Orlando - is the county seat of Orange County, Florida (FL). The city population - 205,648 (metropolitan area nearly 1.8 million). It is the sixth-largest city in Florida, and its largest inland city. It is also at the head of the state's third-largest metropolitan area, behind Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. Additionally, Orlando is home to the second largest university in Florida, the University of Central Florida.
The city is well known for the tourist attractions in the area, particularly the nearby Walt Disney World Resort, which is in the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Other area attractions include SeaWorld and Universal Orlando Resort. Orlando sees an estimated 52 million tourists a year. Orlando is the 2nd largest city in the country for number of hotel rooms.
The main attraction of Disney World is, of course, The Magic Kingdom where you’ll find the legendary Space Mountain and Extra TERRORestrial Alien Encounters. Disney MGM Studios Theme Park the rides are mainly interactive 3D and simulator based and it has to be said are mostly superb. A really fascinating attraction, and one that should be visited during the week, is the Magic of Disney when you get to see animators actually working on the latest feature. The EPCOT Centre is split into two main sections Future world which includes Spaceship Earth, Wonders of Life and Body Wars (think Inner Space, Fantastic Voyage). The latest addition is the 500acre Animal Kingdom, which is Disney`s largest park and home to 1,000 animals and 3,000 species of plants and trees. As with other Disney parks Animal Kingdom is split into several areas; Africa, Asia, Dinoland USA, Camp Mickey and Minnie etc
Disney’s main rival is the 444 acre Universal Studios. As well as the incredible rides Terminator 2 3D, Back to The Future, Earthquake (8.3 on the Richter scale), you can visit enormous soundstages actually used in TV and movie production, see props from your favourite movies and programmes and learn about the film making process. One of the most entertaining attractions is the Beetlejuice Rock ‘n’ Roll Graveyard Revue which features turns from the famous Universal Monsters – Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman. Wizards of the Screen is not to be missed… who would turn down the chance of doing battle along side Xena and Hercules.
The highlights are Ocala National Forest with its natural springs, lakes and beautiful scenery. This is a favourite area for fishing, canoeing, swimming and hiking. Blue Spring State Park is situated about 40miles north of Orlando and is home to the manatee here there is a major drive to save the animal from extinction and offers an excellent chance to see these charming animals up close. Sea World is also worth checking out. The centre is partially a tourist attraction and partly a centre for the preservation and welfare of various endangered species.
It’s hard to imagine anyone visiting Orlando other than for the theme parks and, to be honest, there isn’t an awful lot else to do. As you’ll have gathered even things that aren’t actual theme parks are still given some kind of theme park slant. Virtually everything in the area is geared towards tourism and as a purely touristy destination its one of the picks of the bunch. Even the countless restaurants, clubs and bars seem to have fallen victim to the theme park theme syndrome. That’s not to say that the food and entertainment are bad. Far from it you can eat yourself around the world, drink some of the America’s best beer and dance yourself dizzy in world-class discos.