International Drive

[lidec]

Is there a lot to do on or around International Drive? We want to do something other than Disney.

 

[ducklite]

There are a lot of tourist traps, cheap t-shirt places, hotels, fast food, etc. There are a few decent tourist attractions.

It would help to know what you are looking to do or the ages in your party.

I-Drive is not a place I'd head "looking" for something to do, but rather with a plan.

As an FYI, traffic over there can be brutal.

There are plenty of things to do outside WDW, US, and Seaworld, but like I said, we need to have details about the ages and interests of your party before we can make any suggestions.

Anne

 

[lidec]

We are a party of 6. Gramma, grampa, Me, husband, girl 10 and boy 7. We have done disney 4 times and want something different. We were not planning on going back for a while but I have a credit on SW to use by Aug. and Orlando is the only place we would probably use it. Ive looked into Tampa(Clearwater Beach) but doesnt look like much to do. We do Myrtle Beach every yr but SW doesnt even go close to there. I really dont want to lose my credit and I dont know of anyone else who would use it. Any suggestions to things to do in the Orlando, Tampa area would be greatly appreciated. We love the beach or somewhere where there is a lot to do.

 

[Detailor]

If you're not really interested in going to Disney, you might consider either Tampa or Orlando as your destination and visiting the other location as well - it's roughly 90 miles from one city to the other. In Orlando, you might think about going to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure, Sea World, there's shopping along International Drive (outlets and Festival Bay Mall at the northern end of I-Drive), Wet n Wild is on I-Drive, a couple of mini-golf places, lot's of fast food and moderately priced restaurants, Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, a science museum, more shopping at Pointe Orlando. There's the Cypress Gardens theme park in Winter Haven. And the closest beach to Orlando is about an hour east at Cocoa Beach. In Tampa, there's Busch Gardens and the Adventure Island water park, there's a zoo in Tampa, the Florida Aquarium, a children's museum, a science museum, the Ybor City section that celebrates the Cuban influence on Tampa. There are plenty of beaches, like Clearwater, along the gulf coast, another aquarium in St. Petersburg. If the family likes sports there are several professional teams that play in the area: Orlando Magic NBA basketball team, Tampa Lightning NHL hockey, Tampa Bay Bucanneers NFL football, Tampa Bay Devil Rays MLB baseball in St. Petersburg, the Yankees have a minor league team in Tampa and the major league team plays there during Spring training. Other baseball spring training sites in the area: Houston Astros in Kissimmee, Atlanta Braves at Disney's ballpark, Cleveland Indians in Winter Haven, Detroit Tigers in Lakeland, and Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater.

Dick Taylor

 

[scanmom]

I would probably go to California! You could see Disneyland and California Adventure, plus spend some time at the beach, and there are alot of other things to to in the area. DL/DCA tickets are ALOT cheaper than WDW's, and the parks are different enough that you would enjoy seeing the differences. You could even go see Yosemite National Park! And Hollywood (in the daytime). Yeah, that is what I would do! And if you do go, be sure to see the Disneyland version of Fantasmic!... it is way better than the WDW version!

 

[Darcy03231]

Since you like the beach how about a cruise. There are some great deals out there for the fall. My family loves cruising and I've found that most times I've spent less than I have for a WDW vacation.