It’s the year of minions at Universal Studios, and most other theme parks are launching new adventures in 2012 as well.

It’s never to early to party in Margaritaville — even if its years from opening.

A night-time show with fountains and pyrotechnics will project scenes from classic Universal Pictures movies onto waterfall “screens.”

This is the season I wait all year to enjoy — and not just for the cooler, dryer weather that makes it a joy to hike, bike and kayak.

Our first sight of Fort Jefferson from our excursion boat, the Yankee Freedom, was of a thin dark scratch across the teal surface of the Gulf of Mexico. As we drew nearer, the fort’s massive brick walls seemed to float on the sea, majestic and forbidding, filling almost the entire 10 acres of Garden Key, the largest of the islets known as the Dry Tortugas.

The Greeks started filing into church about 8 a.m., but I’m neither Greek nor churchgoing, so I spent the morning walking.

New Central Florida theme park draws some hard-core Lego fans, both kids and adults.

Wet and slimy hikes are the new ‘walk in the park’ for nature-lovers in the western Everglades and southwest Florida.

The former Splash Island Water Park at Cypress Gardens will be renovated and given a Lego theme.

Parties, shows, parades and decorations mark the holidays at Central Florida’s theme parks.

Come for a walk along the 100-mile-long Lake Wales Ridge that begins just south of Disney World.

Visiting the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation in the Everglades entails a few Seminole traditions and a lot of not-so-cuddly animals.

SeaWorld Orlando last week announced the most ambitious expansion in the nearly 40-year history of the theme park, including a sea turtle exhibit with a domed 3-D theater and an immersive penguin experience that promises to drop guests down in the middle of frigid Antarctica.

Manatee and sea turtle habitats, a 3-D domed theater, and an Antarctica-themed ride and retail area are scheduled to open at the park in 2012 and 2013.

A dozen not-so-obvious ways to have fun in Florida

Florida breweries used to be a joke among craft beer lovers. Look who’s laughing now.

A city girl discovers the outdoors on a women-only weekend that focuses on shooting, fishing and camping rather than mani-pedis, sunbathing and wine-tasting.

Naples, the Everglades and Marco Island form the Paradise Coast, which offers plenty to do for children and adults.

What seemed like a goofy idea then is a huge success today

In a state that’s a major stop on birds’ fall migration route, here’s a guide for spotting some of the 485 species that Florida claims.

Can the attraction succeed in the spot where Cypress Gardens failed — in the shadows of the theme park giants?

With contemporary music, dance and theater, festival organizers hope to take people outside their cultural comfort zone.

Aliens invade, ravens swoop and Lady Luck beckons at this year’s version of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios in Orlando.

Ghoulish terror returns to Universal Studios and Busch Gardens, while Disney and SeaWorld offer family-friendly Halloween celebrations.

Here’s a map to one movie star’s home: Winter, the dolphin who lost her tail and is soon to be onscreen in ‘Dolphin Tale,’ is a resident of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.