Orlando Guide » More About Orlando: Overview

Overview

Ever-changing and ever-growing, Orlando possesses many diverse features that seamlessly mesh in one ideal destination. Theme parks and first-rate tourist attractions stand alongside a wide array of cultural venues, promising something for everyone. Disney® itself features four major parks, including timeless Magic Kingdom® Park, star-struck Disney-MGM Studios, wild Disney's Animal Kingdom®, and visionary EPCOT®. Meanwhile, Universal Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure invite folks into an exciting pseudo-reality, where cartoon characters roam and movie sets come alive. SeaWorld also provides family-oriented recreation, including live animal shows and wildlife in natural habitats.

Rounding out the opportunities, cultural venues provide stimulating programs and educational development. Orlando, in fact, prides itself on its vast, well-rounded museum scene. In Winter Park, visitors marvel at beautiful, stained-glass works by Louis Comfort Tiffany at Charles Hosmer Morse Museum, and in lovely Loch Haven Park, American art from pre-historic times to the present is exhibited at the Orlando Museum of Art.

In addition, Orlando is known as "The City Beautiful." Lush landscaping and pristine natural areas are accompanied by more than 300 lakes and rivers, wildlife-filled preserves and parks, and well-manicured public spaces and gardens. Harry P. Leu Gardens, one such spot of natural beauty, showcases more than fifty acres of immaculately maintained flowers, plants, and trees.

Dining options are plentiful as well, and restaurants range from casual to upscale, economical to pricey, and fast-food to gourmet. Top-quality chains, themed establishments, and family-oriented places fit the needs of hungry tourists. Many eateries are clustered in the International Drive and Sand Lake Road areas, not to mention on the campuses of both Disney® and Universal – especially in Downtown Disney® and on Universal Studios CityWalk. Upscale dining rooms pepper the city as well, as evidenced by the Park Plaza Gardens in Winter Park and Victoria and Albert's at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.

After the sun goes down, residents and tourists seek R&R at the town's numerous nightspots. Main hubs of nighttime entertainment include Downtown Disney® Westside, Downtown Disney® Pleasure Island, Universal Studios CityWalk, and downtown Orlando's Orange Avenue. Whether you're partying at Disney's La Nouba (a Cirque du Soleil show), Universal's Latin Quarter, or downtown's Tabu Night Club, there's much to enjoy. Winter Park and the famed I-drive also offer popular nighttime attractions.

Ranked as one of the nation's fastest growing areas, Orlando boasts a population of 1.7 million, making it the ideal place for businesses to recruit qualified employees. Tourism, in particular, comprises a large part of Orlando's economic base, bolstered by more than 95 attractions and 110,000 hotel rooms. Beyond leisure, the city attracts major corporate headquarters, including those of Signature Flight Services and Indra Systems, Inc. Manufacturing plants, communication companies, and high-tech research enterprises also call the area home, tapping into one of the country's top ten business locations.

Thanks to a diverse business and tourism base, Orlando continues to grow beyond even its current bounds. The energy that drives such growth helps make it an ideal spot to live and work. Plus, the city enjoys the vibrancy brought about by a wealth of theme parks, sightseeing opportunities, cultural attractions, and dining and nightlife spots. With all of these features and benefits, it's not hard, then, to deduce why Orlando is considered the perfect vacation spot – more than sunny climes and year-round mild temperatures make it the place to be.