The National Xball League ( NXL ) opened its 2023 season with the Sunshine State Major , the first of four Major events this season . Once again , the league chose the Kissimmee , Florida Gaylord Hotel as the host site for this event , the same site used for the league ’ s finale tournament , the World Cup , for the past eight seasons . For those that have never attended an NXL World Cup or other event held in Kissimmee ( what ?), the location is perfect for an event of this magnitude . There are literally thousands of hotels , as well as house and condo rentals within just a few miles , should you choose not to stay at the Gaylord Hotel . Kissimmee ’ s restaurants , shopping and entertainment are legendary .
The event site is a huge tract of land , literally across the street from the Gaylord ( and owned by the Gaylord ), with plenty of parking , space for the trade show and all of the fields used . The vendor village was quite large for the season-opening event , with most of the major paintball companies on hand . Planet Eclipse , GI Sportz , Tippmann , Valken , DYE , Empire , Ninja , were all onhand , just to name a few . And if you had a handful of one-dollar bills to throw away there was even a tarot card reader on-site to tell you Dynasty would probably win the pro division .
F lorida & Paintball
( History notes by John Amodea )
Florida has been a hotspot for all things paintball since the game was first introduced there in 1982 . It ’ s been the host of the Paintball World Cup for 25 years since moving from New York . It was the home of the ESPN World Championships that ran back-to-back years in 1996 and 1996 . And it ’ s where Fred Schultz and company partnered with Disney and played paintball on Disneyworld ’ s Main Street in the mid-90s .
Photo By John McGloughlin
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