Halloween comes early to Orlando.  All of central Florida’s major theme park players offer frightening or fun Halloween activities.  From Disney’s fun-filled event to Universal’s annual fright-fest, there are plenty of Halloween happenings for everyone!

DISNEY:  Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party

Celebrate a most magical Halloween at Disney’s Magic Kingdom! Come in costume and trick-or-treat for candy and goodies with all of your favorite Disney Characters, all dressed in their finest Halloween outfits. With special entertainment, this not-so-scary party is no trick - it’s a real treat!

Event Highlights:

• Mickey’s “Boo-to-You” Halloween Parade
• Trick-or-treating throughout Magic Kingdom® Park at numerous locations.
• Happy HalloWishes fireworks spectacular - where the Disney Villains go trick-or-treating in the sky!
• Characters decked out in their favorite costumes - so wear yours, too.
• Some of the most popular Magic Kingdom attractions.

Event Dates:

September 19, 23, 26, 28, 30

October 2, 4, 7, 9, 13, 16, 19, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 30 (Oct. 31 sold out)
SEAWORLD ORLANDO:  Halloween Spooktacular

Enjoy an underwater fantasea at SeaWorld Orlando, where you can trick-or-treat with friendly sea witches, octopuses, mermaids, pumpkin fish and more.  Come in costume and play with sea fairies, learn from a “school” of fish or dance with an ice witch.

Event Highlights:

• Festivities are included with park admission and begin at 11 am
• Enjoy 15 “treasure stations” with treats galore
• Sesame Street “Countdown to Halloween” live musical stage show with Elmo, The Count and other Sesame Street pals
• Strolling Entertainment

Event Dates:

October 4-5, 11-12, 18-10, 24-26, 31

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS FLORIDA: Halloween Horror Nights

Nowhere to turn. Nowhere to hide.

On select nights in September, October, and November, come face to face with your deepest fears as Bloody Mary brings history’s most terrifying urban legends to life. Inside the haunted houses or on the darkened streets, there’s nowhere you’re safe in the most immersive horror experience ever. If you survive, you can experience it all - only at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, the country’s premier Halloween event.

Event Highlights:

• More Scare Zones
• More Scare Actors
• More haunted houses
• All new live shows

Event Dates:

September 26-27

October 2-5, 9-12, 16-19, 22-26, 29-31

November 1

Now’s it’s easier than ever to find your way around SeaWorld.

Shamu’s SMARTGUIDE is a Global Positioning System, “GPS unit” designed to help guests maximize their time at SeaWorld Orlando Adventure Park.  This informative electronic guide provides an interactive digital park map that will assist in navigating your way around the park, while providing ease and convenience in locating attractions and facilities.  The GPS unit can be reserved and rented from SeaWorld for just $18.25 (plus tax) per day. 

The Shamu SMARTGUIDE takes you on a world of discovery as you enjoy the ultimate in theme park navigation. Let Shamu’s SMARTGUIDE Global Positioning System provide you with quick answers to all your park questions; give you the inside scoop on shows and attractions; and offer special zoological insights on SeaWorld’s amazing wildlife and their unique habitats.

For additional information, stop by SeaWorld’s Information Counter just inside the park entrance.  Quantities are limited.  Park admission is required and not included.

Aquatica by SeaWorld, Orlando’s newest water park, has announced a change in operating hours.  From Aug. 18 to Sept. 1, 2008, the park’s closing time will be moved up from 10 pm to 9 pm.

In addition, the park will open for all individuals beginning at 9 am.

SeaWorld’s exciting new water park, Aquatica, is currently open until 10:00 p.m. seven days a week.Although the park’s summer operating hours are 9:00 am to 10:00 pm, if you purchase tickets in advance, you can receive early access to Aquatica starting at 8 a.m. In other words, come early and play late!

Typically, the park’s capacity decreases after 4 p.m., so you might also choose to come later in the day to enjoy cooler weather and faster ride access. For current updates on park capacity, you can call the Aquatica toll-free hotline at 1-866-787-4307.

Aquatica also offers quick access to refreshments that will curb your appetite during a fun-filled day at the park.  Too busy to take time out for a full lunch…then stop by the “grab and go” Mango Market for a quick bite or refreshing beverage.  The Mango Market will even pack your meal in a picnic basket for you to take back and spread out on the beach or under a shady tree.

When spending a full day at SeaWorld, you can definitely work up a hunger.  But now you can eat and drink all day long at SeaWorld, Busch Gardens or Aquatica - for one low price!

Purchase an all day dining wrist band at any of the SeaWorld parks and every time you go thru a food line, you can receive an entrée, one side or dessert and one soft drink or 20 oz. Aquafina water - meaning you’ll never go hungry…or thirsty!

Cost of the dining wrist band is $25.95 per adult and $11.95 per child.  Each purchase is for one day only so while it is good at multiple parks, the band must be used within one day.

Busch Entertainment Corp. recently announced new ticket prices that include a $2 increase in the basic ticket rate for SeaWorld Orlando but deep discounts in multipark deals available to Florida residents for SeaWorld,  Aquatica and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.

The price of a basic one-day, one-park ticket to SeaWorld is now $69.95, up from $67.95. Busch also increased the prices of basic tickets to Aquatica (to $41.95), Busch Gardens (to $67.95) and Adventure Island in Tampa (to $37.95).

At the same time, Busch cut the price of multi-park packages that target Florida residents. The two-park, two-day ticket that allows guests to pick from among SeaWorld, Aquatica, Busch Gardens and Adventure Island is now $79.95, a 20 percent decrease from the previous price. Likewise, the three-park, three-day tickets for SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Aquatica and Adventure Island are now available for $119.95, an 11 percent rollback.

What’s better than a full day of fun at SeaWorld Orlando?  How about extending your visit with a SeaWorld AfterDark Adventure Tour!

The 5-hour AfterDark Adventure Tours are behind-the-scenes walking tours of the park.  Tours begin early evening (5 pm or 6 pm) and highlights include front-of-line access to the parks two signature thrill rides, Kraken and Journey to Atlantis.  You’ll also enjoy reserved seating at two of SeaWorld’s amazing night shows.

The tour, available only to guests over the age of 21, includes a delicious dinner and a visit to the Brewmaster’s Club within the park’s Hospitality Center to sample the tasty portfolio of Anheuser-Busch beers.

Summer is here and it’s never too early to beat the heat at SeaWorld’s exciting new water park, Aquatica!

Stated summer hours at Aquatica at 9 am til 10 pm for the general public.  However, effective immediately, guests arriving with pre-purchased tickets will be guaranteed entrance as early at 8 am - providing an extra hour of wet and wonderful fun.

Both kiosks and ticket windows will be open at 8 am to transfer vouchers for admission.

Aquatica, conveniently located adjacent to SeaWorld Orlando,  is Central Florida’s newest adventure water park…offering guests a variety of up close animal experiences, high speed thrills, sandy beaches and waters from the  serene to the extreme!  With 36 water slides, six rivers and lagoons, and more than 80,000 square feet of beach area, Aquatic provides myriad attractions that zoom, float and splash guests through amazing animal habitats and undersea adventures!

Winding rivers throughout Aquatica offer two different journeys.  One river carries guests through gentle waterfalls, past exotic birds and into an undersea grotto with thousands of colorful fish.  The other river offers more intense thrills, jetting riders through rolling rapids, rushing geysers and racing waters!

SeaWorld Orlando has announced the next generation of SeaWorld thrills with Manta - a new mega-attraction designed to seamlessly  transition guests from the awe of encountering rays in underwater flight…into the sensation of being one.  Swooping over sea and sky, Manta will inspire riders with amazing underwater animal habitats, then soar them face down, in a horizontal position, aboard a manta-inspired flying coaster.  The new signature ride is scheduled to open summer 2009.

Guests will enter a mythical village filled with artisan-created engravings and artwork that celebrate ray legend and lore.  The queue line winds through caverns with floor to ceiling windows to huge aquariums filled with 300 rays, as well as thousands of fish and mysterious sea creatures from oceans around the world such as sea dragons and sea horses.  Shark rays, spotted eagles rays, leopard rays, cownose rays and oscillate river rays will all float past and above.

Once guests traverse the fun-filled queue line, they’ll fly face down, in a horizontal position, underneath the belly of a coaster train shaped as a giant manta.  With a wing span of 12 feet, the giant manta will soar over a 16,300 square foot lagoon - swooping and diving at nearly 60 mph, through four inversions on 3, 359 feet of track.  The manta sails from sky to sea - at a height of up to 140 feet and a drop of 113 feet - with the manta’s wings nearly skimming the waves below.

SeaWorld Orlando has announced plans to build a new state-of-the-art thrill ride to open sometime in 2009.  Designed to be the theme park’s new signature attraction, the ride incorporates animal components, marine-life components and roller coaster style thrills that provide a sensation of gliding

The ride is expected to become a bold new focal point for the theme park’s entrance as well as become the park’s anchor attraction.  Few details about the ride, including the name, have yet to be announced.  However, the ride will combine entertainment with marine-life education.

The announcement of the new ride comes on the heels of the recent grand opening of Orlando’s newest water park – Aquatica by SeaWorld.