Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ORLANDO FOR CHILDREN
The challenge for families vacationing in the Theme Park Capital of the World is digging
through the overwhelming options and inflated rhetoric to find what best suits your time,
budget and family. If time is limited, stick to Disney's iconic
Magic Kingdom
and the edgi-
er, less-stressful Universal Orlando Resort, boasting the marvelously themed
Wizarding
Though part of the Disney magic is how it magically makes your money disappear,
there are plenty of inexpensive highlights in and around Orlando. Tubing at
Kelly Park
,
ca-
noeing at
Wekiwa Springs State Park
and a visit to the lovely
Bok Tower Gardens
make
perfect day trips. The free outdoor movie at Disney's
Chip 'n' Dale Campfire Singalong
is
one of the best things at Disney.
Everything in Orlando is an opportunity to attract tourists, and eating is no exception.
There are
character meals
both inside the parks and at resort hotels;
dinner shows
at
Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort and venues around town; and
themed res-
taurants
offering everything from dining under asteroid showers to burgers and milk-
shakes in a mock drive-in theater.
You may be ready for bed once the sun sets, obsessively checking your watch to see if
it's time yet to collapse, but there's more fun to be had. With the exception of Animal
Kingdom, all of Disney's theme parks offer
light shows
or
fireworks
; Orlando's
performing-arts scene includes excellent
children's theater
, Disney's
Cirque du Soleil La
Nouba
performs nightly, and Universal's
Blue Man Group
is full of silly shenanigans. Dis-
ney's BoardWalk, Downtown Disney and Universal Orlando Resort's CityWalk all make for
a festive evening, with street performers and plenty of eye candy, but if you've had
enough adrenaline for one day, kick back in small-town Celebration (
Click here
)
or Winter
Park. Children appreciate the slow pace, and on a summer evening, after a day slogging
through parks, sitting with a glass of wine while the children play in Celebration's lake-
front fountain may just be heaven.
Sprinkle in the big-bang, high-energy fun judiciously. Yes, you might ride the Winnie the
Pooh seven times in a row, and yes, you may never make it to the Finding Nemo musical
in Animal Kingdom. If only we had gotten up earlier, if only we hadn't waited in line for that
Mickey ice cream, if only we had scurried out of the park after the fireworks: if only, if
only, if only we'd seen this, that and the other thing.
Forget it. There's too much, and you'll never win that game. In the end it's what you do
that kids remember, not what you missed.
