Tag Archives: Orlando

Two monorail trains collided at Walt Disney World in Orlando this morning, killing the driver of one of the trains. Walt Disney World spokesman Mike Griffin said the crash happened at about 2 a.m. Sunday, on one of the monorail’s last runs of the day. Austin Wenneberg, 21, a Disney employee who was piloting one of the monorails died at …

One of the nation’s most popular and longest-running series of circuit party events, One Mighty Weekend, will not take place on Disney World property during Gay Days this year in a financial dispute between events producer Johnny Chisolm and the theme park giant. But the details of the dispute are, uh, disputed by two warring circuit party websites. Via South …

About 6000 anti-Obama protesters rallied in my hometown of Orlando on Saturday for one of them “revolutionary tea parties.” Photo gallery here. I love how the woman above is so proud of her misspelled sign. In the clip below, some bozo reads a declaration that comes perilously close to calling for the overthrow of the government. (He basically reads the …

On what is supposed to be one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year, a few blocks from my mother’s house in Orlando I found this brand new and massive SuperTarget nearly deserted, with only two of two dozen checkout lanes open. RELATED: This SuperTarget is in a development cringingly called “SoDO“, the “South of Downtown Orlando” area. Eeesh.

When everything in Grandma’s kitchen is set up to serve 5 year-olds, you eat the mini-waffles and shut up about it.

WFTV-ABC in Orlando responded to my letter of complaint about Barbara West’s treatment of Joe Biden. Dear Viewer: Thank you for taking time to contact us regarding Barbara West’s recent interview with democratic Vice Presidential candidate Senator Joe Biden. The Obama campaign contacted us last week offering Senator Biden, via satellite, for a short interview. Barbara West, one of our …

Nice news from my hometown*: Orlando is expected to become the first Central Florida city to offer benefits to the partners of gay employees. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said the employees will have to sign an affidavit declaring they are in a committed relationship. Orlando city commissioners are expected to approve the plan on Monday. There are currently 18 Orlando …

Yesterday Bill Clinton campaigned for Obama in Orlando at my alma mater, the University of Central Florida. “Hillary sent me!” More from his speech: Here’s why you ought to be for Barack Obama. Number one, he’s got the right philosophy. He knows you have to grow an economy from the ground up, not from the top down. Number two, he’s …

Amway billionaire Rich Devos, the owner of NBA team Orlando Magic, has donated $100K to support Florida’s Amendment 2, which would make gay marriage double-extra banned in Florida. Protesters have been appearing at outside Magic games at Orlando’s Amway Arena. Inside the Amway Arena, a voice over the public-address system announced that the next two people to buy upper-bowl tickets …

My erstwhile hometown paper, the Orlando Sentinel, has come out against the Florida ballot amendment to ban gay marriage. The state’s voters will face an array of six questions on the Nov. 4 ballot, the most notable of which is Amendment 2 — the cleverly labeled “Florida Marriage Protection Amendment.” Who wouldn’t want to protect marriage? Trouble is, this amendment …

Another bit of lovely news from my hometown. The tidy palm lined streets and affordable homes of the Rybolt Reserve subdivision in suburban Orlando have become popular with middle class homebuyers and speculators but if you are a gay or unmarried opposite-sex couple the Homeowners Association has a message – don’t bother to try to rent here according to some …

Check out the sweet PFLAG parents and supporters protesting at last week’s “Love Won Out” conference of “ex-gays” in Orlando. (Via – Queerty)

The wacky sad deluded “ex-gays” are having a conference in Orlando this weekend and have peppered the city with their dumbass billboards. (But this one is a parody done for this blog a couple of years ago by musical theatre star Steve Schalchlin.) Hey, why did the “ex-gays” pick the same weekend as Gay Days at Disney World? Hmmm. Anti-“ex-gay” …

My hometown of Orlando has been rousting the homeless from downtown streets, causing them to go live in the woods outside of town. The homeless crackdown in downtown Orlando has forced many homeless to migrate near east Orange County suburbs. Within four miles of the busy intersection at Colonial Drive and the Econlockhatchee Trail, News 13 was told as 20 …

Orlando city officials asked the WWE to make sure their billboards weren’t “too provocative” and the company that makes the signs responded by airbrushing the nipples off the men. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer mistakenly told reporters that showing men’s nipples was against the law, which it isn’t. The same artwork appears on city buses with nipples included.

Some happy news from my hometown: ORLANDO – When her lone opponent dropped out of the race, Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan was left sitting on a pile of campaign cash with no campaign to spend it on. The law allows candidates to distribute their unused contributions to charities of their choice. On Tuesday, Sheehan presented a check for $25,000, …

Ugh. This morning I got a notice that my 30 year high school reunion is “officially” going to happen in November. I haven’t gone to any previous reunions, in fact, I’m not sure that there have even been any. I haven’t seen, much less thought about, any of my classmates from Colonial High in at least 25 years, so I …

For several months I’ve been meaning to suggest here that somebody should consider entering Orlando’s under served gay bar scene. In the last six months, three very long-running Orlando institutions have closed: Faces (a lesbians-only bar), Southern Nights (a disco/drag bar that I haunted regularly in the early 80’s), and Full Moon Saloon (the country/disco/bear bar and host of the …

From the Really Unimportant News department comes word that the University of Central Florida (my alma mater) has dropped the “Golden” from their team names, now being merely the UCF Knights. I’m still a little freaked out that the little commuter college I attended (back when dinosaurs ruled the earth) is the 6th largest university in the country and is …

This being Fleet Week in NYC, I’m reminded of a story from when I lived in Orlando, back when the Naval Training Center was open, circa 1982. Phone rings……Joe: Hello? Woman: Is this Joe? Joe: Yes, it is. Woman: Joe, you don’t know me, but I’m David’s mother. He’s sitting right here with me and he doesn’t want to talk …