Things To Do In SW Florida

Walt Disney World has revealed the last day for visitors to see “It’s Tough to Be a Bug,”  the 3-D show tucked inside the iconic Tree of Life structure at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

The show, featuring characters from the 1998 film “A Bug’s Life,” will have its finale at the theme park March 16, according to a posting on the official Disney World website.

It will be replaced by “Zootopia: Better Zoogether,” a show expected to debut in late 2025.  The change was first announced in August. The new show “will take guests on an adventure through different biomes seen in the film,” Disney said then.  “Zootopia,” an animated Disney film released in 2016, has its own themed land that opened at Shanghai Disneyland in late 2023.

On Monday, Disney also released a short social-media video with actress Ginnifer Godwin, the voice of Judy Hopps in the film, recording for the Animal Kingdom production.  She’s also set to appear in “Zootopia 2,” which is scheduled to be in theaters in late November. read more

Visit Florida is again hoping a British television personality will help its efforts to return to pre-pandemic levels of tourism from overseas.

Last year, the state tourism-marketing agency worked with Ipswich farmer and television personality Jimmy Doherty on a five-part culinary tour of Florida.

This year, ITV presenter Alison Hammond and her son are showing more off-beat locations in Florida in a 10-part series on BBC 2.

“They are exploring Florida on a budget, which is something that’s really important for the U.K. right now,” Meagan Lowe, Visit Florida’s director of public relations, told members of the Visit Florida Marketing Committee last week.

The United Kingdom accounted for an estimated 1.143 million visitors to Florida in 2023. That was up from 1.106 million visitors from the United Kingdom in 2022.

But the count remained below the estimated 1.334 million visitors in 2019, the last full year before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Overall, Florida estimated 6.38 million visitors came from overseas in the first three quarters of 2024. read more

Boeing executive Mark Nappi had been the face of the company’s Starliner program during its beleaguered Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station that ultimately left its crew of two NASA astronauts behind when the spacecraft returned to Earth last year.

After NASA made the call to keep its astronauts safe on the ISS because of concerns about Starliner’s thrusters, Nappi was noticeably missing from press conference updates as the spacecraft made what turned out to be a safe return in September, albeit minus crew.

Now 64, Nappi announced he was retiring from Boeing this year, but he talked about the challenges of public-private partnerships such as Boeing’s with NASA on the Starliner project during a panel session at last week’s commercial space conference SpaceCom at the Orange County Convention Center.

When asked about the hurdles of transparency, Nappi said., “It’s like your parents used to tell you, you know? If you tell a lie, you’re just going to have to tell more and more and more and more before it’s all said and done, and eventually the truth will come out.” read more

By BERNARD CONDON, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — For Elon Musk fans, it’s the half a trillion-dollar bet.

After 2,001 restaurant inspections across Central Florida in January, only 177 had no issues for the entire month, according to data from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Brevard had the highest percentage of restaurants with zero violations during routine food inspections at 12.4%. Orange came in second with 10.9%, Seminole came third at 9.4% and Lake was in fourth place with 5.6%.

Volusia and Osceola ranked near the bottom with 3.6% and 0.9%, respectively.

Orange County had the most restaurants with no violations at 103 out of 946. Brevard was in second place with 38 out of 307.

Seminole had 16 out of 170, Volusia had 13 out of 364, Lake had six out of 108 and Osceola had one out of 108.

BREVARD

40 South, 3280 Suntree Blvd., Suite 105, Suntree
4t’s BBQ, 660 Tucker Lane, Cocoa
America’s Best Value Inn, 180 S.R. A1A, Satellite Bch
Blue Quad A100 at USSA Space Coast Complex, 5800 Stadium Parkway, Melbourne
Cairo Cuisine, 125 S. Tropical Trail, Merritt Island
Checkers #3143, 4840 Babcock St. NE, Palm Bay
Chez Quans, 1470 Aurora Road, Melbourne
Days Inn Titusville Kennedy Space Center, 3755 Cheney Highway, Titusville
Domino’s Pizza, 254 Highway A1A, Satellite Beach
First Watch Restaurant #182, 2328 Citadel Way, Suite 104, Melbourne
Francisco’s Mexican Restaurant, 2916 Aurora Road, Melbourne
Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront Resort, 1550 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach
Holy Smoke, 3757 US Hwy 1, Cocoa
IHOP 241, 8201 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne
Kelsey’s Pizza, 2845 Garden St., Titusville
Mister BBQ, 704 S. Fiske Blvd., Cocoa
Moo’s Soft Serve, 930 N. Highway A1A, Indialantic
Next Level Arcade, 600 N. Courtenay Parkway, Merritt Island
Nick’s New England Pizza, 5675 Micco Road, Unit 6, Sebastian
Peace In the Garden Cafe, 397 Barton Blvd., Rockledge
Pizza Hut, 3214 Lake Washington Road, Melbourne
Pizza Hut, 4850 Babcock St. NE, Palm Bay
Q’s Crackin’ Crab, 5240 N. Atlantic Ave., Suite 100, Cocoa Beach
Red Quad at USSA Space Coast Complex, 5800 Stadium Parkway, Melbourne
Rock the Guac, 4265 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach
Ruby Tuesday #7171, 3780 Fiske Blvd., Rockledge
Sandbar Sports Bar, 4301 Ocean Blvd., Cocoa Beach
SB Meatery, 1300 South St., Titusville
Skeebo’s Rib Shack, 2280 Harris Ave. NE, Suite 106, Palm Bay
Southern Charm Cafe, 8501 Astronaut Blvd. Units 6-8, Cape Canaveral
Subway #32599, 2304 Remi Dr., Melbourne
SZSpacecoast, 624 Barnes Blvd., Rockledge
Taco Bell 04 -23291, 1004 Florida Highway A1A, Satellite Beach
The Acai Shack, 2272 A1A Highway, Satellite Beach
The Cuban Corner, 765 N. Wickham Rd, Suite 105, Melbourne
Waffle Mac, 660 Tucker Lane, Cocoa
White Quad B100 at USSA Space Coast Complex, 5800 Stadium Parkway, Melbourne
Your Daily Bread Sandwiches and More, 3434 S. Washington Ave., Titusville read more