Poohs Playhouse at Rolling Hills. Orlando vacation rental home just minutes to the mouse! Enjoy your Florida holiday and relax in our fabulous villa with a private south-facing pool and spa for relaxing after a day at the parks. Poohs Playhouse includes a games room and free Wi-Fi facilities. Instead of a hotel you get a whole house! Poohs Playhouse is a short drive to Walt Disney World, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter,Sea World and Legoland Florida!
Sunday, 18 February 2007
Brian Howe of Bad Company @ Hard Rock Hotel
Tuesday, 30 January 2007
32nd Annual Mount Dora Arts Festival
Approaching its 32nd year, the Mount Dora Arts Festival continues to be one of Florida’s premiere cultural events. Located on a hill overlooking scenic Lake Dora, and known for its antique shops, galleries and fine dining, historic Mount Dora is the backdrop for the event. 10,000 year-round residents, bus loads of day visitors and seasonal guests fill the lovely downtown shops, streets and alleyways of this unique village in Central Florida, just less than 40 minutes from Orlando.
This Fine Arts Festival features 285 of the nation's leading artists selected by a panel of jurors. These Artists provide the quaint, historic downtown streets with a colorful array of fine art including oils, clay, graphics, glass, jewelry, metal, sculpture, mixed media, photography, acrylics and watercolor painting.
With the help of over 200 volunteers each year the festival maintains a reputaion for being one of the most organized festivals in the Southeast and allows MDCA to continue the tradition started by those art loving friends so long ago. In 1973, a group of art loving friends decided to hold an Arts Festival in their small town of Mount Dora, Florida. They began to work and organize, and in 1975 the first Mount Dora Arts Festival was held. The small festival was such fun and so successful, it became an annual event.
Arts Festival 2007 Accepted Artists
Clay
Douglas Adams
L. Scott Aubrey
Daniel Bair
Teresa Bowen
Douglas Bringle
Chrissie Callejas
Michael Cho
Richard Collison
James Cook - 2006 Best in Catagory Award Winner
Steve Cunningham
Doug Dacey - 2006 Award of Excellence Winner
Robert Ely
Laurie Pollpeter Eskenazi
David Fernandez
Lynn Fisher
Donn Hedman
Ken Jensen
Robert Kastrinos
Marshall Lanz
C. C. Lee
Katherine Mathisen
Elisabeth Maurland
Craig McMillin
Don McWhorter
Mike Meyer
Bruce Minney
Allan Nairn
Juan Ortega
Carol Parsley
Giff Pearce
Tim Peters
Tom Radca
Gail Schaefer
Peter Streit
Dennis Thompson
Vicki Tindall
Vas Tsentas - 2006 Award of Excellence Winner
Jim Ulmer
Geoff Walsh
Fine Crafts
Amos Amit - 2006 Wendy Alderman Award Winner
Andy Costine
Robert Crecelius
Ben Gallaway
Chuck Geier
Barrie Harding
Cindy Hirt
Larry Hutchison
Joe Ihns
John Jowett
Kevin Kichar
David Levy
Emily Lewis
Nick Molignano
Greg Roche
Rudoy Shekina
Steve Smith
Greg Thomas-Moore
Robert Zarcone
Glass & Metal
Joseph Becker
Jacquelyne Collett
Robert Crecelius
Robert Eickholt
Kim Eubank
Stephen Fairchild
Sunny Flynn
Marc Grimes - 2006 Judges Choice for 3D Award Winner
Richard Jacobus
Kiaralinda
Randy Kuntz
Jimmy Langford
Sandra Lent
Mark Lewanski
Pamela McLean
Joe Nielander
Merri Pattinian
Bill Slade - 2006 Best in Catagory Award Winner
Clayton Swartz
Herb Thomas
Teresa Thompson
Meredith Wenzel
Jewelry
Carol Adams
Gaurav Agarwal
Larry Areskog
Penny Atkinson-Potter
Deborah Barnes
Scott Berry
Jim E. Biond
Don Bodenberg
Melissa Booth - 2006 Best in Category Award Winner
Jayne DeMarcay
Sharon Donovan
Sana Doumet
Luis Espinoza
Monika Fairchild
Tracy Fenwick
Patricio Ferreira
Jack Forney
Helmut Goral
Marilyn Greenwood
William Greenwood
Giffen Grosvenor
Daniel Grussing
David Haun
Paul Henning
Larry Hughes
Patricia Karnes
Kim Koch
Andrea Ludden
Gail Marksz
Candy McFall
Rishar Miranda
Ed Mitchell
Robert Nilsson
Cathryn Nowicki
David Nugent
Jim Papuga
Michel Plumail
Barbara Relles
Harry Roa
Gary Shull
Ward Siegler
Bob Spry
Cynthia Stone
Ted Striewski
John Strobel
Fred Tate - 2006 Award of Excellence Winner
Marilyn Vaillancourt
Deborah West
Brian Wetherell
Marty Whipple - 2006 Award of Excellence Winner
Wendy Witchner
Veronica Zakharov
Mixed Media
Heather Batchelder
Chris Bruno
William Cantwell
Darron Chadwick
Juan Miguel Cukier
Bonnie Eastwood
Jeff Eckert - 2006 Best in Catagory Award Winner
Beth Erlund
Ummarid Etharong
Paula Green
Thomas Hogen
David Hunter
Kay Kendall
Meredith Kuntzsch
Jack Leslin
Ellen Marshall
Gregg Murray
Marita Parisi
Aaron Reed
Eric Sauvageau
Garry Seidel
Margot Trombley
Al Vinsant
Cheryl Ward
Mike Williams
Zhiyong Ye
Painting
Kenneth Aunchman
Michael Babyak
Margaret Bayalis
David Berger
Jackie Berkley
Donne Bitner - 2006 Best of Show Award Winner
Sandra Bottinelli
Jose Camacho
Sidney Carter
P. J. Commerford
Scott Coulter
Marta Crawford
Michael Donner
Dominique DuBois
Lynne Fischer-Roche
Hong Gao
Charles Gatewood
Peter Gerbert
Geri Geremia
Lauren Graham Cunningham
Kathleen Green
S. A. Habib
Jeremy Hansen
Geoffrey Harris
Marian Howard
Harry Jarman
Britta Jepson
Stephen Koury
Michael Kuseske
Patricia Leddon
Tung S. Lee
Donald Levesque
Li Li
Alan Lin
Diane Lublinski
Hyacinth Manning
Dawn Kinney Martin
Kathleen McNeill
Robert Mier
Carol Napoli - 2006 Judges Choice 2D Award Winner
Bruce Nawrocke
Paul Nikitchenko
Ken Orton
Bruce Peeso
Polly Podolsky
Art Reilly
Charles Ross
Jeanne Russell
Jacquelyn Schindehette
Karen Seamon
Steve Seibel
Lin Seslar
Yelena Sidorova
Jane Slivka
Larry Smith
Reif Snyder
Richard Toft - 2006 Award of Excellence Winner
Sandra Trower
Bill Turner
Eric Emile Walker
Li Wang
Jan Whitney
Domi Williams
Laura Williams
Rob Wilson
Quan Wen Wu
David Yuan
Dong Yuan
Photography
Mike Bacon
Richard Brown
Doug Cavanah
Karin Connolly
Laurie Coppedge - 2006 Award of Excellence Winner
Luciano Duse
John Galbo
Ginny Ganong-Nichols
Kavan Geary
Chris Honeysett
Ross Jeffries
Brad Kelly
Ken Laffal
Alex Ludden
John Margerum
Ron Mellott
Darren Olson
Doug Remien
Keith Ruddick
Robert Salyers
Mark Wilson
Sculpture
Paul Anderson
Mark Edwards
Rod Garrett
Peter Haddow
Richard Hager
Scott Hiestand
Jack Hill
Ruth Jellema
Dennis Johnson
Linda Levy
Eric Sauvageau
Victoria Sexton
Andrea Striewski
Grant Ward - 2006 Best in Catagory Award Winner
Gene Wilkinson
Street Musician
Paul Price
Chris Sidwell
Kayle Strong
Marcille Wallis
Paul Zimmer
Watercolor
Lyse Anthony
Judy Barnewolt-Jones
John Bayalis
John Bowen
Terry Denson
Kuei Dorman
Jorge Fernandini
Lynn Ferris - 2006 Award of Excellence Winner
Lu Fuller
David Gill
Ted Head
Lori Jenkins
Win Jones
Witha Lacuesta
Mary McShane
Martha Miller
Charles Munday
Linda Neal
Beverly Pinyerd
Gene Rizzo
Drew Strouble
Michael Weber
Barbara Zimmerman
Monday, 29 January 2007
Disney's Year of a Million Dreams
http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/disney/26636/
House of Blues - ORLANDO
Willie Nelson
House of Blues Orlando
Thursday, February 01
Scholars Word Performing in our Blues Kitchen
HOB Orlando, Fri, Feb 2
On Sale Soon
Hindu Cowboys Performing in our Blues Kitchen
HOB Orlando, Sat, Feb 3
On Sale Soon
Jonny Lang with Reeve Carney
HOB Orlando, Wed, Mar 7
Presale Wed, Jan 24
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones and Galactic
HOB Orlando, Thu, Mar 8
Presale Wed, Jan 24 /
Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society
HOB Orlando, Sat, Mar 10
Presale Wed, Jan 24
Jagermeister Music Tour featuring Stone Sour with Shadows Fall and Lacuna Coil
HOB Orlando, Sat, Apr 14
Presale Wed, Jan 31
Friday Apr 20 - HOUSE OF BLUES PRESENTS
THE KILLERS AT UCF ARENA
http://www.hob.com/tickets/eventdetail.asp?eventid=43716
http://www.thekillersmusic.com/
Tuesday, 23 January 2007
Lindsay Buckingham at Downtown Orlando
So for great music, food and fun get your family and friends to downtown Orlando on March 10th to enjoy a great concert for free!
Wednesday, 17 January 2007
Vacationers choose homes over hotels
Some of the hottest vacation accommodations in Central Florida are hiding in plain view, cloaked so completely in the commonplace that they are in a sense invisible.
Thousands of single-family homes, town houses and condominiums clustered in newly built subdivisions near Walt Disney World are in fact vacation homes available for short-term rental. They cater to economy-minded group travelers who can save hundreds of dollars in hotel bills by renting an entire home instead of a number of adjacent rooms.
In the past two decades, vacation rentals have moved from the fringes of the region's lodging industry to its mainstream. The Central Florida Property Managers Association, which represents rental agencies, estimates that there are now 20,000 to 25,000 rental properties in Polk, Osceola, Orange and Lake counties, most clustered near the theme parks.
"We like to call it a cottage industry, no pun intended," said Ted Garrod, Osceola County Zoning and Code Enforcement director. "It started as an unregulated business 15 years ago and has grown to include 205 communities at last count."
Yet it remains stealthy. Most of the region's estimated 700 property-management companies market fewer than 100 houses each. Although the renters pay resort taxes, no one has yet studied the effect they're having on hotels, which are suffering falling occupancy levels throughout Central Florida.
More and more such short-term rentals are in the market. Garrod said that almost every new subdivision near Disney World now includes at least a section of vacation rentals.
Individuals own most of them. Some buy the dwellings strictly as investments, while others want to milk some income from their vacation home. Many are like Leslie Nixon, a Briton who began coming to Central Florida with his family in the 1990s and caught the state's real-estate bug.
Nixon bought a home near Walt Disney World in 1998. He loved the property but was less than thrilled with the cost of ownership. So he put his four-bedroom house on the short-term-rental market, creating a cash flow that offset some of the expenses.
"It seemed a good way to cover some of the costs of running the house," Nixon said. "We really can't think of any problems. It doesn't cover all the costs, but it certainly helps."
'Whole neighborhoods'
Britons helped launch the industry in Florida. Renting vacation homes is far more common in Europe than in the United States, but management companies say Americans are catching on. The business is young, and like many new enterprises, it is far from consolidated.
"It is a very fragmented industry," said Steve Trover, chief executive officer of All Star Vacation Homes in Kissimmee. "It grew dramatically in 2005 and 2006 with the big wave in second-home buying. In the Orlando area, there is a very large amount of property that is being rented out."
Osceola and Polk counties have special zoning for rental subdivisions.
"There are whole neighborhoods in Osceola and Polk that are composed entirely of rental homes," Trover said. "Since the average home has four bedrooms, that is the equivalent of about 75,000 hotel rooms."
Many are packed with bedrooms, most with baths and televisions. What looks like a garage door from the outside might really be the wall of a home theater or a billiards room. And pools are standard.
"We rent pools with houses attached to them," Trover said. "A lot of people today want the privacy of their own pool, and you can't get that at a hotel."
Kendall Griffin of Chicago rented a vacation home in Kissimmee this month.
"Our experience is wonderful," said Griffin, who shared the house with his girlfriend and two other couples. "Cost is the main reason -- it's a lot cheaper than renting hotel rooms. And the communities are clean and safe. And you don't have to go out and eat every night."
Management companies are striving to improve the experience. Houses and condos that rent for four days or more typically are fully outfitted. In some cases, refrigerators are stocked in advance, and maids and chefs are provided for an extra fee.
"We have an in-home grocery service, and we are even working on offering in-home massages, though we don't have that yet," said Russ Kraft, general manager of Global Resort Homes, which manages houses in three Disney-area subdivisions. "We are trying to take the guest experience to the next level."
Consolidation expected
Kraft said the market exploded during this decade as housing construction boomed and investors gobbled up property. He said the market is now ripe for consolidation.
"I see somebody coming in and trying to consolidate a few companies into a recognized brand," he said. "That could happen, and I'm sure it will make it harder and harder to compete."
It is already happening. ResortQuest, a division of hospitality-industry operator Gaylord Entertainment, is the first large company and manages 16,000 rentals throughout the country, though none in Central Florida.
"Given our size and the number of units we have, we view ourselves as a brand," said Peter Weien, ResortQuest's chief operating officer. "People who book with us at Hilton Head in the summer will come back when they want a home in one of our ski markets."
ResortQuest has invested heavily in an interactive Web site that allows vacation planners to book online, something most smaller companies can't afford. Weien said that vacation rentals, which not long ago were a sideline business for real-estate brokers, are becoming part of the hospitality industry.
"Vacation rentals started as an adjunct to the real-estate industry in many markets," Weien said. "That's changing."
Nigel Worrall, president of Florida Leisure Vacation Homes in Kissimmee, said that despite the recent growth, vacation homes are still a niche market catering to extended families and small groups from businesses. But he said small groups planning extended stays are coming to appreciate the value of a house.
"It's all about what average customers can get for their money," Worrall said. "You can rent a vacation home for an amount similar to a hotel room, but you get a whole house with a pool. That has an appeal."
Christopher Boyd can be reached at cboyd@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5723.
To see the article online http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/custom/tourism/orl-vacation1607jan16,0,4133693.story?coll=orl-home-headlines