Things To Do In SW Florida

For this week’s Theme Park Rangers Radar, we browsed the new UNIVRS store’s offerings at Universal Orlando, went on a deep-apostrophe dive thanks to Princess Tiana and thought about just who would scrape off Disney wallpaper and sell scraps at auction.

Radar is a weekly listing of musings and must-sees from Central Florida’s theme parks and attractions. It appears at OrlandoSentinel.com on Wednesdays.

Hopping shopping

Universal Studios has tweaked one of its in-park stores to showcase summer collections based on “Jaws,” “Jurassic Park” and Felix the Cat.

The UNIVRS storefront, a reimagining of an existing structure near the entrance of the theme park, is a bright, bold, eye-catching departure. It’s a arched montage of the currently featured product lines plus other Universal properties, including “Back to the Future,” “The Office,” “Shrek” and the bride of Frankenstein. Large Felix and shark heads at ground level make for photo ops.

There’s a fair share of Minions and bananas on the facade, which is not a surprise because the building is a neighbor to the impending Minion Land. read more

TALLAHASSEE — Millionaire developer Morteza “Mori” Hosseini has been called the most powerful unelected person in Florida and a close adviser and donor to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for president in 2024.

The 68-year-old Iranian-American developer from Volusia County has raised millions for his “beloved” University of Florida and his alma mater, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. He and his family raised millions more for numerous charities, but also the Florida Republican Party and state and local political candidates.

He’s also garnered headlines for getting tickets for DeSantis to play golf at Augusta National Golf Club, flying the First Lady Casey DeSantis to a defense contractor’s fundraiser in Jacksonville and frequently lending his private jet to the governor’s campaign.

More recently, Hosseini has been in the news for lending a fancy golf simulator to the Governor’s Mansion and playing a role in state transportation officials steering $92 million in leftover COVID funds toward an interchange project that would benefit one of his developments. read more