The summer crowds are gone and the weather is starting to cool down! What better time to visit Orlando, Florida! With Halloween right around the corner, all of the Orlando theme parks are getting into the Halloween spirit with tons of activities and events for the entire family.

Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando, and Busch Gardens Tampa are all getting into the mix with their Halloween events, getting you in the mood for fall! Whether you are looking for a good haunt or a fun-time for the entire family together, Orlando has something for you!

Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Orlando is THE place to be for Halloween haunts! Moving into its 18th year, Halloween Horror Nights is promising to be at its scariest this year with their main theme, Bloody Mary. Everyone grew up with the myth of Bloody Mary that if you stood in front of a mirror and said her name three times she would appear. Most of us chickened out by the second time of name calling came around, but Universal Studios is here to show you what may happen if you say her name the third time around…BEWARE!

The entire park will be playing off of the theme of wicked fairy tales, myths, fables, and more, awakening all of your childhood fears! There are more haunted houses, more scare zones, and more haunts than ever before! And, there is no place to hide this year, with very little to no “safe zones.” Universal fully immerses you in terror. The event runs from September 26-27; October 2-5, 9-12, 16-19, 22-26, 29-31; and November 1. Halloween Horror Nights tickets must be purchased separately from park admission tickets. Make sure to get them ahead of time, because popular nights tend to run out quickly!

Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens in Tampa is just around the corner from Orlando. A quick hour to hour-and-half drive and you are there! And, this year is proving to be scarier than ever with their theme of the Raven Twins. The myth goes that the Raven Twins were conjoined twins by the head. They were constantly teased by everyone in town, including their biggest crush. Taking matters into their own hands, the twins forcefully separated themselves, deforming their faces forever. They now are looking to gain revenge on all of those who made fun of them, including YOU.

With six haunted houses, three scare zones, three shows, and the great rides of Busch Gardens, you will not want to miss it. The event runs September 26-27 and October 2 – November 1 on 17 select nights. Make sure to get your Howl-O-Scream tickets ahead of time! These tickets are separate from Busch Gardens admission tickets. They will sell out!

Looking for a “Not So Scary” option? Then head to Disney’s Magic Kingdom with the entire family for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party! Running September 5 – October 31 on select nights, families can join Mickey and all of his friends for a Halloween party you will never forget. Wear your favorite costumes and trick-or-treat throughout the park with all of your favorite characters.

Also enjoy the “Boo-to-You” Halloween parade, the HalloWishes firework display, all of the great Magic Kingdom rides, and other special entertainment & activities. Your children will love it! Make sure to buy your tickets ahead of time! Tickets are separate from admission to the Magic Kingdom and popular nights sell-out quickly!

SeaWorld Orlando also offers a great event for the entire family for Halloween, and the best part is that it is free with admission to the park! Running October 4-5, 11-12, 18-19, 24-26, & 31 you can experience SeaWorld’s Halloween Spooktacular.

This underwater “fantaSEA” is something you will never forget. Wear your favorite costume to the park and trick-or-treat with friendly sea witches, pumpkin fish, mermaids, and more. There are over 15 treasure candy stations, interactive games & activities, and specialty shows. And, not to mention some of the coolest rides, shows, and attractions in all of Orlando! Join Shamu and all of his friends for a great time!

There is no better place to celebrate fall and Halloween than in Orlando, Florida. There are tons of great Orlando attractions for the entire family! So, pack your bags, get the plane tickets, and plan on celebrating Halloween in Orlando this fall! You will not regret it!

Pointswizard.com Spin: Thanks to Orlandofuntickets.com for the info.

Breaking News

“InterContinental Hotels’ Holiday Inn brand is stepping into the timeshare market with the launch of a new venture with The Family of Orange Lake Resorts.

The new venture, a licensing and marketing arrangement called Holiday Inn Club Vacations, comes at a difficult point.

IHG rivals Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. and Wyndham Worldwide Corp. both reported declining second-quarter timeshare sales in some markets, particularly Hawaii. Wyndham has also seen higher level of defaults by buyers.

“It is indeed a challenging time, given the economy,” said Christian Hempell, who will direct the new Holiday Inn timeshare brand as vice president of Holiday Inn Club Vacations.

He said the market for timeshares “seems to be very, very resilient,” however.

IHG stressed that its deal with Orange Lake requires no capital investment. Orange Lake will continue to own, operate and develop its four timeshare resorts, all of which are included in the deal.

Orange Lake, which has more than 120,000 owners, has seen 20 percent sales growth this year without a jump in default rates, he said.

Holiday Inn Club Vacations will launch in December 2008 with Orange Lake’s 2,412 villa property in Orlando, Fla. The 1,400-acre resort is next to Walt Disney World Resort.

Later, Orange Lake’s three smaller resorts in Vermont, Wisconsin and Panama City, Fla., will convert to the Holiday Inn brand. ” (via finance.yahoo.com) by Kristen A. Lee

Pointswizard.com Spin: Read more about Holiday Inn brand enters the timeshare business

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES VACATIONS SPECIAL

Valid booking dates: 8/14 - 9/24/08 at 6 pm Central Time
Valid travel dates: 9/28/08 - 12/23/08
Five-day advanced purchase required.

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photo via celebrity-gossip.net

Enter anytime between now and July 31, 2008 for your chance to win a trip for four (4).
Trip includes:

* Roundtrip, coach-class airfare for four (4) from major airport nearest winner’s home to Orlando International Airport
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* Four (4) 3-Day/2-Park tickets valid for admission to Universal Studios Florida & Islands of Adventure theme parks, as well as all-club access to Universal’s CityWalk
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“Only in a real city will you find, in an art museum, a painting with a title like this: “In the beginning there was borscht, and then came the thought of liver.” Done partly in beet juice.
Here are some of the joys of this city—downtown and in the neighborhoods—that are particularly suited for grown-ups and particularly for grown-ups weary of being blocked by convoys of baby-strollers from getting to, say, Universal’s incomparable “Spider-Man” thrill ride.

Loch Haven Park
Not only a park (and a loch), but home to a bevy of cultural and educational venues, including the Orlando Science Center, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando Repertory Theatre and the Mennello Museum of American Art.

The Science Center is your basic kids museum, so skip that, unless you absolutely must see a dinosaur, need to press buttons or are one of the eight people left in American who hasn’t experienced some variation of “Titanic: The Experience.” The Rep’s rep is primarily “family” shows (”You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” “Go, Dog! Go!”), not that there’s anything wrong with that.

It’s the Big Art Museum that’s the star here. As with many regional museums, the collection isn’t vast—but unlike the others, what’s here is very, very good. Its O’Keeffe (”Datura and Pedernal”) is quintessential Georgia (flower, New Mexico); also here is fine work by John Singer Sargent and landscapists Thomas Moran and Herman Herzog. You just missed a delightful exhibition justly called “Audacity in Art”—the “borscht” work, by a Vietnamese artist, was a highlight—but there’s a Rockwell show on through Memorial Day. Also, an excellent “Ancient Americas” collection, if you’re into that—and, of course, a Chihuly. Not talking the MoMA here, but better than you’d imagine . . .

Orange County Regional History Center
Look for the statue of the guy wrangling an alligator in the heart of downtown, and you’ll find this museum beside him, fashioned from the former county courthouse. Among the exhibits is a series of photos of a sinkhole that almost swallowed Winter Park in 1981 (and, of course, became a major tourist attraction for a while), much information on the local Seminoles (the real ones, not Bobby Bowden’s Florida State teams), and chilling material on the African-American experience in the area. (The Groveland story will leave you shaking your head.)

Also intriguing: a courtroom, left whole.

“The Bundy trial was here,” said the center’s Sherry Lewis. “We can’t give eye-witness confirmation that he was the one who carved his name into the desk, but . . . ”

In 1980, Ted Bundy was convicted here in the 1978 rape-murder of a 12-year-old Florida girl, Kimberly Leach. She would be his 29th, and last, victim.

Someone left a carving.

Winter Park
The train carrying the cold and wealthy from up north stopped here in winter, they built grand houses, and there you are. The in-town suburb is home to Rollins College, cute restaurants (some open for lunch, with sidewalk seating), the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art (which, befitting a museum with a name that long, gets its own section later in this essay) and, of course, the Scenic Boat Tour.

The Scenic Boat Tour has been plying the mossy-tree- and mansion-lined lakes and canals of Winter Park since the Great Depression. It’s evidently an “essential” for visitors here, at least in part because it beats walking around in the heat—but the vegetation is lush, the narration is amusing, the price is right ($10, $5 for kids, who will be bored 10 minutes into it) and what better way to see, on the same tour, homes lived in by the likes of Mamie Eisenhower and Horace Grant?”

(via chicagotribune.com )

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5 DAYS & 4 NIGHTS IN ORLANDO
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“Tie the knot in one of the Caribbean destinations served by Air Jamaica and you can get a free Business Class airline ticket.

To qualify for the airline’s new Executive Business Class, the bride and groom must book a minimum of 22 seats (including themselves) through Air Jamaica’s group sales office at (800) 523-6805, or groupsales@airjamaica.com.

The Business Class airline tickets are processed once the entire group is ticketed. Air Jamaica provides 300 non-stops weekly, from Atlanta, Baltimore/Washington, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York (JFK), Orlando, and Philadelphia in the United States.

Also Toronto in Canada; and from London in the United Kingdom to Montego Bay and Kingston.

Air Jamaica also offers daily non-stop service between New York/JFK and Barbados, and direct service between JFK to both St. Lucia and Grenada.

It offers intra-regional service with flights between Jamaica and the Bahamas, Barbados, Bonaire, Cuba, Curaçao, Grand Cayman and St. Lucia.” (via flightbliss.com)

Take advantage of this great Orlando offer.

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