I am so excited for the new Amway Center and of the attention and business it will bring to our great city. The arena opened officially on 10/1 at 10:01 when Mayer Buddy Dyer cut the ribbon. He said: “The Amway Center is a testament to what can be accomplished when we come together to realize a dream. This building was dedicated to the residents of Orlando and Central Florida on October 1, 2010.”

Amway Center

On Saturday 10/2, the arena was open to the public for a community tour. I attended with a few friends and was blown away with what I saw. It is absolutely gorgeous inside with a state of the art sound system and the largest scoreboard display in North America. The Gentleman Jack Terrace is a great spot to watch the games from with views of the city. We did not get to see the Star Lounge at the top of the center which I really wanted to see. The lounges will be open after the games which is nice. We enjoyed free popcorn and soda at the open house. My friends also tried the $2 hot dogs and tacos that were on special and said they were delicious. I have heard great things about the food options. I even saw a Panera and Cold Stone there.

Amway Center Fun Facts:
*The seats at the Amway Center range from 20-24 inches in seat width compared to an average 18-inch width in the Amway Arena.
*There are 27 restrooms (19 women’s/18 men’s) in the Amway Center, compared to just 8 restrooms in Amway Arena.
*The Amway Center has 9 retail locations, anchored by the Orlando Magic’s Team Shop presented by Adidas.
*There are 10 fan interactive areas open to all levels of ticket buyers, highlighted by the Nutrilite Magic Fan Experience, Orlando On Demand Info Garden, STUFF’s Magic Castle kid’s zone presented by Club Wyndham, the Budweiser Baseline Bar and Gentleman Jack Terrace.

I was very happy to hear about how busy the Church Street businesses were during the weekend’s festivities. Many new businesses are scheduled to open there which is great for our city. I look forward to seeing the growth and development of the beautiful downtown that I call home.

The first Magic pre-season game is this Sunday. Go Magic! I hope we have our best season yet.

Thai Basil Garlic Chicken

I wanted to share my Yelp website with you. I will be reviewing Orlando restaurants and businesses to further assist in any recommendations you may need around the city. Please see the link to the right to check out my reviews.

I also have my favorite hotspots listed. I hope they will be helpful for you.

I love cooking and trying new recipes. I enjoy finding recipes that are both healthy and delicious. I keep a recipe notebook of collected recipes from various magazines, websites, etc. that I like. I like this method better than buying cookbooks because, I never like all of the recipes in a cookbook. Plus, it’s free. I wanted to share a great recipe blog with you. It’s called Fatfree Vegan and the link is to the right.

Even if you are not vegan (which I am not), there are some delicious recipes that anyone would enjoy. I often just add chicken or shrimp. However, you will find that many recipes are filling enough without any meat. It’s a great place to get some ideas for healthy meals.

My favorite recipe I have made from there is the Quinoa Vegetable Paella. I make it and eat it for a week without getting sick of it.

I know we are all trying to be more healthy these days so, I hope this helps out a little. Happy cooking!

My name is Dina Najjar and, I would like to welcome you to my new website. I am very excited to finally launch it and share local Real Estate and Orlando event information with you. I hope that you will find my website to be a useful resource for what is going on and what to do in the City Beautiful. I will also be sharing local Real Estate updates and news as well as the latest information about residential and commercial Real Estate. I will keep up with everything for you so you do not have to. Please visit my website often. The monthly event calendar will be updated regularly. Do not hesitate to contact me or sign-up for my monthly newsletter to stay informed. It will only be sent out one a month and your information will not be shared with any third parties.

Let me know if I can ever be of service to you or anyone you know with any Real Estate needs. Thanks and hope to see you around town!