An Insider's Look - Orlando From A Real Floridian

In this day of everyone tightening their budgets vacations have taken a definite back row to other household needs but as the old adage goes,” all work and no play….” More and more people are staying closer to home and seeking the best location to get the most bang for their buck. We here in Florida are fortunate to have one of the best places in the world to get the most for our hard earned shrinking dollar. Orlando has amusement parks, water parks, attractions such as dinner shows and a Ripley’s Believe it or Not. There are hotels and restaurants on almost every corner and convention centers and sports venues all over the city. No wonder Orlando is known as a favorite vacation destination not only in America but worldwide. I’ve lived in Florida for over 20 years and I can honestly say that Orlando is one of my favorite cities here, I do hate the traffic but that’s the price you pay for a visit to the ‘city’.

When you think about Orlando Attractions the first thing that comes to mind is most likely amusement parks and with good reason Orlando probably has more per capita than any other city in the U.S. Of course we all know of the biggies Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, Animal Kingdom and the recently renamed Hollywood Studio and did you also know that Disney has 2 water parks – Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon perfect on our hot summer days. There is also a non-Disney water park, Wet N’ Wild that is very popular with the locals.

Universal Studios also has two parks; their Universal Studio and Islands of Adventure and if you’re a Harry Potter fan, as so many of us are, they are opening a new themed adventure The Wizarding World of Harry Potter sometime in 2010.

Both Disney and Universal have their own shopping, dining and entertainment venues other than their Parks. For Disney its called Downtown Disney, here they have the exciting Cirque du Soleil, a circus/acrobatic/musical show that’s fun for all ages. They also have the House of Blues where you can have diner then catch on of your favorite bands on the stage they have in a separate theater next door, oh and be sure to keep you receipt from dinner, it allows you to get first seating. Fulton’s Crab house is unique because the restaurant itself is an authentic replica of an old riverboat. Bongos Cuban Café is a personal favorite where as the dinner hour is ending they move the tables to make room for dancing to the Latin bands that play there, Bongo’s is owned by the singer Gloria Estefan. If shopping is your thing Harley Davidson of Orlando has a shop here and there are many Disney themed places, as you’d expect, to get that last minute trinket you forgot from one of the parks.

Not to be outdone by Disney, Universal has a place too, it’s called City Walk. We spent a New Years Eve there a couple of years ago and had a ball. Universal’s AQUOS Theater is home of the Blue Man Group, this visual musical show is unique because the men performing it never speak, but that doesn’t keep them from communicating with the audience, definitely a must see show. Some other big draws to City Walk are the Hard Rock Café, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, the NASCAR Sports Grille and the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. They also have a row of night clubs where you can dance and party the night away to everything from Reggae at Bob Marley’s place to Pat O’Brien’s dueling piano bar where you’re part of the act too.

If you’d like to get away from the ‘themed’ part of Orlando it has many dinner shows on it’s own several popular one’s at Medieval Times, where they have live jousting and you cheer for the knight whose colored section you’re sitting in, oh you also get to get with your fingers there. Capone’s Dinner Theater is a musical dinner buffet set in Chicago circa 1920 something. Arabian Nights is also a crowd favorite which features the famous Arabian Horses and is a tale of fantasy and beauty. There are also unique restaurant there such as one of my favorites Café Tu Tu Tango, her they have nightly entertainment featuring dancers and local artists exhibiting their work but what I love about it is the menu is all in appetizer form which encourages everyone to share, so be sure to go with someone you like.

If you decide you want to kick back and relax from the rush that is Orlando be sure to visit the Orlando Beaches. Here you’ll find a great pier where you can fish drink, shop, eat, play volleyball or just relax and watch the surfers. While in the area here be sure to stop by the Kennedy Space Center or visit Cape Canaveral where the Port of Canaveral is located. At the port you can watch a cruise or cargo ship coming or going or even get the rare treat we got one day as we watched a submarine surface and head into the port, you truly never know what you’ll see.

Forget a week, you could spend a month in Orlando and never see all there is to see or do everything there is to do, I guess you’ll just have to make plans to come back again, real soon.