Things to Do in Orlando

Roughly 40,000 gallons of water and 45,000 pounds of sand make up SEA LIFE® Orlando, the home of over 5,000 sea creatures, including green sea turtles, jellyfish, seahorses, black tip reef sharks, and colorful clownfish. Visitors can admire sharks and exotic fish from all angles and watch rays float gracefully overhead at theAtlantic Ocean Exhibit with its 360-degree tunnel, or check out the interactive rockpool to touch starfish, spot hermit crabs, and learn about coastal rock pools.

Regular talks combined with feeding times let children and adults learn more about the animals living here—it's a good idea to schedule a visit around these feeding times, as the wildlife will be the most active during those hours.

Apart from the Atlantic Ocean, the aquarium also focuses on the more tropical Indian Ocean and delves into the marine life of the Pacific. Visitors can also learn about the aquarium's breeding and rescue programs while finding out how to help the conservation projects.

Icon Orlando 360 is a new entertainment complex on one of Orlando's main drags, International Drive, commonly known as I-Drive. Opened in May 2015, Icon Orlando 360 (formerly known as I-Drive 360) includes a variety of restaurants, shops, and tourist attractions – including an aquarium, a Madame Tussaud's, and the 400-foot observation wheel called the Orlando Eye. You'll find popular eateries like Shake Shack and Outback as well as hopping nightlife at Cowgirls Rockbar, with the only mechanical bull in the city.

The centerpiece is the massive observation wheel. It has 30-passenger compartments, each one air-conditioned, and each one can carry up to 15 people. Your ticket to the Orlando Eye includes a 4-D movie experience and a ride around the wheel.

Part of the Walt Disney World®Resort near Orlando, Disney's Hollywood Studios®doubles as a theme park and working movie studio where animation and motion pictures are made. The park’s attractions and rides are all inspired by Hollywood films, television shows, and the best of Broadway.

Universal Orlando Resort™ combines three of Orlando’s top theme parks with dining and entertainment options, all in one convenient location. Heroes and villains from blockbuster movies and TV shows—Harry Potter,Transformers,The Simpsons, andMarvel to name a few—come alive at Universal Studios Florida™ and Universal’s Islands of Adventure™, and park-goers can cool off from the Florida heat at the third theme park: Universal’s Volcano Bay™ water park.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom® takes the best parts of a theme park and a zoo, blending them seamlessly into one encompassing experience. Visitors can go on safari through the Sahara (and see real animals in naturalistic habitats), explore the world of Pandora from Avatar, ride the rapids of an Asian river, or encounter a yeti on Mount Everest.

Orlando has a new immersive celebrity hotspot where one can walk down the red carpet and step into the world of fame for an afternoon. At Madame Tussauds, guests are able to find out exactly how tall those sports icons really are, strike a pose with a pop princess, shake hands with a smiling Barack Obama and take a selfie with Einstein. The museum poses TV and film celebrities next to pop icons, the most well-known faces from the arts and science and throws plenty of history and pop culture personalities into the mix as well.

The details of the wax replicas are on the usual Madame Tussauds level of incredible. Creating a wax statue requires taking hundreds of body and face measurements with calipers and measuring tapes, after which artists sculpt the perfect mold for the wax out of clay. Gluing on each hair individually, painstakingly painting facial features and recreating every last wrinkle ensures that the wax figures end up achieving a astonishing realism. So, what star are you dying to meet?

A firm departure from the everyday, WonderWorks Orlando offers what most attractions cannot – a spin on this thing we call reality. Built to resemble an upside-down laboratory, this science museum offers over 100 hands-on exhibits built to test your belief of what is real and what is illusion. Filled with “oh, wow” moments that include rope obstacle courses, zip lines and laser tag, WonderWorks Orlando is an engaging step into science and discovery – one that will leave the whole family full of wonder.

Go back in time to the night of April 14, 1912, when the “unsinkable” ship sank to the bottom of the Atlantic. With full-scale room replicas, hundreds of objects recovered from theTitanic, and immersive interactive exhibits, Orlando’s Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition offers a real-world connection to a defining moment in history.

Walt Disney World®, the world's biggest amusement park, is a self-contained city, covering an area twice the size of New York's Manhattan. Four main parks comprise the bulk of Walt Disney World®—Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios®, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom®—each with its own themed areas, shows, rides, and attractions. More than 50 million visitors pass through the gates each year into the self-proclaimed “Happiest Place on Earth” and home of Mickey Mouse.

Disney Springs™(formerly known as Downtown Disney®) is an outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment center in Florida’s Lake Buena Vista, near Walt Disney World®and other Orlando theme parks. When you need a break from amusement park rides, head to Disney Springs™to pick up souvenirs, dine, or see a show.

Epcot Center, part of the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, is a theme park packed with internationally and futuristic-themed attractions, rides, pavilions, shows, and entertainment. Created from a concept developed by Walt Disney himself, Epcot is dedicated to human achievement, technological innovation, and international cultures.

Set on Florida’s Gulf Coast, Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is best known for its population of West Indian manatees. The park is primarily a rehabilitation center for the creatures, which swim in the freshwater spring while they are treated. On land, native Florida wildlife thrives in the dense surrounding forest.

Magic Kingdom Park is the heart of Walt Disney World®. The iconic Cinderella's Castle is the park's centerpiece, surrounded by seven different magical lands. Pirates of the Caribbean, one of the most popular, takes passengers on an indoor boat ride through the dark and shadowy world of pirates, complete with snazzed-up special effects and a dash of Johnny Depp. The ride at Space Mountain hurtles you through the darkness of outer space, while over at Frontier Land, the wild and wooly America unfolds past cacti and hot-spring geysers.

Mickey's Toontown Fair and Fantasyland are a hit with smaller kids, as they can fly to Never Neverland, ride Dumbo the Flying Elephant, or travel around the globe by boat while singing “It’s A Small World.” Fireworks displays light up the sky nightly, and many nights end with a parade. At Tomorrowland, kids can discover a space-age science fiction-inspired community inhabited by humans, aliens, and robots. Unique shops and themed restaurants round out the attractions.

Boats glide alongside actual swans on Lake Eola, at the heart of Lake Eola Park. The site isn’t big by many standards – a mile around – but it packs a big punch as an oasis in the middle of bustling, crowded Orlando. Locals and visitors flock here – like the geese they feed out of hand – to take in a little nature. The Orlando skyline rises in the distance, a stunning contrast to the peace and quiet of the park and a beautiful reminder of the nearby city.

There are countless things to do in Lake Eola Park, including a weekly farmers’ market to visit, complete with fresh produce and live entertainment. Children run amok on the Lake Eola playground, and the iconic swan boats are a favorite for all ages. The park also has its own performance space, the Walt Disney Amphitheatre, which hosts events throughout the year. There’s even a restaurant on the premises; the Relax Grill promises to live up to its name.