04 April 2011 by By Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel
There's something for just about everyone, no matter their tax bracket, at the 8th annual Celebration Exotic Car Festival this week.
For those looking for a free show, the highlight will be Saturday, April 9, for the display of more than 250 exotic cars, race cars and iconic Hollywood movie cars along the waterfront of the town of Celebration near Walt Disney World.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., an estimated crowd of 40,000 will be able to see hundreds of high-end sports cars as well as some pop culture vehicular icons including the Landspeeder from the original "Star Wars," Herbie the Volkswagen Beetle from the Disney films, the General Lee Dodge Charger from "The Dukes of Hazzard," KITT, the Pontiac Trans-Am from "Knight Rider, the Rolls Royce from the Dudley Moore version of "Arthur," the 1958 Plymouth Fury from the horror movie "Christine." There will also be a couple of famous Lamborghinis, the Coutach driven by Adrienne Barbeau in "The Cannonball Run," and the Diablo from the movie "Dumb and Dumber."
Ferris Bueller fans will be happy to spot a Ferrari 250 California. Formula One race fans can delight in a Ferrari F-1 driven by Michael Schumacher.
Now for those relative few who've got the pleasure of actually owning a Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Spyker, Saleen, McLaren, Pantera, Aston Martin, Lotus, DeLorean and the like, you can register to take your car out onto the track for race days on Thursday and Friday at Sebring International Raceway. The rest of us can catch a glimpse on Saturday.
There are also a couple of bigger-ticket events including a $100 opening night party on Friday, April 8, at the American Experience pavillion at Disney's Epcot for dinner and fireworks show.
A bigger event, though, will be the Jetport Food & Wine Party on Saturday night, in which a Kissimmee hangar will be transformed into a nightclub and host an air show, silent auction and fashion show. The highlight of the party will be the food as several world-famouse chefs from Bocuse d'Or and Les Chefs de France join with local restaurants for the night's cuisine. Noted chefs this year include Jerome Bocuse, Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, Scott Boswell, Daniel Patterson and Michael Cimarusti.
You might also catch a glimpse of some celebrtiies at the Jetport party. Expected this year are actors Chris McDonald ("Happy Gilmore"), Carl Weathers, ("Rocky" movies) and Claudia Wells ("Back to the Future") and others. General admission is $150, but you can rub elbows with the celebs with the $400 VIP package.
The festival wraps up Sunday, April 10, with the Exotic Car Rally departing Celebration at 9:30 a.m.
The festival was founded in 2004 and 100 percent of the net proceeds are donated to charity after each event. Since 2004, the event has donated more than $600,000 to Make-a-Wish and Special Olympics.
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