What Not To Miss

So you’re heading to Orlando and you probably want to ‘do it all’ and get full value for your trip to this holiday haven. What you probably want to know is: what are the essential, mustn’t-miss attractions for your 1, 2 or 3 weeks in Vacation Central?

To a certain extent, it is up to you; there is simply so MUCH on offer here in Central Florida – from theme parks, to water parks, museums, dinner shows, shops, nightclubs, restaurants and some amazing natural attractions (like airboat rides, manatee swims and canoeing) – that it is impossible to be definitive about exactly what you need to do.

However, we can be fairly sure the main item on your agenda will be the theme parks, as Orlando is home to seven of the best in the world (eight if you count Busch Gardens in nearby Tampa). In fact, there is nowhere like this anywhere else on the planet, which is why you need to do your ‘homework’ for Orlando like no other holiday.

Other resorts (notably Disneyland Resort Paris, which actually draws more British visitors owing to its proximity to good old Blighty, and Disneyland California) offer similar experiences, but nowhere is their menu of entertainment quite as rich and rewarding as Orlando.

You also need to avoid falling into the pitfall that many first-timers do, in thinking of Disney World (or the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, to give it its full title) as just one park or (possibly even worse) that you can walk to all of them from one point.

So let’s start with the basics – Walt Disney World. This vast resort actually consists of FOUR distinct, separate theme parks, 20 speciality hotel resorts, a campground, two water parks, a sports complex, four 18-hole golf courses, four mini-golf courses and a huge shopping and entertainment district, Downtown Disney. It covers a massive 47 square miles (about the size of Greater Manchester) and there are likely to be around 200,000 visitors within those confines at any one time (in fact, it sometimes seems like there are at least that number in the same queue as you!).

There are more than 300 places to eat, almost twice as many shops and some 24,000 hotel rooms. It has its own road system (which can amaze and bewilder in equal measure), fire department and security, and its car parks are large enough to swallow small counties. You CANNOT walk from park to park (unless you enjoy one-hour hikes in the hot Florida sun) and you are bombarded with choice at almost every turn. Stay two weeks and you MIGHT see most of it; one week gives you the basics.

PRO SPOT: Here’s where you need to be savvy when it comes to getting around between the parks. Yes, it IS possible to ‘park-hop’ at times, either to enjoy the evening fireworks at another park or to escape the crowds (which can vary from park to park on different days), but you have to allow plenty of time, and this obviously takes away from your overall park time. You have to weigh up whether it is worth the time (and hassle) to exit, say, Disney-MGM Studios in order to hop over to the Magic Kingdom. It can take a tedious hour to do these kind of transfers when it’s really busy. More of this later!

So here’s how you plan: the Magic Kingdom park usually requires two days to ensure you have done it all, especially with younger children. The Epcot park is similar, with Future World and World Showcase almost like two parks in one. Disney-MGM Studios then needs one full day, unless it is one of the busiest times of the year, as does Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

If you enjoy the water parks (and Disney have two of the best, open year-round and fully heated in case of cold weather), you will want to try out both the wonderfully themed Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon, the latter of which boasts a ‘water-coaster’ – a tube ride which goes uphill as well as down – called Crush ’n Gusher, which is magnificent fun.

That little lot would amount to at least eight full days of Disney mania. Then you can add on the best part of a day for some shopping and entertainment at Downtown Disney, maybe some golf or mini-golf, at least a day by the pool to recover from all the miles you will walk in the parks (probably two), and, perhaps, a visit to one of the especially beautiful resort hotels, like Animal Kingdom Lodge, The Boardwalk or Wilderness Lodge (not an essential part of your plan, but a highly worthwhile diversion).

PRO SPOT: ‘We’re not staying in a Disney resort; can we still visit one of them?’ This is a question we hear repeatedly, and the answer is most definitely Yes! The likes of Animal Kingdom Lodge are magnificently scenic and contain some superb facilities which are well worth seeing and, in the case of their restaurants, highly recommended for a special meal at some point in your holiday. Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of the best dinner buffets you will find anywhere, while the five-star Jiko restaurant is our special favourite for a romantic occasion.

So, you have got eight days planned already – and you haven’t set foot out of Walt Disney World! Perhaps now you start to get some idea of the complexity and amazing scale of what’s on offer. We don’t want to frighten anyone off here, but you simply have to have a good idea of what you’re getting into before you leave home.

Universal Orlando is the second major resort destination to take into consideration, and this can often require three full days at busy times of the year (although it will be just two days at quieter times, when waiting is less than half an hour per ride). Their essential two parks are Universal Studios Florida, an excellent family-orientated park with a couple of standout thrill attractions, and Islands of Adventure, which is Orlando’s No 1 park for white-knuckle thrills. The latter may not necessarily keep younger children fully occupied for the day, which is where the multi-day tickets can be especially handy, as you can simply hop across to Universal Studios if you have seen enough of Islands of Adventure.

PRO SPOT: More on park hopping. While it is perfectly do-able to hop between Disney parks (or to go from Universal Studios to Islands of Adventure, or vice versa, which takes barely 10 minutes), it is NOT advisable to go from Disney to Universal, or Universal to SeaWorld. As well as it being more time-consuming (it can take half an hour just to get out of the Magic Kingdom and back to your car sometimes, as it is such a convoluted exercise), it will cost EXTRA as you will have to pay the additional parking fee at Universal, Disney or SeaWorld. You pay only once to park at any of Disney’s theme parks, while Universal have just one parking structure that covers both parks.

After Universal, you should also have SeaWorld on your to-do list. In fact, we would put it second only to Disney in some instances, as it is a fabulous park if you have younger children and it has a more relaxing and naturalistic aspect than the others, which many British visitors find especially appealing. In the past, you could expect to do SeaWorld in little more than half a day, but nowadays it requires a full day’s visit, especially in high season when they finish with a firework-and-special-effects flourish called Mistify. The shows alone are worth paying to see here (don’t miss Believe and Blue Horizons!), and we find that many people schedule a second day with Shamu and Co whether it is busy or not (and you are unlikely to encounter serious crowds here apart from the major holidays).

So, you can easily be up to 13 full days JUST doing these seven parks, and that is without considering the option of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, the sister park to SeaWorld, with a more laid-back zoo style that is mixed with an array of out-and-out high-thrill roller coasters, including the outstanding new SheiKra, the world’s highest and fastest dive coaster (a vertical drop machine that is truly stunning).

Then, once you have filled in your theme park ‘want’ list, there are plenty more attractions waiting to jump into your planning. The Kennedy Space Center is under an hour’s drive from Orlando to the east, and, while it probably won’t appeal much to under 6s, there is enough here to keep most families fully occupied for the best part of a day.

Just about everyone also wants at least a day’s Shopping as part of their essential Orlando experience, and we can thoroughly recommend a number of outlets and centres for some great bargains, as well as additional entertainment and fab restaurants. For the best malls, visit either the sparkling Mall at Millenia or the massive Florida Mall; for outlet shopping (brand names often at heavily discounted prices), try Prime Outlets, Orlando Premium Outlets or Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores; and, for a good mix of the two, Festival Bay centre at the top of International Drive offers some unique one-off shops worth seeking out, while the new Winter Garden Village at Fowler Grove, just off Hwy 429 features major names such as Target, Best Buy, Lowes and much more.

PRO SPOT: It is hard to overestimate the value and attraction of all the shopping opportunities in the Orlando area. Many regular visitors spend two, three or more days just cruising the stores and malls, of which more are springing up all the time, and first-timers will be goggle-eyed at the huge variety of goods on offer – and the bargain prices in most instances. However, beware the urge to fill extra suitcases with new purchases as you will run into baggage allowance problems on your return trip, while your Duty Free gift allowance is a mere £145 per person, and it is easy to surpass that figure. Clothes, trainers, cosmetics and some electrical goods (like i-Pods) are all especially good value, and there are big savings to be had on many designer labels at the outlet centres.

The many varieties of Dinner Shows are another mainstream experience hereabouts, and it is hard to avoid trying at least one, even if they seem rather corny (and the food is often less than gourmet fare). The Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede and Medieval Times shows both feature some outstanding entertainment (and hearty meals), while Sleuths Mystery Dinner Theater is a more offbeat and small-scale version with adult appeal, with plenty of humour (if you find the likes of murder-mysteries amusing!).  Children are drawn to Pirates Dinner Adventure and the fun Arabian Nights.

If you manage to shoe-horn that little lot into a two or even three-week itinerary you will have done extremely well indeed. Hopefully you can also see how easy it is to get side-tracked or overwhelmed by what’s in store. Once again, the sheer choice of everything on offer, not to mention the quality and scale, comes as a great surprise for the first-timer, and it will help enormously if you are fully prepared for the main attractions.

And then, of course, there are the smaller-scale attractions, the kind of things which won’t ruin your holiday if you miss them out but which might well add a really memorable extra experience and help to highlight your trip to Florida. Because it is easy to overlook the fact you are still in the real world, no matter how many days you spend in the artificial realities of the theme parks. More to the point, it would be a real shame if you came all this way and then didn’t experience something of the real Florida.

To that end, we highly recommend you take an Airboat ride or visit one of the many state parks in the region. These will give you a real flavour of the Sunshine State, which, while it may not boast much in the way of hills and dramatic scenery, does offer some beautiful vistas, nature trails and fascinating flora and fauna.

PRO SPOT: On the subject of the flora and fauna, the two things to avoid are the local mosquitoes and fire ants. Both bite and leave nasty marks, but in different ways. Mosquitoes are in evidence in all but winter and you should use bug repellant sprays, wipes or roll-ons (you will find all three at good prices at the Walgreens and CVS ‘drug stores’ or chemists) when visiting places like Boggy Creek Airboats and the nature parks. The theme parks and water parks have anti-mosquito programmes which usually keep the mozzie population at bay, but it is still advisable to wear a repellant in summer evenings outdoors (we have been bitten to bits at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort during the day, for example). Fire ants are particularly insidious, although you are unlikely to encounter them unless you go out into the wilds, play golf or hire a vacation home with a badly-kept garden. Fire ants create small, conical, brown nests and positively swarm out if the nest is touched, biting instantly and often. Just take care where you tread if you go off the beaten track at all. Florida does also have a variety of snakes, but it is fairly rare to encounter one.

Boggy Creek Airboats are a company we know well and thoroughly recommend for both airboat rides (by day and night) and their new Nature Safari tours. Their main location on Southport Park, Lake Tohopekaliga, is a bit of a trek (about 30 minutes’ south of Highway 192, the main tourist route through Kissimmee) but they feature the most modern boats and some of the most experienced captains in the area. A half-day out here will give you a real taste of proper Florida.

Equally, Wekiva Springs State Park in Seminole County (just to the north of Orlando) is another trek into the unspoiled side of the state, with miles of trails, rivers, horse-rides, canoes and kayaks to try. There are many more you could try – including Florida Eco-Safaris south of Kissimmee, Disney’s Wilderness Preserve in Poinciana and the St John’s River in Seminole – and this is an area we have pioneered in the Brit’s Guide to Orlando in our Off The Beaten Track chapter.

For another real-life Florida adventure that you might want to pencil in, the chance to Swim with Manatees is an experience that thrills many and, while not one of the really essential attractions, it is a magnificent opportunity to try something that provides some great memories (and photos).

PRO SPOT: If you schedule the more low-key attractions in between a few of the main theme park days, you will give yourself a much-needed break from the tourist hurley-burley, which becomes very wearing after a few days. Even a half day’s shopping will provide a welcome respite and help recharge your batteries. You simply can’t afford to schedule 5 or 6 successive days’ of pure theme park mania without suffering some serious post-traumatic stress disorder and mutiny on the part of the children!

Finally, the more energetic will probably want to sample some of the local Nightlife on their Orlando campaign – and, once again, there is an excellent array on offer. Both Disney and Universal have their own complete, on-site entertainment districts that include shops, restaurants, cinemas and nightclubs. The Downtown Disney area is a magnificent mix of one-of-a-kind stores, unique eateries and sparkling entertainment, including a new Irish-style pub called Raglan Road, with the addition of a whole nightclub district called Pleasure Island. Universal’s CityWalk is a similar combination of tasty dining – from gourmet to fast food – unusual shops and live music, and we would class a visit to at least one of them as essential.

PRO SPOT:Please don’t make the mistake of confusing the American term ‘downtown’ with anything seedy or somewhere to be avoided. Downtown Orlando is NOT the run-down part (!) but actually the city centre, and quite a few miles removed from Disney and Co. It is well worth a visit in its own right, especially in the evening, and it can be quite lively – bordering on the raucous – on Fridays and Saturdays.

Along with the evening entertainment, you may also want to make a note of a few of the great Dining opportunities throughout the area, from the theme parks to some of the outlying areas. As a general rule, the theme parks do not serve up the best of fare, although there are a few shining exceptions (the Epcot park has a good number of great restaurants, Disney-MGM Studios has a couple, as does Universal’s Islands of Adventure, while SeaWorld boasts the excellent Sharks Underwater Grill, a true original for décor and cuisine).

If you head towards one of either Disney or Universal’s resort hotels, you will definitely encounter more than a handful of great restaurants, while the International Drive area is also full of promise for a good meal.

PRO SPOT: If you are looking for some of the best value fare in Walt Disney World, head to the Fort Wilderness Resort, where you will find the Trails End Restaurant. This buffet lunch and dinner offering serves up plenty of good old fashioned home cookin’, with barbecue, chicken, sweet corn, pulled pork and other Southern delicacies; enough to feed a small army and at a decent price (by theme park standards).

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