday, Dec. 3 and will run through Jan. 1, 2012. The evening parade, which begins around 5 pm, will conclude with a special tree-lighting ceremony with Santa Clause.

In addition to extensive holiday decorations, Universal Studios will also present a number of special holiday themed stage shows and offer a Holiday Village with hot chocolate, roasted chestnuts and more.

At Universal’s other major park - Islands of Adventure - the popular, live “Grinchmas” show returns, featuring the one and only Grinch and various Whos from Who-Ville. Multiple performances of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” will be offered daily.

One of Orlando’s big 3 theme park giants is about to get bigger.

SeaWorld Orlando has announced plans to create two new attractions in 2012 and an entire new “land” with an Antarctic theme in 2013. The additions will mark the biggest expansion in SeaWorld’s history.

One new attraction, called TurtleTrek, will take guests on the life journey of a sea turtle. The attraction will include a pair or aquariums, one filled with manatees and the other filled with sea turtles. After passing through the aquariums, guests will enter a domed, 3-D theater where images of sea turtles will appear to swim around and above those guests.

A second new attraction will be Freshwater Oasis, an exciting new environment to be built at SeaWorld’s sister park, Discovery Cove. Guests can wade through a rainforest spring while small marmoset monkeys play in the surrounding canopy. Guests will then enter a faux sinkhole where they’ll have an opportunity to swim along with Asian river otters.

Each of the new attractions should be open by spring 2012. Meanwhile, SeaWorld also plans to open a completely new area of the park based on the continent of Antarctica. This area will replace the existing Penguin Plaza and allow guests to experience Antarctica through the eyes of a penguin.

Let the frights begin.Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios theme park kicks off Sept. 23 and the popular fright-fest will feature eight new haunted houses.

One of the new haunted houses is being billed by Universal as a 3-D house. Called The In-Between, the three-dimensional house will have a portal that leads to creatures from various nightmares.

Other haunted house themes include:

• Saws n’ Steam: Into the Machine
• Winter’s Night: the Haunting of Hawthorn Cemetery
• H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: Holidays of Horrors
• Nightingales: Blood Prey
• Nevermore: The Madness of Poe, based on the works of Poe
• The Forsaken, which involves Christopher Columbus’ cursed fourth ship.
• The Thing

In addition to haunted houses the park will present six new scare zones and two  live shows - “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure” and “Death Drums.”

Scarezone themes include Acid Assault; Canyon of Dark Souls; Grown Evil; NightMaze; Your Luck Has Run Out; and 7, featuring seven temptresses.

Halloween Horror Nights 21 is a special after-hours, separate-ticket event.

For more information, you can visit www.halloweenhorrornights.com/orlando.

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Get ready to Rock the Universe at Universal Studios Florida. The annual Christian music festival returns to Orlando’s popular theme park on September 9-10 with some of the biggest names in Christian rock.

The special separate ticket event runs from 4 pm til 1 am on Friday and Saturday. The lineup for Sept. 9 includes:

• Switchfoot
• David Crowder Band
• Anberlin
• Grits
• Family Force 5
• Rhema Soul
• Hyland

Scheduled performers for Sept. 10 include:

• Casting Crowns
• Third Day
• Relient K
• Red
• Tenth Ave North
• Brandon Heath
• Live Fish

Guests will also be able to enjoy the fun and excitement of Universal Studios’ thrill rides and attractions. The exciting Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster will also feature songs from many Christian bands during the event.
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Who says science can’t be fun! The Orlando Science Center is full of adventure for young and old, inspiring curiosity and exploration while stimulating the learning process through fun and intriguing exhibits.

With four floors of amazing exhibits, giant IMAX style movies, special exhibits and live shows, live animals and more, the Orlando Science Center appeals to virtually every interest.

Watch a live alligator feeding. See the life-sized dinosaur bones of a T-Rex. Experience the winds of a hurricane or the shaking of an earthquake. Sit in an airplane flight simulator. Or check out dozens of eccentric guitars in the new touring exhibit, “Guitar: The Instrument That Rocked the World.”

The exhibit on loan from the National Guitar Museum made its debut at the Orlando Science Center and will be on display until September 11. The 5,000 square foot exhibit explores the history and evolution of the guitar while examining the sound, science and cultural importance of the world’s most popular instrument. View historical artifacts, models, posters, video screens, and interactive elements.

Kimberly and Kelsie Baron will make a special concert appearance at the Orlando Science Center on Saturday, July 23. The contemporary folk duo, will meet fans at the exhibit at 11 a.m., followed by two appearances in the facility’s Darden Theater at 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. The live music celebration is included with regular admission.

For more information on the Orlando Science Center, visit www.osc.org/ or go to http://www.westgatereservations.com/ to learn about discount Orlando vacation packages.  

While visitors to Disney can enjoy a world of adventure, no trip to Orlando is complete without spending some time along the city’s famed International Drive.

The popular I-Drive area puts you close to six of the world’s best theme parks, including SeaWorld Orlando, Discovery Cove, Aquatica by SeaWorld, Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure and Wet ‘n Wild water park. But you’ll also find more than 100 hotels and resorts, nearly 500 designer, brand name and outlet stores, more than 150 restaurants, three entertainment complexes, movie theaters and the nation’s second largest Convention Center.

Stroll, or take the I-Ride Trolley, up and down International Drive and you’ll find something for everyone. Miniature golf, go-karts, the Titanic Museum, helicopter rides, indoor sky diving, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not…you’ll even find one of only two Ice Bars in the world.

You can watch the daily parade of ducks at the Peabody Orlando hotel. You can walk through an upside down building full of fun at WonderWorks. You can play championship golf at Shingle Creek. Or you can enjoy a true dinner adventure inside the giant galleon at Pirate’s Dinner Adventure. Or test your mental skills in trying to solve a murder at Sleuths Mystery Dinner Theater.

Enjoy 14 model railroad trains at Train Land International, a museum featuring trains traveling through an indoor garden with 12-foot high mountains, waterfalls and more than 30 trestles and tunnels.

Shop to your heart’s content at one of myriads shops, stores, boutiques and outlets.

There’s never a shortage of fun and adventure along International Drive. Be sure to spend a little time along I-Drive and discover some of central Florida’s other attractions.

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