There are some great musicians coming to Central Florida! If you are visiting, or live here, and are planning to go to either Busch Gardens or SeaWorld, try to plan your theme park attraction visit around one of the live music concerts being offered as part of the regular admission costs. There is a wide variety of music genres being offered, so you’re bound to find one that you just have to see.

Both theme parks are hosting the annual “Bands, Brew and BBQ” event which takes place in February and March. Busch Gardens is also offering the “Real Music” concert series during this time as well. These performances are held at the park’s Stanleyville Theater three times a day – 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The performances for “Bands, Brew and BBQ” for Busch Gardens will take place at Gwazi Field. Event information for Busch Garden’s “Bands, Brew and BBQ” can be found here. Sea World’s “Bands, Brew and BBQ” concerts are held within the park with limited seating capacity on a first-come, first-served basis. SeaWorld’s beer garden will feature nearly 50 craft beers from around 20 different domestic and international breweries. Food and beverages at this special event cost extra, and VIP passes with meal vouchers and front-of-the-line benefits are available. Information for SeaWorld’s event can be found here.

Here is a schedule of the remaining live music performances:

Whatever music performance you choose, you are sure to have a great time. It’s a great time of the year to visit Orlando attractions. When you are not visiting these Central Florida area theme park live music events, make plans to spend an evening at Capone’s Dinner & Show. Our live musical productions are enjoyed by all ages.

Capone’s Dinner & Show event tickets are all-inclusive. You’ll receive admission into the live show, an all-you-can-eat dinner buffet, continual beverage service (including alcoholic drinks) and dessert! Show times vary, but can be found on Capone’s website, alcapones.com. Purchase your tickets online and save 50%!

After a few months break, Velvet Sessions are starting up again at Universal’s Hard Rock Hotel. On the last Thursday of every month (November & December are excluded) a 21 and over party is held at the Hard Rock. Each “session” combines creative cocktails with live music from some of the hottest rock bands.

This month’s musical guest is “The Fixx.” This English rock group is best known for hits such as “One Thing Leads to Another,” “Deeper and Deeper” and “Are We Ourselves?” Beginning at 6:30 p.m., you will enjoy specialty drinks and finger foods. Then at show time (8:30 p.m.) the music starts and a cash bar opens. Admission is $29 when purchased in advance, $35 at the door. Parking is free.

So if you’re not planning on visiting Capone’s Dinner & Show Thursday, January 26, consider going to Universal’s Hard Rock Hotel and get your Fixx! Go to the website www.velvetsessions.com for more information, to purchase tickets and for future performances and special events.

Driving on I-4 the other day, I saw several transport trucks carrying some great looking cars. They were older models, but in pristine condition. I now know where they might have been heading. Mecum’s annual Kissimmee Auction will be held this week at Osceola Heritage Park.

This auction will feature close to 2,000 collector cars as well as a few motorcycles. It is such a huge event, it covers six full days, four of which are televised nationally on Discovery’s new Velocity network. The “Mecum Auto Auctions: Muscle Cars & More” show will be broadcast live as well as via a live webcast at www.mecum.com. The action begins each morning at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, January 24 through Sunday, January 29, 2012.

President Dana Mecum states, “We are off and running with an incredible inventory of cars for this year’s event, including a staggering group of investment-grade Corvettes, muscle cars and several collections offered at no reserve.” The auction is open to the general public. Tickets are available at the Silver Spurs Arena at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee for $15, children under 12 are free with a paying adult. Parking is $7.00. For consignment, bidder and more event information call 262-275-5050 or visit www.mecum.com.

After the auction, Capone’s Dinner & Show invites you to experience another live event – our dinner and show! We’ve got a hot buffet filled with American/Italian favorites, plus a huge drink menu. It is all-you-can-eat and drink, so you do not need to worry about having to ‘bid’ on just your favorites. Stop on by after the auction, you’ll have a blast!

If you enjoy a good musical, Les Misérables is now playing at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre, 401 W Livingston St., Orlando, FL 32801. Based on Victor Hugo’s classic novel, Les Misérables is an epic and uplifting story about the survival of the human spirit. It has been seen by nearly 60 million people worldwide in 42 countries and in 21 languages. Les Misérables is undisputedly one of the world’s most popular musicals ever written. It is only showing in Orlando for a few more days.

This production marks Cameron Mackintosh’s 25th anniversary production of Les Misérables with new staging and spectacular reimagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. Producer Cameron Mackintosh remarked, “Over the years I have seen many successful but visually different productions, so it has been exciting to draw inspiration from the brilliant drawings and paintings of Victor Hugo himself, integrated with spectacular projections. The new Les Miz is a magnificent mix of dazzling images and epic staging, driving one of the greatest musical stories ever told.”

NY1-TV proclaims “this new production actually exceeds the original. The storytelling is clearer, the perspective grittier and the motivations more honest. Musical theatre fans can rejoice: Les Miz is born again.” The magnificent score of Les Misérables includes the classic songs “I Dreamed a Dream,” “On My Own,” “Stars,” “Bring Him Home,” “Do You Hear the People Sing?,” “One Day More,” “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables,” “Master Of The House” and many more.

The remaining shows are:

• 8:00 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, 2012
• 2:00 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012
• 8:00 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012
• 1:00 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012
• 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012

Tickets start at $38 and are available online at www.OrlandoBroadway.com and at the Broadway Across America – Orlando box office located at 100 South Eola Drive, Suite 101, during normal business hours. To charge by phone call 1-800-982-2787. Group orders of 15 or more may be placed by calling (407) 704-6116. To view an interesting video about this production, go to www.LesMis.com/watch.

It is nice to know that President Obama will be visiting and has a plan to boost U.S. tourism. It may not be so nice for the thousands of tourists visiting Magic Kingdom on Thursday, January 19, 2012. Disney has quickly adjusted to the many demands of such a high profile guest with security measures like none other. Some of the adjustments will affect their guests, however, Disney has made sure it will not lessen their experience. While mid-January is one of the slowest periods of the year for Orlando’s theme parks, there are still likely to be tens of thousands of tourists in the Magic Kingdom when Obama delivers his speech. Here are the changes for that day:

• The Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade will be scheduled for later in the day at 3:30 p.m.
• Main Street, U.S.A. will be closed to guest traffic for part of the day. Guests will have to take an alternate route to get to other areas of the Magic Kingdom Park.
• Extra hours for guests staying in the resorts hotels have been canceled, however, at the other parks Disney has extended operating hours and have added entertainment hoping to steer guests away from the Magic Kingdom.
• Baby Care Center and the First Aid location have been moved to the right of the entrance of Space Mountain.
• Main Street, U.S.A.’s Photo Pass will not be available in from of Cinderella Castle until later in the day.
• All transportation will be running as usual, however congestion and delays are expected.
• Disney’s Contemporary Resort, which will be used as a staging area for news media, will not have its normal parking arrangements for guests.
• Park guests will not be able to attend this special event without an invitation, therefore many guests will elect to visit other parks during this time.

It is Obama’s plan to unveil a new program called Global Entry which will make it easier for “preapproved, low-risk travelers” to clear U.S. customs. There is also a plan to make it easier for visitors from Brazil, India, China and other countries to obtain a visa to travel to the U.S. In doing so, the number of visas processed annually in each country could be boosted to as many as 1 million. Orlando would greatly benefit from such a plan. With more than 45 million visitors a year to just the four Disney theme parks already, this area’s tourism would certainly increase.

Be prepared for delays near the airport, along the roads heading towards Disney mid-morning and then again in the mid-afternoon. President Obama will only be in the Orlando area for about 3 hours. Let’s hope it is time well spent and not just another campaign stop.