Things To Do In SW Florida

Universal Orlando has unwrapped its holiday programming, which includes returning theme park favorites and expands into new Epic Universe territory.

Universal’s Holiday Parade featuring Macy’s will return to the streets of Universal Studios Florida with big balloons, themed floats, plus characters from “Shrek,” “Despicable Me” and “Madagascar.” Santa Claus brings up the rear and triggers the lighting of an 80-foot Christmas tree. The parade and other holiday programming begin their daily routine on Nov. 21, the day after Thanksgiving.

Islands of Adventure will bring “The Grinchmas Who-liday Spectacular” back on stage. In addition, visitors can interact with the Grinch and assorted Whos in the Seuss Landing section of the park. That also will be home to a new Who-ville Tree Lot, featuring “a collection of whimsical trees themed to various Dr. Seuss characters,” Universal says.

“The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle,” a projection show on Hogwarts Castle, will return to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at IOA. Seasonal decor will be added to Orlando’s other two Wizarding Worlds, Diagon Alley at Universal Studios and Ministry of Magic at Epic Universe. (It’s also warm butterbeer season.) read more

By BERNARD CONDON and MATT OTT, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal regulators have opened yet another investigation into Tesla’s self-driving feature after dozens of incidents in which the cars ran red lights or drove on the wrong side of the road, sometimes crashing into other vehicles and causing injuries.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a filing that it is looking into 58 incidents in which Teslas reportedly violated traffic safety laws while using the company’s so-called Full Self-Driving mode, leading to more than a dozen crashes and fires and nearly two dozen injuries. The new probe adds to several other open investigations into Tesla technology that could upend Elon Musk’s plans to turn millions of his cars already on the road into completely driverless vehicles with a over-the-air update to their software. read more

Since ChatGPT’s late-2022 release, countless headlines have prophesized an apocalyptic future for workers:

• “We asked ChatGPT which jobs it thinks it will replace — and it’s not good news for data entry professionals or reporters” — Fortune, Feb. 8, 2023
• “Goldman Sachs Predicts 300 Million Jobs Will Be Lost or Degraded by Artificial Intelligence” — Forbes, March 31, 2023
• “Here’s how many U.S. workers ChatGPT says it could replace” — CBS News, April 5, 2023
• “ChatGPT AI lists jobs it can do better than humans as millions could be put out of work” — Fox Business, April 5, 2023
• “ChatGPT took their jobs. Now they walk dogs and fix air conditioners” — The Washington Post, June 2, 2023
• “This A.I. Company Wants to Take Your Job” — The New York Times, June 11, 2025.

And yet, in the nearly three years since, we have yet to see the kind of massive labor market shake-up that alarmists predicted, according to an Oct. 1 report from Yale Budget Lab.

The report finds that people haven’t shifted between jobs, new roles haven’t emerged at scale and workers haven’t been automated out of their positions. For now, AI has likely not come for your job.

That’s not to say people aren’t worried. An Aug. 13-18 poll by Reuters/Ipsos found that 71% of respondents are concerned AI will be “putting too many people out of work permanently.” The fear is clearly real.

Still, the Budget Lab says it’s not surprising that AI has yet to seriously disrupt the job market. History tells us that new technology typically takes decades to upheave the workplace.

“Computers didn’t become commonplace in offices until nearly a decade after their release to the public, and it took even longer for them to transform office workflows,” the report says. “Even if new AI technologies will go on to impact the labor market as much, or more, dramatically, it is reasonable to expect that widespread effects will take longer than 33 months to materialize.” read more

New rules for insurance company owners that are now out of state regulators’ reach. An emergency relief fund to help low-income homeowners pay for insurance. A national risk pool to spread insurance costs across several states.

Those are some of the ideas — some new, some brought back — that Florida’s Democratic senators are pushing to ease the high costs of property insurance costs for homeowners and renters in the state.

Only 11 of 40 state Senate seats are currently held by Democrats. On Wednesday, nine of the 11 senators held a news conference in Tallahassee to outline bills that each are sponsoring or plan to sponsor during the next legislative session that’s scheduled to begin on Jan. 13.

Sen. Lori Berman, the party’s minority leader from southern Palm Beach County, said the list represented the first part of the party’s “affordability agenda.”

“Over the last decade, as property insurance costs have skyrocketed, the average cost of rent has nearly doubled,” Berman said. “Nearly one million households in Florida are struggling to afford their housing costs and nearly 40% of those households are seniors.” read more

Sometimes I visit theme parks with no ride or reason in mind. Recently, I made a loop of Islands of Adventure, a place I’ve been hundreds of times since 1999, and it was a mix of sentimentality and discovery.

Strolling through the park’s Port of Entry, I notice five pieces of colorful glass embedded into the walkway. I imagine they’ve always been there — why would Universal add them later, after all — but I don’t remember them. Are they symbolic, like for the five original lands of IOA?

Or are they just pretty and scene setters? The designs of Central Florida parks are so layered that you can literally walk right past/over them.

It reminded me of another Port of Entry discovery in the early COVID-19 pandemic days. It was so quiet, and that enabled me to first hear the prerecorded jailbreak banter over by the Christmas store. (It’s still rolling.)

Other recent entries in my mental IOA notebook:

• The construction walls were gone again from the former Poseidon’s Fury attraction. Although Universal Orlando filed construction permits recently for that area, no announcement has been made, and I couldn’t spy any action. Visitors can now walk almost up to the front door, and most of the water features were working. The vegetation is under control, too. I took more pictures because one day that view will be gone. (Crumbling big feet with Marvel Super Hero Island in the background is an unusual sight.) read more