Tourists Flock to Central Florida as 2009 Ends
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
By: Tom Parkinson

December 30 2009 -- After suffering through a slow year during the economic recession, Orlando's major theme parks are making up for some of the lost ground with large crowds during this holiday period. The three largest attractions, Walt Disney World, Universal and SeaWorld are all enjoying some of the best attendance figures of the year. Disney has reportedly had to turn visitors away several times this week after hitting its capacity limit. The theme parks have weathered severe slumps this year as people cancelled or delayed their vacation plans because of the down economy. Also this week, thousands of college football fans are in Orlando for two bowl games. More than 56 thousand fans were on hand as the University of Wisconsin Badgers defeated the University of Miami Hurricanes Tuesday night. On New Year's Day, more than 60 thousand have tickets to watch the Louisiana State University Tigers play the Nittany Lions of Penn State in the Capital One Bowl. Florida Citrus Sports, the nonprofit organization that promotes the bowl games, says the teams and their fans are filling thousands of hotel rooms while patronizing local restaurants and bars. The group estimates the combined events will pump at least 80 million dollars into the local economy.