Orlando Highlights
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In this section: Orlando's best thrill rides, and the best of natural, historic and cultural Orlando.
Orlando's best thrill rides
Space Mountain
Though tame by modern standards, this Magic Kingdom classic still draws the crowds. The park's most challenging ride takes place on an indoor track replete with whiz-bang visual effects and, weirdest of all, stretches of inky darkness.
A mild experience compared to some of the other parks' white-knuckle thrills, but, like so many Disney rides, it's the ancillary effects that make it worth the wait. You exit into the Tomorrowland Arcade, a good place to escape the heat, avoid the crowds and empty your pockets of spare change.
Further details: Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom - Mission: SPACE
The newest attraction at Epcot is by far its best. You feel you've earned your wings after this simulated trip to the red planet. Sick-bag included.
The ride simulates a mission to Mars, complete with a g-force lift off. It's so convincing that, as the force releases and you see a beautiful (and seemingly weightless) view of the Earth below, you have to remind yourself that, unlike a real astronaut, you're still in Florida.
Further details: Magic Kingdom
Epcot Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
You go up, they distract you, then you drop. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. This theatrical experience, introduced via tv screen by Rod Sterling, the creator of the Twilight Zone, is based on the tragic events on Halloween night in 1939, when the Hollywood Tower Hotel was struck by lightning. Five guests in an elevator disappeared, along with an entire wing of the hotel.
The ride recreates the drama of the missing elevator, and then spews you out, shaken and stirred, with the handy advice: next time use the stairs.
Further details: Epcot
Disney-MGM Studios: Rock'n'Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
If neither the 60 mph launch, nor the dips and inversions get you, then the blaring rock'n'roll just might push you over the edge. The indoor coaster has enough ups and downs and twist-arounds to satisfy the most hard-core thrill-seeker.
The cars look like limousines and each is equipped with a sound system blasting an Aerosmith tune synchronised to the twists and turns. Not for lightweights, neither hard rock fans nor riders.
Further details: Disney-MGM
Disney-MGM Studios: Back to the Future…The Ride
It's just a simulator, but you may forget this, as this is the most exciting simulator ride in Orlando.
The bone-rattling, head-spinning journey through time sends you skittering over Ice Age glaciers, through a volcano, into the gullet of a dinosaur and, well, back to the future. In the comfort of an 8-seater De Lorean, though comfort might not be quite the right word. Warnings sombrely advise you that if you have a heart condition, or a bad back, or are prone to motion sickness, sit this one out.
Further details: Disney-MGM
Dueling Dragons
If there's a fine line between terror and exhilaration, it's difficult to remember which side you're on as, at 60 mph, you just miss your duelling coaster as it zooms past you.
This is not merely one coaster but two. Fire Dragon and Ice Dragon ride on intertwining tracks devilishly engineered for several near misses. A computer system monitors the trains in order to minimise the distance between trains - and maximise the terror.
Further details: Universal Studios
The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man
Part simulator, part 3-D cinema, part dark ride and, undoubtedly the most sophisticated ride in Orlando. It's a thrilling ride without being terrifying and, because it relies more on tricks of perception than physical jolts, it gives you a good jostle without scrambling your innards.
The tour - recreating a plot to kidnap the Statue of Liberty - culminates in what feels like a 400-ft (120-m) headlong plunge to the streets below, only to be saved by - who else? - your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.
Further details: Universal's Islands of Adventure
Incredible Hulk Coaster
From 0-40 mph in two seconds and that's just to get you started. Three rolls, two loops, and the world's highest inversion finish you off. Rather than gently ascending the the lift hill as most other coasters do, the Hulk catapults riders skyward with the g-force of a jet fighter plane.
What follows in the next two-and-a-half minutes is a short course in vertigo, as the cars scream through three rolls, two carousels, two loops including the world's highest inversion, at 109 feet / 33 metres) and two subterranean passages, one of them under the lagoon.
Further details: Universal's Islands of Adventure
Kraken
This floorless roller coaster, which exceeds speeds of 60 mph, has been known to scare even the most seasoned roller coaster aficionados. Raised seats allow your legs to dangle freely as this legendary monster reaches speeds of 65 mph (105 kph), creating a g-force that keeps you glued to your seat during a three-and-a-half minute ride. There are seven inversions (including a cobra roll, vertical loop, and flat spin), underground passages and a soaking in the eel-infested monster's lair.
Further details: Universal's Islands of Adventure
Montu
One of the tallest and longest coasters in the world; named after an Egyptian god. Riders are strapped into open-air, pedestal-like seats secured only by shoulder restraints. Feet dangling in the air, passengers are thrown around 360-degree, stomach-churning loops at a top speed of more than 60 mph (96 kph). This monstrous ride is not for the initiated, though old hands will scream for more.
Further details: Busch Gardens
Merrit Island National Wildlife Refuge
Home of endangered manatees and sea turtles. Adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center, with 140,000 acres, where West Indian manatees loll peacefully in brackish lagoons, sea turtles waddle ashore to lay eggs on pristine beaches, and alligators bask in the sun on creek banks.
The refuge lies on a prime migration route and the sky is filled in early Spring with warblers and shore birds while, on the ground, egrets and herons are in breeding plumage, wood storks and ospreys build their nests and young bald eagles test their new wings. Open daily dawn to dusk, closed several days before rocket launches. PO Box 6504, Titusville; tel: 321-861 0667.
Blue Spring State Park
Go snorkelling and swimming in crystal-clear waters, near to the Ocala National Forest (2100 W. French Avenue, Orange City; tel: 904-775 3663).
Tiger Creek Preserve
Home of the endangered skinks that can “swim” under the sand (no, we can't figure it out either - you'll just have to go and see how they do it). Also inhabited by the real Florida mouse. Open daily dawn to dusk, 155 Pfundstein Road, Babson Park; tel: 863-635 6456.
Orlando Science Center
Interactive exhibits cover everything from Florida's famous sinkholes to an astronaut's life in zero gravity. A few miles north of Orlando, in tree-shaded Loch Haven Park, the ten interactive halls also include an eight-storey CineDome and an observatory. Open daily except Monday, 777 East Princeton Street; tel: 407-514 2000; www.osc.org.
Historic Bok Sanctuary
Opened in 1929, these serene gardens were designed along traditional European styles. The 200-acre grounds are laid out as a series of horticultural areas linked by paths winding through azalea and camellia gardens, a magnificent grove of Spanish-moss draped oaks and other Southern plant species. Open daily, 1151 Tower Boulevard, Lake Wales; tel: 863-676 1408; www.boktower.org.
Ocala National Forest
Great hiking and camping in central Florida (17147 East Highway 40, Silver Springs; tel: 352-625 7470).
Historic Orlando
Gatorland
Opened in 1949, this is one of Orlando's first attractions. It still gives you a chance to see, hold and even eat gators. This gloriously low-tech 55-acre (22-hectare) combination gator farm, exotic zoo and wetlands park is the best place to have your Florida alligator experience.
It is a working alligator farm, with about 1000 animals shipped to market each week, but also puts on some snappy reptilian displays such as the Gator Jumparoo Show and the Gator Wrestling Cracker-style Show. Open daily 9am to dusk, 14501 Orange Blossom Trail; tel: 800-393 5297; www.gatorland.com.
Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of the Arts
A revolving calendar of exhibitions features African-American art. This tiny museum is in Eatonville, the first black township in the United States, established in 1887.
Hurston was a noted Harlem Renaissance writer, anthropologist and folklorist, born in Eatonville in 1891. Each January Eatonville holds a festival in Hurston's honour, attracting such prominent artists as legendary Latino singer Celia Cruz. Open daily, 9am to 4pm, 227 East Kennedy Boulevard; tel: 407-647 3307.
Kissimmee Rodeo
Harken back to the good old days when the only creatures treated like cattle were, well, cattle. You'll see - and maybe take part in - bareback riding, bull riding, bronco busting, and calf roping, as well as a calf scramble, in which kids from the audience chase a herd of young dogies. Fridays at 8pm, 958 South Hoagland Boulevard; tel: 407-933 0020; www.ksarodeo.com.
Weeki Wachi
One of Florida's few remaining old roadside attractions and the only one with real live mermaids. This natural spring is north of Tampa, where you can canoe, scuba dive, play on water slides and try to spot manatees on the Wilderness Cruise on the Weeki Wachi River.
In true Florida fashion, there is a gimmick here: mermaid shows featuring pretty girls in fishtails swimming in a large aquarium. It's hokey but makes for family fun. US Highway 19 and SR 50; phone for opening hours, tel: 877-469 3354; www.weekiwachee.com.
Orange County Regional History Center
Imaginative exhibits of Florida's 12,000-year history, based in the 1927 Orange County courthouse. Four floors of colourful exhibits cover central Florida's history, from the state's first native American residents to Spanish explorers and missionaries, British colonists, the Seminole Indian Wars, Cracker cowmen, citrus growers, tin-can tourists, aerospace engineers and not to forget Walt Disney.
The museum also holds monthly social and educational programmes for all ages. Open daily, 65 East Central Boulevard; tel: 407-836 8500; www.thehistorycenter.org.
Silver Springs
Recall the mid-1800s when steamboats carried wealthy tourists down the St. John's on Oklawaha rivers. Central Florida's crystalline springs have attracted people for thousands of years, claimed - by locals - to be the purest and largest artesian waters in the world. Open daily 10am to 5pm, 5656 East Silver Springs Boulevard; tel: 352-236 2121; www.silversprings.com.
Jack Kerouac House
This is the house in which Jack wrote Dharma Bums, cult Beat novel. Now it's the home of the current Kerouac-esque writer-in-residence. An annual Jack Kerouac Festival, featuring poetry readings, jazz concerts, and house tours, is held in April.
Writers completing books written in the Kerouac style may apply for the writer-in-residence programme, which offers a three-month, rent-free stay in the house. Jack Kerouac House, 1418 Clouser Avenue, Orlando; www.poembeat.com.
Cornell Fine Arts Museum
One of the finest art museums in the Southeast, featuring more than 6,000 pieces of European and American art. Though small, this gracious establishment on the gracious, Mediterranean-style campus of Rollins College, has a superb collection of paintings, drawings and sculpture from the 1450s to the 1990s.
At the start of the school year, one gallery is dedicated to exhibiting work by contemporary local artists. Further information: Cornell Fine Arts Museum
Osceola Center for the Arts, Kissimmee
Home to 10 visual and performing arts groups with an art gallery, a 244-seat theatre, and an art school with classes for children and adults.
The Center also runs a programme of cultural events, including an Arts Festival, held every November, with displays of students' work, music, food and entertainment. Further information: OCFTA.
Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art
The world's most comprehensive collection of late 19th-century stained glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The centrepiece of the collection is the reconstructed Tiffany Chapel, designed for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
The collections were assembled in Winter Park over 50 years ago by Mrs McKean, President of Rollins College, and include signiifcant holdings of Arts and Crafts-style Rookwood pottery. Further information: www.morsemuseum.org
Orlando Museum of Art
This well-regarded collection includes ancient artifacts from the US Southwest, Mexico, and Central and South America, plus works by 18th- to 20th-century American painters including Georgia O'Keefe and John Singer Sargent.
Founded in 1924 and recently expanded, OMA's renovations now allow it to mount travelling exhibitions from major art museums such as New York's Metropolitan. Recent displays include Ancestors of the Inca, with pieces from ancient Peruvian cultures, and the Holocaust Project's From Darkness into Life, a gathering of works reflecting on the European genocide and its aftermath. Further information: www.omart.org.