Fun Spot appreciates all of the friends, fans and guests we have been able to serve over the years. And it is great when one of those friends is also a fan and helps to promote you to others. Recently we were thrilled to have our friend Congressman Daniel Webster acknowledge from the House of representative floor our winning the Best Family Entertainment center from IAAPA back in November. All honors are wonderful, but this one is now in the Congressional Record. Now that is one for the history books. Thanks Congressman Webster for helping us get the word out about our safe, clean fun.

John Jr. and John Sr. receiving the Brace Ring Award

Brighthouse News 13 is doing a poll on what was the biggest entertainment story for Central Florida in 2012. They have 19 images with blurbs (we are number 16) and then they go into detail on 10 of these stories. We are number 8. as of a few moments ago, Fun Spot’s expansion had 5% of the cast votes. Please consider voting for Fun Spot. It could be some good publicity. Here is the link to the story and to vote.

On Wednesday, December 19, Fun Spot USA in Kissimmee was honored to win two awards from the readers of Practical Living magazine in Osceola County. The readers award us as the “Best Place for a Child’s Birthday Party” and also “Most Fun Place to Work in Osceola County”. The photo shows the awards with Ivy Finnessy, the HR Director of our Kissimmee Parks, and Nicole Lapre, our Birthday and Party Manager in Kissimmee. Of course our COO and TV Spokesperson, Mr. It’s HUGE, John Arie Jr was there also. People knew we were a great place for fun and value, it is now nice to know that they also know we are a great place to work and our Birthday parties are great for parents and kids. This follows us winning the “Best family Entertainment Center in America” from IAAPA just a month ago. We like winning awards, but we like making sure our guests have great times and memories, even more.

Awards are HUGE!!

Florida has been having some cool temperatures as the political races heat up. This week we had Congressman Daniel Webster bringing out members of his canvassing group for a night of fun in our park. We took a moment and had the Congressman, a couple of our employees and five of his group of 70 people give Fun Spot, his rendition of our “It’s HUGE!” slogan.

Later a group from his team sent us this video. Daniel Webster Supporters

At Fun Spot we try to be safe clean fun for everyone, whichever political party you party with. As a company we voted, and Fun has Won!

In September of this year, many members of the Fun Spot management team traveled to Dollywood for the Golden Ticket Awards (given to amusement parks from the readers of Amusement Today magazine). John Jr and his wife Tracy had the opportunity to meet Ms. Parton, herself. She was present at the awards ceremony and the reception that followed. While Fun Spot did not win any of the Golden Ticket Awards, we are winners I learning more of the industry, more of Dollywood, and getting to know Dolly. When Junior was with Ms. Parton, he thought it was good discretion not to say his famous tagline.

It’s HUGE guy meets Dolly Parton

One of the most loved and oldest rides at a carnival, fair or amusement park is the Tilt-A-Whirl. First manufactured in Minnesota in 1926, Fun Spot America is getting a brand new ride themed to our Americana theming. Here are a couple of photos of our brand new Tilt-A-Whirl is being made in Plainview, Texas by Larson Intl. Before all the new coasters, rides and SkyCoaster are built on our property they are getting built elsewhere. We will keep you posted as HUGE becomes HUGE-ER.

Ms Asha Mandela, who holds the Guinness World record for the longest hair, at over 20 feet, recently visited our Kissimmee Park and had the opportunity to meet Fun Spot COO and TV guy, John Jr. Asha was kind enough to unroll her hair to show the length as it covered our Redemption counter in our Arcade. Asha, her son, sister and friend were in the park enjoying the rides, tracks and games. Unfortunately, Asha’s hair prevented her from many of the rides and tracks. Safety requires that all hair needs to be able to fit under a helmet on our go-kart tracks. We had no helmet large enough to contain all of Asha’s hair. While it may have been great to see her fly through the air on our SkyCoaster, it was for her safety that we wanted to keep her hair clear of the safety cables, and had to let only her friend do the soaring on the World’s tallest SkyCoaster. She did enjoy our Fun Slide where she was able to let her hair slide down. She had great fun watching the rest in her party race on the tracks, and soar through the air. So huge hair can have huge fun at the It’s Huge spot for fun – Fun Spot!

The track is coming down and the future is being built up. Our Green Track, the Commander, will soon be bringing in more “Green” for Fun Spot as it reaches 40 feet in the air, with more twists and turns, height and dips, fun and interaction. With our Grand Re-Opening in Spring of 2013, the Commander Track will be bigger, better and Huge-er. So come by and watch us build it, but Sorry – No more Rides on it until 2013. Fortunately, there is still the Yellow, Blue and Red Tracks to drive. Cause we aren’t closing for construction, just closing one track to make it better than before. The rest of Fun Spot in Orlando is open for business, for families, and for FUN!

Some of us may have heard that old adage – you have to grab the brass ring in life, without knowing where it comes from. Well on older merry-go-rounds, kids would ride the exterior horses and try to grab a ring from a stationary ring dispenser as they went round and round. In the dispenser would be one brass ring. You get it and you won. The oldest merry-go-round in the country on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts still has kids grabbing for the brass ring. In one week’s time two local kids from Central Florida, Gracelyn and Robbie went from riding this oldest of carousels, to Central Florida’s newest carousel at Fun Spot America just off I-Drive. With a double decker carousel, Fun Spot can’t have kids leaning out to grab something, we believe in safety, but simply being at Fun Spot and living in Orlando is grabbing a great brass ring of life.

<—Oldest Carousel

Newest Carousel —>

This week, Fun Spot America in Orlando had 20+ students with the Boys and Girls Club come to our park with help from Visit Orlando to learn about careers in tourism. For three hours the teens learned of marketing, maintenance, and operations. They had the opportunity to hear from five employees on how they got their jobs with Fun Spot, and why they love working in tourism. They had Fun Spot pizza and at they end they all dove the go-karts and had fun. All of this was coordinated through Visit Orlando, an organization to promote visitors to come to Orange County. Fun Spot is a member of Visit Florida and the Kissimmee CVB which promotes travel to Osceola County. We are also members of the state association that promotes travel to Florida. What is the name of that agency?

Here is a short video of what the kids thought:Boys and Girls It’s HUGE!!