By Tammy Vinson
Name a vacation that’s synonymous with summer. Your first thoughts may
take you to the beach, but how about taking your family to Orlando? Every kid—and
kid at heart—deserves at least one trip to the Magic Kingdom. Of course
for chiropractors, July in Orlando is synonymous with chiropractic conventions.
Whether you’re bringing your family or you’re going solo to a convention,
this theme park city offers the right dose of summertime fun for everyone.
Day One: Discover Downtown
Away from the theme parks, there is a whole other side of Orlando. The city
offers a variety of restaurants, shops, outdoor activities and arts and entertainment.
Start your day with a stop at First Watch, a cheap, family-style breakfast joint
offering great pancakes. View the downtown area in swan-shaped tour boats at
Lake Eola Park or stroll down one of the many bike trails. The Lake Eola Heights
and Lake Lawsona Historic District’s bikeways go through 2.7 miles of
downtown and past some of Orlando’s magnificent homes. Biking the area
is great way to burn of those breakfast pancakes. While touring downtown make
a stop by Leu Gardens. It’s America’s largest camellia collection
outside of California and home to Florida’s largest rose garden.
For an afternoon break, try one of Infusion Tea’s signature tea blends
like True Life or Tropical Fusion. If those don’t suit you, don’t
worry; they have 55 different kinds of tea and organic coffee. Their lunch menu
offers vegetarian and organic appetizers, soups and sandwiches like their toasted
pear salad or their avocado delight sandwich.
Be sure to save room for dinner. Seasons 52 is a contemporary fresh grill restaurant
and wine bar where every item on the menu is less than 475 calories. Their menu
changes every week to highlight the season. Their summer harvest items will
include fresh-picked peaches, vine-ripened tomatoes and nectarines.
After dinner consider heading to downtown’s nightlife district, home to
30 bars and clubs. The Wall Street Plaza hosts weekend block parties with live,
local entertainment on an outdoor stage. You can sing karaoke at One-Eyed Jack’s.
Paris Hilton even has a personally designed nightclub in downtown Orlando.
Day Two: Orlando’s Outdoor Playgrounds
The summer sun is a great time for outdoor activities. Orlando has plenty of
options to keep you busy. Aside from the bike trails, boat tours and city parks,
there are great spots for golf, camping, fishing and canoeing. Guided canoeing
and kayaking tours are offered down the Wekiva River. The Wekiva Springs State
Park offers a combination of canoeing, fishing, hiking and camping. Some of
the many golf courses are the Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge,
Winter’s Park Municipal and Dubsdread Golf Course.
In the evening, head back indoors for a dinner show. The Blazing Pianos Rock’n
Roll show highlights American songs from the 1950s to the 1990s. The Starlight
Dinner Theater hosts the city’s only professional Broadway dinner show
with classic performances of “Grease” and “Nunsense A-Men.”
If you’re into playing detective work, the Sleuth Mystery Dinner Show
is the place for all ages to participate in solving the mystery.
Day Three: Arts in the ‘Park’
For a unique shopping experience, Orlando’s artsy pocket community, Winter
Park is home to more than 100 clothing stores, bookstores and galleries in a
nine-block area. There is even an open-air mall on the tree-lined Park Avenue.
This neighborhood, located five miles north of downtown Orlando, has more than
just shopping. There are several art museums like the Cornell Fine Arts Center
and the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum, home of the world’s most comprehensive
collection of Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Winter Park’s streets are filled with shops, restaurants and sidewalk
cafes. On Park Avenue, Chef Justin’s Park Plaza Gardens cooks up seafood
entrees and serves them in a garden setting. A couple of doors down, the Briarpatch
Restaurant is home to an antique soda fountain and ice cream parlor. The Power
House Café is a great Middle Eastern and vegetarian lunch spot. Fiddler’s
Green Irish Pub and Eatery has three separate dining rooms and a full bar with
23 beers on tap. To get a final overview of the neighborhood, there is a 12-mile
scenic boat tour that passes by the mansions of millionaire’s row and
through a cypress swamp, lake and canals.
Outside of Orlando
If you have an extra day of vacation, there are numerous sites to enjoy within
a half day’s drive of the city. The Kennedy Space Center is about 45 minutes
from Orlando where you’ll find IMAX movies, an Astronaut Hall of Fame,
a Rocket Garden with replicas of space shuttles and the LC-30 observation area.
If you’re in Orlando around the convention’s time, the Space Shuttle
Atlantis ISS 12A is planned to launch on August 28 for its mission to the International
Space Station.
As a peninsula, Florida is surrounded by water on three sides, making room for
many fabulous beaches. Cocoa Beach and New Smyrna Beach are each about an hour
away from Orlando. Cocoa Beach is great for surfing and has an 840 feet pier
that goes out into the ocean. New Smyrna Beach is a great place for families
and has several great seafood options.
Don’t worry if you don’t catch it all. You could spend a month in
Orlando and not see everything the city has to offer, but there’s always
next summer.