Things to do for non Disney day

[missmun52]

We are staying 2 weeks but have 10 day tickets so I was thinking about renting a car or taking a taxi around the orlando area for a day or two during our stay in Feb.

I know I want to do gator land but we are also looking for some other things to do in the Orlando area that are not too expensive. Any suggestions would be great!

 

[dyna]

Where are you staying? A couple of days just to hang out by the pool maybe do some laundry an just take it easy.

 

[Joy1619]

Hi there! When we are on our 'days off' - other than hanging out at the pool which we will definitely do! - we are going to go on an airboat tour (there are tons of them but we like this one:

http://www.spiritoftheswamp.com/index.html

and we are going to do the ecosafari zipline safari:

http://www.floridaecosafaris.com/ZiplineSafaris/

There is also a cool place where you can go and pick your own fresh florida citrus fruits:

http://www.showcaseofcitrus.com/

We found the Visit Kissimme website had a lot of ideas for things to go and places to see, maybe check it out for ideas?

www.visitkissimmee.com

Good luck!

 

[Pineapple Whip]

Well, I guess the real question is what're y'all into?

 

[missmun52]

We are staying at POR. We are up for almost anything that is appropriate for the family really. Something that take up a few hours, not all day. These are our off days but I want to go outside of Disney, of all the times we have gone we never left Disney.

Forgot to mention its two adults and a 6 year old

I dont plan on being at the parks from open to close... so we will have time for the pool (weather permitting) and washing clothes.

 

[Pineapple Whip]

We are staying at POR. We are up for almost anything that is appropriate for the family really. Something that take up a few hours, not all day. These are our off days but I want to go outside of Disney, of all the times we have gone we never left Disney.

Forgot to mention its two adults and a 6 year old

I dont plan on being at the parks from open to close... so we will have time for the pool (weather permitting) and washing clothes.

2 adults, 6YO, few hours, near POR... hmmm...

Wonderworks? http://www.wonderworksonline.com/html/

Plus the mall it is in has amazing food, a movie theater, and some decent shopping. They do charge for parking, but it's not a crazy amount.

Then there is all the other stuff, food, and shopping up and down I-Drive, but it can get a bit hectic and carnival like at spots.

Old Town is cheesy but cute. Go there on a night that they have a car show or something going on.

Celebration has events and it's a cute Disney town. Check the site around your travel dates. http://celebrationtowncenter.com/events

Kennedy is a bit of a haul, but what 6YO doesn't want to walk inside a real space shuttle (replica, shhh, they'll think it's the real deal... I thought so all these years.) About 60 miles east on 528 with tolls (toll roads are awesome out here and worth the money. Unless of course something is right off of I-4. Just remember to bring change and stay to the right lanes.)

Downtown Orlando is like any other big city (but pretty). It's a bit more adult oriented, but if you want to check it out there's food, culture, and educational type stuff. This list helped me when I moved here: http://www.orlandoinfo.com/articles/things-to-do-in-orlando.cfm

Rent the car, the taxis will cost you as much or more and aren't as fun. National is over at the Dolphin and they're great, they have car seats and GPS available if you need them. Sign up for the Emerald Aisle before you go (free), and see if your price club, AAA, or credit card offers coupons on their website for National. (Do not buy gas at the stations on 535 nearest I-4 / DTD, drive to any station near the walmart on 535, the racetrac on 192 near Celebration, or even the Hess stations INSIDE DTD on Buena Vista Road. Check the prices on gasbuddy.com these stations do not gouge tourists...)

 

[j9000]

Gatorland might be fun if youve never been,

or just go further afield up to winter park for a wander

J

 

[toverly]

We had fun going to the Mall of Florida to the M&M's store. It's beside Macy's at the mall.

Also, we have had fun (Disney, I know) but going to the Winterland Summerland Putt Putt course and going to the Fantasia course. They were great down days.

If you are going around the holidays, ICE at Gaylord Palms was wonderful but a tad expensive.

 

[Detailor]

If you're willing to go a little outside of the immediate Orlando area you might consider...

- driving down to the Tampa area (an hour + to the southwest of Orlando via I-4). Busch Gardens is probably outside of your "low cost" criteria but is a very good theme park experience; historic Ybor City - the Latin section of Tampa - might be interesting and would definitely be a departure from other things you might be doing; going a little further west to one of the gulf coast beaches might be fun - check out Clearwater and St. Petersburg beaches; maybe go to downtown St. Pete near the Tampa Bay side of the peninsula where's there's a big aquarium on The Pier, surrey bikes for rent, usually something going on in the nearby city park, etc.

- go a little further down-state from Tampa to Sarasota (also on the gulf coast) to check out the Ringling Museum - mansion tour, circus museum, art museum, gardens.



- driving up (East) on I-4 to one of the local state parks such as Blue Spring State Park, my personal favorite so far, in Orange City. It's no more than an hour from the Disney area. If you're going during the Manatee season - I think that's mid-November to early March - you would see dozens of manatees in the spring water.

- or on the Atlantic Ocean side you could drive over to Cocoa Beach for a beach visit. It's around an hour to the east via the Beachline (SR 528).

Closer to Orlando...

Go to Winter Park and try the narrated, old-Florida boat ride (Scenic Boat Tours) through the area.
lakes.

In the Disney/Orlando area...

- visit some of the non-theme park Disney locations:
Downtown Disney (shopping, dining, people-watching, Disney Quest if your six year old is into arcade type games, take in a movie at the theater).
BoardWalk resort area (shopping, free boat ride between the resort area and the Hollywood Studios and Epcot theme parks, dining, surrey bike rentals, check out some other Disney hotels).

- outside of Disney:
Check out the town of Celebration (just take in the town, visit one of the nice restaurants, walk the walking paths, there are Segway tours of the town but I don't know if your son could do that at his age).
Go up I-4 to downtown Orlando and check out Lake Eola (playgrounds, rent a swan boat to tour the little lake, there's an amphitheater with occasional live entertainment).

- mini-golf:
There are several mini-golf opportunities in the area and you can find discounts for the non-Disney places in the tourist brochures that are given away all over Central Florida at hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, etc. Outside of Disney, there's a Pirate's Cove behind the Crossroads shopping center in Lake Buena Vista and another Pirate's Cove on International Drive, there's a Congo River theme course also on International Drive and I think that there's one in Kissimmee, too, and there's a jungle themed (at least I think that's the theme) place on SR 535 roughly across the road from Sheraton's Vistana Resort which isn't far from Downtown Disney.
And there are two Disney themed mini golf courses - Winter-Summerland near the Blizzard Beach water park and Fantasia Gardens near the Swan and Dolphin hotels that are next to the BoardWalk resort area.

There's lots to do in the area, you just need to decide what makes the most sense for your family. You should be able to Google everything that's been mentioned in this thread if you want more info.

Enjoy!

Dick Taylor

 

[TrustedTraveler]

Check out Blue Springs State Park. We felt our trip there last January was the highlight of our entire trip. We highly recommend the St John River Cruise that is based in the park. We enjoy seeing wildlife and seeing manatees in the wild within 20 feet of us was a real thrill.

One bit of advice, if you decide to go, get three early.