What to Do in Orlando (Besides Theme Parks)

Orlando
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Jenn: Hey everyone and welcome back to the Travel Mug podcast. Today, Megan and I are joined by Stevie from the Destinations Beyond Expectations podcast. We were on Stevie's podcast last year and we chatted about Nova Scotia and now he's joining us to talk about Florida. So I'm really excited to dive in.

We're really specifically going to focus on the Orlando area but not the theme parks. So slightly outside my realm because I spend a lot of time in the theme parks and sort of in the Disney bubble. So today we're going to get outside the Disney bubble and talk about Central Florida. So welcome to our pod, Stevie. It's so great to chat with you again.

Stevie: Thank you guys so much for having me on. It's such an honor. And I'm really looking forward to talking about Orlando. And, you know, like you mentioned, so many people come here and they just do the theme parks, which is great in its own right. But a lot of people miss what's outside of the theme parks. And so.

I'm really excited to talk about that with you guys today. So thanks so much for having me on.

Jenn: Yeah. Before we dive into the episode, can you tell us a little bit about Destinations Beyond Expectations and what types of episodes people might find there besides ours?

Stevie: Sure. And what a great episode that was, but, um. Destinations beyond expectations. I call it the podcast designed for students of travel. So really what I do is I partner a lot with different travel creators, travel bloggers, people that are just passionate about travel and they talk about whatever destination they want or that's that works for them.

So obviously, you know, we came on and had that great episode about Nova Scotia. If you go on there now, the most, some of the most recent episodes cover a trip to Portugal that I did with my fiance. I've got, uh, an episode on Columbia coming out here shortly. So really it just covers, uh, you know, a wide range of destinations and things you can do.

The whole design of it again is just so you, you listen. And if you like to learn about destinations or travel tips, that's the podcast for you.

Jenn: So before we dive into things to do, I thought it'd be kind of cool to learn a little bit how Orlando became a really popular tourist destination, and it is the theme park capital of the world.

Meggan: So tourism in Orlando and Central Florida has obviously transformed dramatically over the past century, evolving from. A quiet little agricultural region, into one of the world's, uh, top vacation destinations for sure.

So early tourism, so let's talk like pre 20th century to the 1950s ish, and before the rise of like major theme parks, Central Florida was known for its citrus industry, which It still is and natural attractions as well. So the area's warm climate lakes and proximity to the St. John's River attracted early visitors interested in hunting and winter getaways.

Sounds like Nova Scotia, except this is winter. and the development of railroads in the late. 19th century, made access easier, bringing affluent travelers to resorts in places like Winter Park. Now, let's talk about the rise of the theme park. So, the defining moment for Orlando tourism came in 71 with the opening of Walt Disney World, which transformed the region into a global tourist hub

so Disney's success spurred rapid development, leading to the creation, of course, of SeaWorld, Universal Studios in Florida, 1990, for that one, and the construction of major highways, including Interstate 4, that made the area even more accessible. Now, of course, 90s to present, things are moving. So with the expansion of Disney and Universal into multi park resorts, including You know, Universal Islands of Adventure and Disney's Animal Kingdom, to name a few.

Orlando solidified itself as a world class vacation destination. Beyond theme parks, Central Florida became a hub for ecotourism, outdoor recreation, and conventions even, with the Orange County Convention Center growing into one of the largest in the U. S. Today, Orlando is one of the most visited cities in the world, welcoming over 70 million visitors annually, so it's busy.

So from its early days as an agricultural town to becoming the theme park capital of the world, Orlando and Central Florida continue to thrive, as I've just mentioned, as a top destination for entertainment. Nature and hospitality.

Jenn: Stevie, can you give some like pros of going to Orlando? Why should people consider going?

Stevie: Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I want to start with talking a little bit about Orlando's location. Um, if you take a look at a map of Florida, you'll see that Orlando is pretty central to everything. Obviously the panhandle of the state extends west and we're a little bit further from places like pensacola and Destin, but it's easy to get to a lot of places from Orlando. If you want to do a day at the beach, you can get to both the Gulf or Atlantic beaches very easily. Tampa is, of course, another big Floridian city that we. All know, um, and that's like an hour and a half from Orlando. If you want to explore Northeast Florida, which has places like Jacksonville and St. Augustine, you can get to those by car within two, two and a half hours. So because of the location and the massive amount of hotel rooms that exist in central Florida, you can make Orlando your home base and pop out to these other areas of Florida. the central location is just really clutch. Orlando is also home to one of the largest airports in the country.

So before recording this, I googled busiest airports in the United States. And according to Wikipedia, the Orlando International Airport ranks seventh in the country, which I think a lot of people You may not realize, , so as a traveler coming into Orlando, there are a lot of different flight options available for you.

So those are just two big things that come to mind. Obviously we'll talk a lot more about some of the great things to do in central Florida during the podcast, but Orlando's central location and the fact that it's an easy place to get to, no matter where you're coming from are two huge pros.

Jenn: Yeah, for sure. And you're able to get non stop flights from many, many places, including from Nova Scotia, which is one of the reasons I like visiting so much. And it's warm, most of the time.

Stevie: Yeah. I mean, we talked a little bit on the, before we hit record it, we did have, we are just coming off a bit of a cold spell, but yeah, it is warm relative to obviously where you guys are from and a lot of other places as well.

Meggan: Definitely. So I, that's a really great overview in terms of like location, etc. So like, what are, if you can go down a little bit further, the best areas to stay in Orlando if you're not visiting theme parks?

Stevie: Yeah, great question. Orlando is pretty interesting because if you look at pictures of downtown Orlando, it's not a big city in terms of like buildings and people in the actual downtown area, but greater Orlando is expansive.

Um, Orlando is metropolitan area. So, you know, that includes the towns and areas that surround the actual city of Orlando itself. Um, is top 25 in the country. So even though we don't necessarily have the look of a big city when it comes to skyscrapers, the amount of people living around Orlando is pretty incredible and it's growing every day.

So with that said, there are so many great areas that you can look to stay in. I'll start with Kissimmee, Florida. It's kind of in that theme park area. There are a ton of hotels down there. If you want to have an experience where you don't necessarily go to the theme parks, but you still want to see a dinner show or go on an airboat tour to see some of the wildlife or check out Disney Springs, which I think we'll talk about a little bit later.

If you're planning to do any of those things, you might want to look at Kissimmee. so the area or the city rather of Orlando itself is in Orange County, but the county directly west is called Lake County, and that is a fantastic area that I would definitely recommend staying in as well. There are so many charming Floridian towns in Lake County like Claremont, Mount Dora, and Eustis.

Uh, it's called Lake County for a reason, too, and that's because there are tons of beautiful lakes in that area. then one more place I'll just kind of throw out there is Winter Park. Uh, this area is known for having some of Orlando's best restaurants and shopping. It's actually just north of downtown Orlando.

So you're not right next to the theme parks, which Are south of Orlando and I think that can actually really be a benefit if you want to get an Orlando experience with zero ties to the parks again, lots of great shopping and award winning restaurants in this area. It's a town that has a really cool neighborhood feel to it.

So definitely a place to keep in mind. the areas I just mentioned are really just scratching the surface. There's places like Oviedo, which is near the University of Central Florida. Lake Nona is another area of Greater Orlando that's growing really fast and adding a lot of hotel rooms. So those are just some areas you might want to have on your radar if you're coming to Orlando and don't necessarily want to see the theme parks.

Meggan: Now many of the people who visit Orlando are visiting with kids. So let's chat about some family friendly things to do in Orlando. Again, I guess outside of the theme parks because that would be number one.

Jenn: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Outside of the theme parks.

So obviously my husband and I do not have kids, so one of the things that we did last time that we were in Florida was we visited an escape room, and you may have escape rooms close to where you live, we have several, and we've done a lot of escape rooms, I have to say. Um, but we went to Mystique escape room in Lake Mary. It's like 20 minutes outside of downtown Orlando and I have to say it was probably like the best escape room that we've ever done. It was challenging, but like not too challenging and the rooms were like super, super immersive. Um, lots of different types of, uh, puzzles there. It was really well thought out and the website does say that the recommended age is 13 years and older, but you can bring kids younger than 13 if there's an adult chaperone as well So something to consider if you've never done anything like that. It's really fun And if it's like a rainy day or freezing you can do this inside

Stevie: Nice. Cool. And I've, I've never been to mystique. So that sounds like a place I'll have to check out for myself. Well, you know, obviously, as you guys kind of talked about, Orlando is such a family friendly area because, because of the theme parks, really, and, you know, people doing stuff in and then dabbling outside of the theme parks as well.

in terms of like family friendly things to do, I want to start with something in the town that I actually live in, which is Winter Garden. And what I want to talk about is the Winter Garden Farmer's Market, which takes place every Saturday. if you just look at one picture of the farmer's market, the first thing you'll notice is how family friendly it actually is.

So, I mean, everyone shows up to this farmer's market. Moms, dads, babies, teens, grandparents. So many people bring their dogs, including myself. And it's been recognized with tons of awards. Um, if you're a local or staying at an Airbnb. You can get fresh produce here. There's always a lot of options for that And they have different vendors surrounding the actual produce sections. Um, they've always got live music playing. And while you're taking the time to check out the farmer's market, you can also explore the charming town of winter garden itself. which has some really nice local shops. Um, the vibe here is just absolutely fantastic.

And I can't think of anything more family friendly in the Orlando area than taking the time to explore the winter garden farmer's market. another great idea for families would be heading West from winter garden over to Claremont. Which is home to Southern Hill Farms. This is a large farm that always has stuff going on.

And throughout the year, you can actually pick different seasonal berries and other fruits and vegetables here. If you're visiting Orlando in the fall, you've got to make sure to check out Southern Hills Fall Festival. They do it big and they'll have everything from a corn maze to food trucks to a kid zone and petting zoo.

I think Southern Hill Farms is truly a great spot for families to go. And uh, how about I wrap up this answer by taking you to actually the heart of downtown Orlando, and you'll find our iconic city lake, which is Lake Eola. Um, I talked about the Winter Garden Farmers Market earlier. Lake Eola also has a great farmer's market that takes place every Sunday.

around the lake, they have events there throughout the year. One that comes to mind is Paws in the park, which actually just happened. I guess we're recording this earlier and the episode might come later. So it's happening on the weekend of February 8th. It's the largest pet festival in the United States.

And it's super, super family friendly, but even if you're here on a day without any sort of particular like event going on, it's the perfect spot to take a walk with your family, let your kids play in the large playground and just enjoy some of the nearby coffee shops and restaurants.

Meggan: After like your promotion of a winter garden, they're going to give you like a key to this city.

Stevie: Know what though? You, this is like, you, you can find, if you Google it, like you'll find that it's like an award winning thing. It is, it's amazing. And I live, I'm, I'm lucky enough that I live within walking distance of it. It's about a mile and a half from where I live. So it's always nice to walk there. It's just a great vibe.

And, um, I, if you guys ever come to central Florida and are looking for something to do on a Saturday. I couldn't recommend it enough. Like it's awesome.

Jenn: I love that. And actually when we've spent time in Mount Dora, we've gone to their farmer's market, which takes place on Sundays. And I found this vendor called Pure Vita Kettle Corn, and I'm obsessed with their kettle corn.

Meggan: She likes the kettle corn.

Jenn: I'm not going to lie. Like dream about that cattle corn and we actually, we're not making it down to Florida. We usually come in February and we're not making it this year. hopefully they're before February, 2020, 26. But, um, I just, , I'm so disappointed that I'm not going to eat that cattle corn any time soon.

Stevie: Well, if you're not coming next year and you you're like skipping a year, you got to make sure you get double when you go to the,

Jenn: I'm thinking about just. I'm just emailing them and asking them to mail it to Canada. I don't know if I'm going to make it that long.

Meggan: Um, so, if you are travelling adults only, like Jen and her husband do often, uh, obviously through the area, Orlando still has some fun things to do. So, Jen, sort of talk to us a little bit about what you and Ryan have done during your time there.

Jenn: Yeah, and um, we've done a lot of theme parks adults only so I just want to put that out there that theme parks are Not just for people with children. But last year we visited lake ridge winery and vineyards And it's about 30 minutes ish from downtown orlando And coming from a region like here in nova scotia where we actually produced quite a lot of wine.

It was interesting To visit lake ridge. So lake ridge is the largest winery You in Florida and they offer free wine tours all throughout the day where you can see how the wine is made and like learn about the history of Florida wine. They have like a little video that you get to watch and you get to kind of go behind the scenes And then of course you get to sample some wines as well.

So if you visit on the weekend Um, there's often live entertainment and honestly, it's a really fun experience. We Ended up buying like a couple bottles of wine and having like a wine and cheese night at home with their friends I will say that I found the wine like on the sweeter side for sure

Stevie: I absolutely love the Lake Ridge, winery. And it's so funny because like, I think when you think of Florida, you, wine is not something that comes to mind, right. For you guys. Like, that's not why people visit, um, but we're known for our sweeter wines. We have like, we, a lot of muscadine based wines with the muscadine grapes. So absolutely. Um, I love Lake Ridge winery, but. I will say this. If you're more of a beer person than a wine person, you should know that there are a lot of great local breweries across the Orlando area to, , a couple of my favorites are rock pit brewing in the Soto area, the crooked can brewery in winter garden.

You can visit that while you're exploring the farmer's market. Um, toll road brewing in a Coey florida and Ivanhoe park brewing, which is sort of near the downtown Orlando area. Orlando Also has a really solid sports scene. Obviously you can see any sort of sporting event if you're with your kids in Orlando, but something that I think is really fun more so for adults than kids is seeing an Orlando city soccer game in a standing section of the stadium known as the wall. So yeah, Orlando does have a pro soccer team here. And when the team first came into major league soccer. They had to build what they call a soccer specific stadium. So our stadium sits just over 25, 000 when it's at full capacity. And behind one of the goals, there's that section known as the wall that I was talking about, which is designated for some of the rowdier fans.

Let me tell you, watching the game in the wall is really, really fun. You can grab a couple adult beverages throughout the game. Learn some of the fun chants and enjoy a soccer match in a little bit more of a livelier environment than what you would probably find if you were just like sitting down in another section of the stadium.

Um, and then speaking of sports, there's a lot of great golfing around Orlando as well. And a lot of people who come here to vacation without their kids will enjoy getting out on one of the many courses that we have. I'm not too much of a golfer, so I don't have course recommendations to share. If you are here like on a bachelor trip, a girl's trip, a couple's trip, I know that getting out to do some golfing is a really popular thing for visitors to do.

Jenn: You mentioned beer and it reminded me that my friends, um, that live in Orlando posted on Instagram recently that they were at a beer spa and I forgot about it. Um, I don't know what happens there if you're like, infused with beer at the beer spa, but it definitely sounds like an adult oriented thing to do.

Stevie: I've heard of that, but I've not been there. So I can't, I don't know for certain what exactly goes on at the beer spa.

Jenn: !I don't know. I might have to check it out for search for the pod next time. I guess.

Meggan: I really think I'll, I'll, I'll pay half if I have to. Um, so. Stevie, one of our favorite topics here is food on this podcast.

And do you think you can share some of your favorite Orlando area restaurants with us?

Stevie: Absolutely. And, you know, I'll start this answer, um, with something I've already mentioned, which is winter park. Now, I don't live particularly close to winter park, so I'm not really there too often, but that is the area without a doubt. That's the place to go for foodies in Orlando. Um, there's so many great restaurants and bars over in winter park. And one place that comes to mind, is a spot called 60 vines. This is the perfect spot to go if you like good food and good wine. Their whole name is actually based off their concept of offering 60 wines through their sustainable wine tap system.

But beyond their wine, they also have mouthwatering dishes in a style that they call casual new American. But yeah, definitely recommend checking out this place if you're going to be in winter park and just winter park as a whole, like so many great restaurants, there's like too many to name on this podcast, but if you like good food.

Make sure you make it to that area heading north of Orlando on interstate four or I four, as we call it, you'll run into a town called Sanford. Make sure you take the exit and explore this historic town. It's very cool. And it's also home to one of my family's favorite restaurants called Hollerbox German restaurant.

It says it right in the name. So of course, you know, it's a German restaurant, but this is actually a really fantastic place for delicious German food. And on certain days of the week, you can actually hear some wonderful German musicians performing as you scarf down your schnitzel and German beer. Um, there's a beautiful bar area in the restaurant that was actually constructed by carpenters directly from Germany.

Like the owners flew them in from Germany to build the bar. It's, it's pretty cool. And this place even has a rooftop, so it's perfect for those, Gorgeous central Florida days. If it's not too hot or too cold or raining, we do get those. Believe it or not, once in a while, we can do get those really nice days.

But next to the restaurant too, I'll mention this holler box also has a German market and a deli. So that's a great place to go if you want to take some, they might not have your kettle corn, but, uh, they'll have some traditional German snacks that. to take back home. So that's a great place to go for that.

And then one more place I'll mention is a local Orlando restaurant called Rustique, which is sort of a casual modern upscale spot known for great wine and unique takes on new American dishes. So Rustique has two locations, I believe, one in Akoi, Florida and the other one's in Thornton Park, which is also sort of near downtown Orlando.

Just a, a great place to go if you're here with your significant other or your friends, um, that may happen to be foodies. Definitely recommend hitting up, rustic.

Jenn: Well, now I'm hungry and I want to go eat at these places. I have never considered coming from German food when I'm in Orlando, but uh, apparently I'm gonna have to go to Sanford and get some German food.

Stevie: Oh yeah. And Sanford, the, I mean, the city itself is very, it's like one of those historic Floridian cities that it, even though like definitely go hit up the German restaurant, but there's other great stuff to do in the area as well. So it's a, it's a cool spot.

Jenn: Yeah, and I think that kind of leads us into, like, Orlando's a really great jumping off point, like you said, because it's so central and it's a really good spot to stay and then leave for some day trips as well to kind of, like, get out of the city, quote unquote. Um, if you listeners have listened to me talking my Florida trip reports, Uh, you know that I am completely, completely in love with Mount Dora.

I often look at real estate for sale in Mount Dora because I hope to retire there one day. But it is a small town, like 45 to 50 minutes outside of downtown Orlando. Super, super walkable, like, downtown area once you're there. Uh, like I said, I love visiting their farmer's market on Sundays. Pura Vida, kettle corn people, if you're listening.

Uh, I miss you. So, so much. But they've got lots of little like local shops and historic buildings. We've visited Palm Island Park, which is a really nice nature trail. And then last year we did a ghost hunting tour with Mount Dora Ghost Tours, and it was probably one of the best ghost tours I've done.

I've done a lot of, um, Those as well. Obviously I'm really into escape rooms and ghost tours. Um, but yeah, it's just a really great place to kind of like get out of the crowds and the traffic of Orlando.

Stevie: yeah, yeah, no, you're, you're totally right. Mount Dora is absolutely wonderful. It's actually a place I'm exploring moving to, or one of the nearby cities there as well, Mount Dora, Eustis, Leesburg, all of those Lake County cities I think are beautiful, but Mount Dora in particular, like I agree.

I totally love that town. And they have some really great festivals throughout the year too. I don't know if you've had a chance to go to any of those, but

Jenn: yeah, I went to, um, Jane Austin Fest was happening the last time we were there. We just happened to stumble upon it on So we heard in some of that,

Stevie: how was that?

Jenn: It was fun! We had such a good time, but yeah, they have a ton of stuff going on.

Stevie: Yeah, definitely. And you know, you kind of pointed this out. Orlando is very central to a lot of different places. So there's so many options within a two hour drive. One idea that immediately comes to mind is heading east of Orlando to explore the space coast.

There's so much to do in like the Cape Canaveral and Cocoa beach areas. And one of my top recommendations is like visiting the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. So if you or anyone you're traveling with is interested in learning more about like space exploration, I would say this is a must do.

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex has different exhibits that teach you about, you know, the history of space exploration, and it's actually very close to where the rockets take off quite frequently. And then just south of Kennedy Space Center is Cocoa Beach, which is a popular beach and has the iconic Ron Jon Surf Shop.

Have you guys heard of that one? Yeah, you've probably seen like the signs if you're driving on the roads. But it's a huge shop and it's a great place to find some Floridian Beach mementos to take home. And then I'll also say, you know, just under two hours north of Orlando is the historic town of St. Augustine. And I say historic because it's the oldest European founded city in North America. , it was settled by the Spanish all the way back in 1565. And the Castillo de San Marcos, which is the oldest masonry fort in the United States, is not only still standing, but it's something you can actually go in and check out for yourself.

So, you know, outside the fort, you'll also find a lot of unique shops, restaurants, and other historic structures. It's a really, like a really neat town that makes you feel like you're almost experiencing a different time. Um, and then, you know, if you like whiskey and other spirits, Make sure to stop by the St. Augustine distillery for some, uh, free spirit sampling. And I also recommend heading over to the St. Augustine lighthouse to check that out too.

Meggan: You know, it's something that's interesting. I knew about the history of St. Augustine a bit, but during the pandemic, when we could go nowhere, um, we actually found a, webcam that's on like a martini bar in St. Augustine. And we actually watched that, like, Kind of semi frequently just to like see what was happening in the world and see what people were actually out enjoying themselves before we were able to. Um, anyway, St. Augustine has my heart for sure.

Stevie: It is so beautiful and, you know, if you even want to explore a little more north and check out the city of Jacksonville, which has so many great things to do as well, don't take the fastest route, which is up 95.

I highly recommend taking the scenic drive up A1A, which is a beachside road. It is just absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't recommend it enough, but yeah, St. Augustine, very cool town. Um, lots of, lots of unique history and shops and things to do. So there's just a lot to do over there.

Meggan: Definitely.

Jenn: That's so interesting.

I had never, I mean, I heard of St. Augustine, but I've never like seen anything. So that's really interesting and definitely something that we will add.

Stevie: You know, it's actually a popular elementary school kids will take like a field trip there every year. So it's like one of those popular destinations for families too.

Jenn: Yeah, that makes sense for sure.

So I know I said we weren't talking about theme parks, but I'm going to talk about the theme parks. Sort of. These are spots that are like free ish To visit and not like inside the gates of a theme park. So the first spot I'm gonna mention is Disney Springs. It used to be called Downtown Disney back in the day But they changed the name to Disney Springs like early 2000s, mid to late 2000s.

Anyway, So it's a shopping and dining and entertainment Complex area similar to like other outdoor malls that you can visit There's lots of shops and there's also some unique things to do. So there's a tethered balloon flight So it looks like a hot air balloon and it's tethered so you can go up and get some views of the area There's also a Disney themed Cirque de Soleil show called drawn to life and then you can ride in a vintage You Amphibicar, so it goes in the water.

I haven't actually tried that myself, but it looks really cool. And then I also saw that you can take cake decorating class at Emirates Patisserie. So lots of things to do besides the shops. There's also a really great restaurant as well. And then another spot that's like, probably Less well known, but it becoming a little bit more popular is Disney's Boardwalk area So we stayed in a hotel on the boardwalk on our last visit I love hanging out here just like sitting and people watching.

It's like a little bit more adults oriented I would say than Disney Springs is but it has like restaurants and bars and like carnival games And like buskers and it's really cool spot to just hang out for even just an afternoon. So Uh stevie, can you tell us about city walk because I haven't actually been there

Stevie: Yeah, for sure. And so CityWalk is sort of like Universal's version of Disney Springs, but one of the main differences is CityWalk is essentially the gateway to both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. So if you're planning to check out, uh, the theme parks, you'll actually walk through CityWalk to get to the parks.

There's a lot of great shopping and dining at CityWalk like very similar to Disney Springs. Um, a lot of people will check it out in the middle of the day as they're sort of, you know, going in between the parks. Um, and it's a pretty lively place at night, but I think the best way to describe CityWalk is that It's Universal's version of what Disney Springs is to Disney and for both of these, like, I think they're good spots for, you know, if you don't really have time to check out the theme parks or, you know, that's, they're obviously expensive to go into the parks, but you still want to take some mementos home.

You can stop by Disney Springs, which Disney Springs has free parking CityWalk you do have to pay a parking fee unless it's after a certain time of the day. Um, but either place is a really good, spot to grab some mementos of Disney or universal.

Meggan: Excellent. And I, I love the tip about, uh, free parking. That's probably a good information to people have for people to have as well. Plus the mementos you're right. If people don't have the money or what, or the time to go to the parks, they could at least take something home. One of my favorite things when I explore cities as well is not going where everyone else is.

Sometimes I really enjoy that. Um, after a while things I come over stimulated. So Stevie, can you share, any spots that you consider, although we're going to blow the top off of these, but can you share any spots that you consider hidden gems that many tourists miss?

Stevie: Yeah, I'd be happy to. And this question in particular is one that I absolutely love because so many people come to Orlando to just do the theme parks and go home.

But I would recommend to anyone out there that like, sure, the theme parks are great, but. Don't be afraid to get out and explore some of the amazing hidden gems around central Florida. And I want to start with my favorite hidden gem to recommend to people, which is the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive. So Lake Apopka is one of the largest lakes actually in the state of Florida, and it was a very popular place for celebrities to retreat to for some fishing and relaxation back in the 1940s.

Like famous actors, even like mob guys would come down here and this would be sort of like their retreat, unfortunately, like bad farming practices led to some really serious pollution in the lake and the vibrant lake that used to be, um, actually turned into something that was essentially unsafe. So the state of Florida acquired the land on the north side of the lake back in the nineties, I believe. And since then, there's been an effort to both clean up the lake and also educate people about the unique wildlife that is still unfortunately affected by that pollution from so many years ago.

I mean, like, even today, like, you don't want to swim in this lake or eat fish caught in the lake because of what went down, but the effort to clean the lake up. And one day restore it is really very prevalent right now. So as part of the state's effort to educate the public about the wildlife history and cleanup efforts, on the land that they manage, they went ahead and built these treated dirt roads.

So if you're visiting Florida and you have a vehicle, you can actually take your car and drive the Lake Apopka wildlife drive, and the best way I can describe it is like a Floridian version of a safari. So you're slowly driving on these dirt roads through the real actual swampland that surrounds the lake, and it is a fantastic place to not only see gators, I mean, you'll probably lose count of how many gators you see, but you also might see animals like osprey, bobcats, otters, and so much more.

I do want to note that this isn't something that's open 24 seven. So do you check for their hours , I believe you can do this on Friday, Saturdays and Sundays between 7 a. m. and 3 p. m., but just double check to make sure because it can close if there's like heavy rains that flood the roads, but I could go on and on about this.

It's probably like the top thing I recommend people do when they visit, especially if they're coming from far away and want to see gators and the incredible wildlife we have here in central florida. Another outdoorsy hidden gem is the black bear wilderness loop. So a lot of people probably don't think of hiking experiences when they think of central florida because we're flat, but the black bear loop is a roughly seven mile circular hiking trail out towards Sanford.

That's not really challenging. It's totally flat, like I said, and also mostly shaded. But it's a great way to get out and experience what nature is like out here. I've been, or I've seen rather everything from gators to deer to hogs on this hike. And again, it's a really cool way to see just natural Floridian wildlife.

And the, one of the cool things too, is because it's shaded, people actually do this hike year round. So in the summer, you may have to deal with those, you know, warm temperatures and humidity and all that stuff. But You won't have to deal with like the direct sunlight. So you don't have to worry about getting a sunburn.

This loop is right by Sanford, so you can take the time to walk the trail and also check out the Hollerbach German restaurant and the other fun things in Sanford all in the same day. And then one more final hidden gem I'll mention, and I think more and more people are becoming aware of this each year.

But I still want to bring up, seeing the manatees at Blue Springs State Park, which sits just a little bit north of Sanford. So, manatees in Florida typically spend time around rivers, estuaries, and like coastal areas of Florida. But when it gets cold here, which I know is, you know, cold for us and cold for Canadians are two totally different things.

Um, but when we get cold temperatures, the manatees will funnel their way to the St. Johns River. And eventually to our natural springs, because the water coming out of the springs stays at like a consistent temperature all year. So the water coming out of blue springs is 72 degrees Fahrenheit, whether it's July or September or December.

So, you know, we actually got some really cold temperatures here a couple of weeks ago. There was actually news coverage about like the snow that hit the panhandle of Florida, but in central Florida, there was like a handful of days where we were waking up to 35, 36 degrees Fahrenheit. And I didn't follow the manatee counts at blue springs, but I imagine they had a huge number of manatees chilling out by the springs.

And when you go to the state park, you can just watch them enjoy that nice 72 degree water. So definitely a cool experience. These things are probably bigger than you would picture them to be if you've never seen manatees. It's a, it's a really neat opportunity to see some just interesting Florida wildlife.

So it's a high on my list of recommendations for a hidden gem.

Meggan: !I love all those things you mentioned because I really like going, like, cities are great, but I love nature, listening to birds, seeing new birds, seeing new wildlife. So, all of the things you mentioned, coupled with the German restaurant, um, really, all of that's really up my alley.

So, I think these are awesome suggestions. Thank you so much. And I never would have known about them. So, thank you.

Jenn: Yeah, absolutely.

There's so much to do in Orlando. That's not a theme park. And I think that we've really just like scratched the surface. If you dug deeper, there'd be so much to do. So, um, thank you so much, Stevie, for coming on. Before we let you go, where can listeners find Destinations Beyond Expectations so they can hear all about the fun things that you do.

Stevie: Yeah. And before I run, I just got to tell you guys, thanks so much again for having me on.

It's been so cool to chat about my area, which I don't ever really get to do on my podcast. So it's, it's been such a pleasure being on your show, but, um, destinations beyond expectations, podcast is one for students of travel and you can find it on Apple podcasts, Spotify, anywhere else podcasts are listed.

Uh, you can go check out destinations beyond expectations on Facebook and Instagram too. And, uh, yeah, that's, that's about it. But, um, so, so honored to be on your podcast and it brings me joy to talk about my, my region of the world. So thanks so much for having me on.

Jenn: I cannot wait for the day where we both live in Mount Dora and hang out at the farmer's together.

You can also find the travel mug podcast on Instagram and Facebook as well. YouTube and our website travelmugpodcast. com. We'll be sharing some fun pictures from around the Orlando area on our social media. So check those out and until next time listeners, bye.

Meggan: Bye everyone.