Once again Florida Spirit has a great offer for our guest staying in one of our vacation homes; let your imagination fly with a free admission to Fantasy of Flight. Starting in August guest staying in a Florida Spirit Vacation Home can enjoy one free admission to Fantasy of Flight, tour hangars containing the world’s largest private aircraft collection and discover rare pieces of aviation history.

Fantasy of Flight is open daily* from 10am to 5pm with free parking. To receive your complimentary admission voucher just stop by Florida Spirit’s office located at Champions Gate Blvd., the admissions voucher is good for one person per home. Just present your voucher from Florida Spirit at the Fantasy of Flight admissions counter to receive this special offer. Visit www.fantasyofflight.com for additional information and the daily activities that Fantasy of Flight has to offer.
*Hours may vary due to special events

There have been great reviews about Disney World’s new ride: Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios, but we found a great one on mickeynews.com.

Disney has designed the ride to immerse its guest into the story with interactive features. The attraction is brought to life by allowing passengers to interact with all the favorite characters from “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2”. Passengers can have a two-way conversation with a giant Mr. Potato Head as they wait in line through a holding area which is filled with oversized games, toys and action figures; in the loading area you feel as if you are in a different world where everything is bigger than you. By using the shooter in your cart to aim at 3-D animated targets a digital counter keeps track of your points which is tallied and illuminated on a score board at the end of the ride. This ride will be so fun you’ll want to go back to beat your old score.

Visit mickeynews.com where you will find more information and great stories about Disney parks.

By Florida Spirit Vacation Homes

Cypress Gardens! Here we are!

Our first stop was a quick visit to Sheeba, a Florida Black Panther – just one of the many animals you can see at Cypress Gardens; we stopped to have dinner at Aunt Julie’s Country Kitchen an all you can eat buffet (Great food!), we walked through gorgeous Gardens with shaped animals, passed trough the lake where they host the water ski show, saw some of the rides and the huge wooden roller coaster… There was so much to see in such a short period of time… I can’t wait to come back with my family for a whole day of fun!

In some ways, the atmosphere of Cypress Gardens reminded me of my childhood, where my mom used to take me to the local park where they had a carrousel and all those cool rides that as a kid, all you want to do is go over and over again. They also have all these animal’s displays – who doesn’t remember the trip to the zoo as a kid. But Cypress Gardens goes way beyond the local park and zoo on my home town; they have amazing rides, beautiful gardens AND a Water Park, all in one place!

It was a full day, which I loved!

I remembered the first time I traveled abroad, to live in England for 6 months. I was so eager to visit every museum, every park and any sightseeing spot I could find in my travel guide. And when I went back home I realized that I have never visited most of the local places I had around me for years. Whether you are a local resident or are traveling to Central Florida as a visitor, I hope you will find the time not only to enjoy all these wonderful places but to learn about the history behind it and the people who built it.

Enjoy your trip!

By Florida Spirit Vacation Homes

Still in the mood of airplanes, we left Fantasy of Flight and headed to Florida Air Museum, another great display full of history – Besides Howard Hughes archives and great collection, the museum is a tribute to others who created and built their own experimental prototypes and an incentive for kids to use their creativity and skills… “The sky is the limit!”

Another great experience for kids is Explorations V Children’s Museum, where kids are encouraged to use their 5 senses to learn through experience. The museum created small environments, where kids can play pretend and learn from shopping or working on a mini supermarket to being an astronaut.

Still in Lakeland, we went to Polk Museum of Arts, which has a great variety of exhibitions and offers art classes and summer camp activities for children!

From the art museum we drove through “Spook Hill” on Lake Wales on our Way to Bok Gardens.

Simply amazing…It is always good to see nature as it is intended to be: simple and preserved. The flowers… the trees…the birds… the Tower and the music of the 60-bell carillon… So peaceful and so beautiful, it is hard to describe. On top of all that you can enjoy a nice “Café” and ice cream shop, trails, tracks, picnic areas and visit the Pinewood Estate, a 20-room Mediterranean-style mansion built in the early 1930s, which gets fully decorated during Christmas and is open to the public.

We only had 1 day, so we left Bok Gardens after a quick tour and moved on to our last visit of the day: Cypress Gardens.

To be continued…

By Florida Spirit Vacation Homes

As a member of the vacation rental industry in Polk County and being the marketing coordinator for Florida Spirit Vacation Homes, I was invited to join a group of other vacation homes and property management companies to visit some of Polk County local attractions, parks and museums.

The trip started at Outpost 27, a great information center on Hwy 27 created a year ago by the Central Florida Visitors and Convention Bureau. Loaded with information, the center includes a media room where visitors can watch a short video presentation, a small gift shop with items either made in Polk County or that represents Polk county, you can find all kinds of brochures and enjoy a great landscape with Florida native plants.

Guiding the group was Rachel Roberson from Fantasy of Flight, Don Rousseau from Cypress Gardens and John, one of the many volunteers at the outpost.

Our first stop was the Water Ski Museum with the international Water Ski Hall of Fame and a great display of water ski history. They have a lake that is being remodeled to improve its depth, once the project is completed they will be able to host events, competitions and classes.

Second stop was at Fantasy of Flight, which holds the largest collection of aircrafts that can still fly. It was amazing to see how well the planes are maintained; to be able to enter a B-17 Bomber plane from World War II and to learn how the “whole 9 yards” expression was created. Without mentioning the gift shop – with a brand new book for kids, the café and the flying programs…

To be continued