Orlando to get Great Wheel!

[TampaMike]

Originally Posted by MNiemann

Here are a few comparable-sized cities I've lived in that did not offer that:

Tampa
Jacksonville
West Palm Beach
St. Petersburg

By the way, here are more pictures of "the ferris wheel" like the on we're getting:



Doesn't look so "gimmicky" to me...

Oh wow, what a VIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jzquince69]

Originally Posted by The Knight Time

They are coming to see the mouse that is from anaheim but owns some property in osceola. That is the world brand.

Yes, people come here to go to Disney. People also come here to go directly to Universal- ever since they dumped $2-3B since the Late Nineties in the resort and their new marketing campaign.

Siemens' committment to Orlando for business was why Lufthansa began non-stop service from Germany to OIA last year. EA Tiburon, HD Supply, AAA, Darden, & Hard Rock are some of the companies based here.

The OCCC is the second busiest in the world. There are 2 PGA and 1 LPGA televised tournaments per year hosted here. NBA is here, such as it is. The highest rated non-BCS bowl is played here (Capital One) as well as a second bowl game. The Braves play at Cracker Jack every Spring. The Orlando FMF is perhaps the 2nd or 3rd largest in the country. The Mountain Dew Challenge for extreme sports was hosted here on ESPN last year. MTV's Jackass filmed an episode at Orlando Water Sports a few years back. Wrestlemeania was here a couple of months back. Michael Buble was at UCF recently; Hard Rock Live is here; House of Blues is here; Blue Man is here; Cirque du Soleil is here;

The boy band phenomenon was created here; other pop bands were also from here during that era; Well known rave DJ's were bred here during the peak of the Orlando rave scene; movies still get filmed here every year contrary to popular belief; area studios also do assoiciated film work as well.

Celebration as a PUD has been reviewed in journals-- both positive and negative. As of a few years ago, Orlando had more restaurants per capita than anywhere else- at least in the US. Omni Championsgate, Ritz & J.W., Peabody, Waldorf-Hilton*, Shingle Creek, Gaylond Palms, etc., are all here and not on Disney property.

Brandweek listed "Orlando" as the most popular "brand" in the U.S. ala destination cities, way ahead of Las Vegas (2008);

Orlando is the destination, not just Disney. Disney is no less the ultimate destination in Orlando than say the beach is off of Ocean Drive in Miami, or Times Square is in NYC, or the Smithsonian is in D.C. On that note, however, detractors in the past have frowned upon a place like Disney being the main destination versus a natural aspect of a city such as a shoreline. Well, there's no difference, because no matter how you slice it, money is involved in every city's main attraction-- whether if it's a resort, beach, beachfront strip, museum, etc. They all take money to create and maintain. Whether that money comes from a single corporation, many corporations, federal grants, donations from philanthopists, our tax money, or other forms of sponsorship.

This is why Great Wheel Corp chose Orlando. Not because of one attraction, because of the whole package.

[karim aboussir]

orlando was nothing before the mouse maybe not I could be wrong ?

[jzquince69]

Originally Posted by karim aboussir

orlando was nothing before the mouse maybe not I could be wrong ?

check out the Orlando-Historic Structures thread starting with 1. that will give you a taste of some stuff about orlando pre-mousehouse days.

from citrus, to turn-of-the-century resorts, to military history, to transportation planning, to Martin Marrietta, to KSC, to Disney... alot of stuff is there, including certain buildings downtown, like the core group of buildings of Church Street Station, which date back to the early 1900's.

[The Knight Time]

Originally Posted by jzquince69

Yes, people come here to go to Disney. People also come here to go directly to Universal- ever since they dumped $2-3B since the Late Nineties in the resort and their new marketing campaign.

Siemens' committment to Orlando for business was why Lufthansa began non-stop service from Germany to OIA last year. EA Tiburon, HD Supply, AAA, Darden, & Hard Rock are some of the companies based here.

The OCCC is the second busiest in the world. There are 2 PGA and 1 LPGA televised tournaments per year hosted here. NBA is here, such as it is. The highest rated non-BCS bowl is played here (Capital One) as well as a second bowl game. The Braves play at Cracker Jack every Spring. The Orlando FMF is perhaps the 2nd or 3rd largest in the country. The Mountain Dew Challenge for extreme sports was hosted here on ESPN last year. MTV's Jackass filmed an episode at Orlando Water Sports a few years back. Wrestlemeania was here a couple of months back. Michael Buble was at UCF recently; Hard Rock Live is here; House of Blues is here; Blue Man is here; Cirque du Soleil is here;

The boy band phenomenon was created here; other pop bands were also from here during that era; Well known rave DJ's were bred here during the peak of the Orlando rave scene; movies still get filmed here every year contrary to popular belief; area studios also do assoiciated film work as well.

Celebration as a PUD has been reviewed in journals-- both positive and negative. As of a few years ago, Orlando had more restaurants per capita than anywhere else- at least in the US. Omni Championsgate, Ritz & J.W., Peabody, Waldorf-Hilton*, Shingle Creek, Gaylond Palms, etc., are all here and not on Disney property.

Brandweek listed "Orlando" as the most popular "brand" in the U.S. ala destination cities, way ahead of Las Vegas (2008);

Orlando is the destination, not just Disney. Disney is no less the ultimate destination in Orlando than say the beach is off of Ocean Drive in Miami, or Times Square is in NYC, or the Smithsonian is in D.C. On that note, however, detractors in the past have frowned upon a place like Disney being the main destination versus a natural aspect of a city such as a shoreline. Well, there's no difference, because no matter how you slice it, money is involved in every city's main attraction-- whether if it's a resort, beach, beachfront strip, museum, etc. They all take money to create and maintain. Whether that money comes from a single corporation, many corporations, federal grants, donations from philanthopists, our tax money, or other forms of sponsorship.

This is why Great Wheel Corp chose Orlando. Not because of one attraction, because of the whole package.

Like your south beach example, Miami has a brand, a culture, an image unique to itself, south beach is part of it. Orlando without the mouse is not impressive, none of this would or could exist with the mouse. The mouse is your largest employer and likewise the largest single economic engine in your entire town, and it isn't even in Orlando! Like it or not Orlando will whither on the vine without it. If it even declines your entire region is hosed. Embrace it! Embrace the wheel because it embraces Disney too! It's what brings europeans to your town when the economy is slumping like it is now.

You can quote whatever "brand" magazine you want to make your point, it was probably sponsored by a hotel chain or something related to the bloated statistic it was trying to report, those things exist to sell ads.

I really want to stop replying to this thread, but you orlando folks with your ready to go "inferiority complex" lists are just so amusing. Why do you folks always have ready to go lists making your town out to be #1 in the world in some category? I bet Mr Freud understands why.

[jzquince69]

Originally Posted by The Knight Time

Like your south beach example, Miami has a brand, a culture, an image unique to itself, south beach is part of it. Orlando without the mouse is not impressive, none of this would or could exist with the mouse. The mouse is your largest employer and likewise the largest single economic engine in your entire town, and it isn't even in Orlando! Like it or not Orlando will whither on the vine without it. If it even declines your entire region is hosed. Embrace it! Embrace the wheel because it embraces Disney too! It's what brings europeans to your town when the economy is slumping like it is now.

You can quote whatever "brand" magazine you want to make your point, it was probably sponsored by a hotel chain or something related to the bloated statistic it was trying to report, those things exist to sell ads.

I really want to stop replying to this thread, but you orlando folks with your ready to go "inferiority complex" lists are just so amusing. Why do you folks always have ready to go lists making your town out to be #1 in the world in some category? I bet Mr Freud understands why.

you've got some serious issued, dude.

here's a newsflash: noone is touting Orlando as anything other than it is; to the contrary, it is people like yourself trying to tear it down and ignore facts while doing so, and when someone tries to set the record straight, they get accused of having an inferiority complex. Go figure.

You all just want to have cart blanche to tear this place down without any retort.

On the Miami example-- Miami would have never become what it has become had it not been for its geography, period. Same goes for Orlando. Disney chose CFLA because of geography and the transportation network, and the placement of I-4 and TNPK were actually the results of CLFA legislative efforts when those roads were being designed. So in essence, Orange County (not Osceola) was responsible for bringing Disney here.

I've got no problem with Disney. It's the largest most advanced first class resort complex in the world.

And here's another newsflash: take the beach away in Miami and then you're left with nothing. No Ocean Drive; no Ocean Drive Magazine; no Versace mansion; no nothing.

As for Orlando withering away without Disney: sure, the hotel industry would suffer, but there's 3 counties worth of office parks and downtown office industry that has nothing to do with hospitality. Where do you people assume that everyone who lives in CFLA works at Disney? Disney only employs around 40k people. there's over 2M people in CFLA.

Orlando + Disney is a symbiotic relationship to an extent.

The only reason I even bother with this subject is b/c I'm sick and tired of people propagating inaccurate information about the state of affairs in CFLA, not because I have a Freudian complex.

And I do embrace the Great Wheel, b/c it represents the notion and continues the trend of major companies investing in CFLA-- other than Disney, Universal, and Busch.

[SkyDiveJunkee]

Originally Posted by karim aboussir

orlando was nothing before the mouse maybe not I could be wrong ?

Here is a pretty good site for Orlando history--it hasn't been updated for the most recent boom downtown, but you get a good sense of it's past. There are impressive historic photos of downtown.

http://www.cfhf.net/orlando/index1.htm

Click on "Overview" and you'll be able to view a year by year timeline.

[steve-o]

This thread has really gotten out of hand and is quite embarrassing.

People - its just a big, beautiful ferris wheel!

Isn't there a more interesting war going on somewhere out there? I believe its east of Orlando, Miami AND Tampa!

[PNP]

If you build it they will come

[Aceventura]

Photo Bomb!
The first 7 are of and from the Big Wheel in Yokohama, the next six are the London Eye. The I-Drive Wheel will be a good addition to the world-wide permanent wheel collection.

[jzquince69]

clever those Japanese...

interesting, I think the Great Wheel is more like the Eye w/re to capsule size and orientation. But Yokohama rocks!

[TampaMike]

Went on The Eye when I went to London last month. Awesome views. You could see for miles and miles and miles, it was superb. But it made my claims that building an similar attraction isn't really worth it. Like I said, nothing against Orlando, but besides the City and probably Disney World (isn't this one shorter?), you have nothing else to look forward to. But building something like the CN Tower would be more convenient.

[PNP]

any word on when they are suppose to start work on the wheel??

[redbaron_012]

Looks like this "Wheel' thing is catching an all around the world.....We have just completed ours here in Melbourne Australia.....it opens to the public before the end of this month.....I think it rates 3 largest at the moment...but you know nothing stands still for long.....specially wheels!

Each Pod can hold about 20 people.....

By redbaron_012

[Aceventura]

This is the wheel at the '84 New Orleans World's Fair. It was 178 feet and had 40 gondolas. It was the tallest wheel in the U.S. at the time, and was taken down after the fair.

[Weisheit]

Originally Posted by jzquince69

Yes, people come here to go to Disney. People also come here to go directly to Universal- ever since they dumped $2-3B since the Late Nineties in the resort and their new marketing campaign.

Right. That's why people go to Orlando. All of the theme parks, not Orlando itself. If you think otherwise I'm willing to bet you've lived in Orlando your whole life. Probably never been outside the country.

Siemens' committment to Orlando for business was why Lufthansa began non-stop service from Germany to OIA last year. EA Tiburon, HD Supply, AAA, Darden, & Hard Rock are some of the companies based here.

All because of DW, not Orlando.

The OCCC is the second busiest in the world. There are 2 PGA and 1 LPGA televised tournaments per year hosted here. NBA is here, such as it is. The highest rated non-BCS bowl is played here (Capital One) as well as a second bowl game. The Braves play at Cracker Jack every Spring. The Orlando FMF is perhaps the 2nd or 3rd largest in the country. The Mountain Dew Challenge for extreme sports was hosted here on ESPN last year. MTV's Jackass filmed an episode at Orlando Water Sports a few years back. Wrestlemeania was here a couple of months back. Michael Buble was at UCF recently; Hard Rock Live is here; House of Blues is here; Blue Man is here; Cirque du Soleil is here;

Uh.....Every city can claim this type of drivel, case in point:

Tampa has one PGA event annually, The Women’s Final Four has been played in Tampa once w/ another scheduled for '15. The 1999 Men's Final Four was also here. There are two NCAA College bowl games annually played here. Tampa is home to the USF Bulls of the BE BCS conference, one of just four such schools in the state.

America's most popular sport, the NFL, is here. The Bucs captured a World Championship in Super Bowl XXXVII. The largest sporting event in America, the Super Bowl has been here three times w/ a fourth to be played in days.

The NHL is here, MLB is here. World Series and the Stanley Cup have been played here. Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is here. "Cocoon", "Edward Scissorhands", and "The Punisher" were all filmed in the Tampa Bay area.

The boy band phenomenon was created here; other pop bands were also from here during that era;

I can't believe you're proud of this...

Orlando is the destination, not just Disney. Disney is no less the ultimate destination in Orlando than say the beach is off of Ocean Drive in Miami, or Times Square is in NYC, or the Smithsonian is in D.C.

Orlando is a one trick pony though, theme parks, that's it. International tourist (at the very least) DO NOT go to Orlando but its theme parks. Why would they? Urbanity? Those folks coming directly from Germany (and most others from Europe) that you spoke of live in genuine urban cities. Tampa? Not urban. Orlando? Not urban. Miami? Not urban. They're not even remotely urban. If people want World class eating, museums ect. They go to NY, Chicago, San Fransisco ect.


D.C? World class city. NYC? Same. Miami? Not so much. Orlando?

There are no world class cities in Florida. Tampa and Orlando don't even come close.

/Rant

[MNiemann]

Originally Posted by Weisheit

Right. That's why people go to Orlando. All of the theme parks, not Orlando itself. If you think otherwise I'm willing to bet you've lived in Orlando your whole life. Probably never been outside the country.

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha you must never have been anywhere in orlando but disney in order to think something so ignorant. and no, neither he nor I have lived in Orlando our entire lives (I grew up in Europe), and we think this way

Originally Posted by Weisheit

America's most popular sport, the NFL, is here. The Bucs captured a World Championship in Super Bowl XXXVII. The largest sporting event in America, the Super Bowl has been here three times w/ a fourth to be played in days.

The NHL is here, MLB is here. World Series and the Stanley Cup have been played here.

Tampa/St Pete has all that because of it's location. No other reason. Jacksonville and Miami all had that first and Orlando was too close to both. I took a Sports Economics class in college. Only metro areas as large as LA, San Fran, Chicago, and NYC get ANYTHING closer.

Originally Posted by Weisheit

Orlando is a one trick pony though, theme parks, that's it. International tourist (at the very least) DO NOT go to Orlando but its theme parks. Why would they? Urbanity? Those folks coming directly from Germany (and most others from Europe) that you spoke of live in genuine urban cities.

I'd hate to call you ignorant. Maybe you are not, but your comments are. First of all, I have travelled all over Europe and seen many cities that are not even closely as urban as Orlando. Second of all, you don't live here so you have absolutely no idea. I live downtown and I see folks that come visit here from all over the world and never even make it down to the theme parks.

Originally Posted by Weisheit

Tampa? Not urban. Orlando? Not urban. Miami? Not urban. They're not even remotely urban. If people want World class eating, museums ect. They go to NY, Chicago, San Fransisco ect.

There are no world class cities in Florida. Tampa and Orlando don't even come close.

Hehehe you really don't know what urban is. Sorry, buddy. Anyway, i'd hate to have to defend myself and my city, but (sigh). I live downtown, I live in a highrise. Every day I walk to work, I walk to Starbucks, I walk to the gym. From my apartment I can walk to (and see) 5 public schools, 2 museums, 2 grocery stores, 6 art galleries, 4 hospitals, a plethora of office buildings, 2 gyms, shops & retail, and restaurants that range from Thai to Mexican to Japanese to Italian, gourmet restaurants that charge over $100 a plate and pizza by the slice. I never have to use my car. EVER. i do because I have friends that live across town. no one else that lives and works downtown ever needs their car. there is always live music somewhere, people from all different cultures live in my building (born in the u.s. is a minority) there is a farmers market here every sunday and people take their dogs almost everywhere because it is very dog friendly. their are at least 6 city parks that i know of within walking distance, and city corners that range from built in the late 1800s to built last year and state-of-the-art. we don't have a rail system yet but we have a bus that goes to every corner of the metro area.

what's not urban about orlando? the non-urban parts. that's it. end of story. don't make judgments till you move here and live where i live.

[ukiyo]

Originally Posted by MNiemann

what's not urban about orlando? the non-urban parts. that's it. end of story. don't make judgments till you move here and live where i live.

I took this picture in Hotel Clarion in universal...Right across the street from wet N wild, and 1 mile from universal studios/citywalk, and adjacent to I Drive and you can clearly see downtown. Also about the theme park stuff, isnt orlando the biggest city for conventions in the US?

[Weisheit]

Originally Posted by MNiemann

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha you must never have been anywhere in orlando but disney in order to think something so ignorant. and no, neither he nor I have lived in Orlando our entire lives (I grew up in Europe), and we think this way

....I lived in and around Orlando for ~20 years. I'm a native of Florida...

Tampa/St Pete has all that because of it's location. No other reason. Jacksonville and Miami all had that first and Orlando was too close to both. I took a Sports Economics class in college. Only metro areas as large as LA, San Fran, Chicago, and NYC get ANYTHING closer.

First of all Jacksonville only has the NFL, which was in Tampa before Jacksonville. Secondly, Tampa is closer to Miami than Orlando is. Thirdly, 1 pro team (Orlando, Jacksonville) vs. 3 (Tampa) has to do w/ size not location.

I live downtown, I live in a highrise. Every day I walk to work, I walk to Starbucks, I walk to the gym. From my apartment I can walk to (and see) 5 public schools, 2 museums, 2 grocery stores, 6 art galleries, 4 hospitals, a plethora of office buildings, 2 gyms, shops & retail, and restaurants that range from Thai to Mexican to Japanese to Italian, gourmet restaurants that charge over $100 a plate and pizza by the slice.

So because you live in a tiny pseudo urban downtown neighborhood you think Orlando is urban? The entire state of Florida is the poster child for sprawl, having a few people live DT doesn't change that.

what's not urban about orlando?

Damn near everything. Sprawl, endless miles of asphalt highways,
terrible public transportation, horrendous traffic, no density ect.


Genuine urbanity:


image hosted on flickr




Urban sprawl (fake urbanity):

[FloridaFuture]

^Great job comapring cities a 1000+ years old to cities that are barely a hundred years old.