F-L-A

This is what happened in the alternate universe where we went ahead with constructing a building with a big cube on top of it (see far left.)

Step #836: Continue to do nothing.

So that's what downtown has been missing all this time -- rollercoasters. I also love how the AI made I-4 even more convoluted than it already is. I didn't think that was possible.

I have no idea how you've already forgotten that he wanted to kill the special district that allows Disney to act as its own quasi-government entity, as political retaliation for them daring to publicly disapprove of his backwards educational bills. If he had succeeded, Orange County would be paying to maintain all Disney infrastructure within the county. We were about to be taxed out the wazoo, and yes, your governor was perfectly fine with that. He doesn't think anything through, he just acts upon getting his feelings hurt. And no one is forcing Disney to commit to the cancelled relocation. You're kidding yourself if you think there's any chance of that happening at this point. He's sent Disney a clear message about how anti-business this state is under his authoritarian rule, his "benefits" be damned.

Sue us? Do you work for DeSatan? Disney's fight is with him, not actual Floridians. He was willing to foot us peasants with the bill left by taking away Disney's special district. All that infrastucture Disney pays to maintain? Dear leader wanted us paying for it all instead. We'll still be paying for the damage he's done to Disney's reputation amongst gullible conservatives for years to come. Not that I want them all coming here, but we're a tourist economy, in a state run by an imbecile who is more than happy to burn it all down for his own benefit. Disney will never have any reason to invest large amounts of capital into their property here as long as they have Tweedle-Dumb actively sabotaging their business. Their cancelled relocation of entire divisions to Lake Nona serves as a testament to his incompetence.

Not only do I hope they get the 2nd tower started ASAP, I also hope they repaint the whole thing a different color while they're at it. The black is hideous & completely out-of-place in Florida.

That's Pipeline (aka Project Penguin), their most recent coaster. Penguin Trek is using the penguin exhibit. I'm personally not a fan of SeaWorld's identity crisis in the wake of being targeted by animal activitists. It's quickly turned into a Six Flags with a different name, not just due to their propensity for building nothing but coasters now, but also due to their falling show standards overall. The park is currently in a sad state, and I can't imagine what will happen when they have to phase out the orcas and possibly other animal shows. They're certainly not up to competing with Universal, at Halloween or just in general. Howl-o-Scream is a decent little diversion, if repetitive, but it's nowhere close to dragging people away from HHN. The crowds have always been very light in my experience, about what you'd expect for the level of product on offer. HHN is perhaps too popular for its own good, but it still has no real competition.

I don't think it's going to make much of a difference, unless maybe you're living directly across from it & hate big buildings. But the whole vibe of Universal Blvd. is going to change once Epic Universe opens, and this may not even be the largest project to come.

What's wrong with it?

Downtown growth is spurred by population growth in the immediate vicinity. TDO certainly isn't going to grow because of people moving into Lake Nona. There are also lots of cities that have larger, more developed downtowns than one would expect based on the overall size of the city. Limiting the spread of your population by giving people a reason to live in or close to downtown is the key to limiting the need for sprawl. We're already too far gone to put that cat back in the bag, but we can still take steps to improve what we have. Taking a NIMBY approach to downtown won't help anything. If anything, it will only inspire more satellite developments that could have gone downtown.

We're already on our way there, whether any of us want it or not. I'd rather have a downtown that's befitting of the city's size than one that's underbuilt, with the larger developments spread out all across our ever-increasing sprawl. We don't need to be another LA.

At least it's a good kind of funny. Wanting to settle for even more 2-300 ft buildings is the bad kind of funny.

This forum must be popular at the country clubs. "Adult cinematography." I'll have to remember that one.

My, we're feeling snarky today, aren't we? Are you a Bulls fan by any chance? I feel like you're responding to an entirely different post than the one I wrote. All I'm saying is that very YOUNG Magic team was destined for greatness had Shaq not pulled the plug on them prematurely. Would they have beaten the Bulls again? Maybe, maybe not, but they certainly had a chance, especially towards the end of their second run. As for their '95 series, I've heard the "MJ had just returned" excuse a million times from his fans. It isn't any more convincing now than the first time I heard it. The fact that he didn't play an entire season only made him fresher than everyone else on the court. The man averaged over 30 ppg that series (on .477% shooting, compared to Pippen's 19 on .409%). He wasn't rusty by any means. The Magic were the only team to beat the dynasty Bulls with him on the court and that fact deserves recognition. Did they lose the following year? Yes. Was Horace Grant injured for the entire series (after Chicago had added Rodman, no less?) Also yes. I don't know about you, but I'll take a supposedly rusty player averaging 31 ppg over a key player being injured any day.

MJ actually returned to the NBA in '95. The Magic had to beat him to get to the Finals that year. They got swept by him the following year, when the Bulls had their best season, but he wouldn't have been unstoppable had we kept our team together.