The vast majority of our customers are families eager to see the many attractions in the Orlando area. This page gives just a few hints and tips of places to visit and things to do during your stay in the Sunshine State. Check our links page for some links to many of the destinations mentioned below.

Theme Parks

There are now more theme parks than ever in the Orlando area, with the expansion of Disneyworld and Universal Studios.

Disney is probably the number one reason for holidaymakers to travel to Florida, and it now has four theme parks - The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom - along with a multitude of other attractions such as Pleasure Island's nightlife, two water parks and a baseball stadium. A great free attraction is the Downtown Disney complex, which features shops, attractions and restaurants.

Universal Studios has recently doubled in size to include the all new "Islands of Adventure" theme park with some of the most terrifying roller coasters in the world. It also has its "Citywalk" area to rival Downtown Disney.

Other theme parks of note in the immediate area are the International Drive based Seaworld and Wet and Wild waterpark. Busch Gardens is an excellent day out, but it is a little further afield in the Tampa area, around an hour's drive from our properties.

As holidaymakers ourselves, we always find it best to spend one day at a theme park and then spend the next day resting by the pool. All of the theme parks are very large and especially in parks such as the Magic Kingdom, you may well be there from early in the morning until late at night.

Remember to always buy park tickets from official sources, and if you are visiting a lot of theme parks, you can purchase tickets that are valid in several parks for a few days - check around to save yourself a bit of money.

Eating

Even though our properties come stocked with all the kitchen utilities that you could ever need, you will nearly always find yourself eating out! Restaurants are everywhere, ranging from cheap and easy fast food to theatrical dinner shows.

The main areas to find restaurants are on International Drive and on Highway 192. Both are within minutes of our properties.

Steaks are something of a specialty in Florida, and two of the best places to find them are at any Charley's or Roadhouse restaurant. Seafood is also very popular, and Fish Bones restaurant on International Drive is excellent, as are the chain of Red Lobster restaurants that can be found all around the Orlando area. All styles of food are catered for, and a drive along Highway 192 will reveal Chinese, Japanese, Mexican and even Mongolian restaurants - plus around a dozen of each popular fast food outlet!

Children are more than welcome in every restaurant. All restaurant staff are very friendly and helpful and specific children's menus are available in most restaurants.

Nightlife

Pleasure Island at the Disneyworld complex is probably the most well known of Orlando's nightlife destinations. There is a charge for entry, but then you are free to visit as many of their numerous nightclubs as you wish. For music lovers, there is the House of Blues club at Downtown Disney, which plays host to many famous bands - check local listings. Downtown Disney also plays host to a production from the traveling Cirque Du Soleil company, and there is also a large multiplex cinema.

Most restaurants have their own bars, so there are few specific bars or pubs like we may be used to here in the UK. One thing to bear in mind is that Florida's legal age for drinking is 21, and with penalties for underage drinking being severe most bars and restaurants will check the age of customers - so take your driving license or ID with you if you are planning a night out. Even if you are over the legal age, they will still check!

Shopping

Compared to the UK, many items in the USA are a lot cheaper to purchase. Most famously, designer clothes are very cheap - especially from many of the designated retail outlets on International Drive and Highway 192. Labels such as Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Dolce and Gabbana, Levis and Quiksilver are all easy to find at reduced prices.

Away from the outlet malls, there is a large, modern shopping mall around 15 minutes from our properties. The Florida Mall has just had an extension and is full of modern shops. Another great place for shopping is Pointe Orlando on International Drive, with its more upmarket selection of stores - FAO Schwarz toys, Abercrombie and Fitch, Banana Republic, Tommy Hilfiger and so on.

CDs and DVDs are a lot cheaper in the USA and it is often easy to find things that have not been released in the UK as yet. With DVDs and video games, please bear in mind that the American versions of the software may not work with your hardware at home unless it has been modified.

Sport

Sport is constantly on television, and our properties have access to all the networks that show live sporting matches.

For those people who may wish to experience the thrill of watching an American sport live, the nearest professional teams are:

Football - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - season runs from August to March.

Basketball - Orlando Magic - season runs from July to March.

Ice Hockey - Tampa Bay Lightning - season runs from November to June.

Baseball - Tampa Bay Devil Rays - season runs from March to November.

Soccer - Tampa Bay Mutiny - season runs from August to April.

Orlando itself also has a minor league baseball team who play at Disneyworld; a minor league Ice Hockey team (The Solar Bears) and within the downtown area is the Orange Bowl which plays host to the Football games of the Florida Seminoles College team.

Golf is incredibly popular in Florida, as detailed on our separategolfing page. Watersports such as Parasailing and Water-skiing can be enjoyed in Clearwater and Daytona Beach (see below) and WWE professional wrestling often comes to the Orlando Arena.

Nearby

You can easily find enough to do in the Orlando area alone to fill a two week holiday, but if you want to travel a little further afield, our properties are in an ideal centralized location.

To the east is Daytona Beach and Cape Canaveral. The cape plays host to the NASA launch site and space exploration museum, and is around an hour away from our properties. Daytona beach is famous for its 24 hour surf shops, spring break parties and motor racing.

To the west is Tampa Bay, Clearwater and St. Petersburg. Tampa is a very large city with great shopping malls, several professional sports teams and busy docks area. Clearwater and St. Petersburg are more relaxed, with sandy white beaches and laid back restaurants and shops.

To the south are the everglades, and it is easy to find licensed excursions to this area. Further south are Miami and the Florida Keys, although neither are within driving distance and if you wish to visit them it may be best to take an internal flight.

To the North... is the rest of the USA! With internal flights being easy to obtain, you may want to spend a day or two in New Orleans, Atlanta or Dallas - all of which are within a short flight's distance - and use our properties as your base to return to.