Things To Do In SW Florida

Owners of more than 1.5 million condominium units in Florida face new rules that went into effect Monday dictating everything from how a building is maintained to how condo associations are governed.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping bill in April that strengthens oversight of condominium boards.

Dubbed condo 3.0, the law could give developers more control over common spaces in mixed-use condo buildings. There’s also a fast-approaching deadline for new building safety standards in the wake of the deadly 2021 Surfside condo collapse.

Lawmakers and DeSantis approved the measure to restore faith in condos, said Larry Buckner, a Florida-based advisory manager for the housing research firm Zonda.

“It’s really become hard to choose a condo when you consider the recent safety concerns, negative public opinion, increased assessments and lack of transparency on condo boards,” he said.

While lawmakers hope these reforms will improve the quality of condo life in the long run, the immediate fallout could cause a slump in the real estate market as more owners sell to avoid impending assessments. read more

Chuan Lu Garden, one of the most Foodie Award-decorated venues in Orlando, has closed its doors temporarily for a “ceiling-to-floor” makeover, says owner Joyce Cai.

The expansive space, a fixture in Mills 50 for scallion pancakes, soup dumplings and sizzling Sichuan fare, is long overdue, Cai told the Orlando Sentinel.

She and her partners took over the restaurant in 2019 and completed some minor work—new paint, lighting and furniture—but they’re looking forward to the major overhaul.

“We have been planning for a long time for so many reasons — the building is old, and we have had lots of customer feedback about it,” she says. “It needs new furniture, ceilings, floors, sofas, seats and tables and a repaint of the interior. Lighting, too.”

With the slow season of September and October approaching, now seemed like the right time to get started.

“We’re estimating about three to four months and targeting to reopen for the holiday season,” she says. “We needed to give ourselves enough time for permitting and approval and construction time.” read more

The best man is missing the boat — literally. The bride is loudly trying to keep the groom from seeing her dress. Her great-aunt is wailing, “We are all going to die.” Ah, a good, old-fashioned family wedding.

But this wedding is a theatrical experience designed for comic effect, and it’s the latest show offered aboard the Sanford-based Barbara-Lee, a handsome sternwheeler with bright red paddles that churn the water as the vessel plies the St. Johns River.

“The Barbara-Lee Comedy Wedding” is playing on select Thursdays and Sundays through September. The show is produced for the St. Johns Rivership Co. by the Phantasmagoria troupe, led by John DiDonna, but bares no resemblance to that group’s usual gothic, Victorian-steampunk vibe.

The vibe here is Brooklyn. Italian. Think loud and boisterous with an accent only Tony Danza could love. Or George’s screechy mother on “Seinfeld.”

DiDonna, who grew up in New York, knows this milieu well.

“It is 100% autobiographical,” he says with a chuckle. “Everybody’s an amalgamation of family members and friends from when I was a kid.” read more

Theme park fans could anticipate a cool experience from a ride with an Antarctic atmosphere and snowmobile-inspired trains. SeaWorld Orlando’s new Penguin Trek roller coaster also goes for the smooth factor.

The attraction received mid-ride reviews of “surprisingly smooth” during media previews Monday. The ride officially opens to the public on July 7.

Penguin Trek also includes two launch sequences (one dramatic, one less unnerving), twists, turns, hills and a disorienting route amid other coasters in the park. The cars’ moves have a slalom-like, snowmobiling effect, but you could also imaging the maneuvers of  penguins swimming underwater.

The ride does not go upside down, fling riders from side to side or have bone-rattling maneuvers.  Its top speed is 43 mph, and it peaks out at 65 feet high.  The height requirement is 42 inches.

Those stats plant Penguin Trek into the “family thrill” ride category.

SeaWorld: Howl-O-Scream haunted house lineup starts down on the Farm51

“We knew we needed to re-energize this section of the park and bring a better use to this facility,” said Rob McNicholas, corporate vice president of operations. “And what better way than to do an incredible ride with a lower height requirement, a first for B&M, and this vehicle design? I think it’s paying off. It’s going to be a fan favorite.” read more

The new algorithm was supposed to help distribute lungs more fairly to people who desperately needed life-saving transplants.

But a flaw in the process for awarding the organs to sick and dying patients meant some people didn’t receive the care they were entitled to, the Tribune has learned.

Specifically, patients with type O blood received fewer transplants last year than would have been otherwise expected, according to records obtained by the Tribune and interviews with patients, surgeons and advocates. That’s because the new system failed to fully account for the fact that type O patients can accept donor lungs only from people who also have type O blood.

The problem occurred over a six-month period in 2023 but is only now coming to light publicly amid a dispute over how many patients were affected and whether the organization governing transplants should have been more transparent in explaining what went wrong.

A group of transplant surgeons has criticized the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which sets rules for organ distribution under a contract with the federal government, for not releasing more information publicly about an incident the surgeons described in a letter as “deeply troubling.” read more