As summertime brings warm, sunny days and beautiful, breezy nights to Orlando, there is no better time to explore some of the different offerings of Walt Disney World. And the best way to take advantage of said offerings is through Disney's Water Park Fun and More ticket option, which is an all-in-one access pass to Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon, Disney's Wide World of Sports, Disney's Oak Trail Golf Course, and DisneyQuest at Downtown Disney. Over the past few weeks, we've been highlighting some of these great Disney spots and why the Water Park Fun & More ticket option is such a steal. And in our final installment this week, we're checking out the games at Disney's Wide World of Sports.

The Wide World of Sports (WWoS) Complex at Walt Disney World is a mysterious entity. Many visitors to Walt Disney World are unsure of what exactly the complex is. After all, it's big enough to be a Disney theme park itself, but the WWoS doesn't pull in nearly as many admissions as the other parks do. Still, for the players participating in an ever-important championship game, and for the spectators who get to be witness to that game, the Wide World of Sports is just as magical as Magic Kingdom.

To put in simpler terms, the WWoS is a 200 acre athletic complex located inside Walt Disney World. Made up of nine different venues, the comples hosts over 170 amateur and professional sporting events throughout the year. Its clients represent some of the best names in sports - the AAU, Pop Warner, the Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the USSSA, and more.

The WWos complex consists of Champion Stadium, an impressive 9,500-seat baseball stadium that's hosted two regular season Major League Baseball series; the Milk House, a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena; the Jostens Center, a similar but smaller arena; the Hess Sports Fields, eight multi-purpose fields equipped to host multiple sports; the Baseball Quadraplex consisting of four professional baseball fields and practice facilities; the Diamondplex, consisting of six fields used for softball and youth baseball; the Centre Court Stadium, a ten-court tennis complex; and the Track and Field Complex, a 500-seat competition facility for track and field events.

Though WWoS is different from the other Walt Disney World attractions in the sense that you can't randomly drop by and explore it (the complex is closed if there are no events going on), it often offers a variety of unique and unusual sporting events sports lovers can really get into. For example, every year the PGA Tour tees off at the complex with the Children's Miracle Network Classic. The Braves hold spring training there every year, and the Disney's Soccer Showcase features 600 of the best soccer teams in the country battling it out. The famed Walt Disney World Marathon, which runs through the various parks, is also hosted there every year.

So next time you take a trip to Walkt Disney World, we suggest checking out the events scheduled that week at Disney's Wide World of Sports for some fun at an lesser-known Disney attraction. Parking at the complex is free, though there is an admission fee for spectators. However, if you have the Water Park Fun & More ticket, you'll get in free!

When you consider all the events hosted at the Wide World of Sports, along with all the other admissions that come with the Water Park Fun & More option, adding it onto your Walt Disney World tickets just makes sense. Check out OrlandoFunTickets.com now for Water Park Fun & More, and have fun at the water parks, the golf course, the sports complex - or wherever you decide to go.

The third theme park to be built at Walt Disney World, Disney Hollywood Studios, will be celebrating a big event this week - its 20th birthday! It’s hard to believe, but the park dedicated to show business fun and magic will have been open for 20 years this Friday, May 1. And though it certainly won’t be celebrated with Disney’s usual level of enthusiasm (they’ll save that for the 25th anniversary), fans can mark the occasion by visiting Hollywood Studios this Friday for a few commemorative events and some rare information sessions.

On Friday, Hollywood Studios will open at 8 am with a special rope drop ceremony welcoming guests into the park and kicking off the celebration. Then, at 9 am and 10:45 am, there’ll also be two sessions where fans will be able to listen to Walt Disney Imagineers share their insights about the development of the park and the creation of Hollywood Studios.

Taking place in the Premiere Theater, the sessions will feature Bob Weis, Executive Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering, Executive Vice President and Senior Creative Executive Tom Fitzgerald, and Senior Vice President of Creative Development Eric Jacobson. Each session will last one approximately one hour and give fans a rare chance to get insider information behind the magic at Hollywood Studios.

In addition, the park will be full of anniversary merchandise on Friday. Starring Rolls will be selling special anniversary cupcakes, and many of the restaurants will feature menu items that were sold when the park first opened. On Friday, Disney will also release five 20th Anniversary pins, which feature Mickey Mouse clad in a director’s outfit. Each of the five designs will only have 1,500 pins available, so expect them to sell out quickly.

Here are a few fun facts about Disney's Hollywood Studios. Most older Disney fans will likely remember that the park was originally named MGM Studios and grew from the idea for a pavilion that was originally planned for Epcot. Newly appointed CEO Michael Eisner, however, proposed that the pavilion be expanded into a new park devoted to the secrets behind movie and television production, and he cut the ribbon on MGM Studios on May 1, 1989.

“The World you have entered was created by The Walt Disney Company and is dedicated to Hollywood—not a place on a map, but a state of mind that exists wherever people dream and wonder and imagine, a place where illusion and reality are fused by technological magic. We welcome you to a Hollywood that never was—and always will be,” Eisner said at the dedication.

And from then on, the park that eventually became known as Hollywood Studios really was a miniature Hollywood, with Disney shows and films being produced at the park. Until Mickey’s Sorcerer’s Hat was added in 2001, the park’s architectural icon was even a water tower (the Earful Tower) based on those typically found in the backlots of early Hollywood studios. Hollywood Studios eventually stopped being an active production studio, but many of the park’s early sound stages and sets are still there, blended in with attractions like Toy Story Midway Mania!

Today, Hollywood Studios consists of six themed areas modeled after Hollywood sets, studios, and buildings. Guests will feel like they’ve really stepped into tinseltown with attractions like the Studio Backlit Tour, Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show, and The American Idol Experience.

To visit Disney’s Hollywood Studios and see why this park has been a Walt Disney World favorite for 20 years, check out Walt Disney World tickets on OrlandoFunTickets.com. And from everyone here at OrlandoFunTickets.com, Happy Birthday, Hollywood Studios! Here’s to twenty more years of making Hollywood magical.

With four theme parks and over 35 years of history behind it, there is so much to learn about Walt Disney World. And even if you have been to the parks a thousand times, chances are there’s still plenty of interesting Disney World facts you may have never heard before. We ourselves are learning new ones all the time! (See our first ‘Did You Know?’ blog.) So in honor of one of our favorite Orlando theme parks, or rather, several, here’s a sprinkling of even more Disney knowledge to brighten your day.

Magic Kingdom’s Secret Underground Lair

Originally considered a Disney urban legend, the intricate maze of service tunnels underneath Magic Kingdom is a sight that few guests ever get to see. But the Utilidors are 100% real, and they’re responsible for many of the seamless operations that go unseen by guests in the park. For example, have you ever wondered how cast members and characters seem to just randomly appear? They travel through the park via these tunnels, which were first created because Walt Disney was bothered by the sight of a cowboy walking through Disneyland’s Tomorrowland on his way to his post in Frontierland. Today, the Utilidors are also used deliveries and even collection of trash. It all happens under guests’ feet in what is actually the ground floor of Magic Kingdom – the park, unbelievably, is the second level of a massive structure!

Beastly Kingdom

Disney’s Animal Kingdom focuses on animals, obviously, but even more specifically, it focuses on three classifications of animals: those that exist today, those that did exist but are now extinct (dinosaurs), and those that exist in legend and mythology. And in the original designs for Animal Kingdom, there was supposed to be an area specifically devoted to this third category called Beastly Kingdom.

The area was supposed to feature mythical creatures like unicorns, dragons, and sea monsters, split into two different realms of good and evil creatures. The plans were all drawn up and the attractions all mapped out, but regrettably, budget limitations prevented the area from being built. In its place, Camp Minnie-Mickey was constructed, and rumor has it that the Imagineers who thought up Beastly Kingdom were laid off and rehired at Universal Islands of Adventure, where they created the coaster Dueling Dragons. Today, however, you can still see remnants of the Beastly Kingdom plans in the form of dragon figures throughout the park, as well as the Unicorn parking lot.

In the Movies

As many older Disney lovers know, Disney’s Hollywood Studios used to be called MGM Studios, and in the heart of those fans, the name change never took place. What many younger folks also might not know, however, is that the park really was a functioning TV and motion picture production facility back in the day – and that that was the Walt Disney Company’s original intention for the Studios. In the late 80s, feature-length films such as Ernest Saves Christmas and Newsies were filmed there prior to its completion and opening as a theme park.
From the early 90s to early 2000s, MGM Studios was also the birthplace of Disney animated films like Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, and Brother Bear, in addition to other Disney projects like the Mickey Mouse Club and Adventures in Wonderland, and many more third-party productions. Even a radio studio is located on the lot, appropriately behind “Sounds Dangerous.”

If you want to learn more about your favorite Disney theme park, one of the best and most fun ways to do that is to visit! Score your Walt Disney World tickets at OrlandoFunTickets.com, and you’ll be on your way to becoming a Disney expert. And in the meantime, stay tuned to our blog for more interesting Disney factoids.

The Christmas season of celebration is definitely under way at the Walt Disney World Resort. All of the Disney hotels and theme parks are dressed in their holiday best, and the special events are up and running full steam ahead. The Orlando theme parks really do go all out to celebrate the holidays with vacationers and locals alike. And OrlandoFunTickets.com goes all out too, providing you with the best discounts on Disney tickets to be found anywhere. Your best gift this Christmas will be the cheap theme park tickets you find at OrlandoFunTickets.com!

One of the most dramatic and oldest Christmas traditions in Orlando is the nightly Candlelight Processional at Epcot. This tradition is over 35 years old, and actually began as a living nativity presentation in Lake Buena Vista long before Epcot even opened. It has evolved into a truly spectacular presentation of the story of the Nativity.

Celebrities from all walks of Hollywood life transform into narrators with booming voices and heartfelt wonder to tell the story of the first Christmas. They are joined by a live 50-member symphony orchestra and gigantic mass choir made up of Disney cast members, who provide a truly touching performance. The arrangement of the music, and the way in which it is performed each night manages to convey this wondrous story in a way you have never heard before. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, the show is so well-orchestrated and performed that it is still worth a viewing just for the sheer entertainment value of this professional quality production.

Celebrity narrators this year include multi-Grammy winner Steven Curtis Chapman, well-known “Growing Pains” actor Kirk Cameron, movie and TV actress Marlee Matlin, and famed actor Gary Sinise, who will perform in the Processional from December 23 through Christmas Day, as he has for the past few years.

The Processional takes place three times each evening at the America Gardens Theater in the World Showcase at Epcot. This is an outdoor theater, so dress appropriately if the weather calls for one of Orlando’s crisp December nights. And it is those crispy nights that are the perfect setting for a holiday celebration at Walt Disney World. Even more perfect are the great discount prices OrlandoFunTickets.com offers on all of your Orlando attraction tickets. So whether you’re coming for a holiday get away or you’re here all year, OrlandoFunTickets.com is the place to get discount theme park tickets at Christmas and all season long!

The Christmas holidays are the happiest time of year, and the luckiest of vacationers get to spend them in the happiest place on earth. If you have a vacation planned during this joyous season, OrlandoFunTickets.com is your best source for cheap tickets to all of Orlando’s theme parks, including Walt Disney World and the Magic Kingdom. And this holiday season, the Magic Kingdom is going all out with brand new decorations adorning its famous icon, Cinderella’s Castle. The newest Disney spectacle of lights opens at the Magic Kingdom on November 12, and if you get your tickets at OrlandoFunTickets.com now, you can be basking in their festive glow in no time.

Cinderella’s Castle on a regular day is a wonderful spectacle to behold, but this Christmas season Disney Entertainment Show Producer promises the transformed castle will become a “new and eye-filling superstar” each evening at the Magic Kingdom. The sparkling beauty will bring a glowing finale to the new holiday “Show Before the Glow.” Mickey and Minnie will be joined by Cinderella and Prince Charming for this festive celebration on the Castle Stage each evening at 5:45 p.m. With some help from her Fairy Godmother, “Cinderella’s Holiday Wish” will come true. With a wave of the wand, Cinderella’s Castle will be suddenly bathed in bling as thousands of tiny, twinkling lights come to life.

Castle Dream Lights will brighten the Magic Kingdom sky nightly and park guests will be truly dazzled by the “sheer visual spectacle.” This dizzying array of brilliance took Magic Kingdom castmembers five weeks to complete, using 15 miles of cables, 500 strobes and 200,000 energy-efficient lights. Practically every inch of the castle is covered, and it is sure to be a favorite spot for photographs and mementos of the holidays at Walt Disney World.
The holidays are a special time for many people, and spending this extraordinary time of year in Orlando on vacation is truly an awesome gift. Speaking of gifts, give yourself one and make sure you get all of your discount tickets at OrlandoFunTickets.com. When it comes to Orlando theme park tickets, we are your number one source for cheap tickets and great discounts to all of the best Orlando attractions. At OrlandoFunTickets.com you will always find the best deals on the most popular tickets during the holidays and every other time of year!