Things To Do In SW Florida

After almost two hours of discussion, the Winter Park Planning and Zoning Board voted Tuesday night to recommend approval of the controversial Rollins College faculty and staff housing project, but the recommendation comes with a list of conditions.

A main point of contention during the meeting was Rollins College’s request to be exempt from paying property taxes on the project once it is built. That issue and the project itself now head to the city commission for consideration, GrowthSpotter reported.

The proposed project at 340 W. Welbourne Ave. would provide attainable housing for Rollins College faculty and staff — a critical need, college officials say.

“Integral to our educational mission is the ability of faculty to live and work closely with our students, attend activities on campus, and meet with our students for cultural events,” said Donald Davison, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at Rollins College. “Increasingly, we are unable to hire our top candidates, because the prohibitive cost of housing in Winter Park and the high cost of living in Central Florida deters candidates from accepting our offers,” read more

It’s true. Halloween celebrations have officially begun at Central Florida theme parks and attractions. The first edition of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, a character-and-candy-happy event, hits the streets of Magic Kingdom on Friday night.

If you’re a holiday purist, it’s going to be a long 12 weeks as the attractions’ programming goes both mild and wild.

Why an early August start? It’s not tricky. The first five Not-So-Scary nights — plus two more of the 37 total event evenings — were already sold out a week ago.

Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party

Where: Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World

What’s new: Don’t say anything, but Bruno from “Encanto” will be making his first Not-So-Scary appearance. On the food front, two interesting event-exclusive items include the Oogie Boogie cupcake sold near Cinderella Castle and sweet-and-spicy beignets at Golden Oak Outpost, which is appropriately close to the new Tiana’s Bayou Adventure ride.

What’s back: “Mickey’s Boo-to-You Halloween Parade,” “Disney’s Not-So-Spooky Spectacular” fireworks show, “Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular” stage show, multiple treat-or-treating stations read more

With the first launch of Blue Origin’s massive New Glenn rocket still in the works before the end of the year, Jeff Bezos’ company got to work testing out its recovery operations with the huge crane parked at Port Canaveral on Thursday.

“Port Canaveral spectators got a sneak peek of our recovery operations today as we demonstrated the process of transitioning New Glenn’s first stage from vertical to horizontal using our 200-foot-tall simulator,” the company posted on X. “The operation validated our tooling and procedures for recovering our first stage from the landing vessel, bringing us another step closer to our first launch.”

The 375-foot-tall crane arrived to the port from Germany last October and will be used when New Glenn’s booster returns the port on its “sea-based landing platform,” similar to how SpaceX lands its Falcon 9 boosters on droneships.

Since it’s a taller rocket, Blue Origin needed a taller crane, and it’s the highest point in Port Canaveral sitting adjacent to SpaceX recovery operations, which use mobile cranes owned and operated by the port nearby. Blue Origin operates its own crane. read more

Scott Laird | TravelPulse (TNS)

If you travel by air enough, delays are inevitable. However, how airlines handle delays can vary depending on the circumstances of the delay, including the reason, city and even the passenger’s frequent flier status.

In Europe, the question of passenger compensation for delays and cancellations is straightforward: the European Union has consumer protection laws that require airlines to compensate passengers in cash for delays within the airline’s control.

Unlike in the European Union, the U.S. has no standard for what airlines must provide passengers in case of a delay or cancellation. In the United States, each carrier decides how to accommodate passengers affected by what the airlines call “irregular operations,” and the Department of Transportation (DOT) oversees its efforts.

That virtually never includes cash compensation, although some airlines, like Alaska, will issue travel credit for delays over three hours for circumstances within their control. The DOT has said airlines should cover passenger expenses for lengthy delays within the airlines’ control, but each airline has its own criteria for handling such requests. read more

By Sam Kemmis | NerdWallet

Remember those old internet ads promising one “weird trick” to improve your fitness forever? I never clicked on those, but I wonder if the trick was “exercise often.” Because that would work.

Similarly, I’m asked all the time about the best way to use credit card reward points — specifically, points issued by banks designed to cover a variety of travel expenses. Three-quarters of credit card accounts offered rewards in 2022, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and many come with flexible redemption options. The answer is surprisingly simple: Learn how to transfer those points to travel loyalty programs.

Transferring points isn’t a particularly easy or obvious option. But the value of the points from popular issuer loyalty programs — such as Chase Ultimate Rewards®, American Express Membership Rewards and Capital One miles — can vary dramatically depending on how they’re used. That’s why NerdWallet offers both a “baseline value” and “maximized value” in our point valuations. read more