Things To Do In SW Florida

Work continues in Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland, turning Splash Mountain into a new ride experience called Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Now, even casual passers-by may notice a visual difference in the attraction, which Walt Disney World says will open to the public this summer.

For months, I listened to confused park visitors as they walked by the site. Folks now have a better grip on what’s happening, thanks to signs and a new water tank that’s topped with a tiara.

The current crowd tends to point at the former mountain, and there are attempts to peek through the construction wall skirting the site. Earlier, there was some lament about the end of Splash Mountain, but the feeling is shifting toward anticipation.

Here are comments and questions overheard on the bridge to the attraction entrance recently. They’re followed by clarifications and, as needed, actual facts that have been announced by Disney since the Tiana transformation was announced in June 2020.

“I like the greenery”

Imagineers have leaned into green for the exterior look of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, adding trees, hanging moss, blooms and vines. It’s less desert beige now as Disney turns this mountain into a (very big) molehill. read more

TALLAHASSEE — A proposal to weaken work restrictions for 16- and 17-year-olds is ready to go to the full Senate after a committee made changes Monday night that scaled back the House’s more far-reaching version.

The Senate Rules Committee voted 15-3 to approve the revised bill (HB 49), which addresses issues such as how many hours 16- and 17-year-old youths can work. The House voted 80-35 on Feb. 1 to pass the broader bill.

The House version would eliminate a restriction on 16- and 17-year-olds working more than 30 hours during weeks when school is in session. The Senate version would maintain the 30-hour limit but would allow parents, guardians or school superintendents to waive it.

“I think if we’re looking to empower parents and also get the school more involved, I think it’s a measured approach,” said Senate sponsor Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills.

The House also would have removed a restriction on 16- and 17-year-olds working more than eight hours a day when school is scheduled the next day. The Senate would only lift the restriction on holidays and Sundays. read more

CBD, a medication used by millions of Americans to battle a variety of illnesses and anxiety, could be banned entirely in Florida because of a bill that seeks to outlaw synthetic chemicals in hemp that can induce euphoria.

Paige Figi, considered the “mother of CBD” in the U.S. because of her crusade to legalize what became known as Charlotte’s Web, is attempting to sound the alarm about the bill. She is being joined by parents of children who desperately need the product and independent hemp growers worried their businesses would be devastated.

“I just don’t think the lawmakers are taking account of the millions of Floridians that are going to be medically affected by the removal of their health products,” Figi said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel.

Figi was one of the key proponents of legalizing CBD both nationally and in Florida, where then-Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill in 2014 giving certain patients access to cannabidiol oils with low levels of THC, the substance that causes euphoria in users. read more