DELEWARE NORTH Park Services of Spaceport Inc.
appointed Daniel LeBlanc chief operating officer. Most recently,
LeBlanc served as vice president of operations and marketing. He
joined the company in 1996 as director of marketing. The concern
runs the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida for NASA.
IN RELATED NEWS, the film "Apollo 13: The IMAX
Experience" will hold its premiere today at the visitor complex. It
will be shown daily at 3:30 p.m. and is included in the admission
price. For information, call (321) 449-4400 or check the Web site
at www.kennedyspacecenter.com.
LUXURY TRAVEL EXPO attendees can take a
10-minute helicopter ride to view the new Grande Lakes Orlando
resort complex, set to open in July. Along for the ride will be
Bruce Seigel, director of marketing for the two hotels opening at
the complex -- a 1,000-room JW Marriott and a 584-room
Ritz-Carlton. The Luxury Travel Expo is slated for Dec. 11 and 12
at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, with the
helicopter rides operating from the convention center, Seigel said.
For information on the Grande Lakes Orlando resort complex, call
(407) 529-2223.
DELTA VACATIONS resumed sales of Walt Disney
World packages that include Disney-owned on-site properties. For
the past year, on-site hotels were not offered. As of Nov. 7, the
operator began offering 20 on-site hotels in packages involving
travel beginning Jan. 1. For information, call the operator at
(800) 221-6666 or check the Web site at www.deltavacations.com.
IN DAYTONA BEACH, the $250 million Ocean Walk
Village vacation and entertainment district opened another phase:
Ocean Walk Shoppes. The expansion includes a 10-screen movie
theater; a seafood restaurant themed after the movie "Forrest
Gump;" a Hawaiian-themed bar; and a southwestern-themed restaurant
and bar. Additional stores are slated to debut in December.
TWO ATTRACTIONS, meanwhile, were forced to
close because of falling attendance- JungleLand in Kissimmee and
Adventure Landing in Daytona Beach. JungleLand was a 7-acre
zoo-like park, with some 500 animals. Previously, it operated under
the name Alligatorland Safari Zoo. The 5-acre Adventure Landing was
a pirate-themed water park and entertainment center. It opened in
summer 1998 and later became a component of the Ocean Walk Village
complex
SAWGRASS MILLS, the state's largest shopping
mall devoted largely to outlet stores, will open a $50 million
educational and amusement center for children in spring 2004. The
center will teach them about the skills needed for adult
professions, such a pilot, a doctor and a firefighter. Grupo Magico
USA, an amusement park operator will build the area modeled after
City of Children in Mexico City. The Sunrise-based mall attracts
upwards of 25 million visitors a year, including many from abroad
and from other states. Admission to the center is expected to be
$15 to $20.
AIR BYTES
• AirTran on Jan. 7 will beef up its service to and from
Tallahassee. It will add one daily nonstop between Tallahassee and
Atlanta, bringing the total to three flights, and two nonstops
between Tallahassee and Tampa, bringing the total to five. Also,
three flights going to Tampa from Tallahassee will continue on to
Miami; there will be similar northbound service from Miami to
Tallahassee via Tampa. Most flights on these routes will be on
Canadair regional jets operated by Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp.,
doing business as AirTran JetConnect.
• Discover Air, an Orlando-based carrier, launched scheduled
charter service three times a week between Key West and Nassau,
Bahamas, using a 19-seat Jetstream aircraft. Service is offered
Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. One-way fares start at $99. The
airline pays 5% commission, uncapped. For information, call (888)
359-3247 or visit www.discoverair.com.