#10 Airstream Ranch
I-4 has always been a road of surprises and unique advertisements, but Airstream Ranch has become so much more. In a little over 3 months its image of airstreams sticking in the air has circled the globe and made a international story. Sure Texas has Cadillac Ranch but now Florida Airstream Ranch (and I don't know about you, but RVs sticking out of the ground, some almost 20 feet in the air, is much cooler than old car sticking out of the ground! )
#9 Child of the Sun
Sitting on hill overlooking a small lake in south Lakeland is one of my favorite collections of buildings. Child of the Sun is the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings anywhere in the world.
Every time I visit these buildings I find new details. This collection is best viewed in the afternoon sun. The sun shines through the miniature stained glass blocks and cascades down through giant glass roof of the chapel. Now its even as the restored fountain is finally the actual look Wright intended, sure it took over 50 years for the technology to catch up with his vision, but that just shows how much of visionary he truly was!
#8 Flagler Ave in New Smyrna Beach
Other cities have beaches, but nothing like Flagler Ave! Small shops, diners, parks, and even a statue dedicated to east coast surfing. This is what the beach is all about. The life guards are always training around the 3 story tall lifeguard shack, the cops on 4 wheelers, the old people playing shuffle board amongst wild and crazy sculptures, this Florida at its finest. I used to spend hours watching guys (most of whom had to be in the upper 60's) hand carve surfboards, if you want a fine surf board look no further. The volleyball nets on the beach are always in use, the skateboards almost out number the surfers, and Bob Marley is always being played somewhere near by. This is what the beach should be!
#7 Mt. Dora (Florida, not Korea!)
Sure it where I grew up, but thats not why I love this little town. Its all the shoppes, cafes, and museums. I love the public art, the beautiful vistas overlooking the lakes, the trolleys and the segway tours.
Every time I go to Mt. Dora I see new things popping up. Its so nice, all the new museums and tours, and whats nice is that most of them are free or very cheap!
#6 Orlando's ViMi District
Any trip to Orlando wouldn't be complete without a trip to the ViMi district. Situated between Virginia and Mills Ave in Orlando. Filled with Asian signs (most Vietnamese) and restaurants. I used to go to this area and always found the best techno music.
# 5 Gatorland
I love this little Orlando attraction. I have had season passes to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, but the pass I used the most was the one to Gatorland. Gatorland used to just be gators, but now its so much more. The new train layout goes through the breed marsh and bird rockery where deer, turkey and other animals can walk right up the train and let you pet them. The Very Merry Aviary was another one of my favorite attractions, a walk through aviary with some of the most colorful birds around. Plus the shows are amazing, gator wrestling is awesome, but my favorite is and has always been the Gator Jumparoo show where gator will lung out of the water (up to five feet!) to grab frozen chickens out of the trainer's hand!
#4 Parliament House
So why do I have a gay nightclub on my top 10 things list? Because it is so much more than just a nightclub. I have seen TONS of famous people stop by here and the party is always wild! The main nightclub has a jazz room with a piano player, the funniest drag queen show ever! (hosted by Darcel Stevens), a great restaurant inside the club, a video bar with the latest music videos always being played, a huge main dance floor with live dj's and the wildest largest light show I have ever seen (check out the bar area with the ceiling filled with disco balls, its amazing!), then you have the pool bar overlooking the pool and dance floor. And thats just the main club, then have the pool with techno music that opens at 10am, a courtyard with shops for anything you need from home decor to leather underwear, then you have the western bar with pool tables and sports on the TVs, then outback you have a beach on Rock Lake. If thats not enough there is a full hotel wrapping around all the clubs and now they are building a condo complex on the property and a plan to remodel the whole complex to give it a art deco look!
#3 Lake Eola Park
In the middle of downtown Orlando lays my favorite park in the whole area. Lake Eola Park has so many cool little hidden jewels. My favorite is the statues of dignitaries and revolutionaries. This is also one of the most romantic places to take a date in Orlando. The gondolas serenading the whole lake, the almost weekly free concerts and Shakespeare plays at the Walt Disney Amphitheater, the fountains all around the park add a nice sound to the park, and the fountain in the middle of the lake cast its hypnotic glow over the whole park. (Also check out the Chinese temple and the monument to Orlando Reeves, the person who the city is named).
#2 Citrus Tower/Presidents Hall of Fame
Sure its two attractions, but its on one piece of property and is usually done in one stop. The Hall of Presidents has about the presidents than you'll ever want to know. They not only have life size wax figures of all the presidents, but also miniature mock-ups of how each president decorated the oval office (Bill Clinton's was very clustered), they also presidential plates, a huge mock of the Lincoln memorial and Mt. Rushmore, and even a presidential limo (with the bullet holes of when Regan was shot). And don't forget the circus minitures also on display (yeah, I don't know what they have to do with the presidents, hum, maybe donkeys and elephants would make sense!)
The next door is the Citrus Tower, first take a tour through the museum, then see the random citrus invented here (my fav is the honey orange, its amazing!) and then take the elevator (notice the sign stating at least one person must be at least 21 in the elevator, then you get to the top (all 226 feet high!) and look over all the citrus urban sprawl. Yep, people used to claim to see citrus for miles around (I can even remeber this!) but now its hard to find any citrus, but this is still the best spot to see the fireworks from the Orlando attractions.
Yeah this is a pretty famous attraction but I would still say its off the beating path. I actually tear up every time I visit KSC. The numerous attractions, tours, and movies make anybody truly appreciate what these scientist are doing. Nasa has changed all of our lives (in tons of ways) and this attraction celebrates all that Nasa does. Sure Alabama and Texas have Nasa visitor centers but nothing like the one on the east coast of Florida. The Astronaut Hall of Fame (with rides and the hall of fame) is included as are the movies, also check out the recent addition, the Shuttle Launch Experince that shows what it actually feels like to ride the shuttle into space. In the space age its still awesome to see where it all started and where its headed!
So thats my list, they aren't in order really, I hope you enjoyed, there are many things I wanted to add but didn't. The Monument of States in Kissimmee , Dinosaur World in Dover, the numerous attractions on I-Drive all were considered but most of well known or not unique to Central Florida. So what do you think? What would you add to the list?
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