Volume 2, No. 13. July 12, 2002
New Arrivals
It’s
a theme park resort!
Universal Studios Orlando announces the arrival of the Royal Pacific Resort,
June 18, 2002. Measurements: 53 acres (21.5 hectares), 1,000 rooms, 80,000 square
feet (7,432 square maters) of meeting room space, 25,000 square feet (2,323
square meters) of outdoor function space, one 12,000-square-foot (1,115-square-meter)
swimming pool, six restaurants, four shops, 1,552 customized hand-carved wood
panels, 58,0000 plants, 2,500 palm trees including one 10-trunk palm tree, one
orchid court with more than 400 varieties of orchids and eight stone statures,
one 1940s seaplane.
“Sumptuous”
is too banal a descriptor. “Exotic?” Considering its locale, the third
hotel on the Universal Studios Orlando property vis-à-vis what it contains—like
the city’s largest swimming pool and the wood murals hand-carved especially
for the hotel by Polynesian artists in Bali and —that word certainly seemed
apt. “It really is the most exotic hotel on the mainland of the United
States,” said Susan Lomax, Universal Studios Florida's senior director
of public relations and publicity. “We tried to figure out how to position
this hotel, and we came up with that line and it’s actually true.”
This
being Universal, however, the marketing thrust needed to be edgy. So, “hot”
was the word of the day that the first guests were officially welcomed. “To
open the hottest new resort we brought in a fire breather to attempt to break
the world record for the longest fire throw,” Lomax said. Ted Shred, a
Los Angeles stuntman who showed the world his dragon-like abilities in the movie
Charlie’s Angels, was aiming to surpass the record breathed-flame
distance of 30 feet. However, a succession of thunderstorms, humid air and breezes
conspired against Shred’s efforts. “We knew going into the morning
the weather conditions were all wrong,” Lomax said. Still, Shred reached
20 feet.
The
rainstorms chased the opening ceremonies under the cover of the hotel’s
porticashare, where Royal Pacific’s General Manager Dale McDaniel preceded
over a ceremony featuring Universal Studios officials and about 150 guests waiting
to check in. The first of those guests to do so was upgraded to the presidential
suite and received a week’s vacation within a year. A week later, all 1,000
rooms were booked, setting an Orlando record for fastest sellout.
Maybe
“successful” is the most apt descriptor.
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