---- THE LATEST BUZZ ----

(9/17/20) Orlando StarFlyer Worker Dies After Fall From Tower

(9/10/20) Skyplex Updated (MORE...)

(9/2/20) Gaylord Palms Replaces ICE! With "I Love Christmas Movies" (MORE...)

(8/29/20) Florida Governor Says Theme Park Capacity Limits Can Be Increased (MORE....)

(8/21/20) Orlando Theme Parks - Universal May Be Doing Better Than Disney Right Now

(6/2/20) A Deeper Look At What You Might Expect To Encounter At Orlando's Theme Parks (MORE...)

You can find our review of the I-Drive 360 attractions (Orlando Eye, Madame Tussauds and SeaLife Aquarium here.

Central Florida News - (9/17/20) You may have caught mention of this on our social media the other morning, but as the initial reports were a bit sketchy in terms of details I waited a bit to get a few more details before posting this update. The sad news is that Jacob David Kaminsky, a 21-year old worker at the Orlando StarFlyer, who was also a well known ride enthusiast, fell while climbing the tower for a morning inspection earlier this week and passed away from injuries sustained from the fall.

According to this report the co-worker who was with him at the time and called 911 said he believes he fell about 60 feet. Kasminsky was remembered by Rocky Mountain Construction on FB as well (see below), who detailed how they had hired him after meeting him at IAAPA and that before taking on the position at the Orlando StarFlyer, he was on the crew building Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa.

The worker who was with him at the time of the fall did report his assessment of what he saw to the Orlando Sentinel, confirming that Kaminsky was climbing down and using his safety harness equipment along the way, including seeing that his fall arrester was indeed secure. He was only 10-15 feet above him, when he heard a noise and saw Jake fall and hit a crossbeam before landing on a platform below. Another employee climbed up to him from the ground and reported that he was unresponsive. Beyond that, there have been no details posted about how the accident happened as the OSHA investigation is still ongoing. Because of this the Orlando StarFlyer is currently closed until further notice.

Friends have created a GoFundMe for his family to help handle the expenses as they will need to travel from their home in Chicago to make arrangements to bring Jake back home, as well as funeral and burial expenses.



Orange County accepts funding grant for Kirkman Road that promises to create jobs, new developments https://t.co/hOflx6HnSC pic.twitter.com/x9uC7KTGn6 — Orlando Sentinel (@orlandosentinel) December 18, 2018

2020?? - Alamo Drafthouse Orlando - (2/5/19) Alamo Drafthouse… legendary for offering a unique cinema experience has announced that they will soon open a new location in Orlando to be located behind the Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets off Vineland Ave. No word on when it might open however, so stay tuned!

???? - SKYPLEX - Confirmed - (9/10/20) UPDATED 10:35am - Please forgive last night’s headline which was wrong. Well... not wrong, it was right... the FAA did give their approval for the Skyplex height wavier, but they did that one year ago (see the last update we had on it below). I saw a tweet about it and missed the 2019 date... so the bottom line is that it has been a year and to my knowledge, there really has been no traction on this project. Hopefully there may be some better news to share soon.



(9/11/19) Tucked away at the bottom of a Miami area news article about how the FAA gave approval for an 831 foot tall structure in downtown Miami, it also is quick to mention that the FAA also gave their approval for the 706-foot tall Orlando Skyplex tower. So with that out of the way, are there any other hurdles left to prevent Joshua Wallack from starting construction on this long delayed project?



(2/28/19) A few new updates about the Skyplex project came out this week as part of an interview with Joshua Wallack. While construction hasn’t started, they did say that the previous $500 million budget for the project was scaled back to just $250 million, and designed to take up less of the 14-acre site than originally planned. They do say that the thrill ride tower will still be 570 feet tall, just that some of the land on the site will be left open to build a future hotel project. Perhaps the most interesting thing is that they say Skyplex is now set to open in 2020… so to that I say that they better get their collective butts in gear, because unless construction starts ASAP that is going to be a tough timeline to meet as-is. Time for the Skyplex to show that they are serious.



(9/16/18) While we haven't heard much at all about the proposed Skyplex tower project in Orlando, some coaster fans in Europe spotted some interesting new developments that may be for the Polercoaster. Some steelwork was spotted at Stakotra, an Intamin supplier, now has these massive steel connector joint pieces on site that could very well be for the support structure for the Polercoaster. Follow the link to take a look.



(2/24/17) While the SkyPlex has yet to begin construction, yet another high-thrill attraction sure to make you in need of a new pair of underwear was added called Sky Jump.



If you've seen the Sky Jump in Las Vegas on the Stratosphere Tower, then you know exactly what this is... as guests will be strapped to a harness attached to a set of cables and then take a controlled freefall to the ground, with the system designed to safely slow guests down for a gentle landing at the bottom.



Take a look at the video below to see just what is in store for Orlando guests to the SkyPlex.





2021 or Later - Kennedy Space Center Expansions - (2/24/17) According to USA Today the Kennedy Space Center is planning some big expansions over the next five years, including a Mars Rover vehicle display and an attraction that would try to simulate 6 seconds of weightlessness as well as the high G-forces of a launch. This new "Mars Deep Space" attraction could open by 2021 and be located where the current administration office of the Visitor Complex is currently located.

Follow the link to read the rest of the article, including a list of other smaller improvements and new displays coming to the Kennedy Space Center later this year.

Virgin Trains USA - (1/20/20) According to the latest update an official from Virgin Trains stated that talks with Disney to put a station on or near the Walt Disney World property have reached a “rather advanced state now”. With the rail line pathway seemingly already set to run down the 417 from the Airport on a direct run towards Disney, it would only make sense that a station get build on the mouse’s doorstep at some point in the future. Of course Virgin Trains has to finish the expansion of their line from West Palm Beach to the Orlando Airport first.



(12/31/19) Discussions between Virgin Trains USA and the state of Florida have been extended for another 90 days to attempt to finalize the land-lease location of a high-speed rail route that would travel about 80 miles from the Orlando airport, down SR-417 to connect to I-4 where it would lead to a new station in the Tampa area.

As previously reported, Virgin is also in talks with Disney about locating a station on or near Disney property as they pass through the area, but a route along the SR-417 from the airport would remove any possibility of putting a station near the Orange County Convention Center, which became a major obstacle in getting Disney on-board with plans a decade ago for a similar project.



(12/18/19) While the Orlando airport is preparing for the arrival of the Virgin Trains USA line (formerly Brightline) to bring in riders from the southern Florida area starting in 2022, they are also apparently in talks about an expansion of the line from the Orlando airport that could eventually reach Tampa, that could include a stop at Walt Disney World.

Now stop me if you think you’ve heard this story before… because if you are local to central Florida, or a longtime reader, you are probably having a bit of deja-vu from 2009. Ten years ago the state of Florida began making plans to build a bullet train that would run from the Orlando to Tampa airports with a few stops along the way. This included a wanted stop at Orlando’s Orange County Convention center on I-Drive as well as one at Walt Disney World before running off towards Tampa. Unfortunately, while Disney was willing and wanted to have a grand-sized station on property, they also set an ultimatum demanding that the train would not stop anywhere in Orlando after leaving the airport before it arrived at Walt Disney World property. Since this would turn the state funded project into a direct funnel that would only benefit Walt Disney World, the rail project proposal soon died a quick death.

While at first one might think that this posturing was another mis-step from the Eisner era at Disney, this is not so as Michael Eisner was replaced by Bob Iger in 2005, so all this happened under Iger’s watch and it makes me wonder if it could play out the same way once again.