About & Around: What is coming to Orlando this spring?

January and February are usually slow months for the Orlando theme parks. According to Steve Kirn, even though many consumers splurged this past Holiday Season many are going to watch what they spend for the next couple of months. I assume many consumers have some catching up to do on their expenses.

Because of this, many theme parks start their Florida Resident passes right after their Holiday season in hopes of getting locals to visit the parks. These passes include Walt Disney World’s 3-day Wild Pass, Sea-world Orlando’s Fun Card, or Busch Gardens Tampa Bay’s Fun Card. Disney has given Florida Residents an option this season with their 4 month pass: Residents can pay $99 for 3-days or pay $125 for 4-days into any Walt Disney World’s theme parks.

Many parks will not see an increase in attendance until the Spring Break season. Since our summer weather starts around this time, our spring break season starts in March and can go until Easter sometimes even until Memorial Day weekend. So for Florida Residents, now is a good time to go. However, many may want to wait to see the new attractions coming to the parks this spring.

Since tourism in the Central Florida area has become such a large part of our economy, many theme parks are upgrading or replacing rides and attractions in hopes of bring more people into their park this spring/summer season. These expansions include:

Universal Studies recently closed their Jaws attraction over the Holiday Season. A Universal employee told me that the ride would be replaced with a King-Kong themed water attraction. I find this puzzling because the King-Kong ride was replaced by the Mummy roller coaster over 5 years ago. Why would they bring it back?

Other updates include an all-new 3D attraction based on the Universal Studios film Despicable Me. You can find Minions running around Universal’s Main Street trying to start mayhem. Also, Island of Adventure’s The Amazing Adventure’s of Spiderman 3D is being updated for a new high-definition experience.

The 20^th Anniversary of Universal Studios Orlando Mardi Gras parade and concert series commenced with the B-52’s starting off the celebration. Other performers include: Kelly Clarkson, B.o.B., and KC & the Sunshine Band. The celebration continues through April.

Walt Disney World is ready to release Phase 1 of their newly expanded Fantasyland section of Magic Kingdom in May of 2012. This will include new attractions like Storybook Circus, Goofini Coaster, and dueling-Dumbo attractions. Phase 2 will be released later in 2012 and will include an Under the Sea attraction with Ariel and friends and the Be Our Guest Restaurant.

Sea-world Orlando will be releasing their state-of –the-art 3D/360 dome theater showcasing Turtle Trek. Discovery Cove will also open a new interactive Freshwater Oasis where you can come face-to-face with otters.