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A Florida vacation"FLORIDA VACATION" Can't find what you need? Try a Google Web Search in the box below!
3/1/1999 "For some visitors, Disney cartoons coupled with circus balloons are the stuff of a perfect Florida vacation. For others, it may be mangrove mists and sandy trysts. Or perhaps your vacation style is Sarasota gallery strolls spiked with a cappuccino lull." Whatever you fancy, you can now enlist the Internet to be your personal tour guide for a perfect vacation. With a little online research, you can custom-tailor travel arrangements, accommodations, dining plans, and activities for a perfect fit. The competitive Florida vacation travel market is a hotbed of changing airline, car rental and travel deals. The Internet can put the power of a dedicated travel agent at your fingertips. For example, before you book your plane and hotel arrangements, sign up for the free e-mail notification services that will alert you to the sometimes daily changes in the rate for the destination you specify. This service recently saved me hundreds of dollars. I was within minutes of paying for a pricey airline ticket for a Florida vacation, when I received e-mail announcing that one of the major airlines had just dropped its rates on that route. I was able to follow the link in the e-mail to purchase a ticket over the airline's secure Internet site. For some fine examples of e-mail notification services, check out http://www.expedia.com and http://www.travelocity.com. You can reserve your accommodations right from these mega-sites, if national chains of hotels and motels are what you're after. But for a glimpse into the smaller motels and bed & breakfasts in the area, you can now go right to individual web sites to see whether you're going to get high tea or high dives at check-in. Head to http://sarasota.miningco.com/msub37.htm for a listing of some of these more intimate Sarasota spots. Once your travel and hotel arrangements are set, you're ready to start planning where you want to sample Sarasota's delectable dining. Many area restaurants are now using the Internet to broadcast menu information, specials and directions. Some sites even offer online reservation systems for your Florida vacation. Check out the links for everything from white glove dining to outdoor alfresco service at http://sarasota.miningco.com/msub8.htm or go to this magazine's web site, at http://sarasotamagazine.com and explore our special cuisine section, which will lead you to a host of restaurant sites. Can't find what you need? Try a Google Web Search in the box below!
After dining, check out the concerts, comedy and headliners at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. Cybersurf to schedules for concerts, lectures, and performances, and then buy the tickets to attend (http://www.vanwezel.org). At historic John and Mable Ringling Museum's Internet presence, you can view this season's San Diego Museum-sponsored exhibition of installation art, "Blurring the Boundaries," and other special events (http://www.ringling.org/). Pencil in a performance at the state-sponsored Asolo Theatre Festival of Sarasota is nice for your Florida vacation. Drop into the Internet site to use the online calendar and read about this month's productions, which include the Restoration comedy, "The Rivals," and the recent Broadway revival, "Abe Lincoln in Illinois." Then, flex your MasterCard or Visa to buy your seats online at http: //www.sarasota-online.com/asolo/buy.htm. For a libretto instead of a soliloquy, check out the Sarasota Opera, housed in the historic Edwards Theatre, where the likes of Will Rogers and Elvis Presley once delighted the crowds. Go online to read up on the 40th anniversary season, which includes March performances of Bizet's "Carmen," Puccini's "La rondine," Verdi's "Luisa Miller" and Rimsky-Korsakov's "May Night." You can check the seating chart, read about the history of the opera, visit the gift shop, and learn about the Opera Club at http://www.sarasotaopera.org/. For the full spectrum of Sarasota's events of a Florida vacation, cultural performances, gallery offerings and recreation, all on one site, head to the Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau online. This searchable resource groups together visitor information from various arts and cultural organizations around town at http://www.cvb.sarasota.fl.us. If cartoon characters, studio sets, and performing whales are more your family's idea of entertainment, take an online tour of popular Florida vacation attractions and theme parks. Start close by, in Tampa, at Busch Gardens' Internet site. You'll learn about its top-rated roller coasters, thousands of animal residents, and wildlife conservation efforts. If you like what you see at this popular zoological site, you can use the Internet to buy daily, multi-day, and unlimited passes to the park, or special multi-park deals which combine entrance to other Tampa and Orlando destinations (http://www.buschgardens.com/buschgardens/bg_tampa/frame.html). Then head over to Tampa's Florida vacation Aquarium, for a shot of Florida's diverse water habitats (http://www2.sptimes.com/aquarium/Default.html). Another watery destination is Orlando's Sea World, boasting an Internet site worth a dive. Read about its new attraction, Adventures of Atlantis, where you'll step into a Greek fishing boat for a gyrating ride through a mythical world of illusionary effects, combining a high-speed water ride with a careening roller coaster. Florida vacation residents can order special discounted passes for the park right online (http://www.seaworld.com). Can't find what you need? Try a Google Web Search in the box below!
If Mickey's on the menu, use the easy-to-navigate online vacation planner for Disney World. You'll be able to use the web to choose from the growing array of entertainment at this Orlando mega-complex. Drop-down menus help target the accommodations in the Kingdom that march your family's dining, amenity, recreation and price parameters. Then stay online to purchase daily individual and multi-park "hopper" passes (http://www.disney.com/DisneyWorld). In addition to amusement park thrills, the Disney site will help you schedule in time for other activities around Mouseland. You can drop the kids off to play basketball or golf before you attend one of the new extensive culinary arts programs at Disney:http://www.disney.com/DisneWorld/DisneyInstitute/culinary arts.html. If what you yearn for are the simple joys of a bygone era, go online to Disney's new BoardWalk Resort. You'll find out how even Mickey can step back to a simpler time of clapboard buildings, paddle boats, and dueling pianos reminiscent of the 1930s Atlantic seaside resort http://www.disney.com/DisneyWorld/Entertainment/Rec510.html........ Compare airline tickets for your Florida vacation here /cheap airfares home |