Welcome to the second Newsletter

Hi Subscriber, welcome to the second newsletter of the Florida Review & Travel Guide. We plan to bring you a newsletter on the first day of each month with details of upcoming events and news from across Florida.

It has been quite an eventful month since the first newsletter. Firstly the space shuttle Discovery finally blasted off from Cape Kennedy after a number of false starts to rekindle the space program after a gap of over two years. However again pieces of foam were shed from the external fuel tank and NASA have grounded the rest of the shuttle fleet until the problem is resolved. It is highly likely that the launch of Atlantis scheduled for September will be delayed unless it is decided a rescue mission needs to be launched for Discovery's crew currently docked with the International Space Station. Secondly Hurricane Dennis, the first hurricane of the season, caused considerable damage to oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and damaged property and brought down power-lines around the Pensacola Beach area. 250,000 people were left without power.

Swimming with the dolphins at Discovery Cove

Dolphins hold a very special place in peoples hearts and most people find it a very moving experience and cannot wait to do it again, despite the price. One of the easiest ways to swim with dolphins is at Discovery Cove in Orlando, next to SeaWorld.

Before the actual swim, you have a 15 minute pre-swim briefing where the trainers will show you a film about the dolphins and their habits. They will then teach you how you can communicate with the dolphins using hand signals and give you important safety tips (adult dolphins typically weigh around 500 pounds).

You are then taken in groups of six to eight people out to one of the dolphin lagoons to meet your allotted dolphin. Remember that even though this is a very controlled encounter, the dolphins do not always want to play. On our visit, the first dolphin Ruby wasn't interested so in the end the trainers called another dolphin Diego over instead.

For most of the next 30 minutes you are stood in shallow water whilst the trainer gets each of you to interact with the dolphin using various hand signals and touches. Note that the water is quite cool so you may feel a little chilly during this time.

Towards the end of the swim, you are taken out into deep water by one of the trainers where you get the opportunity to be pulled along by the dolphin by hanging onto its dorsal fin. This is the only point of the encounter when you need to actually go out of your depth and if you are not a confident swimmer it is worth putting on a life preserver for this particular part of the swim. You can take if off again once you are back in the shallows.

At the end of the swim, the dolphins will put on a group show specially for you and then you make your way back to the cabanas for a wrap up session and the opportunity to order photos or videos.

Because of its very structured nature some people do not feel that this is really a swim with a dolphin in the strictest sense but it is a very good opportunity to get up close, to touch and even kiss a dolphin and you are guaranteed 30 minutes with a dolphin and qualified trainers.

Throughout Florida there are other companies offering different types of dolphin swims and dolphin encounters. Click here for more information on swimming with Dolphins at Discovery Cove or other companies offering similar experiences.

Florida Cruises

Have you ever thought about extending your holiday by a few days and considering a cruise from Florida around the Caribbean and Mexico aboard a luxury cruise liner. There are a number of cruise lines including Carnival, Celebration, Disney, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Holland America and Norwegian which operate out of Florida's main sea ports at Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Miami-Dade and Fort Lauderdale on the east coast and from Tampa on the west coast.

Florida cruises cater for all ages and all interests from fantasy adventures (like Disney who even have their own private island of Castaway Cay) to out and out relaxation to serious gambling on Florida casino cruises. You can even go on a one day Florida day cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Grand Bahama island and back.

Click here for more details on Florida cruises.

Book Review - The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2006

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2006, ISBN 0764583417 is published by John Wiley & Sons and is hot off the press this August.

The latest 2006 edition of this book by Bob Sehlinger now runs to over 800 pages as it continues to grow, year on year and is the definitive guide to Walt Disney World. Over 4 million copies have been sold worldwide. If you take your visit to the Walt Disney World Resort seriously then this is the book for you.

We first bought this book back in the early 90's and it is invaluable in helping you make better use of your time with hints and tips on how to beat the crowds and see the shows with the minimum of wait times. For example it will tell you the best places to go to watch the fireworks at EPCOT or the best vantage points to watch the Magic Kingdom parades.

Bob Sehlinger and his team of editors interviewed 9,000 families to get their views on each of the rides, shows and restaurants and each attraction is described in detail and rated for different age groups from pre-school right up to seniors.

As well as chapters on planning, such as when to go, it also covers tickets, opening hours and reviews of all the Resort hotels. There are also comprehensive one and two day touring plans for each park split by different types of family; for example those with small children, couples and seniors.

There is a small section on Universal and SeaWorld but a companion book covers these parks in much more detail if you can afford to buy both. Click here for more guide book reviews and details of where you can buy this book.

Best wishes until next month... Stephen Downs

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In This Issue

• Welcome
• Dolphin swim
• Florida cruises
• Book review
• August events
• Weather forecast
• Ticket tag

August Events

On the evening of 18th at the Bok Tower outside of Orlando there is a Moonlight Carillon Recital where you can sit in the beautiful woodland gardens and listen to the sounds of the carillon bells.

If you want to see something of the real Florida then why not go to the annual Possum Festival and Funday on August 6th at Wausau near Chipley north of Panama City. You can even sample possum stew!

Weather Forecast

Like July, August is typically one of the hottest months of the year and the high levels of humidity only add to the discomfort.

The first two weeks of August are expected to be very hot and sunny with highs of around 90?°F and scattered thunderstorms. Thunderstorms will become more frequent towards the end of the month with high levels of humidity.

Average temperatures are expected to be 81?°F (normal) with slightly below average rainfall in the north, slightly above in the south.

Make sure you keep your fluid levels up and do not spend too much time out in the sun as the heat indices are very high at this time of year.

Check out the rest of the Florida weather including monthly temperature and rainfall charts across the State and the latest hurricane news.

Ticket tag

All Disney tickets are non transferable and Disney have now installed the Ticket Tag system at the four main theme parks; i.e. Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney-MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom. The two water parks have not introduced the system at this time.

To enter the park you must now place your middle and index fingers into a special scanner which takes a digital scan of your fingers.

It is not a finger print as such but it does then link you to your ticket to stop someone else using it. If you have old tickets that pre-date the Magic Your Way tickets you may be asked to sign the tickets to help with identification.

We do not recommend that you buy part used tickets with supposedly 'unused' days on them anyway but this scheme should make them even harder to use.

You will also find that you no longer have to get your hand stamped if you park hop, you just present your ticket and use the finger scanner to gain re-admission on the same day.

Note that children under 10 do not have to use the scanners.

Click here for more information on Disney Magic your Way tickets.