Radar is a weekly digest of theme park news and notions. It appears on OrlandoSentinel.com on Wednesdays.

Mrs. Claus stirs things up

SeaWorld Orlando has sprinkled some new elements into its Christmas celebration, which is now underway on select evenings. Among the additions is “Mrs. Claus’ Magic Kitchen,” a stage show in Seaport Theater.

“You get a sneak peek into the culinary habits of the Clauses,” said John Minneci, manager for entertainment. In the story, “Mrs. Claus is getting all into social media. She wants to be the next TikTok trend.”

The plot involves her doing a video shoot on how to make the cookies that Santa loves most, he said.

“At the end, we learned a little lesson about how Mrs. Claus does her magic,” Minneci said.

It’s SeaWorld’s first holiday season with Pipeline, the roller coaster that opened this spring. The park is divided into “seas,” and the area around the ride has been designated Sea of Memories. The pathway is lined with trees decorated to represent different decades of holiday traditions, Minneci said.

“We took a lot of inspiration just from the ride itself,” he said. “The ride has a kind of retro vintage kind of vibe.”

Orlando theme parks: 10 things we’re thankful for in 2023

Among the holiday holdovers at SeaWorld are “O Wondrous Night,” “Elmo’s Christmas Wish Show,” a Christmas parade in Sesame Street Land, “Winter Wonderland On Ice,” the Sea of Trees display and the “Holiday Reflections” fireworks show.

The Christmas Market has moved into the Wild Arctic area.

“One thing that we really wanted to do this year was kind of elevate the theming of the seas that you see in the park. … Each one [sea] has a different theme based on the different holiday feeling, and it’s been like that for years,” Minneci said.

“What we wanted to do is really find ways that we could still enhance that and make sure that our guests know what those feelings are. So you’ll see a little bit more, you’ll see some signage, you’ll see some decor that kind of really helps tell the story of each land,” he said.

For dates and showtimes, go to SeaWorldOrlando.com or use the park’s official app.

Getting Very Merry

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is back in full swing at Magic Kingdom. It’s a hot ticket again: 17 of the 29 nights have sold out already. And beware, every night was a sell-out in 2023.

Here are notes taken from opening night.

• Among the new offerings: A boy band called the Collective 5ive performs pop holiday songs on the Rockettower Plaza Stage in Tomorrowland. A three-piece country-western group called Reindeer Wranglers was in the streets of Frontierland. Most visibly, “Frozen Holiday Surprise” (Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, castle projections) kicks off the event at the base of Cinderella Castle.

• Some attractions have mild holiday makeovers. A surprise: From the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, you get a red-and-green lit glance of Space Mountain and its rockin’ soundtrack. As we passed by, we got a look at the whole attraction in moody blue/black lighting.

• If you thought you’d be the only one there in pajamas, you’d be wrong headed. Folks have shifted into holiday dressing mode for the event, although we can probably agree that flannel in Florida is pushing the season.

• Things I had forgotten about in “Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration”: Clarabelle cow doing her best Mariah Carey and making a cowbell joke, Daisy Duck’s song about texting, Mickey Mouse breaking into a version of the Carlton.

• Very Merry begins at 7 p.m., although ticketholders can enter at 4 p.m. There can be a rush at the turnstiles for the event and to get the required wristband. A workaround for annual passholders: Go in through “regular” gates (you’ll need reservations on Saturdays or Sundays still) and get banded inside.

Mr. Gold standard

Mr. Gold has moved into Legoland Florida. He’s a sought-after minifig that the Winter Haven theme park uses to encourage interaction between visitors and employees (a k a model citizens or MCs.)

“Every day, some of our team will have a Mr. Gold,” said Kelly Hornick, head of marketing and communication. “Some days, there’ll be multiples, you don’t know who has it. It could be me, it could be the park president, it could be the ride operator.

Mr. Gold has been a staple at Legoland California and is popular with annual passholders. But anyone can just ask a worker if they have Mr. Gold.

“If we have Mr. Gold, which is a pop badge with Mr. Gold on it, we’ll give it to the kid and then the family gets to go up to guest services and get some really awesome prizes,” Hornick said. “The prizes, honestly, will change throughout the days. … But they’ll always be something really fun and new for the kids and for the families to do.”

There are consolation prizes too.

“For those of us who aren’t lucky enough to be Mr. Gold for the day – even though we’ll get asked about 40 times a day now when we are around the park – we have more pot badges and fun things just to give the kids for being brave enough to talk to the grown-ups and take the time to chat with us,” Hornick said.

First look: Disney Jollywood Nights debuts at Hollywood Studios

Weekend outlook

• Island H2O Water Park’s new Holiday Nights show, featuring light presentations, live entertainment, family activities and a holiday market, starts Nov. 15 and continues on select nights through Dec. 31.

• The Dinos in Lights holiday show is now playing at Orlando Science Center through Jan. 9.

• The Santa Workshop Experience is now open at Icon Park. St. Nick is scheduled for appearances through Dec. 24.

• Gaylord Palms’ “ICE” exhibit based on “A Charlie Brown Christmas” begins Friday and runs daily through Jan. 3.

• Universal Orlando’s holiday celebration, including a parade and Grinchmas festivities, launches Friday and goes through Dec. 31.

• The movie for Saturday’s Beach Nights event at Aquatica water park is 2018’s “The Grinch.”

• At Walt Disney World, the new Disney Jollywood Nights event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is sold out for Saturday but tickets are available for Nov. 20. At Magic Kingdom, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is sold out through Nov. 22 and at least seven other dates.

• The final day of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival is Saturday.

What’s on your radar? Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com.

The traveling attraction is the dream-turned-reality of a Knoxville-based couple who saw room to improve with other family events they visited.

“My wife and I have three children. We’ve been to children’s events around the country. We went to one event and thought that it could have been so much better; that it didn’t capture the magic of being a child,” said Patrick Mines, who co-founded the event with his wife, Lauren. “We started brainstorming and ended up landing on unicorns.”

The immersive experience puts children and families into an enchanted forest with animatronic unicorns before leading out into areas with arts and crafts, unicorn stables, a ball pit, a bounce house village and more.

In the last year, Unicorn World has traveled to 18 cities across the United States, and the reception has been greater than Mines had ever expected.

“There are so many people out there, children and adults alike, who love unicorns,” he said. “The response has been bigger than we thought. We stumbled upon this whole mythical, magical unicorn desire that was out there.”

While the event is targeted toward children ages 2-10 and their families, the event organizers have found broader appeal among some adults and seniors as well.

“I think this gives people a big break from their daily lives to come out and be a kid again,” Mines said. “It’s been cool to see people’s enthusiasm for it.”

Whether it’s indulging in arts and crafts, playing in the ball pit or meeting fairies and exploring myriad photo ops, the attraction aims to help visitors leave reality behind and find themselves inside another land.

“We want to make it an immersive experience where you are transported to another place and feel like you’re in a different realm,” Mines said. “We’re creating a story where people can leave the regular world and get lost in a fun world for a little bit.”

If you go

Unicorn World is open from 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Nov. 18 and 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Nov. 19 at 9860 Universal Blvd. in Orlando. Timed-entry tickets are available online for $39 per adult and children ages 2-17 (before taxes and fees). Children younger than 2 years old enter for free. Unlimited passes are available as an add-on, granting unlimited access to bounce houses and unicorn rides. For more information, visit theunicornworld.com.

Find me @PConnPie on Instagram or send me an email: pconnolly@orlandosentinel.com.

It gave it a makeover complete with new floors and a ceiling with about 600 bubble carvings to give it that “under the sea” feeling, said Sharon Siskie, senior vice president and general manager for the line, during an opening ceremony for it on Monday.

“When we stand here today, and we look at the space and we think back to when we initially did our walkthrough, and we leverage the imagination of the teams to envision what it would be able to become, we had that discussion of how do you really elevate the brand presence and really make this a Disney experience,” she said,

The Disney touches range from cartoonish murals, including a black-and-white homage to Steamboat Willie on the walk-in from the parking garage to the terminal adorned wall-to-wall with characters from “Finding Nemo.”

The 104,000-square-foot terminal is cavernous, unlike the line’s terminal at Port Canaveral, but with Disney’s expertise in managing lines, it should make for a quick onboard experience for when Disney Dream arrives for its first sailing on Nov. 20.

With a week before its arrival, officials with the cruise line, the port and Broward County government were on hand to dedicate the space, which has seen little use since the port reacquired it from Carnival Corp. in a pandemic-related deal.

“This is a complete reimagineering and rebranding,” said Port Everglades CEO and port director Jonathan Daniels. “It’s a different agreement than any agreement that we’ve had with any of the any of the lines in the past. … Because of all the intellectual property that they have in here — the branding that has occurred — this is Disney’s terminal.”

The line had been sailing from PortMiami to some degree since 2012, but only seasonally, and with Disney Dream’s four- and five-night sailings that will give way to Disney Magic in May doing three-, four and five-night sailings, it marks the beginning of a 15-year commitment to Port Everglades that guarantees 10.6 million passengers over the term of the lease.

That means both year-round sailings through 2024, but a second ship sailing seasonally beginning in 2025. The port and Disney can agree to extend the lease in five-year increments for an additional 15 years as well, bringing in another 11.25 million passengers.

It’s also going to be the first port with regular visits starting next summer to the line’s new private Bahamas destination, Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point on the southern end of Eleuthera. Port Canaveral-based ships won’t get regular visits there until fall of next year.

Benefiting from a $120 million investment made before the pandemic, the terminal’s parking garage pairs up with the adjacent Cruise Terminal 2 used by Princess Cruises so that combined they have more than 1,800 spaces, sitting adjacent to the Broward County Convention Center and close to the hotels and restaurants just north of the port.

That includes automated walkways and the promise of complete coverage from garage to ship to shield travelers from Florida’s heat and inclement weather.

The port has its own drive-in market but also pulls travelers from the nearby Fort Lauderdale International Airport and from Miami and West Palm’s airports to a smaller degree. That also means some of the cruisers are shuttling in from nearby hotels, so the parking impact remains to be seen, Daniels said.

“The one thing we’re not going to do is we’re not going to go out there and build a massive 1,500-car, 2,000-car parking garage without seeing what this year looks like,” he said. “If we need another one, it’s because we’re in a great position. We’ll know some of the pain and pressure points this year.”

For Disney, the market is one ripe for new business, not just those with families, but the real adult market craving a Disney experience, Siskie said.

“We’re bringing the product closer to home right on the back door of guests here who, you know may not get all the way to Orlando as often as they might like,” she said. “This is a great opportunity for them to have a little Disney fix.”

And the line is leaning on the port’s backyard of Fort Lauderdale and the greater Broward County area with its own unique spillover benefits.

“We did like the location,” she said. “Port Everglades in general, there are things that we really did like a lot about it. … Fabulous beaches … restaurants, just a great overall place for guests to come to take a Disney cruise. So we started there and we said, ‘Can this be a really good fit for our guests?’ And we said, ‘Yeah, we think it can.'”

We recently spent a week exploring these Oahu shores and, as the Hawaiians say, it was “no ka oi”—simply the best. We ziplined over the lush terrain of a working farm, swam off picturesque, world-famous surf beaches, and wandered through lush tropical gardens to a rushing waterfall.

At the sprawling Polynesian Cultural Center, we soaked up entertaining and educational presentations on the native food, music and cultural traditions of six Polynesian island nations. We tackled red dirt roads in all-terrain UTV vehicles in lush, mountainous valleys made famous by Jurassic Park and many other films. And after the ride, we took a boat across an ancient fishpond to a hidden beach for an afternoon of stand-up paddle boarding, sandbar wading, kayaking and hammock time.

Fueling our adventures: tasty, local-style meals at the colorful food trucks and shrimp shacks that line the coast-hugging Kamehameha Highway. We even squeezed in a charming, cowboy-style lu’au during the week.

A five-hour direct flight brought us from Oakland Airport to Honolulu, where we started our Oahu exploration with a leisurely morning drive from the airport to colorful Hale’iwa town. We paused for plates of butter garlic shrimp over rice at Jenny’s Shrimp truck — one of many food truck options in town — before heading to our hotel for two nights, Turtle Bay Resort, the only luxury hotel on the North Shore.

Set on Kuilima Point between a small crescent-shaped cove and a pristine, wave-swept beach, Turtle Bay is a recently remodeled and re-imagined resort and the choice of many Oahu visitors seeking an upscale North Shore stay in dreamy oceanfront rooms and bungalows. Turtle Bay, which has two championship golf courses (one designed by Arnold Palmer), is within reach of all the area’s main attractions: Hale’iwa town and the renowned North Shore beaches — Sunset, Waimea Bay and Banzai Pipeline — famous for their world-class winter surf and placid summer swells. The resort is also close to Kahuku Point, the northernmost point of land on Oahu.

Our first evening on the island eased us into Hawaii time as we enjoyed the resort’s small scale Paniolo Lu’au (“paniolo” means cowboy in native Hawaiian) held in a tented space near the resort’s stables (they offer guided horseback rides along the shore.) Before dinner and the show, we sipped mai tais, checked out traditional native Hawaiian games, learned some basic hula moves and petted cute miniature horses before being entertained by Hawaiian dance, music and fire knife performances.

For dinner, we feasted on banana leaf-steamed fresh catch, huli huli chicken, barbecued corn, colorful fresh taro rolls and savory Kalua pork, a lu’au staple cooked traditionally in a nearby “imu” or underground pit oven.  A post-luau stroll along the wonderfully sandy shore of Kawela Bay brought us back to the resort. Turtle Bay was a perfect start to our week of North Shore and East Side adventures.

Up early, we headed just down the road to Kuilima Farm for an hour-long walking tour, including a peek at their fascinating hydroponic produce growing facility that supplies produce for Turtle Bay Resort and the surrounding community.

We learned about Oahu’s ancient land divisions and traditional farming practices while strolling the orchards, taro fields and row crops, tasting produce like vine-ripe tomatoes, sugar cane, and ripe papaya along the way. The food stands on the farm’s road frontage are packed with bananas, pineapple, coconut, corn, watermelon, dragonfruit, papaya and freshly made local delicacies such as fried banana lumpia called “turon”, a classic Filipino snack.

The following morning was dedicated to the famed beaches of the North Shore: ‘Ehukai Beach (Banzai Pipeline), Waimea Beach, Sunset Beach and Chun’s Reef, a great beach for all ages. We wrapped up with an afternoon visit to the lush botanical garden and waterfall of Waimea Valley, a sacred historical site. The paved trail to Waimea Falls is about 3/4 of a mile and takes about 30 minutes to ascend to the falls, where you can take a swim (free lifevests are required).

There are several gravel paths off the main corridor for more adventurous hikers to explore the entire botanical garden collection of 52 themed gardens and more than 5,000 documented types of tropical and subtropical plants, including native Hawaiian and globally endangered species.

We also stopped at the valley’s Hawaiian cultural sites along the way, such as Kauhale, an ancient Hawaiian living site. Here, we learned about the life and culture of early Hawaiian people from resident artisans, each of whom have a traditional Hawaiian craft to share.

The next morning of this action-packed trip, we headed Climbworks, a zipline tour outfitter at Keana Farms, where we joined a thrilling three-hour tour that flies above a working farm. The ziplines range from 500 feet to nearly half a mile long (Hawaii’s longest) on eight dual lines. Along the way you also do two rappels, cross three sky bridges and enjoy panoramic ocean and mountain views of the North Shore.

After ziplining, we headed to Laie and a new hotel, the Courtyard Oahu North Shore, next to the Polynesian Cultural Center. After checking in, we walked over to the PCC for a full immersion in the 42-acre parklike complex celebrating the traditions of Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Tahiti, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Hawaii. We wandered the center’s villages to play a Maori stick game, made stamp prints on cloth, saw how a coconut is cracked and how coconut bread is made, and learned how poi is pounded. We topped off the day with the center’s Ali’i lu’au and a spectacular show, Ha: Breath of Life, in the expansive, open-air Pacific Theater.

Topping off our Oahu adventure was a visit to the East Side and the sprawling, 4,000-acre Kualoa Ranch, a private nature reserve and a breathtaking location on the eastern shore of Oahu at Kaneohe Bay. Nestled in valleys sacred to ancient Hawaiians, the ranch has served as a set for numerous movies and TV series, including “Jumanji,” “Jurassic Park,” “Hawaii Five-0” and “Lost.” Activities here include ATV and UTV “Raptor” expeditions, jeep expeditions, e-bike tours, ziplining, horseback riding and a boat excursion to a “secret island” beach for SUP, kayak and sandbar wading activities.

We chose the three-hour UTV tour, with a guide leading us deep into scenic valleys and remote areas, tackling dirt roads and dusty trails and crossing seasonal streams. More than 200 Hollywood movies and TV shows have been filmed on the ranch over the past 75 years.

After the tour, we hit the beach on Kulaloa’s “Secret Island Beach Adventure,” where a flat-bottomed boat spirits guests across an ancient Hawaiian fishpond to a quiet strand of sand near the ranch for an afternoon of kayaking, stand-up paddle-boarding, sandbar wading, beach volleyball, table tennis and horseshoes. We sampled a few, then wound down the week simply relaxing in a hammock under a swaying palm tree, a suitable Hawaiian-style end to our big North Shore and East Side Oahu adventure.

If You Go

Jenny’s Shrimp Truck: Open from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily at 66528a Kamehameha Highway in Haleiwa.

Turtle Bay Resort: The Paniolo Lu’au ($195-$225) is held from every Wednesday evening, with shuttles departing the resort at 5 and 5:30 p.m. and returning at 8 p.m. 57-091 Kamehameha Highway, Kahuku; www.turtlebayresort.com.

Kuilima Farm: Farm tours ($25-$45) offered at 9 and 10:30 a.m. Wednesday-Friday at 57-146 Kamehameha Highway in Kahuku. Make reservations and learn more at  https://kuilimafarm.com.

Waimea Valley: Normally closed on Mondays, the Waimea Valley will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, except holidays, from Nov. 20 through Jan 2. Admission is $14-$25. 59-864 Kamehameha Highway in Haleiwa; www.waimeavalley.net

Climbworks: Book a 3-hour tour ($180, ages 7 and up) at Keana Farms on Oahu’s North Shore at www.climbworks.com.

Courtyard Oahu North Shore: This Marriott hotel is located at 55-400 Kamehameha Highway in Laie; www.marriott.com

Polynesian Cultural Center: There are five ticket packages available, including Islands of Polynesia and Ha: Breath of Life ($96-$120) with access to six Polynesian villages and admission to the “Ha: Breath of Life” show ($96-$120), and the Ali’i Luau package ($152-$190), which includes the villages, “Ha” show and a luau buffet. 55-370 Kamehameha Highway in Laie; https://polynesia.com/

Kualoa Ranch: The ranch offers a wide range of tours and activities, from a secret island beach adventure ($52) to a UTV “Raptor” tour ($145), in Kaneohe on Oahu’s Windward or East Coast; kualoa.com.

However, after calling British Airways numerous times, they claim they don’t have any record of the flight.

I paid for this flight with a combination of miles and cash. I’d like a refund of my 150,000 points as well as the $770 in taxes. Can you help me?

— Louis Hyman, Baltimore

ANSWER: It’s highly unusual for an airline to lose a reservation like this. But a look at your correspondence suggests that’s exactly what happened. You had a ticket, and then British Airways somehow lost it. Now the airline wants to keep your points and the cash you paid for other taxes and fees.

Normally, you would be able to send British Airways proof of your reservation, and it would then fix the problem. I see that you tried to send the airline copies of your reservation, which included all the information it would have needed to track down your missing ticket.

What happened? Look at the calendar. This was a pandemic reservation — one of hundreds of thousands. There were special refund rules for them, and if I had to guess, I’d say there was a special department within the airline that handled these refunds.

Anyway, British Airways got its wires crossed when you asked for a refund. I thought it might have erased your ticket because the flight was more than three years ago. Most airlines retain ticket data for at least 10 years, but they may move older ticket data to an archive database, where it can be more difficult to retrieve.

It’s clear that you had a valid ticket and that British Airways canceled your flight. A brief, polite email to one of the British Airways executives I list on my consumer advocacy site might have helped. You have all the essential information for getting a full refund. You have ticket receipts and all of your correspondence, where you tried to resolve this problem through the airline’s regular customer service channels. It’s a slam dunk.

I reached out to British Airways on your behalf. A representative contacted you and apologized for the loss of your tickets.

“Due to the age of this record, it was purged from our system,” the agent explained. British Airways referred your ticket to its refunds team, who retrieved the purged data.

“They have confirmed that a full refund of all taxes paid has been processed back to the original form of payment,” the representative said. You also received a full refund of your points.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/help/.(c) 2023 Christopher ElliottDistributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

Maybe their kids are at Disney World, or at the pool; maybe they’re at home in New York or Massachusetts, somewhere cold.

“If you look at Vegas, their hotels are always packed, their casinos are always packed,” said Mychal Milian, a lodging instructor at Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. “Now imagine Vegas with a beach.”

Milian also serves as the complex director of operations for the Dania Pointe Marriott Hotels at the Fort Lauderdale Airport, a 10-minute drive from the Hard Rock in Hollywood.

In less than a month, in-person sports betting, craps and roulette will, presumably, begin at all South Florida casinos, including Tampa, although that anticipated launch may hinge on a favorable ruling from the Florida Supreme Court.

The launch is expected to drive tourists and businesses to South Florida and elsewhere in the state, create jobs, and bring in billions of dollars in revenue.

Yet despite the ritzy hotels, sports teams, warm weather and beaches that South Florida has to offer, experts say that legal hurdles and cultural attitudes, some nearly insurmountable, will keep it from becoming Vegas.

One of them is the very agreement that legalizes sports betting and gives the Seminole Tribe a monopoly on the industry for 30 years, at the expense of competition.

“Florida is such a large state, even with one dominant operator, it’s too big of a state to be insignificant. Even in a monopoly situation,” said Daniel Wallach, a national sports gambling law expert and attorney based in Hallandale Beach. “But it’s only scratching the surface of its potential.”

‘People need to see it to believe it’

Two weeks ago, the Seminole Tribe announced the return of in-person sports betting. Last week, the mobile app returned for existing customers, while those who became loyalty members could join an “early-access” waitlist. Already, some of those early-access customers have reported on social media they have placed bets.

But the extent to which in-person sports betting might drive tourists to the area in the short term remains unclear.

Stacy Ritter, president and CEO of Visit Lauderdale, Broward’s tourism promotion arm, declined to speculate, telling the Sun Sentinel that “it’s so new that we are just starting to collect the data and analytics we would need to make a determination.”

In Hollywood, spokespeople said they weren’t aware of tourism plans in relation to the launch.

The uncertainty is compounded by the ongoing legal battles. The Florida Supreme Court is currently considering another motion, filed by the tribe’s opponents, a group of pari-mutuels known collectively as West Flagler Associates, that seeks to suspend sports betting. It isn’t immediately clear whether that motion refers to in-person or just mobile.

Raquel Rodriguez, one of the lawyers representing West Flagler, declined to comment Friday in response to questions about the meaning of the motion.

Any boost to the tourism and hospitality industry may be dampened by uncertainty over the legal situation, experts say.

Peter Ricci, a Florida Atlantic University professor who specializes in hospitality and tourism industry trends, thinks that South Florida will see an uptick heading into the Super Bowl, but most of what he hears from local businesses and hospitality employees is uncertainty rather than excitement.

“What I’ve heard is questions about ‘when is it starting?’” he said. ” … ‘Are they hiring for blackjack dealers? What does this mean? Will they expand the hotel?’ All these questions but nothing specifically pro or con about actual sports betting itself.”

Milian agreed.

“I know it’s come up a few times in Miami and been shot down before,” he said. “Now that it’s finally happening, people need to see it to believe it.”

‘Prettier, better’

Legal experts believe the odds are in favor of sports betting’s return for the long term, both online and in-person. That could make South Florida, already a prime destination for tourists, gamblers and sports fans, even harder to resist.

Miami is one of 12 cities in the U.S. that has a team in all five major sports, Milian said, and also the only one that has soccer star Lionel Messi. During the summer months, his hotels saw their highest rates when Messi was playing, with many of the visitors coming from Latin America. He thinks those same visitors would come in even greater numbers if legal sports betting became an option.

“Think about the impact the Super Bowl has on the city of Miami,” he added. “Now, if people could bet on these games, we’re going to get so much more tourism because of that.”

The launch of in-person craps and roulette, or “class three” level gaming, is the final step to becoming a “true casino,” Ricci said. With the launch, the actual experience of gambling in South Florida would be “identical” to Las Vegas, at least in the sense that nothing would be missing.

Most agree that, while Vegas wears the crown, Florida’s allure could still make it a second location, surpassing Atlantic City or Biloxi, Mississippi.

“Vegas is too longstanding for anyone to rival it,” Ricci said. ” … But we can definitely rival all the other smaller casino destinations around the U.S. There’s not a lot of them but we’re prettier, better and already have a much better tourism infrastructure.”

The money from that tourism and overall boost to the economy could in turn help fund schools, roads and infrastructure, such as in South Florida’s flood-prone areas. Nationally, sports betting is estimated to total over $41 billion in economic output, according to a study by Oxford Economics, under a scenario in which it is fully legal and available in person and online.

Legal, cultural obstacles

Florida has its own hurdles to contend with, however, and the expansion of the industry will probably come gradually and with a muted effect.

Bill Speros, a senior betting analyst at Gambling.com Group (Nasdaq: GAMB) and a former but longtime sports journalist at the Orlando Sentinel, said that the idea of South Florida becoming Vegas is a “mirage.”

“I just don’t see the will, politically or culturally statewide, for that to happen,” Speros said.

He pointed to initiatives to expand gambling in the state that have already failed. In 2022, the major sportsbooks DraftKings and FanDuel spent millions of dollars to try to put a referendum authorizing sports betting at sports venues and pari-mutuels on the ballot, but it didn’t get enough votes. Both the Seminole Tribe and the anti-casino group No Casino opposed the initiative.

Often the obstacles to the expansion of gambling in Florida have come from businesses with a stake in it.

In Speros said in Central Florida, where Disney reigns, the pro-casino crowd faces a steep uphill battle. The company, one of Florida’s staunchest gambling opponents, forbids casinos on its cruises and helped lobby for the amendment, Amendment 3, that is now being used to challenge the expansion of sports betting before the state Supreme Court.

The Seminole Tribe joined Disney in lobbying for the amendment, which requires 60% of Florida voters to approve any further expansion of gambling in the state, though it makes an exception for the tribe.

The expansion of gambling could pose a threat to Disney’s family-friendly image, though some say that the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

“If people come to Florida, what’s to stop them from doing a multi-angle vacation?” Ricci asked. “One day at Busch Gardens, two at Universal, a day at Disney, two days at Hard Rock and the kids go in the pool.”

Some of Disney’s own anti-gambling attitudes have given way to business prospects. The company has also joined the sports betting business; on Tuesday, it will launch its own app, ESPN Bet.

Meanwhile, the legal challengers delaying sports betting in the courts are pari-mutuels who say the compact would take away their business. Under the gaming deal, called a compact, the Seminole Tribe would have complete control over sports betting in Florida, which will likely operate under a single-operator system, said Wallach, with pari-mutuels participating as “spokes to the Seminole’s hub.”

The monopoly would also place limits on the industry. Without competition, sports betting in Florida will “likely yield a lot less bang for the buck,” Wallach said, with fewer incentives for companies to promote themselves and less excitement overall.

While other gambling companies might want a piece of the action, it’s unlikely the compact authorizing the tribe’s monopoly would change in the short-term. The agreement has several “poison pill provisions” that penalize Florida by taking away its share of the revenue if sports betting expands beyond the tribe, Wallach said, either by the Legislature or by voter referendum.

“Florida is the only state of consequence where this is going on,” he said. “No other state of similar or comparable size, or even moderate size, has ever granted a sports-betting monopoly to one entity.”

Ricci is impatient for sports betting to expand and the lawsuits to conclude.

“Enough is enough, they’ve played nice,” he said of the Seminoles. “All these other states are building, building, building, and we’re sitting here arguing in the courts.”

The 67,700-gross-ton, 1,200-guest ship that features 11 dining venues is the largest in the now seven-ship Oceania Cruises fleet, but only slightly over the line’s last two ships Marina and Riviera. A sister ship to Vista named Allura is due in 2025.

Oceania is the upper premium sister line to Norwegian Cruise Line and has looked to carve out a unique space focusing on both on-board offerings and destination excursions that cater to the gourmand while not growing too large for its target demographic.

“We really felt there was a huge space in between the premium brands who are actually moving more of mass market because they were building bigger ships — Celebrity, Holland America, Princess,” said cruise line President Frank A. Del Rio. “They left their old premium formats and started going more contemporary so we kind of snuck in between.”

Vista builds on the line’s prowess, once again relying on menus from famed French chef Jacques Pépin, who has been the line’s executive culinary director for two decades, but guests might be surprised to not find his signature restaurant Jacques on board in favor of a new concept called Ember.

“Jacques is not really out in a way because we are cautious of what we have done by introducing Ember,” said Oceania Cruises’ Senior Culinary Director Alexis Quaretti. Instead, his French dishes can be found in the main dining room with a different appetizer, entrée and dessert every day, enough for a 14-day sailing.

That opened up the space to create Ember, which is built to resemble the tasting room of a Napa Valley vineyard serving American farm-to-table fare including dishes conceived by Pépin.

“So, yes, it is a different atmosphere but definitely I love very much Ember, with its nice design, the wood effect, and at least we can still have some of the Jacques Pépin dishes on a daily basis in the main dining room,” Quaretti said.

Ember’s menu includes things like blackened crab cakes with corn salsa and tomato sauce; roasted beetroot salad with goat cheese, shallots, green beans and hazelnuts; porcini-dusted bone-in ribeye with foie gras-truffle demi-glace and breadcrumb-crusted tomato Provençale; and roasted apple tart with served with San Francisco favorite Humphry Slocombe-brand sweet summer corn ice cream.

Also lending her celebrity name to the ship is godmother Giada De Laurentiis, who has for now two signature dishes in the ship’s Italian offering Toscana as well as in the Grand Dining Room including her specialty of lemon spaghetti with jumbo shrimp.

Another new venue to Vista is the Aquamar Kitchen, a healthy concept that combines a family-style table setting that spills over into al fresco outdoor seating.

While it has make-your-own poke bowls and four kinds of avocado toast, there is plenty of indulgence to found within the menu as well such as the butternut squash soup, yellowfin tuna tacos with guacamole, crunchy chicken sandwich with chipotle mayo and the buffalo mozzarella tomato basil panini. Plus it has fresh juices and smoothies such as the spicy sweet “Pure Immunity,” which is OJ, ginger, turmeric and cayenne pepper.

The venue is packed during sailings as it offers a variety of options that set it apart from other lunch fare on board.

Another packed venue is the Baristas coffee bar now with its own bakery that serves up sweet and savory pastries throughout the day.

For those who enjoy learning the art of cooking, the ship offers the largest ever version of The Culinary Center, now with 24 individual cooking stations. For an extra cost, those on board can partake from dozens of new options pulling from a fleetwide library of more than 100 classes designed by the line’s culinary enrichment director and executive chef Kathryn Kelly.

Kelly introduced the kitchen on Oceania’s Marina, and it has since been on board Riviera and the new ships of sister cruise line Regent Seven Seas.

“It’s been an absolute joy ride to develop a program that guests come in — some of them are very talented home chefs, others have never picked up a knife — and have them tell our chefs that it was the experience of a lifetime.”

She says the classes have evolved just as those who have sailed.

“Ten to 15 years ago, when we were teaching cooking classes, we would get on a map and say, ‘Can I show you where you are? Do you even know what country you’re in? ‘ And now it’s not. It’s like, ‘There’s 17 cuisines in Italy. How are they different?’ So we’re seeing that kind of migration of sophistication in a lot of guests that is really rewarding for us as educators.”

Also key to Oceania’s footprint in the market are the unique culinary excursions offered at each of its ports of call, something Kelly and her team spend curating throughout the year.

Kelly said it’s designed to satisfy guests that are thinking, “‘I’ve been to Florence and I’ve checked all the boxes. Now what I want to do is something a little different.’ So they want to be able to go off and explore and maybe take that afternoon and find that special little restaurant somewhere. … I think that the trends that we’re seeing are a little bit more adventuresome, people are feeling a lot more comfortable about sort of street food or more authentic indigenous kinds of foods.”

The ship stands apart from its predecessors with the majority of the interior spaces created by Miami-based Studio DADO, which also had a hand in the new Prima class of ships for Norwegian and spaces on board Regent Seven Seas ships as well.

“What we have to really do is sort of look at trends beyond our design world,” said Studio DADO founding partner Greg Walton “One of the things we look at and we nickname it — we call we’re future casting. We look at all kinds of design, from fashion to automobile design, what’s happening in every kind of industry that involves design, even looking at things like small household appliances.”

The ship’s dining venues in particular each feature a design story to be discovered. The Polo Club steakhouse, for instance, pulls on the history of polo, and how it originated in Persia, and thus a tiled entryway that resembled a Persian rug gives way to the more traditional English stylings within. It even pulls color schemes that pay deference to Wellington, Florida, the polo capital of the South.

Ember, though, is among Walton’s favorite new space, including the faux flame created by a mix of light and mist that provides atmosphere to what feels like a California vineyard.

“The big accomplishment in this space is the fireplace, because there’s no such thing as an open flame on a ship, not even in the galleys,” he said. “At night when you come in here, there’s people who walk up” and place their hand near the flame. He said even the scent of wooden logs under the fireplace lends itself to the sensory experience.

The line often sails to a variety of destinations skipped over by major cruise lines, often built around culinary adventures.

The Miami-based will visit ports including San Juan, Puerto Rico; Gustavia, St. Barts; Roseau, Dominica; Bridgetown, Barbados; St. George’s, Grenada; Castries, St. Lucia; St. John’s, Antigua; Fort-de-France, Martinique in the Eastern Caribbean and Costa Maya, Mexico; Roatan, Honduras; Colon, Panama; Santo Tomas, Guatemala; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica and Belize City, Belize in the Western Caribbean.

The ship begins its winter run Nov. 19 and runs through the end of March.

To come or not to come? That is the question.

One faction of Hawaii residents is telling visitors to stay away so that more resources are available to those recovering from the loss of loved ones and property. Another camp is pleading for tourists to bring much-needed revenue, especially after what is now a one-two punch between the travel-restricting pandemic that lasted roughly two years and the wildfire that only a few months ago ravaged Maui and decimated historic Lahaina Town.

Considerate of both these viewpoints is Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Henry Kapono, who in between hard-ticket concerts plays Duke’s at the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort on Sundays.

“Mixed messages are out there,” said the 75-year-old Oahu-born fixture. “The locals in West Maui are especially feeling the hurt of what happened and trying to heal at the same time. As they support themselves, their friends and community, the hope is that they can see the bigger picture of tourism being a key part of that support.”

Because of the devastating fires, Kapono’s Maui gig on his current 50-year anniversary tour has been postponed three months to December. In between, however, he organized a benefit concert in Maui that raised $200,000 for victims.

“It’s really sad about Lahaina,” said one half of the legendary, long-disbanded Hawaiian pop duo Cecilio & Kapono. “I have so many memories of working places that burned to the ground. It will take a while, but we know that Lahaina will come back in some shape or form. Until it does, Maui has other places to enjoy paradise, and people are welcome to have fun on the other islands as well. That’s what Hawaii is all about.”

Maui hosts about a quarter of all visitors to Hawaii, and although much of “The Valley Isle” is fully operational now three months after the catastrophic fires, Oahu, where nearly half of the state’s tourists flock to, seems to be welcoming island-bound travelers with the widest open arms — slathered with sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher, of course.

Living up to its nickname of “The Gathering Place,” Oahu is seeing visitorship nearly back to pre-pandemic levels. Vacation-hungry Americans are being wooed by the tropical beauty and weather, world-class resorts and restaurants, and walkability of Waikiki — all accessible without a passport and, for many, a non-stop flight to Honolulu.

Also nonstop is Oahu’s vast array of unique experiences and attractions. With an eye out for what’s new, improved and special, let’s explore this eclectic and exciting island by land, sea and air.

On the ground

If you’re born to be wild, then get your motor running and head out for an adrenaline junkie’s kind of off-road adventure. New to Oahu is a 2 1/2-hour Pua Pua‘a Piglet ATV Adventure from North Shore EcoTours (northshoreecotours.com), and it packs a Hawaiian punch. Climbing, crawling and sloshing through rocky and often muddy trails in a rugged 4×4 ATV, with no more than three of these six-seaters on the tour, adds to the thrill of plowing through jungle and farm land while being caked in brick-red volcanic dirt that takes a couple of hot showers and loads of laundry to get off your skin and clothes. North Shore EcoTours also offers hikes and rides on electric, solo-rider Mongoose ATVs. Along the way a guide points out interesting landmarks and vegetation ripe for selfies. The Pau Pua‘a tour runs about $300 for two people — a bargain compared to ATV adventures around the world that are half as exhilarating.

Driving on a much different type of course is achieved at the official golf club of the Four Seasons Resort at Ko Olina, Disney’s Aulani Resort and other tony properties on Oahu’s west side. Rated one of Golf Digest’s “Top 75 Resort Courses in the U.S.,” Ko Olina Golf Club (koolinagolf.com), where LPGA star Michelle Wie developed her game, is gorgeous and challenging, yet comfortable for the golfer who may feel unworthy or intimidated playing courses used for pro tours. The grounds also have an above-par pro shop and a Roy’s Hawaiian fusion restaurant. Greens fees are very fair for a facility of this caliber — about $250, less if staying at a partner resort.

OK, so the most touristy thing one can do in Hawaii is go to a luau. They’re expensive, hokey and cookie-cutter, but not doing one, especially on a first visit, is almost sacrilegious. So, props to the ‘Ahaaina Luau (royal-hawaiianluau.com) at the gorgeous Royal Hawaiian on Waikiki Beach for being different. Oh, it’s pricey, all right, costing $225 or $250, depending on how close you want to sit, but hokey and cookie-cutter it’s not. The show, held on Mondays and Thursdays, follows a three-course dinner that fuses Hawaiian, Korean and Japanese flavors. Told through story, song and dance, the history of Hawaii includes the colorful past of the hallowed grounds upon which the luau’s guests are gathered. Sure, it’s a commercial for the Royal Hawaiian, but it works, and how special for those actually staying at the near-century-old resort.

On the subject of entertainment, opening night isn’t for another year, but we mention Cirque de Soleil’s next permanent show because it’s bound to make a great property in the heart of Waikiki even better. The Outrigger Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel is where an 800-seat theater that’s been dormant since the pandemic is being renovated for a production that will blend Hawaiian culture with Cirque’s signature avant-garde sights and sounds. The show’s name hasn’t been announced yet, but the hospitality company behind it has made a name for itself as ambassadors of the aloha spirit.

Corny as this may sound, Outrigger’s respect for local culture isn’t just a checkbox. It’s laid in the flooring of the flagship Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Hotel, where Hawaiian words are learned while strolling the lobby area. It’s baked in the locally made pono pie at Duke’s inside the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort, home of the to-die-for dessert somehow free of gluten, sugar and dairy. And it’s woven in the island-crafted robes hanging in the closet of each unit at the Beachcomber … but they’ll charge you if stolen. The aloha spirit does have its limits.

The cultural center at the newly renovated Reef property is a benchmark among all island resorts, as is the hotel’s Kani Ka Pila Grille for live Hawaiian music. Paradise is chowing down on kalua pork nachos and pineapple crème brulée washed down with your favorite umbrella drink while enjoying home-grown contemporary artists every night in a casual outdoor venue, and with no admission charge. Indeed, the spirit of aloha is alive and well while eating, drinking or relaxing at an Outrigger (outrigger.com) property. If you want to add “sleeping” to the list, rates at Outrigger’s top Oahu hotels begin at around $400 a night, which is low for three-diamond AAA-rated hotels in Waikiki that behave more like those with four diamonds.

Recommending a genuine four-diamond property, on the west side of the island is the Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina (fourseasons.com). New there is the Noe Mixology Masterclass ($75), a one-hour lesson starring gin, bourbon, rum, mescal, tequila and, on many days, Michael Milligan, formerly from Costa Mesa and now the Four Seasons’ lead bartender who made this guzzling guest the best espresso martini of his life. More hands-on expertise is found at the resort’s elegant Naupaka Spa. Try the 50-minute Signature Lomilomi Massage ($225) and you won’t be either sore or sorry.

Honolulu’s Waikiki area has grown as a foodie destination since the pandemic, and two of the more exciting newcomers are La Bettola Waikiki at the ‘Alohilani Resort (alohilaniresort.com) and Redfish at the Wayfinder Waikiki (wayfinderhotels.com). La Bettola, opened in June, features authentic Italian fare married with local ingredients under the guise of renowned chef Tsutomu Ochiai. His neighbor at the Alohilani is “Iron Chef” Masaharu Morimoto’s Momosan, home of perhaps the best ramen and sushi on Oahu.

The signature dishes at Redfish are the poke bowls, but it’s hard to beat the honey walnut shrimp. Opened in May, Redfish augments a boutique hotel with a cool and kitschy vibe that’s only outdone by its ‘60s-feel sister property, the White Sands Hotel, a few blocks away. Best of Waikiki’s chain restaurants: Hula Grill at the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort, Tommy Bahama Restaurant on Beachwalk Drive and Monkeypod Kitchen at the Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Hotel.

In the air

Since you’re probably already spending thousands on a Hawaiian vacation, what’s another $400 to guarantee an even more memorable trip? That’s how much it is, per person, to see Oahu at rainbow level. Blue Hawaiian Helicopters (bluehawaiian.com) has a 65-minute Complete Island Tour from Honolulu that includes the biggies: Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial, Diamond Head, the surfing mecca of North Shore and Oahu’s tallest waterfall.

On the water

Sailing tours are among the more popular things to do while in Hawaii, and if you’re hoping to set a course for more romance than adventure, climb aboard the 150-foot, three-deck Majestic for a crowd-escaping Waikiki Sunset Cocktail Cruise (majestichawaii.com). Operated by Atlantis, which will be happy to take you under the water as well in one of its submarines, the cruise ($79 for adults, $39.50 for children) parallels the Waikiki coast for stunning views that culminate at sunset when the orange sun sinks behind the Hawaiian horizon. Majestic is the only cruise around with a full-service bar and lounge that offers open seating.

All this is just a drop in the warm and inviting ocean. For more on Oahu, visit gohawaii.com/islands/oahu.

Most weeks of the year, Friday is the busiest day for air travel, and Tuesday is the least busy day. During the holidays, though, that doesn’t necessarily hold true.

In most years, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day at U.S. airports, according to the Transportation Security Administration, which tracks the number of passengers screened daily. The two days after Christmas also see heavy travel. And since Christmas falls on a Monday this year, that might mean an abnormally busy Tuesday and Wednesday of that week.

To avoid crowds and save money, consider skipping the busy days and book your flights on one of the slower ones. Here’s a breakdown of the best and worst days to fly during the winter holidays, and how you can strategize to avoid crowds and save money.

The busiest days to fly around Thanksgiving

The Sunday after Thanksgiving is brutal for airport crowds. Last year, about 83% more people flew on the Sunday after Thanksgiving than on Thanksgiving Day, according to TSA data, making it the busiest travel day of 2022.

That same Sunday was also the year’s single busiest airport travel day in both 2019 and 2021. In 2020, the busiest days of the year for air travel were largely concentrated in January and February, before the widespread impact of COVID-19, which would reduce holiday travel later in the year.

Here’s a look at the three busiest days to fly in the seven calendar dates before and after Thanksgiving over the past four years, based on TSA checkpoint data:

And here are the three least busy days to fly in that period:

Assuming past trends continue in 2023, expect Sunday, Nov. 26, to be the busiest travel day around Thanksgiving, followed by Wednesday, Nov. 22. Even if you fly out one day ahead of the biggest crowds, Saturday, Nov. 25, will also likely be busy.

And this year, crowds will likely be bigger based on the fact that past 2023 holidays have already set air travel records. For example, 2023’s Fourth of July weekend set records for U.S. air travel. More than 2.884 million people passed through TSA checkpoints on the Friday before July 4, according to TSA checkpoint data. That topped the previous record, which was on the Sunday after Thanksgiving 2019, when a recorded 2.882 million people passed through TSA checkpoints.

The busiest days to fly around Christmas

Christmas airport crowds can be trickier to predict than Thanksgiving crowds given that the holiday falls on a different day of the week each year and air travel patterns are often dictated by the workweek. This year, Christmas falls on a Monday.

But just as the Sunday after Thanksgiving tends to draw huge crowds, the days just after Christmas are wildly popular. And much like how few people travel on Thanksgiving Day itself, relatively few people travel on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day.

Here’s a look at the three busiest days to fly in the seven calendar dates before and after Christmas over the past four years, based on TSA checkpoint data:

And here are the three least busy days to fly in that period:

This year, you might expect Friday, Dec. 22, to be particularly busy. Friday is typically the busiest travel day in any given week, and — especially during Christmas week — many holiday travelers may leave on that day.

According to Chase Travel, Friday, Dec. 22, is one of the top three busiest days across all flights booked in either December 2023 or January 2024 (the other two busiest days are Saturday, Dec. 23, and Saturday, Dec. 30). Similarly, booking site Hopper anticipates that day having the highest fare for the Christmas season.

This holiday travel season may see some relief, though. Hanukkah, which begins on the 25th of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar, can sometimes align closely with Christmas. The eight-day celebration ran from Dec. 18-26 in 2022, but this year will commence on Dec. 15 — likely before the Christmas crowds start.

Another consideration for travel is that the weeklong celebration of Kwanzaa runs from Dec. 26 through Jan. 1.

How to choose less crowded (and cheaper) travel days

The holiday travel season is always expensive, but there is some decrease from last year’s prices. Airfares for Christmas trips are averaging $400 according to Hopper data. That’s down 12%, or about $52 per ticket, from last year. The bad news is that it’s still 29% higher than holiday airfares were in 2019.

Travel on the holiday: Traveling on the holiday is often the best way to avoid crowds and save money. Last year, 23.4% more people flew on the day after Christmas versus Christmas Day, which fell on a Sunday.

And that demand has a strong effect on prices. According to Hopper, domestic flights on Christmas Day average about 26% less than peak prices.

Book morning flights: If you are traveling on the holiday, catch the first flight out for the day and you might arrive in time for evening festivities. Taking early flights is also considered good practice to reduce your odds of a flight delay. In the first half of 2023, 7.8% of flights were delayed because an aircraft arrived late, according to Bureau of Transportation Statistics data.

Stay longer: If you can take the days off or work remotely, then it can make sense to fly as long before or after a holiday as possible.

For Thanksgiving, Hopper recommends flying the Monday of Thanksgiving week and returning any weekday the following week. The Sunday after Thanksgiving is historically the busiest day to fly, so extending your trip by just one day can save you money. According to Hopper, airfares average 40% less on the Monday after Thanksgiving versus the Sunday after.

For Christmas, Hopper recommends departing the Monday or Tuesday before Christmas weekend and returning midweek following the holiday.

Skip holiday travel completely: If you don’t mind celebrating in an unconventional way, consider participating in something like an un-holiday, where you shift the celebration by a couple of days or weeks.

The article The Busiest Days to Fly During the Winter Holidays originally appeared on NerdWallet.