by Janet Dickelman
An amazing array of tours await you in Jacksonville! Full tour descriptions, details, and pricing will be posted to the convention announce list, the convention website, https://acbconvention.org/, and on the conference and convention registration form. Please keep in mind that there may be additions, deletions or changes to this tentative schedule. In-person convention dates are July 5th through the 12th.
Friday, July 5
Sea Serpent Airboat Tour
Experience a thrilling ride on the Airboat Adventure Tour on a 15-passenger high performance airboat. The Airboat Adventure Tour allows our patrons an opportunity to experience the Old Florida flora and fauna of the freshwater (non-tidal) creeks that northeast Florida has to offer. Your airboat adventure includes a thrilling ride through parts of Trout Creek, Six Mile Creek, and Palmo Cove, which are tributaries of the historical St. Johns River. Our captain will provide detailed information and descriptions and tell stories through music and word and let us know about any wildlife that we pass by.
There will be time for you to visit the gift shop or grab a snack!
The boat is loud, and it will be hot. This tour is not suitable for guide dogs. You will be on the water for 90 minutes. Bring sunscreen and bug repellent.
City Bus Tour I
Jacksonville City Experience Driving Tour
Experience the history and culture of the largest city in the continental United States! Your costumed tour guide is a professional storyteller, historian and award-winning writer. He has designed a tour to entertain all your senses with things to touch, smell and taste while we visit sites around the city and historic neighborhoods. For example, at one site you will hear the amazing success story of Peterbrooke Chocolate while tasting their famous chocolate-covered popcorn (bring $10 in cash if you want to buy a bag). Your guide creates an interactive tour atmosphere which is fun for everyone.
Food Tour
This tour is still in the planning stages. It would involve 3 stops: one for a half-portion of Italian food, a stop for a half-portion of seafood, and a dessert stop.
Saturday, July 6
IFly Indoor Skydiving
No airplane required! Put on a flight suit, helmet and goggles. After an introductory class, fall face-down into a padded tunnel of wind! The wind will propel you up and you will be “flying” around the tunnel. You will have two “flights”; with the second flight, you could be flying 15 feet above the ground! No parachute, just the wind keeping you aloft! If you have any shoulder injuries, this tour is not for you!
Closed shoes are required. No, you cannot bring your dog in the tunnel. This tour will have a lot of waiting time, but is well worth it for any adrenaline junkie!
City Bus Tour II
Jacksonville City Experience Driving Tour
(see Friday’s description)
Fort Caroline
Florida has many stories of conquest, but Fort Caroline might just be the bloodiest. Originally established in the 1500s for European settlers in America, Fort Caroline became the site of several massacres and military executions over the years. Several times it was burned down, and rebuilt.
Included in this tour is a walk on very narrow pathways, with roots and rocks. This is not a tour for someone who has difficulty walking, and not wheelchair accessible.
City Bus Tour III
Jacksonville City Experience Driving Tour
(see Friday’s description)
Jacksonville Beach Pier
A perfect place to walk; no streets or bicycles, just a quarter-mile (one way) walk on the pier overlooking the ocean. Take a leisurely stroll, power walk or run. Snacks are available for purchase.
Sunday, July 7
Autobahn Indoor Speedway
Here is your chance to drive a go-kart on an indoor track! You must be able to follow verbal instructions (right, left, brake, gas), you will be doing the driving! You will be given a helmet, which might make it a little harder for you to hear. Closed-toe shoes are required. The vehicles are quite small; you need to squat to get into the go-kart. Your legs must straddle the center controls and you must be able to use your feet to operate the pedals. There is no room in the go-kart for your guide dog. With the individual attention this tour requires, there will be long wait times.
City Bus Tour IV: Jacksonville City Experience Driving Tour (see Friday’s description)
Kingsley Plantation
Florida has a complicated history when it comes to slavery, and nowhere is this more apparent than the Kingsley Plantation. Named after a slave owner, Zephaniah Kingsley, who created a convoluted dynasty with four black wives and almost a dozen children, it’s an attraction that raises just as many questions as answers. You see, Kingsley advocated for slavery, but he also emancipated his wives and educated his children.
He lived on a plantation, but he allowed it to be used as a boarding house for freed slaves passing through the south. Today, the Kingsley Plantation is a testament to the complex web of history that’s woven over Jacksonville.
We realize this is a sensitive and potentially triggering venue. After careful consideration, discussions with ACB’s Multi-Cultural Affairs Committee and a site visit, it was determined this tour is an important piece of history.
Monday, July 8
The Museum of Southern History
One of Jacksonville’s premiere historical institutions is the Museum of Southern History. Though it is located in Florida, its subject matter includes everything below the Mason-Dixon line, and it will educate and entertain in equal measure. In addition to numerous exhibits and classic items from the antebellum south, this tour will include food pairings from many southern states.
Beach Party
Sand, surf, sun and sustenance –– what a way to spend a Florida summer evening! We’ll have beachside pavilions for food and relaxing and then it is just a few steps to the sand and down to the water, which in July should be quite warm. There are lifeguards on duty, but the ocean can be unpredictable, so wading versus swimming is advised.
Tuesday, July 9
Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind
Visit this 80-acre campus that has educated over 1,000 deaf/hard-of-hearing, and blind/visually impaired children. You must go through security and have either a valid driver’s license, non-driver ID or passport. NO EXCEPTIONS.
The Ritz Theatre & Museum
The Ritz Theatre and Museum is a mecca for African-American creatives. The museum celebrates the legacies of many different authors, artists, musicians, poets and playwrights, and the theater is one of the oldest of its kind for black performers.
It’s also located in the LaVille neighborhood of Jacksonville, which used to have such a thriving black community that it was known as “the Harlem of the South.”
Everything about the area has its roots in African-American culture. If you want to know more about the history of Florida’s people of color, visit the Ritz Museum and experience the richness of art, music and soul! Lunch from Soul Food Bistro will be included in this tour.
Wednesday, July 10
Sweet Pete’s Candy
With colorful pastel decorations and a sleek, black-and-white checkered floor, Sweet Pete’s Candy is basically a real-life version of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. It dazzles the eye as soon as you walk in, and once you taste its confections, it’ll dazzle your taste buds as well. There are a lot of things to see at Sweet Pete’s Candy. Not only does it have jars, bars, bags, shelves and gigantic baskets of chocolates and gummies, but there is also an ice cream parlor where you can enjoy frozen desserts, and a gift shop offers memorabilia for your trip. Mr. Wonka is alive, and he’s working in Sweet Pete’s Candy.
While half the group does the tour, the other half will enjoy lunch at the restaurant. You will be asked to provide your favorite candy bar ingredients from a list, and you will receive a candy bar customized just for you!
USS Orleck
Visit this destroyer commissioned in 1945. Learn its history, tour the ship and see how sailors worked, ate, and slept. There are steep stairways, narrow passages and thresholds that are shin high; the ship is not wheelchair accessible. It is a fascinating tour!
Friday, July 12
Kennedy Space Center
This is the birthplace of America’s space program, and the only place on Earth where man has launched into space to set foot on the moon! Experience the past, present and future of the Kennedy Space Center on this tour excursion. Guests will see the evolution of NASA, the space program’s past and future come alive thanks to the insight of a few experts. Go behind the gates of NASA at the Kennedy Space Center.
Guests will see the Apollo/Saturn V Center, where the Spirit and historic scope of the Apollo moon landing missions are authentically recaptured in this enormous 100,000-square foot facility. Imagine the largest rocket ever flown, the mighty Saturn V towering above. Guests experience a dramatic and moving multi-sensory presentation of the Apollo 8 launch, then an actual 363-foot, 6.2 million-pound Saturn V rocket is revealed.
Next, guests will explore Space Shuttle Atlantis®. This unique attraction is a work of art in and of itself. Upon entering the venue, guests will be immersed in the human side of space exploration and awed as the theatre doors dramatically open to reveal shuttle Atlantis. Standing nose-to-nose with this splendid vehicle, guests will be able to view her elevated at a 43.21° angle — a view only astronauts had previously seen.
Following the tour, you’ll make your way to enjoy a lunch program featuring a veteran NASA astronaut. In this program, guests will view an inspirational video while enjoying a hot buffet lunch catered by an award-winning chef followed by a dynamic presentation by the astronaut, Q&A and photos. After lunch there will be time to ride a space simulator and visit the gift shop! This is sure to be an out-of-this-world event!
Staying in Touch
The convention announce list will be filled with information. To subscribe to the list, send a blank e-mail to [email protected]. If you received updates for the 2023 convention, you do not need to re-subscribe.
Hotel Details
Room rates at the Hyatt are $99 per night plus tax. Reservation information will be posted when it becomes available.
For any convention-related questions, please contact Janet Dickelman, convention chair, at (651) 428-5059 or via e-mail, [email protected].