MCO says no to anti-SeaWorld PETA ads

but the airport won't clear it for takeoff.

Sometimes writers need a swift skillet to the temple.

*KLAAANG*

"Ok, now try revising that last bit so it doesn't sound ****ing stupid. Then it will go to print."

Back on topic:

Good. Although I wonder if PETA will just try to revise the face-palmingly asinine (not too unlike the quote above) idea for the ad to a less offensive one to get around GOAA's policy. But even so, this gives me hope:

The ad could discourage people from traveling to Orlando to visit the theme park, GOAA said.

I'm a member of "The Other Peta"

People

Eat

Tasty

Animals

I'm of the mindset that they knew this wouldn't make the cut and that they just did it for free publicity.

Newspaper articles seen nationwide on the internets are much cheaper than paying for advertising in an airport.

The amount of Sea World advertising at MCO makes it one of the airport's better customers. Better not to tick them off by selling *an* ad space to someone so obviously hostile to a major player in the theme park industry...in ORLANDO! (I doubt the decision to tell PETA to take a hike took more than 5 seconds).

I think there's a store there as well. (Weird, I never thought about that once while working at the company.)

There is a store there; Disney and Universal are also there, happy to sell you all sorts of last-minute souvenirs.

Yup... All kind of stores there. It's a rather fun airport to hang out at... if hanging out at airports is your thing. The main area (pre-security) is more of a mall than an airport.

I can't stand airports in the general sense, though MCO is better than most considering the volume of people. I've only flown out of it twice as a resident.

I second the opinion about Orlando. Some Airports, especially the ones that are hubs can be a very stressful experience. Others can be quite delightful. I don't know if Pittsburgh's airport still has the mall inside their terminal (I haven't been there since US Air quit using this airport for a hub). And some airports can give you an unusual way to pass the time between flights ESPECIALLY if your flights delayed. In 2003, while on my way to Houston, I found out my connecting Flight was delayed 5 1/2 hours. Guess what I did? I had a "Mastercard Moment".

Supper - $15.00

Round Trip Cab Fare $30.00 (With Tip)

Admission to Carowinds - $41.00

Riding Five Roller Coasters between flights - P-R-I-C-E-L-E-S-S!

Regulus said:

. I don't know if Pittsburgh's airport still has the mall inside their terminal

Pittsburgh airport would be lucky to have a *plane* at their terminal these days.

And way to get creative on the delay! While a little pricey, it's a great way to add a bonus to your trip. Especially if the park was nowhere in your sights normally. As in, you had no plans to visit it any time soon, since you obviously live somewhere else.

But based on your signature, you're pretty well traveled.

One time I trusted a friend to make our plane reservations to and from Orlando and on the return trip we wound up with a six hour layover in Nashville. After some investigation we found out we could take a shuttle across the freeway to Opryland to while away the time. It was March and the actual theme park was closed, so not exactly priceless, but we were able to look at the Opry, and have lunch and explore the cavernous Opryland Hotel.

The other hilarious thing was that the flight attendant (who was local and who we were crying to about our layover) said with a wink "Be the last off the playne, please". That was no problem, we had all the time on earth, after all, so on our way out she met us with a big paper bag and said "hope this haylps". When we got into the airport we looked in the sack and she had given us at least 3 of every kind of airplane mini booze bottle that they had. We wondered what we looked like to her, (or maybe more accurately, what she looked like to us), but that in itself was kind of priceless. The booze went in my suitcase and wound up lasting me for years.

But yeah, back to the subject, I can't imagine MCO would risk pissing off their tenants with ads like that. Not only are those stores places to hit on the way out of town, but maybe more so on the way in. As a potential first contact they might influence an arriving visitor's plans for where to go and they can even get tickets and things like that. While Disney and Universal are obvious first choices, most guests are likely heading to one or the other if not both. Sea World likely turns out to be an add-on for a lot of visitors and that store, right there on a good corner, is especially valuable to them.

I wonder how much ad space would cost for an anti-PETA ad?

Regulus said:

I don't know if Pittsburgh's airport still has the mall inside their terminal (I haven't been there since US Air quit using this airport for a hub).

They do... nice thing about that airport is that in order to get the funding they had to agree to street pricing, so stuff there is required by law to be the same price, same sales, etc as suburban locations. That goes for the food places, too.

Also, USAir sucks.

I think PIT is going to grow a bit. It's an expensive airport to serve right now, but as I understand it, those days should only last a few more years. Delta is able to maintain service to Paris, albeit not daily, and Southwest has grown a bit, too (especially with AirTran folding into it), so I see the airport's prospects as looking pretty good going forward. I don't think it will reach the levels it did as a US Airways hub, but I don't think it's going to be a ghost town, either.

Could be worse. It could be CLE.

Pittsburgh managed to transition very nicely from the Rust Belt past into the health and technology future. Not saying there weren't bumps along the way (speed hills perhaps?)...but many cities would do anything to be in the position of PIT right now.

Tommytheduck said:

But based on your signature, you're pretty well traveled.

My prayers have been answered 12 times, snagging me a free ticket. On two other occasions I didn't get a Free Ticket, but instead got the next best thing, A First-Class Upgrade!

I was referring to the airports, not the cities. Cleveland is doing just fine and has been having quite a revival the last three or four years. But the airport, United pulling its hub operation out of there has turned what was already a sparse airport into more of a ghost town.

I worked out of CLE for 14.5 years. Continental could never decide what they wanted to do with the place. They tried to grow it many times, even tried to use it as their primary connecting hub, easing the stress on EWR, but always quickly changed their minds.

When United took over, the writing was on the wall. Service has been slashed and the entire D concourse has been walled off.

I predict we'll be seeing a lot more of Terminal D, however, in movies and TV shows. It's pretty much perfect in that regard.

Shameless plug:

Want to fly from Pittsburgh to KMCO for cheap? Try Spirit out of LaTrobe. (KLBE.) $68 one way right now. (But pack lightly!) And parking is free.