™
™
World-renowned art
galleries and museums. Championship golf. Hair-raising roller
coasters. Distinctive dining. High-energy nightlife. Inspiring scenery
and nature. Major-league shopping. Invigorating spas. Unrivaled theme
parks and attractions. And of course, miles of smiles. All the
essential ingredients for an over-the-top vacation.
|
Only in Orlando
can you can go relax while you can reconnect with your kids and the kid
in you. Bring back memories in your heart, not just in your
camera. All it takes is once, but you'll want to come back again and
again.
|
||||
Return to the Florida Home Page |
|||||
©
™
The Orlando area is home to a wide variety of
tourist attractions, including the Walt Disney World resort, Universal Orlando
Resort, and SeaWorld Orlando. The Walt Disney World resort is the area's largest
attraction with its many facets such as the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney
Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach, and Downtown
Disney. SeaWorld Orlando is a large adventure park that features numerous
zoological displays and marine animals alongside an amusement park with roller
coasters and water park. Universal Orlando, like Walt Disney World, is a
multi-faceted resort comprised of Universal Studios, CityWalk, and the Islands
of Adventure theme park.
Perhaps the most critical event for Orlando's economy occurred in 1965 when Walt
Disney announced plans to build Walt Disney World. Although Disney had
considered the cities of Miami and Tampa for his park, one of the major reasons
behind his decision not to locate in those cities was the threat of hurricanes.
The famous vacation resort opened in October 1971, ushering in an explosive
population and economic growth for the Orlando metropolitan area, which now
encompasses Orange, Seminole, Osceola, and Lake counties. As a result, tourism
became the centerpiece of the area's economy and Orlando is consistently ranked
as one of the top vacation destinations in the world.
Other attractions in the Greater Orlando area include:
Arboretum of the University of Central Florida
Blue Spring State Park, which is the winter home of large numbers of Florida
manatees that come upstream from the St. Johns River to bask in the warm 72 °F
(22 °C) waters of the springs. Canoeing, swimming and fishing are popular
activities at Blue Springs.
Bok Tower, located in Lake Wales, FL.
Central Florida Zoological Park, located in Sanford, FL on Lake Monroe. This 100
acre (400,000 m²) zoo is home to a butterfly garden, herpetarium, and numerous
tropical animals. The zoo originally started as a collection in the Sanford Fire
Department, but grew into a regional zoo in 1975. It is currently in the
planning stages of expansion and renaming the facility to "Zoo Orlando at
Sanford".
Church Street Station, a multi-level shopping mall and entertainment center that
once featured an abundance of specialty shops, restaurants, nightclubs, and
bars. Purchased in the late 1990s by TransContinental Talent owner Lou Pearlman,
it is now virtually defunct, as the area suffered in post-9/11 tourist-industry
slump. The area is being redeveloped with residential condominiums.
Cirque du Soleil: La Nouba, in Downtown Disney West Side, features its renowned
blend of acrobatics and special effects with more than 70 artists from around
the globe performing in a custom-designed, 1,671-seat theater.
Cornell Fine Arts Museum, situated on the campus of Rollins College, features
significant loans, recent acquisitions, and items from the Cornell's renowned
permanent collection. Admission is free.
Cypress Gardens Adventure Park, an amusement park opened in 1936. This park
features beautiful botanical gardens, 40 rides, 5 roller coasters and a water
park. But it is most famous for it lovely southern belles and world-renowned Ski
Shows. Located in Winter Haven, FL.
Discovery Cove, a resort that is part of the SeaWorld Adventure Park complex.
Some attraction features are tropical fish in a coral reef, snorkeling with
stingrays, and interacting with birds in an aviary, as well as swimming and
playing with dolphins during a half-hour session.
Gatorland houses thousands of alligators and crocodiles. A few of Gatorland's
residents have made wrangling appearances in movies, television shows and
commercial spots. The 54 year old park combines a petting zoo, bird sanctuary,
mini-water park, eco-tour and outdoor entertainment, including daily alligator
wrestling. Located
Hard Rock Café is the Orlando location of the famed restaurant chain with the
typical HRC music memorabilia. There is also Hard Rock Live, a 3,000-capacity
live music venue, and the Hard Rock Hotel, a resort hotel with a
California-style restaurant called "The Kitchen". It is one of eight worldwide,
and one of three in Florida. (Miami and Tampa are the other two.)
The Holy Land Experience is a biblical themepark and museum complex.
International Trolley and Train Museum features 14 model railroad trains with
sound and lighting traveling through an indoor garden with 12 foot (4 m) high
mountains, waterfalls, and more than 30 trestles and tunnels. Also on display
are toy trains from the 1920s to the present. Visitors can catch a ride in a
California Victorian-style half open/half closed trolley or the 5/8 replica of
an 1880 locomotive (a Mason Bogey) with its passenger cars.
Kennedy Space Center is 45 minutes from Orlando and south of Daytona Beach.
Visitors can tour launch areas, see giant rockets, "train" in spaceflight
simulators, and much more. Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is open every
day except Christmas Day and certain launch days. Apart from the Astronaut Hall
of Fame, Space Center bus tours run every 15 minutes with stops at an
observation gantry and the Apollo / Saturn V Center. Other guided tours include
NASA Up Close, Cape Canaveral: Then and Now, and Lunch With An Astronaut. Combo
tickets offer maximum access admission, plus one guided tour.
The Kerouac House, in the College Park neighborhood or Orlando, is where writer
Jack Kerouac lived during the time his novel On the Road was published and
released, making him a national sensation and Beat Generation icon. He lived in
the house with his mother Gabrielle from July 1957 to the spring of 1958, and
wrote his three-act play, The Beat Generation, a 51-chorus poem called Orlanda
Blues, and the novel The Dharma Bums during his time there. In 1997, the Kerouac
Project of Orlando formed, and restored the Kerouac house. It is now a haven for
aspiring writers who can live in the house as they create their own work.
Harry P. Leu Gardens, which is an inner city oasis covering 50 acres (20,000 m²)
and features colorful annuals, palms, an orchid house, a floral clock and a
butterfly garden.
The World's Largest McDonald's PlayPlace, located on the corner of Sand Lake
Road and International Drive, looks like a fry box from the exterior. The
interior features an arcade with 60+ games with prize redemption, a 1950s room,
a waterfall and a gift shop. The Bistro Gourmet at McDonald's features
chef-prepared food, such as panini and deli sandwiches, pasta, soup, desserts,
and hand-dipped ice cream, plus the standard McDonald's menu.
Mary, Queen of the Universe Shrine
Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament, in Kissimmee. Six brave knights on horseback
compete in tournament games, jousting, and sword fighting while guests dine on a
medieval-style banquet.
The Morse Museum of American Art, located at Rollins College, houses a permanent
Tiffany & Co. exhibit featuring the world's "most comprehensive" collection of
the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany. It includes Tiffany art glass, jewelry,
pottery, and the chapel interior designed for the 1893 World's Columbian
Exposition in Chicago. There is also an exhibit on the Tiffany home, and
American paintings from the 19th century. The museum was founded in 1942.
Old Town, in Kissimmee, features eight restaurants, fifteen amusement park rides
and 75 shops along its brick-lined streets. Classic car shows every Friday and
Saturday feature hundreds of vintage automobiles. Admission and parking are
free.
The Orange County Regional History Center Features exhibits and artifacts from
the earliest days of the region to the modern day. Includes information on
everything from the time of the Seminole Indians to the founding of the city to
the Civil Rights era to the Disney period to today.
The Orlando Museum of Art, which has ongoing exhibitions of American portraits
and landscapes, American impressionist works, and art of the ancient Americas.
The Orlando Science Center, is a 207,000 square foot (19,000 m²) hands-on
learning center with hundreds of interactive exhibits for visitors of all ages.
Images surround visitors on the giant screen of the Dr. Phillips CineDome. Other
attractions include the Body Zone, teaching health and fitness, as well as an
observatory. The center has the largest refracting telescope in Florida.
The Ripley's Believe It or Not! Orlando Odditorium is located in a building
artfully constructed to appear as if it were collapsing to one side, which may
be a sly reference to central Florida's infamous sinkholes. Visitors can explore
bizarre artifacts, strange collections, weird art/hobbies and interactive
exhibits in sixteen odd galleries. It is one of 27 Ripley museums in ten
countries.
Wonder Works A funhouse located on International Drive. Can be easily identified
as an upside down white building.
Wekiwa Springs State Park, which comprises around 7,000 acres (28.3 km²) of wild
Florida. The springs pump out 42 million gallons of crystal clear water a day.
Popular activities at the park include canoeing, swimming, picnicking and
fishing.
World of Orchids, featuring thousands of blooms in an enclosed tropical
rainforest. World of Orchids is a working greenhouse shipping orchids and other
plants nationwide. A greenhouse covers nearly an acre (4,000 m²), and in this
controlled climate of warm, humid air some 1,000 orchids are displayed in a
natural jungle setting, with streams, waterfalls, and squawking parrots. World
of Orchids also has a 1,000 foot (300 m) long boardwalk meandering off into
nearby wetlands. Admission is free.
Wet n' Wild A large waterpark located just minutes from Universal Studios on
International Drive
The annual Shot Show is held in January.
Sports
Orlando is home to the Orlando Magic, an NBA pro basketball franchise that plays
at Amway Arena in downtown Orlando. The team made it to the NBA Finals in 1995.
Opened in 1989, Amway Arena is one of the oldest arenas in the NBA. It will be
replaced by 2010 by the $480-million New Orlando Magic Arena.
The Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League also play at Amway Arena.
Since joining the league in 1991, they have become one of the legendary
franchises in the young league, having an infamous rivalry with the Tampa Bay
Storm, two ArenaBowl titles (1998 and 2000), and several historic moments
including the league's only shutout to date and a procession called the Miracle
Minute where they scored two touchdowns with two-point conversions and forced a
safety to come from behind in the final minute of a game to win.
Orlando was a stronghold of minor-league ice hockey throughout the 1990s, being
home of the Orlando Solar Bears of the now-defunct International Hockey League.
Historically successful, they won the Turner Cup championship in 2001 to end the
IHL's final season. In 2002, the Atlantic Coast Hockey League formed with
Orlando forming one of the charter franchises, the Orlando Seals, which won
their Commissioner's Cup in 2003. They moved to the World Hockey Association 2
in 2003, then the Southern Professional Hockey League in 2004. The City of
Orlando revoked their lease for the present Amway Arena, forcing them to sit out
the 2004-05 season. They moved to Kissimmee and became the Florida Seals in
November 2004.
The Citrus Bowl is the home of the Capital One Bowl (formerly the Florida Citrus
Bowl) and the Champs Sports Bowl (formerly the Tangerine Bowl). It also hosts
regular-season football games for Jones High School, as well as the annual
Florida Classic played between the NCAA Division I-AA Football teams from
Florida A&M University and Bethune-Cookman College. The University of Central
Florida (NCAA Division I-A) played regular season games at the Citrus bowl
through the 2006 season, until the construction of a new stadium on the UCF
campus. It hosted soccer games for the FIFA World Cup '94 and the 1996 Summer
Olympics when each were hosted by the United States.
The Orlando Renegades were a USFL team playing at the Citrus Bowl in 1985. They
folded with the league in 1986. The Orlando Thunder were a charter team in the
World League of American Football in 1991 and 1992. They lost the World Bowl to
the Sacramento Surge in 1992. Like all other American teams, it was dropped in
the World League reorganization of 1995. The Orlando Rage were a member of the
XFL that played at the Citrus Bowl, and only played in 2001. That team has since
been revived in the minor-league Southern States Football League (SSFL).
The Citrus Bowl was also the home of the fictional NFL team, the Orlando
Breakers, which was featured in the last two seasons of the television sitcom
Coach. The team was a plot device to reflect the 1995 addition of the
Jacksonville Jaguars to the real-life NFL.
Orlando will gain an expansion franchise in the Major Indoor Soccer League,
named the Orlando Sharks, for the 2007 - 2008 season. Orlando also received an
expansion franchise in the American Basketball Association for the 2006-07
season, the Orlando Aces. The team has been named the Orlando Aces. The Orlando
Lions were a member of the third incarnation of the American Soccer League in
the late 1980s/early 1990s. The Orlando Sundogs were a minor-league soccer team
in the A-League that played in the Citrus Bowl. They were disbanded in 1997
after only playing one year. Presently, two lower-division association
football(soccer) teams call Orlando home: the Premier Development League's (PDL)
Central Florida Kraze, and Ajax Orlando. The Kraze won the PDL Championship in
2004, while Ajax (pronounced EYE-acks) is the only American subsidiary of global
soccer power Ajax Amsterdam of the Dutch Eredivisie (professional soccer
league).
Tinker Field, named for baseball hall-of-famer Joe Tinker, is a historic
baseball stadium next to the Citrus Bowl, currently out of use. It was formerly
the spring training home of the Minnesota Twins (and the Washington
Nationals/Senators before them) and AA Southern League affiliates of the Twins,
Chicago Cubs and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
The Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex has the Ballpark at Disney's Wide
World of Sports (Cracker Jack Stadium) situated in it, it is the baseball
stadium that is currently used in Orlando. The spring training home of the
Atlanta Braves, it played host to the games of the Pool D teams in the 2006
World Baseball Classic.
Serious talk has been made on bringing Major League Baseball to
Orlando.[citation needed] Current mayor Buddy Dyer said he would like to see it
in the future. Orlando was a finalist city in the expansion for the 1993 season.
Ironically, they were mentioned as a possible destination for one of the 1993
expansion teams, the Florida Marlins, during that team's investigation of new
locations should Miami fail to build them a new baseball stadium. In addition,
the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are hoping to play a series at Disney's Wide World of
Sports during the 2007 season.
In 2006, Mirabilis Ventures, an Orlando-based equity firm, was reportedly close
to buying the Class-AA West Tenn Diamond Jaxx with the intention of bringing the
team to Orlando after the last two years of the team's current lease in Jackson,
Tennessee elapsed. However, plans fell through when the firm could not come to
an agreement with the city for a new stadium.[8]
TNA Wrestling has its TNA iMPACT! professional wrestling show at the Universal
Studios in Orlando. It also holds most of its PPV events from there as well.
In the past, Orlando hosted the Royal Rumble in 1990 and Armageddon in 2003, as
well as WCW's Bash at the Beach in 1994.
A large part of the Orlando area economy is involved in the tourist industry.
Over 48 million visitors came to the Orlando region in 2004. The convention
industry is also critical to the region's economy. The Orange County Convention
Center, expanded in 2004 to over two million square feet (200,000 m²) of
exhibition space, is now the second-largest convention complex in terms of space
in the United States, trailing only McCormick Place in Chicago. The city vies
with Chicago and Las Vegas for hosting the most convention attendees in the
United States.
The area's economy includes other industries besides tourism, such as
manufacturing. Lockheed-Martin has a large manufacturing facility for missile
systems, aeronautical craft and related high tech research. Since the 1970s, the
area also has offices for many computer software and hardware firms, such as IBM
and Oracle.[citation needed] Other notable engineering firms have offices or
labs in the Central Florida area: KDF, General Dynamics, Harris, Westinghouse,
Siemens, Veritas/Seagate, multiple USAF facilities, Naval Air Warfare Center
Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD), Delta Connection Academy, Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University, GE, Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation (AFAMS),
Army Simulation Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM), AT&T, Boeing,
CAE Systems Flight & Simulation Training, HP, Institute for Simulation and
Training, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Systems. The Naval Training Center until a
few years ago was one of the two places where nuclear engineers were trained for
the US Navy. Now the land has been converted into the Baldwin Park development.
Another developing sector is the film, television, and electronic gaming
industries, aided by the presence of Universal Studios, Disney-MGM Studios, Full
Sail School, the Florida interactive entertainment academy, and other
entertainment companies and schools. Numerous office complexes for large
corporations have popped up along the Interstate 4 corridor north of Orlando,
especially in Maitland, Lake Mary and Heathrow. The U.S. modeling, simulation,
and training (MS&T) industry is centered around the Orlando region as well, with
a particularly strong presence in the Central Florida Research Park adjacent to
UCF.
Nearby Maitland is the home of Tiburon, a division of the video game company
Electronic Arts. Originally Tiburon Entertainment, it was acquired by EA in 1998
after years of partnership, particularly in the famous Madden NFL series and
NCAA Football series of video games. Due to this, there were rumors in 2005 that
EA may move its corporate HQ to Orlando.
Orlando has two non-profit hospital systems: Orlando Regional Healthcare and
Florida Hospital. ORH's Orlando Regional Medical Center is home to Central
Florida's only Level I trauma center, and the adjacent Winnie Palmer Hospital
for Women and Babies has the area's only Level 3 neonatal intensive care unit.
Florida Hospital's main campus is ranked as one of the best hospitals in the
nation, and has a renowned brain attack facility. Orlando's medical leadership
will be further advanced with the completion of UCF's College of Medicine.
There is a very low unemployment rate in Greater Orlando of 2.8% as of October
2006. The result is explosive growth that has led to urban sprawl in the
surrounding area and skyrocketing housing prices. Housing prices in Greater
Orlando went up 34% in one year, from an average of $182,000 in August 2004 to
$245,000 in August 2005. House prices continue to rise, reaching a record
$254,900 in July 2006.
Due to this, many young adults and those in the lower class are having a
difficult time finding housing within Orange County. A spring 2006 Orlando
Sentinel article stated that in order to afford rent for a single bedroom
apartment in Orange County one would be forced to earn at least a $20 per hour
wage.
Companies and organizations that have their corporate headquarters or a major
presence in the area:
AAA
AirTran
Campus Crusade for Christ
Cendant Timeshare Resort Group
Central Florida Property Managers Association
Darden Restaurants, Inc.
Electronic Arts
Gaylord Entertainment
Hard Rock Cafe
Hewitt Associates LLC
Hilton Grand Vacations Club
Hughes Supply Incorporated
Kessler Collection
Harcourt Trade Publishers
Intrawest
Lockheed-Martin
Loews Hotels
Luctor International
Marriott Vacation Club International
NBC Universal
Planet Hollywood
Reed Elsevier
Ruth's Chris Steakhouse
Scholastic Book Fairs
Siemens AG Power Generation
Starwood Vacation Ownership
SunTrust Bank
Symantec
T.G. Lee Dairy
The Golf Channel
Tupperware Corp.
The Walt Disney Company
Westgate Resorts
Wycliffe Bible Translators
Discover
great Orlando hotels
Encounter ---
cool things to do
Uncover ------ trendy shopping
Find
----------- new places to eat
