New Serengeti Flyer, and line dancing at Pirates Dinner Adventure
Line dancing has been detected near International Drive on the Theme Park Rangers Radar thanks to Country Night Live.
We don’t think it was thrown off by a big magnet near Busch Gardens’ new Serengeti Flyer or by the preschooler glee found at Peppa Pig Theme Park on its first birthday.
Further study may be needed. Radar is a weekly wordy wandering of Central Florida’s theme parks and attractions. It appears on OrlandoSentinel.com on Wednesdays.
It’s a boot point
Pirates Dinner Adventure, a long-standing attraction near International Drive, has expanded beyond swashbuckling and into boot-scootin’ boogie territory. Country Nights Live is now a dinner show option there.
The 90-minute experience includes a meal, country songand-dance performances and the opportunity for audience members to hit the floor.
“You’re seeing a very well-polished, well-choreographed, almost country music channel come to life” show in the first half of the evening, said Nick Kroger, senior creative director. Dinner is served at the same time as the lineup of reasonably well-known country tunes.
“We just rifle through country songs with wonderful graphics, great lighting and top-notch recordings, and choreographers here in the Orlando area that have just made it a ‘Wow,’ ” Kroger said.
Two lead singers handle the bulk of the musical duties, flanked by eight dancers who pack a lot of moves into a modest stage. The action eventually reaches the aisles between tables and amid servers.
The musical selections include traditional and modern country numbers, and the genre is bent a bit for a “Footloose” presentation and rap-rooted “Whiskey Drinkin.”
“I refer to it as country fusion,” Kroger said. “Even with some of the costumes, I mean, we’re on a stage, so we’re going to have a little pizazz.”
The second half of a Country Nights Live evening shifts into honky-tonk mode over dessert and drinks. A live trio band is
added to the mix.
“That gives you more of the freedom to get up and mill around to dance if you’d like. There’s two separate dance floor areas,” Kroger said. There’s “audience participation in both sections because that’s just what works great at dinner theaters to break things up.”
This stretch can include line-dancing instructions with diners getting on the main stage.
Current pricing is $69.95 per person ($42.95 for ages 3-10). The menu options include fried chicken, pork rib, mashed potatoes, beans, cornbread and more. There are V.I.P. and menu upgrades available.
After a few weekends of soft openings, Country Nights Live is now scheduled on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
“I think it’s here to stay. We may add some days and we’re looking, scheduling-wise, where it works best,” Kroger said.
Pirates Dinner Adventure also features an adults-only dinner show called Teatro Martini and has a speakeasy-themed bar called Jewel. Country Nights Live is its first foray into hoedowns.
“To me, the country demographic is big, regardless of age and even internationally. Everyone has got such a draw to country and an affection for it,” Kroger said. “So I thought it was the least risky of the risky rolls of the dice, honestly.”
Magnetic
Serengeti Flyer, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay’s newest ride, has come out swinging. The attraction features dueling pendulums that fling passengers up as high as 130 feet and at speeds of up to 68 mph.
But what about when it’s time to end the ride? Cue the magnets.
“In order to slow down the attraction at the end of it, because once it stops getting pushed by the air system back and forth, then it’s just kind of gravity letting you go to the end,” said Andrew Schaffer, director of project management. “In order to help speed that up, there’s a magnet that comes over and underneath the attraction, and then the other magnet comes over and slows it down until it stops.”
Riders may see the magnets built into the ground of the loading platform. They’re underfoot, about as wide as four of the Flyer’s seats.
Snout and about
Peppa Pig Theme Park has been open for a year now. The Winter Haven attraction is geared to preschoolers, and it requires a specific kind of worker as well, said Kelly Hornick, head of marketing and communication, on the park’s first birthday.
“You have to find the right employee. You have to people that love kids — not people that tolerate kids but people who love kids,” she said. “And I love our employees here at Peppa Pig Theme Park. We have some that create chants when you’re on the roller coaster when they know a little kid might be extra nervous. They’ll cheer them on and get them going so that they forget that they’re scared.”
Another worker is boisterous and draws a crowd to a Peppa Pig playground. He leads a singing of “Happy Birthday” to a girl who is sharing her big day with the attraction.
“Preschoolers are such a cool age where they can talk, they can walk, they’re starting to figure out what it means to be their own little human that when grownups take the time to talk to them directly, it makes them feel inherently special,” Hornick said.
“Our employees have gotten that and they see the light-up moments in the kids’ eyes, and witnessing that, it’s just really awesome.”