Things To Do In SW Florida

An animatronic version of Walt Disney will be incorporated into the Carousel of Progress attraction at Magic Kingdom theme park, Imagineer Chris Beatty announced Saturday at the Destination D23 event at the Coronado Springs Resort.

An overlay for the Tron Lightcycle / Run ride was also revealed at the event.

The figure will be placed in a new scene that precedes the traditional through-the-decades rotating story of an American family.

Carousel of Progress was one of Disney’s ideas included in the New York World’s Fair of 1964. That event was also in the development of animatronics with Disney’s “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” show.

The Magic Kingdom addition comes on the heels of the introduction of a Walt Disney animatronic at Disneyland. The figure is now seen in “Walt Disney — A Magical Life,” which debuted in July.

First peek: The Beak and Barrel, Magic Kingdom’s pirate tavern

“The introduction of a new audio-animatronics figure of Walt Disney in Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress marks an exciting milestone in our shared mission to celebrate the story of the man behind the magic and inspire new generations with his innovations and vision for the future,” said Kirsten Komorosky, executive director of the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. read more

Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights is back in action. The 2025 edition of the after-hours fright fest remains intense and just may have gotten ickier.

Among the trends spotted on Friday, opening night, were a resurgence of puppetry, the returns of a lagoon show and chainsaw-driven walkaround characters, more in-house screen use than ever (mostly positive), plus splattering effects that we’ll continue to cope with by reassuring ourselves that was only water. It’s only make-believe. Repeat, repeat.

Thanks to an R.I.P. Tour provided by Universal Orlando, the Sentinel wandered through all 10 haunted house mazes on night one. Here are quick, not-too-spoilery impressions.

Dolls: Let’s Play Dead

What we saw: It’s the tried-and-true theme park scheme of being shrunken down to the size of deformed dolls. This is the handiwork of creative/twisted young girl who may grow up to be a make-up artist. Oh, hey, was that Woody? (There are also buttons for visitors to push for extra effects.)

Why we screamed: That one big baby, that one big baby head and that one baby with three heads. read more

By JOSH JACQUOT for Associated Press

Buying a new car has never been more financially daunting. A 2025 analysis from Edmunds found that a record 19.3% of consumers who financed a new vehicle in the second quarter of 2025 committed to a monthly payment of $1,000 or more. That’s nearly one in five buyers taking on what was once considered an extreme car payment — driven by high interest rates and rising vehicle prices.

While it might be tempting to stretch your budget for the car you want, locking yourself into a high-cost loan can be a painful mistake. Before you sign, here are five common car-buying missteps to avoid.

Buying a car you can’t (or shouldn’t) really afford

There’s a difference between being able to buy something and being able to afford it wisely. With an average new vehicle transaction price of approximately $49,000, many buyers are truly stretching their budgets. It’s not uncommon to see buyers opt for extended 72-month or 84-month financing terms.

That shiny SUV might seem within reach thanks to flexible financing, but the long-term hit to your financial health could be considerable. Buying within your means — ideally targeting a loan term of no more than 60 months and keeping your car-related expenses under 15%-20% of your monthly take-home pay — is smart shopping in an era of rising interest rates and ever-increasing car prices. read more

Manatee County voters snubbed Tallahassee last fall when they rejected Gov. Ron DeSantis’ hand-picked, pro-development commission candidates and instead elected a slate of grassroots Republicans who promised to rein in runaway growth.

True to their word, the new commissioners quickly moved to cap sprawl — vowing to raise impact fees on developers to pay for new infrastructure, pushing to restore wetland protections and halting some large-scale projects altogether.

But those steps have now put them on a collision course with the governor and the powerful real-estate industry closely aligned with his administration, which has pushed back at every turn.

In June, the governor vetoed the county’s $4 million in state budget requests after a commissioner criticized Senate Bill 180, a controversial pro-developer state law. More recently, his administration warned of “inevitable consequences” if Manatee raised impact fees.

And in July, he and his chief financial officer announced the county would be the first Republican stronghold targeted for an aggressive review by Florida’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency — known as DOGE — a program DeSantis styled after the Elon Musk-backed federal initiative to slash “waste, fraud and abuse.” read more

Just a few months after opening Epic Universe, Universal may be eyeing a nearby property for a new project. However, the theme park operator has taken steps to ensure its plans for the site remain a secret for now.

Universal filed an application with the South Florida Water Management District on August 11, requesting approval for mass grading of nearly 54 acres on Universal Boulevard directly northwest of Top Golf and Andretti Indoor Karting & Games Orlando.

A spokesperson for Universal denied that there are plans to develop the site, saying that the company is looking to “obtain permits to perform work associated with the ongoing maintenance of our property.”

However, mass grading, which involves moving dirt to change the topographic features of a site, usually precedes some sort of construction. An I-Drive District Overlay Zone document provided by Orange County indicates that portions of the property are undergoing environmental remediation, a process of cleaning contaminated land to remove hazardous substances. read more