Five years ago, tourism officials were wrapping their heads around a new world of theme park reservations, temperature checks at turnstiles, amped-up sanitization procedures and the very concept of social distance as the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly transformed their business.

Some procedures faded with the virus, and others evolved into practices that continue within the travel industry.

In 2020 and 2021, the Orlando Sentinel asked five tourism experts what trends to anticipate. Now, in 2025, they talk about the pandemic’s lasting effects as well as new trends in international travel, room service and rooftop bars.

Magic Kingdom visitors interact with Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, too, after masking restrictions were loosened in 2021. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Reservation station

Date-specific reservations for theme parks didn’t last in most places, but the technology used has accelerated related developments, said Curtis Parks, managing partner at Jacksonville-based Icon Experiences.

“From that, spawns all these new options that you can do with your ticketing systems, from dynamic pricing to bundling your hotel and your park tickets and food, and passholders can now add friends to their ticket purchases, and online tickets being sent to digital wallets,” he said.

Park reservations emerged as attractions ended pandemic-related shutdowns in 2020. Walt Disney World continues to require reservations with some ticket types, although with fewer restrictions.

An emphasis on online purchases and cleanliness influenced the trend of cashless parks at SeaWorld attractions, Busch Gardens and Six Flags locations, Parks said. Disney and Universal never stopped taking cash.

“All the major players were all still taking cash, and then when the pandemic hit, they suspended that and went to cards only and pushing everybody online,” he said.

“They say it’s faster and safer and more secure. … You don’t have the big cash vaults anymore like you used to have at the parks,” he said.

On the upside, billions of dollars are being invested in paused or once-canceled theme-park projects, a sign of confidence, Parks said.

“You’re betting on the American families and people visiting the parks, and that’s exciting to see,” he said.

SeaWorld Orlando’s parking lot stands empty as theme parks experienced a pandemic-related shutdown in 2020. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Fading influences

The pandemic’s influence has faded as far as future attractions go, said Brian Morrow, owner of B Morrow Productions, a Kissimmee-based design studio that works on projects for theme parks, resorts and museums.

“The words pandemic and COVID are rarely used in any design process currently. They were back in ‘21, but now you don’t hear it at all. … Clients aren’t using those words,” he said.

Another bygone factor is the fear of touch screens.

“We do some work in the educational category, so a lot of touch screens are used there … and all that [concern] has gone away,” Morrow said. “It really has dissipated. It’s not a top topic.”

Epic Universe: Early ground-level pictures of new Orlando theme park

Talk about virtual queues has decreased, but reservations have lingered at some attractions for crowd management and guest satisfaction, he said. Gaylord Palms  Resort retained them for its holiday season “Ice” attraction.

“They kept it because it allowed them to remove this massive queue line that they would build and these massive 9 a.m. arrivals for guests,” Morrow said.

Changes to chew on

On the food front, dining at Walt Disney World is back to its old ways, with some exceptions, said AJ Wolfe, who runs the Disney Food Blog, a site independent from Disney World.

“Everything is returned to normal in terms of character meals and buffets,” two fan favorites that were suspended during the pandemic, she said.

Some restaurants inside the theme parks are not open as much as they were. And some eateries have altered dining options. For instance, Be Our Guest restaurant at Magic Kingdom bagged counter service at lunchtime in favor of a prix fixe menu, Wolfe said. A la carte service at California Grill atop the Contemporary Resort also is gone, she said.

In Disney-owned resorts, room service is available at the Grand Floridian only, Wolfe said. It could be a staffing or financial issue, she said. There are also no 24-hour eateries on Disney property now, she said.

“There were so many issues with staffing, and it could just be that they haven’t rehired for those particular things,” she said.

There’s also been the rise of food-delivery services. It’s likely a less expensive option than room service would be, Wolfe said.

“DoorDash or Uber Eats or whatever are so prominent, and they will deliver to your hotel,” she said. “The biggest difference is that you have to put on clothes because you have to go down and get it.”

Universal Studios visitors ride The Incredible Hulk Coaster with empty rows providing social distance when the park reopened in June 2020. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Filling rooms

Hotel occupancy in the U.S. is not as robust as in 2019, said Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality, for CoStar Group, an Arlington, Virginia-based real estate company that tracks real-estate analytics.

“You would think that we’ve made up for that,” he said. “The good news is that, of course, room rates are 30% higher than they were back then.”

Industry trends that surged during the pandemic include keyless entry and remote check-in for rooms, and those have lasted.

The mindset that rooms don’t need to be cleaned daily paired pandemic precautions with hoteliers’ desire to fulfill green expectations, Freitag said.

But then during pandemic times “a lot of people got laid off, and then as they got rehired again, the unions were saying, ‘Wait, wait, wait, if we need less, if you make housekeeping optional, then we need less housekeepers, which means we have less union members, which means we have less union dues. And we don’t like that.’” he said.

A more visible hotel trend to emerge from the pandemic: Rooftop bars.

“They were always sort of in vogue in, like, ‘17, ‘18, ‘19, but I think if you build a hotel today, you will have a rooftop bar,” Freitag said. “It is just such a great magnet, and customers love it, and even locals like it. … Outdoors plus food and beverage makes for a winning combination.”

Brit parade

“Looking back to where we were in 2021, there was no immediate sign, certainly, of the international market coming back. There was a lot of doom and gloom about it,” said Simon Veness, co-author of “The Brit Guide to Orlando” as well as “111 Places in Orlando That You Must Not Miss” with his wife Susan Veness.

For Orlando-bound Brits, “bookings for this year are pretty much on a par with last year, which were pretty much getting back to pre-pandemic levels,” Veness said.

“The bad news, looking just beyond the U.K. market, is that Germany, France and Scandinavia are all trending down for us in visitation this year and especially in the last couple of months,” Veness said. “Orlando doesn’t rely a lot on those particular markets, but they’re not unsubstantial.”

Now competing for European tourists is the United Arab Emirates, which is marketing heavily in the U.K. and the U.S., he said.

“That could certainly be one place that would have an immediate appeal for the U.K. and for Western Europe because it’s a shorter flight than to the U.S. or certainly to Florida,” Veness said.

There is evidence that some people are “politically disinclined” to visit the United States now, he said.

“The good news for Orlando and Florida is that it’s a slightly different kettle of fish,” Veness said. “The U.K., in particular, tends to still see it as this fantasy destination that is divorced from reality.”

Generally, Europeans don’t plan vacations as much in advance as Americans, he said, and he suspects some people are waiting until after Epic Universe opens at Universal Orlando on May 22. A large ticket broker in England reported record sales on the first day that Epic tickets could be purchased.

“That’s a pretty hefty sign that people are more turned on by the theme parks than they are turned off by the politics,” Veness said.

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. BlueSky: @themeparksdb. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.

It’s infectious, the love “Freaky Tales” has for the Oakland, California, of the mid-1980s.

You need not have grown up then and there — as one of the film’s co-writers and -directors, Ryan Fleck, did — to appreciate it, although having done so surely would give you all those nostalgic feelings Fleck is hoping to conjure. Shooting in Oakland in late 2022 and early ’23, the production clearly went to great lengths to re-create aspects of the city, a world away, if only 12 actual miles and some water, from its Bay Area neighbor, San Francisco.

Plus, two Oakland legends, rapper Too $hort and Golden State Warriors star Eric “Sleepy” Floyd, serve as significant characters in “Freaky Tales” AND make cameos in it. The former also serves as the film’s narrator, helping to establish its fun-and-fuzzy tone in its opening moments, informing the viewer that “Oakland in ’87 was hella wild,” talking about an electricity in the air and even throwing in a bit about some “cosmic green (expletive).”

In select theaters this week, “Freaky Tales” is the latest effort by Fleck and his filmmaking partner, Anna Boden, whose credits include 2006’s “Half Nelson,” 2015’s “Mississippi Grind” and, most notably, 2019 Marvel Cinematic Universe entry “Captain Marvel.” The generally entertaining “Freaky Tales” debuted in January 2024 at the Sundance Film Festival and certainly has that gritty, on-a-wing-and-a-prayer, film-fest feel.

Four separate but interconnected tales comprise “Tales,” helping it to stand out from the cinematic pack. (While Fleck, in the film’s production notes, cites mid-1980s flicks “Repo Man” and “The Last Dragon” for helping to inspire its retro feel and B-movie visual style, the nonlinear, overlapping structure and a few characters crossing paths in a diner feel like nods to Quentin Tarantino’s beloved 1994 jam, “Pulp Fiction.”)

If you don’t count a member of Hollywood royalty who makes a cameo as a man behind the counter at a video store (hint: Fleck and Boden directed two episodes of last year’s acclaimed historical limited Apple TV+ series “Masters of the Air”), the biggest names in the cast are “Star Wars” franchise alums Pedro Pascal and Ben Mendelsohn.

Neither appears in the first chapter, “The Gilman Strikes Back,” centered around 924 Gilman Street, a since-closed underground music club important to the East Bay punk scene, which produced such acts as Green Day and Rancid. Despite the fiery music played there, it’s home to a crowd that believes strongly in nonviolence.

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However, after a gang of skinheads invades the club, attacking both audience members and performers, folks such as patrons Tina (Ji-young Yoo) and Lucid (Jack Champion) consider whether they may have to change their ways to defend their turf.

Music is also a key component to the second tale, “Don’t Fight the Feeling,” in which up-and-coming female rap duo Danger Zone — Barbie (Dominique Thorne) and Entice (Normani) — are offered the chance to take on Too $hort (Bay Area rapper Symba) in a rap battle. (As with Tina and Lucid, we meet them outside the Grand Lake Theatre — after they’ve seen “The Lost Boys” — where they, too, have a not-so-pleasant exchange with the driving-by Nazis.)

Pascal (‘The Mandalorian,” “The Last of Us”) is front and center in the chapter that follows, “Born to Mack,” as Clint, a pain-imposing debt collector on what is supposed to be his last job. That takes place in the back of the aforementioned video store, outside of which sits Clint’s very pregnant wife (Natalia Dominguez) in their car.

Man, that last day on the job just never goes smoothly, does it?

Lastly, we get “The Legend of Sleepy Floyd,” built around a coordinated series of robberies of the homes of Warriors players during a home playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers in which Floyd scored an astonishing 29 points in the fourth quarter.

The big operation is put together by “The Guy” (Mendelsohn, “Captain Marvel,” “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”), who by this point already has had a not-so-comfortable interaction with Barbie at the ice cream shop where she and Entice work. It’s fair to say

The Guy will come to regret one house making the final cut of those to be hit on May 10, as “Tales” climaxes in a Tarantino-esque slice of revenge porn featuring Sleepy (Jay Ellis) striking back. (Regardless of what actually happened on that day in 1987, liberties have been taken here given the, well, mystical abilities possessed by the movie’s version of the hooper.)

This cropped image is from a promotional poster for “Freaky Tales.” (Courtesy of Lionsgate)

As a character famously says in “Pulp Fiction,” personality goes a long way, and “Freaky Tales” has a lot of it. A few sluggish stretches are outweighed by the incredibly well-executed throwback look of the film, with credit going to, among others, production designer Patti Podesta (“Jurassic Park,” “Memento”) and costume designer Neishea Lemle (“Hidden Figures,” “Black-ish”).

Its title borrowed from a 1987 Too $hort song, “Freaky Tales” ties together elements from its four stories more than you may expect by the time we get to its quirky but fitting epilogue.

According to the production notes, it took awhile — and several pitches — for Fleck to convince Boden they should make his love letter to 1987 Oakland. The world’s at least a slightly more colorful place now that they have.

‘Freaky Tales’

Where: Theaters.

When: April 4.

Rated: R for strong bloody violence, language throughout including slurs, sexual content and drug use.

Runtime: 1 hour, 47 minutes.

Stars (of four): 2.5.

By Abby Badach Doyle, NerdWallet

When you’re saving for your first home, it’s natural to wish for a helping hand. It might even feel like everyone else is getting a check from Mom and Dad. But if you don’t have a financial head start, where should you begin?

The good news: Homeownership isn’t just for the lucky few with a windfall. In fact, most first-time homebuyers don’t wait for one. According to the National Association of Realtors, only one in four first-time buyers used a gift or loan from family or friends to fund their down payment.

If you don’t have gift money to help buy a house, you’re not alone. Here’s your guide to getting it done.

Stop the mental doom loop

From high prices to mortgage rates, there’s a lot that feels unfair in today’s housing market. Scrolling through a social feed full of success stories can add to feelings of guilt and shame, says Rahkim Sabree, a financial therapist and accredited financial counselor.

“Too often, especially with social media, we start kind of getting whisked away in the possibilities of what can be — and that’s when we start comparing our journeys to other people’s,” he says.

The solution: Focus on your own values and priorities. After all, social media only shows someone’s highlight reel.

“We don’t know what it is that they have had access to, what kind of debt they had to go into and what longevity looks like, unfortunately, in their purchase,” Sabree says.

It may sound simple, but a can-do attitude can be a major power move. Once you’re in the right headspace, try an online calculator to see how much house you can afford. With a realistic budget, you can move from planning to action.

Assemble your squad

You don’t need a big check from your parents — but you do need a team of homebuying pros to have your back.

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If the whole process seems overwhelming, start with a housing counselor certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Anyone can benefit from their advice, especially buyers with credit challenges or a history of bankruptcy. HUD-certified counselors are available for free or at a low cost.

Next, find an experienced buyer’s agent who knows your local market. A great agent can spot a deal fast and hustle to get your offer accepted.

Then, find your mortgage matchmaker. Get pre-approved with at least three lenders to make sure you’re getting the lowest interest rate.

Another option: Have a mortgage broker shop around for you. Brokers charge a fee, but they have access to wholesale pricing and can often negotiate a lower rate than you’d find on your own.

Boost your budget

It’s no secret: There’s free money up for grabs for first-time homebuyers. If you don’t look into down payment and closing cost assistance programs, you could be leaving thousands of dollars on the table.

Start by looking at state housing agencies, local governments and nonprofits. Other sources include your employer, labor union or mortgage lender. Most money is set aside for first-time buyers with incomes below the area median, but some programs welcome repeat buyers or higher earners.

Arica Rucker, broker owner with Century 21 Rucker Real Estate in Charlotte, North Carolina, says most of her buyers don’t have family gifts, so they’re excited to discover they can get a financial boost.

“They’re in disbelief,” she says. “But then we run into the reality of them not really having money saved for the out-of-pocket expenses.”

The lesson: Even with down payment assistance, you’ll still need cash on hand once you go under contract. Have money saved for upfront expenses like your earnest money deposit, home inspection or moving costs.

Get creative

To snag a deal, consider less common options like short sales or foreclosures. If you’re up for the responsibility of being a landlord, you can look into “house hacking” an investment property, like a live-in duplex. These are all more complex transactions, but an experienced agent and loan officer can coach you through it.

Some creative financing options are riskier than others. Your homebuying squad can also help you understand the pros and cons of borrowing from any retirement funds you have saved, like a 401(k).

“Ideally, you would not touch that money,” Sabree says. “But in a situation where an individual doesn’t have access to gift money and they need to be creative around how to make the acquisition, certainly that’s something that they can do.”

Stay centered

Focus on your own journey, not someone else’s. Gift money helps, but it doesn’t guarantee an easier path. An inheritance can come with the massive weight of grief. A gift from living relatives can come with its own challenges, like blurred boundaries or an uneasy feeling that you “owe” the giver.

Instead, take charge of what you can control: Getting scrappy to reach your savings goals.

“Get a plan, write it down, make it specific,” Rucker says.

Sabree, who specializes in overcoming financial trauma, says it’s normal to shut down when you feel overwhelmed. In a state of despair, you might even convince yourself it’s foolish to want to buy a house at all.

Instead, when emotions run high, show yourself some compassion and try to stay focused on your goal.

“Make sure that you’re grounded in the now, right?” he says. “Make sure that you can feel the floor beneath your feet.”

Don’t dwell on the gift you didn’t get. You haven’t missed out — you’re just getting started.

Abby Badach Doyle writes for NerdWallet. Email: abadachdoyle@nerdwallet.com.

The article No Gift Money? No Problem: How to Afford a House On Your Own originally appeared on NerdWallet.

By WILL WEISSERT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump promised tariffs that would raise U.S. import taxes high enough to mirror what other assess as trade penalties on American goods.

What he’s actually imposing is based on far more complicated math.

Here’s a look at how the White House got its numbers:

Why do the new tariff rates often differ by country?

The Trump administration has declared an “economic emergency” to bypass Congress and impose a 10% tariff on nearly all countries and territories. It has set even higher levies for about 60 nations that it says are the “worst” offenders.

The 10% global tariffs take effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. The higher tariffs set for specific countries are due to kick in at one minute past midnight on April 9.

Among the so-called worst offenders is China, which Trump argues protect its producers through “malicious” trade practices in addition to tariffs. Those efforts include actions such as imposing value added taxes on all goods, dumping overproduced products on markets to artificially deflate prices, or manipulating currency.

To determine how much higher those nations’ rates should be, the White House says it calculated the size of each country’s trade imbalance on goods with the United States and divided that by how much America imports from that nation.

It then took half that percentage and made it the new tariff rate.

Why not just charge reciprocal rates?

The White House says its calculations kept new tariffs from going even higher for many countries and demonstrate that Trump is being “kind” to global trading partners.

The administration maintains that creating a baseline levy with few exemptions is necessary to keep China and others from skirting the new tariffs by manufacturing goods and then shipping them to Vietnam, Cambodia, Mexico or elsewhere to then be sent to the U.S.

That’s why the White House list of tariffed locations includes obscure places like the Heard and McDonald Islands, which are uninhabited. They are 2,550 miles (4,100 kilometers) from the coast of mainland Australia, which claims them as a territory.

Is every country affected?

No. Canada and Mexico are excluded because they already are facing 25% taxes on most imported goods that Trump announced last month, in an attempt to force both to crack down on fentanyl smuggling into the U.S.

The White House originally said all others would be affected by at least the 10% tariff. But administration officials clarified on Thursday that countries already subject to stiff U.S. sanctions — for example, Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine, as well as Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Belarus and Venezuela — will not face the new, 10% global base tariff.

Official said that is because sanctions and other existing barriers mean the U.S. has so little trade with those places that deficits are minimal.

Why is Trump doing this?

The president has spent months insisting America was at its wealthiest at the end of the Gilded Age in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when it imposed high tariffs as the key means to generating revenue for the federal government.

Trump even suggested Wednesday that the U.S. moving away from higher tariffs and toward a federal income tax in 1913 helped trigger the Great Depression of the 1930s — a claim that economists and historians roundly reject.

A more contemporary explanation might be found in Project 2025, a comprehensive blueprint compiled by leading conservatives about how to shrink the federal workforce and push Washington further to the right. It spelled out how Trump might impose high tariffs around the globe, giving his administration more room to negotiate lower levies with trading partners in exchange for U.S. priorities.

White House officials insist the new tariffs are more about closing trade deficits, stimulating U.S. manufacturing and generating government revenue than eventually negotiating new trading deals.

But Trump has shown he is willing to back off on threats of tariffs in exchange for offers of concessions. His administration has said the president is always ready to make deals, a sign the new tariffs may prove to be more bargaining chip than permanent policy.

Why do US trade imbalances matter?

American trade policy created a U.S. trade imbalance worth $1.2 trillion last year, a gap that some experts believe should be addressed in order to ensure the country’s long-term economic strength.

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But many economists say the trade imbalances that Trump is looking to correct are based on more than countries just using high tariffs or protectionist trade practices to boost their own exports. Basing the White House’s tariff math solely on trade deficits, for instance, fails to take into account U.S. consumer demand.

Americans relish buying BMWs assembled in Germany, as well as French wine and coffee beans from Guatemala, and their spending can fuel trade imbalances regardless of the tax and tariff policies of the countries producing those goods.

That means any attempt to close U.S. trade gaps by tariffs will likely mean increasing the cost of imported goods that Americans are buying, which in turn could hurt the economy because of increased inflationary pressures.

Associated Press writers Josh Boak and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.