Things To Do In SW Florida

Another major, multiday theme park event has rolled out in Central Florida. SeaWorld Orlando’s Howl-O-Scream debuted Friday night and, despite a soggy start, presented scares in mythical, comical, agricultural and industrial ways.

It’s the fourth year for SeaWorld’s scare fest, and the park is presenting four new haunted houses plus one “returning favorite,” in addition to a whopping seven scare zones across the property. Most haunts are in locations where day guests usually don’t dwell.

“To put four houses out this year, it’s been very challenging,” said Kyle Smith, manager of creative show operations, before (more) storms and the scares began Friday. “But it’s very cool to come up with new concepts and work with some amazing members of our team to be able to build these haunts.”

It has turned into a continual process.

“What’s fun about it is: What worked, and how can we expand on it?” Smith said.

“But my favorite thing about Howl-O-Scream is that it’s the perfect mix of sexy and horror,” he said. read more

Orange County has begun preliminary planning for two new high-density mixed-use developments on county-owned properties near Epic Universe, as the immediate area around the upcoming theme park and the Orange County Convention Center continues to grow.

Orange County has been “stress testing” these properties to see how much development they can hold. The planning department has released a hypothetical development scenario, site plan, and renderings for each property, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.

The county is exploring construction of 2,678 multifamily units on the two properties, including 1,008 units and 54,000 square feet of commercial space on a 14.4-acre at 5980 Destination Pkwy and 1,670 units on a 29-acre property at 10191 International Dr. The first property is located next to a future SunRail station and currently provides overflow parking for the convention center. The second property is located south of the Beachline Expressway and would be connected to the SunRail station through a pedestrian bridge over the highway. That piece is mostly vacant. read more

Jim Rossman | Tribune News Service

We all have floors, and they all get dirty. How you clean them will depend on what’s on those floors — are they hard surfaces or carpeted?

I’ve used plenty of vacuums, both traditional and robot vacuums, and they all have their advantages and disadvantages.

Today we’re looking at three vacuums. Two require work from you and one will take care of things by itself.

Yeedi M12 PRO+ Robot Vacuum

This is the most full-featured robot vacuum I’ve ever used.

The Yeedi M12 PRO+ ($899.99, yeedi.com) does a great job vacuuming and mopping.

It has a mop head system that can extend out into edges and corners (TruEdge Deep Mopping). The vacuum knows if it is moving over carpet or hard flooring. It will raise the mop heads to keep them from dragging on your carpets.

It has 11,000Pa suction power with a special V-shaped brush with ZeroTangle technology, which is handy for cleaning up after your shedding pets. It also has AI on-board to help with obstacle avoidance and 3D mapping of your rooms. read more