This is where you'll find the latest on the Sunshine State's themeparks, its newest hotels and more.
Miami
Shaq's coming! In case you haven't heard, superstar baller Shaquille O'Neal has signed on with the Miami Heat and will soon undoubtedly become a fixture in the city's slamming nightlife scene. Too bad the concept of going out incognito is oxymoronic for the Jurassic player. This, however, is a good thing for the star hunters hoping for a glimpse of celebrity largess.
Bayside Marketplace, (401 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; tel.305/577-3344), 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. If you're looking to splurge, there are places for that, too, including The Ritz-Carlton South Beach's Americana (1 Lincoln Rd., South Beach; tel.786/276-4000), where the likes of Spike Lee and Mariah Carey have been spotted dining on Kobe beef meatloaf and lobster Rockefeller. Foodies should keep their eyes on the Ritz Carlton, the hotel where stellar chef David Bouley will open a restaurant.
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.
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, I/O (30 NE 14th St.; tel. 305/358-8007 a dance club where indie music fanatics hang out; and Grass Restaurant and Lounge (12 NE 40th St.; tel. 305/573-5003) brings a taste of Tiki-chic to the Design District with thatched-roof banquettes and a decidedly artsy crowd. Back on South Beach, Motley Crue-man Tommy Lee opened Rok Bar (1905 Collins Ave.; tel. 305/538-7171) in May of 2004, a rock 'n roll themed bar where Lee will make surprise appearances as guest DJ and musician.
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), 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.
Hooray for Hollywood -- Beach, Florida, that is, where The Reel Hollywood Entertainment Museum (101 N. Ocean Drive, Hollywood; tel.954-925-6109) is slated to open in the winter of 2005 featuring 50,000 square feet of exhibitions, interactive displays, movie and television sets and countless videos and films on the history and technology of the film and TV industry. Over at the pricey Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa (3555 S. Ocean Dr., Hollywood; tel.954/602-6000), 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.
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.
Southwest Florida
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.
Fort Myers, Sanibel & Captiva Islands
The beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel has rolled out the Great Calusa Blueway (tel.800/296-0249), 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. 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.
Tampa
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (tel. 888/800-5447) premiered KaTonga, a 40-minute musical tribute to animal folklore featuring African-inspired dance, music and puppetry taking place at the park's Moroccan Palace Theater. Busch Gardens also revealed its latest, scream worthy five-story family rollercoaster, Cheetah Chase, featuring 1,200 feet of track, speeds up to 22 mph, drops, turns, and corkscrews. 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.
Sarasota & Clearwater
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 ).
Orlando and its Themeparks
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 Panhandle
In July 2003, Pensacola Beach received a $16 million, 6-month beach nourishment project, restoring 200 feet of beach along an 8-mile stretch of coastline. With special attention paid to matching the new sand's color and grain size to the area's existing trademark sugar-white sand, the project brought sand from an off-shore borrow site, along with enough shells to keep beachcombers busy for quite some time.
In 2004, 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.