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WonderWorks Orlando began as a Top Secret research laboratory on a remote island in the Bermuda Triangle. As legend has it, the world’s greatest scientists – led by Professor Wonder – were given the task of creating a man-made tornado and harnessing the POWER of it. During this experiment, something went awry and the power of the tornado was unleashed throughout the laboratory. This created a swirling vortex that was strong enough to rip the laboratory from its foundation. It was carried thousands of miles away and landed upside-down on the top of a brick warehouse in Orlando, Florida. Remarkably, all of the experiments remained intact and functional. When you enter the building, everything will be upside-down, so in order to participate in the fun, you must be inverted. Step inside the inversion tunnel and be turned right side up to begin your journey. Once you are properly aligned for your adventure, family fun awaits with more than 100 hands on exhibits. Make WonderWorks a stop on your Things to Do list when visiting Orlando. The Outta Control Dinner Show Expect to be impressed with the Magic and Comedy of professional entertainer Tony Brent. Entertaining audiences for over fifteen years, Tony Brent combines a mixture of amazing magic, impersonations and high-energy improvisational comedy during his award winning show. Minds will be read, predictions will come true, and audience members' personal items will vanish and re-appear. The Outta Control Dinner Show provides one-of-a-kind entertainment experience to the Orlando area with non-stop audience paricipation. The crowds don't just watch the show, they become part of it. Guests to the show receive table side service with unlimited fresh hand-tossed cheese and pepperoni pizza, salad, popcorn and unlimited beer, wine, soda and dessert.
Our first stop is the world famous Rock and Roll hot spot, “Guitar Center” located on the legendary Sunset Blvd. Guitar Center is the nucleus of the Rock & Roll World with hand prints in concrete and bronze plaques of all the music greats. Next we arrive at the one and only “Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame.” This is the “Center of Hollywood” where you have ample time to visit the Kodak Theater (Dolby Theater) & Chinese Theater (homes of the Oscars with movie stars handprints forever in concrete) as well as the stunningly ornate Roosevelt Hotel where stars and famous people are often seen having lunch; the Hollywood Wax Museum; Ripley’s Believe It or Not; Madame Tussauds; American Cinematheque & Egyptian Theater. Stars such as Tom Cruise, Madonna, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez, Jack Nicholson and so many others live in the magnificent mansions throughout this area and are seen regularly. Romantically stroll along Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame with the stars at your feet; find your favorite star and take a photo. You also have a wonderful view of the iconic “Hollywood Sign” from the Patio of the Kodak Theater. Don’t forget to pick up a souvenir at one of the many gift shops in this area. Most of our time is spent in the wonderful Hollywood Blvd., area but we still see great views of many famous film locations, the Landmark Biltmore Hotel, Magic Castle, Hollywood United Methodist Church, Warner Brothers Studios & Soundstages, Walt Disney Studios, where most of the classic animated movies were made such as Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, Mary Poppins, Armageddon & the Pirates of the Caribbean, to mention only a few. We also see Pixar Entertainment and ABC Studios alongside Disney. Welcome to Hollywood, the Movie, Music and “Movie Star” capitol of the world! You will love this fun and fascinating day touring through the Hollywood Hills of Southern California! What to Wear Hiking or athletic walking shoes Temperatures are cooler from October – February, so long pants and a warm jacket are appropriate March – September temperatures are warm where shorts, hats, and a light shirt are comfortable
Shearwater is a classic Newport-style schooner yacht, only recently recognized as a national landmark in 2009. The vessel was built by Rice Brother Corporation in East Boothbay, Maine, back in a time when yachting was a rare combination of elegance and adventure; Rice Bros. were well known for building luxury pleasure yachts and produced some 4,000 hulls over a period of 64 years. The keel was laid down on January 4, 1929 and a news clip from the Boothbay Register reflects alongside a photograph "Tyler Hodgon at the old Tide Mill is getting out timbers for the schooner to be built at Rice’s. Vessel to be built of native white oak." Traditionally built from hand-hewn native white oak, she was the last boat to be constructed at that yard - likely due to the ensuing Great Depression brought on by the Stock Market Crash that occurred later that autumn. East Boothbay was a small coastal town with shipbuilding being its only industry. About 40 workmen were employed for the construction of SHEARWATER. Her designer Theodore Donald Wells was born in Hudson Falls, N Y on October 22, 1875. He was a naval architect and marine engineer, a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and also the Institute of Naval Architects London. His education included post-graduate work at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He began his career as a member of the firm Herreshoff and Wells, N. Y. City in 1902. Working with Herreshoff no doubt had an influence on his designs, which bear similarities to many of the famous Herreshoff designed yachts of that time. From 1903 to 1907 he worked for Wintringham and Wells and then began practicing his profession under his own name. Mr. Wells joined the Navy Department in March 1917 and became Superintending Constructor of the Baltimore District U. S. N. Notable yachts designed and constructed under his supervision are "Viking" a 272 foot steel motor yacht built for George F. Baker in 1929 by Newport News and "Karina" a three masted schooner built for Robert E. Tod in 1932 by Staten Island Shipbuilding. Mr. Tod was a well-known offshore yachtsman as was his former yacht ‘Thistle", which competed in the Emperors Cup ocean race. SHEARWATER was launched on May 4, 1929 and photographs in the Boothbay Register reflect her graceful and elegant lines. Her first Captain, Leon Esterbrook of Edgarton, MA, arrived to take charge of the fitting out. Her owner Charles E Dunlap was a member of the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, Oyster Bay, NY and this became SHEARWATER’s first homeport after her completion in late September 1929. It was there in Oyster Bay that she first started to thrill those who sailed in luxury aboard her and those who were privileged to crew her on race day. Since her launching and documentation in Lloyd’s Register of American Yachts in 1929, she has had a colorful history and has been carefully maintained and restored to standards that few contemporary vessels are able to match and is truly a piece of American Maritime History. On November 7, 1942 SHEARWATER was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration and became a member of The United States Coast Guard’s Coastal Picket Patrol during World War Two. She was painted gray and bore the numbers CG67004. Based at Little Creek, Virginia she patrolled the waters east of the Chesapeake Bay entrance and south towards Cape Hatteras. Her skipper during that period reflected on how they used their free time while out on submarine patrol to race against other yachts and in his own words "sailed in tandem with the schooner Lord Jim, racing in and out of port, up and down the east coast and winning." She was designed and built as a gaff rigged schooner but during this period was changed to a Marconi rig. She carries over 2,550 square feet while under full sail. A true veteran world cruiser, she first transited the Panama Canal in July 1946 and in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s completed a two and a half-year global circumnavigation. In December 1971 Mrs. John B. Thayer of Rosemont, wife of a former trustee and treasurer, donated SHEARWATER to the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute of Environmental Medicine. She was used by the university as a laboratory for research on physiological responses to the stresses of living and working underwater. Captained by James Shearson, she was fitted with compressors, generators, monitoring instruments and a small decompression chamber. She has participated in many Ancient Mariner and Classic yacht races in U S waters as well as racing in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand while on her circumnavigation in the early 1980’s. It is rumored she was once dismasted in the famous Newport to Bermuda race. She was last raced by the current owners in San Diego in May 1995 in the American Schooner Cup and finished second overall. She entered the yacht charter industry in 1966 whilst on the West Coast sailing to the Channel Islands and was again used to generate income to keep her shipshape while owned by the University of Pennsylvania. During the chartering industry’s infancy in the Caribbean, SHEARWATER was known as the " Queen of the Fleet". Today she continues this tradition offering the most unique sailing experience and has passed rigid Coast Guard inspections and can carry up to 49 passengers. We welcome you to join us for an excellent opportunity to experience the ambiance of a vintage sailing vessel while delighting in the splendors of The Manhattan sky-line, the Statue of Liberty or the beauty of the oceans beyond.
SKYDECK CHICAGO At 1,353 feet and 110 stories above the streets of downtown Chicago, The Ledge at the Willis Tower (formerly known as Sears Tower) Skydeck will transform any visitor's--or local's for that matter--experience with the Windy City. In January 2009, Willis Tower owners began a major renovation of the beloved Skydeck, which originally opened in 1974, and served as a premier tourist attraction throughout the skyscraper's tenure as the Sears Tower. When ownership changed hands, the fresh blood added a fresh look--and adrenaline rush--to the 103rd floor in the form of retractable glass balconies extending about 4 feet over Wacker Drive and the Chicago River below. Still the 8th tallest building in the world, and the absolute tallest in the Western Hemisphere, Willis Tower's Skydeck draws 1.5 million people a year who are eager to ascend the 110-story, 1,454 foot (443 meter) building for awesome panoramic views of the city and surrounding countryside. Your journey to the top of the Willis Tower starts with a walk through an airport-style metal detector, followed by a slow elevator ride down to the waiting area where visitors queue for tickets. A sign will tell you how long you'll have to wait to get up high; this is a good time to confirm the visibility. Even days that seem sunny can have upper-level haze that limits the view. On good days, however, you can see for 40 to 50 miles (64 to 80 kilometers), as far as the states of Indiana, Michigan. Iowa, and Wisconsin. While you wait, you can watch a film about Willis Tower factoids. Then you'll wait a little longer before the ear-popping, 70 second elevator ride up to the 103rd floor deck. From here, the entire city stretches below, and you can see exactly how Chicago is laid out. Willis Tower, Skydeck, and The Ledge Fast Facts The hundreds of forehead prints visitors left behind each week on Skydeck windows served as this inspiration for The Ledge. The Ledge boxes can each bear about 4-1/2 metric tons of weight, and adventurers who trust that statistic enough to prove it can often be found jumping and bounding around the entirely translucent enclosures as Chicago's heavy traffic and infrastructure bustle below. The Ledge’s glass panels weight 1,500 pounds apiece, and each box is comprised of three layers of half-inch thick glass laminated into one seamless unit. In addition to serving 1.3 million tourists per year in its 4.5+ million square feet of space, Willis Tower is home to more than 100 companies, including prominent law, insurance, transportation, and financial services. The Ledge's glass boxes retract into the Skydeck main floor for easy maintenance, probably mostly cleaning off the 974 dead birds that must fly into them every month. The Moonwalk is the most popular dance performed on The Ledge, followed closely by the Running Man. Riverdance clocks in at a distant third. Bringing people who are afraid of heights to The Ledge is not recommended, unless you are mean-spirited or really don't like them. In which case, you should probably just take them here. Willis Tower was known as Sears Tower for decades, until the 30th anniversary of Diff'rent Strokes, at which point it was rightfully renamed SHEDD AQUARIUM EXHIBITS UNDERWATER BEAUTY – A SPECIAL EXHIBIT Our living world is full of wonder. Celebrate with us the unbelievable beauty living in our oceans, lakes and rivers in a new special exhibit at Shedd Aquarium: Underwater Beauty. Get a glimpse of the grandeur beneath the waves as 100 species from around the world come together in an evocative new space. What is beauty? Spark your curiosity as you see all the ways beauty moves and coexists. Watch sea jellies pulse, eels ribbon and a rainbow come alive with reef fishes. Feel the rhythms, embrace the colors and savor the patterns found only underwater. Experience a world worth celebrating – and saving. AMPHIBIANS! Get ready for a toadally ribbiting experience! Shedd’s new special exhibit, Amphibians, hops into the aquarium May 16 and is included with admission. In Amphibians, you’ll meet 40 species of frogs, salamanders and rarely seen caecilians. Learn how amphibians’ lives are full of change, from their life cycles to their adaptations to live in nearly every environment on Earth. Find out how too much change can spell trouble for amphibians — and how you can help them cope with big changes in our world today! Waters of the World Travel the world in 80 habitats. Dive into Oceans, from coastal kelp forests to the seafloor. Explore the self-contained ecosystems of Islands and Lakes. Visit Rivers—big and small—and learn more about our local waters in the new At Home on the Great Lakes exhibit. Meet hundreds of amazing animals, from tiny mantella frogsto a a giant octopus, from a Grand Cayman blue iguana to Nile knifefish, and from moon jellies to sea stars. We even have map turtles, in case you get lost. Caribbean Reef Take a 360-degree tour of an underwater reef community. Follow a green sea turtle. Peek at a moray eel in a rocky crevice. Watch regal rays glide by. Get eye-to-eye with parrot fish and sharks. Visit Caribbean Reef, Shedd’s award-winning 90,000-gallon circular habitat in the grand rotunda. Amazon Rising Take an exotic journey in the Amazon, home to one-third of all living things. Watch out for anacondas and piranhas, spiders, rays and a camouflaged caiman. In churning river channels, still lakes and even flooded treetops look for tetras, turtles and fruit-eating fish called tambaqui. See how the region’s animals, plants and people adapt to the water’s dramatic annual rise and fall. Abbott Oceanarium The Abbott Oceanarium immerses you in the vibrant coastal ecosystem of beluga whales, Pacific white-sided dolphins, sea otters and sea lions. You’ll also find a host of fishes and invertebrates that make their homes where freshwater flows into the ocean or where tides turn seascapes to landscapes and back again each day. Use our self-guided map to discover how animals are linked to each other, their homes and you. Polar Play Zone Kids have a place at Shedd that they can call their own—Polar Play Zone. It’s cool as ice and twice as nice! The penguins think so, too. Play! Splash! Pretend! What would you like to be? A sleek sliding penguin? A deep-sea explorer? How about both? In Polar Play Zone, you can slip into a penguin suit and try being a bird in the Icy South play area. From there, head to the Icy North to explore the belugas’ Arctic waters in a kid-sized submarine. Don’t forget to shake hands—or is it arms?—with colorful sea stars in the touch pools. In Polar Play Zone, you’ll learn about polar opposites—big and small, fast and slow, shallow and deep, even north and south—while you play. The Oceanarium Aquatic Presentation is included however based on available seating and remaining show times at the time of guest arrival. (2018 Aquatic Presentation Schedule) Stingray Touch (seasonal experience) is included. Open late May through October. 4D Experience is not included however the 4D experience tickets may be purchased at the theatre for $3.00 per -person
Grand Holland Tour Highlights 2,5 hour Guided Tour in Rotterdam, Delft & The Hague including Madurodam Madurodam, the highlights of Holland with famous miniature city landmarks, buildings, landscapes in a 1:25 scale Photo stop at the Binnenhof , the oldest House of Parliament still in use Explore Noordeinde Palace, the active palace of King Willem-Alexander A walkthrough of one of the last remaining Delftware factories with the typical Dutch blue and white ceramics A chance to see the Euromast tower , the largest building in the city at 185 meter tall Ticket Includes Deluxe coach from Amsterdam Central Station Live Guide in English, Spanish & German Fast-Track Admission to Euromast Admission to the miniature town of Madurodam Admission to the Delft Blue Factory The Hague Walking tour Ticket Excludes Food And Drinks Hotel Pick Up
Despite being vast geographically, most people on vacation in Orlando tend to eat, play, shop and stay in four key areas. For your convenience, you will find most Eat and Play Card participating merchants in these same areas: - International Drive - Kissimmee - Disney/Lake Buena Vista - Universal Studios/CityWalk Orlando has scores of terrific restaurants to match every taste and budget. Eat and Play Card participating restaurants are located right where you are – so there’s no need to go looking and you’ll never have to drive very far. For instance: - For tasty and wildly popular American food, nothing compares to TGIFriday's - Meat lovers can savor the tender ribs at Tony Roma's or succulent chicken at Buffalo Wild Wings - Refuel fast at the world's largest entertainment McDonald's and playplace or grab the "world's greatest hamburger at Fuddruckers - If Italian food is your thing, try the culinary delights of Ciao Italia or Pacino's - Start your day right, with a hardy breakfast at Denny's or Shoney’s AND MANY MORE... While many visitors start their trip at Disney, Universal or SeaWorld, there’s so much more to see and do. For instance, you can: - Get up close and personal with a giant white alligator at Gatorland, the "alligator capital of the world" - See all of Orlando, spend a day on the beaches of Cocoa Beach or Miami or visit Kennedy Space Center on a bus tour with Gray Line Tours. If your timing is right, you may see even a Space Shuttle launch! - Play the biggest and wildest mini-golf courses you've ever seen at Hawaiian Rumble - but watch out for the exploding volcanoes! - Visit crazy and fun attractions like WonderWorks or Ripley's Believe it or Not! - Zip past wild gators in the Everglades on an airboat with Ultimate Airboat Tours - Parasail, wakeboard, go tubing and more at Sammy Duvall's Watersport Center AND MANY MORE... Don’t forget about shopping! Orlando was recently named America’s #4 shopping destination and with so many outlet malls, it’s no wonder. Eat and Play Card makes shopping more fun and affordable than ever with great discounts at major retailers like: - Macy's - Reebok Outlet Stores - Neiman Marcus Last Call Orlando is a golfer’s paradise with one of the country’s highest per capita number of golf courses. And for people looking to sneak in a round or two, Eat and Play Card has you covered. While many courses are a fair distance from most of Orlando’s hotels, we’ve chosen two of the best for quality and convenience. - Celebration Golf Course, ranked amongst the country’s top 25 public courses - Falcon's Fire Golf Course, awarded four stars by Golf Digest See all of our currently participating partners Download the new app. It includes information on the restaurants included and is very easy to use! Android Apple iOS
