When Fighting Fraudulent Ticket Sales In Orlando, It’s the Commitment to Tourists that Really Counts; The Official Ticket Center Has Responded to the Problems.

It’s well-known that discount Walt Disney World tickets can be difficult to find at the best of times. Fraudulent ticket sales from off-site theme park vendors have been a problem. Most visitors to Walt Disney World in Orlando can only hope that the availability of cheap Disney tickets exists, when they want them, and at the right price.

The company has a newly revamped blog and also has a daily promotion that brings significant free incentives for ticket sales over $500., including two free Universal City Walk passes or two kids “eat free” cards.

Whenever and wherever they do come to Orlando, The Official Ticket Center will be here to competitively service the traveling public with outstanding, discounted ticket prices to all major Orlando and Central Florida attractions.  One innovative and well-known Orlando entrepreneur, Patrick Pulliam of The Official Ticket Center, has made a success out of ethically offering an abundant supply of in-demand Orlando attraction tickets, including the popular Disney World, at major discounts. Patrick Pulliam, Owner of The Official Ticket Center, has carved out a highly unique niche and strong discount reputation in one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations.

“We have been very successful in forging a consumer friendly service,” Pulliam says. “We always felt that Orlando-bound tourists need not pay top dollar for prime attractions like Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando resort, SeaWorld , Kennedy Space Center and other popular Central Florida attractions. Especially in today’s economy, when high prices have kept families away.”

Pulliam and his staff work hard to provide Orlando tourists with a wide variety of information regarding visits to Orlando as well.

“We help to distribute an interesting weekly report about the best deals in Orlando,” Pulliam says, “and The Weekly Scoop is a very popular summary that our current and previous customers always look forward to.”

A recent “Weekly Scoop” included hot advice on Disney Water Parks, and a listing of special events in Orlando of interest to area visitors.

“Disney attractions have been especially competitive in the slow economy,” Pulliam observes.

He does not expect area theme parks to immediately begin pulling back on the discounts that have helped to maintain attendance during the recession.

“The essential issue is really how fast tourists continue to book aggressively,” Pulliam says. “Whenever and wherever they do come to Orlando, The Official Ticket Center will be here to competitively service the traveling public with outstanding, discounted ticket prices to all major Orlando and Central Florida attractions.”

Pulliam additionally pointed out that current Orlando area promotions have reached a lot of first-time families. He indicated he is committed to moving forward with a focus on servicing first-time and repeat visitors with optimum service and extremely competitive ticket pricing.

For more information and Disney vacation plan, please visit Pulliam’s website:

http://www.officialticketcenter.com

Or Call

1-877-406-4836

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http://twitter.com/oticketc

2009 Epcot Candlelight Processional

Changes in Epcot’s Candlelight Processional lineup include Angela Bassett, Courtney Vance

Actors Angela Bassett and Courtney Vance have joined the lineup of narrators for Candlelight Processional, the part of Epcot’s holiday offerings. The couple, who have been married since 1997, will read during the performances of Dec. 28-30, according to www.disneyworld.com. Bassett is lending her voice to the upcoming Walt Disney Pictures animated project, The Princess and the Frog, currently set to be released Dec. 25, 2009.

Bassett and Vance will also be appearing together as a married couple in the upcoming season of ER on NBC.

Their addition at Epcot moves Marlee Matlin earlier in the lineup. She’ll now be at Candlelight Dec. 10-12, which in turn relocates Monique Coleman a few days to Dec. 13-15.

The Candlelight Processional and Massed Choir began in 1958 at Disneyland in California. Thirteen years later, Walt Disney World presented its first Epcot Candlelight Processional in the Magic Kingdom with Rock Hudson as the guest narrator. In 1994, the event was moved to the America Gardens Theatre at Epcot. Thousands of guests continue to share in each of the 100+ performances that are presented throughout the holiday season.

Each evening, nearly 400 performers fill the stage to create this mainstay of Disney’s holiday festivities. The orchestra consists of 51 professional musicians from the central Florida area. The choir members dressed in gold represent high school groups from 30 states. A total of 21,000 amateur vocalists participate in this massed choir during the five weeks of performances. The performers dressed in green (the “tree”) are Walt Disney World cast members from all departments and areas throughout the Company.

The singers in red and black (the base of the “tree”) are the nationally acclaimed Voices of Liberty The centerpiece of the cast is a guest celebrity who narrates the story of the Nativity. Guest narrators over the years have included acclaimed actors, astronauts, vocalists, news commentators, and sports celebrities. The show is approximately 40 minutes long. There will be three daily showings from November 27 through December 30 at 5:00, 6:45 & 8:15 PM.

NOTE: There will be no 5 p.m. performance on December 6, 2009.

2009 Schedule of Narrators*:

Celebrity narrators scheduled to appear include;

November 27 – 29: Isabella Rossellini
November 30 & December 1 – 2: John O’Hurley
December 3 – 5: Steven Curtis Chapman
December 6 – 8: Anika Noni Rose
December 9 – 11: Andy Garcia
December 12 – 14: Vanessa Williams
December 15 – 17: Abigail Breslin
December 18 – 20: Whoopi Goldberg
December 21 – 23: Brian Dennehy
December 24 -26: Edward James Olmos
December 27 – 30: Angela Bassett / Courtney B. Vance

Disney's Unveils New Plans 2009

Walt Disney World is about to embark on a sweeping facelift for the Fantasyland section of the Magic Kingdom, in what the resort calls the biggest overhaul in the theme park’s 38-year history.

Plans revealed Saturday call for adding a lavish ride based on The Little Mermaid, expanding a popular Dumbo children’s attraction, new interactive areas featuring some of Disney’s best-known princesses, and more.

In addition, Disney said it plans to update Star Tours, the Star Wars-themed simulator ride in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, with new 3-D effects.

The refurbished Star Tours will debut in 2011. The Fantasyland overhaul will be complete by 2013. Disney declined to say how much it will spend on the projects.

The twin announcements are a Disney World response to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the hugely anticipated project being built by rival Universal Orlando in its Islands of Adventure theme park. Industry experts expect Wizarding World, a collection of attractions, shops and restaurants based on the novels by British author J.K. Rowling, to prove a huge draw when it opens in 2010; one that threatens to siphon attendance away from Disney.

But perhaps more importantly, said Robert Niles, publisher of themeparkinsider.com, Disney’s Fantasyland expansion could team with Universal’s Wizarding World in helping reignite overall travel to Orlando, which has slumped badly amid the global recession.

“There might be some Harry Potter fans who are waffling on the expense of trips to Orlando. But if you can throw in something new at Disney, maybe they’ll make the trip,” Niles said. “At this point, travel isn’t a zero sum game. They’ve got to get people on planes traveling again.”

To drive the expansion, Disney is turning to one of its most enduring and lucrative franchises: princesses. The vast majority of the Fantasyland overhaul will focus on Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and others in the company’s stable of animated heroines.

The biggest-ticket addition will be the Little Mermaid attraction, an enclosed ride that will carry guests through Ariel’s underwater realm. It will use an Omnimover ride system similar to that of the Haunted Mansion, and will move through scenes featuring characters and songs from the 1989 movie.

The ride, which has a working title of Under the Sea: Journey of The Little Mermaid, will be the same as one being built as part of the $1 billion overhaul of Disney’s California Adventure theme park in Anaheim, Calif., though the twin attractions will have different exteriors.

But what’s more, Walt Disney World will construct individual areas — be it a castle, cottage or chateau — where guests can interact with some of the company’s best-known princesses and other characters from their movies. Children will be able to dance with Cinderella, celebrate Aurora’s birthday with the Good Fairies, or play a role with Belle in a performance in the library of the Beast’s castle.

The Beast’s castle, taken from the 1991 film Beauty and the Beast, will also include a three-room themed restaurant.

“Princesses are certainly one of Disney’s strengths. Obviously, there’s some limited appeal in terms of gender and age,” Niles, of themeparkinsider.com, said. “But anyone who’s had a young daughter knows they can be extremely persuasive.”

Chris Beatty, a senior concept designer with Walt Disney World Imagineering, said a goal is to make the company’s iconic princesses appealing to a wider demographic. For example, some villains from the princesses’ movies will also be incorporated to help the area appeal to boys.

“We’re tailoring our experiences to kind of have that broad appeal,” Beatty said. “There’re just some great, classic stories, and we know for any guests that travel to the Magic Kingdom, that’s always one of the highlights.”

Beyond princesses, the plans call for doubling the size of and relocating Dumbo the Flying Elephant to a new “circus grounds” that will include an interactive queue under a big-top tent to entertain children waiting in line. Disney will add a new Pixie Hollow character-greeting area, home to Tinker Bell and other fairies.

To accommodate the expansion, Disney will raze most of Mickey’s Toontown Fair, the smallest of the Magic Kingdom’s “lands.” Gone will be both of the walk-through country houses where guests were guaranteed to meet Disney’s most famous characters: Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

Disney says Mickey and Minnie will get new homes near the front entrance of the park. The children’s roller coaster, the Barnstormer at Goofy’s Wiseacre Farm, will remain, though it will be re-themed, likely with a circus overlay linking it to Dumbo.

The first phase of the Fantasyland expansion, including the Mermaid ride and the princess areas, is scheduled to open in 2012. Pixie Hollow will follow in 2013.

For Star Tours, which debuted in Hollywood Studios in 1989, Disney plans to add new video and dialogue sequences recorded by George Lucas’ Lucasfilm studio. The updated 3-D effects will incorporate characters from the three Star Wars prequel films released between 1999 and 2005.

Courtesy of, “The Orlando Sentinel”