Sights in Central Florida
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Morningside Nature Center
Only 3 miles from downtown, this 278-acre nature center boasts seven natural communities, including hydric flatwoods, depression marshes and savannahs of longleaf pines. In addition to a picnic basket and a camera, be sure to bring your walking shoes: the center offers 7 miles of trails.
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A
Graffiti Wall
Along the east side of SW 34th St just south of SW 2nd Ave, this graffiti-permitted wall is a flash point for the local political and creative zeitgeist. The only section off limits to taggers is the central panel - a moving memorial to the five UF students who were murdered in August 1990 by serial killer Daniel Rolling.
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B
Devil's Millhopper State Geological Site
- Gainesville, USA
- Sights › Park
As the name indicates, this is not your average park. The site centers on a 120ft-deep, 500ft-wide funnel-shaped rainforest which you enter by descending a 232-step wooden staircase. Water trickles down the slopes from the surrounding springs; some of it flows into a natural drain and ultimately to the Gulf of Mexico. Rangers lead tours every Saturday at 10am. The park is about 20 minutes northwest of downtown by car.
reviewed
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C
WonderWorks
Housed in a hard-to-miss, upside-down building, this bright, loud, frenetic landmark is a cross between a children's museum, a video arcade and an amusement park. It offers high-speed, multisensory education with several stories of wall-to-wall hands-on exhibits. You can lie on a bed of nails, sit inside a hurricane simulator, and measure how high you can jump. Younger children may find the pulse disorienting and frightening, but older ones will probably enjoy the cool stuff to do. Plus there's a 36ft indoor ropes course, a 4D theater with changing shows, laser tag and the Outta Control Magic Show, pairing pizza with illusions.
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D
International Train & Trolley Museum
Home to the most extravagant model train set you can imagine, the International Train & Trolley Museum features toy trains dating from the 1920s to the present day, all housed in a garden of waterfalls, trestles and 13ft mountains. Among the more impressive are a custom-made California trolley and an authentic Mason Bogey with two passenger cars.
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E
Florida Museum of Natural History
The highlight of this excellent natural-history museum is the expansive Butterfly Rainforest. Hundreds of butterflies from 55 to 65 species flutter freely in the soaring, screened vivarium. As you stroll among waterfalls and tropical foliage, peek at scientists preparing specimens in the rearing lab of this, the world's largest butterfly research facility.
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F
Thornton Park
Fashionable Thornton Park borders Lake Eola to the north, and is a perfect example of urban vitality. Remodeled cracker bungalows line its narrow brick streets, and giant Spanish oaks weave their gnarly branches into natural green canopies. The Washington St district is a popular thoroughfare for café lounging and window browsing at antiques and funky craft boutiques. It's also popular with the gay crowd for putting down roots.
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G
Kanapaha Botanical Gardens
Central Florida's lush native plants – azaleas, rare double-crowned cabbage palms, southern magnolias – are on proud display at this highly rated 62-acre garden, with hiking paths, a labyrinth, a children's koi pond and special herb and ginger gardens. Especially cool is the dense bamboo garden, whose dark groves look like fairy homes. Dogs are welcome!
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H
University of Florida
The city is dominated by the UF campus, one of the largest in the country. Wander around to check out the student vibe, or peer in at ancient Indian sculptures and contemporary paintings at the free Samuel P Harn Museum of Art.
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Wells' Built Museum of African American History and Culture
Dr Wells, one of Orlando's first black doctors, came to Orlando in 1917. In 1921 he built a hotel for African Americans barred from Florida's segregated hotels, and soon after he built South Street Casino, an entertainment venue for black entertainers. Together, they became a central icon of the African American music community. This small museum of African American history is housed in the original hotel.
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Downtown Media Arts Center
Orlando has one of the coolest movie theaters in the Downtown Media Arts Center. Behind its green, gothic facade is one of the gems in downtown, whether you're a cinemaphile or just looking to catch an indie flick that may or may not ever hit the big screen.
Its 1st floor masquerades as an art gallery, showcasing the unusual works of local artists on a rotating basis. But upstairs, the blank canvas of an intimate 80-seat screening room projects a mixture of shorts, documentaries, foreign films and cult movies to its lucky viewers. Don't miss the interactive 'film slams,' where audiences vote for their favorites.
The café on the 1st floor is highly recommended - with live…
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Ripley's Believe It Or Not
The 1933 World's Fair in Chicago introduced Ripley's collection of 'oddities and unusual people' to the public. While it may today offend 21st-century politically correct sensibilities, this 'odditorium' offers Ripley's vision with no holds barred. A short documentary film chronicles his search for the 'strange, exotic and incredible,' and TVs throughout the museum screen footage of classic Ripley, including exotic food customs, the man with the 'strongest eyes in the world' and a snake slithering through a guy's nose and out his mouth. Twenty-first-century additions tend to focus on the creation of odd, like a dog sculpture made out of clothes pins, rather than the…
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Lake Eola
A gathering point for the downtown community, complete with a waterfront amphitheater, cafés and restaurants, a children's playground and colorful flowers and trees, Lake Eola provides a pretty, shaded backdrop on a hot day. The lake is built on an 80ft sinkhole and, since its birth in 1888, has seen its grounds transformed from a zoo to a horse-race track to its current status as a slice of green in downtown.
A flat, paved sidewalk, about 1-mile long, circles the water and is usually populated by lunchtime walkers, joggers, families and cyclists. Two of the most popular attractions of the lake are the swan paddleboats and gondola cruises. The lake is a popular festival…
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K
Gatorland
With no fancy roller coasters or drenching water rides, this mom-and-pop park harkens back to Old Florida. It's small, it's silly and it's kitschy with, you guessed it, plenty of gators. Allow time to see all the rather tongue-in-cheek shows, charmingly free of special effects, dramatic music and spectacular light design. At the Jumparoo Show 10ft-long alligators leap almost entirely out of the water to grab whole chickens from the trainer, and after the Gator Wrestling Show you can go on down to get a photo of yourself sitting on a gator. The best is Upclose Encounters, where mysterious boxes hold animals the public has sent to the park. The trainers are too scared to…
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Walt Disney World
This is a self-contained city. Apart from the four main parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom), there are three water parks, a shopping district, 22 hotels, countless eateries, a police force, transport systems, medical centres, even kennels for the pooch. Watch out for the mouse.
In its first year, Disney World saw over 10 million visitors, and it remains one of the world's top tourist destinations, now attracting more than 20 million visitors a year. It's also the world's biggest amusement resort, covering an area twice the size of New York's Manhattan. It would have made Walt very, very happy.
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