Central FL Vacation – Off the Beaten Path on your Florida Orlando Vacation

Strangely, not everyone wants to go to Disney or Universal or Sea World on their Central FL vacation. For people like me who enjoy theme parks, that seems odd. But actually I know plenty of these odd people who prefer to do something else rather than stand in line for shows and rides.

So okay, let’s take a look at what you can do on your Florida Orlando vacation other than the attractions.

Well you can go shopping, and I must say that is one of my favorite activities. I should make a website dedicated to shopping because I adore it so much. Of course you can go shopping anywhere at all, that’s true, but there are a few interesting places I know of. First, and this does not fit in well with the theme here because I’m going to mention Epcot, but really the shopping there is great at the World Showcase. So if you are one of those that doesn’t want to go to the theme parks but your family forces you, spend the day shopping at Epcot. I have found so many really unusual and very nice things when shopping there. Visit each country and see the shops. I always buy tea-related stuff in the United Kingdom.

But there are of course other good places to shop. I live not too far from Mount Dora and I always recommend this quaint little town as it is jam packed with funky little shops and restaurants. Sanford also has a quaint little town with neat shops. These cities are all located very near Orlando and are definitely in the Central FL vacation area.

If you are in Sanford I will put in a plug for my favorite casual restaurant over that way, Big Boy. They have the Hot Fudge Cake which I consider the best dessert in the universe. You will want to try it. My first job was at Frisch’s Big Boy when I was 16, then they took away all the Big Boys. Now they are back. And hopefully it won’t close up again.

All right, well I digress. More shopping info. There are malls of course but the two best ones are the Florida Mall and the Mall at Millenia, both located very near each other in Orlando. Florida mall is huge and has all the regular mall stores plus lots of others. Mall at Millenia is more upscale and has stores you don’t normally find in any old mall. I love both of these, they are well worth checking out.

Over on International Drive there are a lot of touristy places and dinner shows, and also the outlet malls. If you are into the outdoors there is the Bass Pro Shop which is like an outdoor shopping theme park.

Now, other than shopping, there are many other ways to spend you days. Cocoa Beach is nearby, so you can spend a day relaxing on the beach. There are many lakes, so you can go boating or fishing. Oh and you can go deep sea fishing out of Cocoa too.

There are some fun clubs over at City Walk at Universal. So again if your family drags you to the theme park stop off at City Walk. I really enjoy sipping a pina colada outside of Margaritaville, sitting out front in their very comfortable (and very pretty) Adirondack chairs while people watching.

Also you can try one of the parks like Blue Spring State Park or Wekiva, and do some tubing or swimming, and have a picnic.

And don’t forget the Central Florida Zoo and places like Harry P Leu Gardens for some inexpensive fun.

So as you can see, lots to do besides the theme parks on your Central FL vacation.