"Orlando & its Theme Parks" Orlando by noidiotsplease

Florida is full of great destinations offering magnificent beaches, rich history and outstanding natural ecotourism appeal. Orlando has no beaches, offers comparatively little historical significance and at best has a few noteworthy nature sights. Despite these disadvantages, Orlando is Florida’s strongest tourist magnet and one of the most visited destinations in the world. Of course, the explanation is simple: theme parks – and lots of them!

Greater Orlando is home to seven major destination theme parks (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney-MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom, Sea World, Universal Studios, and Islands of Adventure), a few smaller-scale theme parks (Discovery Cove, Holy Land, and Splendid China) and a few water parks (Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach and Wet N’ Wild). Restaurant chains, shopping malls and night spots also abound, particularly near the theme parks, and the city is second only to Las Vegas in the number of hotel rooms offered. In other words, visitors to Orlando have a LOT of decisions to make when planning a trip here.

While the city of Orlando has a population slightly greater than 200,000, about 1.5 million people live in the four-county metropolitan area and countless thousands of others visit the area on any given day. It is a living, working city with a high-rise downtown, booming suburban areas, older neighborhoods of character, shopping malls, highways and everything else characteristic of a typical major American metropolis. Interstate 4 is the major route bisecting Metro Orlando from northeast to southwest and it’s frequently congested.

Greater Orlando is only a 2 - 2 ½ hour drive from Jacksonville, so I have been visiting attractions, restaurants, malls, and other points of interest in and around the city just about every year for as long as I can remember. I have been to five of the major seven parks – four of which at least four times. I have also been to one water park, made several trips to the restaurants and shops of Universal’s CityWalk, and have been to Downtown Disney too many times to count! Here now is a brief orientation to Mickey’s metropolitan area.

Sea World Orlando

For starters, you should know that visitors to Orlando typically spend most if not all of their time just southwest of the city, as this is where all the major attractions are located. For instance, Disney’s parks, shopping and nightlife destinations are actually nestled in acres of woodlands around the attractive resort town of Lake Buena Vista. The name “Lake Buena Vista” is really interchangeable with “Walt Disney World” as Disney owns all the land in and around the town, and everything here is designed to feel “magical” from the whimsical architecture of Disney-owned resorts and corporate buildings to the efficient transportation network of inter-park expressways, monorails and buses. Of course, numerous hotel and restaurant chains also abound here. Downtown Disney, the lakeside shopping, dining and nightlife center of Lake Buena Vista, is comprised of three districts: Marketplace, featuring nice emporiums peddling every kind of Disney themed merchandise and fun restaurants like Rainforest Cafe; Pleasure Island, which remains relatively sedate by day but comes alive at night with clubs featuring all kinds of music styles, comedy and even storytelling for the 18 and up crowd (in addition to its nightly New Years Eve street party); and the West Side, home to Cirque Du Soleil, Disney Quest virtual reality attraction, a movie megaplex, upscale restaurants, galleries and collectible shops, and a few recognizable names like Virgin Records Megastore and House of Blues. Not far away, the town of Kissimmee has also benefited as a convenient, albeit tackier, gateway to Disney World. Home of Gatorland, Kissimmee is a bit overrun with old fashioned tourist diversions (e.g. a building dubbed the “world’s largest orange”) and dime a dozen souvenir shops. Meanwhile, Sea World and the colossal Orange County Convention Center are located a little further up I-4 from the Disney area, actually straddling the city limits of Orlando along always whimsical (and congested) International Drive. International Drive is lined on both sides with all kinds of interesting architecture including imaginative hotels, museums like Ripley’s Believe It or Not and Wonderworks, restaurants, and curiously odd roadside attractions. Across I-4 from the heart of International Drive is the self contained resort area of Universal Orlando. Here Universal’s two parks are connected by CityWalk, which boasts a collection of destination restaurants like Hard Rock Café and Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville that allow it to rival Downtown Disney. Universal also has four on-property resorts of its own, and a handful of other hotels in the surrounding area. A little north of the Universal and International Drive areas on either side of I-4, are the Holy Land Experience and the upscale Mall at Millenia Collectively, Lake Buena Vista, Kissimmee, International Drive and Universal Orlando are where the overwhelming majority of pleasure-seeking visitors find their accommodations.

Downtown Orlando

Northeast of the attractions area, I-4 bisects Downtown Orlando. While Downtown doesn’t have a lot of tall buildings, it does have a growing, distinctive glassy skyline. The city lacks any kind of riverfront or harbor, but Lake Eola Park is a peaceful place to stroll offering great views of the Orlando skyline wrapped around small but pretty Lake Eola. Located between the Downtown business district and the emerging, trendy Thornton Park neighborhood, Lake Eola Park features a nice, easily-walkable trail that circumnavigates the lake in addition to an ampitheater, playground and duck ponds. In the lake itself is a large, tiered fountain. Visitors can even get out on the water by renting a swan boat. Across I-4 from the central business district is the home arena of the NBA’s Orlando Magic. Not far from downtown, the Henry P. Leu Gardens is a beautiful lakeside oasis of various trees and flowering plants that even has a nice, shady picnic area. (On Mondays, admission to the Leu Gardens is free, but other days it costs $7).

If upscale shopping and dining establishments nestled along a quaint Main Street style setting is more to your liking, then head to the nearby ritzy town of Winter Park. Here, historic Park Avenue draws discriminating tastes to its blocks of fashionable boutiques, fine eateries and landscaped green spaces. Upscale chains like Cheesecake Factory and Ruths Chris Steakhouse can also be found within a short drive of Park Avenue.

Not too far away from Winter Park in the unincorporated area east of Orlando, suburbia abounds near the campus of the popular University of Central Florida. At UCF, visitors can watch the "Knights" compete in football, baseball, basketball, and other NCAA Division 1 sports.

Further to the northeast along I-4, booming Seminole County is the front door to Greater Orlando for travelers arriving by car from I-95. Here, bustling suburban cities like Sanford and Altamonte Springs offer malls, big box retailers, restaurants, office parks and subdivisions just off the Interstate. Located on a large lake through which the St. Johns River flows, Sanford features an inland port, a historic downtown waterfront, the Central Florida Zoo and a new commercial airport that serves as a less-crowded alternative to busy Orlando International. Sanford is also the northeastern starting point of a less traveled toll beltway, SR 417, that bypasses Orlando by looping south and west all the way to Disney World.

• Pros:Sea World, Disney World, Universal
• Cons:Terrible traffic due to lots of tourists who don't know where they are going!