Things To Do In SW Florida

As part of the Orlando Sentinel’s 150th birthday, on the first Sunday of each month, we will report on a topic that helped shape the Central Florida of today and how we covered that topic. This month, we cover tourism and theme parks.

Before there were thrill rides, costumed characters, nightly fireworks spectaculars and millions of out-of-towners, Central Florida had a very big draw for tourists: The sun.

The warmth and natural beauty of the Sunshine State drew Northerners seeking seasonal escapes and setting the table for Central Florida’s tourism industry to bloom. Decades later, Walt Disney’s strategic, secretive land purchases would ignite the transformation of Orlando into the “theme park capital of the world.”

Today, more than 75 million tourists travel to Orlando each year, filling more than 130,000 hotel rooms in the area and spending $60 billion at theme parks and other attractions. The hospitality industry employs more than 290,000 people. Tourists’ extended visits fill Orlando International Airport with arrivals and departures, jam roads with rental cars and fill local coffers with more than $380 million in tourism-tax dollars, some of which are used through Visit Orlando to entice even more people to come to Central Florida. read more

Becoming a tourism mecca was years in the making. It started with nature-driven attractions and was jump-started by Walt Disney. Along the way have been alligators, mermaids, Mickey Mouse, Elvis, dinner theaters, Dolly Parton, the Holy Land and assorted entrepreneurs. Here are some industry highlights from the past 150 years.

• 1878: Silver Springs (and its glass-bottom boats) becomes the first commercial tourist attraction in Florida.

• 1910: Joyland, featuring swimming, waterslides, a dance hall, dock-and-picnic area, opens on Lake Ivanhoe in what would become the College Park neighborhood of Orlando.

• 1920s: A network of roads known as Dixie Highway connects Orlando and other Florida towns with northern cities.

• 1920: Hand Tourist Camp welcomes snowbirds and other visitors on 20 acres between Central and East South streets in downtown Orlando.

• 1923: Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens opens. It moved to its current location in Sanford in July 1975.

• April 1923: Orlando’s Tinker Field is dedicated. It played host to minor-league baseball for decades. In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech from the pitcher’s mound. read more

SpaceX’s path to launching its massive Starship rocket from the Space Coast passed another hurdle Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration released results of its nearly two-year long environmental review for launch plans from Kennedy Space Center.

The FAA’s “Record of Decision” on a final Environmental Impact Statement for the KSC site at Launch Complex 39-A outlined mitigation plans across several concerns, but recommended SpaceX could pursue up to 44 launches a year.

This is on top of a previously EIS released for two SpaceX Starship launch pads to be built at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 37 that was run by the Department of the Air Force. SpaceX’s plans call for up to 76 launches from the Canaveral site.

In the statement signed by the FAA’s Katie Cranor, the executive director of its Office of Operational Safety, it said not approving the Starship plans would “impede the FAA’s ability to assist the commercial space transportation industry in meeting projected demand for services and expansion in new markets.” read more

By PAUL WISEMAN, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices rose a hotter-than-expected 0.5% in December.

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The Labor Department reported Friday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers — rose from November to December at the fastest pace in three months and faster than the 0.3% economists had forecast. Compared to December 2024, producer prices were up 3% last month, which was in line with what forecasters expected.

Services prices were up 0.7% from November, the biggest increase since July, mostly reflecting fatter profit margins at wholesalers and retailers. But the price of goods — such as appliances and autos — was unchanged last month and up 2.5% from a year earlier. read more

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and JOSH BOAK, AP Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kevin Warsh has sought the job of Federal Reserve chair, off and on, since President Donald Trump first considered him for the position nearly a decade ago. Now that he is in line for the position, the enormity of the challenge ahead of him is clear.

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  US producer prices rose 0.5% in December, more than expected, on uptick in services inflation

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To be effective, Warsh must gain the trust of at least three constituencies: the committee of Federal Reserve officials whose votes he will have to win to change interest rates; the financial markets, which can undermine his efforts to reduce borrowing costs if they think he is acting politically; and not least Trump, a former real estate developer with an exquisite sense of just how much difference a cut or increase in interest rates can make for those with large debts, whether they are businesses, households or a government. read more