Things to do in Orlando, FL

You could plan a whole week's vacation around the big three theme parks - Walt Disney World Resort, SeaWorld Orlando and Universal Orlando Resort - and barely scratch the surface. At Animal Kingdom you can lunch with zebras and giraffesright outside the window. Discovery Cove, a sister park of SeaWorld, has guests touring the lagoon via An Atlantic bottlenose dolphin’s dorsal fin. Universal lets you fully immerse yourself in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Don't miss this if you're a Harry Potter fan!

Playing pro basketball in a brand new arena in downtown Orlando, the Orlando Magic have a loyal local fan base which swells with ticket-holding visitors. If your city doesn't have an NBA team, then check the team's calendar before you travel. You may get to enjoy the excitement of pro basketball while you're in central Florida.

The Orange County Convention Center is the second largest convention center in the nation. It plays host to trade shows and conventions that attract people from around the globe. The Surf Expo, Southern Women’s Show and the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions/IAAPA to name a few. This place is so large, in fact, if...  

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You could plan a whole week's vacation around the big three theme parks - Walt Disney World Resort, SeaWorld Orlando and Universal Orlando Resort - and barely scratch the surface. At Animal Kingdom you can lunch with zebras and giraffesright outside the window. Discovery Cove, a sister park of SeaWorld, has guests touring the lagoon via An Atlantic bottlenose dolphin’s dorsal fin. Universal lets you fully immerse yourself in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Don't miss this if you're a Harry Potter fan!

Playing pro basketball in a brand new arena in downtown Orlando, the Orlando Magic have a loyal local fan base which swells with ticket-holding visitors. If your city doesn't have an NBA team, then check the team's calendar before you travel. You may get to enjoy the excitement of pro basketball while you're in central Florida.

The Orange County Convention Center is the second largest convention center in the nation. It plays host to trade shows and conventions that attract people from around the globe. The Surf Expo, Southern Women’s Show and the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions/IAAPA to name a few. This place is so large, in fact, if Chicago’s Sears Tower, 1,454 feet in height, was placed on its side, it would fit lengthwise inside the Orange County Convention Center’s exhibition space, including the antenna atop the Sears tower. And, get this: the Valencia Ballroom is larger than a football field, including the end zones. It can hold up to 6,000 people at one time. Pretty impressive.

No matter what floats your boat, you can do it in Orlando.  Downtown Disney and Universal CityWalk provide adults with a one-stop destination for all sorts of entertainment.   CityWalk is home to Blue Man Group, Hard Rock Cafe, Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, and a host of bars and dance clubs.  Downtown Disney is the permanent home to Cirque du Soleil (a must if you've never been, and great for families) as well a House of Blues stage, and Pleasure Island . . . another cluster of bars and dance clubs.   Sand Lake Road holds countless restaurants with live music.  Downtown is legendary for weekend festivals.   And International Drive has everything from helicopter rides and simulated skydiving to a Ripley's Museum and cinema multiplex.  B.B. King's Restaurant & Blues Club has one of the best house bands in America; dancing is irresistable here.   Get your party on in Orlando.   

Orlando not only has plenty of green space, it also has lots of lakes. . . there are nearly 100 of them! From boating to jet skiing to fishing, there are a number of ways to enjoy being out on the water. Parks are easy to come by, too. Stroll alongside Lake Eola Park, admire the award-winning Camelias at Harry P. Leu Gardens, or pack a picnic lunch and head for Cypress Grove. Theme Parks give the impression that everything in Orlando is man- made, but what Mother Nature put here first is magnificent.

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...  Read more »

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, 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.