Here’s a theme park concert to respect: Aretha Franklin is singing this weekend at Universal Studios Orlando.
The Queen of Soul performs March 13 as part of Universal Orlando’s Mardi Gras celebration, which runs Saturdays through April 17. Mardi Gras means Cajun cuisine, authentic New Orleans music, concerts, and, of course, a parade with plenty of bead throwing.
The Mardi Gras parade starts at 8 p.m. Saturday night, and Aretha’s concert will begin at 8:30 p.m.
The concert lineup for the rest of the Mardi Gras season includes:
March 20: Miranda Lambert
March 27: 3 Doors Down
April 3: Beach Boys
April 9: Sheryl Crow
April 10: Flo Rida
April 17: Chicago
Universal is running a special hotel package in conjunction with Mardi Gras this spring: Book 3 nights and get 2 more free. You can still book this package online through the end of March.
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You can now book a room at the brand-new Coco Key Water Resort in Orlando, which opens April 15.
The resort has 386 rooms and is built for families, with dozens of options such as two-bedroom suites and rooms that connect side-to-side or back-to-back. Larger families that book adjoining rooms will get a $30 price break over the cost of two individual rooms.
And then there’s the water park! CoCo Key Water Resort will have 8 water slides, children’s play areas, a teen area and a quiet pool zone, all under a canopy.
There’s also a full-service restaurant, food court and grab and go market on the property, so plenty of options for eating.
Here’s how the pricing works: You book your hotel rooms (rates range from $99 to $149 per night), and then pay an additional $19 per day, per room resort fee, which covers unlimited access to the water park for up to four people, as well as your in-room Internet and other children’s activities at the hotel.
This new hotel and water park is centrally located on International Drive in Orlando. Coco Key will offer free transportation to and from Universal Studios Orlando, Islands of Adventure, SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica and Wet n’ Wild. It’s about a 20-minute drive away from Walt Disney World.
A weekend at the beach in Jacksonville, Fla., provided a great opportunity for me to evaluate the Verizon Palm Pre Plus camera and share the results with you here.
This device has a 3.0 megapixel camera with an LED flash. Two things like about it:
There is an easy way, right from the camera screen to turn the flash on, turn the flash off or leave it on auto. With my previous cell phones with cameras, I refrained from taking pictures in “no flash photography allowed” situations, because I didn’t know how to turn off my flash.
The camera takes multiple pictures quite rapidly. There is no real lag time between shots.
One thing I don’t like about the camera:
There is no zoom capability. This is likely a choice of the developer – speed over a digital zoom – and if you have to make the choice, I guess I would lose the zoom, too. But it would be nice to let the user make that choice on a case-by-case basis.
That said, overall I am happy with the Verizon Palm Pre Plus camera. Here are some pictures I took with it. They are completely unedited, and you can click them to see the actual size the camera takes.
The view from our hotel room at the Quality Suites Oceanfront in Jacksonville.
Taken in a dark room with the Verizon Palm Pre Plus camera flash, at the Museum of Science and History in Jacksonville.
Outside with the sun overhead, at the Jacksonville Beach Pier.
And the obligatory cupcake photo - taken in a shadowy spot with the flash. These cupcakes are from the Cupcake Girls in Jacksonville and they were delish!
As I mentioned in my last review post, an update to Palm’s webOS last week gave the Verizon Palm Pre Plus a camcorder function. I am very pleased with how it works! Not only can you shoot video on the Verizon Palm Pre Plus, there is also an edit function that allows you to trim the ends of the video easily. Here is a video I shot, edited and uploaded straight to YouTube from my phone. It was shot at the Jacksonville Museum of Science and History in a room with the lights turned off.
Disclosure notice: Verizon paid for my Palm Pre Plus and is paying for one month of my service in exchange for me trying the phone and posting about my experiences on my blog. I’m still thinking for myself, though, and you can count on me to provide my honest opinion of this product.
Tampa water park Adventure Island opens March 13-14 for a preview weekend, and the park will be celebrating Tampa Navy Week those days with some special events:
Guests can swim with Navy Divers at Paradise Lagoon.
Listen to the Navy Rock Band each day from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Challenge a Navy volleyball team to a game for a chance to win a prize.
Take a look at the Blue Angels flight simulator.
Regular hours at Adventure Island are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Following the park’s preview next weekend, Adventure Island opens for the season on March 22.
Here’s a theme park concert to respect: Aretha Franklin is singing this weekend at Universal Studios Orlando.
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