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Summary

+DESCRIPTION= "This book represents the very first time a travel guide has come out with a new edition only six months after its previous one. So what you have here are 297 pages filled with so many details -- and we mean this as a compliment -- that you really will need a vacation after reading through them. In writing that is opinionated and fast paced, you'll learn a staggering amount of information." -- Chicago Tribune THE NEWEST GUIDE TO ALL THE MAGIC In fast-changing Orlando, the newest attractions are often the best. If you want a guide that covers them all, along with the very latest secrets and short cuts, you want this guide. Official or unofficial, no other guide is so up-to-date. And it's just in time to help you create a spring or summer vacation your family will never forget. Hot off the press: The scoop on the latest attractions Our own eyewitness ratings of every attraction in all the major theme parks, including Universal's amazing Islands of Adventure and Disney's Animal Kingdom Tot tips for parents -- what's scary, what they'll love Strategies for doing the most in the time you have Side trips: city sights, the beaches, the Space Center Where to stay and eat, no matter what your budget Character breakfasts, the best dinner shows, candlelit suppers, 24-hour diners, and the world's biggest McD's Resorts, motels, and villas inside WDW and beyond Thorough, practical, and filled with sound advice Tips by the thousands, plus descriptions, hours, costs All reviews based on visits by savvy resident writers 23 pages of maps and dozens of helpful features What's where Festivals Multiday touring plans, daylong blitz tours of every park When-to-go tips for every theme park attraction Important contacts Comprehensive index

On the Road with Fodor's About Our Writers: Each year the Gold Guides are written and updated by more than 500 resident writers
Connections How to Use This Book: Describes organization, icons, and other key information
Don't Forget to Write: Tells you how to get in touch with our editors
The Gold Guide Smart Travel Tips A to Z: An easy-to-use section divided alphabetically by topic
Under each listing you'll find tips and information that will help you accomplish
what you need to in Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, and Orlando
You'll also find addresses and telephone numbers of organizations and companies that offer destination-related services and detailed information and publications
Destination: Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, and Orlando: Helps get you in the mood for your trip
It's a New, New, New, New World New and Noteworthy: Cues you in on trends and happenings
What's Where: Universal Studios Escape, SeaWorld, and Beyond: Gets you oriented
Pleasures and Pastimes: Describes the activities and sights that make Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, and Orlando unique
Great Itineraries: Provides a range of options, geared to the length of your stay, that help ensure that you get the most out of your visit
Fodor's Choice: Showcases our top picks from special restaurants and one-of-a-kind accommodations to out-of-the-ordinary sights and activities
Let them inspire you! Festivals and Seasonal Events
Alerts you to special events you'll want to seek out
Exploring Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom Epcot Disney
MGM Studios Theme Park Disney's Animal Kingdom Discovery Island
Typhoon Lagoon Blizzard Beach River Country Walt Disney World A to Z
Universal Studios Escape, SeaWorld, and Beyond Universal Studios Florida Universal
Studios Islands of Adventure SeaWorld Orlando Busch Gardens
Cypress Gardens Busch and Universal Tips Away from the Theme Parks
Orlando and Environs Side Trips from Orlando Dining
In Walt Disney World Orlando Outlying Towns Lodging Walt Disney World Lodging Chart
In Walt Disney World
Disney-Owned Hotels In Walt Disney World
Other Hotels Orlando Kissimmee Outlying Towns Shopping Walt Disney
World Universal Studios Escape
The Orlando Area Sports and the Outdoors Action!
From the Sidelines After Dark Walt Disney World Universal Studios Escape
The Orlando Area
The Cocoa Beach Area
Index
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Supplemental Materials

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Excerpts

This excerpt, from the New & Noteworthy section, gives you a foretaste of the new thrills Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, and Orlando have to offer in '99. Change is a constant in the Orlando area.  This summer's changes are extraordinary.

Universal Studios Escape'

By far the biggest event for the last half of the year at Universal is the opening of what is shaping up to be a blockbuster second theme park, Universal Studios Islands of Adventure; scheduled for a summer debut, it may well be possible to visit as early as spring, during the park's "soft opening." The park's five islands -- Seuss Island, the Lost Continent, Jurassic Park, Toon Lagoon, and Marvel Super Hero Island -- are chockablock with state-of-the-art thrill rides, live theatrical performances, and major-wow children's attractions.

Access to Islands of Adventure and to Universal Studios Florida theme park is via CityWalk, an eclectic 30-acre mix of clubs and restaurants, ranging from the NASCAR Café and the Motown Café to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Café and the world's largest Hard Rock Cafe, which plans live nightly concerts -- often by big-name acts -- for the 2,000 or so patrons it can seat.

The old Hard Rock Cafe is being transformed into a 650-room Hard Rock Hotel, operated by Loews Hotels and slated to open in 2000. It will follow Universal's first resort, the 750-room Portofino Bay.  Now, having acquired Wet 'n Wild, Universal is well on its way to becoming a multi-venue entertainment resort that will truly give Disney a run for its money. To announce its intentions of so doing, the complex is acquiring a new name, Universal Studios Escape. Stay tuned.

Inside Walt Disney World

Last year's opening of Walt Disney World's fourth major theme park,  overshadowed other new entries in the Orlando theme-park sweepstakes, at least for a few months. Comprising 500 acres, it consists of a range of attractions about animals real, extinct, and imaginary. This year it will add an Asia area. But that's not the end of 1999's Disney doings. You'll also find new rides at each of the other theme parks: Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and  in the Magic Kingdom and the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in the Magic Kingdom and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and Doug Live! in Disney--MGM Studios. Disney's first honest-to-goodness roller coaster, it will turn you upside down and inside out three times to the tune of the obligatory sound track. The long-delayed Test Track may well open at Epcot this summer as well, in the old World of Motion pavilion.  Disney Quest, in Downtown Disney, is the prototype for a new interactive shopping, dining, and entertainment complex, complete with virtual reality games.

At Disney's Wide World of Sports, the Atlanta Braves are settling into their new spring-training headquarters, a 7,500-seat baseball stadium. Here, you'll also find facilities for festival- and tournament-type events in more than 25 individual and team sports. At the same time, Disney has been promoting its new cruise venture, the Disney Magic; 1999 marks the entry of a second ship, the Disney Wonder.  Ships depart Port Canaveral about 45 minutes east of Orlando for three- or four-day cruises to the Bahamas, with a stopover at a Disney-owned, private tropical isle.

SeaWorld and Busch Gardens

Busch Entertainment's charming SeaWorld has rechristened itself SeaWorld Adventure Park Orlando -- although it will probably remain just plain SeaWorld to F.O.S. (friends of Shamu). Journey to Atlantis a water ride-cum-coaster that debuted in spring 1998, continues to shine as an illusionary and sensory encounter, with ancient statues coming to life and entire sets metamorphosing into Olympian vistas.

In Tampa, Busch Gardens opens Gwazi in June -- as if Montu weren't fast enough. The new thriller packs in the action, most notably a 90-ft drop, along 70,000 ft of track.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

In Orlando, where the number of hotel rooms is expected to swell beyond 100,000 by the turn of the century, the 1999 addition of 500 rooms to Marriott's Orlando World Center's current 1,500 barely rates a blip on the resort radar screen. Nevertheless, several new hotels in addition to the Universal lodgings are eagerly anticipated. By the end of 1999, Disney will have added another reasonably priced All-Star option with the arrival of All-Star Movies -- and more is on the horizon to serve Disney's Animal Kingdom.

The Restaurant Scene

Between Downtown Disney and uptown Universal, never have visitors had so many choices of places to go and wait for a table because they didn't make a reservation. There seems to be a law in Orlando prohibiting new restaurants from opening unless they have a theme, celebrity backing, or both. Prominent newcomers are Bongos Cuban Café (Gloria Estefan), Magic Underground (David Copperfield), House of Blues (Dan Aykroyd), Wolfgang Puck Café (Wolfgang Puck, naturally), and the Official All-Star Cafe (Tiger, Junior, et al.). Obviously the law hasn't stopped new restaurants in the least.

Shop 'til You Drop, Etc.

It seems almost an afterthought to mention a new mall on I-Drive, but the Pointe*Orlando (oddly placed asterisks being big in Orlando) has a number of establishments that are surprising even in a town that seems almost incapable of being surprised. Wedged between a huge teddy bear and an enormous Raggedy Ann is a new F.A.O. Schwartz, which almost makes the New York original seem like small potatoes. You can't miss WonderWorks, a new playground of interactive exhibits; it's in a building that's literally upside down (i.e., the "roof" is wedged into the ground).  If you feel like going to the movies but not just any movie (this is Orlando, after all), try on the liquid-crystal headsets to view something in 3-D and IMAX at Muvico, one of only eight such theaters in the world.

Excerpted from Fodor's Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and Orlando 1999: The Newest Guide to All the Magic - Spring-Summer Edition by Fodor's Travel Publications, Inc. Staff
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.