Things To Do In SW Florida

A themed-entertainment design company in Orlando is planning and creating a major theme park in Saudi Arabia. Falcon’s Creative Group is turning Dragon Ball, a Japanese manga franchise, into a real-life experience expected to be a few acres larger than Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park.

The attraction is part of the Qiddiya City development, an entertainment push by the Saudi government. Its effort includes stadiums, theaters, a Formula One race, e-sports venues, a water park and several theme parks, including Dragon Ball and one developed by Six Flags Entertainment Corp.

“Qiddiya has a huge ambition to really create this whole city for play,” said David Schaefer, chief development officer of Falcon’s Creative Group.

Falcon’s has said it is hiring up to 200 additional workers for its Orlando headquarters for the park and other projects, another example of Central Florida being a hub for theme park creation beyond Disney, Universal and SeaWorld.

The Dragon Ball theme park, announced at AnimeJapan 2024 in March, will feature seven lands and more than 30 attractions, including a roller coaster built around Shenron, a dragon character more than 220 feet high. The entire park is expected to cover more than 120 acres. Magic Kingdom is about 107 acres. read more

Royal Caribbean and the government of the Bahamas broke ground Monday on the joint venture to develop a strip of land in the cruise port of Nassau called Paradise Island.

The government in 2023 gave the OK for the cruise line to develop a 17-acre portion into what will be called Royal Beach Club Paradise Island when it opens in 2025. Cruise line executives and government officials, including Prime Minister Philip Davis, grabbed shovels along the white sandy beaches with turquoise water in the background.

“With the signing of the deal [for] Royal Beach Club Paradise Island, we embark on this project to further enhance the vitality of our tourism product,” Davis said. “Signing today’s agreement, we add another world-class experience to our tourism offerings. And even more importantly, we take a bold step toward greater Bahamian empowerment in the tourism industry.”

The site is on the western edge of the strip of land that runs alongside the waterway through which ships brought nearly 4.5 million passengers in 2023, making Nassau the world’s busiest cruise port of call. read more

Tijuana Flats closed nine South Florida restaurants in the days and weeks before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday.

The company, a fast-casual provider of Tex-Mex dishes like tacos, burritos, chimichangas, quesadillas and flautas, announced the filing on Friday in a news release. It also announced that a new ownership group had taken control of the company “with a plan of revitalizing its restaurants and reinvigorating the customer experience.”

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing allows a company to restructure its operation while discharging existing debt. Tijuana Flats’ filing, in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Orlando, stated that the company had assets of between $1 million and $10 million and liabilities between $10 million and $50 million.

Friday’s news release stated that 11 of the company’s restaurants were closed last week. The sale and bankruptcy filing, the release said, resulted from a “strategic review” that began last November. The company explored various options including a potential sale. read more