Sunset Sam's Fish Camp

Gaylord Palms Hotel
Kissimmee, Florida
Part 1

by Martha Hollis and Anthony Scaggs

Celebrate sunset Key West style:

Where the fun begins before sunset.

The party's about to begin. Come on aboard the S.S. Gaylord-the 60-foot ship in the Gaylord Palms's interior 4.5-acre glass-covered atrium with lagoon. Walk through the elegant front lobby, pass by the Everglades, and go around the St. Augustine's Castillo de San Marcos, around the fountain of youth. You are near the recreation spot of the southern most point in the US, Key West. Sunset Sam's Fish Camp sits in a 161,000-gallon wave-filled coral reef. Conch blowing is the official party starter followed by island music, balloon twisting, men on stilts, magicians, mimes. The culinary staff, bar tenders, waitpersons start earlier and the patrons keep frolicking into the night.

Children love Sunset's Sam's. One mother ironically said,

"We spent all this money, and they like the balloon sculptures the best of all."

This is not just any balloon twister. This is the man in Guinness Book of World Records who helped make the largest non-round balloon sculpture in the world-the Belgium 40-foot high soccer players.

A true artist, these balloon masterpieces are intricate and inventive, such as the boy ballooned with goggles, mask, oxygen tank, and flippers or for all the children at heart--towering sculptured hats.

Age makes no difference with this talented balloon artist. Adults get creative treatment, too. Throughout Sunset Sam's, adults are coiffed with elaborate air filled latex chapeaux as they dine or sip on Sunset Sam's special rum drinks.