Favorite non-theme park things to do?

[My2CrazyGirls]

Will be in Orlando early April with husband and 2 teen girls. Planned 2 days for Universal and 1 beach day. Thinking of doing a ghost tour, maybe going to Disney Springs. We have been to Lake Eola and will do that again.
Has anyone done:

Exotic Animal Experience
Harry P. Leu Gardens
Central FL zoo

Any other suggestions? We did all the Space Coast attractions last year so not interested in Kennedy Space Center again.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

Has anyone done these? Can you share your experiences?

Exotic Animal Experience
Harry P. Leu Gardens
Central FL zoo

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Have not done any of the experiences on your list. However, we have done both of the following and enjoyed them so much we have done return visits. Just something else to perhaps consider.

Safari Wilderness Ranch or its sister park, Giraffe Ranch. You can get more info online, but SWR is less than an hour from WDW. GR is perhaps 90 minutes. Both are similar, so I would recommend picking one, reserving a time, selecting as many extra options as you would like to do (and pay for), and making it a day.

 

[Kalamazoo2]

Both of my suggestions are not in Orlando but can be done in a day trip:

If you are thinking to be anywhere near Tampa (beach day?) then the Tampa Electric Manatee Viewing Center is a neat spot (and free).

If you will be in Orlando the weekend of April 1st and 2nd then you will be just in time to catch the last weekend of the Bay Area Renaissance Festival. It's an established festival and is well done. A lot of guests really get into it which makes it that much more fun, even if you are not a renaissance geek.

You could also try an airboat ride - you might find something close to Orlando. I have no specific recommendation.

 

[Cupcake232]

Will be in Orlando early April with husband and 2 teen girls. Planned 2 days for Universal and 1 beach day. Thinking of doing a ghost tour, maybe going to Disney Springs. We have been to Lake Eola and will do that again.
Has anyone done:

Exotic Animal Experience
Harry P. Leu Gardens
Central FL zoo

Any other suggestions? We did all the Space Coast attractions last year so not interested in Kennedy Space Center again.

If you have a rental car, three things that we have done that are really cool (with kids 8 & 10) was swimming with manatees in Crystal River, bioluminescent kayaking in Titusville, and recently we went to the Titanic Museum in Orlando. We really enjoyed them all.

 

[HeatherC]

We enjoyed visiting Weeki Wachee Springs last year. It is very low key but pretty and you can swim in the natural springs. We packed a picnic lunch and hung out there for an afternoon. It was very relaxing.

We also like to visit Winter Park…can take a boat ride among the interconnecting lakes which is fun. There are lots of shops and restaurants lining the Main Street. There is also a museum or two associated with Flagler College which is there as well. We did the boat tour, got lunch and browsed the shops and enjoyed the day there.

Another day trip is Mt Dora….also has some cute shops and restaurants and is right on a lake.

The Orlando Science Museum is supposed to be good, but we haven’t gotten there yet.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[TeamRiley]

Go to the Kennedy Space Center. It is awesome.

 

[Brian Noble]

Depending on whether your teens have cool parents or not*, you could see if there's a concert at House of Blues or Hard Rock that you'd like to attend. I caught a 311 show at HoB last spring for $12 on the secondary market.

*: my teens definitely did not have cool parents. We didn't become cool until they were in their 20s.

 

[Helvetica]

We enjoyed Gatorland.

 

[kwdw]

I've done Leu gardens. Definitely nice gardens and if someone LIKES to go to gardens in the first place, they are worth a visit. But I don't think they are nice enough to inspire new folks into loving gardens. If your girls like gardens, go. If you are dragging them, skip it.

As a teen girl - I would have loved shopping at Disney Spring, Cirque du Soliel, or the amphicars. I also would have loved a family movie outing with lots of junk food purchased and hanging at a resort pool. Also - a water park would have made my list. And if you have never done Medieval Times, I would have liked that as a teen. I don't know how often you all have been to a zoo - but I wouldn't have been unhappy being dragged to the zoo - I'm still happy to be dragged to a zoo! I also would have gone for a trip to a state park we hadn't been to yet with a yummy picnic lunch.

 

[ucf_knight]

Will be in Orlando early April with husband and 2 teen girls. Planned 2 days for Universal and 1 beach day. Thinking of doing a ghost tour, maybe going to Disney Springs. We have been to Lake Eola and will do that again.
Has anyone done:

Exotic Animal Experience
Harry P. Leu Gardens
Central FL zoo

Any other suggestions? We did all the Space Coast attractions last year so not interested in Kennedy Space Center again.

take the girls on a tour of the UCF campus. That way you can selfishly get them excited about going to college in Orlando and you’d have even more reasons to visit Disney in the future

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

take the girls on a tour of the UCF campus. That way you can selfishly get them excited about going to college in Orlando and you’d have even more reasons to visit Disney in the future

Wouldn't that be nice! Oldest wants to stay home and commute to college so not looking good but one can dream!

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

I've done Leu gardens. Definitely nice gardens and if someone LIKES to go to gardens in the first place, they are worth a visit. But I don't think they are nice enough to inspire new folks into loving gardens. If your girls like gardens, go. If you are dragging them, skip it.

As a teen girl - I would have loved shopping at Disney Spring, Cirque du Soliel, or the amphicars. I also would have loved a family movie outing with lots of junk food purchased and hanging at a resort pool. Also - a water park would have made my list. And if you have never done Medieval Times, I would have liked that as a teen. I don't know how often you all have been to a zoo - but I wouldn't have been unhappy being dragged to the zoo - I'm still happy to be dragged to a zoo! I also would have gone for a trip to a state park we hadn't been to yet with a yummy picnic lunch.

I had to look up amphicars....never heard of such a thing! Interesting! Good point about the gardens. 1 daughter is really into nature (birds, photography, hiking) and the other likes shopping and indoor things. So better to go with parks than gardens. There a quite a few state parks so we need to figure out which ones would be best. Looking forward to enjoying resort pools for sure.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Wouldn't that be nice! Oldest wants to stay home and commute to college so not looking good but one can dream!

That’s actually a fantastic plan! You save money on her college expenses, and then you have more money for trips!