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THE WONDER OF IT ALL ::
Wonderland |
| Orlando, Florida |
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by Mark Thompson & Robert
Doyle |
| June
3 - 7, 2010 |
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You just can’t keep a good circuit weekend
down: out of the ashes, one of the circuit’s
most beloved events rises anew. What has
been known over the years as Gay Disney,
GayDayS, Reunion, Gay Day, One Mighty
Weekend, GD Weekend, Girls in Wonderland (as
well as half a dozen other monikers) is
poised to take flight like the phoenix
again—thanks in no small part to the return
of impresario Mark Baker. After a somewhat
aborted take-off in 2009, the night events
for Orlando’s premier circuit weekend have
been re-christened Wonderland/Orlando—and
given Baker’s reputation for producing
spectacular events, there’s every reason to
believe in Wonderland.
Five years ago, Baker sold his interest in
the Orlando party after years of phenomenal
success. Having fulfilled his dream of
transforming Orlando into a sizzling hot
LGBT party destination each year during the
first weekend of June—and, in the process,
making manifest the dreams of thousands of
dancing queens—Baker walked away from the
scene like Michael Jordan at the peak of his
game. At the time, Baker was quoted as
saying that he couldn’t top what he’d
already accomplished, implying that it was a
good time to step back and re-evaluate. And
now, to the relief of much of the circuit
and dance community, Baker’s back!
This year’s celebration marks the twentieth
anniversary of the LGBT community convening
in Orlando. What started as a relatively
small group of LGBT people gathering in
Disney’s Magic Kingdom in 1990 attired in
red t-shirts (the better to increase
visibility amongst each other), quickly
snowballed in the ensuing years into a LGBT
tourist juggernaut. Each year, during the
first weekend of June, Orlando attracted
more than 150,000 LGBT celebrants from
around the globe to a weeklong, citywide
series of massive pool parties, all-night
spectacles, and marathon after-hours,
complete with fireworks, pyrotechnics, and
performances. And few would argue that much
of the success of Orlando’s emergence into
the international party spotlight was due to
Baker’s consummately professional and
awe-inspiring nighttime events.
Throughout his stint in the circuit, Baker
parlayed his background in television
commercial production into events that were
noted for technical prowess, professional
polish, and explosive fun. Baker was the man
who reignited the fire in the Friday night
events of Miami’s White Party weekend,
co-producing with Jeffrey Sanker a pair of
parties in 2001 and 2002 at Miami’s
Seaquarium, complete with a massive stage,
seamless performances, and a mind-numbing
display of fireworks that illuminated the
Miami sky. Then, for two years’ running at
Miami’s Winter Party, Baker converted the
formerly ramshackle Ice Palace Studios into
a Hollywood movie set of a fantasy
playground inspired by Pee-Wee’s Big Top. As
for Orlando? Baker completely transformed
the first weekend in June with his colossal
parties at the Colosseum at the Hard Rock
Live and his Stars parties at Universal
Studios, as well as his after-hours
extravaganzas at Arabian Nights. In short,
Baker revolutionized the weekend—and in so
doing, established Orlando as the summit of
the circuit.
Given all that success, one has to wonder
why Baker would wish to re-enter the Orlando
circuit sweepstakes. As Baker says, “I
thought that if we didn't get Orlando fixed
this year, then it might be the end of the
road for the weekend.” According to Baker,
all the venue rentals for 2010 have been
advance-paid—but perhaps equally important
to the success of this year’s Wonderland has
been “the unbelievable support from the
community; it was inspiring to hear from all
the people that really wanted Orlando to
shine again.”
What with last year’s confusion and
conflicting reports about the fate of the
first weekend in June, the year 2009 was a
turning point for Orlando’s well-loved
circuit festival. Many attendees in 2009
were ready to throw in the towel, never to
return to Orlando again. As Baker sees it,
“We are hoping that people will get excited
about our 2010 party schedule and see that
we have ticket prices under control as well
as a great affordable host hotel. Mostly,
we're counting on the people who've been
coming to Orlando for a while to give
newbies the scoop.”
Regardless of what did or didn’t happen in
Orlando in 2009, the first weekend of June
in Orlando still remains the largest annual
gathering of the LGBT community on the North
American continent, and yet, there are
people who have yet to make the trek. It is
to those “newbies” that Baker says, “Orlando
is an event unlike any other, and this year,
it’s really affordable. During the day, we
have great pool parties or you can visit the
theme park attractions. And each night, we
work very hard to create world-class events
that offer totally different experiences.
Let's face it, most dance parties don't have
roller coasters running above the dance
floor.”
When people speak of the marvels of
Orlando’s circuit weekend, most often it’s
in connection with those “world-class
events” that traditionally have been Baker’s
bailiwick. This year, according to Baker,
“Our biggest goal was to create at least one
new event—and that would be the brand-new
Saturday night Stratosphere Party at
Universal Studios.” Produced in conjunction
with local LGBT publisher Watermark Media,
the creators of the original Beach Ball (one
of the most well-loved events of the
weekend), this year’s Stratosphere Party,
potentially the largest of the weekend with
a capacity of 6,000, takes place on the huge
Music Plaza and features four amazing rides,
including the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit
rollercoaster, alongside a stellar dance
party. “We’ve got some surprises in store,”
says Baker, with classic understatement.
With tickets priced at a reasonable $75 and
proceeds benefiting the National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force, this party has the
potential to send everyone into the
stratosphere.
On Sunday night, Baker’s taking back the
Hard Rock Live, with DJ Abel, the maestro
who put the Colosseum party on the map and
stamped it forever his own. Re-christened
FASScination, the Sunday might event is,
according to Baker, “our new spectacle party
where people will experience cutting edge
technology and amazing performances.”
As anyone who’s ever been to Orlando in June
knows, the weekend ain’t over until
after-hours says so. The parties at Arabian
Nights have become the stuff of legend,
partially because of their size—the mass of
people and the immensity of the space—but
also because these are the events where
deejays are known to blow the roof off the
party and propel party boys and girls into
orbit with sets that are noted for
breathtaking, mind-blowing shows of
expertise and aplomb. And, according to
Baker, Arabian Nights is going to be even
more magical and ambitious this June because
“we've got an audio designer who has worked
with Tiesto, and we’ve got new lighting to
complete re-work the look of Arabian
Nights.” Falling only a couple months after
Winter Music Conference, these are the
parties where deejays showcase their latest
mixes, the ones that invariably keep the
dance floors crowded throughout the
remainder of the year. In other words, you
heard it here first—at Arabian Nights.
With a new Walt Disney World host hotel,
still gleaming from a $35 million
renovation, and with Saturday’s pool party
hosted by Atlanta’s non-profit Joining
Hearts, and Edison Farrow’s SoBe Social Club
hosting Sunday’s pool party, as well as new
parties such as Grind at House of Blues on
Thursday night, and Let’s Go Play at
Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park back for
a second year, Wonderland/Orlando 2010
promises a return to the glory days of the
circuit. As Baker says, “This year, we’ve
been telling people, ‘This is the gay
Orlando weekend you’ve loved: with a fresh,
new kick-ass attitude. And we mean it.”
Based on Baker’s stellar reputation for
delivering the goods, there’s every reason
to believe. For 2010, it’s all about
Wonderland/Orlando: believe in it.
LINKS/INFO:
www.markbakerevents.com/orlando.html
www.watermarkonline.com
www.letsgoplay2010.com
www.gaydays.com
www.girlsinwonderland.com
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