The show’s space is filled with buyers, sellers and browsers amid exhibits populated with a range of creative and technical products, from safety restraints and water filters to roller coasters and virtual reality.

Some vendors at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions event go flashy with attention-getting devices. Others present a more businesslike demeanor with high-ceilinged conference rooms, plush carpeting and perhaps a cocktail party.

On track

A bigger-than-life Hot Wheels car is a showstopper at the Chase Rides booth. It’s part of a the Hot Wheels Twin Mill Race, a roller coaster that’s destined for Mattel Adventure Park, an attraction opening next year near Phoenix.

“You have this great acceleration and then it goes straight into a loop. And then you have loops and overbank turns and other features that give it that excitement that makes you feel like you’re on a Hot Wheels track,” Chase President and CEO Aaron Landrum said. “You feel like ‘I’m actually in a Hot Wheels car.’”

Chase’s rides will be adjacent to the pink-hot Barbie market and, thus, the Barbie Dream House at the park.

“We’re so excited to see the Mattel brand come to light in a consolidated large focused area,” Landrum said.

Chase is involved with two other rides for the new park, including a train ride based on Thomas the Train.

‘The big show’

From second-level windows in the members lounge, Michael Shelton sees flashing lights of activity on the expo floor. Shelton, vice president and executive director of IAAPA North America, said it’s the first truly sold-out show of the pandemic era.

“We have 75 companies on the waiting list to get in,” he said.

The first day was packed with corporate announcements and attendees gathered elbow-to-elbow to eye new products such as future coaster cars.

“This is the big show. This is the one time a year they have the biggest audience from our industry, and it’s their chance if they have something new to tell the world and it’ll get the most attention,” Shelton said. “They’re very proud of the products they build and we want to give them that platform.”

The trend he sees: Artainment, as in art plus entertainment.

“It’s really ornate and creative and experiential. Those are things that we’re seeing as very popular in our industry right now,” Shelton said. “Even those amusement rides are becoming very interactive and storybook. So you ride a coaster. … now there’s a little story to it. It’s all about the experience and character building and all those types of things.”

Telling a story

Andrew Jacobs, chief commercial officer of Lake Mary-based accesso, lists storytelling as a priority of the company’s booth, even though it doesn’t have big props or rides on display.

“We think about the floor coverings, we think about the textures, we think about the environment, what kind of wood. … You think about the flowers and think about the lights,” Jacobs said. “So it’s storytelling. Everything we do, storytelling.”

“We’re getting visitors into our corner of the IAAPA world here. We want them to enjoy it. We want them to have a comfortable time thinking about trade shows or spending all day standing, all day talking,” he said. “So we have to have places to sit that are comfortable.”

Then, after being lured in by storytelling and design details, they can talk business.

“Details, I think, is what takes the visit up into a guest experience,” said Valery Gooch, marketing manager. “When our clients come in our booth, what I want them to feel is what they provide to their own guests.”

And yet, in one of those IAAPA moments, across the aisle from accesso stands an animatronic dinosaur with bubbles coming out of its mouth.

Not a wash out

There are IAAPA exhibitors set up in the parking lot. The weather has been decidedly un-Sunshine State: gray for two days. It doesn’t bother Ben Young, a co-owner of FoamMaster, which is blowing suds around.

“We’re out here because we actually wanted to show what it looks like in real-world conditions,” he said. “People are able to see that and the wind kind of helps. Like, they see OK, yeah. It blows, but it’s kind of cool. It’s fun.”

It draws attention from other vendors in “backyard markets,” Young said.

“The foam party industry has grown a lot in the past few years. So a lot of the inflatable providers are finding their clients are asking if they do foam,” he said.

During the rainy times, he just stayed under the FoamMasters tent.

“It’s a water activity, anyways,” he said.

Bowling for dollars

Toilet Bowl Toss is sort of like a short-course Skee-Ball game with an open-lid toilet on the end. It’s a product of Bay Tek Entertainment, which introduced the activity to its lines of other arcade-type games in October, said Lauren Perlberg, marketing manager.

There are six of the toilet games on the floor at IAAPA.

“Obviously, toilet humor is a little bit different. It doesn’t go over well with a lot of people,” Perlberg said. “But it does resonate with the younger audiences.”

It’s a single-player game, but can be multiplayer, she said.

“Everyone comes in there, grabs handfuls and is tossing into the toilet,” she said.

The catch phrase: Rule the throne. Bay Tek gave away thumb-sized plungers as a promotion during IAAPA.

dbevil@orlandosentinel.com

Cosmic Rewind, which opened this spring, is an indoor roller coaster with a storyline that swings through outer space and is set to a pop-music soundtrack. Bermuda Storm, a motion-simulator attraction at Chimelong Spaceship theme park in Zhuhai, China, also was recognized in the attraction division.

SeaWorld’s Yas Island in Abu Dhabi won in the indoor marine park category.

Other outstanding achievement winners were Disney Encanto x CAMP in New York (retail experience, limited budget), Mussikkfabrikken Hunderfossen at Hunderfossen Eventyrpark in Norway (attraction, limited budget), Geneva Journey of Switzerland (live spectacular), Deutschlandmuseum of Berlin (museum attraction, limited budget), “Le Mime et L’Etoile” at Puy De Fou in France (live show), Titanic Belfast of Northern Ireland (visitor experience re-envisioned, limited budget), Johnnie Walker Princes Street in  Edinburgh, Scotland (brand experience), Aura: The Forest at the Edge of the Sky in Haikou, China (immersive mall experience), Peaky Blinders: The Rise at Camden Stables Market of London (live interactive experience), Colored (Noire) of Centre Georges in Paris (extended reality exhibit) and Eatrenalin of Europa-Park in Germany (experiential dining attraction).

Individuals recognized include Su Zhigang, chairman and CEO of Chimelong Group, for the Buzz Price Award; Paul C. Hutton, principal and director of Regenerative Design at Cuningham for the Thea Catalyst Award, and David Green and Lisa Passamonte Green of Visual Terrain for the Peter Chernack Distinguished Service Award.

Liseberg, an amusement park in Gothenburg, Sweden, received the Thea Classic Award.

Winners will be honored at a gala in Hollywood, California, in March. IAAPA Expo at Orange County Convention Center continues through Friday.

dbevil@orlandosentinel.com

Radar is a weekly digest of theme park news and notions. It appears on OrlandoSentinel.com on Wednesdays.

Mrs. Claus stirs things up

SeaWorld Orlando has sprinkled some new elements into its Christmas celebration, which is now underway on select evenings. Among the additions is “Mrs. Claus’ Magic Kitchen,” a stage show in Seaport Theater.

“You get a sneak peek into the culinary habits of the Clauses,” said John Minneci, manager for entertainment. In the story, “Mrs. Claus is getting all into social media. She wants to be the next TikTok trend.”

The plot involves her doing a video shoot on how to make the cookies that Santa loves most, he said.

“At the end, we learned a little lesson about how Mrs. Claus does her magic,” Minneci said.

It’s SeaWorld’s first holiday season with Pipeline, the roller coaster that opened this spring. The park is divided into “seas,” and the area around the ride has been designated Sea of Memories. The pathway is lined with trees decorated to represent different decades of holiday traditions, Minneci said.

“We took a lot of inspiration just from the ride itself,” he said. “The ride has a kind of retro vintage kind of vibe.”

Orlando theme parks: 10 things we’re thankful for in 2023

Among the holiday holdovers at SeaWorld are “O Wondrous Night,” “Elmo’s Christmas Wish Show,” a Christmas parade in Sesame Street Land, “Winter Wonderland On Ice,” the Sea of Trees display and the “Holiday Reflections” fireworks show.

The Christmas Market has moved into the Wild Arctic area.

“One thing that we really wanted to do this year was kind of elevate the theming of the seas that you see in the park. … Each one [sea] has a different theme based on the different holiday feeling, and it’s been like that for years,” Minneci said.

“What we wanted to do is really find ways that we could still enhance that and make sure that our guests know what those feelings are. So you’ll see a little bit more, you’ll see some signage, you’ll see some decor that kind of really helps tell the story of each land,” he said.

For dates and showtimes, go to SeaWorldOrlando.com or use the park’s official app.

Getting Very Merry

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is back in full swing at Magic Kingdom. It’s a hot ticket again: 17 of the 29 nights have sold out already. And beware, every night was a sell-out in 2023.

Here are notes taken from opening night.

• Among the new offerings: A boy band called the Collective 5ive performs pop holiday songs on the Rockettower Plaza Stage in Tomorrowland. A three-piece country-western group called Reindeer Wranglers was in the streets of Frontierland. Most visibly, “Frozen Holiday Surprise” (Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, castle projections) kicks off the event at the base of Cinderella Castle.

• Some attractions have mild holiday makeovers. A surprise: From the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, you get a red-and-green lit glance of Space Mountain and its rockin’ soundtrack. As we passed by, we got a look at the whole attraction in moody blue/black lighting.

• If you thought you’d be the only one there in pajamas, you’d be wrong headed. Folks have shifted into holiday dressing mode for the event, although we can probably agree that flannel in Florida is pushing the season.

• Things I had forgotten about in “Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration”: Clarabelle cow doing her best Mariah Carey and making a cowbell joke, Daisy Duck’s song about texting, Mickey Mouse breaking into a version of the Carlton.

• Very Merry begins at 7 p.m., although ticketholders can enter at 4 p.m. There can be a rush at the turnstiles for the event and to get the required wristband. A workaround for annual passholders: Go in through “regular” gates (you’ll need reservations on Saturdays or Sundays still) and get banded inside.

Mr. Gold standard

Mr. Gold has moved into Legoland Florida. He’s a sought-after minifig that the Winter Haven theme park uses to encourage interaction between visitors and employees (a k a model citizens or MCs.)

“Every day, some of our team will have a Mr. Gold,” said Kelly Hornick, head of marketing and communication. “Some days, there’ll be multiples, you don’t know who has it. It could be me, it could be the park president, it could be the ride operator.

Mr. Gold has been a staple at Legoland California and is popular with annual passholders. But anyone can just ask a worker if they have Mr. Gold.

“If we have Mr. Gold, which is a pop badge with Mr. Gold on it, we’ll give it to the kid and then the family gets to go up to guest services and get some really awesome prizes,” Hornick said. “The prizes, honestly, will change throughout the days. … But they’ll always be something really fun and new for the kids and for the families to do.”

There are consolation prizes too.

“For those of us who aren’t lucky enough to be Mr. Gold for the day – even though we’ll get asked about 40 times a day now when we are around the park – we have more pot badges and fun things just to give the kids for being brave enough to talk to the grown-ups and take the time to chat with us,” Hornick said.

First look: Disney Jollywood Nights debuts at Hollywood Studios

Weekend outlook

• Island H2O Water Park’s new Holiday Nights show, featuring light presentations, live entertainment, family activities and a holiday market, starts Nov. 15 and continues on select nights through Dec. 31.

• The Dinos in Lights holiday show is now playing at Orlando Science Center through Jan. 9.

• The Santa Workshop Experience is now open at Icon Park. St. Nick is scheduled for appearances through Dec. 24.

• Gaylord Palms’ “ICE” exhibit based on “A Charlie Brown Christmas” begins Friday and runs daily through Jan. 3.

• Universal Orlando’s holiday celebration, including a parade and Grinchmas festivities, launches Friday and goes through Dec. 31.

• The movie for Saturday’s Beach Nights event at Aquatica water park is 2018’s “The Grinch.”

• At Walt Disney World, the new Disney Jollywood Nights event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is sold out for Saturday but tickets are available for Nov. 20. At Magic Kingdom, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is sold out through Nov. 22 and at least seven other dates.

• The final day of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival is Saturday.

What’s on your radar? Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com.

The traveling attraction is the dream-turned-reality of a Knoxville-based couple who saw room to improve with other family events they visited.

“My wife and I have three children. We’ve been to children’s events around the country. We went to one event and thought that it could have been so much better; that it didn’t capture the magic of being a child,” said Patrick Mines, who co-founded the event with his wife, Lauren. “We started brainstorming and ended up landing on unicorns.”

The immersive experience puts children and families into an enchanted forest with animatronic unicorns before leading out into areas with arts and crafts, unicorn stables, a ball pit, a bounce house village and more.

In the last year, Unicorn World has traveled to 18 cities across the United States, and the reception has been greater than Mines had ever expected.

“There are so many people out there, children and adults alike, who love unicorns,” he said. “The response has been bigger than we thought. We stumbled upon this whole mythical, magical unicorn desire that was out there.”

While the event is targeted toward children ages 2-10 and their families, the event organizers have found broader appeal among some adults and seniors as well.

“I think this gives people a big break from their daily lives to come out and be a kid again,” Mines said. “It’s been cool to see people’s enthusiasm for it.”

Whether it’s indulging in arts and crafts, playing in the ball pit or meeting fairies and exploring myriad photo ops, the attraction aims to help visitors leave reality behind and find themselves inside another land.

“We want to make it an immersive experience where you are transported to another place and feel like you’re in a different realm,” Mines said. “We’re creating a story where people can leave the regular world and get lost in a fun world for a little bit.”

If you go

Unicorn World is open from 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Nov. 18 and 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Nov. 19 at 9860 Universal Blvd. in Orlando. Timed-entry tickets are available online for $39 per adult and children ages 2-17 (before taxes and fees). Children younger than 2 years old enter for free. Unlimited passes are available as an add-on, granting unlimited access to bounce houses and unicorn rides. For more information, visit theunicornworld.com.

Find me @PConnPie on Instagram or send me an email: pconnolly@orlandosentinel.com.

The design, as previously announced, is snowmobile-inspired.

“This is the lead car. It’s a snowmobile. You’re in Antarctica. And it’s all in the details upfront. The ski with a spring has nothing to do with the ride; it’s just a detail,” Rob McNicholas, vice president of operations at SeaWorld Orlando, said Tuesday during the annual gathering of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions.

Penguin Trek’s car is an icy blue with tan, aqua and black accents. The rail for the ride will be white.

There will be a 42-inch height requirement for the ride, scheduled to open in the spring. The trains, which will seat 18 passengers apiece, will come with over-the-head lap restraints.

“The good thing is it’s very comfortable. You feel free up top, so you can kind of compare it to [fellow SeaWorld coaster] Mako in that regards,” McNicholas said.

“This is a grown-up coaster a kid can ride,” he said.

First look: Disney Jollywood Nights debuts at Hollywood Studios

Penguin Trek will be an indoor-outdoor coaster that repurposes the former Empire of the Penguin attraction at SeaWorld. It will top out at 43 mph and have a finale that includes actual penguins.

The car was on display at the booth for designer Bolliger & Mabillard, which was also responsible for the look of Pipeline, the surfboard-inspired coaster that debuted at SeaWorld Orlando earlier this year.

Other ride vehicles on display at IAAPA Expo include one that looks like a gravy boat for Good Gravy, a coaster opening at Holiday World in Indiana next year, and a Hot Wheels car for the Twin Mill Racer at Arizona’s upcoming Mattel Adventure Park.

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. You can subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.

It gave it a makeover complete with new floors and a ceiling with about 600 bubble carvings to give it that “under the sea” feeling, said Sharon Siskie, senior vice president and general manager for the line, during an opening ceremony for it on Monday.

“When we stand here today, and we look at the space and we think back to when we initially did our walkthrough, and we leverage the imagination of the teams to envision what it would be able to become, we had that discussion of how do you really elevate the brand presence and really make this a Disney experience,” she said,

The Disney touches range from cartoonish murals, including a black-and-white homage to Steamboat Willie on the walk-in from the parking garage to the terminal adorned wall-to-wall with characters from “Finding Nemo.”

The 104,000-square-foot terminal is cavernous, unlike the line’s terminal at Port Canaveral, but with Disney’s expertise in managing lines, it should make for a quick onboard experience for when Disney Dream arrives for its first sailing on Nov. 20.

With a week before its arrival, officials with the cruise line, the port and Broward County government were on hand to dedicate the space, which has seen little use since the port reacquired it from Carnival Corp. in a pandemic-related deal.

“This is a complete reimagineering and rebranding,” said Port Everglades CEO and port director Jonathan Daniels. “It’s a different agreement than any agreement that we’ve had with any of the any of the lines in the past. … Because of all the intellectual property that they have in here — the branding that has occurred — this is Disney’s terminal.”

The line had been sailing from PortMiami to some degree since 2012, but only seasonally, and with Disney Dream’s four- and five-night sailings that will give way to Disney Magic in May doing three-, four and five-night sailings, it marks the beginning of a 15-year commitment to Port Everglades that guarantees 10.6 million passengers over the term of the lease.

That means both year-round sailings through 2024, but a second ship sailing seasonally beginning in 2025. The port and Disney can agree to extend the lease in five-year increments for an additional 15 years as well, bringing in another 11.25 million passengers.

It’s also going to be the first port with regular visits starting next summer to the line’s new private Bahamas destination, Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point on the southern end of Eleuthera. Port Canaveral-based ships won’t get regular visits there until fall of next year.

Benefiting from a $120 million investment made before the pandemic, the terminal’s parking garage pairs up with the adjacent Cruise Terminal 2 used by Princess Cruises so that combined they have more than 1,800 spaces, sitting adjacent to the Broward County Convention Center and close to the hotels and restaurants just north of the port.

That includes automated walkways and the promise of complete coverage from garage to ship to shield travelers from Florida’s heat and inclement weather.

The port has its own drive-in market but also pulls travelers from the nearby Fort Lauderdale International Airport and from Miami and West Palm’s airports to a smaller degree. That also means some of the cruisers are shuttling in from nearby hotels, so the parking impact remains to be seen, Daniels said.

“The one thing we’re not going to do is we’re not going to go out there and build a massive 1,500-car, 2,000-car parking garage without seeing what this year looks like,” he said. “If we need another one, it’s because we’re in a great position. We’ll know some of the pain and pressure points this year.”

For Disney, the market is one ripe for new business, not just those with families, but the real adult market craving a Disney experience, Siskie said.

“We’re bringing the product closer to home right on the back door of guests here who, you know may not get all the way to Orlando as often as they might like,” she said. “This is a great opportunity for them to have a little Disney fix.”

And the line is leaning on the port’s backyard of Fort Lauderdale and the greater Broward County area with its own unique spillover benefits.

“We did like the location,” she said. “Port Everglades in general, there are things that we really did like a lot about it. … Fabulous beaches … restaurants, just a great overall place for guests to come to take a Disney cruise. So we started there and we said, ‘Can this be a really good fit for our guests?’ And we said, ‘Yeah, we think it can.'”

“Disney’s Hollywood Studios was my first park when I was hired back in the day,” Tom Vazzana, creative director with  Disney Live Entertainment, said Saturday. “So I know the pockets, and I know the storylines. So I knew we wanted to have diverse offerings in terms of not only authentic voices and styles, inclusivity. But also … What is the street telling us?”

“It was really a lot about how can we interpret and reimagine what’s existing in the park and then kind of plus it up for our older demographic,” said RJ Temple, show director.

Here are some of what was experienced on opening night.

What’s this? Two shows

The after-hours/separately ticketed event features two stage productions that showcase wildly different Disney characters and themes. “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Sing-Along” begins with a memorable, monumental on-stage appearance by Jack Skellington and continues with big-screen interactions with two live performers plus some Oogie Boogie action.

The lyrics appear at the top of the screen in a “Nightmare”-ish font. The songs are fast-paced and wordy, so familiarity with the film is helpful. But it’s not required to enjoy the show. I saw only a handful of people singing along at the singalong, and that might be because the show is overwhelmingly visual.

Meanwhile, “Disney Holidays in Hollywood” pretends to be a televised variety show, complete with commercial breaks, with the Jollywood crowd as the studio audience. There is some comedy – jokes worked in about both figgy pudding and spirit jerseys. Puppet-sized Miss Piggy and Kermit appear alongside Mickey, Minnie, dancers and an eight-piece live band.  There are jazzy songs, traditional and original, including a couple of numbers by Tiana and Belle, and ambitious staging.  A friend noted it had a Disney Cruise Line feel.

Both shows clocked in at just under 30 minutes.

Tune town

The event is divided into zones sprinkled between the Tower of Terror area and Commissary Lane.

“You go to Echo Lake; you’re going to have a throwback to the ‘80s. Then you go down Sunset, we’re going to 1939, and that’s where we experience the Tip Top Club. And then we go to Commissary Lane, which is now our Fiesta en la Calle, our Latin festival,” Vazzana said. “South Beach was the inspiration [for the latter]. I was there last year, and I said we could string up lights, and we could do a festival here.”

For the most part, visitors can go with the flow, although for Jazzy Holiday at the Hollywood Brown Derby, folks must join a “mobile walk-up list” via the My Disney Experience app.

There was a jam of party-goers for the band at Tip Top Club near the base of the tower (which remains open during the event), and there’s also a bar down there that got a lot of attention, creating a human logjam. There was more elbow room at Holiday Fiesta en la Calle.

There were reports of gaps in the musical programs. Rain toward the end of the evening also disrupted performances.

Eating your way through the holidays

Although crowds are thinner at Disney after-hours events, there are still queues to endure. We waited about 30 minutes for edible fare at Fairfax Faire on Sunset, including tasty and filling “popovers” (one with turkey, one featuring “the sides”); Kermit’s Frozen Banana Bliss beverage, which was smooth, overwhelmingly banana tasting and non-alcoholic; and Mistletoe Martini.

The dining options are spread over the park and not always evident in the darkness, so checking out Disney’s online foodie guide before arrival is advised.  Among the items for sale here and there are yuca con chicharron, tuna ceviche, spicy pimento-kimchi dip, brisket Reuben funnel cake, Frozone’s snowball macaroons, antipasto flatbread, Sandy Claws hot cocoa and Twilight Daiquiri.

Picture it: Characters

As with many Disney events, characters are in demand.

Echo Like goes throwback with Powerline Max, Rescue Rangers plus Phineas and Ferb. Mickey and friends are found in Animation Courtyard, decked out in new holiday costuming that includes greens, pinks and aquas, a palette out of the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, Disney says.

“They have a hot set where he just finished wrapping up a holiday film,” Temple said. There are also giant candy cane props and photo ops with camera arrays and robotic arms.

The park is loaded with photo ops, including Disney PhotoPass and do-it-yourself Christmas card backdrops.

Dapper daze

Disney pushes the event as “a night of dapper delight” on its website, and folks were more dressy than Floridians usually bother with. Many broke out sequined dresses or novelty seasonal suits. There were some hybrid attempts with formal tops and shorts. I did see some interesting choices, including a man as Woody from “Toy Story,” which felt Halloweenish, but, hey, who argues with a toy during the holidays?

Of course, plenty of people chose comfort over styling.

“I would love people to dress up and come and spend the evening with us,” Vazzana said. “I just think it adds to, you know, a holiday party that you always wanted to go to that no one ever invited you to.”

Theme Park Rangers Radar: Ticket prices, Six Flags future, 2024 festivals

Finale

Hollywood Studios didn’t discard all its previous holiday fare. The retro decor around Echo Lake and Sunset Boulevard is still prominent, and the evening ends with a “Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam” nighttime spectacular outside the park’s Chinese Theater.

Jollywood Nights experienced opening-night confusion about locations, queues and timing that comes with the unfamiliarity of a new event.

Disney Jollywood Nights is scheduled for 10 select evenings through Dec. 20. Ticket prices vary with date between $159 and $179.  Three nights had sold out as of opening night.  Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party event, which cranked up for the season on Thursday, continues at Magic Kingdom on select nights through Dec. 22.

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. Threads: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. You can subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.

Orlando theme parks: 10 things we’re thankful for in 2023

We won’t go all pilgrim or canned cranberry on you. But here are 10 things, in no particular order, from Central Florida’s theme parks and attractions for which we’re grateful. Bring your own cornucopia.

• We’re glad that Epcot’s Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana attraction, which officially opened in October, hasn’t been too crowded or too deserted during our visits. Looking forward to more nearby additions in the near future.

• Anticipation grows for Disney Jollywood Nights, a new holiday event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios that debuts Saturday. It sounds jazzy and, dare we say, adult? (Translation: Adult beverages.)

• It’s nice to see SeaWorld Orlando recycle its Turtle Trek, a film-in-the-round attraction, into an educational and conservation effort involving coral rescue. Also, manatees are nearby.

• Baby animals such as the sawfish pups at SeaWorld, crocodile hatchlings at Gatorland, young flamingos at Discovery Cove and cotton-top tamarin monkeys at Disney’s Animal Kingdom continue to delight.

• At Icon Park, we like looking up at the colorful light show on the Wheel and down at the families on the central lawn.

• It’s exciting to peek — even through the airborne lens of others — at the ongoing construction of Epic Universe, the theme park slated to debut in 2025. (Other construction to watch: Penguin Trek, a roller coaster set to roll out in spring at SeaWorld, and Magic Kingdom’s transformation of Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, scheduled to open in late 2024.)

• A trio of Hollywood Studios sites still bring top people-watching angles: Baseline Tap Room, a shady bench on Sunset Boulevard and all around the massive Millennium Falcon at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

• We enjoy the mix of big brand-name stores alongside unique and rare establishments at Disney Springs and Universal CityWalk, not to mention the former’s Orange Garage.

• On days that we can’t just face heights or spills, we appreciate Islands of Adventure’s viewing areas for Jurassic World VelociCoaster and Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.

• E.T. Adventure at Universal Studios. That’s it. That’s the item. E.T. Adventure. Welcome home. You’ve arrived.

Pass the pumpkin pie. Then we’ll pretend we don’t see those Christmas trees for another week.

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. Threads: @dbevil. X/Twitter: @themeparks. You can subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.

Theme Park Rangers Radar: Holidays on horizon, ‘N Sync at Epcot, cashless SeaWorld

Sea Life Florida will be the second such operation from Merlin Entertainments Group in Central Florida. Sea Life Orlando opened on International Drive in 2015.

“We’re going to celebrate, of course, the animals of Florida and a lot of the things that make us really important to the Winter Haven area,” said Kelly Hornick, head of marketing and communications.

“But our final exhibit is going to culminate in this beautiful tank, which is going to the theme park under the sea. So you’ll see these beautiful coral seascapes celebrating what makes Central Florida special in the theme park world,” she said. “It’s going to be the world’s first theme park under the sea for the fish.”

Sea Life and Legoland attractions are both operated by Merlin Entertainments Group, a British company. The aquarium, scheduled to debut in fall 2024, will open near the entrance of the Winter Haven theme park, but it will not be Lego-themed.

“We really want to be our own destination, and we’ve done a lot of work to get us there,” Hornick said.

Legoland Florida opened on the former grounds of the Cypress Gardens attraction in 2011. Since then, the resort has revamped an existing water park and opened three kid-centric hotels. In 2020, it opened Peppa Pig Theme Park, an attraction based on an animated series and geared to preschoolers and their families.

The Sea Life addition “really extends all of the reasons to stay on-site at our resort,” Hornick said.

Theme Park Rangers Radar: Ticket prices, Six Flags future, 2024 festivals

“For preschoolers to have their own theme park and an aquarium just builds out the resort destination for that specific age demographic, which is really important to us – those that might not be ready for the bigger roller coasters and water rides and slides,” she said.

Meanwhile, a new racecar-themed exhibit is under construction inside Legoland Florida theme park. The Lego Ferrari Build and Race is expected to open in spring 2024.

“When you first come into the garage and the experience, there will be a life-size Ferrari model completely made of Lego,” Hornick said. The park is not saying which model it will be yet.

“That model will be exclusive to our park,” she said. “Then the experience is several rooms where you’re building and testing and looking at how you can create your own Ferrari or car experience through different tracks.”

The Ferrari area will be in a building that has been used for model building near Lake Eloise and the Pirate River Quest attraction that opened in January. The company has similar Ferrari experiences at Legoland California and Legoland Windsor in England.

Madame Tussauds adds Awkwafina figures in Orlando, New York

Merlin Entertainments operates 140 attractions in 24 countries, including Madame Tussauds Orlando, a neighbor of Sea Life Orlando Aquarium at Icon Park. The Winter Haven aquarium will be the company’s 50th Sea Life attraction.

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