Orlando & Surrounding Area: What to Do?

[Musicman]

What can you all recommend to do in Orlando and/or the surrounding area? I am going to be at Disney World for a conference, and need to kill a few days at the end of it. I pretty much live to try a variety of things - but am looking for full/half-day activities (good places to visit, parks, museums, 'local activities'.

Basically I have two days to fill, and deep sea fishing is too expensive.

[katharina]

Originally Posted by Musicman

What can you all recommend to do in Orlando and/or the surrounding area? I am going to be at Disney World for a conference, and need to kill a few days at the end of it. I pretty much live to try a variety of things - but am looking for full/half-day activities (good places to visit, parks, museums, 'local activities'.

Basically I have two days to fill, and deep sea fishing is too expensive.

I suspect this isn't what you had in mind but I've been there numerous times and I'd suggest renting a car and driving east to St. Augustine for those two days... maybe drive down to the NASA space center for part of one of those days. If not, EPCOT's World Showcase is fascinating.

You'll probably want to grab one of the dinner theater shows in Orlando/Kissimmee... maybe the mega flea markets. It's a bit of a drive, but we usually went to Cypress Gardens for a day while in Orlando. It's under new management now, but I think they still have the ski shows and ice shows... probably still have the mini-zoo there, and concerts. That's in Winter Haven.

Lucky you! Have fun.

[jason]

There is a lot to do in the area. Orlando is pretty central in Florida. You can go to St. Augustine as mentioned above, Daytona, or Bush Gardens Tampa, within a few hours.

There is a lot to do around Orlando too. You have downtown Disney which is full of shops, Disney Quest (if you like video games you will love it), boat rentals, and restaurants. There is all the parks around there, and a lot offer a second day for half price. I have heard of a few bike paths for mountain biking. I've never tried any, and do not know if they offer bike rentals if you cannot bring your own. They have a lot of miniature golf courses, and things like Ripley's, Wonderworks, and other similar things. I don't know if I mentioned museums but there are a few scattered around. I think there are some gator farms around the area too.