Non-tourist Orlando fun

[TennesseeGirl]

My family is going to disney in November - me, son, husband... My husband is less than excited. He might even be a little bummed. We'll have a car so I am trying to come up with a list of places where he can go and hang out for a couple of days. His favorite thing in the universe is to hang out in down town Asheville. Orlando doesn't seem like it has any areas like that (genuinely hope I'm mistaken) but I thought there might be some quirky coffee houses/bookstores/music stores etc. he can check out. Or maybe there is another area nearby that he should visit. He is a librarian so I'm always dumbfounded at how much time he spends in bookstores!

 

[Tinkerboy00]

There is some cool coffee shops, restaurants etc in the Downtown area, or Thornton Park. A little more local than the park areas.

I cant think of any book stores though. Maybe someone will chime in. But the downtown area is very cute. We love having breakfast at Dexters of Thornton Park, or dinner at HUE.

 

[Miumiu4me]

We have plenty of those areas, tourist just don't go to them.

Take a day trip to Mount Dora, which is 45 minutes away. It has a cute little historic district with lots of cafes and shops.

Park Ave in Winter Park has lots of wine bars, small stores, etc.

There are some indie bookstores and coffee shops in the Mills 50/Milk District.

Baldwin Park has lots of little restaurants and shops...

I'd advise skipping the downtown bar scene, unless you just want to get drunk with a lot of yuppies.

Thornton Park is nice and Lake Eola is pretty. There's a Sunday Farmer's Market every week.

 

[4kids4karen]

My family is going to disney in November - me, son, husband... My husband is less than excited. He might even be a little bummed. We'll have a car so I am trying to come up with a list of places where he can go and hang out for a couple of days. His favorite thing in the universe is to hang out in down town Asheville. Orlando doesn't seem like it has any areas like that (genuinely hope I'm mistaken) but I thought there might be some quirky coffee houses/bookstores/music stores etc. he can check out. Or maybe there is another area nearby that he should visit. He is a librarian so I'm always dumbfounded at how much time he spends in bookstores!

It's still touristy, but City Walk he could bring a good book and hang out reading and people watching. In the evenings there are bands that play outside. Otherwise, he may just want to hang out near the college? My oldest has hung out around UCF but I have no clue what is there.

 

[Miumiu4me]

There is some cool coffee shops, restaurants etc in the Downtown area, or Thornton Park. A little more local than the park areas.

I cant think of any book stores though. Maybe someone will chime in. But the downtown area is very cute. We love having breakfast at Dexters of Thornton Park, or dinner at HUE.

Hue closed about a month ago.

We don't have great book stores in Orlando. There are some decent used book stores in the Mills 50 area. Drunken Monkey, an indie style coffee bar, is there too. There are a lot of used record stores there, and there are a few near Florida Hospital as well. There's also the Shakespeare theatre, an art museum, and the science museum (meh).

 

[Tinkerboy00]

Hue closed about a month ago.

We don't have great book stores in Orlando. There are some decent used book stores in the Mills 50 area. Drunken Monkey, an indie style offer bar, is there too. There are a lot of used record stores there, and there are a few near Florida Hospital as well. There's also the Shakespeare theatre, an art museum, and the science museum (meh).

Really? Boo

The Mills area was the other section I was thinking of too, but couldn't remember what it was called.