Google Street View Helps Visualize Cool Summer Attractions

by Chris Owen on
As summer blazes on, travelers are looking for cool places to go. A quick escape from summer heat to a water park, beach or lake might be just what they have in mind too. But how about a look first? Google Street View can give us a panoramic view from positions along many streets in the world, including some major summer attractions.

A little warm where you are today? Click on one of these featured attractions for a taste of coolness and summer fun ahead.

Adventure Island is a water park located northeast of Tampa, Florida, across the street from Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, featuring 30 acres of water rides, dining and other attractions.

Discovery Cove is a theme park in Greater Orlando, Florida. Guests can interact with a variety of marine animals, most notably bottlenose dolphins. The park is located adjacent to sister parks SeaWorld Orlando and Aquatica. In addition to swimming with dolphins, Discovery Cove guests can interact with exotic birds, tropical fish, rays and land mammals.

Santa Monica Pier is a large double-jointed pier located at the foot of Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica, California, and home to Pacific Park and a family amusement park with a large Ferris wheel.

SeaWorld Orlando is a theme park, and marine-life based zoological park, near Orlando, Florida, that when combined with its neighbor Discovery Cove and the Aquatica waterpark, it forms a larger entertainment complex devoted to Earth’s oceans and the array of life that inhabits them.

Google Street View was introduced in the United States but can now be seen in 48 countries around the world.

See more Google summer attractions in the U.S. through Street View imagery, and make plans to cool off today.

[Flickr photo by matheuslotero]

Discovery Cove plans new saltwater reef attraction in Orlando

by Leigh Caldwell on

SeaWorld Orlando’s Discovery Cove is known as the place where you can swim with the dolphins, but starting in 2011, visitors will be able to swim among sharks, tropical fish and other sea life, as well.

The theme park has not made an official announcement about the reef, but it did confirm the project to the Orlando Business Journal.

The 875,000-gallon saltwater reef project will also include a nature trail, so that visitors can interact with sea life while on dry land, too. Construction permits show that material costs for the project have already exceeded $17 million.

Discovery Cove’s marquee experience is semi-private time to swim and interact with a dolphin. In addition, the Orlando, Florida, park offers an aviary, beaches, a tropical reef and a lazy river.

The price tag for a day at Discovery Cove starts at $199, and all tickets are all-inclusive, which means all your food and drink and other amenities, such as towels, lockers, sunscreen, snorkeling equipment and parking are included.

Only 1,000 guests per day are allowed in Discovery Cove, so it’s essential that you make a reservation in advance.

67 Days of Smiles Assignment Begins

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Orlando’s “67 Days of Smiles Assignment” has begun. Kyle Post, a Broadway performer, and Stacey Doombos, a childcare worker in Harlem, have hit the ground and are getting ready to experience everything. The duo won the gig after competing against hundreds of applications from more than a dozen countries. Now, they will take on more than 100 attractions in a little over two months.

Their first assignment is to train animals at Discovery Cove, followed by VIP treatment at Hard Rock Live. Throughout the first week, they’ll wrestle alligators at Gatorland, take a tour of downtown Orlando (my favorite part of the city, to be honest – I hope they stop to visit Charley Keila at the City Arts Factory) and sit down with Mayor Buddy Dyer. They’ll also be among the first to ride Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at Universal Studios.

“We’ve been counting down every day until we start our 67 day adventure in Orlando,” said Kyle Post. “The suspense of not knowing what we will be doing is killing us, but if Day One is any indication of our 67 Day experience, then we are two of the luckiest people in the world.”

During their stay in Orlando, Post and Doombos will crash in a two-bedroom condo downtown, not far from Lake Eola and chronicle their experiences by blogging and tweeting. I’m pretty excited to see how this turns out.

Check out their application video after the jump.