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What's New: An Online Update for Frommer's Florida from $70 a Day
January 27, 2005
The Sunshine State continues to draw big crowds, whether it be for active vacationers who want to tour the state by paddle, for those who want to be pampered by an attentive hotel staff or for the believers in make believe who crowd the state's many theme parks. From the Panhandle to the Keys, here's what's been happening in Florida. Miami Bayside Marketplace, (401 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; tel. 305/577-3344; www.gmcvb.com/bayside_marketplace.asp), has reintroduced a group dine around program, featuring group dining options at fixed prices, allowing you the flexibility of enjoying the various restaurants and meals at affordable prices. Miami Restaurant Month, also known as Miami Spice (www.miamirestaurantmonth.com), started out as a way to boost business during the slow summer months, offering rock bottom deals on some of the city's best -- and priciest -- restaurants. Because of its popularity, it is usually extended beyond the summer, oftentimes into November! You can enjoy a five-course gourmet meal for $30 and less. Check the website for participating restaurants. The landmark Biltmore Hotel (www.biltmorehotel.com) has nearly completed its $8.5 million, top to bottom renovation of its 280 guest rooms and suites. The renovations include new furnishings and artwork as well as flat screen TVs in the pricey specialty suites. The equally landmark Fontainbleau Hilton (www.fontainbleauhilton.com) celebrates its 50th anniversary with the opening of the Fontainbleau Tower featuring 462 luxe suites. In the main lobby, guests will be welcomed by seven waterfalls and fountains, palm trees, flowers, and priceless views of the Atlantic. The city of Coral Gables offers the Coral Gables Trolley (www.coralgables.com), a free service running Monday through Friday on three different shifts around the city's most popular shopping and sighteseeing routes. Haulover Park Marina (www.miamidade.gov/Parks/Parks/haulover_park.asp), has completed phase one of a two phase expansion including a 1,608 foot lighted wave pier, 45 boat slips, two new dock lifts and 16 handicapped parking spaces. The Miami Seaquarium (www.miamiseaquarium.com) finished a $250,000 renovation to its Florida Manatee Exhibit, which allows visitors to view the endangered species through large underwater viewing windows as well as partake in interactive exhibits. At press time, the hottest nightspots are located on the still sizzling South Beach (Mansion, Mynt, Opium, Prive). However, over the causeway, a burgeoning nocturnal buzz is emanating from the once desolate area of downtown Miami, off of Biscayne Boulevard, thanks to cheaper rents and 24-hour liquor licenses. Among them, Pawn Shop Lounge (1222 NE 2nd Ave., tel. 305/373-3511) a massive warehouse of a club housed in a former pawn shop featuring an actual full sized school bus cum cocktail lounge, an Airstream trailer cum VIP lounge and the inside of an actual jet. The Gold Coast Opened in the summer of 2004, the $200 million Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, 1 Seminole Rd., Hollywood (tel. 954/327-7625; www.hardrockhotelcasinotampa.com), offers 500 luxury rooms as well as a lakeside beach club, 130,000 sq. ft. casino, and European Health Spa. It's sort of just like the Hard Rock in Vegas, only without Blackjack, slots, and all other forms of "bet against the house" gambling. Well, there's always bingo. Plans for a full service Marriott (www.marriott.com) on Hollywood beach are in the works. The new $30-million boutique style hotel will feature 229 rooms, full service spa and tiki bar. Over at the pricey Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa (3555 S. Ocean Dr., Hollywood; tel. 954/602-6000; www.westin.com), Adventure World (www.abcadventureworld.com) opened at the hotel's Diplomat Landing complex, featuring air cat excursions, kayak, canoe and jet ski trips and Segway human transporters. For a much cheaper diversion, you can now catch the Water Taxi (www.watertaxi.com) at 10 am daily and cruise to South Beach for just $17. Shabby chic types are saying hallelujah over the fact that Swedish home furnishing giant Ikea has chosen Davie as the site for Florida's first ever outpost (even though ground hasn't even broken yet). No phone or address just yet. For true shopaholics, Activity Planners (tel. 954/525-9194) will arrange a water taxi, limousine, or Town Car for your own private shopping tour through the Greater Fort Lauderdale area. The Mall at Wellington Green (10300 W. Forest Hill Blvd., Wellington; tel. 561/227-6900) is Palm Beach's newest shopping center, featuring 140 specialty stores and department stores. And Sawgrass Mills (12801 West Sunrise Blvd., Sunrise; tel. 954/846-2300), the monstrous outlet mall in Sunrise, is adding the Colonnade Outlets at Sawgrass which will include 110,000 square feet of new retail space featuring high end, but deeply discounted fashion and gourmet dining, The Colonnade is slated to open at the end of 2005. Also at Sawgrass, Wannado City (www.wannadocity.com), an interactive entertainment experience for kids featuring 140,000 square feet of play-role fun. The Palm Beaches Besides the fact that Donald Trump married third wife Melania Knauss at his Mar-A-Lago manse in 2005, there's other Palm Beach news you'll care about. The Heart of Palm Beach Hotel (www.heartofpalmbeach.com) has expanded. The 88-room property has added seven suites in a third story addition. There's also a full service spa and salon. Good news is that the hotel's still one of the area's most affordable. The legendary Breakers Palm Beach (www.thebreakers.com) has revitalized the Breakers West championship golf course with a $6 million reconstruction process under the guidance of Rees Jones. The Clean Beaches Council awarded Delray Beach's shores with the Blue Wave Beach designation, meaning that the water quality, condition, services, habitat conservation and other criteria are top notch. The ubiquitous and boisterous Donald Trump proclaimed downtown West Palm Beach's Clematis Street "the hottest street in Florida" thanks to the fact that over $1.4 billion (not of his money, of course) has been invested in the area and an additional $25 million will be used to give the downtown waterfront area a Swan-like makeover to be completed in 2007. The Florida Keys The Theatre of the Sea (www.theatreofthesea.com) in Islamorada offers a sit down parrot show and a new nature trail leading into a mangrove area. A flamingo pool and a Lower Keys aviary section will also be added to the trail. Visitors to the Marathon area can enjoy morning, afternoon and sunset cruises for just $30-$40 on vintage schooner yacht Malabar X (www.senecadaysails.com). The Ocean Key Resort (www.oceankey.com) in Key West debuted its new SpaTerre in January 2005. Also in Key West, Pirates of the Scaribbean (www.libertyfleet.com) is a cool new 90-minute high-seas sailing excursion presented by the Schooner Liberty and Key West's Original Ghost Tours. As the Liberty cuts through the waters surrounding Key West with sails billowing, a pirate captain garbed in buccaneer regalia tells tales of the pirates, shipwreck salvagers and other scurvy sailors who plied the nearby waters. Complimentary beer, wine, champagne and soda are provided to quench listeners' thirst, while an open bar serves other types of spirits for $45 per person. The museum attraction that encompasses the winter cottage of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Frost has been renamed the Key West Heritage House Museum and Robert Frost Cottage (www.heritagehousemuseum.org), in recognition of the property's ongoing enhancements and place in Key West history. New Area Code for Southwest Florida Cities All telephone numbers in Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel and Captiva islands, Naples, and Marco Island all are now in area code 239. Boca Grande and Charlotte County remain in area code 941. Naples, Marco Island and the Everglades Naples, Marco Island and the Everglades, aka the Paradise Coast, has a new website at www.paradisecoast.com where you can request a free official visitors guide to the Paradise Coast. The Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort (www.hilton.com) has launched an expansive upgrade and renovation of guestrooms, lobby and décor. A new spa is also planned. The Marco Island Marriott Resort, Golf Club & Spa (www.marcoislandmarriott.com) opened its Spa at Marco Island Marriott, a 24,000 square foot Balinese-themed spa. The hotel also debuted its new Tiki pool and completely renovated golf course. Everglades National Park (www.nps.gov/ever) is upgrading its boat tours, visitor center, gift shop, canoe and kayak rentals at the Gulf Coast Visitor Center in Everglades City. Fort Myers, Sanibel and Captiva Island The beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel has rolled out the Great Calusa Blueway (tel. 800/296-0249: www.calusacoast.com), over 40 miles of a new paddling trail for kayakers and canoers covering the waters of Lovers Key State Recreation area, Mound Key State Archaeological Site, Koreshan State Historic Site, Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, Captiva, and Pine islands, ending at Cayo Costa. Even cooler, the Blueway utilizes Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, marking key points along the trail to aid in navigation. The Calusa Heritage Trail is now open, featuring a 3,700 foot pathway that allows visitors to walk along the mounds and remnants of an ancient canal. Dolphin Watch and Wildlife Adventure Cruise (tel. 239/472-5300), offered by Captiva Cruises, is a 90-minute tour by boat that leaves daily at 4pm from South Seas Resort on Captiva Island. Explore the wildlife in and around picturesque Pine Island Sound, which is home to birds, dolphins, manatees, and more. The cost is $20 for adults and $10 for children ages 3 through 10. Reservations required; group outings and private charters also are available. The Tampa Bay Area Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (tel. 888/800-5447) premiered SheiKra, the nation's first dive roller coaster. The coaster will carry brave souls up 200 feet at a 45 degree angle and then drop them 70 mph back at an absurd 90 degree angle. The coaster will be the centerpiece of the park's Stanleyville area. Downtown, the Florida Aquarium (tel. 813/273-4000; www.flaquarium.net) added Explore a Shore, a 2.2-acre outdoor aquatic discovery zone for kids featuring sealife models, a pirate ship, waterslide, water cannons, and live animals. The two-story, 24-foot-long pirate ship will allow kids to fire water cannons from the deck, climb across cargo nets, view a shipwreck through a telescope, and take the helm to follow a map to buried treasure. Kids can also climb on a 10-foot eel reef rock structure, slide through tunnels, and crawl through an 8-by-4-foot wave in the Surf's Up Wave Tunnel. The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino (www.hardrockhotelcasinotampa.com) features 250 rooms, a 9,000 square foot casino, restaurants, clubs, bars and lots of rock and roll memorabilia. The Saddlebrook Resort (www.saddlebrookresort.com) finished its $8.5 million redecoration of all 800 guest rooms. A 360-suite, 20 story Embassy Suites Hotel (www.embassysuites.com) is expected to open mid 2006 opposite the Tampa Convention Center. The Philadelphia Phillies (tel. 727/442-8496 or 215/436-1000; www.phillies.mlb.com) moved to new spring training digs in Clearwater -- Bright House Networks Field (601 Old Coachman Rd.; tel. 727/442-8496 ). Diana, A Celebration, will be on display at St. Pete's Florida International Museum (www.floridamuseum.org) through May 22, 2005 featuring over 150 items belonging to Princess Diana. Walt Disney World and Orlando Disney's Pop Century Resort (tel. 407/938-4000 or 407/939-6000; www.disneyworld.com), opened in December 2003, is Mickey's newest budget property and features themed buildings decorated with larger-than-life memorabilia from the past 50 years. In the theme parks, Disney raised ticket prices $2 to $54.75 for adults. Epcot's new out-of-this-world (literally) attraction, Mission: Space, opened in August 2003 to great acclaim -- even NASA astronauts have voiced approval of this simulator. Universal Studios Florida (tel. 800/837-2273; www.universalorlando.com) welcomed three new attractions. Shrek 4-D is a 20-minute show that can be seen, heard, felt, and smelled thanks to film and motion simulators, OgreVision glasses, and other special effects, including water spritzers. Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast lets riders board a spinning, careening adventure that includes a battle against Yokians -- evil, egg-shaped aliens. And The Revenge of the Mummy is an indoor screamer that combines rollercoaster technology with space age robotics and pyrotechnics. SeaWorld (tel. 800/327-2424 or 407/351-3600; www.seaworld.com) is diving deeper into the restaurant game with Dine with Shamu, a reservations-only seafood buffet served poolside with Shamu as a special guest and Sharks Underwater Grill, where diners can dig into Florida and Caribbean treats while watching denizens of the deep swim by in the Terrors of the Deep exhibit. SeaWorld also has added a new shark encounter that lets snorkelers and divers have limited contact with some of the 58 sharks in its Terrors of the Deep area ($125). Universal and SeaWorld also raised their ticket prices ($53.75 adults at SeaWorld and $54.75 at Universal Orlando). Northeast Florida Believe it or not, there is something scarier in Daytona than half naked, mullet-sporting/bikini-wearing teenagers. Haunts of Daytona (tel. 386/253-6034; www.hauntsofdaytona.com) is the only ghost tour in Florida that is owned and operated by a certified ghost hunter and active certified paranormal researcher. Tours begin at 7:30pm. Tickets are $8 per person; children under 6 are free. The Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort is now known as The Shores Resort and Spa (www.shoresresort.com), a 214-room resort to include a brand new Spa Terre Fitness Center and Baleen, a stellar Miami-based eatery specializing in regional cuisine and seafood. The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens (www.jaxzoo.org) celebrated the first ever birth of a koala at the zoo. Baby koalas are rarely born in captivity in the US. The PGA Tour Spa Laterra at the World Golf Village (www.pgatourspa.com) is now open in St. Augustine. Florida's Panhandle Pensacola was named as the site for the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Oriskany to be used as an artificial reef in the Gulf of Mexico 22.5 miles southeast of Pensacola Pass. The Navy committed $2.8 million for preparation and deployment as a reef. For more information, call tel. 850/595-3476. Do you have tip or question about travel to Florida? Head to our Florida Message Boards to join in the conversation with fellow Frommer's readers.
Related Information:
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.
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