That will come later after staff discussions, Orange County Administrator Byron W. Brooks said.

Commissioners said some of Visit Orlando’s 30% share of every tourist-tax dollar could be better spent addressing more pressing county needs like the scarcity of affordable housing or funding other worthwhile projects.

“What we’re talking about is balance,” said Commissioner Mayra Uribe, who first used the “haircut” term.

She suggested chopping as much as $30 million from the agency’s budget, much of which has been used for “global marketing” efforts in U.S. and international markets including Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

Visit Orlando gets $96 million. Lynx gets $54 million. That’s messed up | Commentary

The budget, which has grown from about $62 million in 2019 to an estimated $108 million next year, became a focus of debate for the board as it weighed requests for millions in future revenue from the tourist development tax.

The tax, also known as TDT or bed, hotel, resort or tourist tax, is a 6% levy on the cost of a hotel room, home-sharing rental or other short-term lodging in Orange County. Revenues in fiscal year 2022-23, which ended Sept. 30, topped $359 million, shattering the previous mark of $336.3 million set the year before.

Under a county agreement approved in 2019, Visit Orlando’s share of tourist-tax money grew over the past four years from 23% to a 30% cap in 2023, with funds promoting the region’s attractions and luring conventions to town.

Uribe suggested an annual budget between $70 million and $80 million.

Commissioner Emily Bonilla said $75 million a year or 25% of hotel-tax collections — whichever was less.

Casandra Matej, Visit Orlando’s president and CEO, said the agency is important, not only to theme park giants Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando, but to hundreds of smaller attractions, hotels and restaurants that employ 450,000 workers.

She said the agency’s work has helped make Orlando among the most-visited travel destinations in the world — a title it must fight to retain as competition for tourists heats up with old rivals like Las Vegas and new ones such as Dubai.

Matej said Orlando boasts 130,000 hotel rooms with an annual occupancy rate of 75% but still has room to grow.

“What we know is if we can grow the occupancy number even one or two percentage points that could be hundreds of millions of TDT dollars to use within the community,” she said.

After defending the agency’s work inside the chambers, Matej left sounding resigned to likely cuts.

“It is disheartening the fact they want to cut our budget because we are part of the tourism ecosystem and, I think, a very important part of that,” she said. “I think there’s going to be more conversations ahead to understand what their direction, their priorities are but hopefully we were able to share with the community the importance of Visit Orlando.”

Since the summer, commissioners have weighed requests for a $560 million expansion of the Orange County Convention Center, a $400 million upgrade of Camping World Stadium, a $90 million appeal for a sports tower at the University of Central Florida’s football stadium and other projects that are expected to draw tourists to Orlando.

Dozens of people signed up to plead with commissioners to support Visit Orlando, including hospitality workers, many of whom wore orange T-shirts distributed by the agency bearing the message: “When tourism works, so do I.”

Some hoteliers and International Drive executives spoke out against a budget cut for the nonprofit marketing group, citing growing domestic and global competition that threatens to take Central Florida’s title as tourism capital.

“There’s huge investment in tourism in foreign countries right now and they’re going after our visitors,” said Chris Jaskiewicz, president & CEO of ICON Park Orlando, which includes the 400-foot-tall Wheel and other attractions on I-Drive. “When I consider the billions being spent there, I think we should raise Visit Orlando’s marketing budget not cut it.”

But Michael Perkins, board president of the Christian Service Center for Central Florida which serves homeless people, said the county should do all it can “to prevent a crisis of homelessness from impacting our area more than it already is.”

“Let the theme park companies and hotel conglomerates market for themselves,” Perkins said.

shudak@orlandosentinel.com

Disney accounted for 263,000 jobs in Florida, more than three times the actual workforce Disney World, according to the study conducted by Oxford Economics and commissioned by Disney. Besides direct employment and spending, the study covering fiscal year 2022 attributed the company’s multibillion-dollar impact to indirect influences such as supply chain and employee spending.

The jobs include Disney employees as well as jobs supported by visitor spending off Disney World property. In Central Florida, Disney directly accounts for 1 in 8 jobs, and for every direct job at Disney World, another 1.7 jobs are supported across Florida, Oxford Economics said.

The time period in the study is before the takeover of Disney World’s governing district by DeSantis and his appointees after Disney publicly opposed a state law banning classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades. The law was championed by DeSantis, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

Disney officials in the past year have said the company plans to invest an additional $17 billion over the next decade in Central Florida, including potentially adding another 13,000 jobs.

However, the company has shown a willingness to pull back on investing in Florida.

Earlier this year, Disney scrapped plans to relocate 2,000 employees from Southern California to the Lake Nona neighborhood of Orlando to work in digital technology, finance and product development, an investment estimated at $1 billion.

Disney is battling DeSantis and his appointees in federal and state courts over the takeover of what was formally called the Reedy Creek Improvement District but was renamed the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District after DeSantis appointees gained control.

The district was created by the Florida Legislature in 1967 to handle municipal services like firefighting, road repairs and waste hauling, and it was controlled by Disney supporters until earlier this year.

Before control of the district changed hands from Disney allies to DeSantis appointees, the Disney supporters on its board signed agreements with Disney shifting control over design and construction at Disney World to the company. The new DeSantis appointees said the “eleventh-hour deals” neutered their powers, and the district sued the company in state court in Orlando to have the contracts voided.

Disney has filed counterclaims, which include asking the state court to declare the agreements valid and enforceable.

Disney also has sued DeSantis, a state agency and DeSantis appointees on the district’s board in federal court in Tallahassee, saying the company’s free speech rights were violated when the governor and Republican lawmakers targeted it for expressing opposition to the law dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by its critics.

It gave it a makeover complete with new floors and a ceiling with about 600 bubble carvings to give it that “under the sea” feeling, said Sharon Siskie, senior vice president and general manager for the line, during an opening ceremony for it on Monday.

“When we stand here today, and we look at the space and we think back to when we initially did our walkthrough, and we leverage the imagination of the teams to envision what it would be able to become, we had that discussion of how do you really elevate the brand presence and really make this a Disney experience,” she said,

The Disney touches range from cartoonish murals, including a black-and-white homage to Steamboat Willie on the walk-in from the parking garage to the terminal adorned wall-to-wall with characters from “Finding Nemo.”

The 104,000-square-foot terminal is cavernous, unlike the line’s terminal at Port Canaveral, but with Disney’s expertise in managing lines, it should make for a quick onboard experience for when Disney Dream arrives for its first sailing on Nov. 20.

With a week before its arrival, officials with the cruise line, the port and Broward County government were on hand to dedicate the space, which has seen little use since the port reacquired it from Carnival Corp. in a pandemic-related deal.

“This is a complete reimagineering and rebranding,” said Port Everglades CEO and port director Jonathan Daniels. “It’s a different agreement than any agreement that we’ve had with any of the any of the lines in the past. … Because of all the intellectual property that they have in here — the branding that has occurred — this is Disney’s terminal.”

The line had been sailing from PortMiami to some degree since 2012, but only seasonally, and with Disney Dream’s four- and five-night sailings that will give way to Disney Magic in May doing three-, four and five-night sailings, it marks the beginning of a 15-year commitment to Port Everglades that guarantees 10.6 million passengers over the term of the lease.

That means both year-round sailings through 2024, but a second ship sailing seasonally beginning in 2025. The port and Disney can agree to extend the lease in five-year increments for an additional 15 years as well, bringing in another 11.25 million passengers.

It’s also going to be the first port with regular visits starting next summer to the line’s new private Bahamas destination, Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point on the southern end of Eleuthera. Port Canaveral-based ships won’t get regular visits there until fall of next year.

Benefiting from a $120 million investment made before the pandemic, the terminal’s parking garage pairs up with the adjacent Cruise Terminal 2 used by Princess Cruises so that combined they have more than 1,800 spaces, sitting adjacent to the Broward County Convention Center and close to the hotels and restaurants just north of the port.

That includes automated walkways and the promise of complete coverage from garage to ship to shield travelers from Florida’s heat and inclement weather.

The port has its own drive-in market but also pulls travelers from the nearby Fort Lauderdale International Airport and from Miami and West Palm’s airports to a smaller degree. That also means some of the cruisers are shuttling in from nearby hotels, so the parking impact remains to be seen, Daniels said.

“The one thing we’re not going to do is we’re not going to go out there and build a massive 1,500-car, 2,000-car parking garage without seeing what this year looks like,” he said. “If we need another one, it’s because we’re in a great position. We’ll know some of the pain and pressure points this year.”

For Disney, the market is one ripe for new business, not just those with families, but the real adult market craving a Disney experience, Siskie said.

“We’re bringing the product closer to home right on the back door of guests here who, you know may not get all the way to Orlando as often as they might like,” she said. “This is a great opportunity for them to have a little Disney fix.”

And the line is leaning on the port’s backyard of Fort Lauderdale and the greater Broward County area with its own unique spillover benefits.

“We did like the location,” she said. “Port Everglades in general, there are things that we really did like a lot about it. … Fabulous beaches … restaurants, just a great overall place for guests to come to take a Disney cruise. So we started there and we said, ‘Can this be a really good fit for our guests?’ And we said, ‘Yeah, we think it can.'”

The 67,700-gross-ton, 1,200-guest ship that features 11 dining venues is the largest in the now seven-ship Oceania Cruises fleet, but only slightly over the line’s last two ships Marina and Riviera. A sister ship to Vista named Allura is due in 2025.

Oceania is the upper premium sister line to Norwegian Cruise Line and has looked to carve out a unique space focusing on both on-board offerings and destination excursions that cater to the gourmand while not growing too large for its target demographic.

“We really felt there was a huge space in between the premium brands who are actually moving more of mass market because they were building bigger ships — Celebrity, Holland America, Princess,” said cruise line President Frank A. Del Rio. “They left their old premium formats and started going more contemporary so we kind of snuck in between.”

Vista builds on the line’s prowess, once again relying on menus from famed French chef Jacques Pépin, who has been the line’s executive culinary director for two decades, but guests might be surprised to not find his signature restaurant Jacques on board in favor of a new concept called Ember.

“Jacques is not really out in a way because we are cautious of what we have done by introducing Ember,” said Oceania Cruises’ Senior Culinary Director Alexis Quaretti. Instead, his French dishes can be found in the main dining room with a different appetizer, entrée and dessert every day, enough for a 14-day sailing.

That opened up the space to create Ember, which is built to resemble the tasting room of a Napa Valley vineyard serving American farm-to-table fare including dishes conceived by Pépin.

“So, yes, it is a different atmosphere but definitely I love very much Ember, with its nice design, the wood effect, and at least we can still have some of the Jacques Pépin dishes on a daily basis in the main dining room,” Quaretti said.

Ember’s menu includes things like blackened crab cakes with corn salsa and tomato sauce; roasted beetroot salad with goat cheese, shallots, green beans and hazelnuts; porcini-dusted bone-in ribeye with foie gras-truffle demi-glace and breadcrumb-crusted tomato Provençale; and roasted apple tart with served with San Francisco favorite Humphry Slocombe-brand sweet summer corn ice cream.

Also lending her celebrity name to the ship is godmother Giada De Laurentiis, who has for now two signature dishes in the ship’s Italian offering Toscana as well as in the Grand Dining Room including her specialty of lemon spaghetti with jumbo shrimp.

Another new venue to Vista is the Aquamar Kitchen, a healthy concept that combines a family-style table setting that spills over into al fresco outdoor seating.

While it has make-your-own poke bowls and four kinds of avocado toast, there is plenty of indulgence to found within the menu as well such as the butternut squash soup, yellowfin tuna tacos with guacamole, crunchy chicken sandwich with chipotle mayo and the buffalo mozzarella tomato basil panini. Plus it has fresh juices and smoothies such as the spicy sweet “Pure Immunity,” which is OJ, ginger, turmeric and cayenne pepper.

The venue is packed during sailings as it offers a variety of options that set it apart from other lunch fare on board.

Another packed venue is the Baristas coffee bar now with its own bakery that serves up sweet and savory pastries throughout the day.

For those who enjoy learning the art of cooking, the ship offers the largest ever version of The Culinary Center, now with 24 individual cooking stations. For an extra cost, those on board can partake from dozens of new options pulling from a fleetwide library of more than 100 classes designed by the line’s culinary enrichment director and executive chef Kathryn Kelly.

Kelly introduced the kitchen on Oceania’s Marina, and it has since been on board Riviera and the new ships of sister cruise line Regent Seven Seas.

“It’s been an absolute joy ride to develop a program that guests come in — some of them are very talented home chefs, others have never picked up a knife — and have them tell our chefs that it was the experience of a lifetime.”

She says the classes have evolved just as those who have sailed.

“Ten to 15 years ago, when we were teaching cooking classes, we would get on a map and say, ‘Can I show you where you are? Do you even know what country you’re in? ‘ And now it’s not. It’s like, ‘There’s 17 cuisines in Italy. How are they different?’ So we’re seeing that kind of migration of sophistication in a lot of guests that is really rewarding for us as educators.”

Also key to Oceania’s footprint in the market are the unique culinary excursions offered at each of its ports of call, something Kelly and her team spend curating throughout the year.

Kelly said it’s designed to satisfy guests that are thinking, “‘I’ve been to Florence and I’ve checked all the boxes. Now what I want to do is something a little different.’ So they want to be able to go off and explore and maybe take that afternoon and find that special little restaurant somewhere. … I think that the trends that we’re seeing are a little bit more adventuresome, people are feeling a lot more comfortable about sort of street food or more authentic indigenous kinds of foods.”

The ship stands apart from its predecessors with the majority of the interior spaces created by Miami-based Studio DADO, which also had a hand in the new Prima class of ships for Norwegian and spaces on board Regent Seven Seas ships as well.

“What we have to really do is sort of look at trends beyond our design world,” said Studio DADO founding partner Greg Walton “One of the things we look at and we nickname it — we call we’re future casting. We look at all kinds of design, from fashion to automobile design, what’s happening in every kind of industry that involves design, even looking at things like small household appliances.”

The ship’s dining venues in particular each feature a design story to be discovered. The Polo Club steakhouse, for instance, pulls on the history of polo, and how it originated in Persia, and thus a tiled entryway that resembled a Persian rug gives way to the more traditional English stylings within. It even pulls color schemes that pay deference to Wellington, Florida, the polo capital of the South.

Ember, though, is among Walton’s favorite new space, including the faux flame created by a mix of light and mist that provides atmosphere to what feels like a California vineyard.

“The big accomplishment in this space is the fireplace, because there’s no such thing as an open flame on a ship, not even in the galleys,” he said. “At night when you come in here, there’s people who walk up” and place their hand near the flame. He said even the scent of wooden logs under the fireplace lends itself to the sensory experience.

The line often sails to a variety of destinations skipped over by major cruise lines, often built around culinary adventures.

The Miami-based will visit ports including San Juan, Puerto Rico; Gustavia, St. Barts; Roseau, Dominica; Bridgetown, Barbados; St. George’s, Grenada; Castries, St. Lucia; St. John’s, Antigua; Fort-de-France, Martinique in the Eastern Caribbean and Costa Maya, Mexico; Roatan, Honduras; Colon, Panama; Santo Tomas, Guatemala; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica and Belize City, Belize in the Western Caribbean.

The ship begins its winter run Nov. 19 and runs through the end of March.

DeSantis vowed to bring a new era of accountability, but more than eight months into a state takeover, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’s new administration is facing mounting scrutiny and scathing employee exit surveys.

“You do see a pattern here that people who are politically connected are getting work,” said Richard Foglesong, a Rollins College professor and author of the book “Married to the Mouse” on Disney World’s origins. “Maybe that shouldn’t be shocking. Is that insiderism? I guess you could call it that.”

Glen Gilzean, a close DeSantis ally, landed a $400,000-a-year job leading the district, which provides government services to Disney World. His candidacy was helped by Michael Sasso, a DeSantis-appointed board member who also was the best man in Gilzean’s wedding over the summer.

The DeSantis-appointed board chose Gilzean over several other candidates, including William Sturgeon, a former city manager of St. Cloud, a city with a population of more than 60,000.

“It was political,” Sturgeon said. “The place is falling apart. My professional opinion is they have too many state-orientated people in there, and state and municipal government are two different things.”

Sturgeon said he likes Gilzean, but the district needs a leader with a background in local government. Before landing the job at the district, Gilzean served as CEO of the Central Florida Urban League, a civil rights and advocacy organization.

Another applicant, Winter Park City Manager Randy Knight, said he had a brief conversation with the tourism oversight district’s board chair before submitting his resume, but he never heard back.

As administrator, Gilzean selected Paula Hoisington, chairwoman of the Central Florida Urban League’s board, to serve as his chief of staff at the tourism oversight district. Public records show she started at an annual salary of $195,000 and was recently promoted to deputy district administrator, getting a $55,000-a-year raise.

Ronald Haag, a legislative aide to former state GOP Rep. Fred Hawkins, was brought in to serve as Gilzean’s executive assistant.

Hawkins, R-St. Cloud, sponsored the legislation overhauling Disney’s special district. He’s since left the Legislature, landing a job to lead South Florida State College despite having no experience in higher education.

The district also hired Brandy Brown, who worked as director of strategic initiatives in DeSantis’ office. Public records show, though, that she only worked briefly as the tourism oversight district’s director of external affairs before leaving. The district did not respond to questions about her departure.

The governor’s office defended the new administration and dismissed the characterization that political favoritism has permeated the district, which since 1967 was effectively controlled by Disney.

DeSantis has said the arrangement allowed Disney to enjoy a “special privilege” that no other theme park operator enjoyed in Florida.

The governor pushed to seize state control of what had been called the Reedy Creek Improvement District after Disney criticized what critics call the “don’t say gay” law that limits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in public schools.

“CFTOD [Central Florida Tourism Oversight District] appointing those they believe are qualified for certain positions isn’t cronyism,” Jeremy Redfern, a DeSantis spokesman, said in an email. “Cronyism is a local government that served as a Corporate Kingdom for over 50 years. The ‘criticism’ from the cronies indicates that the District is doing the right thing.”

No-bid contract under fire

The district’s purchasing decisions have also raised questions.

Most recently, the district backpedaled on a $242,500 no-bid contract awarded to a DeSantis’ appointee to help upgrade the 911 network. That work went to Freddie Figgers, who served alongside Gilzean on the Florida Commission on Ethics.

Facing scrutiny after media reports, the district canceled that contract at Figgers’ request. District officials, though, say the deal met exceptions for competitive bidding outlined in their purchasing policy.

The district also agreed to pay conservative George Mason University law professor Donald J. Kochan $110,000 to help produce a report and make recommendations to the Florida Legislature.

The district’s purchasing rules include competitive bidding exceptions for consultants and experts hired to prepare reports for the legislature.

Conservative all-star legal team 

Two politically connected law firms stand to make millions in legal fees from the district as part of the state’s court battle with Disney. One is a boutique Washington, D.C., firm favored by DeSantis in his culture war legal battles, and another is an upstart firm launched by a retired Supreme Court justice.

The DeSantis-aligned board hired Washington-based Cooper & Kirk, agreeing to pay its lawyers $795 an hour. One of the partners in that law firm is Adam Laxalt, a longtime friend of DeSantis who was hired to lead the Never Back Down super PAC supporting the governor’s presidential campaign.

Lawson Huck Gonzalez, which was founded by three legal heavyweights earlier this year, bills $495 an hour. The firm’s founders include Alan Lawson, a retired Florida Supreme Court justice; Paul Huck Jr., once called the “godfather of the Federalist Society in Miami”; and Jason Gonzalez, who’s advised DeSantis on judicial picks.

Two of the district’s board members — Chairman Martin Garcia and Charbel Barakat — listed Jason Gonzalez as a reference on their Senate confirmation documents.

The district is budgeting $4.5 million for legal expenses in its court battle with Disney on top of the $2 million that has already been spent. Much of that bill will be footed by Disney and its affiliates, which pay about 86% of the district’s property taxes.

Disney is suing DeSantis and state officials in federal court, alleging a “targeted campaign of government retaliation.” The tourism oversight district sued Disney in state court, seeking to get development agreements limiting its authority voided.

The district did not solicit proposals for outside legal help, but it wasn’t required to do so under Florida law, said Matthew Oberly, a district spokesman. The board approved the legal contracts in March, shortly after DeSantis replaced five Disney-friendly members with his allies.

“Under Florida state law, legal services are not required to be competitively bid due to the public interest,” Oberly said. “There is no requirement for the district to get the cheapest lawyer, nor is such a good practice.”

Sagging morale, many departures 

The district has experienced a wave of retirements and resignations under the new administration with more than 40 out of the district’s 370 employees leaving. That equates to a loss of about 10% of the district’s workforce.

Exit interviews, first obtained by the investigative website Seeking Rents, show several departing employees voiced concerns that cronyism was trumping good government.

One person who worked four years in the administration said she was upset about the district bringing in “friends” to take over positions, which she said was “not only disheartening but unethical.”

“The legacy of this special district is being destroyed by those who have been
placed in power here,” she said in an exit interview. “The BOS [Board of Supervisors] and the new district administrator could care less about the work that needs to be done for the taxpayers. They claim transparency and bridge building, I see non-transparency and bridge burning.”

Another departing finance employee with three years of experience said the “workplace culture has been destroyed’ by the new administration.

“You now see fake smiles and I am sure that a lot of employees are somewhat
scared to say what they actually feel because of retaliation,” she said. “Glen and the board say they care about the employees but that is not true.”

State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said she worries the state takeover has created a toxic environment that could undermine a district that is vital for the region’s tourism economy.

The district handles fire protection, environmental services, utilities and other important services for Disney World.

“I am concerned about the workers there,” Eskamani said. “Based on the exit surveys, it seems like a really difficult place to work. The well-being of my constituents who work at the special district is of value to me.”

Oberly, the district spokesman, disputed the notion that employee morale is down.

“New administrations bring some changes, and the district is excited for our employees to continue the excellence we are known for,” he said. “We are appreciative of every person who invests time and talent into keeping this place excellent.”

Disney’s experiences division, which includes theme parks, hotels, Disney Cruise Line and merchandise, saw an uptick in revenue of 13% for the quarter ending Sept. 30. Domestic parks earned $5.4 billion, up 7%, while earnings at international parks were up 55% to $1.7 billion.

The report said Disney World suffered “lower results” without offering specific numbers. They were attributed to lower guest spending because of a decrease in hotel room rates, the cost of the accelerated depreciation for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, the two-night theme experience that was shuttered in September, as well as inflation.

The company’s third-quarter report also indicated a slump at Disney World and pointed to the flattening of attendance and softening in other Florida tourism markets.

Higher attendance and higher ticket prices fueled the growth at Disneyland, officials said.

“Parks and experiences overall remains a growth story, and we are managing our portfolio exceptionally well,” Disney CEO Robert Iger said during an analyst call Wednesday afternoon.

“Even in the case of Walt Disney World, where we have a tough comparison to the prior year, when you look at this year’s numbers compared to pre-pandemic levels in fiscal ‘19, we’ve seen growth in revenue and operating income of over 25% and 30% respectively over the last five years,” Iger said.

Interim Chief Financial Officer Kevin Lansberry said Disney World numbers were suffering in comparison with those from the resort’s 50th anniversary celebration, which ended April 1.

Disney World will have “a little bit of that lapping effect that will continue for a little bit as we go through Q1,” he said. “But as I look out at the other domestic businesses … Disneyland continues to look exceptionally strong, as does Disney Cruise Line. So bookings, all of those continue to be very, very strong going forward.

“We continue to be bullish on the long-term positioning of our experiences business,” Lansberry added. “We expect those investments to ramp up towards the back half of that 10-year period, with more gradual increases in the first few years,” he said.

Iger repeated his $60 billion plan to “turbocharge” growth for the theme parks at multiple locations.

In an interview with CNBC’s Julia Burstin, Iger said the long-term success of the parks played a part in those investments.

“When we looked ahead and how we’ll allocate capital … we decided that a great place to place our bets or our capital is in the business that’s delivered the best results,” he said.

Fourth-quarter revenue for Walt Disney Co. overall was $21.2 billion, a 5% year-to-year increase.

The company reported an increase of almost 7 million subscribers to its Disney+ streaming service. The addition of theatrical releases “Elemental,” “The Little Mermaid” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” boosted the service, Iger said.

dbevil@orlandosentinel.com

That’s the message port CEO Capt. John Murray delivered at the annual State of the Port presentation Wednesday. He said a long-term goal is adding a new terminal for the increasing demand of the cruise industry.

“We have six full cruise terminals now. And when I say full, they’re all busy,” Murray said. “Next year we have some schedules where we have a couple of our cruise terminals operating at five and six days a week with the ship alongside. … The challenge with that utilization is that doing any kind of maintenance even as simple as cleaning the terminals after a ship departs is difficult when you’ve got one coming again in 12 hours.”

It’s part of the increased management of limited resources for the port that opened 70 years ago.

“We are a very small port. Trying to get bigger is not easy for us,” Murray said. “It might have been easy back in 1953. But over 70 years, it’s one of the things that we’ve lost. We don’t have that opportunity just to keep going into the river and grow like we did at one time.”

With those limits, optimization and efficiency can only take the port so far.

“We need another cruise terminal. If we had it right now, we could fill it up,” Murray said. “We have significant demand from the cruise lines. … We need a seventh and we need it as soon as we can get it, but in all likelihood, it’s going to be a complicated task to get there.”

Port officials have already identified an area on the south side in the marina district for the project, and the goal is to redevelop the area that supports the smaller boats such as the commercial fishing industry.

The port also is feeling growing pains from an increase in space launches. Murray noted that as many as 10 more launch service providers could join the already busy fleet of SpaceX vessels at the port in the coming years. Port officials have been in talks with Space Florida, the state’s aerospace finance and development agency, in seeking a potential alternative location for all of their ships to dock, with a report from Space Florida due by the end of the year.

“This port can’t handle everything,” Murray said. “We alone cannot accommodate the projected maritime demand. It’s just that simple.”

For fiscal year 2023 that ended Sept. 30, the port saw a record 6.8 million passengers across 906 ship calls. That built on a rebound in 2022 after the pandemic shutdown that saw Port Canaveral’s popularity shoot past PortMiami for the first time and become the No. 1 cruise port in the world. Miami may rebound for that title by the end of this year, but it won’t be for lack of business on Canaveral’s part.

The port hosted 13 ships over the busy winter season, the most ever. Next year is set to see even more, including the arrival before the end of the year of new brands Princess Cruises and Celebrity Cruises along with mainstays Disney Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian and MSC Cruises.

The year’s parking became a tactical problem having hosted more than 840,000 vehicles over the year for cruise guests alone.

That pushed up plans for two new garages on the port’s north side as well as an expanded 1,000-car lot adjacent to Cruise Terminal 1, from where Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class ships sail.

“Our biggest innovation right now is our new parking system that we’re rolling out. Cruise guests at Port Canaveral all pay on arrival,” Murray said. “By paying on entry, it allows people to get to the car and then immediately flow out without having to stop.”

The parking projects are among $500 million in capital improvements slated for the next five years, something the port can afford after bringing in $191 million in operating revenue for 2023 and a projection of near similar revenue in 2024.

“Everything that we earn here we pumped back into it, and it just continues to get better and stronger,” Murray said. “I think that’s the important part, is that we put our money back into our infrastructure.”

Airbnb will highlight rental listings that have received top scores from guests, information that the company’s CEO says will help bring hotel-like reliability to booking a house or room on the site.

Airbnb said that it will roll out what it calls “Guest Favorites” this week. About 2 million of the site’s 7 million listings will get the label.

It is unclear how hosts who don’t get the favored badge will react — they could lose bookings, or they might have to cut prices to compete. CEO Brian Chesky said he expects favorites to charge more than other listings.

Chesky acknowledges that the variety of properties on Airbnb creates uncertainty among renters. He said the unpredictability of listings is the biggest reason why someone would choose a hotel room over Airbnb.

“A lot of guests have described booking Airbnb, once they check in, it’s a moment of truth. Is the house exactly what they expected?” he said in an interview. “We don’t want this to be a moment of truth. We want you to know exactly what you’re going to get before you book.”

Chesky said favorites will have guest ratings averaging at least 4.9 out of 5.0 and cancellation rates and customer-service incidents of 1% or lower. They will be denoted on the site with a badge, and shoppers can filter for them. The company, however, will make no guarantees about the guest favorite listings.

Airbnb is also encouraging hosts to create photo tours of their property, which Chesky said will use AI to organize photos by room.

The company is also making behind-the-scenes changes that will include helping hosts adjust prices based on demand, down to a daily basis.

Earlier this year, Airbnb began discouraging hosts from charging exorbitant cleaning fees, a major complaint of users. A 2022 analysis of 1,000 listings by personal-finance site NerdWallet pegged the median cleaning fee for a one-night stay at $75, about 25% of the total bill.

The site lets visitors filter searches by all-in pricing, which includes the fees, although it is not the default setting. Visitors must use a toggle switch on the home page.

About 260,000 listings have lowered the cleaning fee since then, according to the company.

“I had no idea what that number could be,” Chesky said. “I’m pretty satisfied with the pricing progress.”

Radar is a weekly account of spending and planning at Orlando’s attractions. It appears on OrlandoSentinel.com on Wednesdays.

Today’s ticket

When Universal Orlando recently raised ticket prices on daily rates, I realized I had lost grip on how its rates really compared with Walt Disney World and SeaWorld Orlando on a day-to-day basis.

It’s kind of a trick question, thanks to variable pricing, in which the companies charge different rates depending on the day and sometimes the park in question. That’s not factoring in combo packages or discounts for multi-day tickets or Florida resident benefits or any add-ons such as express passes.

One pass that all the parks have is a one-day, one-park ticket. Just for grins, I charted the posted prices from their official websites.

Universal now says its one-day pass starts at $119 and peaks at $179, depending on the day. SeaWorld’s one-day ticket ranges from $84.99 to $119.99, but those are the online/advance prices, and the usual price (marked out in red on the site) appears to be $138.99 every day.

Disney’s site indicates that one-day ticket prices are “from $109.” But once you find a $109 day on the site – look for August and September weekdays – you’ll see $109 gets you admission only to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. For  instance, that’s the DAK price for Aug. 21, but on that day you’d pay $119 for Epcot, $129 for Disney’s Hollywood Studios and $134 for Magic Kingdom.

That day in August would cost $139 at Universal’s parks, Islands of Adventure or Universal Studios, and $138.99 at SeaWorld, though its advance purchase price is posted as $99.99.

It could be pricier, say, for snowbirds on Feb. 17. That’s when a one-day pass is $164 for Animal Kingdom, $179 for both Epcot and Hollywood Studios and $184 for Magic Kingdom. Universal parks are $169 that day, and SeaWorld is back with $138.99 or $114.99 in advance.

Granted, the one-day, one-park system isn’t the fairest barometer, but it is consistent across the parks. (A friend recently paraphrased my oft-used riff as “One day, one park is for … chumps.”)

But let’s make it worse: One-day, one-park tickets for use on Christmas Day.

Oh, the humanity. These are among the highest of the high-end single days to buy. This year, a Dec. 25 ticket will be $159 for Animal Kingdom, $179 for Hollywood Studios and Epcot, then $189 for Magic Kingdom. Both Universal parks will be $179. SeaWorld is posted at $99.99, a relative gift, for an advance purchase.

But wait’ll next year. Prices go up, according to the Disney website, for Christmas Day ‘24 … by $5 at only Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Bean counters move in mysterious ways.

None of this is corporate wrongdoing, mind you. But the lesson could be you better click around.

Bonus notes:

• Disney’s $109 deals – aka DAK days – are in late August and 12 days in September. Its priciest stretch is Feb. 16-24 and then the tail-end of March.

• Universal’s lowest prices ($119 for a day) are Sept. 9-12. They hit their heights the last between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. It levels off in summer. July is $154 every day except for two days when it’s $164.

• SeaWorld leans heavily into the day of the week factor in the new year. One-day tickets go for $114.99 on Saturdays in January, February, March, April, August, September and October. That goes up $5 on Saturdays in June and July.

New math: Six Flags + Cedar Fair

Six Flags and Cedar Fair, two major theme park companies, have agreed in principle to a merger deal. It’s pending approval by Six Flags shareholders, but it could be complete next year. The resulting company could operate 27 theme parks and 15 water parks in 15 states.

But not Florida. The closest attractions to Orlando would be Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Six Flags Over Georgia near Atlanta. So the merger won’t directly mess with Orlando.

“This isn’t going to affect Disney and Universal that much immediately,” said Dennis Speigel of International Theme Park Services.

“But you’re taking and you’re homogenizing the two largest regional operators, which are 42 parks,” he said. “If it’s properly executed and well-marketed, you could see where the season- pass programs and the cross-pollination of promotions could create longer and more staycations in their areas in those markets.”

A stay-away-cation from Florida?

“That’s not going to pull away millions and millions of visitors,” Speigel said. “But, you know, it could definitely have an impact.”

Save the dates

• Epcot International Festival of the Arts will be Jan. 12-Feb. 19 and will again feature the Disney on Broadway Concert Series.

• Universal Orlando says dates for its Mardi Gras celebration at Universal Studios theme park are set for Feb. 3-April 7. The parade will be nightly, and there will be big-stage concerts on select nights.

Weekend outlook

• Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Celebration, the after-hours, extra-ticket event at Magic Kingdom, begins Thursday. Activities include “Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade,” a seasonal stage show at Cinderella Castle, “Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks Show,” dance parties and character meet-and-greets.

• Disney Jollywood Nights, a new after-hours, extra-ticket event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, kicks off Saturday. Festivities include “Disney Holidays in Hollywood” stage show (Kermit/Piggy alert), a “Nightmare Before Christmas” singalong, “Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam” nighttime spectacular plus “swanky” venues with themed holiday music.

• SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration – with Sea of Trees, stage shows, Sesame Street Land parade, storytelling, “Holiday Reflections” fireworks – starts Friday.

• Aquatica’s Beach Nights movie is “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” this Saturday.

• Orlando Science Center’s $12 Day, featuring $12 admission, is Sunday.

• It’s the penultimate weekend for the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. The final performers for its Eat to the Beat concert are Big Bad Voodoo Daddy on Friday and Saturday and 38 Special on Sunday and Monday.

What’s on your radar? Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com.

For entertainment options on board the massive vessel, the main stage show will be a production of “The Wizard of Oz,” but it’s just one of a supersized set of offerings for the largest theatrical venues ever in the cruise line’s fleet, said Nick Weir, the senior vice president for Royal Entertainment.

“The theater has been built to a whole new level,” he said. “We’ve also built in our 3-D aerial rig so we’ve got the performers or elements flying directly over the audience.”

Technology plays a big part across the main theater, but also the largest skating rink on a Royal ship called Absolute Zero, which has been expanded into an oval shape that will let skaters get more speed and do more tricks while also expanding its projection system to cover the rink, stage and back wall.

“We were the first people to bring an ice skating rink to the high seas,” Weir said noting its debut on the line in 1999. “And we’re still the only people to do it because it’s hard.”

The biggest new playground for Weir is the AquaTheater, which has migrated from its normal home of its Oasis-class siblings up to the new AquaDome, a massive glass-and-steel enclosed space atop the front of the ship.

“Now our AquaTheater is underneath a glass dome, which means we can control weather. We can control the production value,” Weir said. “Now 3-D flying, we will be creating the first-ever double system. So we’ll be able to have two artists essentially doing an aerial dance above the heads of our guests.”

The introduction of four robotic arms integral to the performances may be the biggest technological addition.

“Robotics can recreate any sense of force, motion and direction,” Weir said. “We’re going to put a platform on a robot arm, so instead of having springboards, we’re going to have robot arms throwing divers. The robot will have been programmed with the exact same forces of that of a fiberglass springboard. That’s never been done, and that’s all patented.”

Each of the three venues offers two shows.

The big billed version of “The Wizard of Oz” will feature a 16-piece orchestra, a first for the cruise line. That same orchestra will headline a show called “SHOWBAND! Live. Music. Now.” highlighting the musicians’ skills married with visual effects.

The headliner, though, promises to combine nostalgia with modern touches for a unique performance of the story first written in 1900 and made classic by the 1939 film.

“It’s really important that we stay true to the script and true to the music because that’s what people know,” said Christi Coachman-Orengo, associate VP for entertainment for the cruise line. “We are able to take some creative liberties in the design, for example, the costumes. We have some really unique costumes that you might not really think that we would see in the show. The set design is incredible.”

For the AquaTheater, its two shows will take advantage of the largest cast yet  — a mix of high divers, acrobats, aerialists, slack liners, synchronized swimmers and even skateboarders for the first time. For them, the robotic arms will actually assemble their half pipe in front of the audience before the start of the venue’s main show “Aqua Action!” A second show that’s geared toward families is called “Pirates vs. Mermaids” in which the two teams of performers compete for superiority of the seas in a lighthearted storyline with fairytale-like characters.

For the ice rink, the main show takes on the periodic table of elements. “Starburst: Elemental Beauty” features more tricks and jumps because of the larger rink along with digitally mapped backdrops and vibrant lighting. A second show, once again geared toward families, is called “Once Upon a Time: The King’s Royal Ball” promising a lineup of fairytale characters.

In addition to the three theatrical venues, the ship will feature more than 50 live musicians and comedians including performers in new lounge venues Dueling Pianos and Lou’s Jazz ‘n Blues but also in mainstays like the Schooner Bar and English pub Point & Feather.

“There’s always been a desire, an intention, a mission at Royal to create the best experiences, the best vacations in the world,” Weir said. “And if they’re entertainment fans and are thinking about going to Broadway, or to the West End in London or to Las Vegas. We want them to do a double take, and we’ll just go to Royal Caribbean.”

Icon of the Seas remains under construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland, having just finished its final set of sea trials. It will be making its transatlantic voyage on Dec. 23 ahead of its series of preview sailings in January.

Its first sailing with normal customers will be on Jan. 27, 2024, as it begins seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean voyages from PortMiami.