Today Show footage, which snubbed Winter Park, used to defend Visit Orlando

The agency is under fire after a county audit of its spending as Winter Park also took exception to the way it used the city without promoting it

Aug. 27, 2025

By Gabrielle Russon

Visit Orlando promoted the Today Show coverage filmed in Winter Park to defend itself from a critical county audit, but the tourism association didn’t mention city officials’ complaints with the TV segment.

Visit Orlando leaders appeared before the Orange County Board of Commissioners Tuesday following Comptroller Phil Diamond’s audit last month that raised concerns about Visit Orlando’s spending. 

Ultimately, the county board took no action Tuesday and will revisit the issues in December as county staff work with Visit Orlando to address the audit’s results and go over the contract.

Assistant Comptroller Wendy Kittleson said Visit Orlando may have misspent an estimated $20 million dating back to 2019.

Visit Orlando CEO Casandra Matej said her organization openly shared its records with the auditors and is already working with the county to address many of the audit’s findings. She defended her organization, saying it helps promote tourism that fuels a major economic impact to the region.

The county board spent three hours discussing Visit Orlando’s value and the audit’s findings.

The debate comes as some officials are pushing to free up the 6% Orange County hotel tax to be spent on public transit, housing and other community needs instead of going toward advertisements and marketing for tourism. Meanwhile, the tourism industry is fighting to keep the status quo. 

Winter Park officials, for example, brought up during last year’s budget discussions whether the tourism development tax could be used to help pay for SunRail, which operates one of its most popular stops in the city.

This week amid the marathon debate during the county meeting, Visit Orlando played footage from when Today Show set up in Winter Park — just steps away from the train station — to cover Epic Universe’s grand opening in May.

The video showed off the Today Show’s set, celebrity weatherman Al Roker and the crowd holding signs. 

“It’s not just the theme park aspect,” said Broadway star Michael James, a Central Florida native, who was tapped as guest in the segment. “We got culture here, y’all! We got culture in Orlando.”

For Visit Orlando, the Today Show was a big deal to tell Orlando’s story.

“This is so important because we’re able to reach a national audience from ecotourism to dining to our amazing sports in Orlando. We definitely have it all and this is an amazing opportunity,” Matej said in a clip played at Tuesday’s county meeting.

A local eye would recognize the scene as Central Park, the beloved green space in Winter Park’s popular retail and dining corridor along Park Avenue. But in front of more than 30 million Today Show viewers, no one actually mentioned that Winter Park was the backdrop.

“They didn’t say at all they were in Winter Park?” asked Commissioner Craig Russell afterward during a city meeting in late May.

“Not one word,” Mayor Sheila DeCiccio said.

The mayor said she supported no longer giving freebies to Visit Orlando “unless credit is given to Winter Park or they can pay fees like anyone else renting the park.”

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