Travelwise

Seeing Key West on a budget

No matter how many tips you read or how much planning you do, there is no way Key West will end up being a cheap vacation.

Florida: Diving into the arts

Diving into the arts

Theme parks

‘Chima’ toys come to life in new Legoland ride

Legoland Florida this week opened a new ride and related attractions based on Lego’s Legends of Chima toy line that ought to be a hit with the 2-12 crowd the Winter Haven theme park caters to.

Universal Orlando

‘Cabin in the Woods’ finds its way to Halloween Horror Nights

It’s already time to plan for Halloween? How could that be? But apparently it is, because Universal Orlando is announcing today that the blood-soaked horror-comedy The Cabin in the Woods will be the theme of the newest haunted house at this year’s Halloween Horror Nights.

Legoland adds last piece to new World of Chima attraction

Just in time for the grand opening next week, Legoland crews on Thursday topped off the new World of Chima, hoisting a 7,500-pound “floating mountain” atop the attraction.

Florida: Reliving the Civil War at Fort Clinch

If the cannon lined up atop the walls of Fort Clinch overlooking Cumberland Sound aren’t impressive enough, the living history interpreters who can explain them, as well as various other armaments, are. At Union Garrison, held the first weekend of every month (next: July 6-7), the interpreters recreate life at the fort during the Civil War. Visitors may see powder artillery demonstrations, medical demonstrations and soldier drills at Fort Clinch State Park in Fernandina Beach.

Florida road trip: the Panhandle’s culinary treasures

I should’ve known this would happen: oyster withdrawal. More than 24 hours had passed since my last dozen. My stomach was making fearsome noises, and my mind was starting to slip. Was that a giant bottle of cocktail sauce in the distance? No, merely a water tower. Perhaps these car seat cushions were edible?

Florida: Inaugural Key Lime Festival set for July 4-6

Sweet and tart

Orlando

New Transformers ride opens at Universal Studios

The new, intense, 3-D ride based on the Transformers toy and movie franchise has opened at Universal Studios in Orlando.

Florida: Norton art museum hosts exhibit of LEGO structures

At Legoland parks, builders construct entire city skylines of LEGO bricks. In Palm Beach, the Norton Museum of Art saw art in the structures and commissioned Dan Parker, a LEGO-certified professional, to use the bricks to construct landmark buildings from around the world. The structures are part of the exhibit Block by Block: Inventing Amazing Architecture, which opens Thursday and runs through Oct. 20.

Florida State Parks cabins

Lodgings that take you back to nature

Central Florida is famous for a lot of features, but your first association probably isn’t “cabins in the woods.”

Central Florida: theme park round-up

New this year in Orlando are penguins, Krusty Burgers, Autobots and Decepticons, Chima animal warriors and a home for the Disney princesses

Attractions

Some water parks are only natural — or sometimes not

When it’s cold, they’re warm. When it’s warm, they’re cold.

Florida: Lakeridge Winery hosts 23rd annual Harvest Festival

Do the stomp

Florida: SummerJazz on the Gulf in Naples

Lawn party

Bed check: Jacksonville Beach

The Casa Marina inn, awash in history

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Presidents Harry S Truman and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Jean Harlow, Charlie Chaplin and Al Capone. Cheryl and Matthew. These are some of the distinguished guests who may have graced Casa Marina with their presence, and probably tracked in some Jacksonville Beach sand, too.

Orlando

Not just Simpson family but now all of Springfield coming to Universal Studios

Five years afte r the dizzying Simpsons Ride debuted at Universal Studios in Orlando, the theme park is expanding the presence of the dysfunctional television family and its hometown of Springfield.

Florida

Change comes to Ocala’s Silver Springs

I’m pretty sure I just made my first trip to Silver Springs, the old-school tourist attraction in Ocala.

Florida: Kissimmee’s Old Town hosts Car Cruise

All revved up

Orlando theme parks

SeaWorld introduces Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin

SeaWorld Orlando’s new Empire of the Penguin, which has its grand opening Friday, is a fun family ride that tilts and twirls gently through an artist’s impressionistic re-creation of Antarctica and ends up in an icy penguin habitat where a visitor could easily watch the antics of the real thing for hours -- if only it weren’t a bone-chilling 30 degrees.

Florida: Key West Pride June 5-9

A proud tradition

Gulf Coast

On the hunt for the teeth of giant prehistoric sharks

Paul Reinckens kicked slowly over the sandy bottom 30 feet deep in the Gulf of Mexico looking for triangular objects — not an easy task with visibility a mere four feet and this dive being his first underwater fossil hunt. But suddenly, there it was: a hard, brownish-gray chevron lying on the sand.

Central Florida

New Legoland ride to open July 3

Legoland’s new attraction, The World of Chima, in which animal tribes war over an energy source called Chi, will open July 3, the park announced Tuesday.

Travelwise

Check out Miami’s new hotel scene

Miami-Dade — South Beach especially — is still seeing a surge of new or rebuilt hotel openings, giving locals plenty of fresh options close to home.

STAYCATION   ISSUE

Far out trips close to home

A week’s worth of South Florida fun

Fun on a budget

Miami: 5 free things to do on a staycation

With its sizzling beaches and steamy nightlife, it’s no wonder Miami is a top vacation spot for snowbirds, spring breakers, international tourists and passengers heading out on cruises from Florida ports. More than 13 million people visited the city in 2011, according to the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Florida: Kissimmee Blue Skies & Silver Spurs Festival

Ups and downs

Past the velvet ropes

A midsummer night’s clubs

It’s a Friday or Saturday night and you are ready to go out and get your party on. You know Miami and South Beach are among the best places in the world to do this, but since you don’t normally frequent the clubs and you’re not interested in spending a ton of cash on bottle service, you end up staying home and jamming out to your favorite Pandora station. Well that’s no fun!

Bike trails

Exploring Miami-Dade on two wheels

Growing up in Miami, riding a bike was my primary source of true neighborhood exploration. I spent countless hours outside discovering surroundings: which trees to climb, where the best parks were, finding hidden roads. It was a new adventure every day.