Sunshine State of Mind

Winter in Florida means it's cool enough to get out and enjoy everything that Florida has to offer in the great outdoors.   Play along with us in another round of Florida trivia, this time as we explore some fun facts and things to see and do in some Florida's awesome state parks.  

• Play along with us in Florida State Park Trivia

• https://www.floridastateparks.org

• https://www.buzzfeed.com/mikeprice/caramel-pretzel-chocolate-chip-cookiess

This week is a bit of a potpourri of Florida attraction discussion, as we learn about more Marvel attractions opening up at Disney parks around the world that (maybe?) are on the way to the Florida parks in the future.  Find out where Florida's theme parks stack up against some of the other best theme parks in the country, and we list some of the best things to do in central Florida that are NOT theme parks.

• Marvel attractions popping up all over Disney's other parks.

• https://www.themarysue.com/marvel-disney-theme-parks/

• https://www.clickorlando.com/entertainment/fun-things-to-do-in-central-florida-that-arent-theme-parks

• https://www.travelchannel.com/interests/amusement-parks/articles/top-10-amusement-parks

Winter is on the way, and that means the yearly of migration of "Snowbirds" and warm weather seekers looking for a tropical escape.  This week Shannon found an article in Coastal Living that lists ten beaches right here in Florida that are just as beautiful as anything you'd find in the Caribbean.  We give our own thoughts, reviews, and share some stories of times we've visited a few of them.  

• We discuss this recent article called "10 Florida Beaches So Beautiful You'll Think You're in the Caribbean".
  

• https://www.coastalliving.com/travel/top-10/florida-beaches-look-like-caribbean

Disney's Hollywood Studios has a bit of a bad reputation these days as being a "half-day" park, especially with the current construction and some recent attraction closures while we wait for some more shiny new stuff over there.  Is this reputation undeserved? Or is there enough to do at Hollywood Studios to fill an entire day?  We spent a day from rope drop to final fireworks show to see if there's enough to do at Hollywood Studios to fill an entire day.

• Contact Us!

This week we headed over to Wild Florida, a wildlife sanctuary and airboat tour operator near St. Cloud, Florida.  We had a sloth encounter, made friends with a Cockatoo, and a great time learning about Florida wildlife at this great little attraction.

This show includes:

• We discuss and review our day trip to Wild Florida.

• https://wildfloridairboats.com/

With the release of the new "Fantastic Beasts" movie this week, we thought it was time for another Florida trivia episode!  Play along as we discover some fun facts, Easter eggs, and little known secrets of the "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" themed areas at Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure. 

This show includes:

• Universal's Wizarding World of Harry Potter trivia and discussion.

• https://www.patreon.com/posts/florida-face-off-22663055

Halloween has come and gone, and Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) has arrived.  On this episode we look back and recall some of our favorite Florida attractions that have left us for the Big Theme Park in the Sky.

This show includes:

• We list and discuss some of our favorite Florida attractions that have closed, been replaced, or just went out of business.

This week we take a look at the two big theme parks at Universal Orlando Resort and put them up against each other in a Florida Face-off!  Which of these two parks do we think wins?  We look at rides, entertainment, kid friendliness, theming, atmosphere, and which one we think is the best overall.

This show includes:

• The most popular Halloween candy in Florida.

• https://wdwnt.com/2018/10/new-solar-power-facility-at-walt-disney-world-to-open-before-end-of-2018/

Legoland unveils their big new plans for 2019, then we talk about our visit to MarineQuest in St. Petersburg and finding a Halloween pumpkin at the Pickin' Patch in Dunnellon.

This show includes:

• Legoland shows off their new plans for Lego Movie World

• https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201810/6341/

• http://myfwc.com/marinequest

• http://www.dunnellonpumpkinpatch.com/

This week we complete our October in Florida Halloween Trilogy and take you on a road trip of famously haunted places full of ghost stories and creepy occurrences.

This show includes:

• Hurricane Michael and how you can help.

• https://www.volunteerflorida.org/donatefdf/

• The Lodge at Wakulla Springs